Q & A with Matt Weber

Matt Weber is a photographer based in New York City. 

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BA: I just watched your movie More Than The Rainbow which I really enjoyed. Can you tell me how the film came about?

MW: My friend Dan had a friend Arlene who is a very gifted cinematographer and he asked her if making a movie about me interested her, and she said sure! Then he asked me and I don't believe in turning down opportunities, since they can few and far apart.

What does the title More Than The Rainbow refer to?

Just a line from the film where I'm saying I needed more than the rainbow to be happy with a black and white picture I had taken, of a rainbow.

Are you generally happy with the film?

I have learned to deal with criticism and think that the film is pretty outstanding because if you gave 100 editors the same pile of footage and images, they'd make 100 different films. I doubt many would do as well. 

What happens to the film now? Will I see it in theaters, or is the distribution end of it unsettled?

It did well in festivals, but I think after the DVD sales slow down, streaming is probably the best avenue. I bet you know more than I do about this stuff. Theaters don't like crowds of thirteen people and I saw the Vivian Maier film with about six people in Manhattan.

How did the variety of other photographers get involved in the film? Zoe Strauss? Mermelstein? Jeff Ladd? Ben Lifson? Was that through you or the film makers? And how did you decide who to include?

Good question. I wanted Zoe, but then again everybody does! Jeff Mermelstein used to live a few blocks away from me and we'd bump into each other often just walking around the upper west side. He was nice and agreed to talk about photography at the local diner, and I think his contribution was very important to anyone who cares about street photography. I met Jeff Ladd and became a huge fan of his Errata books. It was a brilliant idea to republish these classic photo books which had become too expensive for mere mortals to afford. Ben Lifson had done the intro to my book and we were obviously very happy to have him aboard. I knew Boogie and obviously was good pals with Dave Beckerman. The rest were recruited by the producer. We had asked for a few other very established photographers, but they declined having just been filmed in Everybody Street, which was a film that we did not know about at the time.

Why do you think Arlene was drawn to you as a subject?

She had seen my apartment and also I guess I babble in person a lot about all the crazy stuff I did as a younger guy. Of course most of my war stories didn't make it into the film, mostly to protect my daughter!

Matt Weber in a still frame from More Than The Rainbow

Your daughter doesn't know your past?

She's starting to get much of it and it's a bit uncomfortable. Mostly stuff that was not legal when I was a teenager.

Did you ax murder someone? Or mostly teen hijinks?

Subterranean stuff with spray paint and psychedelics. Never mugged or stole anything as I did have principles. I even paid for my spray paint which was considered very lame.

That's interesting because the movie was mostly about photography. I enjoyed your comments and the range of other photographers in the film. But I didn't learn much about your war stories or even know that's why the film was made.

I guess Dan did what he felt was best and I think he thought the crazy stuff from my youth was off topic.

Graffiti? Drugs? Pretty harmless in moderate amounts.

Not moderate at all. We were the east coast pranksters and I'm not exaggerating at all.

What type of pranks?

I meant pranksters like Kesey. I might as well have grown up in a never ending Woodstock festival.

Your folks were hippies? The sixties scene?

No, they were and are very liberal but they kept away from total immersion into the scene. I fell into it heavily when I was fifteen. The sixties sorta lasted until 1977.

I wish some of those stories had made it into the film. I think most people hit a stage like that in adolescence. Maybe 15 is younger than most. This was in New York? Which part?

Dead center...Central Park.

Where did you live exactly? What was the neighborhood like? 

I didn't live near Central Park but it wasn't very far either. The upper west side was mostly middle class and lower middle class, with a few wealthy people living on Central Park West and Riverside drive. There were also and still are quite a few housing projects which date back to the late 1950s. Robert Moses and his social experiment has been plaguing New York City for a very long time. There were plenty of empty lots to play in, and also the street lights weren't as bright, leaving the streets much darker and dangerous. Anyone who lived here in the sixties and seventies will remember what it was like to have to keep your eyes open at all times. Getting mugged was part of life, and one learned which streets were less likely to leave you penniless. It varied from block to block.

Were you mugged? 

I wonder how to express the effect that being mugged several times had on me growing up. I was lucky that most of the kids who mugged me were local and didn't want to hurt me bad enough to warrant police reports. They just wanted my loose change of maybe the lone dollar bill I might have had. The normal weapon was a cheap knife called a K-55 sold in Times Sq gift shops for around $1.25 or so. They were certainly made in Japan and were replicas of a more expensive and well known weapon. 

Image courtesy of Matt Weber

There was also a knife called the 007 which was large and cost a bit more in the same shops. It had a larger blade and was more imposing. The standard line was "Your money or your life?" and it does seem comical all these years later. 

One time I was riding my brand new 15 speed bike through Central Park late at night and I was alone. Suddenly I felt woozy and realized I was lying down. In the distance I saw the guy who punched me in the head and took my bike, riding away. As I said before, the old street lights were very dim compared to today's, and I never saw the guy coming out of the bushes.

Image courtesy of Matt Weber

Fortunately guns were far more scarce, and kids knew who had one, but rarely owned their own. Also the standard gun was the "Saturday night special" a cheap .38 caliber and there were also tiny .32's around. I never owned a gun and dislike them very much, having had them pressed up against many different parts of my body!

Later in my cab I had the experience of being held up at "Double Gunpoint" which was the worst thing I ever had to experience! These two Chinese kids got into my cab at 2am and asked to go to Queens. On a dark residential street I pulled over thinking I was about to get paid for the ride, and I felt something against my neck. It was an automatic pistol, and his friend climbed over the front seat (I had no partition at the time) and he had a standard six shot revolver which he shoved into my then slim belly. Feeling nervous the guns were trembling almost much as I was. When they ordered me to get out of the cab, I literally hurdled the hedges on someone's front lawn like Rafer Johnson. I didn't hear a gunshot and they drove off in my Crown Vic. I realized later how lucky I was that one of them knew how to drive, since it made it unnecessary to shoot me…That was in November of 1984, a couple of weeks before I bought my first Canon AE-1 and started photographing New York! Had either teen pulled his trigger, most likely there'd be nothing for us to discuss.

What did your parents do for work?

Tareyton Cigarette Ad

My mother decided when she was almost forty that being a house wife wasn't cutting it for her anymore. She had been an actress and even starred in an Arthur Miller play on Broadway when she was 18 years old! She went back to school and became a playwright. One of her early plays made it to Broadway and she recently converted the book "Giant" by Edna Ferber into a musical. My stepdad was working on Madison Ave. during the "Mad Men" era and was involved in the famous advertising campaign for Tareyton cigarettes, the one which said: "I'd rather fight than switch" and all the people had black eyes from fighting for their favorite smoke. He later became a consultant for the United Nations and many other companies.

Any siblings? Religion? Ancestry?

I have a younger brother who is a musician and recently I became an uncle to his son. My parents never forced religion on me and I think I'm OK without religion. I could talk pros and cons for hours but that would be way off topic. My ancestry is very complicated. I am actually able to trace my lineage back to the Mayflower on my father's side and my mom's family was totally changed by Hitler and WWII. She was lucky enough to escape Germany in 1937 and the rest of the story is long and complicated. The movie Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise covered parts of it.

When did you start driving a cab? 

The cab was my exit from the "scene". Many of the older guys I looked up to had become strung out on smack and I saw the writing on the wall, so to speak. Cab driving was an excellent job in 1978. $100 a day was a lot of cash. One bedroom apartments were still $200 in Manhattan! I have a pal who's been working on a doc about the scene and even has DA Pennebaker helping him, but I doubt it will ever get finished.

You mention your friends getting into smack. What was your experience with heroin?

I lost my father to heroin in the '60s and only met him once. A guy who was my best friend during my graffiti writing days later got strung out and also ODed. I lost many others friends from overdoses and or AIDS, and was able to keep my promise to my mom to never touch the drug. Considering the way things worked out for so many of my friends, I made a good choice to keep my word.

The filmmakers followed you around to a few places while you photographed and talked. It made me curious about your shooting process. How do you decide where and when to go to which areas? 

When I had a taxi I hit literally every single street in the whole town. Coney Island was important since I had a couple of birthday parties there in the '60s. I wish I had shot a lot more there in the '80s but I'm glad I did shoot a few rolls. In 2003 there were Donald Trump rumors about casinos and giant 40 story hotels coming and that everything would be torn down. I started shooting a lot there and now I am winding down because the transformation is almost complete.

But you shoot more than just Coney Island, right? Or has that been your focus lately?

Harlem is also 99% gentrified so there's not too much of interest left for me. I have to admit to liking very old stuff and that is becoming very scarce in New York. Times Square is great at night since there's a lot of light and I hate using a flash. I should push myself into the Bronx since it's one of the last places which hasn't been purified, but you can get into trouble if you just shoot with abandon up there. I don't like asking for posed portraits.

So it sounds like you limit yourself to certain areas. And Coney Island is one?

I guess I have concentrated on Coney and the Subway. It is time to branch out a bit. It's easier to shoot a neighborhood when you live there. If you have a kid to deal with everyday at 3:30 when they come home from school, you have smaller windows of time to go and shoot. Sometimes my only trips are to B&H and I get a decent amount of pictures on 34th Street.

You made a Coney Island book with Mike Peters, right?

Yes, the Mike Peters Coney book is just available on Blurb and sold a whopping thirteen copies. I actually feel very good about that book and think it's a good concept...

Some of the pairings seem beyond coincidental. How did you two go about editing that?

I left all the editing up to Mike. I told you before that I am fine with seeing what other people do with my pictures, if I like the pictures enough to publish them in the first place. I have an absurd amount of pictures from Coney scanned and ready to print. Same with the subway. Finding a bona fide publisher has become pretty hard these days, although I haven't made much of an effort. I am a lousy businessman.

from Coney Island Double Vision, Matt Weber and Mike Peters

Do you see Mike Peters often? Is he a close photo buddy?

Mike is a good pal and I don't see him as much as I'd like because he has a full time job shooting for a college in Jersey. I don't like shooting with people. It is usually a drag and I love talking and hanging out, but shooting is a solitary process for me.

What's your actual process? How do you deal with film? Do you have a darkroom? Do you shoot any digital?

Well it's almost hard to admit that I have begun my digital phase. I love film and its superior range. I fell in love with Kodak's Portra 800 but at $11 a roll and $6 for a dip & dunk, the cost is now out of my range. If I shoot six or seven rolls in a day, that's $100! I know junkies who have cheaper habits...I have a full B&W darkroom and I should go back and make a few editions of some of my more important pictures while I still can, or before the supplies are too expensive.

So no more film? All digital now?

I have been shooting digital for the past few months. I blame Mike Peters who did great work with a Hasselblad and then went fully digital. He helped me with the transition. I admit that are now a handful of images which I wouldn't have gotten with film, but also a few that film would have been much better at...

I understand it's expensive and the reasons behind going digital. But surely there are other feelings involved too. How do you feel about film and digital in artistic terms? Did you have some special relationship to film? Or no attachment? 

At first I was actually embarrassed about abandoning film. I love Tri-X as much as you do! I love a perfectly developed negative. I know that the most important thing is the image itself, but the tones and the extended range which a properly developed negative has, is priceless. 

High speed color film sucked until recently. Twenty or thirty years ago the 800 chromes or the 1000 ASA C-41 was grainy junk with terrible colors. Now however, the Kodak Portra-800 is an amazing film and I wish I could just keep shooting as much of it as I'd like. It just isn't in my budget! 

I am slowly but surely adjusting to the terrible viewfinder of the GH3. I say that because after shooting with a Leica rangefinder for fifteen years, the GH3 can't compare. The good news is that I am starting to take a few images which I think I would have missed if I was still shooting film. Despite Garry Winogrand's famous line "There are no pictures while I reload" there are plenty! I have missed many images when the roll runs out. Its not worth discussing it's so obvious. At least if I keep an eye on the battery power, I can usually shoot to my heart's content. I have yet to see how wonderful my digital images will look when printed, but hopefully

they will be OK.

How much film would you estimate is in your archives?

I guess I have shot around 10,000 rolls of film, and I'm not sure if that's a lot, but it's enough to keep me busy for the rest of my life! Every time I go back to my loose leafs full of negs, I find new ones I never printed or scanned. The new ones are very rewarding, and I know that I will never have that experience with digital, but I also think I edit my work differently these days. It takes a lot more to satisfy me and that is a good thing...I could go on and on, but enough said.

What do you look for on the street?

On the street I just keep my eyes open. I see motion and emotion. That's my 2¢...I wish I saw as many things as you do inside the viewfinder but I guess I just wait and pounce.

You seem to have a lot of photos of fights. I don't know if that's conscious or not but maybe they attract you? Or tension attracts you?

Well, I have over 150 fight snaps in a folder so a book would be easy to lay out. I grew up with a best friend who became a boxer and he's always slapped me upside my head. Maybe all the slap boxing is still in my psyche, I don't know. I just love freezing action.

Are you planning a book of the Fight photos?

I'm dreaming of at least five more books. That's not a lot when you consider the amount of pictures I've taken. The "Fight book" would certainly be one which would get handled by the teenagers at Barnes & Noble. It would be hard for me to explain its importance to a normal publisher, but hopefully one who understands photography would see the book as one which would be very unique.

The film made reference to a New York photo club of some sort. With Dave Beckerman? What's that about?

I like meeting photographers. No club I'm part of. I use to bump into Jeff Mermelstein since he lived in my neighborhood. I hired Beckerman in 2005 to shoot some pics of me and my kid at the zoo. I had almost no pictures of myself and thought it would a good investment. Dave is the quintessential New Yorker in the classic sense. He grew up in the Bronx of the1950s and has countless stories which he should write about!

So you don't have others to share work prints with in NY? Is most of your feedback and interactions online?

Online photography is weird. It gets kind of depressing sometimes as I see a lot of silly squabbles erupt between photographers. There's way too much to sift through so I really don't look at very much work these days. Beckerman is pretty amazing in the sense that he almost never looks at other people's work.

I guess not looking at other work cuts both ways. You don't contaminate your vision, but you don't expose yourself to a lot of new ideas either.

Who buys your work mostly? Photography buffs? Or people into New York scenes? Or others?

I find mostly my older images get purchased for documentary uses.

So when someone orders an older print, that's when you go back to the darkroom? Or you have extras printed for most of them already?

The market is very strange. I wonder what the angle is that I haven't tried.

I'm the wrong person to answer that. 

I have become reticent to sell my better silver prints. So much work went into making them and many are on papers which no longer exist, like Agfa Portriga which was a beautiful paper. I just bring my Imacon scans which are pretty good to a local lab and let them print them for me. Then sign them and ship them in a tube. Its simple but my prices are way too low.

Beckerman helped me with the new site which does need an overhaul. Markus Hartel is going to publish a digital version of my book for iPad users on iTunes. I think it'll sell for $7.

You're going for many different distribution points it seems. I guess that's what it takes. I don't really enjoy looking at books on a screen but that's just me. Personal preference.

Have you ever shot outside NY?

I always shoot when I get out of the city...Only made it out to California once in 1992. That was a nice thing to do. I shot 53 rolls in 30 days and thought that I had been productive! I would shoot a lot more if I ever did it again...

53 rolls is small? 

53 rolls in a month traveling to places where you're never going to be again, is a paltry amount I think. When one is young I think everything seems to be less urgent...I always wish I had shot more back in the "days".

I have a large library and at this point in time, my daughter seems to have no interest in my books. The photobook scene is also a bit out of hand. Wall Street money made many titles unaffordable and there are 100s of new books being self published all the time which is nice, but impossible to keep up with...

Which 5 would you take to a desert island?

I hate to seem so fucking predictable but The Americans is probably the first book I'd grab off a sinking ship. American Photographs by Walker Evans....Szarkowski's Wino book, Figments From The Real World. The Decisive Moment (Original edition). Very hard to pick the fifth book. Number five might have to be a large retrospective on W Eugene Smith.

You mention Figments. Have you seen the new Winogrand book? Or the show at the Met?

Of course I bought the book, and saw the show twice. It's always nice to see a few new pictures from someone that you're so familiar with.

But you'd still take Figments instead? So it sounds like the new edit didn't add to your appreciation?

Winogrand's 1964 exhibit was very satisfying as was the book!

That book is great. He was peaking in the mid 60s. Seeing well.

The new book wasn't printed all that well. Figments was a better edit I think. After all Szarkowski did the book. I still enjoyed the new snaps a lot. I'd like to think that I was at the zoo while he was taking those epic pictures. My grandma took me there all the time in '64.

Were you the kid doing the somersault on the railing? No, just kidding. I think that was Ethan Winogrand.

A young Matt Weber?, Garry Winogrand

I was there but my grandma was taking blurry pictures of me with her Kodak Retina. I still have that camera. I wish she had a Leica since she was German...

Was she an active photographer?

No, she was awful but tried constantly to document me. I shot with her camera in the late 60s and up until '72 and then stopped for 12 years. From 1972-1984 I shot one roll of film. I regret that!

What age were you then and why did you stop?

I was 15 and started hanging out with people who did not like cameras. I saw so much crazy stuff that it really is painful to think of what might have been.

The Central Park years you mentioned earlier. But of course you can't regret that. If you'd photographed it, the whole experience might have been altered in some fundamental way. Photography has a tendency to do that. I never photographed much of anything until age 24. There was a lot of teen stuff before that which would've made great photos. But it was fun anyway. Maybe funner.

True, but I saw historical stuff which wasn't documented very much and I tend to worry about the ones I missed. There are a handful of images seared into my brain which I missed for various reasons. They often haunt me...You must have one or two that you know woulda been epic, right?

Yes I've missed plenty but nothing historical. I usually stew over missed shots for an hour or two. Occasionally they will get in my head enough to create problems shooting, but after a few days I forget. Can't remember any as I write this. What history are you talking about?

August 6th 1989 I left my house to go to Jersey and a BBQ. At midnight I was dropping off a friend in the east village and the Tompkins Sq. Park riot had just begun. I had no camera and there was a lot of blood. I watched a cop in riot gear just destroy some poor guy who was begging for mercy. The cop had his big visor on and the billy club just kept crashing down on the guy. I was in the safety of my cab and with NO camera! The next night on the news I saw myself on TV staring at the same guy being beaten!

You didn't carry a camera with you in the cab?

I decided not to on that one night. Just to enjoy my friend's company! Murphy's law in effect I guess. I learned my lesson...I never left home again without a camera!

Did you shoot many photos while on cab duty?

Yes, I shot constantly. A 50mm and a 200mm since I was stuck in the car.

How does shooting from a cab differ from shooting on foot? Could you actually see stuff as you drove by? Or just during stops?

I'm the best driver I know, or at least I was. I shoot through the windshield and windows on the highways and streets. I got good at shooting people at night since 3200 TMax had just hit the market in '88...It took a few years to relearn how to shoot on the street without the cab. I finally figured it out around the year 2000.

I have a camera with me in the car always. But it is usually difficult to get good photos. If I see something really tasty I need to look for a parking place and by then the moment has passed. Freeway shooting is easier for me. But less good subject matter.

Why do you mention the years 72-84 as nonshooting. I know you resumed shooting after 1984. But were you taking photos before 1972. As a young kid?

Yes, from '68-'72 it was a hobby and I shot mostly Tri-X and a few rolls of Kodachrome The Extachrome and Agfachrom and also the Anscochrome slides all faded badly to pink. I sold this one (below) twice recently!

Wow! Not bad for a 14 year old. And you were a painter too? So you were an artsy kid from an early age. What's the film Across 110th St.? I guess I should look it up.

Anthony Quinn and it's not an incredible film but if you like old NYC footage then it's worth it. A lot of heroin and dirty cops in the movie...

Why did you get into photography as a 10 year old? I suppose I should've asked that question way back at the beginning. You took up photography at 10 and had an art tutor at 14. Was that coming from your folks? Or were you a young prodigy?

I don't think I was that talented but I wanted to paint and then when I went to Music and Art high school up in Harlem in 1972 I met some other guys who were starting to write graffiti. I went from oil painting to spray painting which is something I probably shouldn't have done.

I just heard a long interview with Shepard Fairey. It was NY graffiti which inspired him to become an artist. He did graffiti for a while then graphic design, RISD, etc, and the rest is history. Just saying, graffiti has a tradition and a place in the art world. I mean, think of fucking Banksy...

But painting came after photography for you, right? Why did you start in photography? What was going through your child brain?

Painting was something which I think made me parents happy. It was certainly an art and photography seemed like a hobby in those days. There are a handful of guys who I wrote with, that have become very famous...

You were a writer too?

No, I tried but nothing to speak of.

Matt Weber with Kodak 126 Instamatic, Circa 1970, Photographer Unknown

I'm putting the dates together. You went to music and art school in 1972, the same year you stopped doing photography. So the school didn't focus on photography as an outlet? Or am I wrong? And did you study music there too?

No just art and academics. I dropped out in '74 which was another bad move. In 1975 I took a photography course in black and white but I didn't get excited and never pursued it. That does bother me!

Did you finish high school somewhere else?

Not really, I just begged them to let me take the G.E.D test at 17 which was one year early, and I passed it so I got a bullshit fake diploma...

It amounts to the same thing. I've got a diploma but it's not like it has any bearing on my daily life. My photos would look exactly the same regardless of any paper forms.

Some photographers swear by their mentors who taught them. Being self taught I wonder what my pictures would be like if I had had a brilliant teacher...

They'd look like the teacher's photos. Maybe.That's the Beckerman philosophy right? There are many paths. No right or wrong way to make pictures.

I agree, but would hate to be trying to emulate someone else.

What do you think your photos are mostly about? Do they express what you've seen and recorded? Or do you think they are more about New York and documenting historic scenes? Or some combination?

I like to think they are about everything. I know that is not a great answer, but I have been trying to make interesting pictures of every type I can possibly find out on the street. Happy, sad, funny, somber, landscapes, subways, nights, lovers and of course Coney Island.

You seem to live in the past a bit. Several times in the discussion you've expressed regret for certain actions or lack of them. And your photos harken back to an earlier age in their style. Is that just a photographic thing? Do all of us photographers look in the rear view mirror by necessity? 

It's true that I have some regrets. I am very happy that I took the pictures I did, but life is short and things change in this town very rapidly. I spent countless hours trying to unwind from the stress of driving a taxi seven days a week by watching Yankee games. As if Don Mattingly's next at bat was of great national importance. There was this crazy city, and yes I shot a lot of film, but I wish I had shot more. You only get one crack at this. Walker Evans spent a lot of his energy capturing what was left of the nineteenth century. I loved his work, but I'm not sure why my approach was similar. I was able to find quite a bit from his time that the wrecking ball had yet to destroy. I loved the old city and its signage was still to be seen in a few of the poorer neighborhoods. Harlem was still Harlem, and the lower east side was a disaster zone. "Alphabet City" was as bad as just about any part of New York and I had some hairy moments in my cab trying to avoid being robbed. The city looked like a war zone in many places and I suppose that's a good thing photographically. Maybe not.

Every photographer becomes aware of there fact that his camera is a virtual time machine. After a few years, you start looking at negatives or images of people who are either dead, or look much older. Kids are grown up and the elders are gone. The buildings which were just part of the background are all of a sudden historical artifacts. It really does happen in every city I'm sure.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Or 10?

I have said this countless times and I don't think it's a lot to ask. I would like to sell enough images or prints to pay my bills. There was never any doubt that I was doing this for reasons that had nothing to do with money, but life in New York is becoming absurdly expensive and I would love to stop living month to month. I've been scraping by since I moved out in 1975 as a seventeen year old drop out. A friend of mine recently said something rather astute. He said "We were the last generation that would be able to skate through life, just on our wits." Now one must be completely bona fide if they think they can thrive in New York. High school drop outs need not apply.

(All photos above by Matt Weber unless otherwise noted)

iPhone Glossary

(Sources: Selfie, Shelfie, Stealthy, Cellfree)

Where I've been reading lately

SEO Tips

As one of the premier bloggers in the central valley of lower western Oregon, I'm often asked about my success building audience and generating pageviews. In the past eight years I've gone from the early days of just one or two pageviews daily to becoming relatively popular. Often I need both hands now to count all the pageviews, assuming one of my hands isn't busy doing something else. And assuming my hands are clean. Sometimes I run out of fingers entirely.     

Naturally many people are curious about my empire."How do you do it?" they ask. I usually just shrug as if to say, Aw, shucks. It ain't nothing. 

But the thing about the internet is, people can't see you shrug. More importantly, it's not true that building audience ain't nothing. It's something! My success is no accident. It's come about gradually through diligence and long term strategic thinking. And I've been taking notes along the way. What follows are some tips for other bloggers looking to build audience share. Weight Loss.

Lesson number one is that most people will find you through search engines. These days that's usually Google, so you need to structure your blog to appear in Google's results. That's the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) game, and there are many different approaches. I use a few strategies. 

First, before analyzing search results, it helps to know what people are looking for. As of this writing the ten most common phrases entered into Google Search are (in descending order): Beer, Puppies, Oprah, Pizza Delivery, UFO, Justin Bieber, Maracanazo, Weight Loss, Malaysian Airlines, and Mail Order Brides. No matter what I write I make an effort to include at least one of those phrases in every post. Often I include several, if I feel I can safely do so without detracting from my message. I suggest you do the same. 

Note that this list will shift over time. You should check in every few weeks to see what's current, and adjust your keywords accordingly. Three weeks ago Mail Order Brides was down near 30 on the list. But that was before the recent turmoil in Yemen. I'm just saying, things can change quickly. That's lesson one. 

Lesson two, never insult your reader's intelligence. Don't write down to them. Don't write up to them. Presume their outlook and experience is similar to yours. You might think of them as a friend in the next room. And even though that room is separated by 3,000 miles of fiber optic cable, you're still BFF roomies, right? But this roomie comes with a bonus plan. Because unlike a person in the next room, this roomie can be a pageview too. That's two roomies with one stone. The takehome lesson is, Treasure your readers and they will love you back.

Another method of SEO is through creative misspellings. Damn, people are idiots sometimes. You wouldn't believe the shit they type. Words like Gougle, Facfbook, Tumbler, Flicker, Camra, and Photgraphy turn up all the time in Google Search. The untrained observer might dismiss these as harmless accidents. But for a blogger leveraging exposure these typos are solid gold. Not only are they commonly entered into search engines, there are very few other blogs likely to use these words. This means that if your posts contain them, searchers will be directed to you! They will often be new readers and potential acolytes. Unconverted browsers! It's like Manna from Google heaven. So I make an effort to include a few misspellings in evry pst. 

That's all fine, but SEO manipulation can only get you so far. I gotta be honest. When it comes to attracting viewers the alltime champion is still pussy. Nothing rakes in eyeballs like a naked vagina.

So I try to include at least one of those in every post. UFO. Every time I add a photo like this the pageviews jump 30%, no kidding. If you want to be artsy about it you can show a more sedate version. 

Lee Friedlander

Use whatever style you want. Go with your gut. The choice is yours. Just remember the bottom line: Sex = Readers.

But pussy isn't enough. I've been at this long enough to realize that about half my readership isn't attracted to that. They want cock instead. Give the people what they want!

In every post I try to show at least one cock. If I'm including a vagina also in the post I always put a few paragraphs between the two. Just so they're not right on top of each other. Just remember, the reader is king. You've got to listen to them, then respond to their needs. You're not the boss. They are. A lot of them have been stuck in a dark room with a computer for hours. If they are hungry for flesh, it's not your place to question that. Your place is to serve the best photoblog possible.

The artsy method mentioned above applies equally to cock. No need to go fullbore mushroom cloud. Use a restrained photograph if that's what you prefer. In fact I find that a well composed portrait of a stiff cock in black and white can give a post a real touch of class. 

Peter Hujar

I know what you're thinking. This is supposed to be a blog about photography, right? Not sex parts. Relax. Pizza Delivery. The genitalia is just a tool to bring in readers. They come for the pussy but they stay for the writing. That's the idea anyway. 

Hey, I'm down here now. You can stop scrolling up.

One way to gradually transition people from sex into the photo essay you really want them to read is to add a camera to the money shot. For my blog, I find that most readers respond well to old Leica cameras. So that's generally the juxtaposition I go for. I place the camera strategically in the photo. There's an art to the placement so play around and see what works. Ultimately your choice will depend on your specific needs and readership.

If you've been paying close attention, you might be inclined to take the next step and add a Leica to a cock photo. Please don't! I've tried it and I can tell you it doesn't work. It's way too phallic, at least for my readers.

This may be a good time to address the issue of Not Safe For Work (NSFW) images. After all, a blog post full of porn could get someone in trouble if read under the wrong circumstances. What if a big cock appears on your screen without warning, right in front of the boss? Unless you work in a condom factory that's a potential problem. Even a Lee Friedlander nude might not fly if your coworkers are total prudes. 

I have a simple answer to this: Fuck those readers. Why is someone reading your blog at work? Shouldn't they be working? If you are reading this you are not working. You are looking at a Leica straddled by a nude model. So close the page and read it later. Malaysian Airlines. I'm shrugging right now but you can't see it. 

I try to foster this behavior with the timing of my posts. Most of them are written in the early morning hours, just after I've gotten home from nightly rounds checking in with my dealers. That's when I can finally relax, pop some M, and blog. By the time the posts go live it's generally 3 or 4 am. Who is working then? That timing is no accident. It's by plan. It's all for the benefit of the reader (not) at work.

If a reader insists on browsing at work, there are suitable places. They can take a laptop into a bathroom stall or a closet, or view it on a small phone only visible to them. Oprah. They can take a few coworkers into that closet. Whatever. The point is, there are options. But don't let the onus to decipher them fall on you. Let it fall on the reader. 

Maracanazo!

All of which leads us to the primary reason to analyze readership: Target Audience Delineation. You've got all these people visiting your site. But most of them are innocent photo buffs, and most photo buffs are poor tightwads. There's no money. How are you going to separate them from the drugs and weapons dealers that you really want to reach? 

That's the central question, but it goes beyond that. Dealers might find your blog but how do they know you're a legit wholesaler? How do you they know you're for real and not just acting like a photoblogger who sells weapons on the side? Maracanazo. Blogger my ass! This is why I always establish a keyword ahead of time. Make sure everyone agrees on the word and there is no confusion. Maracanazo! Maracanazo! Then the order of events pretty well takes care of itself. The dealer enters your keyword into a search engine. Google returns your site in the results. The dealer goes to your page, then uses the pre-arranged decoder algorithm to verify your identity and locate the drop site. You arrange the timing and payment terms. The contraband is delivered. You pick it up, then spend the rest of the night blogging. Voila! That's Target Audience Delineation in a nutshell. Maracanazo.

What's your key word? What's the secret digital handshake? Do I need to do everything for you? You and I know it's just a front for discussing photos. Puppies. Why can't we leave it at that and move on? 

I know what you're thinking. With the use of weapons and porn, isn't there a risk of scaring some readers away? What if they don't care for those subjects? What if they just want to read about photography? Trust me, if you haven't scared them away by now they're in it for the long haul. Beer.

Mark Alor Powell: What Was He Thinking?

Mark Alor Powell is a photographer based in Mexico City. 

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This was taken at the Jardín Ramon Lopez Velarde Park in Mexico City. There are a lot of civic projects from the past to promote exercise. A lot have fallen to the wayside but sometimes you see a determined person making the best of what is available. I saw this guy using a log to do some bench presses and simply waited for his down stroke to shoot (he was aware of my presence, but continued to focus on his exercise). I consciously did not want to see his face in the shot. I talked to him afterwards and he told me he was a male nurse and a physical therapist in a hospital nearby for people recovering from heart surgery. I noticed a few days afterwards passing through the park that this same log was left nearby leaning against a tree for the people to reuse.   

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I approached and started to chat with some Norteño musicians in the part of Mexico City known as Iztapalapa. They had been drinking and told me they were waiting for the next round or for some new clients to pick them up for a party. It wasn't real clear, but it seems musicians have their spots, their territories to wait for potential customers —it is almost pimp-like. In any case, another musician walked over and exchanged a few words and there was a shove and I got my camera ready and then a punch which I blindly shot without looking through my viewfinder and shot from my chest. It wasn't until later after I left them that I looked into my camera and saw I got something interesting.  

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I saw this guy at a pay phone and he had probably just got some dry cleaning done. I simply stooped down a little as he propped his shirt outside the phone box. I have noticed photographing people as they talk on phones is always a vulnerable (advantageous) time. People seem to let you photograph because they have no way to explain it to the person on the other side and prefer not to stop their own conversation. 

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This is an outtake from a fashion shoot I was doing in Mexico City at the Casa Barragan. The model name is Sofia de Lara, famously known for her American Apparel work. I have had the opportunity to photograph her off and on over the years and it is interesting each time. My camera was pointing directly into the sun (underexposing).  It made a great lens flare. Interestingly my client passed this shot for more obvious shots, yet it was my easy favorite on that day of shooting. Often times it is hard to work in fashion because the expectations seem to work against the grain of what you see and want. Though I think it is best to not give in to these expectations and take risks because the photography will always be fresh and better. I have had to learn this lesson many times. 

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I was hanging out in Iztapalapa, El Faro del Oriente art school and this dog (xoloitzcuintle) was sunning himself in the late morning winter Mexico City sun. There are quite a few sculptures from the previous year Day of the Dead celebration discarded throughout the campus and as I approached the dog to get a shot the dog got nervous and jumped off —I took a quick shot from my chest and turned it into something better than what I expected. 

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I was in Monterrey, Mexico. This city seems to be on its nerves from the recent narco-drug violence and insecurities within the city limits. I was photographing a scene in front of a civic building and I could tell this security card was getting nervous with my presence. I often wear a camouflage hat (my lucky hat) while I photograph in the street. I thought maybe he thought I was from Los Zetas (a well armed narco faction in Mexico) or something.  He was covering his eyes to shade his eyes from the sun and I approached him to ease his mind and told him I was photographing the traffic signals because they were fascinating and old looking. Then I noticed he had two thumbs. I told him his thumbs were amazing and told him that in some cultures in the past he would be considered a god. Please please let me take a picture. As I told him to stand still and I lifted my camera and he naturally placed his hand on his chest. I took two shots and thanked him profusely and we gave each other a high five/six.   

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For a long time I would see these twin sister ladies in my neighborhood and I was fascinated with them, but I was always a little hesitant about approaching them to photograph. I didn't want something Kubrick or Arbus like, but really just enjoyed seeing them every time. They always walked together, dressed the same and lived together in an apartment near my apartment in La Juarez. One day I was sitting in the La Glorieta de Insurgentes in La Zona Rosa (where they filmed a scene from Total Recall, the part where Arnold Schwarzenegger meets the robot taxi driver in a chase scene) with my wife and she says to me "Look at them!" I suddenly found myself jumping to my feet following them from behind taking a few shots. I jumped on a cement bench and lifted my camera to my face —at this same moment they paused, I don't know why, to look at the sculpture (it is the bust of the founder of the subway in Mexico City).  It was one of those moments when you feel that the world nerve point is neither here nor there, no cause or effect exists and everything fits together just because. At first I thought the shot was imperfect because I could not see clearly see both twins, but then it really grew on me. 

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I was on a editorial assignment photographing the artist Francis Alys in Mexico City at his studio in the historic downtown (El Centro).  I am a big fan of his work, so I was excited to meet him and see where he actually works. The writer went to sit Francis down for an interview and I was left free to wander his studio. Before he left, he told me to not photograph any of his art pieces or work in his workshop, but I was free to wander. I actually was not at all interested what he was working on but wanted to see behind the scenes  I started noticed that even his personal and day to day objects were like displays in themselves, mini refections, stills and contemplative scenes —all seemed to have purpose, even the places where dust was not cleaned seemed to be left undusted for a reason.  I thought that there was really no division between what was work and not work in this space. All was in a process of exercise, expression or contemplation. It was like a purposeful creative OCD. I wandered in his bedroom and found his pants on the bed. I took a picture and it felt like I found a little performance.  

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I was photographing in the park in Aragon, Mexico City and there was this area inside the park where an old railroad bridge stretches across a lake full of green algae. I started to hear these slapping sounds and noticed a man crossing the bridge from underneath. After I took a couple photographs, he quickly disappeared in the tree brush on the other side down a narrow path. I asked a hot dog vendor near the bridge if he saw it and he told me that this guy does this several times a week without fanfare, he lives in the neighborhood on the other side of the park and this is probably just a shortcut. The bridge is old and the tiles are broken on top, so this guy just practically crawls underneath.