Name Mike Brodie Role Photographer | Books Tones of Dirt and Bone | |
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Similar People Jim Goldberg, Alec Soth, Michael Brodie, Ryan McGinley, Joel Sternfeld | ||
Primal scream sometimes i feel so lonely mike brodie photography
Mike Brodie (born in 1985), also known as the "Polaroid Kid" or "Polaroid Kidd", is an American photographer from Arizona
Contents
- Primal scream sometimes i feel so lonely mike brodie photography
- Life and work
- Publications
- Solo exhibitions
- Exhibitions with others
- References
Life and work
In 2003, aged 18, Brodie left home in Pensacola, Florida, to go freighthopping across the USA. A friend gave him a camera and he subsequently spent six years photographing people he encountered, largely train-hoppers, vagabonds, squatters and hobos. Brodie has produced two bodies of work from this (latter) period: Tones of Dirt and Bone and A Period of Juvenile Prosperity, which have been exhibited in galleries and become books. Although A Period of Juvenile Prosperity was published and exhibited first, the images in Tones of Dirt and Bone were produced earlier, when Brodie used Polaroid film, before he switched to the 35mm format of A Period of Juvenile Prosperity. "The 35mm format let me shoot more candidly and truly capture real moments, not staged portraits."
A Period of Juvenile Prosperity was included in lists of best photobooks of 2013 by critic Sean O'Hagan in The Guardian, Clinton Cargill in The New York Times, Dazed, Mother Jones and American Photo magazine.
Kenneth Baker, writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, listed the A Period of Juvenile Prosperity exhibition at Stephen Wirtz Gallery in his top 10 list for 2013. Vince Aletti in Artforum named Brodie's show in New York as the show of the year, and has said of Brodie's work: "Even if you’re not intrigued by Brodie’s ragtag bohemian cohort—a band of outsiders with an unerring sense of post-punk style—the intimate size and warm, slightly faded color of his prints are seductive. His portraits . . . have a tender incisiveness that is rare at any age." Martin Parr and Gerry Badger call the photographs of A Period of Juvenile Prosperity "unashamedly romantic and warm toned".
Photographer Alec Soth, writing in The Telegraph, included A Period of Juvenile Prosperity in his top ten photobooks of 2013:
I really wanted to dislike this book, but I was completely won over by the pictures, design and even Brodie’s essay. "I don’t want to be famous," he writes, "but I hope this book is remembered for ever." I have a feeling it will be.
Writing in his own blog, Soth also said "Everything about this book is perfect: the size, printing, sequence, cover image, title and essay." Parr and Badger include the book in the third volume of their photobook history, saying that "what makes this book stand out is the quality of the photographs".
Brodie has also collaborated with Swoon, Chris Stain, and Monica Canilao.
After A Period of Juvenile Prosperity was released, Brodie said he was giving up photography. In 2015, he confirmed this, in an interview with GUP magazine: "I do not take photographs, I have begun a new adventure. I started building my very own machine shop to accommodate the manufacturing of diesel engines." As of 2017 Brodie is working as a diesel mechanic for the Union Pacific Railroad.
Publications
