As I patiently wait for flexcolor to process twenty-seven-gajillion raw files into digital negatives (I use a dual-redundancy system, probably a pilot hangup) of the cutest miniature sumo wrestler ever, I figured I could tax the ole processor just a bit more for some small jpegs of fireworks. I looked at a few fireworks shots online today of fireworks that I think were from Laredo, TX or just across the border, which were magnificent displays of pyrotechnics. After seeing those shots it made me appreciate the Mississippi quality of the above shot a bit more; probably not the most impressive display of fireworks to be found in the metro area, but it has the right feeling.
Continue reading ‘Happy July!’
It was brought to my attention that I never posted images of Jerri’s cast glass pieces she created for the Nature Conservancy (I still think I did, but I can’t find any evidence of that . . .). So here are some shots of the awards at the banquet. Continue reading ‘Nature Conservancy Awards’
Gorjus has probably already posted about this over at prettyfakes.com . . . I’ll do an update later with any specific posts . . . there is now an official website for the zine “Sandusky Review.” The really impressive thing about this is now you can download each issue for free, or you can still send five bucks to our studio and we will get Gorjus to mail you one. If you are in lovely jacktown you should stop by the studio to see the scratchboards from issue three.
UPDATE: Captain Timely finally posted about his own website. Check it out here.
There is a nice article over at the NYTimes about Weegee (the article was published the end of last month). Contains a few interesting posthumous facts I had never heard before.
The image above is Gorjus’s entry into the GJAC Live and Let Draw competition. Gorjus, a long-time friend and often co-collaborator, asked me to photograph it and drop off the resulting CD to the Arts Council office this past Monday. Once more for emphasis: Gorjus gave me his artwork, which he wants to compete with mine, to photograph AND drop off for him. This is quite a level of trust for a guy who won’t bring a new girlfriend around me for fear of what I will say about him( he is totally justified in this, btw). So, maybe this image will be in the show at Storyteller’s Ball . . . and perhaps if his entry didn’t get misplaced, he might beat me . . . or any of the other applicants who I am not trying to harass. Odd thing is, I can’t remember what time it was when I slid the application under the door; I am bad about confusing my Mondays and Tuesdays.
I’ve been known to take the occasional animal portrait . . . and I’ve been known to make a considerable amount of fun of certain animal art. With my southern hypocrisies confessed, you must check out Christopher Ameruoso’s website. Also, if you have time searches on youtube and google return entertaining results.
I just finished my piece I am submitting for the Live and Let Draw Call for Entries. The winning artwork will be used for the Greater Jackson Arts Council’s Storytellers Ball promotions. Obviously, the theme of this years Storytellers Ball is James Bond. Continue reading ‘Live and Let Draw’
Guess whose birthday it is . . .
We hope you have a great birthday!
This past weekend Jerri and I went to visit some friends of ours in Ebeneezer, Mississippi. We got the grand tour of the very impressive house/studio structure that Robert is building by hand, sat in the shade of a tree with a fan blowing on us while we ate homemade vegetarian deliciousness, and then we picked wild blackberries until the late afternoon thunderstorm brought in some rain at which point we went back to sitting under the tree. All in all a wonderful visit. And the dogs had fun too.
Here is Robert sitting behind part of his construction (he has milled all of his own lumber for this).
And this image links to the entire album:
This didn’t start off as a post about Graham Bunn, but in that odd stream of consciousness way that is what it became. Just like every morning (and probably like the majority of adult humans) I started the day with tons of things bouncing around in my head that I need to do today, mixed in with an overly large dose of random thoughts. Some of those random thoughts include the following: why did the current “Hulk” need to be cgi? How do you educate consumers about photography? What is the role of this website in our studio business? Should I change my licensing pricing? Should I avoid royalty free because of associated stigmas? Anyway, you probably get the idea. Somehow a little bit of the floating around stuff congealed into this idea to retouch photos that I have no rights to, in a sort of parody way . . . this avoids possibly insulting an existing client by showing them as a before and after and it is more fun too. So how do you pick a person to retouch? I decided to go with Google Trends and let them pick for me, thus Graham Bunn was selected.
Oddly, some of Graham’s photos seem to have copious amounts of dust or noise, leading me to believe they are second generation images (a scan, photo of a photo, or dupe of a magazine page). There are also no photo credits on his site, just the copyright notice.
The original photo:
My retouched version, sans dust spots, some levels adjustments, and ala “the Hulk” a little muscle liquify action:
The differences are easiest to see if you click on the image to get the lightbox view and then use the previous and next buttons to swap back and forth.
