Revised pics

I was happy with the way my book turned out, but skimming through all the pages, i felt like it was a little boring wth the pictures simply pasted in the middle of the black, so i felt i had to give them some life.

Ive always liked the whole gaudy look of picture frames, especially large tacky ones, so i decided to get large scans of free frames and walls from all over the internet, and photoshop my pictures into them. The whole process is taking longer than i thought, but so far i like whats coming out of it…

Various Works splash pages

So these are a few splash pages from  my book i received not too long ago. I’m actually pleased with the way a lot of them came out, which is a surprise considering  i definitely was not with my last book. I think it is because my pictures this time around have a more dark tone then before, which had a super saturated, vibrant feel to all the pictures, and the result was less saturation and vibrancy in the print.

At first I was advised to make this book just about Lanterns, the band i take pictures of from time to time, but in the end i realized i just didnt have enough pages. I had lots of pictures of them, its just a bunch i took a looong time ago, when i was just doing photography for shiz and giggles, so i wasnt thinking about size or pictures quality then. But i liked them so much i decided i had to use them, but i could only keep them at their original small size.

Its all very boring actually now that im typing it out, but point being i had to add more pictures, so the result was Various Works (scatterbrain).

Chris Mollison

http://www.theinspirationroom.com/categories.html#category=photography&keywords=&id=2564

This guy takes portraiture to a whole new level. For me, straight head shot portraits have always been really hard because they always seem come out boring, but this guy adds so many new layers to his work, the whole thing almost seems cg, and i’m sure he adds tons of computer generated imagery that goes beyond just photoshop, which is something i have no idea how to do. But as you can see, each picture of his that this website provides can only be described as “intense”, which is great considering they are just headshots. And what i like is that some of these look like they could be movie stills, even when it comes down to the type of camera that he uses, it looks like a movie frame. There is a story going on, at least one the is going on in your head, when you look at them, which is something i’m sure he strived for, and is something that i would  love to capture in my work, but my stuff is nowhere near as advanced as this stuff.

SOON tong

http://www.theinspirationroom.com/categories.html#category=photography&keywords=&id=2752

From the pictures that i’ve seen, Soon Tong does a lot of liquid photography, which is exactly as it sounds, she takes pictures of liquid splashing around in front of the camera. It sounds lamer then it seems, but the way she composites her stuff digitally is aaaall class. Her splashes look highly coordinated, which means she knows exactly what shes doing or she gets real lucky during her photoshoots. They all take on a circular shape, sometimes reminding me of the curve of a nice car or a woman, or the circular repetition of a flower. its great stuff, and unfortunately again, i can’t save and put her stuff up, but the link is up there.

The Ronin (Rob Chiu

http://www.theinspirationroom.com/categories.html#category=graphic&keywords=&id=2699

 

http://theronin.co.uk/Photography/

 

I love this guys work. You can tell he puts all the time in the world into his stuff, whether its just a photograph or an actual graphic design. His stuff reminds me a lot of my stuff, photography mixed with digital art and what i like about his work is that you can tell he doesnt just snap a picture and he’s content with it. And whats great is that some of his subjects aren’t all that interesting to begin with, but you can tell he probably spends hours fixing levels and colors and finetuning his photographs until he gets them just right, and he probably still isn’t happy with it, but to me the result is anything but uninteresting. He gives photographers a good rap rather then bad. Too many people write off photography as a quick and lazy medium, but i think this “Ronin” guy really shows how it’s not quite as simple as just pressing a button on a camera.

i can’t save any of his stuff and put it in the blog, but the link above has most of his stuff, and the website in general is great for and digital medium you’re looking for.

Zine Gallery (from like 3 months ago)

So, a long time ago I went to this Zine exhibit at MiraCosta college sometime after the opening night. Nobody was there, it was in the middle of the day, so i had the whole place to myself almost. It was surprisingly smaller than i thought, but there were still tons of zines hanging from the wall. The subject ranged from sexuality to recipes, to diaries, to zombie invasion survival guides. In the middle of the room were type writers that any could have used, and a desk in the middle of the room for anyone to get started on their own zine. It seemed all pretty basic, and the walls provided hours upon hours of reading for any random subject you could possibly not think of.

 

Rising Tide: Film and Video Works from the MCA Collection Sydney

At the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla, the exhibit Rising Tide gather 14 video artists from Australia, each one with themes that are hard to really grasp at first, which is something i notice often when it comes to video art.

Apparently, the artist Shaun Gladwell is the most famous of all the artists featured at the exhibit, which is strange considering his work that was shown there. It features him suspended upside down in a subway car, only the camera is turned upside down as well so it supposed to look like he is floating in midair. That seemed to be the whole video, him in slow motion in a train car, and yes, of course their were deeper meanings underneath it all, but to be honest i forgot what they were, as i could barely connect them with the piece anyway. This happened much throughout the exhibit.

One video i did enjoy was one called the Opera House Steps by jess Macneil. It was just a still shot of steps on what looked like a afternoon, with figures slowly rippling down the steps. They were clearly shadows of people walking by, but with no one actually there, Jess Macneil removed them later on digitally and the result if a kind of humorous rippling effect, making the dead stairs come alive.

There were other entertaining videos and other videos were eerie, some i just could not get, but on the whole i think it was worth paying the 10 dollars to get in and each artist had something different to offer.

Electroshock Fashion Show 3/19

This was a fashion show that was hosted by the Art Institute of San Diego fashion design students taking place on March 19 at this little place in San Diego called the Airport Lounge. As you could guess, this place was right next to the airport and planes were making insane amount of noise the whole night. But despite this, it was a nice chique little outoor/indoor lounge, with neon lights on the ceiling and 2 bars. 

The reason i knew about this event was because of my girlfriend. She and her classmates had to use the theme of electroshock, sort of a 80′s glam fashion where the girls had an embarrassingly low budget, something like 200 dollars to put everything together, making clothes and using fabrics from American Apparel, and do the best job they could with the skills they’ve gained from their classes to organize the event itself, the vip guests, and the clothes. Needless to say there were lots of beautiful models, strange, brightly colored clothes and good dance music, the bar certainly helped things along as well. This was definitely one of the more exciting art events i’ve been too, heres a picture….

 

 

Electroshock

Black Womanhood @ SD Museum of Art

I went into this exhibit not really knowing what to expect, but low and behold the very first thing you see before you even walk into the show room is a large naked black woman in all her nubian glory, and then i think i got a taste of what it was about.

The exhibit dedicates itself to both African art and the Black Woman and the stereotypes and burdens that come with being both these labels. A constant theme was at the center of all the pieces, despite all being completely different mediums of art. There were paintings, cardboard cutouts, sculptings, projections, and photographs. The photographs were what caught my eye the fastest, mainly because of their sexuality. But then, after really examining each piece up close, one could see that these artists were using their sexuality as a way of confronting stereotypes as well as empowering themselves by not hiding their body from the viewer. 

Photography is an art that is written off too quickly, but the works that are presented in this exhibit are beautiful not only in composition and technical skill, but in the way the women express their identity in themselves personally as well as African women.  

ZInes!

Also, I have yet to blog about the Zines exhibit from Miracosta. I took some pics there and yes I do need to write about it, but I’ll get to it later!