max s. gerber(the latest shot)

since you’re reading a photographer’s blog there’s a good chance you already know who jonathan saunders is. if you don’t, look here. jonathan is in town for a rare LA visit, crashing on my couch a couple nights. jonathan being in LA means shooting shotguns (well, at least for him and bennett, not for me. i just watch and say things like, “yup, you hit that one, too”).

being freelance used to be kind of isolating. i think i went ten years without knowing another photographer. that’s what i get for not going to photo school. before we all got so digital you used to just go to the magazine’s offices to drop off your film or your portfolio, you’d see the photo editor or the art director or maybe just the receptionist and that’s it. i can’t remember hardly ever running into another photographer at a magazine office. now it seems the network of photo blogs have changed that a bit and fostered some sort of community. sure, we’re all likely still paranoid and competitive and neurotic, but at least we’re more aware of each other than we used to be. i think that’s a good thing.

i became aware of jonathan through bigshotstock and through archibald and eventually through some commiseration and the acknowledgement of mutual miseries we became friendly. friendly enough for him to crash on my couch and for me to feel reasonably secure being around him and a loaded weapon. maybe i should rethink that last part? anyway, it’s good to have him in town, marveling at what life is like outside of new york city. (“you have a yard and a garage!”, “square footage!” – mostly he’s impressed that i seem to be within easy driving distance of two shooting ranges, though i never really considered that a particular benefit.)

even more importantly, we’re going to the price is right on tuesday, because it’s the silliest most frivolous thing either of us has done in months. and we want to play plinko. jonathan saunders, come on down!

do yourself a favor and take a look at jonathan’s pictures. the guy is a true artist, someone who’s continually making pictures just because he can’t imagine not doing so. thanks for stopping by, jonathan.