White’s Supermarket

Copyright Scott Lessing Hubener

Here is a view overlooking the river and industrial section in Asheville.  Tomorrow its off to Johnson City and other parts in TN. I’ll spend the day there getting some photos.

Also a nice barn that I found last week.

Copyright Scott Lessing Hubener

The KKK Took My Baby Away

Car, Lion, Cabin

The Blue Car

The Lion

and The Cabin

Copyright Scott Lessing Hubener

Lawyers, Guns and Money

I went home with the waitress
The way I always do
How was I to know
She was with the
Russians, too?

I was gambling in Havana
I took a little risk
Send lawyers, guns and money
Dad, get me out of this, hyeah

I’m the innocent bystander
Somehow I got stuck
Between the rock
and a hard place
And I’m down on my luck
Yes I’m down on my luck
Well I’m down on my luck

I’m hiding in Honduras
I’m a desperate man
Send lawyers, guns and money
The shit has hit the fan

-Warren Zevon

Barn

Found this fantastic barn last week while driving around. Today I went out into Weaverville and came across another really cool barn but I don’t have the film back yet. Tomorrow is a photo shoot documenting a historic neighborhood in West Asheville. I may be able to tie it in to some of my recent work documenting the I 26 corridor.

Last week I got my copy of Walker Evans American Photographs. What a fantastic book. Today I got a copy of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. I’ve seen most of the work before in other of Evans’ books Lyric Documentary and his book from the Metropolitan Museum of Art but seeing the complete layout as intended is important. That’s what I love so much about American Photographs. The layout is just as important and poetic as the photos.

Copyright Scott Lessing Hubener

Strong Comments on Xpress Website

Wow, there’s some serious aggression taking place over on the Mountain Xpress site in regards to my cover a couple weeks back. People really came down hard on either not wanting to see coverage of Christians in a so-called Alt Weekly, or they claim intolerance for not running such content.

I’ve not commented on their forum, but I will say this, running a story in a newspaper is not an endorsement or criticism of the subject. It is reportage, that’s what newspapers do. There was no editorializing of the subjects, no point of view offered, by either myself or by the Xpress. What my aim in doing the story and documenting the evangelical community is to simply examine this movement. I attempt to be as objective as I can be, and I think even the tacit view I have and may unintentionally convey is misunderstood or not even noticed by viewers. This seems to be the case reading some of the comments left on the Xpress site. Readers who believe the story to be either supporting or disowning this particular group miss the point entirely and thats the unfortunate part.

Birds

Birds from the NC Arboretum yesterday. I was there in the afternoon making some portraits.I’m not sure what kind of birds they are, maybe some sort of finch? I’ve seen them in this type of tree before. In the winter, people often photograph them because they look so good with the red berries on the tree. Often you will see them in photos with snow on the branches too. People really seem to like the look of that as well.

Copyright Scott Lessing Hubener

Shoot for Verve

This week I had the assignment to photograph Kim Kubike and Kila Donovan of AshevilleLETS. The group meets at the Firestorm Cafe and Books in downtown Asheville. The article will be featured in the March/April issue of Verve Magazine. The AshevilleLETS is an interesting group, engaging in bartering and exchange for goods and services rather than paying with money. In these difficult economic times its a viable idea.

Copyright Scott Lessing Hubener

Peaches

Copyright Scott Lessing Hubener

Into Asheville

Some of my documenting of the I 26 corridor will include a bit of Asheville. Most of the work I’ve done so far is taking place in North Buncombe county, Madison county and into Tennessee. The I 26 connector is not what this work is about so I’ve avoided coming into Asheville. But since I 26 is really a metaphor, it seems germane to include Asheville as its a part of the whole so here are some recent ones including the Asheville area.

Copyright Scott Lessing Hubener

Being Productive

I’ll try to post more this week, but I’ll be traveling some and working on a couple assignments so there might not be quite as many posts. Last week’s was a good opportunity for me to work on a couple projects in the mix. I felt good about the productivity I achieved. There will be lots more opportunities over the next couple of weeks as well.

Every once in a while I’ll make a photo that I just know will end up being included in my project. There are others I keep for consideration, but something always just feels “right” with some. Of course the percentage is small and I can’t really put my finger on what it is that makes everything come together for these certain photos. I’ve culled down to about 50 photos for consideration, of which maybe 15 I feel good about. I’m looking to end up with 50-70 that I just love, so I’ve got a ways to go. To reach the 15 I have so far, its taken almost four months of work. It may take beyond 2009 to finish, which is fine.

Copyright Scott Lessing Hubener 2009

NY Times Magazine Great Performers

The New York Times Magazine’s annual Great Performers issue came out yesterday. This year the photos were done by Paolo Pellegrin of Magnum Photos. I always look forward to this issue, as it is one of a handful that the Times Magazine devotes to heavy photo essay coverage.

The photos are all color and done very nicely by Mr. Pellegrin. Most of his work that I am familiar with is black and white so seeing that he was the one photographed the story was somewhat surprising; that and a lot of his work is also of conflicts. Looking through his major essay work on the Magnum site, there are a few photo essays of fashion shows and fashion portraits, so he’s obviously skilled and comfortable working with celebrities. I like the dark look that he brought to the Great Performers essay. I appreciate the fact that his skill is such as a photographer that he takes a variety of assignments.

Copyright Paolo Pellegrin 2009

Black Mountain College Event

The Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center will be hosting an event honoring the women of BMC.  They are located in downtown Asheville at 56 Broadway. Here is a description of the event from their website

Friday, February 6, 2009 – 7:00 p.m.
$5 for BMCM+AC members / $7 non-members

The Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (BMCM+AC) will present an evening celebrating the women of Black Mountain College and their work in poetry, music, dance and the visual arts. Participants include four of the region’s most accomplished poets: Laura Hope-Gill, Glenis Redmond, Landon Godfrey and Katherine Soniat and singers Cathy Haas Riley, Linda Metzner, Betsy Murray, Winnie Barrett, Lisa Sturz and Sue Curtis. Dielle Ciesco will tone, a vocalizing technique that is wordless, and Julie Becton Gillum will dance.

The evening is being curated by Laura Hope-Gill and is conceived as a way to honor the work of BMC’s creative women and to also demonstrate how their work can inspire new work from today’s artists. The poets will read work by BMC poets Hilda Morley, M.C. Richards, Jane Mayhall and others. They’ll also read newly composed original works created in response to BMCM+AC’s current exhibition The Shape of Imagination: Women of Black Mountain College (the first of 3 shows focusing on this subject).

Singers Cathy Riley, Linda Metzner, Betsy Murray, Winnie Barrett, Lisa Sturz and Sue Curtis will sing a musical composition written by BMC student Patsy Lynch in 1947. It has likely not been performed since then, so this will be its first performance in over 60 years. Cathy Haas Riley will also speak about her mother Maude Dabbs Haas, who not only graduated from Black Mountain College (in 1942) but also met her father there.

The evening will also offer audience members an opportunity to respond to the contributions of the women of BMC and to collaborate on a “word collage” created that evening.

I 26

As part of my documentary of the I26 Corridor, I’ve photographed into eastern Tennessee. Some of these photos are from a recent trip there. Working on this project has by far been the most difficult and challenging one yet. The simple task of getting access to subjects is very time consuming but once you do, the results are rewarding. The task of achieving a balance to the work is challenging as well,  such as getting a mix of lighting situations, weather, etc. that still contribute to the mood and feel of the subjects. The winter and especially the snow are conditions that I really like to shoot in. In fact, just today we’ve had several inches of snow. So instead of sitting in here at the computer, I’m heading out to go make some pictures.

Copyright Scott Lessing Hubener