Facing Seaside
A Project Highlighting the Diverse Cultures on Broadway Avenue
Cross Street on Broadway Avenue
Our Mission
To celebrate the people, businesses, and organizations of Seaside. The Weston Collective is partnered and located at Martin Luther King Jr. School of the Arts (MLKSOA) on Broadway Avenue. We want to engage with the culture of Seaside in a fine art project that will help increase the awareness of local businesses. We will achieve our goal by producing original work in the form of photographs, videos, and writing that will help to document the culture of Seaside as it stands today.
Our Goal
To produce 10, 11x14 fine art digital prints mounted on 16x20 matboard to be displayed in a show on Broadway Avenue. We are aiming to represent 5 businesses in this first project. There will be one photograph of the storefront, and one of the employee(s). For each business, we will be doing a photoshoot that will also include an interview. This will lead to the production of a blog post series highlighting and describing attaining the final images and the stories of the businesses.
We want to help build upon the ever growing community of Seaside, with the initial target demographic being those businesses located on Broadway Avenue. Facing Seaside will highlight the rich and vibrant business community that exists on Broadway and will showcase organizations who have stood the test of time and those that are new to the community. Our project will not only photographically document the people behind the counters but will also tell their story in written form. We will provide an in depth look at these individuals, their organizations, and how they help support the local economy.
Program Leaders
Zach Weston is a fourth generation fine-art film photographer from one of the most influential and creative families in American photographic history. His great grandfather was Edward Weston, great uncle Brett Weston, grandfather Cole Weston, and his father is Kim Weston. Zach's photography focuses on fine-art nudes, landscapes, and abstracts. Zach learned to process and print his images from his father, Kim Weston in the darkroom at his childhood home in Carmel Highlands, California. Zach photographs with black and white film using a Mamiya RB 6x7, Wista 4x5 and a Pentax 67. He is the Executive Director of The Weston Collective in Seaside.
Jake Thomas has a BFA in Painting from Lewis and Clark and a PhD in Literature from UCSC. Since 2013, he has run his own Content Marketing agency, Jake J. Thomas Photo, working with brands and organizations to create and manage their digital marketing. Thomas is a multimedia artist practicing photography, writing, and videography. He is interested in the intersection of art, business, and regional history.
Timeline
The project will start in 2022 where the interested businesses will be selected and images will be conducted. Stay tuned for the results! If you know of a business that would be a good fit, please send us an email at zach@thewestoncollective.org or via the button below.