Earth Crisis in ATL
My friends Chris and Jimmy are filling in on guitar and bass for a month-long tour with the seminal hardcore band Earth Crisis. I was really looking forward to not only seeing EC again but seeing two of my friends play in the band. EC’s original show in ATL fell through but thanks to some locals they were able to quickly put together a show with three local bands that turned out to be a very fun night reminiscent of the good ol’ hardcore shows I grew up going to in North Carolina. Here are some pics from the night.
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Return to the South
Back in the South and loving it. Deciding to quit our jobs and move the family back to Atlanta was not an easy one nor was it made in haste. But we’ve been back for a month now and it was definitely the right decision. Jenn is teaching at the Aveda Institute and I’m working as a freelance photographer being represented by Redux Pictures. Come visit. Give Atlanta a chance.
Take Me to the Deep South
The first trip of the year for The Joneses was to Atlanta, a place that holds a special place in our heart. We were married there in 2007 and moved to NYC from there shortly after our wedding. We still have many friends there and do not get back nearly as much as we would like. On this trip we of course ate plenty of great vegan cuisine, were inspired by the city’s ambition with the new Beltline project and were reminded why not having a car can actually be a privilege. Our Southern blood still flows strong.
The night before we were set to fly back to NYC, my good friend Matt Miller (MPB, Five Mile Grace) and I made the drive up to Lawrenceville, Ga. where we met our fellow hardcore straight edge compadré Tony Price for the Foundation, Naysayer, Come Back Kid show. Matt was shooting the show for Foundation’s upcoming debut release on Bridge Nine Records. I couldn’t help but shoot some pictures as well. Other pictures from the trip are on FB.
The Millers Got Married
On Friday the 13th of this month my friends Matt & Danielle got married here in Central Park. It was a blast of course with a bunch of friends from ATL great vegan food. My friends Jesse and Whitney from Our Labor of Love, whom I used to work with, shot the joint. So check out the Smilebooth photos.
Matt is my boy and since I wasn’t officially shooting his wedding, I wanted to do a little something different. So I brought my Holga, a flash and a few rolls of film and did something a little different. It looks a little something like this.
Stay tuned for more.
Georgia
Jenn and I made a last minute trip to Atlanta last weekend. We were kind of feeling trapped in the concrete jungle so we bought tickets and flew down the next day. It was a great relaxing time. Did I mention there are two Soul Vegetarians in Atlanta. If you’re vegetarian and didn’t know that you need to be slapped.
Soul Vegetarian
But when I can't get out of the city, Central Park is always a great escape where you can really feel like you've stepped outside of the city. Check it out.
Hotel Photoshoot
So I just got back from a great trip in Philadelphia. I photographed my friend EMS’s wedding and hung out with some great friends. I’ll have pictures from the trip up very soon.
In project news, Out of Step: Faces of Straight Edge officially has a designer for the book. Tony Price, who also did the latest flyer for the project, has signed on as to design the book. Tony is a great graphic designer and an old Vegan Straight Edge comrade from Atlanta. Stay tuned for more news.
Here are some pictures from a shoot I had a week or two ago in Atlanta. I photographed a guy named Bryce Ward from New York who was down south on assignment with the amazing David Burnett.
Book Information and Release Party Art Show
Out of Step: Faces of Straight Edge is a 139 page book of black and white photographs. Faces of Straight Edge offers glimpse into the straight edge community nearly 25 years after this subculture formed its roots. All photographs were shot during a 20 month period from 2006-2007 by Raymond McCrea Jones. The book was published by Empire Press on Oct. 6, 2007 and is available online at places like Empire Press, Amazon.com, Very Distro, and Surprise Attack Records.
Out of Step: Faces of Straight Edge
myspace.com/straightedgedocumentary
Opening Night
When: October 6, 2007
Where: Young Blood Gallery
629 Glenwood Ave SE
Atlanta, GA 30312
What: Opening night of the solo exhibition of photographs featured in Out of Step: Faces of Straight Edge and official release party for the book. All original prints will be for sale and the book will be for sale as well.
Who: Everyone is invited. Please come and party with us and show your support. Young Blood Gallery
Primo Post
So this is a journal of the project. So I’m just going to try to be as personal and straight forward as I can. Hopefully it will do a decent job of letting you learn more about the project, why I’m doing it, how I work. And it will probably be good for me as well.
I sarted this project in early 2006. I had already been doing photography for many years by then and had been straight edge even longer. I had this idea for a project for quite a while. As I got more involved in photography and crafted my skills more and more I realized that photography wasn’t only a job for me, but it was my way of exploring and learning about the world. I was always pretty shy as a kid, but now with my camera and my new found talent I was doing things I never imagined I would do. Making pictures allowed an exclusive insight to the world. And it allowed me a way to show everyone how I see it.
So one day I just decided I might as well get started with this project. What better time than now? I was also in a anthropological/sociological/photo class with a photographer named Bill Bamberger at Carolina. So I decided since I was starting this photo project I might as well use it for the class.
Doing my own photography book has always been a dream of mine, although it’s very hard these days to actually get one published. But I talked with my good friend Dave Anthem, of Prayer For Cleansing fame, who runs Southern Empire Records and now Empire Press and told him about what I was doing. He was into it so we decided to go for it, and things started falling into place.
So it’s been doing this all on my own, funding everything myself and managing all the logistics and everything but its been great. And now we’re approaching the release. So that in short is the life of the project to this day. I am still photographing for the book although I only have a few weeks left. Check the categories for more information and come back to the blog for updates often.
Ray
P.S. Matt Miller and I went on a midnight search through Atlanta the other night looking for picturesque vistas of the city. We found one good one but I’m not completely satisfied. I know there’s a better one out there.
This is what I walked away with from the night. Canon 5D, 15 sec. @ f/11, ISO 100, 28-70 f/2.8L