Influenced by the exploration of applications.

Such an amazing part of the world. It takes me a long time to get a sense of place and honestly I haven’t yet found my place but living in Albuquerque has been an interesting experience. I could see myself living a long time in this land of enchanting colors and friendly encounters. I am often astounded at the beauty of nature in such a arid environment. This shot frames the sand hill cranes coming to winter along the Rio Grande.

It’s a Wrap!

Producing Commercials

Some shots from a recent production in Albuquerque for a local business.  I write, produce, shoot and edit these commercials and have had the good fortune to learn some art direction tips from the accomplished photographer, Chip Simons, who took these photos of the production.

Intriguing Campaign

This campaign crafted around the same six lines of dialog was made for Philips by DDB, London, RSA Films and director Carl Erik Rinsch and it is amazing.  “The Gift” has won the Grand Prix at Cannes for the new category of Film Craft.

See for yourself…  The Gift.

Numbered Lots

Downtown Albuquerque

Albuquerque is a tough city to capture.  Its gritty side shows so well, its emptiness, its sun drenched contrasts, its bravado. The light is usually amazing.

And some time has flown by!

I haven’t found the time to post about the newest adventure which is living in Albuquerque, NM, right on old Route 66 to L.A from Chicago. Going to visit Santa Fe tomorrow, one of the oldest cities in the U.S. 400 years, the anniversary was this year.

Very different…  more to come.

Nate & Jami

Had the opportunity to visit my home state and shoot a wedding for a wonderful and rambunctious couple, Jami & Nate. The light was perfect. Right before the wedding the shimmery thin clouds formed near the mountains and provided just enough moisture in the air to soften the blow of the hot June sun. Perfect. Horses running and love…  romantic.

And this little girl was playing telephone in this little booth. I couldn’t help but catch her image.

Little bridesmaids and flower girls.

Jasmine.

The photograph speaks for itself, Jasmine is a beautiful person, inside and out. I love Photoshop for other details. Details like the unseen elements of our world.

clb makes the $50,000 page.

clb makes a donation to the Rhizome $50,000 benefit page!!

In the age of internet media.

Rhizome has supported innovation and artistic exploration on the internet for about 13 years. Founded in 1996 as only an email list subscribed to by some of the first online artists, Rhizome created a space for artists working in emerging technologies to exhibit work, critique and define this new media and archive the work which is quite ephemeral as dot com time limits can expire.

Rhizome is a non profit and this month are holding a benefit: Rhizome 2009 Benefit There are still many spaces left on the $50,000 web page. Buy a pixel or a ticket to the event which will include works by innovative artists.

Mission

Rhizome is dedicated to the creation, presentation, preservation, and critique of emerging artistic practices that engage technology. Through open platforms for exchange and collaboration, our website serves to encourage and expand the communities around these practices. Our programs, many of which happen online, include commissions, exhibitions, events, discussion, archives and portfolios. We support artists working at the furthest reaches of technological experimentation as well as those responding to the broader aesthetic and political implications of new tools and media. Our organizational voice draws attention to artists, their work, their perspectives and the complex interrelationships between technology, art and culture.

Rhizome is located in the New Museum.

Time.

While time is relative and subjective I still haven’t had enough of it lately. I have been spending a lot of my time behind my camera trying to frame the world as I see it.

Here is one of my latest shots.

Myth and Modern Culture

Darren Mahuron is a photographer in demand. He and his wife Lisa work in Fort Collins, Colorado creating commissions and artworks that are highly imaginative and metaphorical. Darren’s friends describe him as a passionate artist who is unpretentious, unstoppable and a natural at visualizing his imagination. I first saw his work when Gabriella Louise showed me the photograph he had done to promote her as a musician.

This piece (below) MEDEA 3 illustrates an interestingly modern interpretation of an ancient greek myth, the tragedy of Medea.

Darren lent me his ear and answered a couple of questions about what inspires him and a little about how he achieves the beautiful textures and colors within his photos. The Mahuron’s work can be seen at the online gallery, Darren Mahuron: Photographer.

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Sounds like you’ve been a visual storyteller for some time now… what is it about our world that inspires you to create?

I am inspired by many things; Music, Literature, Film, People, Places, Relationships. I love to travel, I enjoy conversation, most often topics that go well below the surface. I am passionate about life and death. I rarely look at other photographers work so as to not be influenced.

Looking at your web gallery I see a lot of metaphor in your work. Can you talk about the inspiration for this kind of storytelling?

Many of my ideas come from listening to music or reading. I love pre-christian history, Greek Mythology and politics, they all play a part in my storytelling I suppose. I typically have the idea as a visual first and then begin to understand it’s meaning later or sometimes never. Some of the ideas in my work have also come from my wife Lisa or the subject or as a collaboration.

In discovering digital photography what struck you first about the medium?

I really discovered Photoshop first. It was very intuitive for me. Digital photography was a tool to get a file into Photoshop to mess around with. That’s how it started for me. I like photography more now that I understand it better, but I still consider myself more of a digital painter than a photographer.

In your photographs, the first thing I sense is your grit and texture, it seems that you use high contrast lighting to start achieving this effect. Can you talk a little bit about why you frequently choose this pallet?

I try and create a consistent world that is dirty, or gritty, a little edgy maybe as a way to communicate my ideas. Not sure why I started down this road, it just resonates with me.

One distinction in your photographs are the shadows and rich colors, it seems that you shoot above the ambient with the strobes… or do you achieve the depth in post?

I’m not completely sure what “above the ambient” means actually.  I’m self taught, and I just do what I think looks right. One way I’ve learned to improve on my contrasty look is to shoot with brighter lights. This saves me time in post. It also allows me to shoot at say F22 rather than F2.8 which gives me a larger depth of field and more detail to work with later in Photoshop.

As far as advertising, I really enjoy the Exist campaign. The photographs illustrate the fears we see in our minds as we are driving around the city, and also the fears of biking around the city.  To create events like those must require a bit of pre-production, are you a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of photographer or do you plan ahead meticulously?

I’m a pretty meticulous planner. I always have the shot in my head before going on location. I typically know how I’m going to light it as well. I sometimes will also loosely draw the image so that I know the composition will work.
I definitely try and allow for some spontaneity while on location, but that typically has more to do with allowing the model freedom inside the controlled set and lighting.

I tried to learn from your techniques in this photo of my husband Brooks could you give me a critique? He wanted all of his freckles to show and we were trying to recreate something similar in detail and texture as this cover of Wired Magazine because it is so the opposite of airbrushed perfection.

Sure. By comparing the photos the number one issue keeping you from getting the look that I think you are going for is the lighting. I think you’ve done some interesting things in post, but without strategically placed, high contrast lighting, it will end up a little flat.

If you were starting over again, what flash/strobe would you start with?

I started with Alien Bees actually because they were the least expensive lights that were still getting positive reviews. I still use them.

If there is anything you would like to say other artists please do.

People often ask me about short-cuts. I don’t really know of any. I spend 4-12 hours on each image. Also, the best way to get better is to try and shoot or photoshop ever single day. I think work ethic is more important than just about anything else art related. If you want to make a living doing photography or art, it’s simple, just work longer and harder than your competition.

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Understanding our physical world.

David Hobby, photographer and teacher, goes to CERN to see how the secrets of the universe are being unlocked. Story at the Strobist.

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I often wonder about how things work and how the workings relate to the things we sense but cannot see. Empirical evidence is always interesting.

First it was Schrodinger starting with one proton, then Maxwell with his light equations, then Time Dilation from Lorentz Transformation – Timespace and then finally Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle – our recognition of free will. CHOICE – choose a particle or a wave, but not both.

What of the universe will they uncover next?

Coraline artist panel at Nucleus.

Gallery Nucleus has recently hosted a Coraline Production Artist Panel.  Steve Lambe has posted most of the event which Sean Szeles recored during the talk. The talks are also viewable on YouTube.

MEET some of the PRODUCTION ARTISTS that worked on the movie as they drop by to discuss their contributions to the film, along with the production and artistic process for this highly anticipated visual masterpiece.

Nucleus, located in California, hosts many emerging artists, illustrators, animators and interactive work.

Coraline was done in stop frame animation, all of the finish work and pre-production that went into it though are enormous contributions and art in their own right. The original story was created by a favorite of mine, Neil Gaiman, directed by Henry Selik renound for many films such as the “Nightmare Before Christmas.”

Gmunk’s website.

Gmunk is off the charts creative with the web site possibilities! His demo reel is plugged into the time code to reveal who worked on the piece showing and at what capacity. He is the new design director at Buck.

Dreamy the dormouse.

He didn’t even awaken from his hibernated slumber for the photoshoot. Read the full article here.

A canvas of ice.

Dr. Peter Wasilewski, a NASA scientist, paints with frizion crystals. His images show that joy present in the natural world. The shapes arise from water crystals that form on earth and are unlike the many other forms of ice known of in the Milky Way and beyond.

Thin layers of water are frozen, manipulated, and viewed through polarized light.  Light has wave-like properties, one of which is vibration.  A polarizing filter is placed on a light table to polarize the light passing through. A petri dish with a thin layer of water in the process of freezing is placed over the filter. As the polarized light passes through the forming ice crystals, it is bent in two slightly different directions and forms two different rays of light. The color palette in the images is created by rotating a second polarizing filter placed over the ice to intercept and resolve these emerging light rays.

Thanks to Bioephemera for bringing these beautiful images to my attention.

Social media for disease control.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has taken the social media model and in doing so has made it so much easier to find current information on product recalls to infection outbrakes.  The recent peanut butter recall is highlighted here. The blogs that keep outbreak news updated, the webinars to allow bloggers to stay up to date on outbreaks and recalls and to ask questions of FDA and CDC subject matter experts, the searchable databases where information on products can be found and much more are available to anyone with access to a computer.

This kind of information is pertinent in our fast paced, multifarious world.

Super Bowl Ad.

Ahhh, the beautiful and plentiful broadcast time put aside for advertising during the Super Bowl.  This year my absolute fave was the ‘Heist‘ done by Psyop and Weiden + Kennedy Portland. The little tricksters are brilliant in the use of illusion and subtlety! Full list of Credits. The sweet crane shot at the beginning is just perfect for setting up the scene to be somewhere between dream and reality.

A fine touch.

Shepard Fairey has been getting a lot of press these days. Armed with modern design techniques (some timeless techniques) and walking with philosophy books in his back pocket he brings attention to what’s going down with a fine touch. He’s been busy on the freezing cold streets of Boston pulling back the layers and making art.

Inspiration from Antony.

Antony’s voice can knock your socks off. His voice embodies beauty, love, and compassion, perfect tune and depth of passion. If you haven’t heard his rendition of Leonard Cohen’s song, “If it be your Will” you must, it is truly amazing. He has offered words of inspiration to people singing their hearts out in Paste‘s latest issue. Vocal Tips. I believe his words apply for any artist working to realize a vision or expression. Words of wisdom.

You’re taking a risk, but you’re challenging yourself to be more vulnerable or to put yourself out there. In that vulnerability is great strength.

Competition.

From the Crane website.

The Competition:

TheCrane.tv, Discovery Campus and reelisor.com are hosting a film competition for creative talents from all over the world in the categories: Culture, Art&Design, Lifestyle, Fashion, Ideas, Travel and “Green”. We reward creativity and encourage you to offer fresh, insider perspectives into your topic of choice. We would like to feel inspired and enriched by your contribution.

Launch: 18th November 2008 at the International Film School Festival, Munich.
Deadline: 28th February 2009 Films: There are no boundaries to your creativity. The short films can be fiction, non-fiction or animated.
Specifications: Between 1 and 5 minutes long, preferably in English (or subtitled) and all standard file formats
Submissions: Electronically via the upload portal on www.thecrane.tv Here you can also register your email address to receive the latest news on the competition.

The winning films will be selected by our accomplished jury and announced at the international launch of TheCrane.tv in February 2009. The rewards for Laureates include cash, equipment and TV broadcast. All entries will be available for viewing on www.thecrane.tv when the competition is over.

Martian sunset.

Sunset over Gusev Crater, Mars.  This photo was taken by the Spirit Rover on May 19th, 2005 and posted on the NASA astronomy picture of the day website.

As long as we are on the subject of Mars, scientists using spectroscopy readings from telescopes in Hawaii have tracked changes in the composition of Mars’ atmospere over time and found releases of methane into the atmosphere. A very interesting read on Arstechnica, Mars Makes Methane: Sign of life or geology at work?

Aesthetics of the man-made.

I have always been interested in the line drawn between man-made and natural/organic. Of course on one hand it is perfectly clear, anything that man creates and introduces into the environment is man-made. I like to take it a step further though and bring up the argument of humans being part of nature, here on earth just like the grasses, trees, fish, other mammals, we are part of the ecology as is what we build or make.

Listed within the ‘Greatest Hits’ of the Design Observer blog I found a wonderful article breaking down, and tearing apart, the language of aesthetics, design and what man’s effect on the earth is. I think that the article entitled, ‘Justin Good: What is Beauty? Or, On the Aesthetics of Wind Farm‘ has wonderful insight into this issue of man within the environment. I love how Justin Good brings up the idea of good design being an integral part of living within the ecology not only as a destructive force. We have the intelligence and the capacity to not live beyond what the earth can support.