Sad But True

Photos from the CVA Reunion

This past weekend, CVA Action organized an all-school reunion for those associated with the College of Visual Arts in Saint Paul. Studio on Fire (a printmaking studio owned by a CVA alumni) hosted the event. Here are a few pics from Bill Kelley and Caroline Houdek Solomon, with the first 3 from Ken Friberg (all 3 are CVA photo grads):

Everyone who was there at 8 pm. I'm the 10th from the right. Click here for a larger version.


Ken's photo during the presentation.


Ken's photo of the current board members (many of whom I worked with when
I was co-president a few years back), along with Ben L from Studio on Fire.


Next a handful of pics from Caroline.


A wall with some memories.


A LOT of CVA paraphernalia for people to take.




A different angle of the last shot, mainly to show Studio on Fire's IMPRESSIVE beer can collection.


If you claim to be affiliated with CVA but do not have one of these mugs, then you are not truly affiliated with CVA.


Lots of mingling.




Sarah F and Kristi B - I didn't see them to get to say hi!


Lots of familiar faces in this shot.


Nancy D (secretary), Maria S (printmaking), and Lynn T (admissions).


And here are a few pics from Bill. This is Kolean P talking with Ben L behind her, Neal R, Caroline HS, and Sarah L.


Chatting with a group that graduated just before I did.


Carly S, Shannon B, me, Lisa D, Anne M, and someone who's name I forgot.




Ben L and Cory L comparing hipsterness. (I mean that lovingly.)


Lynn T and Keri H.


Sherry E and Nancy D. Sherry was the one who gave me a tour back in 1998/99.


Marian B and Jess (Rudy A's wife).


A food truck parked outside.


Marian and lots of current or former board members: Diane, Nyla, Diane, and Kolean.


Deb and Monica from around my time at CVA.


Val J (chair of fine arts), Seth W (with an awesome shirt of his design), and Kate J.


And finally, here are a few of my pics. This is during the presentation (Sarah L is speaking).


Selfie after talking with former students Liz F, Abby H, Garret (not a former student), and Sarah L.


Photographer selfie! CVA photo grads (and 2 of my former bosses in the photo lab) Caroline HS and Bill K!


From Lynn: a fun photo after talking with Syril M and Lynn for a bit.


Letterpress versions (made by Studio on Fire) of an old CVA poster, and a "Save CVA" card from 5 years ago.


Some promo cards from when I *started* at CVA, featuring many
people I knew during my time there. Click here for a larger version.

I saw so many faces that I'd forgotten about, and it was 90% happy with 10% sadness. Thanks for organizing CVA Action! And thanks for hosting Studio on Fire!

CVA Action posted a lot of photos from a slideshow from throughout CVA's history, and I want to post a bunch of those shortly. So check back. Or just check out the album on CVA Action's Facebook page.

Camera Advertisement on a Bus

Wonder Woman Wet Plate Collodion Photograph

OK, so I'm a little late to this party.

I just saw "Wonder Woman" a few months ago as we checked it out from the library to watch with my oldest son as he just had his tonsils out and needed to be taking it easy. We all enjoyed it.

I watched some of the "extras" the following day, and there was one called "A Photograph Through Time" which was about the photograph that started the movie. (And the same photo was seen in "Batman vs Superman" as well.)

Present-day Wonder Woman looking at the photograph from Bruce Wayne.


The photo seen in a collector's book about the movie.

The man who plays "Charlie" (far right in that photo) talked about shooting that photo as the first day on set:

That was the first thing that we shot, before we’d even shot a scene [for Wonder Woman] we shot that photograph. It meant that when we eventually got around to shooting the scene that the [photograph] is from, we had to really painstakingly recreate it. Because we [took the photo] against a half-built set, in a way sets were still being built at that point. So by the time we came around to filming that scene, probably around five months later, the sets were much more developed. So we had to find a way to recreate the exact same image after half a year had gone by.

Anyway, the "extra" about the making of the photograph is pretty interesting. They worked with photographer Stephen Berkman and actually shot a traditional wet plate collodion photograph with (approximately) a 5 second exposure. They shot about 20 versions to get one that worked the way they wanted it to. There's a LOT more on the DVD/Blu-Ray, but here are 2 short clips about the photograph in Wonder Woman, and the 2nd video shows a lot more of the actual photograph (and the director and producer discussing it):

Direct link: youtu.be/Px6bjPksY2E


Direct link: youtu.be/R2DTz6RsWpo

Here's a little more about the making of this photo from Screen Rant and from Cinema Blend. But I recommend watching the DVD or Blu-Ray and seeing a lot more about this in the extras.

Last-Minute Drone Save

This last minute Drone catch from 2015 might be a bit more epic, but this one posted on YouTube yesterday when Dave's battery died was pretty dramatic too:

Direct Link: youtu.be/72OhmRGrLLE

Additive and Subtractive Earrings

Wet Paint (our local art store) recently posted this on Instagram:

Caption: "Our staff lives art every day! If we’re not making art or selling art supplies, we’re wearing it! Today Kristina wore these awesome CMYK and RGB color mixing earrings from Yellow Owl Workshop! Three cheers for color theory!"

DMA Senior Showcase

Some of my former students are in the senior showcase at Hamline University later this week:

Stop by and check it out! "Anderson Center" is at 774 Snelling Ave N in St. Paul (1 block north of Minnehaha). I may swing by with my boys.

"Ten Days of Murals" at 4 a.m.

At the very end of 2017, I did a little side project on my Instagram page. I posted some 4 a.m. photographs for 10 days straight, and I called it my "Ten Days of Murals." On the first day, I added this mini statement about the next 10 days:

Usually I photograph very public and scenic areas of the city that are quiet (and therefore sometimes unusual) at 4 a.m. But for the next 10 days, I want to show some murals I’ve been photographing. These public pieces of art are meant to be enjoyed during the day, and they take on a new life under the streetlights - a way they maybe aren’t intended to be viewed.

Here's what I posted over those 10 days:

[click each photograph for a larger image]

Day #1: near Snelling Ave in St. Paul.


Day #2: a Minneapolis neighborhood mural on the side of Falls Liquor on Minnehaha.


Day #3: the side of Classic Retro at Pete’s on University Ave.


Day #4: a Midway Murals mosaic piece on the side of Star Food Market from the Taco Bell parking lot.


Day #5: along Snelling Ave in St. Paul.


Day #6: an in-progress mural on the garage doors outside of Can Can Wonderland.
(Sidenote: when you view this image on your phone from your Insta account, it's a 2 image panorama.)


Day #7: another Midway Mural off of Snelling Ave.


Day #8: the side of Dunn Bros. on Grand Ave depicting the two downtowns of the two Twin Cities.


Day #9: Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox on the side of the (now permanently closed) St. Clair Broiler.


Day #10: the 5-story Golden Spiral by Ed Charbonneau Jeremy Szopinski in Pedro Park.


Bonus mural photo: this one helped inspire the "Ten Days of Murals" as I made
this photo from the side of Creative Lighting 2 weeks before this mini project.

Again, click each image to see it larger, and follow me on Instagram for more of my 4 a.m. work.