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And the winner is – William Ocean

Musicating with Tiger Zeus: William Ocean from Chadwick Whitehead on Vimeo.

More photos posted on www.guestofaguest.com

I’ve needed an excuse to post this video for a while, and now I have one. Victor Cruz was a SUNY Purchase student in the same year as me, and he seems to be successfully building his career as a NYC comedian. This commercial is probably really annoying to most people, but it makes me laugh. I have to admit to liking most of the J&R commercials recently.

Pictures of the competition tonight at the Bowery Ballroom will be posted tomorrow! Hopefully this guy is going to be there!!!

This week I’ve been seeing this ad on craigslist being posted in almost all the forums. It seems like a pretty strange way to promote yourself. Why would you want to have a gallery show that showcases your crappy mis-fired photos, and how long would it take me to find those through all my archived unedited images. I guess i ads another gallery to your list and you don’t have to go into too may details?

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Artist in need of you Mis-Fires from all type of Photographers.
The more obscure, strange, worthless you feel they may be, the better.

Please e-mail JPEGS in a Zip – low resolution is is o.k

www.emrestudios.com/exposures

This is for an art project and exhibition called ‘The Indecisive Moment’. Excellent Exposure and Exhibition in Williamsburg.
Also potential publication in leading British Art-Photography Magazine.

I’ve never shot with a half frame camera, but was in class with this guy who made some amazing images with one. I’ve always thought the portrait composition of the image would be a hindrance (although you could always rotate the camera I guess?). When I had my Holga with the 645 crop it often ruined my images even more than the plastic lens and the light leaks. Here’s the camerapedia page with all the history and junk.

An exhibition called ‘Sight Unseen’ has opened at the California Museum of Photography which showcases the work of twelve blind photographers from around the world. I like the mix of Bruce Hall’s images of his autistic son with the own idea of his visual impairment. There is a great quote on the California Museum’s website -

“The matter isn’t how a blind person takes photographs, but rather why he would want images.” – Evgen Bavcar (Renowned in Europe but little known in the United States, Bavcar lost his eyes in two separate childhood accidents)

Here are some of Bruce Hall’s images from this series “Autism“

I definitely subscribe to this quote by Benjamin Mayer-Foulkes also from the Museum’s website.

“…all photographers, in the end, imagine and remember their images much more than they actually perceive them… In other words, [like a blind photographer], all photographers, in the end, see things with their eyes closed.”

I still find it incredibly hard to see my images with fresh eyes, and not live in the memory of the moment that I took the picture, or even the memory of how I thought the picture would turn out. This is certainly why I find group criticism as a good way to ‘re-see’ my work -

Gonkar Gyato’s work collages small stickers of of branding logos, typography, and recognizable cartoon characters to create images of the Buddha. I like the idea, and find it compelling both from a visual stand point and also when considering the teachings of the Buddha in the modern world. However, I’m normally surprised by what makes it into the Venice Biennale, as it seems to me that this isn’t winning any major points for originality or even aesthetics. Having said that, I still like his new work quite a bit and it’s great to see a Tibetan making it in the ‘Art World.’

Gonkar Gyatso, The Shambala of Modern Times, 2008, stickers, paper cuttings and pencil on treated paper, 200 x 219 cm

Gonkar Gyatso was born in 1961 in Lhasa. He graduated from the Fine Art Department of the Central Institute of Nationalities, Beijing and from the Chelsea Art & Design College, London. He is the Co-Founder of “The Sweet Tea House Artists Association”. Gyatso has exhibited his works in Dharamsala, New Dehli, London, Helsinki, Washington, Lyon, Durban, Zurich. Gonkar Gyatso is living in London and is a visiting teacher at the London Institute.

I prefer these works of his, which I’m assuming are photographs because it is not made clear on the website.

Here is an interesting article about the contemporary Tibetan Art movement. More of his work after the break…

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Could this be the beginning of a new project? I don’t want to talk about the concept behind it yet, just post the two starting portraits. These images are not an amazing beginning to what I hope the work will go…

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I saw a few people I knew while shooting this today, and the two people who actually saw me stopped to ask if I was a Paparazzi. I could tell from the sound of their voice that should I say “yes” they’d have been both disappointed and amused. Explaining that I shoot fashion accessories for an Italian studio is a little more complicated to explain and not much higher on the ladder. It’s a job, and only one I have to face on a monthly basis. (they’re yet to pay me any of the owed money from January… damn you economy and Milan!)

Kristen, Alex, Haewon and me before the ceremony in the basement.

Woojin and Me

Me and the Grand Ol’ Nick Hamilton, a fellow MFA Photo student who graduated and showed with me in December.

The wifey

Here I am telling President Thomas Schutte that “It is a pleasure to finally meet [you]”

And here come the fun ones…

The Pratt Rat made the trip to celebrate graduation and remind us all that Pratt doesn’t follow the union building code of ethics

You can shoot 6×6 or 6×7 with this but unfortunately looks like your stuck with the HELIAR 3,5/80mm Lens. I find it amazing that companies are still designing and releasing new medium format cameras. Could there be hope?? Release date is May 2009 and price is 1,999 Euros. Who knows if it’s going to make a release in America soon. I haven’t shot with my Mamiya 7ii in over 6 months, so I am far from justifying one of these. It sure is pretty though!

It seems to me that this work by Marja Pirila has a little too much going on. The simplicity of Morell’s idea of projecting the outside world on the inside is enough, but then to add a figure laying in bed seems to be overkill. (Doesn’t it seem like there are always a few photographers that get chosen for PDN 30 under 30 who take pictures of people laying in bed)

I do like the ones with the door open and no figures….

I finally updated my Canon 420EX Flash and got the new-ish 530EXii. I was going to sell my 420, but realised I could set it up as a slave flash. Here are my first few tests on Stella. (I’m pretty interested in using it during events on a tripod to add some dimension to the images.)