Introducing Laurine Jane Dombey

Laurine Sr. a few days before giving birth

Our new family

Laurine Jr. the day after she was born - living her first full day

Lilly eyes her new surroundings

Lilly with her grandparents after arriving home

Laurine Jane Dombey - Born April 27, 2013. Calling her Laurine was an easy decision - she is the fifth generation of a Laurine on her mother's side. I think we'll call her Lilly! 

Archimedes' Principle in New York Times (Sort-of)

The New York Times published a story about my friends Sarah and Kimo Bertram's House Boat today.  

They also managed to squeeze in a link to the short film that I made about the process, which included dropping the barge into the water for the first time and then towing it across the SF Bay.  Yeh, NYT here I come!

Oysters

Friend, blogger, and creative director Dimity Jones sent out an email asking for submissions. The email was titled 'Self Portrait of you + Food.' The assignment was to: shoot a really cool, graphic self portrait of yourself together with a food item you're obsessed with.

The self portrait can be done any way you wish; Black & white, color, and you can show a portion of yourself, (ie, just your eye, ear, hand, just your mouth?) Or all of you. How ever you wish. Your style. There are no rules. Be as creative as you want. 

This was my submission.

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.