Photographing flowers with my Deardorff 8x10

A beautiful hand crafted wooden1930s Deardorff camera complete with the factory offered "extended bellows" feature - A gift from my dear friend, Wally Seawell, one of Hollywood's magnificent Golden Era photographers. Every iconic artist of the Silver Screen from Mary Pickford to Betty Davis, Gregory Peck, John Wayne and Elizabeth Taylor has played a starring role in front of this camera, appearing upside down and backwards on it's shimmering ground glass. That history never fails to tap on my shoulder every time I slide under the dark cloth. 

 

“The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it!”
― Ansel Adams

ANDERSONVILLE - Photographing the Civil War in Georgia

 

From John Frankenheimer's Civil War docudrama "ANDERSONVILLE." A platoon of Georgia Civil War re-enactors

 I was reminded of a great photographic adventure in Georgia; photographing John Frankenheimer's Emmy winning, Civil War epic Andersonville; The story of the Union Army's notorious prison camp for Confederate soldiers. A challenging, period stylish project for my friend, legendary director John Frankenheimer; and commissioned by a creatively open  minded Barbara Griffin, Director of Photography for TNT. 

Everything was shot with Polaroid T55 pos/neg film to produce a Civil War era style photograph.  The only possible camera had to be hand held because of all the action with horses and soldiers; that was when I became familiar with the Speed Grafix press camera, a 4x5" camera from the 1940s with range-finder focus. The Polaroid T55 was a pos/neg film developed by Ansel Adams and Dr. Land in the 1940s. This amazing film is no longer manufactured, causing much sadness to a distinct group of photographers. The negatives had to be pealed away and processed in a bucket immediately, on the spot. Producer Connie Conway kept our little photo train on track.  

Director John Frankenheimer - T55 Polaroid, silver gelatin print

The pictures looked so authentically period. Subsequently two large public exhibitions of the photographs were presented, one at the Director's Guild in Hollywood and another at TNT in Atlanta. 

A Union company engaging - T55 Polaroid, silver gelatin print

 #photography #civilwar #Polaroid #film #Onassignment #fineartphotography #Branding #largeformat

LA Neighborhoods - Street legends

Left: " Los- Mulholland Radio Tower " Joe Prime Reza/Jim McHugh 24" x 20" signed and numbered- edition of 150 unframed.  Right:  "213- Washington and Crenshaw" David Cavazo Big Sleeps / Jim McHugh 24" x 20" signed and numbered- edition of 150 - Each print $150 + shipping

As shown above, Courtyard Editions is issuing two high quality, archival photographic prints, priced with the desire to make art works from the "LA Neighborhoods" project available to everyone. So many so people have asked about acquiring prints from the work that we have been doing together over the past few years. These are two very beautiful images that represent our unique look at LA.

A single section of the panorama used as the supporting layer of the collage for "213 - Washington Blvd."  Polaroid T55

A 9 ft. canvas of Washington Blvd. - hand styles by Sleeps and Prime - INNOVA Digital

Artists Joe "Prime" Reza and David Cavazo, aka "Big Sleeps," are such legends, born of this disappearing LA era. These prints are a true fusion of photographic imagery and territorial street hand-styles. The imagery investigates LA and the secret, hidden sub-culture of graffiti writing, hand styles. "213 Washington Blvd. and Crenshaw " reflects a neighborhood abandoned to immigrants and people of color in post WWII Los Angeles that is now rapidly gentrifying. For those unaware, 213 was the original and for a long time, only area code in LA.  

 

Prime at work in his downtown LA studio- ©2015 Jim McHugh

An early legend among street writers, now Joe "Prime" Reza is a painter who's works are held in the permanent collection of the Getty Museum and are exhibited in galleries world wide, Prime's newest works can be seen through Jan. 17, 2017 at the LA Louver Gallery, Venice, CA. in the exhibition "ROLLCALL" curated by Gajin Fujita.

 

Shooting in Prime's studio for the exhibition AFTERMATH - 2016 - photo: Patrick House

Big Sleeps signing "Washington and Crenshaw"

  Big Sleeps  is truly a survivor of the streets that nearly swallowed him whole, streets that remain bound by intricate, spray-painted letter styles which act as a true code of survival called "the placa."  Cavazo's paintings can also be viewed thru January 17 at LA Louver Gallery, Venice, CA. in their "Rollcall" exhibition.

Studio van near Central Ave. in South Central LA on the very rainy night when we signed our prints

Big Sleeps - Prime - Jim McHugh at Prime's studio, Dec. 14, 2016

 Purchase "213- Washington Blvd"  

 Purchase "LOS - Mulholland Drive- Radio Tower"

 The McHugh Studio  323 466 2890 - jim@jimmchugh.com

The LA Neighborhoods project has been developed with the support of INNOVA Digital Art, supplying the newest archival technologies and digital surfaces for maximum image integrity. 

Union Station 75th Anniversary

Including "High Hopes" - Six Images by Jim McHugh

"Union Station" – 30" x 60" Duratrans, 1 of 6 from the series "High Hopes"   © 2005 Jim McHugh

Opening ceremony – Union Station 75th Anniversary Celebration 

May 3rd marked the opening ceremony commemorating Union Station's 75th Anniversary. The celebration featured various musical and other performances throughout the day in the Old Ticket Concourse, South Patio, East Portal and Fred Harvey space. Vintage sounds from the years the station opened—swing, blues, roots—mingled with more contemporary and cultural beats—Afro-Mexican Son Jarocho, Salsa, funk, Japanese taiko, New Orleans style brass, Chinese lion dancers and more. 

Metro Art Docents, posted at various locations throughout the station, answered questions about the architecture and art in the station—including the new photo light boxes in the Union Station Passageway!   

The Heart of Los Angeles

In celebration of Union Station’s 75th Anniversary, a new art space has been added to its historic passenger tunnel. The last great railway station built in America, this passageway has appeared in countless films, from the gritty 1950 noir classic “Union Station” with William Holden to “Blade Runner” and its futuristic portrayal of Los Angeles.

“The Heart of Los Angeles” series introduces artworks created by five artists: Suzanne Adelman, Sam Comen, Kevin McCollister, Jim McHugh and Catherine Opie (six by each artist). The photographs relate to the station’s architectural heritage, transit usage, cultural significance, and its physical and social relationship to neighboring communities.

Jim McHugh is inspired by the disappearing architectural landmarks of his childhood in Los Angeles. He makes portraits of the city’s other “celebrities”— the buildings around us, some forgotten and silent. Far more than simple documents of architecture, these photographs serve as powerful portraits, preserving impressions of character and personality from another time.

Historic passengerway at celebrated Los Angeles Union Station. Six Duratrans panels titled "High Hopes" by Jim McHugh. (photo Matt Levitch)

Celebrated photographer Douglas Kirkland, known for his timeless photographs of Marilyn Monroe, points his lens on a perhaps-less-glamorous subject, Jim McHugh, with lighting assistance from Tim Yarger of Timothy Yarger Fine Arts. Union Station opening celebration, May 3, 2014

"Far more than simple documents of architecture, these photographs serve as powerful portraits, preserving impressions of character and personality from another time."

– Heidi Zeller, MTA Creative Services

Color-proofing small Duratrans proofs for Union Station installation with master printer Joe Hill of Prolab Digital and Heidi Zeller of MTA Creative Services. (photo Matt Levitch)

LA ART SHOW 2011

ART LA 2011 - at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Timothy Yarger Fine Art. 

Full Moon at L.A. Live  from Los Angeles Convention Center shot with the new  Polaroid 300

New color prints from Land and Water and Let's Get Lost: Polaroids From The Coast debuted with Timothy Yarger Fine Art at the LA ART SHOW. 

Jim McHugh's exhibit at the Timothy Yarger Fine Art booth at LA ART SHOW 2011

 Timothy Yarger and his staff installing the new work at the Convention Center

I had a lot of fun shooting all my friends with the Polaroid 300, and they could actually take a picture home!

 Good friend and National Geographic photographer Gerd Ludwig back from Russia, where he continues to shoot his epic project.

  Polaroid's L.A. marketing crew from William Morris at the Opening Night Gala!  L.R.  Lauren Becker, Jeannine Hamaoui, Brad Klemmer, photographer Jim McHugh, Stasi Jorgensen, Alyer Breau,  gallery owner Timothy Yarger - • from a Polaroid 300

Photography's First Couple, Francoise & Douglas Kirkland with  filmmaker Chloe McHugh • Polaroid 300 

Artist Chul-Hyun Ahn with his mirror and glass installations at the Art Show, Yarger booth. His studio is in Baltimore, where all the fabrication is done.

Always up on the latest, Damon Webster of PhotoInduced.com visits

the McHugh installation at Timothy Yarger. With his trusty Nikon in hand! • Polaroid 300

www.photoinduced.com

 Artist Zhenya Gershman • Polaroid 300 © 2011 Jim McHugh

Friend and Photographer Michele Mattei showed a selection of her Women series.

Polaroid Site features video of Jim McHugh at work on the streets of Hollywood.

Photographer Jim McHugh is profiled in video now featured on the new Polaroid website. Jim is part of Polaroid's group of photographers working in the medium of Polaroid film and materials.





Visit the new Polaroid site here www.polaroid.com

Summer of 2010- Aspen and California's HWY 1

"The Hills Ranch" Aspen, Colorado - © 2010 Jim McHugh

    It's been an exciting time this summer photographing and printing a variety of new pictures.  While in Colorado for an August exhibit in Aspen I was fortunate to spent several days photographing mountain landscapes with my Speed Graphic and Polaroid. My first challenge was how to approach this subject matter with my camera in a fresh way? 

"Maroon Lake" Aspen, Colorado   © 2010 Jim McHugh

   I will forever be moved and influenced by 19th. century pictoralist photography. I can almost feel the photographer at work. Because of the primitive materials and technologies available at the time, photographic results were completely unpredictable.  Polaroid is very similar, every image has a slightly different different quality.  The pictures of photographer Edweard Muybridge and landscape painter Albert Bierstadt  always fascinate me. There is so much emotion in the imagery. Muybridge is often defined by his “motion” studies, but to me his landscapes are the most stunningly. They are dark and powerfully compelling! Bierstadt’s canvases of Yosemite Valley are filled with vision! So much color and imagination. More than most contemporary photography can produce.

 With Muybridge  and other Pictoralist's work there is such a sense of struggle and triumph in the imagery. Not only must the photographer have the  "Eye" to see; but the prints themselves are so precious, difficult to make! They look three dimensional, like charcoal drawings.

"Lighthouse at Pigeon Point #1" © Jim McHugh

By merging older analog systems and digital technologies I am trying  to create in my prints a slight confusion, an uncertainty. I hope the viewer’s eye will  linger longer on the surface. More like a radio drama than a film; the listener is allowed to supply the unseen. I will be heading back to Colorado this week.

"Skeleton at Scotts Creek - Highway 1" © 2010 Jim McHugh

  

"Pigeon Point" © 2010 Jim McHugh

             

354 N. Bedford Drive- Beverly Hills, CA. 90210 -310 278 4400

Let's Get Lost: Polaroids from the Coast Opening May 22nd, at Yarger Fine Art, Beverly Hills

Let's Get Lost: Polaroids from the Coast    

Artist Reception - Saturday, May 22nd - 7pm - 9pm

www.yargerfineart.com

The Wiltern • 20"x24" © 2009 Jim McHugh

Bay Cities #4 • 35"x44" © 2008 Jim McHugh

Full Moon At Irolo • 30"x40" © 2009 Jim McHugh


 
Damon Webster, author and celebrated observer of Photography interviews Jim McHugh for Photoinduced.com