We’re missing the lakehouse this year, which has sort of become a 4th of July tradition with our friends, the Jensens, over the last couple of years. I know they’re missing it this year too.

Acura, the car brand, publishes a quarterly lifestyle, travel and design magazine for their customer base (a distribution of 850,000 – hey, not bad!) and asked me to submit some photos for consideration for one of their photo essay stories. The lakehouse story was chosen for a 4 page spread and was published this Spring (along with a nice paycheck. Yay for paying photographers for their work!).

Happy 4th of July! We’re going to try and catch some fireworks.

Mia took this photo of me with a Kodak Brownie film camera that my friend Jill lent her when we went to Governor’s Island a few weekends ago. I like it. I’ll show you my photos next week.

I’ve lost steam on posting this week. I don’t really have anything to say. I suppose things come and go in waves and I’m on a downturn (also, I’ve been sick). It certainly isn’t because of lack of time. I think I’ve grown accustomed to being slammed with multiple projects and working 15 hr days, then nothing at all for a month and then to back to being slammed, rather than this drawn out schedule of working 5 or so hours a day. My current project is dictating the pace. Not really sure how to handle my time. I’m not being as productive as I’d like, even though I would have killed to have a more balanced work schedule such as this when I was working way too many hours. But this is how it always goes…it’s almost easier to be more productive when you’re slammed because you’re already on a roll. But these days? I just want to watch concert videos on YouTube and eat pie.

I don’t know why it takes so long to get a new Mixed Race Project feature up (no, scratch that…I do know why), but I’m excited to introduce Leslie & Hank’s family from Long Beach, California. I was particularly excited to have the opportunity to photograph a family with older kids while we were out in LA earlier this year and both Leslie and Hank were so thoughtful with their interview questions. I hope you enjoy their feature as much I had the pleasure of meeting them.

Every time I publish a new family, it gives me renewed energy for the project. I may not have the time to devote to it as I’d like and it may take forever to get a new family feature up, but going through the photos and reading through the written interviews gives it a renewed purpose and reminds me why I started the project in the first place. As we do every year, we’ll be out in the Pacific Northwest this August. If you live in Portland or Olympia (I think we have Seattle covered! I may still be looking for a Seattle family) and would be interested in participating in the Mixed Race Project, email me at info@themixedrace-project.com.

Some outtakes from Instagram of LA.
 
Sometimes I like these photos more than the ones my fancy expensive camera takes. Maybe because it captures the same spirit of those polaroids that I have from my own childhood. It certainly seems more spontaneous and inconspicuous than lugging a huge heavy camera around…

I’m excited to introduce the first family in this series that features parents who are also of mixed race. Both Margaret and Loren are half-Asian/ half Caucasian and they live in Queens, NY.

I think there is a point in any ongoing project where you start losing focus and you start having doubts. I’m not sure if I’ve reached that point quite yet, but I have been feeling it to some degree. What is this for? Who am I doing this project for? When will I know when it’s “done”?
 
It’s taken a lot of time and coordination to schedule and get each story done. It’s always a bit intimidating to enter into a stranger’s home and photograph them at some of their intimate family moments. I mean, it’s strange. But by the time I leave the photoshoot, I feel like I know them a little.
 
So I don’t know where this is going, if anywhere at all. I know I have more to learn and that is motivation in itself. I guess I’ll keep on going…

Like many people, I’ve been using Instagram a lot more these days to capture snapshots as I move through my day, especially when I’m outside. Beats lugging around a big camera. Seems freeing and I feel like I’m more likely to take street scenes with my phone than I would if I were whipping out a huge camera. There’s a calmness to these shots. Even in a big bustling city, it’s possible to find quiet corners and alleys.

From top:
1. Nolita/Soho
2. Night time in the East Village, 9th street
3. The Cooper Union building, my old art college.
4. A cobblestone street at the edge of Soho/Chinatown
5. Woodside, Queens
6. A corner in our Brooklyn neighborhood