Mole, Thomas, Goldbeck, and More...

I began my Google image search with the intention of finding some images of old photographs of artists in their studios, and then this image popped up in my search results... it looks like an old silver gelatin print of some army insignia...and then you look at the full-size image and it is hundreds of soldiers standing in formation!! AH-MAZING!!!

These are called "living photographs," and are described as an attempt to recover national identity through imaging.

You've just got to see them for yourself. WOW.
(This one is my favorite. I need a print of this!)
Photographer Unknown, Grenzhausen, Germany "1st Field Artillery Brigade, 1st Division" 1919
Vintage Silver Gelatin Print

Newman Photo "Animated Crest 34th Division" Camp Cody, New Mexico, 1918
Vintage Silver Gelatin Print


Arthur S. Mole and John D. Thomas,
"The Human U.S. Shield" 1918
Vintage Silver Gelatin Photo Print


All images and information came from this site (it didn't have a name!).

Through the Sparks Photo Shoot

Last night I had the pleasure of taking some new promo shots of Through the Sparks, featuring their newest lineup and in anticipation of their new release, Worm Moon Waning. With Duquette Johnston as my assistant, we threw the six guys in the back of a pickup truck, beer and cigarettes in hand, and head towards a hidden baseball field. Jumping the padlocked fence and racing the golden light, here are a few of my favorite shots!

You can see the rest of the shots here...

And be sure to check out Through the Sparks--you can download their new album FREE right here.

A Year Away

After nearly a year sabbatical from blogging, I'm back in tip top form, Lovelies! I've had a new surge of creativity and motivation, and a trillion amazing things are on the horizon...

My husband and I bought our first home...so expect lots of photos and design ideas/projects.

Those of you who know me, know I have a gift of finding amazing vintage treasures, whether it be Frye riding boots from the 60s, a variety of crazy unique objets, the wildest clothing and accessories, linens, art, pottery...so look forward to my launching an Etsy store (and eventually an eBay store, too!).

I've been photographing the most amazing bands lately as well--Spoon, Deerhunter, Roman Candle, The Civil Wars, and soon The Dead Weather, The Whigs, and more...so I'm going to make my prints available for a very reasonable price!

So here we go people. This is going to be fan-tas-tic.
Want to see something specific? Let me know!
Looking for a certain objet and don't know where to start? Message me or comment and I'll find you a brilliantly edited selection!

Let's have our vision and work so hard to see it come to light!

As my friend JR says, "We're going big in 2010!"
And Happy Easter. Go be with your family and friends and be thankful!

LOVE.

Springtime in Alabama...

I like to think that Spring is my favorite season in the South. The wild flowers and clover take over the land, and the temperatures are a mild 80 degrees. I like to think that this is the time of year to host garden cookouts and sit outside in the Adirondack chairs until the last bit of sunlight each day disappears later and later each day. But, see, here's the truth of it--I somehow forget, until Spring in the South is upon me again, that the entire season is a matter of dodging tornados and praying that your home and your loved ones are not destroyed by "the big one."

When I was a child, the excitement of hearing the sirens revving up, grabbing the candles and my favorite stuffed animal and running down to the dirt cellar of our 1916 Victorian house was thrilling! I'd curl up in my father's arms, my old-fashion cotton nightgown smudged with dirt and the sickly sweet smell of mildew in my nostrils. (I think my secret love of the faint scent of mildew reminds me of my childhood Springtime moments in that cellar.) I can't remember how my parents reacted to it. I can't remember if they were scared. I like to imagine they were cool and confident about the matter, not worrying about falling tree limbs and roofs being ripped from houses, and the insurance claims to be filed. I like to imagine that they were caught up with me and my sister in our primitive game in that dirt cellar with candles and old-fashion night gowns. In those times in the cellar, we only mattered to each other.

If you're truly from the South, your childhood memories are riddled with tales of that "big twister of year-such-n-such." I'm sitting here now, in this wild digital era (is that term outdated yet?), blogging to you while I watch the warnings and the skies gradually turn black. I'm watching the weather reports and the damage reports of my surrounding cities. It's heading this way. My home has no cellar and I'm not wearing any old-fashion nightgown. I'm hoping my husband gets home from work before it hits, and that my father's building in Cullman wasn't part of the damage I'm hearing about in the reports. They're telling me it's gonna hit Birmingham in nine minutes. I'm not as fatalistic as I was a few years ago, but I don't like NOT having a place to go hide. Give me a mildewy cellar in this Alabama Springtime.

I guess that's it for now. I've got to get my dogs on their leashes and go duck my head in my 2 square foot "hallway."

Springtime is here.

I'm back, like Bond.

Geeeeez. I disappeared again and am so sorry. Again. Things in life just keep getting crazier, and all I know to do is find a way to keep making it all work. Of course, now MY computer is on the fritz, leaving me to the mercy of my husband's schedule. Somehow I will find a way around this...

In other awesome news, the husband's show last weekend opening for the Avett Brothers at Sloss Furnace was an incredible time! There was a crowd of over 2,000 people who received him very well, and I had exclusive photo priveleges for the whole show! Go check out the photos, here.

I've also taken up playing music these days! I am teaching myself how to play bass for the all girl band I play with, Paperdolls. Go listen to our first demo over here. It is so much fun. We actually just had a photo shoot with Don Van Cleave, one of my favorite people and photographers ever. I can't wait to get the image files to show you guys!

Well, I guess when I spell it all out, I have more going on than I initially thought. Sometimes it is too easy to let yourself slip into the dark recesses of discontentment and kind of lose yourself and just go into emotional shutdown. I used to privately journal about this all the time. I finally took all the journals from age 8 to about 20 off of my bookshelf. While they hold the joys and dreams of a girl coming into herself, they also hold a lot of pain and sadness and, honestly, depression. I don't need that glaring down at me these days. Knowing they're boxed up kind of let me forget about that side of myself for a while. But the fact of the matter is, this is a part of who I am, a part of myself that I constantly have to renegotiate and while I want this space to be a source of inspiration, it's okay for me to share a little about it. Because most of us face it. If not every day, then at least once in a while. I'm working my way through it, and I feel like my emotional space kind of runs parallel to my blog space. You can all see where I am in the colors and images (and now, obviously, words) that I post here.

The best thing I know to do is to work through it. Because it's just too easy and so sad to just give in and just stop.

Anyway, I'm feeling the hintings of a little international mystery and great design. Penguin Books commissioned artist Michael Gillette to create 14 covers for Iam Fleming's Bond series, Centenary Edition collection. These books are simply GORGEOUS.

For more information on this limited edition series, check out the Official Penguin Blog, here. And also go check out the Penguin Books launch site for the books, here.

I hope you all have a blessed, wonderful day. See you tomorrow.

What I will be doing today...

Hey there, friends. I am heavy in the throes of photo editing. As I mentioned yesterday, the husband and I went to see Mogwai. And it was FANTASTIC! One of the best shows I have ever seen! I ended up getting a photo pass--thanks Brian!! I had such a blast shooting them. The lights were ALL over the place. Quite the challenge. I've got about 600 shots to go through, which I will throw up on Flickr as soon as I'm finished.

Until then, why don't you stop by my Flickr page and check out some of the other bands and people and things and places I've photographed?


Just click...Morgan Jones Johnston's Flickr.

See you guys in a bit. And I hope you're enjoying this BEAUTIFUL day!

SECRET HISTORY PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS MOGWAI

Hey Everyone,If you are in Birmingham tonight (or in the driving radius) come to Workplay to see MOGWAI!!

To get tickets, visit their web site (linked above) or call: 205.380.4082
Tickets are $20 and it's an all ages show.
Workplay is located at 500 23rd St. S.
Birmingham, Al 35233.

Our good friends at Secret History Productions are putting on the show and it is sure to phenomenal!


Don't believe me? Just watch their video for "Stanley Kubrick."

Beloved Curiosity: Southern Accents Architectural Antiques

I grew up in a little country town in North Alabama, called Cullman. It was a small town with gorgeous Victorian and Georgian and Arts and Crafts homes. The downtown was comprised of a few square blocks with an appliance store that still flies brightly colored balloons and streamers outside its doors, a German toy store that sells lederhosen and nesting dolls, and a bakery, The Duchess, that to this day sells 40cent cookies.

One of those city blocks houses a great hidden treasure of the nation--Southern Accents Architectural Antiques. Housed in the 1901 county undertaker's building (the brick exterior still visibly read "UNDERTAKER") are the door knobs, claw-foot tubs, carved mantles, chandeliers, hardware, windows, and more of eras long passed.

Family-owned, Southern Accents is a mecca for the architecturally obsessed. People fly from around the country to peruse the building that still has the original wood floors and piping from the old Undertaker.

They have an extensive Web site catalog of current items at www.sa1969.com. But nothing compares to going there yourself and exploring, though they do ship anywhere...

If you are in Alabama and looking for a nice day trip in this beautiful Springtime weather, you'll find Southern Accents north of Birmingham on I-65 and south of Hunstville on I-65.

Their address is: 308 2nd Ave. S.E.
Cullman, Al 35055

Here are a few photos I took a couple weeks ago when the husband and I stopped in for a visit.










And here are a few photos from Southern Accent's Web site, of current items they have in stock...

LEFT: cast iron sink, $1450.
RIGHT: terra cotta from a building in Chicago (set of 5), $275 each.


double arch beveled and colored rondels stained glass, 14.5"x60," $850.


LEFT: leaded glass windows, 20"x29," $235/pair.
RIGHT: crystal chandelier, 35"x18," $1250.



LEFT: heartpine half mantel, 58'x50," $375.
RIGHT: pine full mantel, 62"x79," $2750.


LEFT: set of gates, 56"x90," $950.
RIGHT: oak gothic-style door, 34.5"x80," $900.


cast iron entry gate, 9' in middle/7' on sides/14' wide, $2850/set


LEFT: heartpine double doors from Chicago, both sides stained, 30"x8,' call for inquiry.
RIGHT: pine door with window with strap hinges, 79"x36," $1850.


cast aluminum benches and chairs, many styles to choose from, call for inquiry.


folding pews, all stained w/metal ends, from an 1887 church in Shelbyville, TN
10' long, 30 benches total, $525 each.


LEFT: overview of window sashes in stock, $15 each.
RIGHT: Providential Tile Works, Trenton, NJ, 6"x6," $45 each.


For more information, give the Gudger family a call at Southern Accents. Or just drive up there. You can walk around, take some photos, and get a 40 cent cookie at the Duchess.