Hwhup The Deans List? The Jason Dean here, bringing an end to the Weekend like it was the world as Michael Stipe knows it.

Not sure how he felt fine about it, but the 80s were a crazy time, man.

Anyways. Let’s get into it.

One-on-one sit down

Last Sunday, I had the pleasure of sitting down in Second Story Studio for a 1-on-1 interview with David Sargent, a man of many talents and hats- including co-hosting the Light Overtime podcast. This Sunday, that interview is live!

We talked for about an hour about such Jeopardy topics as My Artistic Style, My Start In Photography, and Future Plans. I had a wonderful time chatting with David and am thankful for the chance to talk about my work with a photographer that I have a lot of respect and admiration for. I’d be ever so pleased if you checked it out!

New Art in my own space

Here’s what I’ve been cooking up in the lab 😎

I’m never going to be the guy that asks for sustained periods of brutal, single-digit and lower temperatures. That might be your bag, baby, but it ain’t mine.

Nonetheless, sometimes when that happens, the ice on Marquette’s Lower Harbor freezes so solid that you and about fifty of your closest friends can walk out on it- and when that happens, it opens up an entirely new photography playground, specifically the decommissioned Ore Dock. Thanks, Polar Vortex!

This photo was taken on a late January day, during a light snow squall as I was wandering through and around the magnificent structure. Using my patented ‘Legally Blind’ technique, I blurred everything in this photo of an anchoring post with the Ore Dock looming in the background and snow flakes flying all around.

Full disclosure, I don’t always love my work- even shots that I share, sometimes (gasp) even shots that I sell for money- but there are also photographs that I will ride or die for. This is one that is on that list.

If vehicle repairs didn’t cost lots of money, I might recommend getting them all the time! I’ve written before about the long photo walk about town I took one late October morning while waiting for my car to have some work done at Joe’s Auto (by the way- LOVE the guys at Joe’s. Again, if vehicle repairs didn’t cost lots of money, I’d be down there all the time!). This was on the walk back to the shop, and when I happened to look right I saw this intriguing assortment of squares and rectangle shapes. I also like all the different textures- brick, plywood, actual wood (apologies to any plywood enthusiasts), cement- there’s a lot of really cool stuff happening here!

Black and white elevates it to fancy.

If you ever wanted the essence of what catches my photographic eye distilled into a photograph, this is Exhibit A. After an afternoon spent hunting waves and textures at Presque Isle and the Black Rocks, mere moments away from getting into my car and back to warmth, I stopped at the ass end of a stop sign because I thought the lines on the back looked cool.

Isn’t that the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever heard in your life?

Live Stream Update

Folks- I’m super excited to announce that, starting on March 31st at 7:00 PM EST, I will be hosting weekly live streams of my photo editing on YouTube! That’s right, if you’ve ever been curious about my photo editing process and wanted to chat with me about it in real time, your patience is about to be rewarded.

I will also be doing a soft launch the week before, on the 24th of March (same time). That one will be by invitation only and I’ll have more information on how to be a part of that event in next week’s The Weekender.

I hope to see you all there!

100 Day Project Update

Here’s where ‘We, The Songs We’ve Sung’ stands after about 5.5 weeks:

Waves are Wednesdays Preview

I’m not going to use the same intro every week about how I’m no longer doing the Waves are Wednesdays newsletters but how I’m sharing the photos from the Waves are Wednesdays posts here so you can see them because you’re a faithful reader of The Deans List and how I am really grateful and appreciative of you supporting what I do.

Just this one more time, I guess.

Shortish one today, I had to make a quick trip down to Ann Arbor and back to pick up my eldest from school so she can be home for Spring Break. Looking outside, there’s nothing ‘spring’ about it…but there’s definitely some breaking happening, most of which is concentrated in my lower back and will to endure (that’s a little melodramatic; my back is fine). Thanks for being here, friends! 🙂

See you around,

Jason