PATTERNS AND TONES

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season filled with much love and laughter! Patterns and Tones will be back in February just in time to celebrate our 3rd year anniversary of bringing images to you weekly. All my very best, Julie Green December 26, 2015

"Amanda Quinn Olivar" from the series Home as Hat While I was photographing Kim Shattuck for my " Day in the Life of a Rock n' Roller " series back in March,  a new body of work emerged.  As we were walking around Kim's neighborhood with her sweet pup, we suddenly passed a home with a portico that just begged to be in the background. I ended up positioning her under the distant porch covering and a new series of portraits was born.  "Home as Hat" consists so far of six lovely ladies and a couple underneath various entryways. The "hats" range from rounded colonial style awnings, and late 40's transoms, to pointed rooftops in the background, which when positioned just right takes on the shape of a hat. I h ave spent a long time thinking about how I would emphasis the "hat" in each photograph and came up with the idea of sewing the photographic paper directly with thread.  I felt it was important for the hat to be t...

"Jonnie Green from Tonup Classics No.1" Rockers, bikers, greasers, ton-up boys... the label may change from country to country but you know one when you see one and hear their motorcycles coming. My Dad was a greaser in Connecticut back in the 5T's. I remember he used to boast about how he had the best DA around and used to roll a pack of cigarettes up his sleeve.  But in the Bay Area where I grew up there weren't a lot of Rockers around.  That changed when I moved down to Los Angeles. This subculture of motorcycle boys and Rock-A-Billy kids where much more prevalent down here.  Jonnie Green from Tonup Classics , a Rocker I've known, and admitting full disclosure - married, generously sat down for a little chat on his motorcycle restorations, his passion for these machines and thoughts on motorcycle culture. I've been dying to post these pictures I took of him several months after we met back in 2004. They are pretty timeless, a quality I strive for...

When I first moved to Los Angeles, I had the great honor of photographing the one, the only "The Godfather of Soul" - James Brown . My dear friend Darren Wong, who was working for Capitol Records at the time, had procured the gig for me. I am more than happy to photograph bands on stage but as a Rock Photographer, my main interest is in photographing portraits of musicians off stage rather than on. The magic of their talents are still felt in the shot but sometimes you're not sure why. It's that tension that makes the shot timeless for me. But all of that changed the moment I saw Mr. Brown performing through my lens. There is a reason people are famous. Hard work met with timing and talent are usually the case. That night at The House of Blues  on the Sunset strip, I was humbled to capture the founding father of funk, a true performers performer, live on stage and in high gear -  Doing It to Death ! Give It Up Or Turn It a Loose , Julie Green D...