Monday, February 23, 2009

Closer to Home

Here are a few images from my current series. I have begun to edit down the large amounty of images into something that better encompass the idea of family as identity. These are straight from the camera, I have done no work to them.
This is my father. There seem to be many photos of him as I go though and edit down what I have. I think this for a few reason. One he doesn't seem to mind me taking photos of him, and two, we are a lot alike. He is very interested in my photography. He wants to know about it and how it works and all the new tech stuff. I remember him taking photos when I was younger. He gave me his camera when I started photography in high school, I still have it, and the tripod that he used as well. I am thinking there will be more photos of my father later, in another series. In this image he is being threaten by my Aunty Patricia. He wanted to smoke a cigar at a family baseball game and she said she would whack him if he dared. She won.
Here is my younger brother. I like this image because to me it is both so much and so not Steven. He has change quite a bit in the last year and it is good to see him comfortable with himself. Also Snap wanted to see it.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Congrats!


I would just like to send a heart felt, high five congratulations to The New Glitterati for her appearance in Gutter. As someone I only know though a friend, I have enjoyed following her blog almost daily for a while now. I can relate to her words and they inspire me to think, feel and, more often then not, laugh. I raise my glass of Cono Sur Pinot Noir (good stuff by the way!) to her.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Bike Funding is good for Everyone

Senate Amendment Aims To Nix All Bike Funding



I do not agree with this at all. As a recent addition to New York City's daily grind, I am counting down the days until it is warm enough to ride my bike the 8 miles or so to work (something I admit I may have to work up to). I agree with Andy (author) in that more bike lanes in urban areas is a good idea. I see how much bikes are used here from everything to messengers to food delivery. It truly helps keep down the amount of cars. I think of all the bike messengers that we get at our office and try to imagine the grid lock if they were all using cars.

I also find it interesting that these two senators are Republicans. Will they ever get over themselves and look into the possibilities of new ideas? This funding for bike infrastructure is not 'pork.' It is useful and innovative in that it will allow more American (name me and others in cities) to have a safe, efficient way to get around, not to mention healthier.

It is nice to see the sun sometimes and I look forward to the time of year it is warm enough to skip the subway and ride my bike over the East river.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Oktapodi


Oktapodi is a short film created at Gobleins school in France. It has been nominated for a bunch of awards including Best Animated Short. Take a look it is only 2 mins long. I laughed out loud. And watch out Pixar, this is great!

Counterpoint

I was just looking at the ParkeHarrison's website. They have some really great images. Take a look.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Being Like

I went to Yancy Richardson today to see David Hilliard's show 'Being Like.' I love David Hilliard, however, I must say that I was a bit disappointed with this show. First off, I think Yancy is a great space but there are never enough images to satisfy my want to see and Hilliard's work being large takes up a lot of real estate. In total there were only about 7 or so images. That being said they were all new images that I had not seen before and I found that very enjoyable.

The work kept with Hilliard's exploration of what is considered masculine, but I felt while all of the image were beautiful and done in his signature style, some had a more contrived feeling that I am not used to seeing in Hilliard's work.

Bleeder

This image, Bleeder is just such an example. While I like the image and I think it does raise questions about what a adolescent boy might struggle with when faced with conflicting ideas of masculinity, it lacked that subtlety of some Hilliard's earlier images.


Boys Tethered

The show didn't totally have this feeling of over contrived images. Boys Tethered and Letting go of the Day had that feeling of Hilliard walking in on a moment that his earlier images of his father have. While I will say that Boys Tethered is contrived, it to me doesn't have the same push over the top as Bleeder does.

Letting go of the Day

What I did noticed about the work is Hilliard has really expanded his pallet since his book in 2005. While many of those images were of young boys and men, these images had children and in once case Of a Certain Temperance a heterosexual couple in a sexual situation.



Of a Certain Temperance

And he is expanding his format. One image, Ransom Turned Around, was in the for of a cross, not the typical panoramic 3 frame format Hilliard is know for.


In all I did really enjoy the show, it was a great opportunity to see one of my favorite artist's work up close and personal. To see how someone chooses to mount and frame their images is always interesting. I look forward to seeing more new work from Hilliard and do hope he comes out with another book. There are many great image on his website that I would like to see in print, since I can't see them all on a wall at once.