I recently joined the community at One Eyeland and have apparently taken the place by storm. I’ve been named photographer of the week, been awarded photograph of the week, and photo of the day for three days straight. I’m truly honored! many thanks to Sharad Haksar and whoever else is running the show over there.

All of my mother’s broken watches (18)

All of my mother’s baskets (73)

All of my mother’s years of sobriety (18)

The new Wisconsin Cheese campaign – the third one we’ve done – has gone live!

AGENCY: Shine Advertising
CDs: John Krull and Michael Kriefski
FOOD STYLIST: Jamie Kimm

We’re working on a new collaborative project over here – shooting portraits of the remains of abandoned bikes. Vanessa Varela, my studio manager, is doing the street-side of the shoot, and I am doing the studio shots. Thinking about the cultural artifact-ness of them is fascinating and as objects, the shapes, lines and textures are incredible. Here’s a (very) early sneak peek – much more to come.

my family clearly has a tradition of OCD. my grandfather – a minister by profession, but a photographer, painter, architect, jazz aficionado, ambulance driver, tax assessor, and botanist by hobby – traced the family genealogy back to when out first ancestors came to america in 1630. what I didnt know about, and discovered while cleaning out my mother’s house, was the photographic record. someone, and no one in the family is sure who, created albums of well-labeled family photographs from as far back as photography existed, with names, dates and places – an absolute treasure trove of family history. I plan to do… something… with all of this. it may take a couple decades, but I will.

this shot, a copy (made in 1907) of a daguerrotype that must have been taken in the 1840s (!), is of my great, great, great, great (!!) grandparents Joel and Anna Hiscock, who were born in the 1700s (!!!). Joel’s father Richard fought in the revolutionary war (!!!!).

MUCH more to come on this – stay tuned.

Many of you know that my mother died almost a year ago. My wife and I are still going through the process of cleaning out her house, the house I grew up in – beyond the emotional challenge, it’s not an easy task being an only child and having two toddlers to entertain while trying to get work done. My mother was quite talented – she was a serious fiber artist: weaving, knitting, basketry, needlepoint among many others. Going through someone’s things after they die is a pretty strange experience – invasive, for sure, but it’s also brought me closer to her in some ways, experiencing the minutiae of the things she lived with every day. And she had a LOT of stuff. I knew I had to document some of this – both for her and for me. This is an ongoing project, but here’s a sample of the beginnings.

All of My Mother’s Spools: 164

All of My Mother’s Silver Scissors: 18

All of My Mother’s Knitting Needles: 95

november? yikes! but hey – I think I have a bunch of really good excuses – none of which we need to go into here, other than… the new studio is officially up and running! it was a hell of a project, and there are still some finishing touches, but for the most part, it’s fully functional, beautiful, and awesome. the space is great, the neighborhood is great, and I’m really, really happy there. the door and the invitation are open for all to visit and check it out.

next, we’ve signed with a new agency: K2 creative management (http://k2creativemanagement.com/)! K2 is our old friends Kristy Caruso and Katie Ryan, and they are terrific. I am very excited to be with them – they are smart and super nice, and great to do business with. they made me do a “before they were rockstars” entry [LINK] for their blog – funny stuff if you wanted to know more about me than you thought you needed to.

and finally, we just relaunched a revamped website (http://ashtonography.com/) with lots of new work, some new looks at older work, and a reworked, easier to use interface. please take a moment to wander around.

so in closing, the past year and a half or so have been the coney island cyclone of my life, but I feel like I’m emerging back into the light, and hopefully will be much more engaged with the outside world.
I feel like we’re at a new beginning of sorts, and I am ready to roll.

we are looking for an intern. over the next few months, we have a lot of work coming up, and as we continue to get settled in the new studio, we’re going to need help. there will be a lot of post-shoot editing, posting files, processing RAW files, and light retouching. there is a lot of physical work to do setting up the studio, as well, so organizational skills are key, and construction experience is a big plus. finally, there will be a marketing component – organizing lists of contacts, research, blog and facebook posting, etc. this is not necessarily a paid position, but there will be perks to help sweeten the deal. contact vanessa at 347.763.2210 or studio@ashtonography.com for more info.

day 1: guy rides by on a motorcycle, doing a wheelie, standing up on the seat ON ONE FOOT.

day 2: trumpet guy – floating on the wind from somewhere, solo trumpet music.

day 3: four tweens jack a rascal from lowes across the street and joyride up and down the block at about 2 miles an hour.

in case you didnt know, we’re moving to brooklyn. gowanus to be exact. we found a great old warehouse space in a funky complex (metalworkers, woodworkers – and at least one of the buildings is rumored to have once been a kraft foods lab!) and have been in for about a week and a half starting the buildout. the shooting area is wired (I am really over pulling wire) and next up, starting tomorrow, is building a bathroom. painting starts tomorrow, floors get sanded week after next. it’s a ton of work, but step by step we’re getting there.