Vision 3: Summer

Tomorrow is the 4th of July and it should feel like summer.
We lived in SF for 2 years. Some days the sun peaked through the fog. We got rain, wind, fog.
But we never had summer.

Summer 2011, San Francisco, CA

Vision 2: Arata Pumpkin Farm OCT 2012

Trying to recreate the feeling of the first time we went here. I pushed it. Charley was sick, but I insisted we go get lost in the maze like little kids. That feeling no better captured by some funky expired kodak and my old minolta 35mm. Vision: trying too hard to find recreate a feeling. 

Vision 1: Starting in Mexico, Feburary 2014

I don't think we got to see the real Mexico when we went down to Los Cabos, but we did get heat, ocean, coconuts, and swam with whale sharks. I was reluctant to take photos, but was lucky enough to capture a few things while we were there. Setting out on my vision today--thinking about dust & what could possibly have been going through our whale-shark tour guide's mind on that little boat out in La Paz.

31 Visions: A quest to see things differently in July

As a photographer I feel like I always have one foot in the present and one foot buried deep in the past. I collect moments. Instances. And a lot of times they just sit there. I don't share a whole lot of personal work out-right. It makes me uncomfortable; the internet is overwhelming, and let's face it, everyone these days is some sort of photographer. And most days I'm not sure I'm much better than anyone else, but I guess that's not the point.

I currently have close to 4 TB of images on my hard drives. My archive dates back to 2005, almost 10 years of photos. I have been shuffling through all this work these last few weeks, trying to clear things out, trying to simplify. And rather than just continuing the cycle of shooting and editing and archiving, I am going to start an experiment of putting myself out there. So here we go--the working title for this is "31 Visions".

In preparation for my trip North and vision quest in August, each day I will attempt to have a vision. Knowing full well that this project will likely change as I go, my intention for now is to use old work as a spring board for a new way of seeing. Each day I will post a piece or series on here and then set out to take 1 image that tackles the feeling of that old piece. Maybe this is a retrospective project, pure nostalgia, or maybe it's a rediscovery project. I really don't know, but I am putting it out there. And when I say 1 image, that's what I mean. Just 1. At the end of the month I will develop and scan and see what happened. I'll let you know how it goes.

Waiting

I feel like I'm suspended in the middle of this long warm winter.
Just waiting.

The Great Desert Inspiration

So many amazing big-life events have happened in the last few years— and while it's been hectic and overwhelming at times, I thought I'd reflect on some of the great moments that were packed into the short and crazy summer of 2011. 

What a better place to start than the great adventure that Britta and I took during a record breaking Southern California heat wave. We fought heat & exhaustion of driving, explored the gorgeous boulders and sunsets of Joshua Tree, hid-out in a campground all by ourselves for one very sleepless night, explored the insanity of Salvation Mountain, and then took a detour and spent the day riding roller-coasters at Six Flags. It was a beautiful adventure with so many perfect little moments.

  Desert Adventure from Jordan Jurich on Vimeo.

chasing desert romance, running from the fog

My creativity has been completely m.i.a. lately, so it was refreshing to come back from Joshua Tree with a few images I actually like. We were attempting to take a few simple engagement shots, something to use on a save the date, and between fighting the exhaustion of hangover mixed with an entire day of driving & the mosquitos attacking (wtf are mosquitos doing in the desert!!) it was no small feat.


Of course my favorites are these awkward in-between shots where we're framing up & testing light.







This trip to Joshua Tree was supposed to be a vacation. Well, half vacation, half wedding planning, and a pinch of getting a photo done for our save the date. I also wanted to make a sweet little desert video. Well, we accomplished the wedding planning part. And maybe got one photo we can agree on for a save the date. But it was no vacation. It was hours in the car, and a glimpse into what's going to be our desert party. Sort of frightening to think that a day you spend years planning, looking forward to, and all the $$$$$ you can scrounge up is in 24 hrs there and gone.



This has been the most exhausting few months I've ever been through. We've officially left our foggy little Inner Richmond apartment. I'll miss San Francisco for more than a few reasons, but I wouldn't trade anything for what we now have--privacy, a yard, our own house, sunshine. We are no longer renting--but we bought this house against all odds. And I mean all odds. I am not sure what we were expecting--two 20 somethings with limited credit history and mediocre incomes trying to qualify for a half-a-million dollar loan. Throw in fatal mistakes like submitting an inaccurate 2010 tax return (immediately flagged for fraud!) and getting into a contract with a seller who needed the money so bad she threatened to sue. Luckily we were paired up with an amazing team that fought it out for us behind the scenes, and now a month later we are slowly unpacking our things in confidence that we wont have to put them back into boxes.

There is more, but this is all I have the energy to tackle at the moment.



Well this is my first effort to no longer be m.i.a.. Wish me luck!