Darkroom

Witness Margot Gabel

Margot Gabel has been sent to us from Paris with love. She shoots with a maturity, not only in her compositions and the moments she captures but also with her process. ”I just have one rule : never retouching my photos. I still indicate in detail what equipment and what film I used. I want to be honest, because digital photography isn’t.” The rules she has set for herself show in her work, and the audience is left with not just honesty, but spontaneity as well. 

Her work makes us want to travel, to be lost in Europe among the youthful energy of cobblestone streets, bus stops, and train stations.”I began film photography 6 years ago, & I have not stopped since ! I was only working with black & white films, that I developed myself in the lab of my art school in Lyon. Now I shoot with color film.” she tells us. 

Margot speaks as though she has been photographing for fifty years even though she is only twenty. Her comprehension of film and light and movement reminds us of painters we know from a different era, from a different country and that thought makes us feel romantic, as these images do. ”I always have one or two cameras with me so I did not choose my subjects or my site, everything is spontaneous, true. These are incongruous, pleasant, surprising moments of my everyday that you will see on my films.”

see more of Margot’s work here: FLICKR
and follow her on Facebook here: MRGT Photography


Ian Ruhter: Silver & Light

“I’m so far down the path that I can’t go back even if i wanted to. Life grants us a series of opportunities and those opportunities come with a price. I can’t stop, I’ve backed myself into a corner.”

These are the opening words in Ian Ruhter’s new video illustrating the early stages of his journey. The first few scenes lead you into a deep dark world emulating that of an addiction at its highest magnitude; a series of chemicals are mixed by a hooded figure as he works to create a perfect chemical reaction.

His project is honest, his work is inspiring – Ruhter demonstrates the human soul at its highest capacity, when one has found that passion and connection to something, enabling them to take their truest form and surpass everything else.

“It’s about doing what you love. If you had been searching your whole life for something you love, and you found it, what would you be willing to sacrifice?”

All images courtesy of Ian Ruhter Photography.


Borrego Mansion

This cloud was so fucking lonely. I put it on the internet because the internet truly is the loneliest place.

The anticipation of roads like this kill me.

Best food in the desert and super good people.

I was walking around with a beer in hand, shooting the shit and literally watching other people shoot the shit out of some bottles.  I overheard someone say, “It’s Golden Hour…that magical light that all the photographers cream their pants over.”  I’m no photographer but figured I should grab the camera anyway to look like I know what photographers do and snapped a photo of this sun saturated mountainside.  Then I changed out of my shorts and into pants.  Not because I had Golden Hour cream in them but simply because the desert can be a cold bitch at night.

This dude Kevin is a good marksman and backed up his claims.  This bottle was probably 100 feet away and got popped on this shot.  I think people with glasses are cheaters.

When golfing with gasoline soaked balls, cooler heads prevail.  Sypniewski uses his everlasting ice cream headache acquired from a healthy pint-a-day ice cream diet to stay focused in the intense heat.

The Roman candle duel that was never quite a duel.

A passed out birthday boy awakes to the warm feeling of being surrounded by his best friends and the warmer feeling of being encircled by a ring of fire.  Look closely and you will see he’s throwing some horns to acknowledge the radness that occurred during his slumber.

Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads. Back To The Future Prius.

Doing an outing to the Borrego Mansion the right way.

Apocalyptic sunrise during an early morning peace-out.

A place between heaven and earth, Belinda Carlisle had it all wrong.