Fundamentals, essential elements, and tennis balls.

Krysta Kaos - 110513 - SideB

Photography and art lifts us up, makes us feel, think, believe, tear us down, change us, challenge us, and make us live our humanity.  All of that is much of the lofty stuff that makes us aspire to creating art and expressing ourselves.  This stuff is crucial to an artist's soul, but to be honest, it isn't the only thing that makes the art.  An artist also needs to keep in mind the fundamentals of craft, classic elements of art, and then going out and doing it, doing it again and doing it better, then repeat.

I recently picked up an issue of of Popular Photography that reviewed the fundamentals of photography such as rule-of-thirds, tonal range, etc., to make your photos better.  Even though all of it was very basic, it reminded me that sometimes I neglect these fundamentals  because I assume I am that good and don't need to be cognizant of them.  One recent example came from a portrait photo shoot where for half of the photos I forgot the golden rule of ensuring the subject's eye closest to me must be in focus.  I should have remembered my fundamentals.  So padawans, learn your fundamentals. Once you master them, you can transgress them, but you must master them first.

A few years ago I enjoyed the opportunity to take an art history course.  We discussed many of the essential elements of art.  Composition, color theory, motion, narrative, perspective, etc.  It made me look at art with an appreciation of the artist's mastery of fundamentals and using the essential elements (and bending them) to create works that transcend the brush strokes and colors to become overtures of emotion, thought, message and life.  So padawans, learn these essential elements and study the art of those who have created before you.  Take those lessons and make your own voice from their inspirational notes.

You know what a coach says about what you have to do to get good at tennis, hit a lot of tennis balls.  Same is true about photography.  You have to take a lot of photos. - Mentor Ron

Creating art is an exercise.  Like the runner, the gymnast, the swimmer, you don't become a great artist instantly and with little work.  You must get out their and create, show, get feedback, create more, refine, explore, and create more. 

As a photographer, you must go out and shoot.  This practice must not be indiscrimate shooting, but with the intent to learn, explore your art and craft, and to create your own artistic voice.  Once you  captured the image, you then have to go and finish the art through editing and printing.  You may do this in a darkroom and grow your ability to create master prints from printing hundreds or thousands of times to learn the craft.  As a digital photographer you must keep learning the tools (i.e., Photoshop, Lightroom, etc.) and then practice, push, and practice more. 

I've found from my own experience I learn a new technique (adding digital vignettes was one of my first) and initially over using it in all my art.  After time and practice, I hopefully grow in subtlety and power as I let it enhance the art, not take over it.  This is a normal evolution of any growth.  Exuberance and excitement on the new power and then a deeper learning of how it applies to my art.

One of my greatest weaknesses in art is that this an exercise that needs... exercise.  Like running, it is easier to not do it than do it.  All I can say is that if you want it to be important to you, you will have to get the discipline to keep creating and doing it.  Hopefully your artistic need to create quality and the rewards and lessons will also be motivational to getting off your ass and creating with intent.  So padawans, put down your excuses and make some art, then make  more and more. 

"Hey sexy, nice ass..." and other objectifications

Earlier this year I posted photos from my other blog, shadowsexposed.com, about an art series I created titled, I objectify women (IOW).    In it I present my thoughts on how I objectify women through my art.  For me, there are many different types and degrees of objectification of another human.

IOW Jacqui - gel transfer onto old cotton shirt - 102413

This morning I read an article at Slate.com about the artist Hannah Price who photographed men that cat-called her while she walked the streets of Philadelphia.  I suggest you look at the photos and read the article.  I found that her photos are brilliant in how they transgress the sexist boundaries of cat calls by not returning them with a sharp retort.  She both humanizes the cat callers and also objectifies them in a way.  From what little I learned of her series she engaged the cat callers in dialogue and took their portraits.  I wonder if this has changed their attitudes about their verbal outbursts?  Hopefully.

IOW Jacqui - gel transfer onto old cotton shirt - 102413

Ms. Price is exposing one of the many types of objectification.  Cat calls can be range from pretty subtle (yet in their way still very intrusive) like, "Smile for me, beautiful" to horrifically vulgar, degrading and threatening.  I guess that is true of many types of objectification.

All of this makes me wonder on the intent of the objectifiers.  I think there are a few major categories of objectifiers.

1. They (and society) know they are doing it and it is accepted as normal by most.  This is the most common with advertising, movies, television, etc.  There are dangers still, but until society shifts, it will be there.

2.  They know what they are doing even though it unacceptable to society.  This may be porn, cat calls, comments on forums, jokes, created art, materials, etc.  Much of this stuff has to be kept underground or on special interest websites.  Depending on the content, it may be protected under free speech, but maybe considered dangerous or directly threatening to the "othered".  Some are ashamed they do these things, others do it blatantly and may have ill intent behind them.

3. They don't know it is objectification (both at the individual and societal levels).  I am guilty of this.  Many times it is subconscious, yet pretty pervasive (and may also be perverted?).    Examples of this are the male (and female gaze), unconscious thoughts, jokes, and other subtle and not-so subtle manifestations.

I believe that objectification will always be part of our world and that not all forms of objectification are bad.  Sometimes they are necessary filters to get information quick and make decisions.  The major danger though is when they become the only form of information we gather about the objectified and also how we treat and interact or act upon them.

I am back...

Me(out of focus) - 102013

...finally.  I have not published here since late February and I have missed it.  There are many reasons and excuses for neglecting this space, but as a wizened friend told me once, "There is a difference between reasons and excuses."  Some of these excuses/reasons are superficial and some are deeply personal.

As you may remember, I started another blog with a friend, shadowsexposed.com.  It is going well and  I am enjoying it.  It continues to focus on the life and art erotic.  While that takes some time to create, it should not have pulled me away from this blog and life, and it didn't.  I did that to myself.

Without going into the details,

I had a nervous/psychological breakdown (with even a psychologists diagnosis to go with it) in April and May.  I hit that moment head on and went through the windshield of depression, anxiety and other mental pains due to a mix of my own failures, fractures, and defense mechanisms.  I hurt myself psychologically and hurt those around me as well.

I am not going into the details yet because I want to write about them in the future as part of the putting it into my past and discovering who I really am.  I am planning to explore these parts of me through new art, this blog, further therapy, meditation, praying, introspection, and deep reflection.  Not all will be shared here, because some just wont work well in this medium.

I am doing much better now and I believe the traumatic part of it is behind me.  The next steps are to continue the healing and to make sure it never happens again by learning from what I did wrong.

For my long-time readers; along with these reflective pieces, I still plan to share some humor, a few nudes,and art that has nothing to do with the dark times.  One thing I am learning is that it is important to feed those parts of my life that make it beautiful, fun and worth living.

PS - During that time, a long-time blog friend reached out and shared care and concern, which I deeply appreciated.  Thanks you.

PSS- The beard is for Halloween.  I can't wait to shave it off November 1st.

I objectify women.

Valya - butter wrapper - 022413

Over at my partner blog Shadowsexposed, I just posted the beginning of a series of posts on my own journey and personal sense on how I objectify women (IOW). 

I objectify women through my thoughts, beliefs, and art as well.  Just by tripping the shutter and capturing the image of a woman on film or a sensor, I transfer a real human (not just women) into a 1/250th of a second capture of her and convert her to an object.  

This transfer is similar to what painters, sculptors, poets, and other creative types have done for centuries.  They take a full human and convert them to some sort of partial object, a mere small representation of a fiction or reality of that person. - excerpt from IOW at shadowsexposed.com

Over this series, Miz B and I are going to explore objectification.  For me, it will be about my work, my struggles, and how I am evolving and accepting what I do.  For Miz B, she will write about being both behind the camera as objectifier and in front of it as the objectified.

I have one favor, please go over there and read this, and the following posts in the series, and comment.  You can comment anonymously if you like.  The important thing though is to share your thoughts, experiences, and comments about it.  We don't mind a bit of debate, even if it gets heated.  You can disagree with us as well.  The key part is to raise the issues and help broaden the discussion.  If you don't feel comfortable commenting there,  comment here.

PS - Thanks to D.L. for commenting both there and here.  We greatly appreciate it.  

At last, Friday Night Lite.

Jolene  - 020813

My last post got all deep and theological and shit.  Enough of the deep stuff for this week.  I just turned off my work computer for the evening and it is time to relax with a cocktail, some brie and crackers, and maybe a cigar.

First, I want to say goodbye to 30 Rock.  Tina Fey and her companions gave us 7 seasons of intelligent comedy.  It was never a great popular success, but a critical one.  I thank NBC for giving this smart show a chance when they could have killed it years ago.  It ended well.  Below is a great montage called "Shit Liz Lemon Says".

I am in Las Vegas for the weekend.   Below are a few shots from the inside of my Virgin America flight.  I highly recommend flying with them.  Good prices, great service, and a Rave Party feel inside, minus the drugs, plus the lighting and music.

And here is a bit of music to start the weekend.

I've been living (living) on a dead-end street
I've been asking (asking) everybody I meet
Insufficient data coming through

OMg

Calvin and Hobbes - Bill Watterson

*Maybe I should be depressed about this, but while I am not eagerly awaiting my death, I know everything has its time.  I am going through a religious questioning phase right now about the existence and role of a  theistic being.  In other words - do I believe in a God with a big G or not?   For now, I am starting to feel or believe that there is a cosmic greatness out there, but that my existence influences or is known by that great being is about the same as my influence on that ant hill in the yard at my parent's place a thousand miles away.  My universe is too big to know of every life form I have some connection to and potential power over.  Those ants walk their little bits of food and building pieces to their hill and I never know of their existence and will not know of their deaths.

This is how I am seeing the great cosmic force that is out there.  This greater entity, whether it is powers of nature and science regulating everything, a spiritual being, or the combined energy of all life and forces in the universe, shapes our entire origin, life, demise and whatever is next.  It is much like me starting my truck.  I installed the engine, hooked up the fuel, and turned the key.  The engine starts and I drive away.  Even though I am cognizant of the crank shaft pushing the pistons up and down, I am not in control of or care about each rotation in the engine as it spins at 3000 rpm.  It is going on its own.  Along my trip, I may drive over a pebble that spits out into field and later is used to become part of a groundhog's nest.  All of this action is set into motion because I put the engine into my truck.  Am I cognizant of each of these interactions?  No.   It is just the whole system running on what I have done.

I am that little pebble thrown out into field.  God, the entity, the forces of nature, or whatever  don't care about that pebble or don't even know its existence.  This moment of me is just one of the smallest parts of the countless interactions and beings in the universe moving along its own path.

Part of this realization came from looking at the faith I learned along the way.  I looked at all the death, catastrophes (natural or man made) and wondered why an "all loving being" could do that, or at least, prevent them?  Why would an omnipotent being care about such petty things and how it is worshiped?  How could a knowing and loving entity allow different religions to kill in its name?   For me, why would a supreme being care about gender, politics, or different religions, race, sexual orientation, etc.? Is the answer truly "42"?



Some of y potential (but not all-inclusive) answers are:
A.  It acts like a kid having temper tantrums, not knowing the damage it does.
B.  It is something that goes beyond war crimes, genocide, and any crimes of humanity or nature we can understand and makes Hitler, Stalin, and their ilk (speaking of which, why would a deity allow these people to become what they were in first place?), look like doves. (Take the Noah story - why kill every human and animal on the earth, except those chosen few, just to make a point.  That alone is an atrocity that goes beyond anything witnessed in history.  I am sure that at least a few of the humans wiped out in this moment of wrath were good people that were just unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place.   I wont even go into the horrors in the book of Job.  
C. It is something that set the whole engine in the universe going and lets things play out by the rules of nature, science, and free will of the mind.  

Maybe it is time for me to realize I am just that speck that Calvin alludes to.  This is not depressing, it is freeing.  I am released from this burden of the exceptionalism of organized religion where each faith knows it is right and all others are wrong.  I get to do what I do, help others, try not to hurt, maybe create a little beauty, make things better and then snuff out and become part of the great cosmos again.

George Carlin summed it all up so well.

See I don’t worry about the little things: bees, trees, whales, snails. I think we’re part of a greater wisdom than we will ever understand. A higher order. Call it what you want. Know what I call it? The Big Electron. The Big Electron…whoooa. Whoooa. Whoooa. It doesn’t punish, it doesn’t reward, it doesn’t judge at all. It just is. And so are we. For a little while.

*I am not criticizing anyone's beliefs.  I am criticizing my own path and analyzing my own journey and what I am slowly learning.  I am not saying what I am sharing is the answer to it all.  No one knows that for certain, but maybe only what is certain to them. 

I promise nudes and shallowness, levity, and other things in my next post.

Not liking!

Mare Island - 020413

One of friends who is now looking for colleges had a very endearing and easily understood experience when she was four years old.  It happened when we watched Shrek together.  There is a scene where Shrek is really mean to Donkey and yells at him to send him away.  My little friend crawled into my lap and said to me, "Not liking!" and turned her head to avoid seeing the sad scene in the movie.  I had to agree, "not liking".

Over the past few weeks I've seen a couple of other friends that were friends before I met them are falling out.  It has probably been brewing for awhile.  It hurts since they once shared a deep connection and both respect and affection for each other.  Now their relationship feels poisoned.  Their growing split is getting harder to witness.  Not liking.

Many of my friendships in my life faded away over the last few decades.  Facebook has helped a few of us reconnect, but that is a rarity.  I understand when friendships slowly flow apart since we all develop separate lives that slowly erode the commonalities we once shared.

It is really sad though to lose friendships over hard feelings and misunderstandings.  I've regrettably been part of those splits and witnessed a few as well. Sadly, this is part is life I guess.  During my witnessing this recent break, I know that my role is probably best to stay to the side and try to love and support them both.  For now though, I want to look away and say, "Not liking."