Archive for the ‘photography’ Category
Sawadee Pee Mai Krab!
Ah, where to begin? The fact that I’ve been involved in celebrating the dawn of a new year — for the third time this year? The fact that I’ve been volunteering my time to help teach Thai kids English at a non-profit learning center in northern Thailand? Or that I went with the same non-profit to visit kids at an orphanage that specializes in children with HIV/AIDS (some of the loveliest children you’ll ever meet)? How about the fact that I’ve also been helping said non profit — Isara, by name, which means “freedom,” in Thai — get their computer lab into shape, pretending I’m an admin?
Once a nerd, always a nerd.
Or how about the fact that In a few weeks time I’ll begin my first paying job as a teacher, teaching kindergarten and first-grade Thai kids English, math, and science (ye gods, what have I gotten myself into this time)!? Or maybe the fact that it routinely hits 100 (Farenheit — say 39 Celsius) or more here, and I drink liters of water per day yet never have to pee because I sweat like a yak constantly. Or perhaps that I’m surrounded by geckos that bark and other strange, exotic critters (not to mention the strange, exotic, people, culture, and food)?
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Irving Penn: the Day the Platinum Print Died
One of my favorite photographers shuffled off this mortal coil October 7, and I feel compelled to mark his passage here. He wasn’t an Ansel Adams or an Annie Leibowitz; unless you are into photography and art, or fashion, you would not have heard of Irving Penn.
It is a shame, because there are many lesser artists out there in the public consciousness; many hacks who have enjoyed more fortune and fame. But this in no way diminishes him or his work. He was one of those rare commercial photographers that made art. There are a number of ways that one could interpret that statement; I’ll leave it up to you. He was a photographer’s photographer ; the methods that he developed are still in use by many today, both in the fashion and art worlds — the use of a dark, stark studio backdrop, and the placement of his subjects within a narrow corner created with his backdrop, for example.
But praising a photographer or an artist with words is kind of silly, I suppose, if not downright ironic. I first noticed an image of Penn’s back in the 1990s; it was a nude of Kate Moss, which you will find below. It’s NSFW, so if you click on the “read more” link, consider yourself warned; if you navigated to this page directly, sorry. But his images really moved me, but not because of his subject, but rather what he managed to do with her image. Moss is certainly beautiful in that near anorexic, super-model kind of way; a pixie that almost makes one feel perverted for enjoying her — at least that is how she typically comes across in fashion shoots.
lolcats
While getting my bezillion gig photo archives somewhat organized and backed up last weekend, I came across these photos of my friend Vern’s cats. I’ve never made lolcats images before, but figured the time was ripe. The fat cat was named Grey – named after the anime toon – and she was a feline extraordinaire. I miss the old girl.
The one sitting on the throne, Misha, is still going strong at 17. She’s a lovable goof. Likes to be spun around on the kitchen floor.
The Birds, Part Deaux
Just looking over the last post …
There is no better salve for a restless soul than the open road and singing at the top of one’s lungs to Social Distortion.
That’s good stuff. Too bad it was tempered by idiots on the super highways and the economic meltdown (I love the BBC, but it got a wee bit carried away with the doomsday proclamations). Anyway, so I was in Savannah, GA last week for business. No, I didn’t meet Chardonnay or any of the other real-life characters in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, but I did see the house. I also managed to find time to take a few shots. My primary photographic goal was to capture the moon coming up over the Atlantic Ocean. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the most spectacular of moon rises (the night that would have made a most kick-ass picture — clouds and lighting on the horizon, with the moon ducking in and out — I was sitting through boring presenations. Plus, the night I did shoot, while I had a tripod out, and was using the timer, I still had camera shake in many shots, thanks to the wind. Having camped on the beach numerous times, I should have thought of this, but alas, I did not … live and learn, I suppose.
I did manage to get some half-way acceptable shots of the sunrise, despite the fact that it was so hot and humid my lenses fogged the second I emerged from the car. But in a not uncommon occurrence (for me, at any rate), the best photos of the trip were the ones I took just screwing around, in this case waiting for the moon to come up … I really like these two below.
Technorati Tags: Social Distortion, BBC, Savannah, moon, sunrise
Huzzah!
Someone elese wants to purchase a print. And yet another person wants to hire me for a shoot. You know you must have at least someonewhat creditable photography skills if a teenager is convinced by prints of her mom’s photos that she wants you to do her senior portrait shoot.
Huzzah!
Technorati Tags: photography, senior portrait