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.

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.

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.

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.

Lobster Dog

So not keeping up so much with the new plan. We will be getting Internet soon so that will help. In the meantime here are a few photos of Chloe and her first experience with a lobster.



It got her!

New Year, New Plan

In looking at the blog of my good friend Katie Wright, who posts often, I have decided that I need to update more. I know I won't be able to post one a day, due to the no Internet status of our apartment at the moment. However, I should be able to do one a week. This will force me to show some of the images I have taken and keep me accountable for going to see shows at the many museums and galleries that New York has to offer. Or at least comment on music or current events. This is something I want to make time for and I hope will both allow me to think more critically about things and force me to be more creative. Two skills that have, I feel, slipped in the last few months.

I am currently working on images of my extended family, specifically my cousins, our get togethers and lives. I have a statement for this work but I don't feel it is quite ready for eyes other then my own. That being said, here is an image from our Christmas party.

This is my cousin Kirsten and her father my Uncle Red. She, who really hates it when I take her photo, is the third and youngest girl in a family of four, three girls and one boy who is the youngest of the four. Kirsten's two older sisters, Shannon and Taren, are both married, one with a small child. Uncle Red will be very sad to give away his last daughter. In a side note, Kirsten looks very much like her mother, Anne, here.

Here is an image from our New Years Hootennanny.

This is from the left, Dan, Sean's back, Sheila, Taren, and Shannon. Dan is Shannon's husband and some will say, very much like her father, Red. This was right before midnight and everyone was getting ready.

My cousins have got to the point where, while they still notice me taking photos, they don't mind as much. I try not to show any of them in a bad light and try to just take snap shot, slice of life, photos. I plan to take what I have shot over the last 6 months and see what jumps out and work from there.