We would like to thank everyone for coming out to join us at the panel discussion at San Francisco Camerawork to meet the photographers who participated in Magazine No. 2:  Shakti which featured the work of Nancy Ahn, Elena Carrasco, Rory Hejtmanek, Melissa Kitson, Eva Kokopeli, Karna Kurata, Jessica Lifland, Kija Lucas, Pernilla Persson, Karla Tarin, Rikki Ward, and Ariel Zambelich.

Kija Lucas lead the panel discussion with photographers Rory Hejtmanek, Jessica Lifland, Pernilla Persson, Rikki Ward and  poet Karla Tarin read some of her works.

Thank you Pernilla Persson for the images and we will see you all next time!

“feel it all around” – washed out

“farther on” – vetiver

“summer day” – coconut records

“me and julio down by the schoolyard” – paul simon

“it’s raining again” – tommy guerrero

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Featuring the work of Nancy Ahn, Elena Carrasco, Rory Hejtmanek, Melissa Kitson,Eva Kokopeli, Karna Kurata, Jessica Lifland, Kija Lucas, Pernilla Persson, Karla Tarin, Rikki Ward, Ariel Zambelich,

Shakti is a collective work of the female creative spirit, featuring the work of  Nancy Ahn, Elena Carrasco, Rory Hejtmanek, Melissa Kitson, Eva Kokopeli, Karna Kurata, Jessica Lifland, Kija Lucas, Pernilla Persson, Karla Tarin, Rikki Ward, and Ariel Zambelich.

Click here to order Issue No. 2 from MagCloud.

“photographic” – depeche mode

“picture book” – the kinks

“polaroid roman photo” – ruth

“i turn my camera on” – spoon

“pictures of you” – the cure

“kodachrome” – paul simon

“Where Is My Mind?” – Pixies

“Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1” – The Flaming Lips

“Sea of Love” – Cat Power

“Boys Don’t Cry” – The Cure

“I Will Follow You Into the Dark” – Death Cab For Cutie

“The District Sleeps Alone Tonight” – The Postal Service

Black Boots Ink Magazine No. 1 brings you the work of 44 photographers and writers working in Guadalajara and Zapopan Mexico, and San Francisco and Los Angeles, California as participants in the Wandering workshop series.

Click here to order Issue No. 2 from MagCloud.

Featuring work by: Isrohan Alvarez, Guadalajara | Emilio Bañuelos, Guadalajara | Jorge E. Barragan, Guadalajara | Dana Barsuhn, Los Angeles | Dick Beery, Shreve | Caballo, Guadalajara | Monica Cardenas, Guadalajara | Elena Carrasco, Guadalajara | Zulema Carrasco, Stockton | Kevin Cortez, San Francisco | Michael J. Costa, San Francisco | Brad Evans, San Francisco | Noemi Flores-Zepeda, Zapopan | Sergio Garibay, Guadalajara | Sebastian Gladstone, Los Angeles | Yorch Gomez, Guadalajara | Francisco Graciano, San Jose | Ana Fernanda Goribar, Guadalajara | Rory Hejtmanek, San Francisco | Susan Hobbs, Cupertino | Cass Kissam,  San Francisco | Karla Louie, San Francisco | Marshall, Guadalajara | Suzanne Mir, Victoria | Carl Mogerley,  San Francisco | Thomas Murphy, Brooklyn | Paco Perez Arriaga, Guadalajara | Ibarionex Perello, Altadena | Unni Raveendranathan, San Francisco | John Rickard, Weed | Carla Saunders, San Francisco | Theo Slavin, San Francisco | Amanda Smith, San Francisco | RK Stephenson, Mesa | Karla Tarin, Guadalajara | Denisse Tatemura, Guadalajara | Martin Taylor, San Francisco | Patti Taylor, San Francisco | Rosella Tibig, San Francisco | Rikki Ward, San Francisco

words by: J. Eduardo Barragan, Guadalajara | Karla Tarin, Guadalajara

magazine design by the Photologists, Nancy and Jennifer Ahn.

Tell me about your interest in photographing animals and people.

I enjoy photographing animals and people because I’m capturing a little glimpse into who they are. One image won’t define them, but shows a brief moment in their life, whether it be good or bad. There’s an honesty about it…like “this is who I am”.

I used to be weary of photographing people, scared to approach them, thinking I may offend or impose upon them. It wasn’t until shooting the SF march protesting the war years ago (thanks Elena & Emilio for the invitation!!!) that I realized as long as I keep it real people don’t mind being photographed. Most times they have something to say and want to have their voices heard. I feel it’s my duty as an artist to do just that.

Are you also a painter? How do you feel about mixed media?

I don’t consider myself a painter, but I do dabble in it here and there. When I do, I like clean lines and solid color blocks, very graphic and technical. If you asked me to paint something expressive, I’d have a panic attack and run in the opposite direction.

I enjoy seeing other artists’ mixed media pieces, depending upon the subject and execution. I haven’t worked much in it myself because I like to focus on one technique at a time, putting all my energy and thought into it. I get bored much too easily so the simpler the procedure, the more likely I’ll finish the project.

What/who inspires you?

I get inspiration from just about anything…a good example of this is a recent “sister date day” I had with Jenny. We set off to SF to check out the Richard Avedon show at the MOMA. My nose tingled with the onset of tears, seeing one of my favorite photogs’ work.

It was incredibly inspiring to look eye to eye with the endless amount of portraits he had taken over the years. I experienced all over again, the reason WHY I am a photographer. Leaving the SFMOMA, Jenny and I giggled with delight, when we noticed the sidewalk pavement was sparkly as if someone had dusted glitter all over it. The sun was hitting it at just the right angle, making it glisten and us turn into two little girls again. Sometimes it’s the subtleties in everyday life that keep me inspired.

What else are you working on?

Most recently, I’ve gone back to my roots in drawing. I started as soon as I was old enough to pick up a marker. Originally intending to major in illustration, I switched gears after taking my first photo class. (It was love at first “i processed my own film!”)

Last month, Jenny and I had a show at Black & Brown, showcasing my drawings and her paintings. I was really nervous. Since starting photography in college, I haven’t drawn much, and my confidence in doing so has dwindled dramatically. The show was a success and everyone that came out was stoked!

I also just tackled my first attempt at creating apparel. For Halloween, I was “Max” from “Where the Wild Things Are” and created the entire getup from scratch. It was scary and exciting all at the same time.

I constantly have project ideas running through my head, but am an extremely lazy procrastinator (bad combo) so a lot of times, my projects may not be executed for years. Other times, I’ll start a project and not finish it. I have a good collection of those…maybe I can propose a show: “unfinished works” by nancy ahn. hmmmmmm…

images by: Jennifer Ahn , San Jose | Nancy Ahn, San Jose| Emilio Bañuelos, San Francisco | Elena Carrasco, San Francisco | Tim Gonzalez-Mena, Oakland | Francisco Graciano, San Jose | Kija Lucas, Oakland | Vu Nguyen, San Jose | Colt Peterson, Alamo | Victor Prieto, San Francisco | Diana Sánchez, Oakland

Keeping IT Out
Why we should do away with all public places
by Greg Benchwick

I’ve really begun to hate everything public: Public busses with their surly drivers and sticky customers, candied seats and bubble-gum rails; libraries made for lounging street lizards and hypocritical intellectual hoods; parks with their goddamned fucking trees – so tall, so arrogant – the fucking sidewalks and public spaces with their skateboarding punks and gruesomely green grass. And of course there’s always the itinerant and frightfully exuberant youth in revolt that seems to grow out there like a germ. You must have to be young (or degenerate) to spend so much time out there with IT lurking around every corner.

I admit that IT chafes me. And that YOU terrify me. That’s why I drive a Hummer so big and burly you’d need to be 6 foot 4 and have x-ray vision to see inside. You can’t see past the walls of my 8000-square-foot McMansion; you can’t see into the marbled halls of my boy Bill’s private school; you can’t see into my country club or my doctor’s office. And this is how I like it. This is how I designed it from the ground up.

To keep YOU out! To keep IT out!

To protect my life, every second of it – from Lunesta-soaked dreams (why hello there Mr. Butterfly) to the 19th hole and the champagne and caviar cart at Chez Pierre. Each day I find a new layer of insulation in hopes that the putrid wind of the plebeians not waft over my fence or through my tinted window. But IT always manages to get in.

I say we privatize everything. Private parks so well manicured you could perform surgery out there. Oh wait, I guess I have the club for that. Well then, let’s do away with busses and libraries and the goddamned sidewalks with their never-ending booby-traps – cracks designed to break mother’s back and crap left with one sole purpose: to shit on my parade. If you can’t afford your own ride and a few hundred a year at Barnes & Noble than what kind of American are you really?

I got all this mafia-like protection – from the SUV to the towering walls of my gated community – with money. I suggest you get some sometime. Then I might even consider letting YOU in. But IT is not invited.

more:

Love Politics | Spaces Between Places | Public Places | Mexico | Issue No. One |  Mexico 2008