An Animal

I have a Tumblr with thousands of followers and I usually share links to my Flickr and other photography sites. I've been getting requests to start making prints. I've never thought about it before, but I want to give it a shot. I'm stuck on how to go about this, but I think it will make a good inquiry. If I choose to sell prints, should I make them at home or get them done at a lab? (Luke, I have the same printer that you have in your office, thoughts?) I've been reading and prints made from a printer at home  won't last as long as ink jet prints or silver halide based prints. I don't want to make crappy prints and sell them to people. I want to make something that's quality and will last. I'm not too concerned with the selling aspect of it right now, but of course it's something to consider. Right now, I need to focus on getting the right prints and the process of it all. I know it's going to take a lot of practice and experimenting to find what works best, but I'm really excited to try it out. 

Playing Possum for a Peek

I've been working on my artistic inquiry which is based on the work of Robert Frank. Here's what I've done so far!

Italia

Where the hell do I begin? I can sincerely say I had a life changing experience. I'm uploading over 500 pictures as I type this. I'm looking forward to going through and editing them.

We went to Venice the first day and went to Murano and saw glass blowing. It was so fascinating and beautiful. What a great form of art! I also went on a gondola around Venice and that was amazing as well.

After Venice, we went to Bologna and Padova and saw some churches. Absolutely breathtaking.

Florence was the third city and one of my favorites. We went to a farm in Tuscany and had a cheese tasting (I thought of you Luke and I would like to thank you for training me because I knew more about cheese than most people). Florence is such a beautiful city filled with history and so much art. I got to see David and it was breathtaking.

Our last few days were spent in Rome, my absolute favorite city. We went to the Vatican and I saw the Sistine Chapel. Words cannot explain what I felt. We went to the Colosseum and it was surreal. What I've learned in world history was real and tangible. I'm still not over it. We also went to Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps which were both so incredibly beautiful.

I don't know how to form words to explain how much this trip meant to me.

But now it's time to edit pictures.

Earl Gray

I thought this was fantastic and I just wanted to share it.

Some other news: Italy tomorrow! I get to start my new artistic inquiry which will be fun. I'm excited to take tons of pictures. I'm also really thrilled and ready to experience the culture and embrace it and fall in love. 

Covet

I had some thoughts for potential projects. One of my ideas is creating minimalistic movie posters. I was inspired when I stumbled upon some guy who made a series of minimalistic Pixar posters.

I also was thinking of doing a series of tombstones. What would someone be remembered for? This one is kind of inspired by Vonnegut. If you were to remember him for a specific line or quote, what would he be known for. I guess funny enough, I would connect him to the tombstone he drew in SlaughterHouse-Five that says "Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt." It doesn't necessarily have to be a quote from that person, but it can be. What would Arnold Schwarzenegger's say? "I'll be back(?)" But anyway, I think it would be a fun project. Something I want to keep in mind.

I Cannot Answer You Tonight

The first two pictures are my "opposite sex photo (the format was photograph)." Anika did the make up and transformed Chris into a woman. She did a fantastic job.

The two photos of Grace are my "rich and smug" fashion shots.

I'm almost done with The One That Got Away! Woo.

I really do love this project, and I think if you haven't done it, you definitely should. 

Could Be Better Forever

Getting ready for my journey to Italy. A major part of it is getting my artistic inquiry together. I've decided I want to do something in the terrain of Robert Frank. I must admit I am a little bit nervous. A bunch of doubts have been filling my mind like, what if my pictures don't turn out how I want them to? Or, what if I can't find anything interesting to photograph? What if my project turns out to be NOTHING like Robert Frank's terrain? I think that last one gets to me the most. I've been trying to purify myself from most of these thoughts. I need to stop working and just take some damn pictures. The future is always unclear. I'm not even in Italy yet. If it turns out that I don't get the pictures I really wanted, then so be it. I will try my hardest to accomplish what it is I'm aiming for.

When You Are Done Living on Borrowed Time

I really enjoyed the acting table activity we did today. I wish I didn't try thinking myself out of situations. At times I did find the scenarios to be so real. During the one about the girl getting bullied, Megan's character was someone who didn't care at all about the girls problems. I said, "what if she tries to kill herself?" Megan remained in character of course and said "it's not my problem, she's alive so I don't care." That really got me so angry. I think when you have such a strong reaction to something (like what I just said) it's because it hits home. You don't overreact about something you can't connect to. Another thing I found difficult was sticking to my character. When the scene was something I felt strongly about, I lost my character in my real emotions and thoughts. I don't know if that was actually the case since no one was evaluating how on target I was with my character and how "well" I did. Sometimes I became so consumed with my feelings that I felt like I was losing myself. When I felt like this, I tried so hard to stick true to the character I picked.

Most of the pieces of paper I picked up contradicted themselves. At first I had a difficult time establishing the foundation of my character. I then imagined a person I knew, or even mix matched people I knew to create an image. The reason why these pieces of papers/characteristics/actions seemed to contradict themselves is because people contradict themselves. We speak so passionately about something, and then we turn around and go against what we preach. It's so hard to understand sometimes, but it's so easy to do.

After all this rambling, I am inspired by what I am feeling and what seems to be conflicting. I want to make art that means something to me. Call me selfish, but I don't think I make art for myself quite enough. I make art to make art a lot of the time, (I think that's really good too because essentially when you make art you make it for yourself) but I think it's time I start doing something that speaks to me and just means a lot. I've been going through hell for the past few weeks, and while writing this post it occurred to me that I should make art about it, and make art about what I've learned and what I'm continuing to learn (through others, with others, about others, through myself, about myself, etc...). I don't know exactly where this will take me, but I have a sense that I want to photograph human behavior. Something that's raw and candid, not just beautiful- but that doesn't mean that it can't be beautiful, because it absolutely can be. Right now I'm having difficulty putting what I want into words, but it makes a lot of sense to me.

Foutaises

This is such a delightful short directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (director of Amelie, The City of Lost Children, Micmacs, just to name a few). I think overall this is incredibly brilliant, but I do have my favorite shots. The shot of the train passing by the Eiffel Tower is so beautiful. I especially love the scene when the two blind men bump into each other and say "Can't you watch your step?!" How much better could it get?

The way this short is edited together is flawless. The shots just work together so well, and it really gives you an idea of how great he is. Ex: when Pinon picks his nose hair and it cuts to the buildings falling down. It's so crazy, but it works. And it works so well!

When he was 17, he bought a camera and made short films (he's a self-taught director). I really respect him and what he's done. Not only in terms of his work, but his dedication and passion. He dreamed of being a director and did whatever he had to in order to do so. He worked to earn enough money to buy himself a camera.  His philosophy of the process was: "Just take a camera and do it." Just do it. I think that's the problem with people and their ideas and dreams, they just don't do what feels right. That is for another blogpost...

Other fun facts:
He was asked to direct Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix but declined. He also pulled out of directing Life of Pi.

Everyone Else On the Otherside

I've been working on "The One That Got Away" for the past couple of days and this is what I have come up with: 

This is my "formal mug shot." I want to also shoot a side profile and edit it side by side with this one. I think the side profile will also make it easy to tell that it's a mug shot.

This is my film still of toddlers. I really love this shot. 

 This is my "sleeping environmental portrait." I was going for the studious/college campus girl type of environment.

This is my surveillance video of a pervert (Grace).

Well here is my work thus far. I know exactly what I'm doing for the rest of my shots. I'm currently working on my middle aged monologue. What I'm most excited for is my "rich and smug" fashion photo shoot (I think I'm going to make a whole bunch of prints for that one, or at least I want to). 

Robert Frank

Robert Frank published a book called The Americans, which changed basically changed people's views on this nation. His work wasn't new or innovative, but it changed the way people looked at photography, and even our country. Frank was a commercial photographer to make a living, but decided to get his noncommercial work started by traveling across America. Because Frank had his camera with him pretty much everywhere he went, police officers suspected he was a spy. This was true in a way, as much of his work exposed the real ways of America. Frank shot 767 rolls of film making about 27,000 photos. He eventually edited it down to 83 and put them in The Americans. Frank said that he doesn't like to go back and analyze his photos, perhaps because he's done it so many times.

Frank spoke about an experience of photographing a couple and being caught by the man. "Those are the difficult moments every photographer has to get over and get away with it and not be discouraged," he says. "Because if one is sensitive, it has an effect on you. So maybe it's better not to be sensitive as a photographer and just go on. Many photographers today have that but I never had that. I think it's nice to be sensitive as a photographer and maybe it's harder." Those are some wise words, and some to always keep in mind when capturing moments. 

Frank never spoke about his subjects even when most of the country raved about The Americans. Everyone saw pictures in that book as relevant to their lives. Although this was the common view, Frank already moved on from his photography and made his first film. 

Cole, Tom. "'Americans': The Book That Changed Photography." NPR. N.p., 13 Feb. 2009. Web. 4 Mar. 2013

Between the Bars

Countdown: 18 days until Italy. 

Mrs. I has made me the official photographer for the trip. I'm beyond excited. I'm going to have to take both pictures and videos (and eventually make a collage and montage). Mr. Pasquier pretty much gave me this job last year when we went to Canada, and that was really fantastic, and thus why I'm looking forward to doing the same in Italy. It's just an excuse to make art. Plus, I can only imagine how many opportunities I will have to capture landscapes. 

I ordered a 35mm f/1.8 lens today, and I can't wait. I really love having that bigger aperture. I also ordered a nice camera bag so I can finally have all my stuff together, woo! I might invest in a ND filter in the near future, but that's still up in the air. 

I also have to find time so I can get down Neptune sometime this week and get my mirror cleaned. 

#AnselAdams

I'm going to make a Twitter for Ansel Adams. I have no idea how it's going to end up, but why shouldn't I try it? I'll learn new information in the process, so it's a win win. The only way it can fail is if I don't do anything.  I will post the link to it later or tomorrow.