4/19/10 Artist Post: Steve Shaw

Steve Shaw’s portrait photographs are sexy, strong, beautiful and timeless. Shaw is famously known for his easy-going manner when working with him and for bringing out the sensual side of his subjects. The fitting and easy-going style of his photographs (disregarding his high fashion photographs) is something that I am trying to imitate in my own manner. Also his use of shadows really intrigues me. As a photographer I know that we are supposed to be hyper aware of shadows that are playing within our frame. He seems to utilize shadows a lot throughout his images and it definitely helps to make them stronger. The first thing I am working on is the necessity to be able to shoot a good portrait straight-up without worrying about the frills. Then will come the time where I get to mess around with the smaller details that can be used within a photograph.

The best moment for Shaw is when he knows he has gotten the shot, regardless of whoever is sitting/standing/leaning in front of the lens. “It’s when you just know you’ve gotten something, and that makes me happy. I can see it in someone’s face, and I don’t need to take another shot. I know I’ve got it-that one picture.” This seems to be the same thing that every photographer says about taking portraits.

Website:
http://www.steveshawphotography.com/

Interview:
N/A as it appears Shaw is very secretive.

Gallery:
http://www.redbalcony.com/?gid=327

Video of shoot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXj82noo7Qc

4/15/10 Word Post: Human Bonding

Human bonding is the process of development of a close, interpersonal relationship. It most commonly takes place between family members or friends, but can also develop among groups such as sporting teams and whenever people spend time together. Bonding is a mutual, interactive process, and is not the same as simple liking.

Bonding typically refers to the process of attachment that develops between romantic partners, close friends, or parents and children. This bond is characterized by emotions such as affection and trust. Any two people that spend time together may form a bond. Male bonding refers to the establishment of relationships between men through shared activities that often exclude females. The term female bonding is less frequently used, but refers to the formation of close personal relationships between women.

In the 4th century BC, the Greek philosopher Plato argued that love directs the bonds of human society. In his Symposium, Eryximachus, one of the narrators in the dialog, states that love goes far beyond simple attraction to human beauty. He states that it occurs throughout the animal and plant kingdoms, as well as throughout the universe. Love directs everything that occurs, in the realm of the gods as well as that of humans (186a-b).

Eryximachus reasons that when various opposing elements such as wet and dry are "animated by the proper species of Love, they are in harmony with one another... But when the sort of Love that is crude and impulsive controls the seasons, he brings death and destruction.” Because it is love that guides the relations between these sets of opposites throughout existence, in every case it is the higher form of love that brings harmony and cleaves toward the good, whereas the impulsive vulgar love creates disharmony.

Plato concludes that the highest form of love is the greatest. When love "is directed, in temperance and justice, towards the good, whether in heaven or on earth: happiness and good fortune, the bonds of human society, concord with the gods above- all these are among his gifts.”

There are many different types of bonding. There is maternal/paternal bonding, human/animal bonding, bonding between friends or siblings, classmates/co-workers bonding, etc. When living within the same quarters as another person, or animal, there tends to be some type of bonding that occurs even if you don’t get along with whomever it is that you’re living with. There are certain things that only people that have lived with you could possibly know (Where you prefer to hide your junk food and what your guilty pleasure food is. How particular you are about how dishes get put away. How often you shower or do laundry).

Levine, Jon (2003). "Secret of Paternal Bond." BBC News / Health, Tuesday, 25 February.

Latter, L. (1995). Article: “Human Pet Bonding”. Source: Animal Welfare Society – Southeastern Michigan.

Miller, W.B. & Rodgers, J.L. (2001). The Ontogeny of Human Bonding Systems: Evolutionary Origins, Neural Bases, and Psychological Manifestations. New York: Springer. ISBN 0-7923-7478-9

4/12/10 Artist Post: Andrew Eccles

Andrew Eccles has been a freelance photographer based out of New York City since 1987. Prior to becoming an independent photographer, Andrew assisted a number of outstanding photographers including Robert Mapplethorpe, Steven Meisel and Annie Leibovitz.
Eccles classically composed, technically flawless style, complemented by his easy-going demeanor has made him the preferred photographer of such celebrities as John Travolta, Kevin Bacon and Brooke Shields. He is able to ease his subjects through the awkward and often uncomfortable experience of being photographed. “It’s scary out there in front of the camera, and your subject should never be alone.”

Although Eccles' images did eventually draw me in it was originally a quote that I ran across that connected me to him. “Back in art college I gravitated more toward still life and landscape photography.” He was afraid to take pictures of people. My first semester at VCU a fine professor made us right a statement about what scared up about out photography. Mine was about how I have a hard time going up to people that I don’t know and asking them to photograph them. He then forced us to confront out fears and from then on portraits of other people is where my photography tends to lay. This is something that both Eccles and I have in common.

Now he absolutely loves portraiture. “It’s probably as intimate a relationship as you can have without touching someone, and it can still be quite terrifying at times in the ‘first date’ kind of way. But there are moments, the rare epiphany when everything comes together for a fraction of a second, when the subject, the light, the composition are all better then you could have imagined. It can happen accidently, but it’s almost more rewarding when the attempt was intentional.. It’s the feeling when you’ve taken a picture so beautiful, powerful, clever or funny that someone is genuinely moved to feel something that they weren’t feeling until they say the picture. Or simply when you can frame a picture, hang it on a wall, stand back and say ‘yup that’s a good one.’ “

Website:
http://www.andreweccles.com/

Interview:
http://photosecrets.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/round-up-from-call-with-photographer-andrew-eccles/

Gallery:
http://www.artnet.com/Galleries/Artists_detail.asp?G=&gid=79931&which=&aid=425884147&ViewArtistBy=online&rta=http://www.artnet.com

4/8/10 Word Post:Roommate

A roommate is a person who shares a living facility, called as a sharehome, such as an apartment or dormitory. Synonyms include sharemate, suitemate, housemate, or flatmate ("flat": the usual term in British English for an apartment). In the UK, the term "roommate" means a person sharing the same bedroom, whereas in the United States, "roommate" and "housemate" are used interchangeably regardless whether a bedroom is shared.

The most common reason for sharing housing is to reduce the cost of housing. In many rental markets, the monthly rent for a two- or three-bedroom apartment is proportionately less per bedroom than the rent for a one-bedroom apartment. By pooling their monthly housing money, a group of people can achieve a lower housing expense at the cost of less privacy. Other motivations are to gain better amenities than those available in single-person housing, to share the work of maintaining a household, and to have the companionship of other people.

Housemates and roommates are typically unmarried young adults, including workers and students (the practice of sharing a bedroom is mostly limited to students). It is not rare for middle-aged and elderly adults who are divorced or widowed to have housemates. Married couples, however, typically discontinue living with roommates, especially when they have children. In the United States, most young adults spend at least a short part of their lives living with roommates after they leave their family's home.

One difficulty is finding suitable roommates. Living with a roommate can mean much less privacy than having a residence of one's own, and for some people this can cause a lot of stress.
Another thing to consider when choosing a roommate is how to divide the cost of living. Who pays for what, or are the shared expenses divided between the two or more roommates. Also, the potential roommate should be trusted to pay their share and trusted to pay it on time. Sleeping patterns can also be disrupted when living with a number of people, so it is therefore important to choose housemates wisely.

“I don't need to pay a therapist to give me crap. I have a roommate that does it for free.”
-Unknown

Taking Power, Sharing Cereal, New York Times, Jan. 18, 2007; D.C. Lawmakers Share 'Animal House', ABC News, Mar. 12, 2007; Capitol Hill's Animal House is Their Home Away From Home, Boston Globe, Jan. 18, 2007.

4/5/10 Artist Post:William Claxton

William Claxton was most noted for his photography of jazz musicians and he also photographed celebrities and models. He has photographed the famous as well as his family and friends. “Above all, my work is about friendship.” I realize that the photography world is heavily based in who you do and do not know. This statement helps summarize it all very simply. When he photographs people he is often photographing his friends, and his subjects often become his friends. This is something that I defiantly need to work on to keep connections throughout the art world.

His portraits are a demonstration of the beauty he sees in people. “I hate ugly pictures of anybody. I am dedicated to beauty. I know there is a beauty in all kinds of human beings. So, the act of finding and capturing that beauty is relatively easy for me. I am happiest when I can create a beautiful and poignant image of a subject.” I always try to find the beauty within somebody. I do not believe that somebody has to be physically appealing to hold that something special that the world wants to gaze upon. His style of portraiture is fairly simple and highly dependant on natural light, something that I want to perfect because I feel as if natural light brings out the subjects natural beauty.

As a young boy Claxton began with a Brownie box camera and a fascination with music gained from his father’s collection of big-band records. Before long, he was haunting jazz clubs in Los Angeles, wearing one of his father’s suits to avoid being asked for his ID, and always carrying a camera.Because Claxton started off so heavily based in the jazz world, he notes that is photography hadn’t caught his eye at such a young age he would have become a happy musician. Claxton says that “photography is jazz for the eyes. All I ask you to do is listen with your eyes.”

Website:
http://www.williamclaxton.com/noflash.html

Interview:
http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0103/claxton_intro.htm

Gallery:
http://www.afterimagegallery.com/claxton.htm

4/1/10 Word Post: Living Situation

There are always different things that will effect a person’s living situation. Sometimes you have to move back to Mom and Dad’s until you get back on your again. Then there are times where you have found the perfect roommates in college that you feel you are going to live with for the rest of you life. There is the awkward ex-boyfriend/ex-girlfriend living situation where you moved in together and then broke up, but neither of you can afford to break the lease. There is the young mother/father living arrangement and the teenager still living at home scenario. Then when you get older, perhaps you are forced to live with a certain person because you have some of the same medical needs and the assisted living nurse require that you live together. The spouse that is too scared to leave their “significant other” even though they are getting abused on a regular basis.

There are more different types of living situations then I would ever be able to list. However, more often then not, whatever living situation you are in was at one point a choice. The circumstances may have changed from what they once were but it is always up to the people involved in how they want to handle how things have become.

I found a blog that asks people about their current living situations and these are the answers that the blogger received:

I live with my husband, and we share one house… although I think it would be a lot of fun to have two houses with a joined hallway. Or at the very least, two master bedrooms, as is the trend in new, big, construction.
I am an only child too! So I can totally relate to needing alone time, something that is a tad hard for hubby to figure out since he is one of five kids. The nice thing is, we each have our own office, and otherwise I know we would drive each other completely bonkers.
<3 Aimee · May 18, 02:25 PM · #

I live in a pretty messy old state house, with my crazy furniture (I have Karen walkers old board room chairs!) and artwork in a semi-ghetto part of town. But it’s mine and I love it.
I would love to move to a huge crazy old house up in the hills around wellingtons cod somewhere
<3 Sarah · May 18, 02:26 PM · #

I live by myself right now. I like it because I always have art projects and clothes scattered about the place. I do want a kitten or a sugar glider or some other pet soon… I think ideal would be having one or two friends down the hall.
<3 Katrina · May 18, 02:29 PM · #

I’ve always had an incredible desire for small spaces. I’d always find the smallest room in the house and somehow now I’ve ended up living in a house with a cupboard under the stairs that’s big enough for my bed.
I’m going to try it out when I’ve removed some shelving in there. It’s a perfect private space, everything in the room (and in small rooms before) is mattress and when the energies sort themselves out after you settle in, it feels comforting and sort of womb-y. Especially appealing in winter.
Obviously, it probably won’t work for claustrophobics, but I’m kind of the opposite so it offers me a great deal of privacy and security in a house where I have to be around people a lot.
<3 Amyz · May 18, 02:36 PM · #

I lived with the boyfriend for nearly two years and my dog for six of those. We live in a terrace in Richmond (a dream I’ve had since I was a teenager) with a tiny little yard and a pseudo bungalow/laundry. If I were going to live overseas I’d love a loft in NYC or a shoebox in Tokyo, but if I were going to live the domestic life I’d have a yard big enough for a serious veggie garden and a massive kitchen.
<3 Shannon · May 18, 02:44 PM · #

I don’t unnecessarily like big spaces; I just want one that’s big enough. I live with my husband and 3 cats. I just want enough room where we don’t feel cramped.
I actually lived in a loft in NYC, I would move back in a second, though maybe not to that exact space. : P
<3 tricia · May 18, 03:31 PM · #

Life in Tokyo can be pretty cramped. The two of us in a two story, ultra slim line apartment with dangerously twisty internal stairs can sometimes get pretty tight!
Alone time is oh so gorgeous – living together and working together with different languages, cultures and ways of doing things requires an intense amount of awareness (of course that awareness sometimes flies out the window) but there is never a dull moment.
Regular ‘Ladies Lunches’, separate shopping sprees and pampering visits to the salon make things a whole lot smoother!
Always expressing how grateful we are to each other (in any language), lots of hugs and plenty of love words help a lot too ;)
<3 tokyomade · May 18, 03:59 PM · #

I almost have that “hallway connecting two homes” thing…see, I live with my boyfriend (and his family), but I live in a self-contained unit that’s downstairs from their house. So I have my own space (which at the moment is strewn with academic texts on pornography and my entire wardrobe), but whenever I feel like it I can run upstairs and spend time with The Boy.
Being that we’re both people who need lots of alone time, it works really well.
<3 Nadia · May 18, 04:35 PM · #

I live in the tallest apartment building in aaaalll of san Jose, an art-deco style building built in the late 1920s…
I’m in the center of downtown, across from the new city hall, which is all space age and lit up at night, and I have 180 degree plus views of the city.
It was my number one choice for a place to live in san Jose and I finally got it
HOWEVER. San Jose is not my ideal city to live in! I want a beautiful Victorian with lots of bay windows near golden gate park in san Francisco that I can paint pretty colors.
<3 rachel · May 18, 05:54 PM · #

I don’t know if we’ve already mentioned this in e-mails, but I currently live with Bebop & his weeuns. In a house. In an area of the city that I don’t fancy much – very suburbish. Not ideal, as I’m not very kin to children & we’re having relationship difficulties.
I currently (JUST TODAY!) found a house that was built in the 50s/has a pool/patio/amazingness & I’m really hoping to build a little community of neat people there.
<3 mary bee · May 18, 07:12 PM · #

I live in a Victorian terrace house in England. It’s a lovely house! There’s enough space for us all to keep out of each other’s way if we need to (myself, my parents and my sister). However, my boyfriend stays round most weekdays so I hardly ever get time to myself! The only free time I have is if I decide not to go to his house at weekends.
Having someone staying in your room all the time really makes it seem smaller than it is! And I sleep in the attic room, which is massive!!
My ideal living situation would be University accommodation! I can’t wait to start a life away from home! I’m taking a gap year next year so I’ll be at home a lot longer than I wanted to be but at least it gives me the opportunity to travel!
<3 Lizzie · May 18, 08:29 PM · #

I live in my parent’s house now, so pretty much anything else would be ideal! Ha, I’m kidding… kind of. I think people move out of their parents’ homes faster in other countries than in the US, but I plan to move out after college and live la vie bohemia for a while – and that truly is my ideal because I’m not fond of anything too modern. :)
<3 Stefanie · May 18, 08:38 PM · #

“A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams.”
-Unknown

3/29/10 Artist Post: Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson was deeply influenced by the contemporary movement known as surrealism, which encouraged artists and writers to explore the meaning that lay hidden below the surface of everyday life. In the hands of the surrealists, photography became a way to reveal significance that would otherwise be invisible or lost. When captured in a photograph, a simple gesture, chance meeting, or mundane setting could convey great beauty or tragedy or humor.
Despite the spontaneous nature of his subjects, Henri Cartier-Bresson never abandoned his formal training as an artist. Each image is a complete composition within a single frame of film, and it cannot be cropped or altered without destroying the whole. This whole image can take many different forms. In the hands of Cartier-Bresson, a photographic portrait seems transparent, as if no photographer has intervened between the subject and the viewer. “We might be eavesdropping on Coco Chanel as she laughs with delight, we might have surprised Carson McCullers and her companion, George Davis, stretched out on the lawn, or have strolled unannounced into William Faulkner's backyard.” We feel that we know them, because Cartier-Bresson captures what seems to be the essence of their being, the way they look when they are most themselves. These images convey a palpable physical relationship between the viewer and the subject.

“Photography is an instantaneous operation, both sensory and intellectual—an expression of the world in visual terms and also a perpetual quest and interrogation. It is at one and the same the recognition of a fact in a fraction of a second and the rigorous arrangement of the forms visually perceived which give to that fact expression and significance.”

I hope that I am able to capture the same type of side of people that Henri Cartier-Bresson does. All of his portraiture holds a little something extra in them, in the look of his subjects and how they are so comfortable even though there is a photographer right in front of them.

Website:
http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/cb/index-int2.htm

Interview:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1318621
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1995/mar/02/the-moment-that-counts-an-interview-with-henri-car/

Gallery:
http://www.artnet.com/artist/3702/henri-cartier-bresson.html