and a well-written article that might help partially explain why you don't find me here much anymore
:The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes:
:The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes:, originally uploaded by juj's photos.
Meet my new eyes: a 1954 Anscoflex II camera.
This camera was designed by Raymond Loewy, who (if you are a design history geek like me you will know) was the "Father of Industrial Design". Loewy designed such iconic pieces as the packaging for Lucky Strike cigarettes in '39, the Studebaker Starliner in '53, the Greyhound Bus in '54, and the logos for Shell gas, Exxon, and the US Mail that are still in use today.
This little beauty is not only well designed (other pictures later I'm sure), but clean as a whistle and complete with its original hard shell camera case, flash unit, literature, and travel case - the only thing missing from what's shown is the flashbulbs and film...
...HOWEVER, it does have a roll of film still loaded!! I can wait to find out what's on it. I'm pretty sure someone has opened it at some point but will be interesting to see what sort of "happy accidents" have occured as a result.
Surfing around the net I learned that, unlike a lot of the old TLRs, if your patient and determined you can squeak a roll of 120 into the Anscoflex with no modifications and no need to re-roll onto a 620 spool - Yay! - so Annie will divide her time between playing TtV and TLR.
And finally, if you made it this far you are an even bigger geek than I am and I'd like to wish you a very happy Friday. Have a great weekend everyone ~
*thanks to Mr. Martin Web for the link to the old Sears ad
something to think about
An interesting article by Raymond Learsy on Barack Obama's platform position on Arts and arts funding. The statistic in the fifth paragraph is astounding, in a sad way.
Obama, the Arts, and Soft Power
Raymond J. Learsy
As never before, in this century of instant communication and the dissemination of information, it is the culture of a people, of a nation that portends its influence and its standing throughout the world. Yes, armaments and weaponry still count, as does economic might, but who we are and what are our values are will have far greater impact in the minds of friend and adversary alike. And it is our art, our culture of today, playwrights and actors, our song writers and musicians, our choreographers and dancers, our poets and writers, our artists and museum curators, our filmmakers and our art visionaries of every kind. This is the America the world is keenly interested in learning more about, hearing, seeing, feeling, experiencing. It is also one of our great strengths. This is a talented and gifted land with vast reservoirs of energy to create and dream.
And yet we have used this enormous potential of defining to others who we are only haltingly and too often with only the most reluctant advocacy. The role of government support for the arts in our society has always been an open question, debated but never fully resolved.
In Senator Obama's opinion it appears the arts have become essential to reengage our standing in the world. According to an article in Bloomberg, he is the first White House contender to include a far- reaching arts-plank in his platform. Quoting Robert Lynch, president and chief executive officer of "Americans for the Arts" a highly respected Washington based arts advocacy group, "no presidential candidate in recent times has addressed cultural issues in such detail." As early as the spring of 2007 Obama brought together a committee of arts and arts professionals including such luminaries as Hollywood producer George Stevens, novelist Michael Chabon, Broadway director Hal Prince, Museum of Modern Art president emerita Agnes Gund, to focus on this issue.
By contrast the article advises that John McCain has consistently voted for cuts in the National Endowment for the Arts (the NEA) budget, saying that funding for the arts is a local matter.
As a former member of the National Council for the Arts I have always been struck by the paucity of interest and support our government gives to the arts, potentially our greatest source of soft power. An example: our budget for the NEA in fiscal 2008 is $144.7 million dollars. France's Ministry of Culture at the same time has a budget of E3 billion or $3.75 billion. Our population is some five times greater than France's so that on the basis of French governmental support to its artists and art's community were we in the same proportional measure our arts budget would be $18.25 billion. France's Ministry of Culture's mission is understandably somewhat broader than the NEA's. But here we are not comparing apples to oranges. Perhaps oranges to tangerines. And not all examples from France are bad. Remember Lafayette!
An undecided situation leads to a broader spectrum of facts
wip trip - or a triptych of a work in progress for those of you that prefer longhand.
The center panel shows a detail of a painting/collage I am working on. It's 34" x 30" mixed on board. Board meaning lid to a crate I found on the curb, mixed meaning mostly hand painted recycled tyvek and packing papers layered over some house paint which is covering the painting that I WAS working on on this board. The top photo is a bit of a piece of pallette paper after I've made a big mess on it, and the bottom photo is a close up of some of the bits I'm using to build the layers.
Now you know what I know. Hopefully you understand it better than I do.
olly olly oxen free
I found this amazing stick bug hiding out on an old oar we have nailed to a tree in our yard. He was so well hidden against the texture of the wood in the shade I almost didn't see him. I wanted to take a picture that would show how cool this was, but of course every shot just looked like a shot of a piece of wood. Just goes to show, even when it's not manipulated, a photo isn't always accurate. For example - the size of these mushroom caps. Smaller than the head of a thumbtack. Crazy!
In other news, this week has been hell at work. Our clients are all about to be fired - that is, if they don't fire us first - and I am about to pull all my hair out. Since I finally got my hair cut a few weeks ago, and for the first time in months am kinda happy with it, I don't know that this is the best idea. I know what I really need is a trip up the side of a mountain - something that never fails to make me feel very insignificant in the scope of the world, and has a way of putting things in perspective like no other. But as luck would have it, life (and clients) interfere and so this isn't going to happen any time soon. I need to find a new drug. What's a good substitute for 11,000 ft.?
In other news, I'm making progress on Andrea's moly, I've an idea for a series of photos, and I just got the most fabulous new fleece hoody and it's actually cool enough out to wear it. I guess it all balances out.
Bloch Building in the rain
You can pretty much add "in the rain" to everything I've been doing lately. Amazing to me how a hurricane in the gulf can make it all the way to the middle of the country, but it can.
Last night we had tornadoes and torential rain and flooding, but of course a mamma is kinda like the postal service: neither rain, nor snow, blah blah blah... so despite the crazy weather I was out playing chauffer, driving my daughter to a friend's house to spend the night.
Of course a photographer is a lot like a mom, so figured as long as I'm out I might as well drive around a bit and see what there is to see.
Took some "great" shots of the downtown lights reflecting on the wet pavement, but of course they were only great in concept. In reality they were in sore need of a tripod and long exposure, which pointing-the-camera-at-the-scene-while-the-guy-behind-you-is-honking shots are not.
This one however turned out fine SOOC, which is why I then pulled it into Photoshop and tweeked the hell out of it. Fine is fine, but I'm a texture whore.
out of practice
Holy crap! Has it really been over a month since my last post? Well, honestly, I suppose it feels like it's been even longer.
I do apologize for neglecting the blog, but I really don't have much new to offer in the way of drawings and I have harbored under the delusion that that's what this is all about for so long that it's hard to change course. Of course, given the choice between only posting drawings but "never" posting, and not posting drawings but at least posting... well, something has to change doesn't it?
Maybe the blog will undergo a remodel. Or maybe I will just send you all to Flickr (link in the sidebar) where I seem to be better about recording the bits and pieces of my daily life... maybe I will let things continue as they are and quit apologizing for it.
In the mean time I offer this drawing I did for a client:
(click to enlarge)
a coloring page of the Common Violet (viola papilionacea) for a science book. Feel free to print it out and share with any 6 year olds you know.
and this:
(click to enlarge)
a quick sketch I did when I realized I'd better practice a bit before I start putting ink into Andrea's moly lest I f* it up. Glad I did - I'm severely out of practice.
Groundhog Day
(click to enlarge)
My contribution to France's Moly after Gabi.
Click the link in the sidebar to go to the Moly Exchange blog and see more pics, including some that show the whole thing in context, and to find links to the rest of the groups blogs.
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