Thanksgiving 2010

Since I live so far away from my family, I spent Thanksgiving with my San Francisco family. They were pretty much the first people I met when I moved here, through a craigslist ad for babysitting. They are truly some of the nicest people I have ever met. Their kids, Max (almost 6 years old) and Ben (3 years old) are incredible, and so hilarious. There is never a dull moment, and they never fail to make me smile :) So here is Thanksgiving with the Gleasons...

Union Square, San Francisco Christmas tree lighting

On November 26, I went down to Union Square in San Francisco to photograph the Christmas tree lighting event. Moreso than the actual lighting of the tree, I was interested in the masses of people. I like situations that allow me to be more invisible, and like a fly on the wall, photoing with few questions asked. Although, one lady could not understand what I was pointing my camera at. Answer: the most interesting aspect of all events-the people. Maneuvering a tripod through a crowd of thousands was a challenge, but I made it work...

Dia de los Muertos

Tuesday November 2nd was (voting day, and also) Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead. In the Mission District of San Francisco, they have a huge celebration, complete with a parade, elaborate altars, a million candles, and even more people face painted/dressed like skeletons. It is awesome. I think it might be my favorite holiday.

I painted my face like a skeleton, dressed in all black, and took my cameras and tripod down to the Mission...

creepy awesome photos

New

I feel like i'm back, from a little idea-less vacation. Back to having so much stuff running through my head, and its better this way, even though its mildly overwhelming. I also have so much back work to sort out and put together...

i recently started editing and putting together a series i am calling "Just wait for me," which i am not quite sure how or where to introduce. Here is the first photo in the series of six...

Darkroom

I recently (finally) joined the darkroom by my house. It is in the Harvey Milk Recreation Center, and its awesome. It is apparently the biggest working darkroom in the country, if i remember my welcoming tour correctly. There's something like 40 enlargers in the darkroom, individual developing rooms, it is well stocked with equipment and chemicals, and a wonderful group of people to work among. I've developed film and made proof sheets so far, prints to come...

san francisco

i get so excited walking around here when i see an amazing view from the hills, or the golden gate bridge, or any of the other awesome visuals san francisco has to offer. i realized a few days ago...WHAT AM I DOING? there are so many photographs left to take in san francisco, and i am not doing my job. so i have started acting (kinda) like a tourist and going everywhere, trying to take in the uniqueness of all the different neighborhoods, and also trying to capture non-cliche representations.

[starting with the mission...]

open studios

Day two of open studios. I discovered that its not really my thing to sit around while people look at my art...

i re-hung my February show, and included some print-outs from my senior thesis (bottom)

studio boycott

I put a nail through my hand while attempting to relocate my February exhibition from the third floor to my much smaller studio. I had to go to urgent care and get a tetanus shot, because the nail was previously through a tree branch before my flesh. gross/annoying. I had to lay off the work load for a while, and now I am paying for it. Open Studios in 2 days, lets see what I can do...

matchbox pinhole

last week i made a small pinhole camera out of a matchbox. i love anything experimental. its exciting and messy, but always contained in a little rectangle. also, it looks pretty ghetto, which i obviously love. it is basically a one-use camera, since you have to completely take it apart to get the exposed roll of film out, so i plan on making another one soon. this was my first trial, but i will post how-to steps to build one on my next attempt...

there is no way to know how far youre winding the film, so i think i overwound it between images, yielding only about 20 frames with a lot of blank film space, and totaled only about 9 images. it was all a trial-and-error so i can make adjustments for next time. here is one of my favorite results below and here are the rest

inspiration

a while ago i went to the SFMOMA for the Richard Avedon exhibit. his ability to capture so much of someone in a single still photograph is amazing. i decided then that i wanted to start doing portraits of my friends. i think it is cliche to talk about 'capturing someone's personality in a picture' because, duh, thats usually what you try to accomplish with a portrait, but the photograph should be able to stand on its own and speak for itself, and i think thats something more than just 'capturing personality,' rather you should be overwhelmed by a feeling...

white elephant sale

some shots from the hip at the white elephant sale, which was like one huge dirty garage sale. i bought a sweet old polaroid camera for $3. too bad the film costs 10 times as much. i'll probably break down and buy some sooner or later, though.

darkroom!

After a random meeting with an old man at a huge warehouse/garage sale in oakland, i found out some of the best news ever...there is a community darkroom three blocks from my house!

i went to an orientation today, and it is amazing. it was just re-done, and the darkroom has THIRTY-SEVEN enlargers, its humongous to say the least. they also have a portrait studio, a finishing room, and an exhibition room, which i will be aiming to have a show in sometime this summer.

i just ordered photo paper and developing chemicals from adorama, which has pretty good prices on photo/darkroom equipment.

Images on Getty

WoooOOOOOoOOOOoO! Getty decided to license some of my images for their flickr collection. Hopefully more to come...

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/97560212

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/97558467

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/97558420

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/97558418

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/97560534

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/97558421

plans

so i've been thinking about beginning my plans for the booth. only i've come to find its really overwhelming when you have complete free reign, and you can do absolutely anything. i began thinking in terms of a standard looking photo booth, but soon realized i have sooooo many options. time to start sketching some plans...

showing progress

i just realized that its really hard for me to keep a blog because i love secrets so much. i never like to reveal what im working on until the end. i dont like for people to see the messy process, only the perfect product. but i guess there is something to showing your progress that makes the hard work more apparent. ill work on it.

fallen

i dont know why, but the simple action of photographing helps ease my mind. from this i have concluded that sometimes random is not a coincidence.

i love weird stuff

like this:

http://www.aniceideaeveryday.com/projects/noodles/

...things that are so random that no one has probably ever thought of before, and if they have, probably still never executed. i think thats what makes things interesting; newness mixed with weird.

and on to the next...

i think my next project will be to build a working photobooth. maybe i can get it done by the end of april for open studios. we'll see...

and here are my pinholes from the show

these are mounted on wood blocks, covered with clear epoxy, and hanging from wire...

success! here are my bird lady light boxes...

they took me roughly seven hours to hang. when it comes to presentation, i dont play.

its a good thing that i can run excellently on 5-6 hours of sleep. i got two lightboxes completely put together, one more to go. i will post some quick pictures later.

installing on thursday. i hope this all comes together the way i see it in my head. we'll see...

finally

i'm finally done, and my printing nightmare is over. club card came through in the end, and gave me beautiful prints. they are also the nicest business people i think i have ever encountered.

ok, when i said done, not done. i still have to put everything together, which is way harder than it sounds. dust is a nightmare. i got a whole lightbox put together, nailed on the back, and found that from the hammering, little specs of wood/dust fell onto the picture. so now i have to take the whole thing apart.

upcoming art show

i am having an art show on February 26th, 7-10pm at the Art Explosion Studios (744 Alabama Street)

my current work is about freedom, depicting girls merged with birds. this work is meant to remind people, that you really are as free as you let yourself be, in any situation. the japanese elements also had influence in this body of work: earth, air, fire, wind, void.

"leaving behind

a formless surrounding.

at least running,

means still standing."

this is where...

i'm going to start posting projects/ideas/inspiration/thoughts