PATTERNS AND TONES

It was a fun filled afternoon at the dry cleaners with Long Beach favs The Thingz.  They're a band who get what it takes to have fun and it shows! This 6T's style pop punk trio has never failed to entertain others with the pure joy you will find from their performances. With 8 recordings under their belt, they will soon be releasing a 7 song 12".  Produced at  Big Arm Recordings  here in Los Angeles, the single will be released under The Thingz own label Coffee Addict Records  in the fall. Along with these photographs,  I filmed The Thingz performing their amazing tune "Trouble" which can be seen here . I love that although the bands I have been photographing and filming for this series are usually amplified, they have been gracious enough to oblige me by playing acoustically. In this day and age where everything is so stylized and overproduced, I wanted to place these bands in everyday spaces without any production what so ever.  F...

"Monkey Man No. 2" from The Mask Series This  mask was given to me by a friend who had recently returned from  Indonesia . The wooden mask was hand carved and painted in  vibrant  colors. As this project progressed, people began to give me masks to use from around the world. I was interesting to see the various cultures interpretation of the same animal  and  this monkey mask is no exception.  My subject was  immediately  drawn to it and chose it from my bag of masks. He then proceed to embody the  characteristics  of that animal effortlessly. The inclusion of a Mexican  marionette  monkey only made the photo shoot and my subjects  interaction   with it  even more surreal. Monkey Man is the 14th set of images from  The Mask Series . As always, two limited edition prints  are available to purchase through my  Etsy store .  Julie Green June 20, 2015 Subscribe to o...

"Ridgeline No. 1" from The Human Landscape Series As I drive around California and admire its beautiful mountain ranges, I can't help but see sleeping giants stretched before me. Their anthropomorphic shapes elude to a profile in silhouette as they pop out from the tops of the mountains set against a setting or rising sun.    We are so lucky to have such giants surrounding us in California. Their dramatic elegance is breathtaking and I am always inspired by their majesty. The earth is a living landscape and the mountain ranges that line our highways in California undulate and traverse back and forth. As I drive and contemplate their various forms and shapes from different angles and perspectives, they remind me of the human form. Today I present to you a series of ridgelines I shot while being driven over the Grape Vine. It's your puzzle to figure out which shapes are made of flesh and which are made from tectonic uplift.  There are several ot...

"Agua Dulce No. 3" from The Detritus Series Continuing my exploration of light and form, I have created several more images based on items from the basin of the Sierra Pelona Valley to the top of Tejon Pass and Mt. Diablo. Each individual piece informed me on how to approach their portrait. For the dried up yucca plant, I emphasized the base, filling it in with plaster of paris to round out what would have naturally been there. The dried flowers at the top were lightly brushed with the compound to highlight their now brittle structure.  In contrast to the prickly and dried detritus that I found in the hot and dry High Desert, items I found at the top of the Tejon Pass in Southern California and Mt. Diablo in Northern California are typical dry grasses and reads. Their graceful forms appear to have evolved with their perpetual dance with wind,  flexibly  bending and waving on top of great heights. I chose to give them a "vase" to sprout from,...