The work of A. Aubrey Bodine.

Will and I went to breakfast a couple of weekends ago at our favorite restaurant in Baltimore so far, Golden West. It's in Hampden, a really cool Baltimore neighborhood about four miles from our house. Kind of like a mix between Seattle's Fremont and Ballard neighborhoods, with a little U-District thrown in. Anyway, we were in this quirky gift shop (if there's one word I would use to describe Baltimore, "quirky" would be it) when I happened upon a row of greeting cards. 

I was instantly captivated by the photographic images of A. Aubrey Bodine. A photojournalist for the Baltimore Sun during the mid-20th century, he gained renown via his portraiture of Baltimore and to a lesser extent, the state of Maryland. He is also a MICA alum. 

Needless to say, I am very inspired. I'm planning on doing a joint photo shoot with Kevin Wong, a former colleague in Seattle and will be thinking about Bodine as I shoot. We're both going to shoot on the waterfront at the golden hour, he in Seattle, me here in Baltimore, and then display our best shots together. I find that although Seattle is a more polished city than Baltimore, as urban personalities, they have a lot in common. I'm really looking forward to this!

There's a part of me that really likes Baltimore. But I'll tell you one thing: if you ever hear me speaking with a Baltimore accent, POINT ME TO A GOOD SPEECH THERAPIST. I prefer my west coast linguistic neutrality, thanks.