If you aren’t already acquainted with the  gritty, beautiful photography of Franklin Crawford, here’s your opportunity.  His new show, “Shooting the Gun: The Ithaca Guns Factory in its Decline” opens today in Ithaca and runs through the end of February. *

*If you can’t make it to the show, check out his photos on his Flikr stream.

One thing I deeply admire about Franklin is that he can tell a damn good story.  His photography focuses on the story of his hometown, Ithaca, NY.  His individual insights are simple, direct, and often times heartbreaking, and the entire collection builds a rich narrative that I find fascinating.  The best of his photos make me hurt- I don’t know whether it’s sadness or wonder or envy.

As much as I love his photography, I love his written storytelling even more.  Franklin has the incredible ability to distill a complex narrative, creating a forceful impact using only a few well-timed sentences.  Which makes him a perfect partner for one of my favorite pastimes: making comics.

Here’s one of our collaborations: “Weed Atcheson”.  Most of the work is Franklin’s, I just went in and pretty-fied it a bit.  Look out for more comix collaborations with Franklin– the man has got so many good stories to tell.  Read the comic here.

Tags: comics, franklin crawford, guns, photography, weed

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 12:21 am and is filed under comics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.