∴Archive Five #1∴

+ the release of Serial Music: Vol. 07!

Jul 19, 2025

This week I want to start something new, an occasional newsletter where I pick 5 images from my archive and write just a little about them. I’m calling it Archive Five - something I’m sure to regret later. Here we go!

#1

Last year I was tasked with shooting a portrait of Seoul-based singer Eun DoHee in preparation for an upcoming album. We traveled with a small team to the base of the wonderfully named NoGo Mountain (노고산). The majority of the images were shot digitally, but I had one roll of 35mm just for something a little extra. As it so often goes, the film images came out best, with the grain responding well to the textures in the forest.

I could have shared any one of a number of the film photos, but this image always stood out to me. It’s quiet and a little pensive, and the space around her leaves enough room for the viewer to pour something of themselves into it.

#2

Toward the end of last year I received an email from a woman in the UK telling me her client wanted a photoshoot in the city. She told me he goes by Mr Eazi, and that I’d need to pick him up at his hotel. A quick search revealed that he was probably the most famous person I’ve ever been contacted to work with, and I’d never heard of him. Go figure.

Honestly, it was one of the weirdest shoots of my life. Eazi was a relaxed and charming guy, but in the taxi on the way over to the first location he asked me to shoot 90% of the images on a brand new iPhone he’d bought for the shoot. I felt a little silly shouldering my camera bag and my full-frame rig while thumbing photos on a phone, but I decided to take it on as a challenge, and the reframing made it pretty fun. I did manage to shoot a few images on my camera, and always liked the tension between the the lines and the draw of his posture and eyes in this one.

#3

This image was made chasing after my father- and brother-in-law in the Dallas neighbourhood of Deep Ellum. We were on our way to get some authentic Texan BBQ at a place to which they both tipped a hat, and I, being an increasingly isolated fan of American culture, was hustling along behind them and excited for lunch.

As we skipped down what could only be described as a manicured sidewalk, I was struck by the bright red bar of a sign post. They walked on ahead as I stopped to frame up my then recently purchased Nikon F6, and simple as the image may be, in the moment of shooting everything felt right about it. This kind of photo was a little different to much of what I’d been shooting in the years preceding it, but I’d picked up the F6 with the idea of learning to see in a different way. While it’s not a direct origin for Serial Music (a project I introduce here in video form), I understand it now as emblematic of my effort to do something different from what I’d done before, a willingness to accept the new things I was being visually drawn to.

I have an A2 print of it up on the wall beside me, a little reminder to keep an open mind.

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A brief pause…

…to announce that Serial Music: Vol. 07 is out now!

If you’re new to the newsletter, Serial Music is my Quixotic attempt to make a zine a month for a year. If you’re one of my regular readers, thank you for putting up with me always going on about this. Only 5 more months to go!

#4

As it says in my Foto bio, and in almost every other bio I’ve ever written, I’m a skateboarder and photographer. I always put ‘skateboarder’ first because in my history it came first, and while skateboarding has influenced my photography, the opposite can’t be said to be true.

This photo was made a few years ago with my friend Josh. He’s a true skateboarder - always pushing and a junkie to that special feeling you get when you roll away from something gnarly. Josh just put out a part with Jake, another skateboarder/photographer friend, called Portmanteau. Check it out if you want to see what skateboarding is in this Asian megacity we call home.

#5

Let me introduce you to my failed project. Long before Serial Music or even Dirty Work, I was regularly walking the length of a nearby stream called the Hongjecheon (홍제천). Seoulites can be a private bunch - it’s not unusual to see someone pop out of the building across from the studio on a Sunday evening in PJs they’ve probably worn since knocking off work on Friday. Down at the stream though, it feels like there is this very public culture. People exercise, ride bikes, and in the sweltering months of June and July, you can find them swishing in the water.

I photographed all of this for about a year or two, and I have a few dozen photos from that time I really like. But, this was largely during Covid, and so many of the photos feel weighed down by the masks everyone wore. While I haven’t written off the project entirely, secretly believing there is enough time to do everything in this world, I eventually shelved it for a second look at some future date.

Before I sign off for this week, I just want to say thank you to everyone for all the kind responses to last week’s post.