Graham Walzer

All was well as we took off. I was enamored by the plane, its large
turbines glinting in the light. Everyone was excited to go to Hawaii. A mythical island in the middle of the ocean. We flew over the ocean for hours and hours. I couldn’t figure it out. If we had to land, where would we go? Occasionally I thought I saw a ship but I’m sure
I was dreaming, we were thirty thousand feet up.

I fell asleep as the excitement and five hour flight wore me out. I
woke up to the fasten seat belt and the garbled pilot voice
announcing our decent. That’s when it happened. While my sister and mom happily titled about our tropical events, I started to feel a pressure in my ear. Every foot we dropped towards the tarmac
felt like asphalt was being pressed into my brain through my ear
canal. I began whimpering. My family’s chattering stopped. More
altitude loss meant more pressure and more head splitting pain. The
whimper turned into a wail. I was screaming in hopes the pain driven
into my ear would leave through my mouth.

My mom was trying to console me. “Its gonna be okay. You just need to pop your ears hunny.” Mother’s intuition, she knew. She was clutching my hands with a pleading look in her eyes. The screams of pain began to get the attention of the whole cast of tourists on the 747. My dad looked stunned, my sister petrified. They had never hear my cry so hard, like I was sacrificing these tears in exchange for my life. “Give him a piece of gum, he just need to release the pressure in his ears.” Fifth row back, third seat over chimes in. I was grabbing the side of my head rocking back and forth with blinding pain at my ear.

They give me gum. I chew more furiously than any other child in
history. I chomped on that stick of Juicy Fruit like my life depended
on it. And that’s how it felt. But this wasn’t enough. “Explain him
how to pop his ears.” How do you give directions in ear popping? I was
told to open my mouth as wide as possible and swallow as hard as I
could. No, I didn’t have to chew the flavorless yellow stick anymore.
Finally, as I saw my life flashing before my eyes, we come into contact
with the ground. My ears making a little clicking side inside my head. The pressure evaporates, the pain with it.I open my eyes, struck with
relief, the last tears dribbling down my cheek.

I still can’t stop opening my mouth and swallowing. I can’t comprehend how this little motion took the pain of the world off my brain. People stumble off the plane to more beautiful tan Hawaiian woman than a eight year old has ever seen. Placing lays around our necks, kissing our faces and purring aloha softly into our ears.

Change the Flow

By Graham Walzer on August 31, 2010

It has been a while since I have written anything substantial about my work or process. And that’s why we are here, to talk about process. As graduation came I couldn’t image how I was going to continue my work flow. Shoot medium format, get film processed for free, scan for free. Everything was free except purchasing film.

After graduation, I did not have a job, I did not come into an unexpected inheritance, I do not have a trust fund to support my monetarily tolling photography love. It was a drag but what could I do? Do what humans were made to do, improvise. I picked up my 5 year old digital camera and went to work. With film, it was very methodical and precise; slow and deliberate. The magic was there, it was just in the form of not seeing the photos right away, and waiting for the unexpected surprises.

My shooting now is like making ice sculptures with a chainsaw. Charged, rapid, intense. Then, quiet pauses of adjustments, visions, and then, more sculpting. The photographs I have made in the last few months feel more alive for me. More energy and more of….something else I cant describe. I am excited for this new work, it feels alive. And I am curious to see where it goes.

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Fatherhood

By Graham Walzer on July 16, 2010

Images from the past week. Working toward my project about my Father.

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Dad, mom and everything in between

By Graham Walzer on June 21, 2010

I feel like it has been forever since I have posted on here. And now that I think about it, it has. There is a lot to catch up on but I will keep it to the photography realm.

I am back in Los Angeles after driving from New York with Nate. I have a large zip lock bag of film staring at me every time I go into my room. It is a painful reminded that my film can not get processed for free, I do not have a scanner and no monetarily feasible way to process/scan/edit my film. But that is all the bad stuff. Now that I have accepted that, I can mentally move forward with my photographs.

My mother and I have always had a deep emotional connection. She is a therapist and a great listener. We can have a great time talking about feelings and hopes and dreams and all that jazz. We connect by just talking. But my father and I have a different dynamic. This could be because we are both males and assume the roles of not talking about lots of “deep” things or… I don’t really know. But the way we connect is through activities. We will go on walks, take trips, or just recently, golfing. I have worked on a project in the past titled “The Walzers” about my dad and his side of the family. I worked on this causally when I would come home for the holidays. And now that I am back home it seems like a great time to step up my thought process and work ethic through this project. I rediscover a manual 35mm camera in my closet and have been shooting a lot. I dropped off four rolls of film today, guiltily at walgreens. In the next couple days, I will have low res scans (scans none the less) of new photographs taken by me. I am excited.
And now for your visual aid, with more to come soon.

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Cycling

By Graham Walzer on April 20, 2010

Four weeks of college left. I’m excited and scared(duh). I think many people are realizing how our whole world will change. Both positive and negative things in my life will be removed. I will be creating a new-old life in Los Angeles. Much to prepare and be excited for. Website, portfolio, scans, printing, friends, and the wrap up. I know people go through this every year and I remember friends from last year who were graduating. They freaked out too. I guess its just a part of the cycle. Change, pain, growth.

Our senior show is in two weeks and graduation two after that.

and I am still (trying) to create new work.

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RIT’s Senior Fine Art Photo show

By Graham Walzer on April 20, 2010

The exhibit will be at Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester NY. 421 University Ave.

The Opening is on Friday, May 7th, 2010.
From 6pm to 9pm.

The Gallery will also be open every Saturday and Sunday from May 8th through May 22nd from 12pm to 5 pm.

Closing Reception will be May 22nd (Graduation Day)

Participating Graduating Seniors include:

Nadia Adams, James Burney, Robert Carr, Rosie Dauval, Allie Ellis, Alexander Evans, Michael Gaffney, Greg Gentert, Nikki Graziano, Sierra Grennan, Carter Johnston, Greg Jones, Matt Kelley, Dylan Knapp, Yugang Luo, Katie Martin, David Ohl, Jessica Pierotti, Anna Raugalis, Adam Ryan, Zack Shepard, Laura Slotkoff, Nathanael Turner, Georgi Unkovski, and Graham Walzer.

Bring Friends and any one else who wants to come!

A preview of all the work in the show here.

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TAZ

By Graham Walzer on April 9, 2010

At the end of the night, on our way home, we stumbled upon something great. Over one hundred cars and many more cars had amassed in a strip mall parking lot. This was their Temporary Autonomous Zone. They flexed after market exhausts and scarred the asphalt with their tires. The suburban car show. It brought me back to those summer nights of seeing and being seen. I was surprised the cops never showed. I got completely wrapped up in it and I just have to go back.

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Fear

By Graham Walzer on March 28, 2010

I have been focusing on portraits of people and things, mostly at night and with flash. I see these as photographing memories or feelings.

The night I made these photographs, I had been driving around suburbia alone. The further from the city I got, the darker it became. My childhood fear of the dark came creeping back. I pointed my camera and flash into the night, and popped it. I hoped I wouldn’t illuminate a masked man awaiting me in the night.

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Draft Magazine opening

By Graham Walzer on March 19, 2010

Matt Kelley, Eduardo Javier, K. Nicole Murtagh and myself curated 7th annual Draft Magazine. The opening for the magazine is 2WEEKS away. Busy exited and scared. Join us for the Draft Magazine Release Show. Opening April 2nd 8-11pm at the Hungerford Building Suite E258, 1115 E. Main Street Rochester NY 14609. Also, more information, directions and an archive of all the past DRAFT issues is available on the new website. DraftMag.org

Photographs by Lisa Adamucci, Dan Allegretto, Masa Bajc, Trevor Clement, Michael Conti, Alex Evans, Greg Gentert, Will Green, Kara Gwyn, Carter Johnston, Liz Kaufman, Dylan Knapp, Derin Korman, Eilliot Krasnopoler, Tyler Lewis, Nick Ludwig, Robert Luessen, Nick Marshall, Jake Miller, Jill Newman, Clara Norris, David Ohl, Ysa Perez, Nielson Tam, Chris Toalson, Nate Turner, Evan Witek, and Gean Yip

with an installation by Alexander Evans

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Fear and motivation

By Graham Walzer on March 15, 2010

For Fine Art (my last quarter of college!!!) this quarter I need to conceptually spin some project. I am an Artist, I know that. But the teacher I have now wants us to work on a conceptual project. I just want to work on an editorial portfolio.

After we graduate in ten weeks (!!!) I am moving back home to LA. There are a lot of important people that will be in New York, but I need to go back to the west. Can I shoot/exist in both? If I have friends and places to stay on both coasts, can I find work both places too? That is my game plan.

These photographs I made of from spring break’s road trip. This is Lukas and Knoxville, respectively.

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After Kate

By Graham Walzer on February 27, 2010

This quarter I worked on a project on my cousin Kate. My thought process was very literal at first, but as time went on, I tried to include less pictures of her face, and more things that I thought about. Or scenes that reminded me of her. I think the way it continues on, I want the photographs to act as reminders for me, but keep it open ended for others.

Right now, we are in New York City, on the beginning of a road trip that will take us through the south, back up through Knoxville, somewhere in Ohio and back to Rochester. I am excited to make pictures with Kate around. Pictures of Kate without her in them. Happy trails.