Xpress Cover & Essay: Basilica of Saint Lawrence

If you haven't seen it already, drop your latte and rush to the news stand for this week's Xpress. As if last week's Forbes/Cooper coverage of Occupy Asheville weren't awesome enough, this week includes not only a solidly DarkTopo cover shot, but my sprawling, vertically oriented double-truck photo essay on the Basilica of Saint Lawrence, side-by-side with David Forbes' account of the development controversy.

Oh, and a bunch more of my photos, too, including shots of US congressional debate between McHenry and Fortenberry.

It's been an awesome March, and we're not even to the Ides yet. Watch out, Caesar.

Asheville Argus makes the Disclaimer!

I was so caught up in the Occupy Asheville photos on the cover of the Xpress (and there are many, many more OA photos to come) that I completely forgot to mention a much more resonant and far-reaching accomplishment: The Argus has been Disclaimed.

You can find the hilarity in your nearest purple newsbox, or read it right here.

This is actually the second time that DarkTopo content has made it into the hallowed pages. The first was more indirect and had to do with Carl Mumpower (Photography pro tip: Need more light? Stand next to a lightning rod.).

The March continues . . .

Xpress Cover: Occupy Asheville

Hit the newstands yesterday with a superb piece by David Forbes. Get your copy on the street, or read the story here.

This is just part of a very busy month which I am privately calling the DarkTopo Month of Badass Photojournalism, or just "March" for short. Stay tuned.

DarkTopo featured on PulpFactor.com

PulpFactor has a nice selection of my work. This is only the beginning of the awesomeness that March will bring.

Xpress Covers & Flogging Molly

Just realized I've had a couple of Xpress covers I haven't posted. Guess I've been too busy wallowing in fortune and notoriety. Interestingly enough, both were holiday covers containing hands. In any event, I've started a new Xpress Covers label and moved the search box to the top of the sidebar for those of you who don't obsessively read every word of my blog.





Caught Flogging Molly at the Peel last night with The Bard, Mr. Pink, and Captains Hook and Destructo. I was going to make a post about it, but I don't have any photos, and it's kind of hard to think with this ringing in my ears. But I will say that it was brutally awesome.

Took an elbow to the head in the mosh pit and got my glasses smashed. This is a minor emergency, because I only have one spare pair of glasses, and I'm a worst-case-scenario kind of guy. Anyway, it made me look up my post from the last time we saw Flogging Molly, and the story is strikingly similar. The post is called "Is it the DT's or the devil that make you shake like that?"

Last . . . through out all of that, and with a long day slated for tomorrow (five shoots planned so far), Buck Compton is still in my thoughts.

'Buck' Compton Dead at 90

WaPo has the story, which I saw when Kyle Cassidy tweeted it. Compton fought not far from where Warner Anthony served as an army medic.

In other news, there's a new Springsteen album out. Terry Bellamy is running for Congress. City council meets tonight. Greenpeace solicitors are all over the place downtown. I shut them down when they talk to me, citing my need as a journalist to maintain my neutrality. So, to be consistent, I won't comment on how Buck Compton's death makes me feel, or how I see it so sharply in focus against the background of our country.

And, as always, the Boss says it better anyway:

Tonight, all the dead are here, so bring on your wrecking ball.

Sam Abell to speak at Randolph Community College, 28Feb2012

Sam freaking Abell will be speaking for free(!) at Randolph Community College on 28 Feb 2012. He'll be teaching his audience how to be good photographers. Unfortunately, at that exact time, Flogging freaking Molly will be speaking at the Orange Peel. They'll be teaching their audience how to be drunk and Irish.

If I hadn't bought tickets three months in advance, I'd probably choose Abell over FM. But I did, and my whole crew is going, so I can't miss it. Thought I'd pass along the press release just the same:



ASMP/NC and Randolph Community College host award-winning documentary photographer Sam Abell

Tuesday, February 28, 2012, at Randolph Community College, Asheboro, NC.. Social hour starts at 6:00 pm and the program starts at 7:00 PM

Sam Abell’s thirty-year career has been dedicated to achieving artistic expression through documentary photography. He has pursued his goals primarily through his lengthy, in-depth coverages for National Geographic magazine and its Book Division. At the same time, he has maintained a career as an artist, teacher, and author.

He has applied himself, particularly, to the photography of cultural landscape: He explores ways in which places can be purely recorded, with images simultaneously shaped by the photographer’s imagination.

In addition to his photography Mr. Abell is a member of the board of the director of the Santa Fe Center For Photography, the George Eastman House, and the University of Virginia Art Museum.

Currently Mr. Abell is photographing the Amazon headwaters for a book project. Mr. Abell is represented by the Kathleen Ewing Gallery, Washington DC.

You must register for this program at: http://abell.eventbrite.com