Self-Portrait

Essaouira, Morocco. 2004

Chicago, IL. 2004

San Francisco, CA. 2008

Yelapa, Mexico. 2011

Zanzibar, Tanzania. 2011

Mendoza, Argentina. 2013

I love printing business cards and becoming whatever entity or 'company' that I say I am. Get a logo, set up a website and an email address and you're ready to go. This is America, after-all, where perception can become reality. Some of my various ventures have included: Facecollective (started as a multi-disciplinary artistic agency), Hasta La Pasta (my catering company), D.B.L.F. (the Doogan Boyfriend Liberation Front, which quickly disbanded when I met my wife), The Other America (a magazine), and most recently ClubSoda (my video production company.) While not all of these ventures have had staying power, all have had business cards. Throughout my search for the perfect business, the one name that has alluded me – is my own: Henry Dombey

When we first started coming to terms with the internet 10 years ago, there was a lot of pressure to have an official website with an official name, business card, logo, etc. Lately there seems to be a trend towards the opposite. There's an increasing awareness and acceptance that people have jobs, passions, hobbies, art-projects, and ideas – and all of these impulses are intertwined in an organic existential way, or they can be completely unrelated. I am continually telling my clients and peers that you should attempt to create one place on the internet that honestly represents yourself and your aspirations in a seamless and unpretentious way. As we all know, advice is easier to dole out than to take. However, I'm slowly coming to my senses and right now nothing sounds better than dropping all of the official and unofficial tones, the 'branding,' nuances, symbolism, confusion, and Bullshit. Let's just be honest, I feel like going rogue.

So here goes: My name is Henry Dombey. I'm a photographer, filmmaker, producer, chef, and part-time reverend (Universal Life Church). I am constantly confounded by art, focussed on logistics, aware of the light, repelled by waste, compelled by stories, interested in politics, driven by efficiency, skeptical of 'big battle-ships,' and excited by ideas. I am currently inspired to learn how to build things, write more, become a regular, give back to my community, produce events, and gather people around a common goal. I'm a husband of less than one year and will be a father sometime this month. Let's collaborate and make some ideas into reality.

– H.R.D.