How to load 4×5 sheet film

Because I forgot if it was emulsion in or out…

Interview an Artist

I have selected one of the artists I may (hopefully, if they accept) interview.  His name is David Bowen and he makes kinetic, robotic and interactive sculpture.  I know; why does a photographer want to interview a sculpture?  Well, I’d like to find a way to make my images interactive, perhaps by using processing, electrical components and sensors.  I think that we can learn allot and become inspired by artists who have a different concentration than our own.

I met David Bowen a few weeks ago, when he was in Philadelphia for the opening of his solo show Data Sweep at The Esther Klein Gallery.  Through my job at NextFab Studio, I helped print and mount some of his 3D scans of sand shaped by water, which were part of the show.  He also showed his Growth Rendering Device, which is a hydroponic plant system. It reacts to the plant growth by drawing the plant every twenty-four hours.  It’s wild and I dig it.

 

Art Project, powered by Google

“Explore museums from around the world, discover and view hundreds of artworks at incredible zoom levels, and even create and share your own collection of masterpieces.”

check it out!

Processing

I’d really like to make some interactive images, be it with stills, stop-motion or video.  I have been told that I need to learn processing, so I have downloaded the program and have begun to play with it.

Play with a processing example here.

I am still researching the artist for my class interview, but I’d like to talk to someone who is making interactive work.

Nobuhiro Nakani

Roger Allen posted Nobuhiro Nakani’s Layered Drawings on his blog, and I just had to share.  The images are transparency mounted on plexi and then hung in such a way that the viewer must walk around to take in the full depth of the scene.  I’d really love to see these in person!

 

 

Environmental portraits

Some recent work.  I am interested in light and color.  Personal space is full of information.  I feel that breaking the image actually connects me to the space, like blinking my eyes as I scan the room.

 

Photo Writings

I’d like to eventually work my way through these photo writings.

Phone Tag #1

Requirements – Camera Phone

I gave the first person a word.  Person #1 had to take a picture based on their interpretation of that word and send it to me as a picture message.  I forwarded it to the person #2, who took a photo based on their interpretation of image #1, and again, send it to me as a picture message.  I sent image #2 to the third person, and so on and so on.  The idea is that the participants were only able to see one image before them, but at the end, we all see the progression and interpretations.  It was super fun from my end, seeing it as it happened.  I’d like to do more rounds, perhaps as phone tag volleys between myself and others, where I will get to actively take part.

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P.S. the word was …

To-Do List

1. Catalog old negatives.

• scan, organize and archive old negs.
• watermark & post images.

2. Research symbolism / allegory/ narrative

• begin a list of words.
• begin collecting objects to use as props.

3. Create a website.

• find websites to guide and inspire my design choices.
• design a watermark.

4. Research an artist/gallery to connect with and interview –  consider artists using arduino/ processing.

• narrow down to 3 and email to connect.
• explain why I am interested in them.
• create a list of questions that may help me get where I want to be.

Vivian Maier

Yesterday, one of my teachers told my class about the discovered work of Vivian Maier (1926 – 2009).  Her negatives were found at a flea market.  Apparently Vivian never tried to show her images, even though she amassed about 100,000 negatives, which are now being scanned and archived by John Maloof, who discovered her work.

This really hit home with me, the fact that her images were never seen until after her death.  I have not organized or cataloged my work properly.  I have lost sculptures, which I never photographed.  I have misplaced or ruined countless negatives & prints.  So I have decided to begin scanning and cataloging the older work that I still have, and to create a good practice for organizing my work in the future.

Have a look at #1 on my To-Do List…

side note: I chose to highlight this Vivian Maier photograph because it reminds me of the boys riding their horses from the Belmont stables, past the El in West Philly, where I have lived for the past 13 years.