My blog

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• Pictures from the past

  Saturday, Aug 13, 2011 10:32AM / Standard Entry

  
  

  
  

  I dug up some pictures (click to link) I took a while back that still ring inside whenever I see them. I believe that this work is more a part of the way I work and the way I see than all the work produced over the last six years.

  I started shooting within a documentary style much influenced by street photographers like Winogrand, Friedlander and Eggleston. Though this work may not show those particular influences shining through, my own aesthetics and further influence from other artists evolved, mingled and smelted into what I have today. At SFAI I picked up on a lot of stuff that I'll mention over time on this blog as I show more work and speak with confidence about what I see.

  

  
  

  I am particularly proud of finding this picture. I've never really forgotten this picture and I'm very lucky to have gotten it.. Part of the beauty of documentary/street photography is being there and 'getting that shot'. The only problem I have with that statement is that its easy enough to say it, but if you don't pay attention, you're not getting shit. This time I was paying enough attention. I remember the dinner and the conversation I remember that it was cold. I've tried many time since this shot to replicate it but to no avail. Its just not the same.

  I've had people ask me if I would be able to teach them how to take pictures and I usually tell them something in the order of, 'Sure. Just take pictures.' Now, I don't mean to sounds like a total ass but its literally what I mean. Anyone can tell you how to use a camera, how to use a lens or how to load film but no one can truly teach you how to take pictures that are 'good' (I'll save that for next time). I suggest that you just take pictures. The more you take, the more you'll know what to do the next time. I took a lot of pictures, made a lot of mistakes, make a lot of prints, made a lot of bad decisions before this image got made. Part of everything we do has risks and the risks we decide to take in photography sometimes make images that are winners and sometimes end up being losers.

  To me these pictures are part of my top 10 or 20. As Roland Barthes would say, these pictures have 'punctum' to me.

  

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• reaction video funnies

  Tuesday, Jun 8, 2010 5:25PM / Standard Entry

  now, according the dates on youtube, the famous '2 girls 1 cup' video came out around a year and a half ago - ample time to forget its grotesque nature and commentary on its realism. I've got to admit I wasn't too fond of the video though the reaction to it was phenomenal. Everyone seemed to have seem it and past it on just so they could get reaction videos of their friends gagging in discomfort. I guess you could call it new art - the reaction to something rather than the physical visual presents of particular object.

  So why do I bring this up? I get a laugh out of the reaction videos like I do with those weird Japanese game shows on youtube.

  I'll show a couple reaction videos. You may or may not get the same reaction I do.

  Now this Joe Rogan one is my favorite:

  This next one makes all the more sense - crazy is crazy everywhere.

  
  

  
  
  
  

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• I want one - Celebratory 2010 FIFA World Cup T-Shirt

  Tuesday, Jun 1, 2010 3:22PM / Standard Entry

  

   

  need I say more?
  

  

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• Art Exposure I - ARTHK 10

  Tuesday, Jun 1, 2010 3:17PM / Standard Entry

  ARTHK 10 was another fine showing of world class calibre art from something over a 100 galleries from all over the world. The writing of this particular entry comes just days after the closing, just enough time for me to digest the work and formulate some thoughts to share.

  Overall, this years showing was better than the previous and probably on par with the first show I attended two years ago. I've probably biased last years show simply because I felt like the photography shown was stronger but the other work, be it drawing, painting, sculpture or video didn't stand up to the level I thought the photography stood. This year, I was particularly please with pretty much everything however the volume of work to absorb was somewhat overwhelming. I described the viewing of the show to someone, after two walkthroughs myself, as like reading 50 magazines in one sitting and trying to articulate three articles from each publication. It was that hairy for me.

  Now you might ask why I'm not showing pictures here - well, its out of respect for the artist. I might be little old fashioned in that way, but if you can't remember the piece for itself, a picture is just going to influence what you think it actually looked like and what it actually made you feel. I did however take pictures of the artist names and/or the cover of their books for reference. Why? Cause it makes me do my homework. I believe that if you want to remember a piece that affected you, you should study their work. That's what annoyed me at the show was the fact that people photographed the work like it was theirs. For me that's simply disrespectful. Besides that most galleries don't allow viewers to photograph the work. But I will continue on with my analysis before really ranting.

  Again, this was a strong year for the show. Its every getting more interest from bigger and better galleries which benefits viewers and buyers alike. The photography over previous years was probably the strongest. Last years highlight was probably the predictably mammoth Andreas Gursky piece. Last years low was probably vendors displaying like-Gursky scale photographs but with weaker artists. Now I will say this - the HK art community will love seeing Gursky's, Demand's, Hofer's, Struth's, but they probably won't appreciate Winogrand's, Eggleston's or Frank's. A photographer I have yet to see, one I'd really like to see in HK, a Gregory Crewdson.

  The rest of the show was really good. Overall I sensed that the Chinese artists were maturing away from the Mao-communist era oppression work and into the new area of Chinese art. The Korean work was strong this new. As always the Europeans and Japanese artist always inspired. As a mentioned before the Gursky shown was brilliant but I would have liked to have seen the race track image from that series. I was happy to see a diCorcia but the picture shown wasn't something to write home about.

  A couple of things annoyed me and I will rant about them now. 1) Don't copy: I saw a bunch of copies for more famous work. Some artists can pull it off, others just plain old plagiarize. If you do, its just lazy. Being influenced is one thing, copying is another. I saw Chuck Close's work, probably the second or third time I've had the opportunity, then further down the road I saw some other photorealism that resembled Close's earlier work. I was, as you can imagine, disappointed; 2) Don't touch the art: I don't care if its covered with glass or is security wrapped in lazers and alarms, you never ever touch the art; 3) Please don't photograph the work. I was there with a friend and I told her my peeve and she still photographed it. Do your research, buy their book cause the reprints in the books are a hundred times better than the picture you took on your camera; 4) If you don't know something ask someone: I am usually asked to guide friends through a gallery or a show and share some thoughts on the work. That's fine and I enjoy giving them my opinions. Art is like any other medium, be it books or movies. After you see it you have an opinion. Art is the same way. You might not know a lot about art but others do, like the gallery assistant. They should know everything under the sun about the artist's work. They are your experts. At the show I saw work from Thomas Demand and Gerhard Richter. I knew their work but for Richter's, I saw some work I wasn't familiar with - the abstracts. His retrospective I attended back in SF may have featured some of these but I didn't remember it. I flipped through his book at the show and soon enough I started questioning the gallery personnel about the work. She answered promptly and gave me the information I needed. As for the Demand photograph, the same occurred.

  I hope next year the work remains as strong and perhaps reach a higher level.

  
  

  
  
  
  

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• Brainwaves + Star Wars = force toy?

  Tuesday, May 18, 2010 3:37PM / Standard Entry

  yea, I was thinking the same thing when I came up with the title to this blog but it will start to make sense once I go into what it is.

  I was catching up to my Monday blogs and webbing when I came across something, well something funny. Once again I was looking up the videos on Collegehumor.com, now hit or miss on the humor. Anyway, they started reviewing this Star Wars toy that involves the force. This video should clear out the 'wha' factor:

  See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

  I figure that someone from my sphere of friends will buy this thing. If they did I would like to like try it. Come on, its the force ya'll!
  

  
  
  
  

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