L' oeil ailleurs

INTRODUCING RUTH SWANSON
I just moved to Los Angeles and it feels fantastic. I am 27 years old. How did I started to to take pictures? Oh with my index finger I would saυ, about 3 or 4 years ago, a lot. Photography is the medium that most moves me out of any medium in art. I really like seeing into people lives. I like that even at its most artificial, its a real moment that happened somewhere. I have no idea why I do this so much. I’m sure some part of me has a super intellectual explanation for the whole thing but I just think its fun and I like doing it and looking at it. That sounds dirty. I think photography made me more open and comfortable with who I am and what I do with who I am. A LOT of things have happened to me because of “photography”. A lot more girls have gotten naked, approximately three more hotel rooms will forever have glitter and champagne encrusted in their filthy corners. That little series I did with Cody Cochrane with the colored smoke was seriously one of the most beautiful days ever. We rented a convertible and drove to Big Sur and kept getting kicked out of peoples woods or backyards or whatever and when we finally lit them off we were in this little river very close to the main street and we really did not realize THAT much smoke was going to come out. We looked like terrorists. Gay terrorists. I’ve found gay terror because of photography. But seriously, its up there with one of the prettiest moments I’ve ever experienced and I never would have thought to have done it otherwise. The thing about making a photo that you find beautiful or funny or whatever is that your making that moment. It makes whatever you want real in a way. This is my friend Luis Mendoza. I used to intern at a photo studio and he would make me do stuff. It was 2 am and I had just gotten off of work and Lu calls and tells me he’s at the phoenix hotel and to get there asap. I’m like Lu. Its 2 am. I’ll be there in 10 minutes. He was staying with Dave Choe who was in town for a book signing and Dan the Automator was hanging out but that really has nothing to do with story except that its cool and they’re awesome dudes. I get there, smoke a few cigarettes because I’m wasted and then everyone wants to go get food. Were walking down past the pool and Lu says fuck food were going swimming. So also its freezing. But then there’s the whole were wasted part again. So we strip down and cannonball. I was wearing a black bra and tights and then these foreign dudes come out and we smoked pot with them in the pool. AND WE NEVER SMOKE POT EVER. Seriously. I felt just like a seal swimming around. We finally got kicked out of the pool and we have to run back to room in the freezing cold of San Francisco summer and it seemed like an eternity of pannick attacks to unlock that door. We grabbed all of Dave’s chocolate that he had been given and jumped in the shower and sat under the hot water and drank beer and ate chocolate and talked like girlfriends for about an hour. Then Lu, me and Jason Jaworski slept in a neat little row on the floor and I woke up and hailed a cab in the TL with a short skirt and no tights and felt weird. My friend Kara called me to say hi and said, Oh by the way, I saw your friend Luis walking by my apartment in a jean jacket with no shirt on this morning. And I laughed. I love Brooke Candy. She a nasty ho.

I just moved to Los Angeles and it feels fantastic. I am 27 years old. How did I started to to take pictures? Oh with my index finger I would saυ, about 3 or 4 years ago, a lot. Photography is the medium that most moves me out of any medium in art. I really like seeing into people lives. I like that even at its most artificial, its a real moment that happened somewhere. I have no idea why I do this so much. I’m sure some part of me has a super intellectual explanation for the whole thing but I just think its fun and I like doing it and looking at it. That sounds dirty. I think photography made me more open and comfortable with who I am and what I do with who I am. A LOT of things have happened to me because of “photography”. A lot more girls have gotten naked, approximately three more hotel rooms will forever have glitter and champagne encrusted in their filthy corners. That little series I did with Cody Cochrane with the colored smoke was seriously one of the most beautiful days ever. We rented a convertible and drove to Big Sur and kept getting kicked out of peoples woods or backyards or whatever and when we finally lit them off we were in this little river very close to the main street and we really did not realize THAT much smoke was going to come out. We looked like terrorists. Gay terrorists. I’ve found gay terror because of photography. But seriously, its up there with one of the prettiest moments I’ve ever experienced and I never would have thought to have done it otherwise. The thing about making a photo that you find beautiful or funny or whatever is that your making that moment. It makes whatever you want real in a way. This is my friend Luis Mendoza. I used to intern at a photo studio and he would make me do stuff. It was 2 am and I had just gotten off of work and Lu calls and tells me he’s at the phoenix hotel and to get there asap. I’m like Lu. Its 2 am. I’ll be there in 10 minutes. He was staying with Dave Choe who was in town for a book signing and Dan the Automator was hanging out but that really has nothing to do with story except that its cool and they’re awesome dudes. I get there, smoke a few cigarettes because I’m wasted and then everyone wants to go get food. Were walking down past the pool and Lu says fuck food were going swimming. So also its freezing. But then there’s the whole were wasted part again. So we strip down and cannonball. I was wearing a black bra and tights and then these foreign dudes come out and we smoked pot with them in the pool. AND WE NEVER SMOKE POT EVER. Seriously. I felt just like a seal swimming around. We finally got kicked out of the pool and we have to run back to room in the freezing cold of San Francisco summer and it seemed like an eternity of pannick attacks to unlock that door. We grabbed all of Dave’s chocolate that he had been given and jumped in the shower and sat under the hot water and drank beer and ate chocolate and talked like girlfriends for about an hour. Then Lu, me and Jason Jaworski slept in a neat little row on the floor and I woke up and hailed a cab in the TL with a short skirt and no tights and felt weird. My friend Kara called me to say hi and said, Oh by the way, I saw your friend Luis walking by my apartment in a jean jacket with no shirt on this morning. And I laughed. I love Brooke Candy. She a nasty ho.

1:24 pm • 4 December 2010 • 6 notes