Haven’t been off-piste yet, but the slopes Charlotte and I skied all day yesterday here in Bansko were really, really nice. I’m continuously impressed with how well-prepared the pists are and even more so with how effective the lift system is. Aside from the wait to get on the gondola ride up the mountain from […]
In late 2021, just as the pandemic was tapering off, Charlotte and I had an interesting fall remote working as “digital nomads” from a sleepy seaside town in Croatia called Zadar. We made friends with a few folks while we were there, among them was Richard, a fellow nomad from the UK. One afternoon while […]
It’s not exactly a new year’s resolution, but I have promised myself that before I hit the 60 mark this July 22, I’ll have published no less than three new books. One is already on the finish line and if I don’t let myself get too distracted with other stuff, I feel justifiably confident that […]
I located this surface along the northwest corner of Beverly Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue while in Los Angeles this past October. There was a long stretch of beautifully layered postings and I probably spent the better part of an hour capturing a series of potential artifacts along the wall. I didn’t visit DTLA during my […]
It was about a year ago, while we were staying in Lisbon for a few months, that I took a regional bus to the ancient fishing village of Nazaré in the historical province of Estremadura where the world’s largest waves roll in during the winter. It’s thanks to the “Nazaré Canyon”, a submarine geomorphological phenomenon […]
I’ve been off nicotine for about a decade now. I replaced traditional tobacco snuff in 2013 while we were living on the corner of Idaho Avenue and 2nd Street in Santa Monica Beach. I had wanted to quit snuff for some time, but I always fell off the wagon, buying yet another round container of Swedish […]
I literally stumbled upon this wall in 2021 while scouring downtown Kyiv for the Resurfaced project. It’s saddening when I think of how much suffering the Ukrainian people have gone through since the Russian invasion almost a year ago. I wonder what all the people I met during my stay in the county are doing […]
Here’s the current collection of books I’ve published and been commissioned to produce since 2005. Counting the 5000 printed for the Chinese version of the World Fair edition of my 2010 book about Västra Hamnen and the 5000 copies produced of the “Vad Sysslar Du Med?” interview book, there could be about 25,000 books with […]
Last night I saw the comedic drama The Menu and I absolutely loved every minute of it. It reminded me of both the excellent 1997 film The Game with Sean Penn and Michael Douglas and Peter Greenaway’s bizarre 1989 movie “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover” with Helen Mirren and Tim Roth. And with Ralph Fiennes playing […]
This a screenshot from the editing environment I’ve spent most of today in working on “Heavy Metal in Sieng Gong”, my latest book project. The new book will have about 150 pages and be the 20th thus far and the very first with photographs entirely in monochrome. The Gold Master should be ready by the […]
Sunday evening. Just finished dinner. Tonight I made a spicy soba noodle soup with seared tuna from two frozen steaks I had deep in the freezer. I marinated them for about 30 minutes in a plastic bag with some soy sauce, chili flakes, sesame oil, Szechuan pepper, and a few drops of lime juice. No […]
The fog has rolled into town again. Might be the first time this year. I don’t mind the fog. It’s mysterious but also beautiful as it can only exist when there is next to no wind. And we certainly get enough wind here as it is. So I’m enjoying both.
It struck me just a little while ago how much I love communication and that I’ve now (as of 2023) worked within the field in a variety of roles for more than 25 years. It’s been a long, wonderful love affair and one that has provided a wealth of creative and monetary rewards that I […]
I’ve been a Gary Oldman fan since Sid & Nancy and True Romance. His performance as Winston Churchill is possibly my favorite. So it was a thrill to watch him in the final two episodes of Slow Horse last night. His cast members are good, some of them really good. But he outshines most actors […]
Daughter Elle captured this portrait of me, her father, late last summer. In retrospect, I was significantly more interested in our creative collaboration than whether or not the results turned out to be as good as they ended up being. Which is by no means a reflection of Elle’s capability to take a portrait of […]
Here’s yet another artifact for the Resurfaced project that captured yesterday in Malmö’s Eastside. There’s definitely a correlation between these new pieces and that fact that I discovered them in a part of town populated with an overall younger demographic and considerable more ethnic diversity than in, say, our neighborhood. Posters and posting can be found all over […]
Captured this intriguing Resurfaced piece earlier today on my way to a friend’s book release event in a part of Malmö I rarely visit, Södervärn. On the way back, I located a long plywood wall full of riveting surfaces of which I hastily captured a few. I definitely need to return sometime next week to […]
This is from Sieng Gong, the neighborhood in Bangkok that I’ve been documenting off and on since 2011. I wasn’t there to discover new surfaces for the Resurfaced project, but sometimes I get lucky. The naming of this piece was extraordinarily obvious. My dear cousin and amazing Berkley-based artist Laura Raboff recently suggested I reduce the […]
Three years ago today, we arrived in southern Spain, two months before the Covid-19 pandemic began. I remember the sun was shining brightly from a crisp blue sky and how we spent a good chunk of that very first afternoon enjoying a typical Spanish tapas lunch somewhere near Mercado Central de Atarazanas, Málaga’s formidable old […]
Still kinda unpacking my experiences from our visit to Göteborg this past weekend. A few interesting revelations stemming from friends and a whole lotta love from hundreds of mutts, pups, and well-bred dogs at the trade show MyDOG 2023. This collection of clips for Charlotte’s popular dog-friendly hotel site www.hundvanligahotell.se was shot using “Cinematic Mode” […]
For the past several mornings, after what can only be fairly and squarely described as a breakfast for champions, I’ve unapologetically dipped deep down into the hotel’s jar of colorful jellybeans.There were Oreo’s, cupcakes and tiny marshmallows, but I abstained. Aside from the occasional chocolate treat, these days, I’m not much for sweets. My daily […]
This is my Google review from Thursday’s pre-birthday dinner in Göteborg for old buddy Lars Olemyr’s upcoming 60th birthday. Even though Tavolo is probably one of Gothenburg’s largest restaurants, the atmosphere is nevertheless remarkably informal and cozy. Much thanks to how beautifully lit and thoughtfully decorated the enormous dining hall is. In a previous life, […]
From Bangkok to Göteborg is quite the distance. Charlotte and I are here in our old hometown to promote her dog friendly hotel site www.hundvanligahotell.se My assignment is to capture footage of some of the 9000 visiting dogs from the show floor for a reel. This is a frame grab from earlier today of an irresistibly […]
Yesterday was emotional on many levels. Elle came over for dinner and she and I talked about her late uncle and godfather Tyko and how her generation is less stigmatizing about mental health. I feel fortunate and privileged to be surrounded by people that care about me. Many reached out to me yesterday and shared […]
This post is essentially about mental health. Why such a tough subject so early in the new year, you might ask? Well, Today is the 20th anniversary of when brother Tyko Raboff decided he no longer wanted to live. It’s taken this long for me to publicly open up and share some of my thoughts […]
Here’s my travel map for 2022. It’s significantly longer than 2021 which in turn was more extensive than 2020. Most of these trips have been linked to the Resurfaced Art Project. But I would be disingenuous if I didn’t admit that since the pandemic tapered off, I’ve become even more addicted to new travel experiences. […]
If you appreciate the design and architectural style of the Art Deco era a-n-d became transfixed (i.e. binge-watched) by the 1970s-themed Netflix series “The Serpent”, about conman and serial killer Charles Sobhraj, you’ll love the beautifully renovated Miami Hotel in Bangkok. Before its makeover, Miami Hotel was used as a backdrop for several crucial plot […]
These are from yesterday’s visit to the Talat Noi area. Might have been my 40th or 50th time there. I’m now finally on the finish line with the book about this remarkable area that I’ve documented since first discovering it back in 2011. It’s in Talat Noi where they sell used (almost antiquated) engines, gearboxes, rear axles, […]
Back to work after a couple of holy days. Compared to most other big cities I’ve located Resurfaced candidates in, Bangkok is still proving to have surprisingly few qualifying surfaces. Which makes it all the more interesting because it’s harder to find them. I found this one along Sukhumvit, somewhere between Soi 53 and 55 […]
Here’s an abbreviated recap of our Christmas Eve in Bangkok. Early afternoon: serendipitous stroll down Soi 42 at Weekend Market. Early evening: located “The Missing Burro” where we had drinks and a non-Christmas Christmas dinner. Late evening: popcorn and Avatar 2 at EmQuartier’s empty movie theatre. Late evening: walk back to the hotel in a […]
In short order, I’ve seen two big-ass Rolls Royce in Bangkok. I spotted the vintage, 1970s-era model above in Ban Rak near the gem market that I pass on my way to Talat Noi. The other, more contemporary edition of the exorbitant vehicle I saw in Saladeng, just outside of our old hotel near The […]
This is me earlier today, just hours ago, really. It’s a rare selfie taken just before or after lunch at Sushiro, a popular Japanese fast-food restaurant chain in Bangkok. Anyway, last night I had some “manscaping” performed on my head and face, the results of which you can see above. It’s unusual for Charlotte to […]
I’ve been experimenting with how artificial intelligence can contribute to my artistic workflow ever since Adobe introduced Neural Filters in Photoshop back in October 2020. Recently, a friend told me about AI-generated images over at Open AI and their formidable application Dall-E which in turn led me to the remarkably useful ChatGPT, a text generator that produces coherent, well-written copy from just about any topic you throw […]
We haven’t celebrated Christmas in a traditional, Swedish or American sense since Elle was really, really young. And even back then we were often abroad somewhere during the holidays. Elle’s working during some of the coming holiday season and as much as we miss her, it’s nice to not have to deal with the commercial […]
We ate a delightful seafood dinner last night at Rawai Beach in Phuket. Our dinner was hosted by the always sweet and generous Sudduen family, friends that we’ve known for over 20 years. The meal concept was new to us insofar that you buy the food you want to eat at a fishmonger’s stall, then […]