Hi guys,

For the past hour or so, I've been in sort of an artistic moral dilemma with myself (if that makes sense). On my way home from work tonight, around 1am, I encountered my first male exhibitionist about 200ft away from my apartment building entrance. At first, I really didn't know what to think, or how to react. I just kept walking to my door, paused on the steps to look back at the van he was leaning against, and then continued on up to my apartment. Naturally, the first thing I did when I got to my room was to go and tweet what just happened. And then half way through the typing the tweet, I thought, well, if this is twitter worthy then it is most definitely photo worthy. Within an instant I was suddenly SO excited to get my camera and go back to the exhibitionist. I threw my camera on my shoulder, dragged my roommate out of her NyQuil comatose sleep, and armed myself with two cans of pepper spray that my grandmother just sent me in the mail. I was so ready. Unfortunately it was too late. In only 15 minutes after walking by him on my way home from work, he was gone. My roommate was pissed. I was devastated. I came back to my room and sunk into my futon in disappointment. But then I thought, "Why am I so upset? This is no normal reaction to what I just experienced. Would photographing this exhibitionist be exploiting his mental sickness? Even if its probably what every exhibitionist would love, would photographing them still be wrong? Does my interest in this situation make me equally as sick? Yes, probably. But, if you think about it, how is this any different from any other subculture or scene?"

So I stumbled upon this man a few years ago. His name is Mickey Smith and he's originally from an area of Britain called Cornwall. His work consists of surf photography but he really understands the movement and feel of the water. He gets right in the wave and puts himself at risk to get the serene and soft shot. Check out his work: http://www.clubofthewaves.com/surf-photographer/mickey-smith.php

Bill Cunningham New York

     It was one night during Welcome Week that, in the process of familiarizing myself with the area surrounding NYU, I stumbled upon a small movie theatre with the title "Bill Cunningham, New York" radiating from the overhead marquee. "Guys! Look!" I called to my friends. "I didn't know that movie was still playing!" They glanced up with a minimal amount of interest before continuing down the street. No one appreciated my excitement or expressed even remote desire to see the film...which is why I am sharing this with you fine people, true appreciators of photography.
    In case you don't know, Bill Cunningham is a fashion photographer for the New York Times. The eccentric octogenarian peddles around NYC on a bicycle, photographing the latest and greatest in street style. He processes his film at a local convenience store and is recognized by his simple blue windbreaker. He is charmingly low-key and very surreptitious in the capturing of his snapshots.
     Documentary filmmaker Richard Press decided to take a look at Cunningham's life, catching snippets of  his days and glimpsing into his past. When I heard about this film last April I asked my mom, who faithfully reads the New York Time Style section every Sunday, to accompany me to the Cable Car Cinema in Providence, RI to see the film. It was the most poignant and interesting film I had seen in a long time. It so beautifully captured the essence of this man. His dry humor had me belly-laughing in the theatre. There were moments of seriousness as well. Cunningham, who has been living in one of the artist's apartments above Carnegie Hall, was told by the new artistic director that he must leave so that the apartments can be converted to offices. This is more or less the central conflict in the film; Cunningham now faces the challenge of finding a place to accomodate his dozens of file cabinets filled with thousands of photographs and negatives.
     Although we are only given a glimpse of Cunningham's personal life (he is very careful about what he reveals; an obstacle Press handles delicately and effectively) I left the theatre with a longing to spend more time with this absolutely delightful man. Bill Cunningham is New York...the film seemed to drive at least that much home.

     I wish I could remember the name of the theatre where I saw the movie title. I checked the website and it doesn't seem to be playing anywhere around here anymore. Thankfully, it is available on DVD. I would recommend it to all of you, especially the aspiring fashion photographers among us.

     If you happen to rent it, give me a call...I would love to enjoy Bill Cunningham's company again!
     And yours too, of course:)

DRIVE

Last night I decided to go and see Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive, starring Ryan Gosling. I was a bit hesitant to see it because I expected it to be just another action/suspense movie with the hopes of attracting an audience by using other great actors such as Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), and Christina Hendricks. Well, let me just say that once the film ended, I was left speechless.

The reason why I wanted to share this film with you all on the blog is because of it's unique cinematography. As some of you might recall, Mark was demonstrating for us the difference in camera angles and what it does to our subject: You shoot from above and take away the assertiveness from your subject; you shoot from below and give power to your subject.
In Drive, the majority of the shots were done from below. Every character was treated with the same style of shot--from below with them looking up or away. Each was given his or her own unique power without any discrimination between "good guy" or "bad guy".



There is very little dialogue in the movie, at least compared to most other action and suspense films, but I felt that this helped me soak in the visuals and the emotions of the characters much better. My memory is not the strongest, but this film makes the exception; I can literally sit down and think about the whole entire movie through without missing a scene. This is because of the director's strong use of slow motion accompanied with panning and longer cuts. I was able to absorb every ray of light and every color, from the blood (which there was a lot of) to the wallpaper.


Being a photographer, I have always appreciated strong cinematography in films as it can be extremely inspiring for your own personal work. The rule is, is that almost every shot in a film should have the ability, if it were paused, to create a strong still photograph. So, I highly recommend seeing Drive for its visual effectiveness. (Plus, Ryan Gosling isn't that bad to look at either!)

Tricks with perspective

Not sure how many of you saw the New York Times article on education "What if the Secret to Success is Failure?

The words in photos look like they are printed no the photo itself. But they are actually installations on site by an old classmate of mine (and legendary Art Director) Stephen Doyle in collaboration with the photographer Stephen Wilkes (who has a show at Clampart right now)

Stephen sent me a link to his vimeo site with two short films that show the installation in progress

"In the Gym"  and  and "Cipher"  (which shows him building the image above).

I had many classes with Stephen where he was annoyingly brilliant.

Oxelo Skateboarders in India

I stumbled across this video a while back, but thought I should share it with everyone, because its really well done. The short film is about a group of French skateboarders who travel to India to film a skate video on the unique landscapes the location offers. The colors used in the film are perfect, and the cinematography is gorgeous. I can't even imagine what it would have been like to shoot photos on location. Enjoy

New Yorker

Weird how the internet works.  A while back someone asked me to submit a photo of mine to the New Yorker photo Blog and I forgot all about it until I got an email from someone who saw it.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/photobooth/2011/08/dogs.html

The Self Portrait

So as a photographer, I've never really been able to master the self portrait. I just stay away from it except for the random moment when I say "oh, let me try again." Though these times generally cause me to once again stay away from the self portrait.  One day I stumbled on a photographer named Miss Aniela who does a wide variety of self portraiture that is very exciting. Her work has landed them some top jobs despite being only our age.

Natalie Kucken

hi everyone! (this is sandy) my friend natalie kucken is an incredible photographer. she is only 17 years old but has cultivated a huge online following for her unique and dreamy photos. she has been doing a lot more fashion photography as of late, but here is an assortment of photos by her (and links to her work at the bottom)

for more of her photos, see her flickr, blog, or website

Bus Trip

Folks,
Here's a picture from our back-to-school bus tour. Actually, it's the very first picture I took with my "new" Busch Pressman camera, circa 1958, courtesy eBay. The rangefinder focus actually works!
Tom

Ultimate Head Turner

Hello fellow photographers!

Take a look at this recent find: what a stylish way to start your morning...

Or for those loyal to Nikon,

-Sonja

Printed Matter, Inc.

Wandering around Chelsea today, I stumbled upon a shop called "Printed Matter, Inc." As their name so subtly suggests, they stock a wide selection of printed matter dealing with photography, graphic design and other media that I'm in no position to categorize. The floor crowded with shelves and displays, one can find everything from small, homemade zines to more professionally produced hardcover books and even poster-size prints and limited-edition skateboard decks. If you're at all interested in self-published books or zines, it's definitely worth a visit. - Jonah R.


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Well here you are.

What are ya gonna do?

This is really just a test post to establish what this blog will look like.  What it will be depends on you, and what you want to create.

In this blog you can create links to artists you think are awesome.

You can review a show you've seen

Or you can post your photos to share them with all the other freshman students and instructors

So what are ya gonna do?