Spring Blossoms

The cherry blossoms come and go so quickly each Spring, as does Spring itself. Every year I dedicate myself to setting aside a day to photograph them, ideally when they have just started to fall and there is not only an abundance of flora covering the branches but also an ethereal layer of petals on the ground below. These few days are magical in New York City. While I always notice when they begin to bloom, planning for the fleeting days of sylvan perfection can be rather difficult. One can never be sure exactly when this will happen and often waiting one more day will result in missing it altogether. Not this year though. Angie, my frequent muse and sweet friend, has helped to keep watch over the progress of the blossoms in Prospect Park. When she called me with news that they were looking lush I knew I had to embrace the sentiment "carpe diem", regardless of my busy week. So, in between pre-production for tomorrow's job and uploading the fruits of yesterday's job, we made it happen.

Editing...

I am in the midst of editing the many images from this shoot, but so far this is a favorite of mine and also a couple of others who have perused the contact sheets. Editing is both a pleasure and a pain. It is satisfying to see the fruits of your labor, but choosing can be difficult and it often takes me several editing sessions to make final choices. I believe this will stay in the final running.

Pygmy Seahorse

I am presently fascinated with a variety of fossils and other relics of nature, with and without decay. This is a Pygmy Seahorse, and pygmy it is. The actual height of this fantastic creature is equal to the length from the tip of my thumb to the first knuckle. I have two of them and will photograph them together as well. The roster also includes mini starfish, a variety of butterfly wings, and a selection of fossilized nautiluses. All of these things are very fantasy-like so I would like to explore some different ways of shooting them. This first example is not quite clinical though it does suggest science before fantasy. Strange sea creature discoveries definitely make one want to encapsulate and study, get to know the subject before deciding what to do with it.

Hibernation is Over

I have not been very diligent about posting lately, but the good news is that it's because I have been busy working! Even with less down time I am putting great effort into my personal portfolio, determined not to get drained by my commercial jobs which, while I enjoy many of them and am grateful to be working, can leave one with less motivation to take on additional projects. I attribute some of this determination to the arrival of Spring. It is still slightly out of reach as far as the temperature is concerned, but the extended daylight certainly helps. This image is part of a new series of portraits I am working on. I have several shoots planned over the next couple of months and a few that are waiting to be edited. I hope that this change of seasons and longer days will initiate a surge of energy and inertia to produce many, many images.

Since the Mixtape show I have started to explore different images and methods of printing in an effort to create a new project that will ultimately be a large series of images, a body of work on it's own. Many of the images have a worn quality that I'm liking for the series, very dreamy, albeit a bit strange in some cases. This is a portrait I took of Bradley in a costume he made. The outfit was based on the idea of a steampunk astronaut, but also had a very 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea quality to it. I'm still experimenting with these images, the top is a little lost, but I like where it's going. I would like to make a fairly large print as well, the details on the helmet are beautiful, a lot of gauges and tubes. It is a collaboration for us in a way beacuase the image is very much about the attire.

Anatomy of a Show

It's been a very busy couple of weeks and I am working on so many exciting things including preparations for the show "Mixtape" which is opening at 717 Studio tomorrow night. Laina Karavani, Graham Slick and I have joined our curating efforts and managed to organize 28 artists for this show. The most difficult part of this process was completed last night: hanging the show. Hanging and placing the work with the artists present inevitably becomes a scenario of "too many cooks in the kitchen". In many instances the artists want what they consider to be the prime and most flattering spot for their work, which is understandable, but it misses the big picture which is that a group show isn't about the individual, it's about collaboration. The geography of displaying diverse work from so many artists has to allow a certain flow and for work to compliment each other, not compete against each other. As an example, there is a light piece on one wall near the corner and on the perpendicular wall three framed pieces had been hung so the light was creating a lot of trouble with viewing these pieces through the glass. When I suggested we swap them with something else I was met with much resistance, maybe because some simply didn't want to re-do this area or maybe they were focusing on their own work. In the end, I gave a convincing argument and the framed pieces traded places with my own work in the show (a photograph printed on canvas) and as a result, the framed work can be seen clearly and rather than the light creating conflict in viewing my photograph, it illuminates it beautifully. So, after 6 hours of hammering, drilling, and litigating, we have produced a collaborative show that we are all proud of. The music for the show is made up of compilations or "mixed tapes" by each of the contributing artists. In addition, we are very excited that "Mixtape" has been chosen as a pick of the week on artcards.cc . If you are in the NYC area please join us tomorrow night at 717 Studio, for information click on this flier or go to www.717studio.net .

Windmills and a Car

It was almost 50 degrees here in NYC yesterday and it inspired me to do a little pre-Spring cleaning. In a box that I have been moving from apartment to apartment over the last 7 years I found an old high-8 video camera and decided to review the tape inside. There was footage from a road trip I took from San Francisco to South Florida. I remembered that passing the windmills near Palm Springs was an impressive sight and while we were driving through this area we passed this amazing old car and the juxtaposition of the windmills, car, mountains and power lines was so surreal to me. I was in the passenger seat and grabbed the nearest camera, which was the mentioned video camera, and recorded the scenario thinking I could later print still images from the video tape. Well, it's been more than 7 years since that trip and I am yet to make these prints, but I still like the idea. As a preliminary experiment I set myself up in front of the television and shot off the screen. Here is a sample of a still image from this.