If you are interested in sharing your story with me regarding the Christchurch Earthquakes please send me an email at peterhoffmanchch@gmail.com

In your email please include:

- Your current address (if you have been displaced please tell me the address of
where you currently are, and also the address of where you used to
live),

- phone number

- time(s) you will be available to share you
story and be photographed.

Thank you.

- Peter Hoffman

January is usually one of those months where if you’re not careful the weight of winter can start to get to you, but that hasn’t been the case this year. After having springlike conditions unusually late into the year we’ve just recently been getting the snow I was hoping for, and even though I haven’t quite had my fill of it, chances are it’s the last I’ll see this winter. Aside from the weather this January has seemed uncharacteristically light. The winter doldrums of assignment work have stayed at bay and I’ve had the great opportunity to keep shooting with assignments from the New York Times, The Financial Times and The Guardian to name a few. London has really been decent to me lately, so I must pay a visit at some point. Pics will come at some point.

All that aside, I’m off to New Zealand (Christchurch) come Tuesday, and I’ll be down there for awhile, till about April. If you need me down there try me at my email peter@peterhoffmanphoto.com, skype @peter.g.hoffman and last my NZ cell (only if necessary) at 011 64 2 2010 8045

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite images from the time spent wandering Chicago this summer.

If you asked me what my priorities were, I might struggle to figure out if running or photography would take precedence. Even though only one of these activities feeds me, they both constantly occupy my mind. For the past 18 months or so I’ve been taking pictures with my cell phone while I’m out running. I don’t photograph every time I’m out and I don’t tend to make any groundbreaking pictures when doing this, seeing as I’m usually running through forested areas, prairielands or the monotonous suburban sprawl, but still, it’s a good way to consider my surroundings, which is something I never want to take for granted. I’m thankful for the health that allows me to go every time I go, and the picture is a reminder of each opportunity that I’ve been able to do so.

Running, for me, is like meditation. Some years ago I got past that point where it was a struggle to get out and now I’m more relaxed on the trail than I am in front of the television. Running often tends to offer the closest thing to a transcendental experience that I can find. The biggest challenge with self-discipline is deciding when not to go.  Now that I’ve been doing this for awhile I just wanted to post a few of my favorite mundane images I’ve seen from the trail.

I post new running pictures, as well as other stuff on my Ordinary Pictures tumblr.

I’m not the type to make a list of all my best 2011 pictures, or moments, or whatever. Maybe I’ll care about that stuff a bit more when I’m near my death bed but I’d rather spend more time focusing on what’s ahead, which to me should always include experimentation. If you’re a photographer you can’t ignore the past, you’re constantly reminded of it in every image you’ve made, but I don’t think that means you need to always be looking to it. That said, I’ve had great opportunities in 2011 (including the pretty cool and serendipitous fact that me and my old grad school roommate Marcus Yam had both of the pictures on today’s New York Times front page) and 2012 is going to be dedicated to experimenting and developing more as a freelance photographer and as an artist.

If the project in New Zealand takes the total form that I envision it should be something different from my past work, which is a pretty exciting prospect for me. And, in the spirit of experimenting and being curious I urge you to watch the wind blow and the light bounce on an autumn day for thirty seconds. Sometimes the best things are just outside your window. I was cleaning out my hard drive and forgot that on this day I just dropped what I was doing and started filming out the window.

Wishing all the best to everyone in 2012.

The past two summers I’ve been teaching a high school photography course through a program called Upward Bound. We get the luxury of meeting during the hottest weeks of the year and my class is dependent on getting outside to make photographs of the city of Chicago. Both years we made it to Millenium Park to make pictures and this year everyone finished their work early. (Ok, some might have skimped on the assignment a bit due to the heat).  On this July day I didn’t feel like being much of an enforcer since the fact that we were outside was already a good enough push. I decided to hold on to my students’ cameras for a minute while I let them…well, just be kids. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit bummed I couldn’t partake.

These are the kinds of things I get reminded of when I’m combing through and organizing my archives, trying to take inventory of what happened this year before I head off to New Zealand early next year.

Well, again – probably one of the most interesting people I’ve met this year is Theaster Gates. Art in America magazine requested to use an image I had from a previous shoot with him for their interview that covered his work and process, which I’d recommend you check out.

I was recently at work on a pretty interesting project for Chicago artist and community builder Theaster Gates. He asked me to document the process of some of his friends who were in from Japan creating a new body of ceramics for him, based on traditional soul food wares. To be honest there is so much going on in Gates’ studio(s) that it was hard for me to keep track of everything going on, but I can tell you that he and his team are going full bore every day in creating new work in a few different fields that deal with sculpture, ceramics and urban renewal. I met a lot of great people all working for him and am pretty in awe of all that is getting done. Aside from that, in the studio on Kouichi’s (left) last day, he and fellow potters initiated a Japanese armwrestling tournament that I just happened to be around for. Tournament victory went to Titus (left, in the match).

Sumner, New Zealand - 2004

I’m just over three weeks into the fundraising for this project and I’m really excited to see how far it’s come. I’ve still got just over $800 to raise, but we’re getting close. Thanks everyone who has helped out so far, whether it was with a few dollars or just spreading the word. If you haven’t heard about the project yet click the image to see the video and the pitch, and if you like the idea I’d love to send you a print from NZ if you contribute – and if not I’d love for you to share it with anyone that might be curious about it.

One of my favorite images from the past year will be in the upcoming issue of Romka Magazine – a photo magazine out of Germany that celebrates personal work. The magazine is a collection of work by students, hobbyists, amateurs and a few professionals as well, but your job doesn’t matter to the publisher – just the pictures. I go through fits and spurts photographing my own life (I struggle to find the magic in the coffee shop I sit in so often, even though I know it’s there) but ultimately these end up being some of the most important images to me. I think living in the suburbs is pretty funny, lovely, confusing and terrible all at once…sorta like this new Rihanna album I’m currently sampling. This picture is about something along those lines. It was just taken at a backyard BBQ at a friend’s house and it teeters on bizarre just enough to make it work for me.

Also, it happens to be the only place in the U.S. you can check out the print version of this magazine is at ? Quimby’s Bookstore 1854 W. North Ave, Chicago IL – Take that NYC!

Christchurch, A Year after the Earthquake on Kickstarter

So, I’m trying something new, and this new thing is Kickstarter. Ever since my time living in NZ got me in to photography in 2004 I’ve wanted to go back terribly, but when the earthquakes over the past 18 month began it changed things, and now I feel like I need to go back to tell a story. Take a look at my project and please spread the word if you’re in to the idea. I’d love to make this thing happen, and I’d love to send some people prints from New Zealand in exchange for the help.

I won’t go long on the plea, but this is a big deal to me to see if I can make this happen, so any help, really just putting it out there is totally appreciated.