My Photo Life

To be a successful photographer...

2012-01-27T19:51:00.000-06:00

To be a successful photographer, you must possess both vision & focus neither of which have anything to do with your eyes.

- Kevin Russo

Jeff Harris: 4,748 Self-Portraits and Counting

2012-01-20T11:45:00.000-06:00

Photographer Jeff Harris takes us on a journey through his life with his self portraits. This is beautiful. Watch this in full-screen.

Beauty Product from 'Fotoshop'

2012-01-10T14:14:00.000-06:00

Great spoof commercial with ~~subtle~~ strong social commentary:

"Pro-pixel intensifying fauxtanical hydro-jargon microbead extract feature nutritive volumizing technology."

Nice.

What's a Good Year (Photographically)?

2012-01-01T13:05:00.001-06:00

Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.

- Ansel Adams

Happy New Year! Go get your camera... get started...

Limitations in Your Photography

2011-12-24T16:48:00.000-06:00

There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.

- Ernst Haas

Art Is Like Masturbation

2011-12-07T13:51:00.000-06:00

Art is like masturbation. It is selfish and introverted and done for you and you alone. Design is like sex. There is someone else involved, their needs are just as important as your own, and if everything goes right, both parties are happy in the end.

- Colin Wright

It's an interesting take... Yes? No? Overly simplified?

Art Sale THIS WEEKEND

2011-12-01T21:40:00.002-06:00

It's late Thursday evening, and I just got done helping set up work for the CVA Holiday Sale.

Here are a few "in progress" photos from tonight of the work going up:

Work in the main gallery

The "nook" as I was nearly finished hanging work

Some work for the silent auction

More silent auction work

Jewelry and knick-knacks

Lots of work to still be hung / sorted

I seriously need to purchase some of these

Some of "the crew" discussing the game-plan at the end of the night

I was given a hilariously small tool-belt-apron-thing
(it was made for a toddler - I could barely fit my head through it...)

There's SERIOUSLY a lot of work that I'd like to purchase! There's a lot of great and INEXPENSIVE art to buy!

Location:
CVA Gallery
173 Western Avenue North
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55102

Holiday Art Sale Preview Party:
Friday, December 2, 5 - 8 p.m.
General Admission: $30.00 at the door (online registration closed)

Holiday Art Sale:
Saturday, December 3, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Sunday, December 4, 12 – 4 p.m.
Free

Click here for more info

My family will be at the sale sometime Friday evening, so stop by and say "hi" and purchase some great art!

10 Lessons for Young Photographers and Designers

2011-11-26T19:30:00.000-06:00

To my students: take note of these lessons from Wieden+Kennedy’s Executive Creative Director, John C Jay:

1. Be authentic. The most powerful asset you have is your individuality, what makes you unique. It’s time to stop listening to others on what you should do.

2. Work harder than anyone else and you will always benefit from the effort.

3. Get off the computer and connect with real people and culture. Life is visceral.

4. Constantly improve your craft. Make things with your hands. Innovation in thinking is not enough.

5. Travel as much as you can. It is a humbling and inspiring experience to learn just how much you don’t know.

6. Being original is still king, especially in this tech-driven, group-grope world.

7. Try not to work for stupid people or you’ll soon become one of them.

8. Instinct and intuition are all-powerful. Learn to trust them.

9. The Golden Rule actually works. Do good.

10. If all else fails, No. 2 is the greatest competitive advantage of any career.

Listen. To. This.

Computer Program Knows "Good vs Bad" Photographs

2011-11-23T13:49:00.001-06:00

Xerox research labs just developed a program that supposedly can spot a "good" or a "bad" photograph. It's called the "Aesthetic Image Search Program," and it is "trying to learn what makes an image special, and makes photo enthusiasts mark it as high quality."

The software has different themes, like beaches, portraits, skies or flowers. The algorithm uses different parameters to evaluate the photos according to that subject matter.

Below is what it came up with in the category of "birds" and "portraits."

Does this software work? What do you think?

Early "Mechanical" Light Meter

2011-11-16T08:25:00.000-06:00

From http://www.nzeldes.com/HOC/Posographe.htm:

At first glance this is just a small rectangular plate, about 13 x 8 cm, covered with dense scribbles, with seven pointers fixed to its frame. Then you realize that the pointers are not fixed, but can slide on the frame… and then you note that they are somehow interconnected -- moving any of the small ones will move the larger one this way or that. Strange.

Kaufmann’s Posographe is nothing less than an analog mechanical computer for calculating six-variable functions. Specifically, it computes the exposure time (Temps de Pose) for taking photographs indoors or out (depending on which side you use). The input variables are set up on the six small pointers; the large pointer then gives you the correct time. The variables are very detailed, yet endearingly colloquial. For outdoors, they include the setting -- with values like “Snowy scene”, “Greenery with expanse of water”, or “Very narrow old street”; the state of the sky -- including “Cloudy and somber”, “Blue with white clouds”, or “Purest blue”; The month of the year and hour of the day; the illumination of the subject; and of course the aperture (f-number).

Corinne Vionnet on 20x200

2011-11-09T12:55:00.000-06:00

Corinne Vionnet just had a print go up for sale on 20x200, and I'm trilled! Who is Corinne and what is 20x200? Let me explain.

I posted about some of Corinne's photos here on my blog back in March. They're a successful version of something I was trying to do with my childhood memories. Her photos are beautiful and have a great conceptual edge. Mine version of this idea that I tried 4 years ago looked like hot crap.

20x200 is a site where you can buy prints from small editions of different artists' work. Here's a bit from David from 20x200:

20x200 is an online art retailer, and our goal is to make art affordable and accesible to everyone. Our limited editions start at $20, and since we split all revenues 50/50 with our artists, our collectors are true patrons through their purchases.

They usually offer 8"x10" editions of 100 for $10, 11"x14" editions of 500 for $50, and 16"x20" editions of 20 for $200 (many artists have larger prints available as well).

Corinne Vionnet just had this image go up on 20x200:

Zipping through 20x200, I found other familiar up-and-coming artists that I've admired for a while.

Like Todd McLellan:

Old Typewriter

And Jenny Odell:

144 Empty Parking Lots

As well as work by Carlo Van de Roer, Rachel Papo (who I met in New Mexico), Keith Taylor, Brian Ulrich, and Karolina Karlic (a friend from my time in grad school).

So check out Corinne Vionnet on 20x200 and order your prints before they're all sold out. Here's the direct link to Corinne Vionnet's print on 20x200. Happy art buying!

...looking for people to do their job without pay...

2011-11-03T17:35:00.001-05:00

Nice.

My Appearance on "Things Organized Neatly"

2011-10-25T07:19:00.000-05:00

Do you know about this site? I'm obsessed with it. It fulfills some sort of OCD need for me. I submitted a photo about 2 months ago, and just a few days ago, I saw that it "made the cut" and was featured on Things Organized Neatly. Here's a screenshot with all of the likes and reblogs at the bottom:

CLICK HERE to go to my entry on Things Organized Neatly.

Well, I can check THAT off my bucket list...

Sister Corita Kent's Rules

2011-10-18T08:39:00.000-05:00

From "Weekend America:"
http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/programs/2007/03/03/sister_corita.html

When you think about pop art and counter culture, in all likelihood, you don't immediately think of a convent in Los Angeles in the 1960s. Sister Corita Kent was a nun at the Immaculate Heart Convent in Los Angeles, as well as a teacher in the art department at the Immaculate Heart College. She was also an artist whose screen prints garnered world-wide attention. At one point she was on the cover of Newsweek. But she was also criticized by conservative Catholics, including the archbishop of the Los Angeles archdiocese. Sister Corita Kent left the convent at the height of her fame but continued to live a fascinating life....

Here are Sister Kent's famous rules:

1. Find a place you trust and then try trusting it for a while.

2. General duties of a student: pull everything out of your teacher, pull everything out of your fellow students.

3. General duties of a teacher: pull everything out of your students.

4. Consider everything an experiment.

5. Be self-disciplined. This means finding someone wise or smart and choosing to follow them. To be disciplined is to follow in a good way. To be self-disciplined is to follow in a better way.

6. Nothing is a mistake. There is no win and no fail. There is only make.

7. THE ONLY RULE IS WORK. If you work it will lead to something. It's the people who do all of the work all the time who eventually catch on to things.

8. Don’t try to create and analyse at the same time. They're different processes.

9. Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It's lighter than you think.

10. "We’re breaking all of the rules. Even our own rules. And how do we do that? By leaving plenty of room for X quantities." - John Cage.

Helpful hints: Always be around. Come or go to everything always. Go to classes. Read anything you can get your hands on. Look at movies carefully often. Save everything, it might come in handy later.

Dear students: today's lesson? This. All of this.

File Under "I Want:" The Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera

2011-10-15T12:04:00.000-05:00

Direct link: http://youtu.be/Th5zlUe6gOE

Opening of the New Photo Labs at CVA

2011-10-07T13:01:00.001-05:00

Last night was the "Grand Opening Celebration" for the new CVA Photo Lab. (BTW, if you aren't a fan of the CVA Photo Lab on Facebook, become one now!) There were a lot of people there, and I was able to chat with some old and new "photo friends."

Here are some photos from last night:

Goodies (many of them were made by members of our own photo faculty)

The "loungy" area directly outside of the B&W lab - notice
the magnetic wall used for instant critique space!

Faculty, staff, and students starting to file-in to the new studio

Ann Ledy (the president of CVA in the red glasses) thanking those who made
the new labs possible - there were a LOT of people who did a LOT of work!

Students getting ready to present thank you gift baskets
to Shawn, Grant, John, and I. Thanks students!

Some of my work-study lab assistants found the extra food once everyone had left...

My gift basket from the students

Probably the most random gift basket I've ever received... Thanks photo students (and Emma!)

Thanks to EVERYONE who showed up in support of the Photo Program last night! What a fun time!

I'll have some pretty dramatic "before-and-after" photos of the photo lab spaces posted in the next week or 2. Check back for those and become a fan of the CVA Photo Lab on Facebook!

Photo Area Open House

2011-10-04T08:13:00.000-05:00

Stop by and check out the new photo labs at CVA! We have a new B&W lab, Color lab, film processing area, Digital Darkroom, and check-out area. That's a completely brand new photo department!

Here are 2 photos from the months past. This first photo shows the B&W lab full of boxes from the beginning of Sept:

And this photo shows the lab as it's getting ready to open a week later:

Stop by Thursday evening and check out our new space! See you there!

"Fitness for Photographers"

2011-09-26T14:02:00.000-05:00

The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) has a class named "Fitness for Photographers." Here's the description from their site:

The Camera

2011-09-24T16:30:00.001-05:00

The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.

- Dorthea Lange

Camera Stickers

2011-09-17T22:46:00.000-05:00

Their site says: "Three (3) sheets of awesome pixelated camera stickers based on iconic cameras ranging from vintage twin-lens reflex cameras to the latest DSLRs!"

I just ordered a few sheets of these from the PetaPixel Store. Can't wait until they come in!

How To Feel Miserable as an Artist

2011-09-12T09:44:00.000-05:00

This sort of pairs well with my last post:

33 Ways to Stay Creative

2011-09-09T17:16:00.000-05:00

I don't know where this list came from, and I don't know that I see the importance of #8 or #9, but otherwise it's a good list of things to keep in mind:

My New Job

2011-09-02T12:24:00.000-05:00

It's been too long... I don't know if my love of history first drove me to CVA, or if my years living and going to school in a historical neighborhood of St. Paul turned me into a history buff.

If you look through the pages of the Summer 2011 "Manse" (the newsletter for friends of the College of Visual Arts), you'll find this little announcement:

So I figure now is a good time to announce that I've been hired at CVA as a full time Assistant Professor in Photography and Foundation, and I'm the new Photo Lab Tech for the new darkrooms and digital photo lab. As I glance down the schedule for the beginning of the semester meetings, it's apparent that I also now have the longest title of any professor at CVA. :)

Ellen and I went to grad school together at MCAD, and we are both thrilled to be the 10th and 11th full-time professors at this small school made up mostly of dedicated, highly successful, working adjunct professors.

If you don't know much about the College of Visual Arts, here's a quick blurb from their website:

The College of Visual Arts is a private, accredited, four-year college of art and design offering a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in fine arts, graphic design, illustration, interdisciplinary art and design studies, and photography. The fine arts degree offers concentrations in drawing, painting, printmaking, and sculpture. The interdisciplinary art and design studies degree offers a concentration in fashion.

Founded in 1924, the college is located in the thriving urban residential areas of historic Summit Avenue and Ramsey Hill in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

And if you're wondering what makes CVA so special, here are 2 short stories that will start to give you a bit of a idea. (These stories are what I've heard - I'm sorry if some of the small details are incorrect, but this is what I believe to be true.)

Story #1:

There was a fire one night this past summer (just a few months ago) at a small apartment building where a number of CVA students live. (With a student body of under 250 students, there's no dorm at CVA, but there's a "housing coordinator" who helps students find a place to live in one of many apartment buildings nearby [and they can get paired with other CVA students if they want to have roommates].) No one was injured in the fire, so don't worry. But the building was deemed unlivable until repairs were made.

It just so happens that the main security guard for CVA lives just across the road from this apartment building, and he knew many CVA students lived there. He came out to help, and he called the head of the physical plant (the head maintenance man) at CVA, and they both were there in the middle of the night with a truck helping students and making sure everyone had a place to go.

In the morning (less than 12 hours later), all of the displaced students showed up at CVA to find Target giftcards and grocery giftcards from the College waiting for them. And CVA put them up in a hotel for a week until they could make other living arrangements for the rest of the summer.

CVA didn't have to do anything - the students were living on their own in an off-campus apartment building. But that's not the way people at CVA work.

In a separate story, take a look at this great TV and TV stand in the new student lounge at CVA:

Story #2:

This 46" flat-screen TV was purchased by the 2 maintenance men at CVA with THEIR OWN MONEY as a gift to the students. And the TV stand was built by one of the sculpture studio techs ON HIS OWN TIME so the TV would have a place to live.

Many schools have the facilities that CVA has. Many schools have the accreditation that CVA has. Many schools have the history that CVA has. But it's the PEOPLE that make CVA so special.

I'm excited that CVA has allowed me the opportunity to share my talents with their students full time. I will do my best to live up to the high standards that the College has come to expect from everyone who walks through its doors.

Things Organized Neatly

2011-09-01T22:01:00.000-05:00

I never get sick of Things Organized Neatly:

Canon Digital Camera

Books

Art Supplies (because a new semester is about to begin)

Morton Bros Piano

Preparing to ship a batch of prints

Quick Photo from a New Exhibition Space

2011-08-30T15:04:00.002-05:00

So the CVA Faculty Exhibition that I mentioned in my last post is hung and ready to open in it's new (temporary) space. Here's a quick photo I snapped of some of the work in the show at the Blair Arcade:

Reception
Thursday, September 8
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Temporary Gallery Location
Blair Arcade East
165 Western Avenue North, Suite 10
Saint Paul, MN 55102

Come check it out! The new student lounge has been turned into a gallery while the Western Building is finishing up it's remodel. What a good way to show off the new CVA student lounge!

Upcoming CVA Show

2011-08-22T21:34:00.000-05:00

It's "Back to School" time, so that means the Faculty Show is coming up at CVA.

Here is some info on the show. Note that the gallery is in a temporary location in the new "student lounge" as the Western Building is still under construction.

Reception
Thursday, September 8
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Concurrent with Juana Berrio: Inhabitants in a Parallel Universe and Convocation

Temporary Gallery Location
Blair Arcade East
165 Western Avenue North, Suite 10
Saint Paul, MN 55102

Gallery Hours
Wednesday and Friday 12:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Thursday 12:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Saturday 12:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Image Credit: John DuFresne

Stop by to see what new photo from my time at Stouts Island I printed for the show. See you there!

I'll have to try this sometime...

2011-08-17T12:49:00.002-05:00

Aperture Shirt

2011-08-12T14:14:00.000-05:00

Too bad this shirt is sold out. I'd wear this. A lot.

Holga Photos from Stouts Island

2011-08-05T18:10:00.001-05:00

I got my film processed last week, and scanned some negatives over the last 2 days. These photos don't fit any body of work of mine, but they are just "cute" photos that I made while teaching a photo class on Stouts Island.

I could use your help: let me know your opinion on which image you'd like to see printed larger in the CVA Faculty Exhibition at the end of this month. I'm thinking about using one of these images. Leave a comment on which photo you like the best. Note: the "Pool Balls" photo is probably too blurry to print large.

(Oh, and as you'll see by the first 5 or 6 images, I was really drawn to all of the adirondack chairs all over the island. Sorry for the monotony.)

"Adirondack in the Boat House"

"Adirondack and Cedar Lake"

"Behind the Garden House"

"Adirondacks and Raspberry Bushes"

"Row of Adirondacks"

"Flag"

"Looking Across the Island"

"Pool Balls"

"Backflip Off the Raft"

One of my students got a photo of me working with a family of kids on the island. Mike made this photo of me treading water while I was making a photo with my Holga:

Any thoughts on which photo you'd like to see printed larger? (Besides Mike's photo.)

Thanks!

Intro to Digital Photo on a Island in WI

2011-08-04T14:01:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I spent 5 days on a small island in WI. I was teaching a group of 10 adults who signed up to take a short "intro to digital photo" class through the College of Visual Arts.

My students and I after our last dinner on the island

I'm currently scanning some negatives of some photos I made on the island, so I'll be posting those shortly. In the meantime, here are some of my giant Post-It Notes around our classroom with some of my photo notes from the class on them. If you know something about photography, you'll be able to decipher most of these:

Basic camera operation

Some digital camera issues and settings

White balance, drive modes, and zooming

File size, compression, jpg vs raw

The START of the Photoshop notes before just jumping right in

Back with some images from the island shortly.

I Want

2011-07-28T13:46:00.001-05:00

Required Reading for a Photo Excursion

2011-07-22T11:51:00.000-05:00

I just got back from a 5 day photography workshop that I taught on Stouts Island in Wisconsin. (More details on this shortly.) I packed some of my favorite photography books to flip through (and to reacquaint myself with) during downtime on the island:

Susan Sontag, I love you. And I have for years.

Photos From Last Weekend's Art Sale

2011-07-19T18:43:00.002-05:00

This past Friday and Saturday was the "North Cleveland Art Sale." Three of us (who all own homes within a block of each other) opened our homes to sell our art.

Check out these pairs of photos of how my home USUALLY looks (taken Friday morning) matched up with how it looked a few hours later (full of photos to sell):

View #1 before

View #1 after

View #2 before

View #2 after

View #3 before

View #3 after

View #4 before

View #4 after

Additional view

Additional view

From those photos, you can see I had many framed pieces in the sale, a handful of matted photographs, many loose prints, and a few copies of my 2 self-published book. I ended up selling 19 pieces over those 2 days, and I don't consider that too bad!

I snapped a few photos of my 2 neighbors taking part in the sale as well. Paul Damon turned his house into a salon-style gallery with work all over his walls:

In the back room

My favorite piece of Paul's hanging in his kitchen: a pumpkin patch

His living room walls

Work on his easel

And here are are some photo from Kelly Wagner's house. She makes jewelry, scarfs, hats, mittens, etc, etc:

Thanks to everyone who stopped by, and even a BIGGER thanks to those who walked out with some of our work! Thanks for supporting your local artists!

We'll probably be doing this again next year, so if you missed out on the deals, make sure to stay tuned for the next one....

Art Sale This Friday and Saturday

2011-07-14T09:11:00.002-05:00

I've been sorting through work in my studio like a mad man over the last few days. My most recent count of work that will be in the sale is as follows:

- 30 pieces framed and matted in black metal frames
- 22 pieces framed and matted in homemade wooden frames
- 14 pieces framed and matted in purchased wooden frames
- 12 matted but unframed pieces
- DOZENS of loose prints

Here's some of the work coming together for the sale:

Framed pieces on the landing in my studio

A stack of matted pieces (in the foreground) and some loose prints being sorted
(with some framed work in wooden frames to the right)

More work in homemade frames

A few stacks of different sizes of loose prints

There is a LOT more that you're not seeing, so stop by and check it out! Here are some of the details (similar to those I posted in my last post) -

Friday July 15th: 5 pm - 9 pm
Saturday July 16th: 11 am - 3 pm

345 Cleveland Ave N, St. Paul, MN 55104 (me - photography)
355 Cleveland Ave N, St. Paul, MN 55104 (Paul - painting)
393 Cleveland Ave N, St. Paul, MN 55104 (Kelly - jewelry and stained glass)

The 3 of us having art sales are all within a block of each other (all on the west side of Cleveland), and we're just a few blocks off the Cretain / Vandalia Exit on I-94:

View 345 Cleveland Ave N in a larger map and/or get directions
Thanks everyone! Hope to see you at my place this weekend - Friday 5 pm -9 pm and / or Saturday 11 am - 3 pm!

Upcoming Art Sale

2011-06-29T16:13:00.000-05:00

Or, "Help Me Clean Out My Studio!"

Or, "Studio Blowout!"

My neighbor 2 houses to the north (Paul Damon) is an artist and works part time as a manager at our great local art store (Wet Paint). For the last few years, Paul has had an "art sale and garden tour" at his home in the summer. His wife has transformed their yard into a giant "native plant garden," so she shows that off as Paul sells his paintings inside the house. I've stopped over the last few times during his sale, and it's always really well-received by the neighborhood.

Paul talked to myself and another artistic neighbor, and we all teamed up for a 3-person "Art Sale / Garden Tour." Here's the front and the back of the postcard that Paul just dropped off to advertise our 3-person event:

(click front of postcard to enlarge)

(click back of postcard to enlarge)

I'm using this as a "studio clean-out sale." I have a lot of framed work left over from the mini-exhibition at Kernal Days last summer:

16x20s in the drawers

Lots of drawers of 16x20s

Displaying my work at Kernal Days

And I have some pieces that recently came down from being on display at the Nash Gallery in Minneapolis:

So I'm going through my studio and finding loose prints and framed work that I know I can part with, and I'm setting my prices at "sellable!" So mark your calendars:

Friday July 15th: 5 pm - 9 pm
Saturday July 16th: 11 am - 3 pm

345 Cleveland Ave N, St. Paul, MN 55104 (me - photography)
355 Cleveland Ave N, St. Paul, MN 55104 (Paul - painting)
393 Cleveland Ave N, St. Paul, MN 55104 (Kelly - jewelry and stained glass)

We're all within a block of each other (all on the west side of Cleveland), and we're just a few blocks off the Cretain / Vandalia Exit on I-94:

View 345 Cleveland Ave N in a larger map and/or get directions

Hope to see you there. Or, I guess I should say "Hope to see you HERE!"

The Entire World

2011-06-28T16:50:00.002-05:00

Your photography can touch the entire world.

- Steve Coleman

"Back to the Future"

2011-06-16T18:30:00.001-05:00

Irina Werning has created a great series of "Then and Now" photos. I had an idea to do something like this shortly after my undergrad senior thesis on "Rephotography." Only Irina did a much better job than I would have....

PANCHO IN 1983 & 2010, Buenos Aires

NICO IN 1986 & 2010, Buenos Aires

NICO IN 1990 & 2010, France

MATIAS IN 1977 & 2010, Uruguay

LUCIA IN 1956 & 2010, Buenos Aires

FLO, MARIA & DOLORES IN 1979 & 2010

DAMIAN IN 1989 & 2010, London

ATO 1992 & 2010, Buenos Aires

SUE IN 1977 & 2010, London

CECILE IN 1987 & 2010, France

See more on Irina Werning's website.

CVA "Manse" Newsletter

2011-06-02T09:47:00.000-05:00

Just a quick little note to point out an appearance in the CVA newsletter a few months ago:

Canon Advertisement

2011-04-12T08:49:00.002-05:00

I saw this on Facebook and just had to share it.

File this under "You might be a photographer IF......"

Erwitt Quote

2011-04-07T16:32:00.000-05:00

To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.

- Elliott Erwitt

Corinne Vionnet's "Photo Opportunities"

2011-03-26T20:33:00.000-05:00

I had an idea similar to this based on my childhood memories. I tried creating some work like this a few years ago, but it never worked the way I had hoped. But Corinne Vionnet did something pretty amazing. Here's what her site says about her work:

Photo Opportunities
(2005-2010)
Series of photographic works entitled "Photo Opportunities", from hundreds of snapshots of tourist locations culled from the Internet. By collecting and then bringing together successive layers of around a hundred similar "photo souvenirs", these images conjure up questions about representation and memory of places.

Check out her website for more images and more essays regarding this work.

Angela Strassheim Lecture

2011-03-18T09:30:00.001-05:00

Last night, a handful of CVA students and I attended a lecture by photographer Angela Strassheim. David Little (photo curator at the MIA) was there to ask questions of her work and lead the discussion. After the lecture, we all headed over to the MIA to see the work.

David and Angela during the lecture

"One person can see it as sweet and loving, and one person can be terrified by it, and they're looking at the same image." - Angela discussing something she likes about photography, and something that she discovered while showing her older work.

Her new work "Evidence" consists of photos of DNA evidence left in the walls / floors well after familial homicides. Here's a quote from the MIA New Pictures website:

...During a six-year period between her undergraduate and graduate studies, she earned a living as a forensic photographer, taking pictures of crime scenes and autopsies. Since 2009, she has applied this on-the-job experience to produce Evidence, a more nuanced and less scientific examination of domestic crime. These photographs reveal the eerie vestiges of past lives in homes that are now inhabited by new families...

She sprays the area where the crime occurred with a substance that reacts with the iron left behind from the blood. She does this in completely blackened rooms so that the blood and DNA evidence BECOMES the light source in the photo.

"It's about loving relationships with family members. It's about people that LOVED each other." - Angela during the lecture.

"I've found these to be 'Memorials of Light'." - Angela during the lecture.

After the lecture, we headed over to the MIA to see some of the work in person. Here's some of the "CVA Photo Club" as we were getting ready to leave:

If you want to see more, check out Angela's website. Or take a look at the video below produced by the MIA:

"Art Student Owl" - a new meme

2011-03-15T13:47:00.002-05:00

There's another new internet meme out there. It's called the "Art Student Owl." There's a great tumblr page that was created by a sophomore at the School of Visual Arts in NY. She takes submissions of this meme and puts up the ones that she likes. I sifted through 50 pages of them because I could NOT stop laughing. Here are some from her blog that I thought were especially true / funny / close-to-home:

Here are some that are PHOTO RELATED:

I know that feeling after going outside after being in a darkroom for HOURS.

And finally, here are a few that I feel like I MUST comment on, being I'm a professor at an art school:

I warn my students about this ALL the time.

Probably because the work you TURNED IN was great, but you were missing pieces.

This happens in my 2D Design class. All. The. Time.

I try NOT to let this happen - I'm always telling students "there's gouache on your chin."

Always on the look-out for this...

My Color Theory class in a nutshell.

Unfortunately, I've been known to do this. Ask my students. Sorry.

NEVER! I don't like alcohol enough, and I don't NOT like my students enough! ;)

Not COMPLETELY true, but not completely false either....

Hidden Assumption

2011-03-13T08:30:00.000-05:00

This quote has been hanging up in the basement of the College of Visual Arts (Western Building) for years. There will be some major construction down there over the summer, and I want to make sure I don't forget this:

Keep in mind the one assumption you should always make; namely that you and others don't understand each other. Assume that others interpret what you say differently from the way you do, and that they mean something different from what you think they mean. Until you've gone through a rigorous process of information gathering and assumption challenging, it's wise to assume that even if the words sound familiar, you’re speaking two different languages.

- Naomi Karten

Lost Blizzard Photos Find Their Way Home

2011-03-09T14:24:00.002-06:00

Back in January, I posted about this roll of shot but undeveloped film that was found in NY. The person who found it was trying to find the person who shot it. (Click here to go to that original post and see the video.)

Well, through the magic of the internet, the man who found the film was reunited with the woman who shot it.

Screenshot from his video

Here's the video of his trip to meet the photographer...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI93y2oJ4ck

The last 30 seconds took me by surprise and left me happy.... hopeful....

A Peek Into Ansel Adams' Darkroom

2011-03-04T16:47:00.001-06:00

Photographer Marc Silber got a chance to go into Ansel Adams' darkroom and produced this little video. Once you get past the pseudo-cheesy 20 second intro, the rest is pretty interesting. It's a nice peek inside Ansel's home / darkroom / process as told by his son, Michael. I love hearing the stories behind some of these images.

If you have 17 minutes, turn up the volume and enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZlovMptjyQ

I love seeing Ansel's "blueprints" for how he made his prints, and how his son can NOT translate them (at the 5:55 point).

You can see his unique darkroom set-up at the 8:50 point.

Did you know Adams dried his test sheets in his kitchen microwave? I didn't. Probably not the safest idea.....

Ansel Adams on "Good Photographs"

2011-02-26T14:31:00.003-06:00

There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.

- Ansel Adams

Pete Eckert, a Blind Photographer

2011-02-21T10:28:00.000-06:00

This is inspiring to me and depressing to me at the same time:

How he talks about sound and sound shadows is great.

"The making of things... that's what I do."

Jim Jarmusch's "The Golden Rules of Filming"

2011-02-12T19:24:00.002-06:00

From "Jim Jarmusch’s Golden Rules" of filming. I found these interesting enough to post the entire article by Jarmusch....

Rule #1: There are no rules. There are as many ways to make a film as there are potential filmmakers. It’s an open form. Anyway, I would personally never presume to tell anyone else what to do or how to do anything. To me that’s like telling someone else what their religious beliefs should be. Fuck that. That’s against my personal philosophy—more of a code than a set of “rules.” Therefore, disregard the “rules” you are presently reading, and instead consider them to be merely notes to myself. One should make one’s own “notes” because there is no one way to do anything. If anyone tells you there is only one way, their way, get as far away from them as possible, both physically and philosophically.

Rule #2: Don’t let the fuckers get ya. They can either help you, or not help you, but they can’t stop you. People who finance films, distribute films, promote films and exhibit films are not filmmakers. They are not interested in letting filmmakers define and dictate the way they do their business, so filmmakers should have no interest in allowing them to dictate the way a film is made. Carry a gun if necessary.

Also, avoid sycophants at all costs. There are always people around who only want to be involved in filmmaking to get rich, get famous, or get laid. Generally, they know as much about filmmaking as George W. Bush knows about hand-to-hand combat.

Rule #3: The production is there to serve the film. The film is not there to serve the production. Unfortunately, in the world of filmmaking this is almost universally backwards. The film is not being made to serve the budget, the schedule, or the resumes of those involved. Filmmakers who don’t understand this should be hung from their ankles and asked why the sky appears to be upside down.

Rule #4: Filmmaking is a collaborative process. You get the chance to work with others whose minds and ideas may be stronger than your own. Make sure they remain focused on their own function and not someone else’s job, or you’ll have a big mess. But treat all collaborators as equals and with respect. A production assistant who is holding back traffic so the crew can get a shot is no less important than the actors in the scene, the director of photography, the production designer or the director. Hierarchy is for those whose egos are inflated or out of control, or for people in the military. Those with whom you choose to collaborate, if you make good choices, can elevate the quality and content of your film to a much higher plane than any one mind could imagine on its own. If you don’t want to work with other people, go paint a painting or write a book. (And if you want to be a fucking dictator, I guess these days you just have to go into politics...).

Rule #5: Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.”

Jarmusch, Jim (October 20, 2005). "Jim Jarmusch’s Golden Rules". MovieMaker Magazine. MovieMaker Publishing.

Photography Things (Organized Neatly)

2011-02-09T07:28:00.001-06:00

Ilford photo paper / film and a Pentax camera from Things Organized Neatly:

Love the camera.

Chuck Close on Inspiration

2011-02-05T20:08:00.001-06:00

The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case.

- Chuck Close

This is great. I need to share this with all of my freshman art students.

Why We're Here: Twin Cities

2011-01-30T15:28:00.003-06:00

This isn't really "photo" related, but good video work turns me on like good photography. Adam Olson, an acquaintance of mine from grad school, did the camera work for this video. It's a locally produced piece about why people live in the Twin Cities. Here's what the production company has to say about the piece:

With all the possibilities around the world, what is the “it” that keeps people here in the Twin Cities? We suspected the answer to the question "Why We're Here" was both simple and incredibly nuanced -- worthy of art. We took our camera to the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul to find people willing to talk, unscripted, on film. The result is our collective love poem to the Twin Cities.

Why We're Here: Twin Cities is a six-minute film that explores what unites us, and unites us here, in the Twin Cities. Filmed on location the spring and summer of 2010 in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, the film features an original score by John Munson of the New Standards, the Twilight Hours, Semisonic and Trip Shakespeare.

Visit sevenandsixtyproductions.com to post your response and tell us, with all the possibilities that exist in the world, why you’re living where you do.

Produced in association with the Minnesota Culture Club. Visit them at mncultureclub.com.

Why We're Here: Twin Cities from Seven and Sixty Productions on Vimeo.

This piece just makes me smile. (Just wish there were more shots of St. Paul in it....)

Nice work Adam and Seven and Sixty Productions.

Lost Blizzard Photos

2011-01-20T10:54:00.001-06:00

Todd Bieber, a NY based writer and filmmaker, made a discovery in Brooklyn's Prospect Park after one of the east coast's recent snowstorms.

It was a roll of shot (but undeveloped) B&W film.

Todd's developed the film and was struck by the beauty of the images. Now, he's trying to track down the owners of the stunning black and white photos of New York in winter.

Here's the video that Todd made that shows the photos (the photos start at the 0:40 mark):

Direct Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmop7EAY1Zg

I have my doubts about the truthfulness of the story, but on YouTube, Todd says this: "By the way -- This story is 100% true. Cross my heart. I didn't realize that would even be an issue for some people. haha. Just interested in telling my story and finding the owners." He makes me want to believe...

Click here for the story on Yahoo News, or click here for the story on Time Magazine's website.

Build Your Own High Speed Flash

2011-01-12T12:25:00.000-06:00

... and I'm NOT using the term "high speed" lightly!

Ever wanted to freeze a pellet moving at 1,000 feet / second for a photograph?

I recently came across this article that shows you how to make your own high speed air-gap flash for around a few hundred dollars. But the article also said this:

You should not build this because this flash will kill you. It really will. This flash requires charging a 35,000 volt capacitor that will easily kill a person for a single mistake. I have a safety checklist that I use ever time I plug in this flash and it still scares me. If it didn’t scare me then I shouldn’t be using it because this thing is dangerous. The below information is for educational purposes only. Do not build one! If you go against my advice and do build one, I am not responsible for any injury, death, or any other problems it causes.

I love it when the internet shows you exactly how to do something and then says DON'T DO IT!

Here's the final product shown in the article:

If you can understand circuitry, then check out all of the diagrams and photos of the flash by clicking here. But don't build it, or you will die.

Kodachome Dies Today in Kansas

2010-12-30T08:54:00.000-06:00

A small Kansas photo lab is the last to be processing Kodachrome, and their last roll will be processed today. Here's a paragraph from a NY Times article yesterday:

At the peak, there were about 25 labs worldwide that processed Kodachrome, but the last Kodak-run facility in the United States closed several years ago, then the one in Japan and then the one in Switzerland. Since then, all that was left has been Dwayne’s Photo. Last year, Kodak stopped producing the chemicals needed to develop the film, providing the business with enough to continue processing through the end of 2010. And last week, right on schedule, the lab opened up the last canister of blue dye.

This was my favorite photo in the NY Times Article:

Photo: Steve Hebert for The New York Times

Photoshop Tutorial Rap

2010-12-27T11:51:00.001-06:00

WARNING: There is some fowl language in this video. It's not bad, but it is PG-13 or so.

College Humor also showed a "new" tool in Photoshop: the "Photobomb tool." This led to a chuckle. (WARNING: There's a middle finger and a photo of someone mooning in this video.)

...it remembers little things...

2010-12-19T14:25:00.000-06:00

Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever... it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.

- Aaron Siskind

Photography Gifts from the NY Times

2010-12-15T08:31:00.000-06:00

(Image from the NY Times)

Last week, the NY Times published a nice, concise story on how to purchase photo-related gear for your "photo geek" loved one. It gave good tips on different topics:

- Picking a lens that fits his/her personality.
- Looking for lenses based on f-stops.
- Checking on the construction of a lens.
- When to buy a generic lens.
- Many things to consider when looking for a new flash.
- Good "photo education" resources and books.

So click here to go to the NY Times article on how to purchase photo gear for the camera buff in your family.

Funny Camera Commercial

2010-12-10T15:01:00.002-06:00

Direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-hxBkca5l4

"...it was really quick.... like 'click'..."

Spot on. Ha!

Some Photos from During the CVA Holiday Sale

2010-12-04T13:04:00.000-06:00

Last night was a SNOWY night! It was also the Holiday Art Sale PREVIEW PARTY at the College of Visual Arts. When Sarah and I parked the car, there was about an inch or 2 of snow that had already fallen:

Selby Ave at 7 pm

The snow didn't seem to keep many people away. (We Minnesotan's know how to deal with a little of the white stuff!) Here are 3 photos from the the CVA Gallery (and room 404) from later in the evening just as the Preview Party was wrapping up:

I got to talk with someone who was about to purchase one of my photos - that's always fun!

I stopped back this morning (Saturday) to see how everything was going. A colleague smiled when she saw me and showed me that she was carrying around a piece of mine that she was going to buy. I snapped a few photos while I was there:

People checking out work in the bins and on the walls

Some work on the walls in Room 404

Some slightly bigger work in the main gallery

More work in the gallery

The snowfall MIGHT have kept some people away, so there's still a TON of great work for sale! Stop by later today or tomorrow (Sunday) to pick up some one-of-a-kind artwork for yourself, or buy some Christmas presents for friends and loved ones!

CVA Holiday Art Sale:
Saturday, December 4, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. FREE!
Sunday, December 5, 12 – 4 p.m. FREE!

The gallery is in the Cathedral Hill neighborhood of St. Paul. (Click here to see where the gallery is located using Google Maps.)

Setting up for the CVA Holiday Sale

2010-12-01T06:23:00.001-06:00

A week ago, the CVA gallery started filling up with work for the upcoming Holiday Sale:

Students dropping off work

Labeling work

Making labels

Work filling up in the bins

Yesterday, I stopped back to see how it was all shaping up. The gallery had work stashed everywhere, and the walls were starting to get covered:

Larger work starting to go up

Most of the gallery

LOTS of full bins

Small sculptural pieces, homemade journals, and small paintings

That's a turkey made out of tablespoons on the lower right

I think I need to purchase this shirt...

So set some time aside this weekend to head to the CVA gallery and purchase some great artwork. It makes a great gift! The gallery is in the Cathedral Hill neighborhood of St. Paul. (Click here to see where the gallery is located using Google Maps.)

Holiday Art Sale Preview:
Friday, December 3, 5 – 8 p.m.
$25 at the door
$20 advance purchase
[Go to CVA's website to purchase.]

Holiday Art Sale:
Saturday, December 4, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. FREE!
Sunday, December 5, 12 – 4 p.m. FREE!

A view looking into the gallery from the street

CVA Holiday Sale

2010-11-23T07:16:00.000-06:00

From CVA's website:

Be a part of an annual tradition at CVA. The Holiday Art Sale is a much anticipated and celebrated event. Over two thousand artworks are offered, and most are priced under $100.

Your best bet at snatching up the hottest artwork is to attend the Preview Party on Friday, December 3rd. Preview tickets are $20 purchased in advance online, or $25 at the door.

The sale features artwork by students, alumni, faculty, and staff. Proceeds benefit CVA scholarship funds.

Holiday Art Sale Preview:
Friday, December 3, 5 – 8 p.m.
$25 at the door
$20 advance purchase
[Go to CVA's website to purchase.]

Holiday Art Sale:
Saturday, December 4, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Sunday, December 5, 12 – 4 p.m.

I have a few loose prints, a few self-published books, and a few framed pieces in the sale, so stop by and check it out! It's great for gift-giving! I'll be there Friday night for sure, and probably off-and-on throughout the weekend. Remember, it's FREE on Saturday and Sunday!

Click here to see where the gallery is located (using Google Maps). The CVA Gallery is a half mile down Selby from the Cathedral of St. Paul, smack dab between the Cathedral and Dale Street (at the corner of Western and Selby).

Maybe see you there! If not, stop back here after the sale, because I'll snap some photos and show you what you missed.

More Fun With Color

2010-11-18T14:46:00.000-06:00

I need a break from large "series-based" work now-and-then. So lately, I've been catching myself taking these Andy Goldsworthy-esque photos just for the sake of beauty. (Take my post a few days ago as an example.)

Well I did it again with the remnants of our first snowfall of the season. This time, I spent an hour yesterday morning rearranging berries in my front yard that were picked off our tree. I love how calming and meditative the process is.

(click image to enlarge)

Cute. A little "fun." A little boring.

When I checked back 4 hours later, I was able to make a better photo. The sun had gently melted the berries into the snow:

(click image to enlarge)

I found a nice quote from Andy Goldsworthy that speaks to the images he makes of his "installations." It may say something about the pair of images I made above.

Each work grows, stays, decays – integral parts of a cycle which the photograph shows at its heights, marking the moment when the work is most alive. There is an intensity about a work at its peak that I hope is expressed in the image. Process and decay are implicit.

- Goldsworthy's quote from "Andy Goldsworthy: Art of nature." Feb 19, 2006.

Your Photography Is....

2010-11-17T15:01:00.002-06:00

Your photography is a record of your living, for anyone who really sees.

- Paul Strand

Playing with Color

2010-11-13T07:27:00.001-06:00

I was raking leaves yesterday, and I took a break to get a photo of some leaves plucked from the bushes around our house:

Just for fun.

Kernel Days Parade (part 2)

2010-11-11T08:05:00.000-06:00

Here's the rest of my recent scans of the photos I made late this past summer:

"Re-elect Mike Gormley"

"Bagpipes in front of the theatre"

"Grabbing candy"

"USC FFA"

"Festag Royalty"

"Shriners in front of the bakery"

"Shriners"

"Miss Bonnie Lass"

"Pink gorilla"

"Throwing candy from a firetruck"

Scroll down (or CLICK HERE) to see the first half of the photos from the 2010 Kernel Days Parade.

Any feedback is welcome. Thanks!

Kernel Days Parade (part 1)

2010-11-10T12:29:00.001-06:00

I scanned some Holga negatives of some images that I made at "Kernel Days" late this past summer. This is the first round of rough scans. I'll have more in the next few days.

Here are a few that are posted chronologically from pre-parade through about the half-way point:

"Boyscout walking along the parade line-up"

"Chevy, firetrucks, and tractor"

"Color Guard"

"The girls from 'Little Miss Kernels' waiting to start the route"

"Shriner's cars lined up"

"Color Guard and the grain elevator"

"Firetruck and True Value"

"The band in front of the drug store"

"The world's largest firing rifle"

I like having this blog to throw up ideas and images that are VERY new to me. It's risky, but I like putting images out there that I haven't fully come to terms with yet. So if you have any thoughts, please comment and leave some feedback. Thanks!

Back with more soon.

iPad Photoshoot

2010-11-06T21:34:00.002-05:00

This is a little off-topic for me, but I find this very ~~annoying, over-the-top, pretentious~~ interesting:

Jesse Rosten just posted that video where he used iPads as a light source for a photoshoot. Here's his explanation that came along with it:

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A restless mind… or maybe too much late night pizza has you laying awake in bed. You decide that if you can’t sleep you might as well do something productive, so you fumble in the darkness for your iPad for one more round of Angry Birds. You power up and are instantly struck blind by a beam of light so bright that it burns “slide to unlock” into your retinas. You squint, roaches scatter, wife stirs, “Damn, that’s bright.”

Sound familiar? This happens to me too often. Eventually, it dawned on me that, given the right context, the iPad screen is actually pretty bright. I know that for a fact because I measured it with my light meter (1/60, f1.4 at ISO800 from about 1.5 feet). You know once the light meter has come out of the bag, there’s no going back. Naturally, we needed to do a photoshoot using iPads as the light source.

Luckily, I have friends who are very generous with their time and electronics and was able to scrounge up nine iPads. I mounted them onto plywood using some cheap hardware store brackets. This gave me three lights consisting of three iPads each. The light from an iPad is quite soft and diffuse. This makes the light fall-off steep. Adding more iPads didn’t translate to more brightness, but did mean we could light a larger area. Since the ‘Pads would need to be used somewhat close to the subject to get enough exposure, a simple, portrait style shoot seemed like the best option.

Now before the haters start commenting let me first agree with you, yes, this is totally impractical (sidenote: most of my best ideas are often also my worst ideas). Nine iPads will set you back around $4,500. That amount of money can buy you a LOT of lumens in the form of a generic monobloc. This is not intended to be an exercise in excess, but rather a self-imposed limitation to help flex the creative muscles, and to make a point.

Think about it. One 60 watt bulb can put out more light that a truckload of iPads. And you don’t have to spend truckloads of cash to find a 60 watt. This whole making art thing is all about what you do with what you have. We just happened to have a bunch of iPads laying around so we went with that. Today’s dSLR sensors are sensitive enough that you could easily do this with some flashlights, headlights, headlamps, real lamps, or even – heaven forbid – real strobes! Now go forth and do!

(Here's a link to his post with more photos from the shoot.)

Overkill?
Entertainment?
Idea spawn from boredom?
What do you think?....

Earliest Photo of a Human?

2010-10-27T19:22:00.003-05:00

Have you been hearing about this photo that just turned up? Last month, a surprisingly sharp daguerreotype from 1842 surfaced showing 2 human forms along the Ohio River in Cincinnati. Some people have started asking "Is this the first photo EVER of a human being?"

Here's the full photo, along with the close-up of the 2 figures:

More questions arise: They are ghosted images, so is the photo of 2 people that moved? Or is it one person that stood still in 2 different poses during the exposure?

Sure, a photo showing a human from 1842 is PRETTY amazing.

But it's not the oldest.

The oldest image of a human being (or what is currently considered the oldest) is a photo thought to be made by Louis Daguerre's, the creator of the daguerreotype. His image shows a street scene where there was probably a LOT going on, but because of the long exposure needed to make the image, everything simply blurred into obscurity. That is, except for a man near the lower left who stood in one spot long enough because he was getting his shoes shined.

And, oh yeah, this image is from 1838.

So, take THAT you Ohio daguerreotype from 1842. Not feeling so special anymore, are you?

[I kid. In all seriousness, they are both amazing images from the early years of my profession. This more recent image was a great find. It's amazing the things that are stored away that we haven't "discovered" yet, even though our ancestors put them there for us.]

Needlepoint Polaroid

2010-10-22T15:28:00.000-05:00

From Nicole Gastonguary:

I want.

Darkroom...

2010-09-24T08:48:00.000-05:00

I suppose that's true...

Minnesota State Arts Board Grant (for the Kernel’s Show)

2010-09-02T19:49:00.002-05:00

The 37 photos that I printed, matted, and framed for Kernel Days were made possible in part by a Minnesota Festival Support Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. I worked with the Wells Chamber of Commerce in order to obtain the grant, and they were very helpful.

Here’s some of the work I was doing throughout this process:

Budgeting: how much for what sizes.

Blueprints of the 2 possible rooms I could use for the show.

Keeping track of what I was printing (and what sizes).

Photocopies of the receipts in progress.

I shot a few rolls with my Holga during the Kernel Days Parade that I’ll scan and show over the next few weeks. But here’s one I scanned this evening - it’s one of the last photos I made, and it’s of 2 people looking at my work:

So a big THANKS to the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Wells Chamber of Commerce for making the Kernel's Show a possibility! Back with more soon.

Kernel Days Show

2010-08-23T10:01:00.000-05:00

The city of Wells received a grant to have me print, frame, and show many of the photos I’ve made over the last few years around the Wells area. So they asked me to come back and show my work at Kernel Days, which is the yearly town celebration – complete with baseball, volleyball, beanbag toss, and cribbage tournaments, lots of fried food, a talent show, a classic car show, and a big parade on Sunday. (Among other things.)

I got back home late last night after Kernel Days. It was a busy weekend. I hung 37 photos Friday night, was around all day Saturday to show off the work, and was around after the parade on Sunday (yesterday). Here are a few photos from my little exhibit:

I sold a number of pieces along with one of my “Faribault County” books, so it was a successful weekend exhibit! Thanks to everyone from the area who stopped by to see my work!

Final Prep for Kernels Show

2010-08-21T20:22:00.001-05:00

The show is up! I have 37 pieces on display near Half Moon Park in Wells, MN for Kernel Days. Here’s some of the final prep work for dealing with all this work:

Pile of trash: linen tape backing, empty bags of
framing hardware, and Windex-covered paper towels.

Paper that once wrapped all the pieces to my metal frames.

Titles mounted on foam core.

Nine photos on the seat, and 8 on the floor.
All are laying back-to-back with sheets between all the fronts.

20 large pieces (22x24 frames) in the backseat of my car.

I hauled all the pieces SAFELY to Wells on Friday afternoon (yesterday), and hung the work immediately in a cleaned-out shed near the park where Kernel Days is held. Many people have already stopped by, and I hope to have a good turnout tomorrow after the parade. It’s been great getting feedback from people who live and work in the area where many of these photos were made - they view the work in such a different way than my photography peers in Minneapolis / St. Paul.

If you’re in the Wells area, stop by tomorrow after the parade and say hi! Photos from the show to follow shortly...

Kernels Day Show Prep

2010-08-16T19:23:00.002-05:00

Last week, my huge frame order was completed. I had to make 4 trips to my car with frames, mats, glass, and framing hardware. Here’s 38 frames all laid out and ready to be assembled (with the hardware in the bag in the foreground):

I also printed stickers with my blog address on them to add to my postcards:

Framing work in my studio.

Signature on the back of all prints.

The first 10 framed 16x20s.

OK, back to work... I have 28 more prints to frame by Friday afternoon. And if you’ll be around for Kernels Days this weekend, make sure to stop by Half Moon Park to see my prints!

Lots of Printing...

2010-08-12T08:03:00.001-05:00

.... soon to be “Lots of Framing.”

Over the last few weeks, I’ve printed around 40 photographs to show at “Kernel Days.” I mentioned this a few posts back - I was given a grant to print, frame, and show many of my photos that I made around my hometown of Wells, MN. I’ll be showing those images at the yearly town celebration known as “Kernel Days,” which takes place in about 10 days.

It’s been interesting selecting work for this show. It’s a mix of what I consider to be my best work from this project, along with some of the images that I know people who live in the area would like to see. I’ve never selected photos like this before.

Anyway, here are a few photos of everything in progress:

16x20s in the drawers

Lots of drawers of 16x20s

Prints “drying” in my studio

11x17s drying

Note: in case you didn’t know (or you think I’m crazy), the prints come out completely dry to the touch. But they release gases over the next few days as they fully dry, so I like to lay out my prints and let them “dry” for a few days after making the prints. Otherwise, it can lead to some framing issues once they are put under glass.

I’ll be checking out the space where I’ll be showing this weekend. It’s not going to be anything fancy. Far from that, in fact. But it will be fun to get the reactions of the people from the area where I made the photos!

OK, time to call the frame shop....

First Day of My Class

2010-08-04T13:36:00.003-05:00

I'm in the middle of a week-long digital photo class for high school students at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. We only have a week, so we jump RIGHT into it. Here's the board at the end of the first day of class:

Super nerdy. Super fun.

Stout’s Island Digital Photography Class

2010-07-31T12:37:00.004-05:00

I wrapped up teaching a week-long class on Stout’s Island about a month ago. Stout’s Island is a small 13 acre island in central WI. It has a great old lodge in the middle of it. I was there with 10 adult students as they learned about their digital cameras as well as ideas and techniques to make their photography better / stronger / more interesting.

Below are a few photos that Verna took of me. Verna is a professional photographer, and she took my class to take a break from what she was used to doing. These photos are from when her husband Paul taught me how to play croquet on the island:

Through the wickets, looking up to the main lodge.

Hitting through a wicket.

Taking a shot...

... and reacting to my horrible miss.

Thanks for the photos, Verna!

I made a number of photos as well (of course). But I found myself busier with the class than I thought I’d be, so I didn’t have as much time to wander the island and shoot. Below are a few images that I made. As I was going through them, I discovered that I must have a love for Adirondack chairs!

Note: these are quite different from my usual work - this was just a chance to make some fun / beautiful images on a small WI island.

Swimming area

At the end of the dock at the boathouse

Playing with an f/1.4 prime lens

Bell-tower at the lodge

The lodge on Stout’s Island

A 30 second exposure one night just after a storm

My students and I around the fire pit on our last night (also a 30 second exposure)

My students and I at the boathouse waiting to catch the ferry back to the mainland

Thinking...

2010-07-21T10:27:00.001-05:00

You should never think without an image.

- Aristotle

Kernels Days Show

2010-06-22T21:32:00.003-05:00

Two posts down, I mentioned a grant that I received to print, frame, and show work at “Kernels Days” in Wells, MN. Much of the work I’ve done over the last 8 years has been focused around that community, and it will be exciting to show the work to the people from that area.

The city of Wells obtained a Minnesota State Arts Board Grant that will go toward printing, matting, and framing costs associated with this mini- exhibition. These were the images I sent the city that they used in obtaining the grant:

So I’ll have that work plus some older and newer work to show everyone in and around Wells. I hope to have at least 20 pieces in the show, which should take place in late August. I’ll keep you all updated as I learn more.

Living on a Wisconsin Island...

2010-06-17T18:33:00.000-05:00

...and teaching a digital photo class.

That’s my life for an upcoming 5 days. The College of Visual Arts is doing a series of summer classes on Stout Island in central WI. It’s a small island with quite the history. It contains a big lodge, an old boathouse on the lake, and a number of small cabins. Here’s the island from above on their website:

And here’s a bit about the class I’m teaching (also from their website):

Should be fun! I’ll make sure to post about it when I’m back.

So It’s Been A While...

2010-06-11T09:19:00.001-05:00

Sorry. I’ve been away from here for a while. I haven’t been making too many new images, but I’ve got a few things in the works:

• I received a little grant to print, frame, and show a number of my images at “Kernels Days” in Wells, MN. I’ve shot many of my photos in or around Wells, so it will be interesting to show the images to the people from that community. It will mostly be images from my Faribault County series. More on this to come...

• I started a new mini-project last week just to keep me thinking about making photos everyday. It’s a daily photo log of what sort of triathlon training I did that day. It’s a way to combine my “triathlon world” with my “photo world.” We’ll see what happens with it. Right now, I’m just showing it to my friends on Facebook. Maybe I’ll post some here after another week or 2.

• I’m teaching a week-long digital photography workshop on Stout Island in WI in a few weeks. It’s a tiny island resort that I’ll be running around along with 10 adult students as I teach them about photography and digital imaging. Should be a blast! I’ll post about it afterwards.

• I’m currently teaching a summer Color Theory class at CVA. It’s just a long class 2 days a week, but it always takes more time than I think it will. Thankfully, it’s a good group of students!

So that’s about it. I hope to be updating more regularly again. Happy Summer!

Degas

2010-05-30T09:18:00.000-05:00

Dorothea Lange: "Altering Life"

2010-04-10T15:00:00.004-05:00

Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.

- Dorothea Lange

It's great to hear the photographer who made (what most people consider) the most famous "documentary" photo ever speak of photography "altering life." I love it. It makes me feel better for using Lange as a prime example in my MFA Thesis entitled "What's so Documentary About Photography?"

Photography Dream

2010-03-05T14:27:00.000-06:00

No, no, no.... This isn't "my dream of what photography should be." I just had a dream that I was out making photos.

I was in my hometown near the swimming pool and golf course. I was making some great images of people working at the pool in the "front desk" area. Then I went outside where there were huge bleachers set up in the parking lot. There was some circus-like performance going on. I started making photos of the people watching the performance. Then I woke up.

It's still winter here in MN, and I make most of my photos during the summer. I think this is my mind's way of saying it's ready to go!

2 Ansel Adams Quotes

2010-02-12T20:08:00.000-06:00

For how much I don't care for his images, I do like these 2 little thoughts:

A photograph is usually looked at, seldom looked into.

There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.

- Ansel Adams

The Start of the Semester Means....

2010-01-25T18:49:00.003-06:00

.... death to all trees!!

OK, not really, but I hate all the handouts I have to give over the first few days of the semester.

The semester started at the University of Minnesota and at the College of Visual Arts last week. We're well under way. I have a a digital photo class at the U (my 10th class there) and a 2D Design and Color Theory class at CVA (my 22nd and 23rd classes there). I also work as a Digital Tutor a few hours a week at CVA (see previous post).

I feel like I've been doing this forever! But not in a bad way...

CVA Digital Tutor

2010-01-17T16:18:00.002-06:00

Well, it's back to teaching next week. I've been trying to organize / clean my studio over winter break from classes. I haven't made much for new work lately - spring and summer is usually my time to do so.

CVA just launched it's new website about a week ago. On Friday, when I was getting ready to teach a digital workshop to the incoming students, I stumbled across my image on the site. Marc Norberg and I were chatting when he was going around and making new photos for CVA about a year ago, and he asked for a photo of me in 301. Now that image is on a new "Digital Tutor" page on CVA's new site:

Alright, 2 syllabi complete, 1 to go. Back to work.....

CVA Art Sale

2009-12-12T17:08:00.000-06:00

Friday, Dec 4th through Sunday, Dec 6th, CVA held it's annual Holiday Art Sale. Friday night was the "Preview Party" where you could pay to get in and get first dibs on reasonably priced artwork. Saturday and Sunday, the sale was free to attend. I was there part of all 3 days.

On Friday during the Preview Party, I snapped a few photos.

404 full of work just before the doors opened.

CVA students putting the final touches on the layout.

Work in the silent auction.

The sale filling up.

Silent auction.

People looking for a deal.

The weekend was a lot of fun, and hopefully a success for CVA. 50% of each sale goes to the student / faculty / alumnus who is selling the work, and the other 50% goes into the CVA Scholarship Fund. I sold a big piece in the silent auction and a few small ones in the sale, so I was able to help out and earn a few bucks of my own.

Happy winter everyone!

Good-Bye, Old Friend

2009-12-07T22:10:00.002-06:00

It just didn’t pay to keep my old Epson 4000 printer. It’s been leaving black marks on my prints recently, so I’ve just been using it for test prints. Plus, I can print at the U of M on great 4800s (for a small fee).

So this weekend, I did this:

My printer waltzed out of my house this morning with Arturo, a nice young man. Treat it well, Arturo! You’ll be missed old buddy:

CVA Holiday Sale: Set-Up

2009-12-04T07:44:00.001-06:00

Last night, I helped set up for the CVA Holiday Sale for a few hours. CVA had an official “alumni” night, and there were 6-8 alumni that came in to help out.

Jamie shrink-wrapping

Kim and I worked on hanging all the work on this wall

Bins of work, and more being hung

Megan, Jamie, and Carmen mulling over the layout

After Kim and I finished hanging everything on the east wall of room 404

Preview Party TONIGHT from 5 pm - 8 pm. Tickets are $25 at the door. Holiday Sale Saturday and Sunday; 10 am - 4 pm on Sat, 12 pm - 4 pm on Sun. The sale is FREE. See my last post for more details.

Oh, one last thing: I’m thinking about getting this for Grandma. I think she’d LOVE it:

CVA Holiday Sale and Art Auction

2009-12-02T16:06:00.001-06:00

This weekend is the College of Visual Arts Holiday Sale. Here's some info:

Preview Party
Friday, December 4, 5 pm - 8 pm
$20 online tickets, $25 at the door

Holiday Sale
Saturday, December 5, 10 am - 4 pm
Sunday, December 6, 12 pm - 4 pm

Mark your calendar for CVA's newly expanded Holiday Art Sale December 5 and 6. This year's sale promises to be ripe with fresh artwork for you to peruse and purchase. Your best bet at snatching up the hottest artwork is to attend the Preview Party on Friday, December 4. Preview tickets are $20 purchased in advance online, or $25 at the door.

The sale features artwork by students, alumni, faculty, and staff. Selected sale artwork and prints from the CVA Art Archives will be included in a silent auction. The auction closes at 3 p.m. on Sunday. Proceeds benefit CVA scholarship funds.

The CVA Gallery is located at 173 Western Ave N, St. Paul MN, 55102. Click here for directions on CVA's Website, or click here to see where the gallery is on Google Maps.

I'll be there for a brief bit on all 3 days. I'll take a few photos when I go so you can see what the hubbub is all about. I have a few pieces in the auction, 1 piece in the sale, and a few books in the sale. See you there! (Or check back next week to see some photos if you can't make it.)

Diane Arbus: Secrets...

2009-11-21T06:07:00.000-06:00

A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.

- Diane Arbus

One More Shot From "Here and Now"

2009-11-17T08:59:00.000-06:00

Andy Mattern, one of the new Graduate Students in the Photo Dept at the University of Minnesota, documented some of the work at the "Here and Now" Contemporary Photography Exhibit at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery. He grabbed a photograph of my work, and it's nice that he did that in the evening when the light isn't streaming through the window just to the left of my pieces. Here's the photograph he made:

(Click the image for a slightly larger view)

The show just came down, so if you missed it, you missed it.....

Robert Frank: Criticism

2009-11-03T10:26:00.001-06:00

Above all, I know that life for a photographer cannot be a matter of indifference. Opinion often consists of a kind of criticism. But criticism can come out of love. It is important to see what is invisible to others - perhaps the look of hope or the look of sadness. Also, it is always the instantaneous reaction to oneself that produces a photograph.

- Robert Frank
U.S. Camera Annual, 1958

SPE Midwest Reception

2009-10-26T07:30:00.001-05:00

This weekend, the Society for Photography Education (SPE) has it’s Midwest conference in Minneapolis.

This Friday night (Oct 30th), there’s a special reception for the SPE members at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery. (If you’ll look a few posts down, you’ll see that I’m in the current show at the Nash.) So swing by the Nash this Friday from 5:30-7. I wasn’t able to make the opening reception 10 days ago, but I hope to make it to the reception on Friday.

Click here to learn more about SPE Midwest.

New Layout

2009-10-25T07:16:00.002-05:00

I spent part of Friday and Saturday tweaking html code and playing around with the layout of this site. What do you think?

Robert Adams on Making Photos

2009-10-22T09:46:00.005-05:00

No place is boring, if you've had a good night's sleep and have a pocket full of unexposed film.

- Robert Adams
Darkroom & Creative Camera Techniques, May 1995

Work Up at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery

2009-10-14T06:22:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, the photography show “Here and Now” officially went up. And it looks GOOD. It’s on display at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery on the University of Minnesota campus. The opening reception this is Friday from 6-8:30 pm, but unfortunately, I won’t be able to make it. So I snapped a few photos of my work at the Nash when I stopped by yesterday:

My work next to Caroline’s

So I won’t see you at the opening, but make sure to swing by and see the show between now and November 12th. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 am - 7 pm.

Why Did I Ever Stop Doing This?

2009-10-09T17:44:00.004-05:00

I haven’t built my own frames since undergrad. It was time to give it a whirl again. Man, I missed it. I needed 6-8 frames that were 24” x 24”. So I got to work.

. . . . . . . . Day 1 . . . . . . . .

Stairs to the CVA Sculpture studio

90 feet of 1x3 inch poplar "rabbited out"

36 two-foot mitered pieces

“Manly” blood blister
(from a not-so-manly tape measure... oops.)

. . . . . . . . Day 2 . . . . . . . .

Frames taking shape

9 frames (before puttying and sanding)

After putty and sanding
(with enough left over for a tiny frame)

. . . . . . . . Later Days . . . . . . . .

Applying tung oil in my garage

Picking up matboard and foamcore at Tradewinds

Framed up

Installing D-rings and wire

Delivered to the Nash for installation

- Lumber: $91
- Glass: $64
- Foam core and mat: $140
- Tung oil: $9

- Total: $304
- $50.66 / piece (with 3 frames to spare)

So for that price, I have 6 framed pieces ready to hang. AND I have 3 extra frames all ready to use in the future.