The fountain of youth.

© Ryan Schierling

Kevin J. Miyazaki - 100 Very Small Observations.

Photograph © Kevin Miyazaki

There are a quite a few photographer blogs I visit from time to time, but one that I frequent regularly is Kevin J. Miyazaki's. The clean and beautiful travel and food photography of his website was what made me bookmark the blog, and the personal work he featured was what kept me coming back. 

His Fast Food series, a group of spare recollections of closed and abandoned fast food restaurants and the "visual imprint they have made on our cultural landscape", is one of my favorites. The black and white images are akin to death photos of the 1800s, albeit with a more wandering eye for narrative detail, and are the perfect antithesis to the hyper-saturated colors of "living" fast food restaurants today. The Camp Home series is as personal as personal work can get, exploring the reuse of the Tule Lake camp buildings in California where his parents were interned during World War II. 

A few weeks ago, Kevin offered 100 readers a little piece of his work for nothing more than a postage stamp. 4"x5" images from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design show 100 Very Small Observations would be randomly sent to the first 100 to respond. 

I got my print today, a tired, withered and rotting tomato likely forgotten in the back of the refrigerator crisper drawer, that took me a few moments to figure out exactly what it was – a perfect example of anything labeled "bad housekeeping" on his blog. Included under a piece of tape were the two t-pins used to hang the print for the exhibition.

It's now on my wall.

Thanks, Kevin.

Flexible Flyer, grounded.

Andrew. © Ryan Schierling

I know it's only the middle of January, but is it terribly unrealistic to be wishing for no more snow days? 

Space Needle (13)

From the front window, home. © Ryan Schierling

Mullet, bb gun, and The Road.

Vamos camino de la muerte. Presbyterian Church parking lot. Emporia, Kansas. 1990. © Ryan Schierling

Bend Question #8.

Fugazi @ The Outhouse - Lawrence, Kansas. 1989. © Ryan Schierling

Andy Jenkins over at bendpress.com was kind enough to include me in his latest volley of "Bend Questions," along with Mark Whiteley, Ed Templeton, Mike Carroll, Daniel Field and Chris Sprouls. The question this time around was "How important is music to you and how does it inform your life?"

Stacks and sacks.

(L) Pile of $1 double stacks (R) To-go bag, from the Ugly Food series. © Ryan Schierling

[ Ugly Food is a photo series looking at processed and packaged food that anyone can purchase for one dollar or less. ]

Happy New Year.

(Insert your own festive revelry caption here.) © Ryan Schierling