While on the road to the collodion workshop in Lacock, I decided to make use of my time and test the iPhone’s hipstamatic filter. And yes, it is rather fascinating. I do actually own both an Holga and a Diana but being a child of the digital age, I totally enjoy the filter’s instant results – please forget for an instant, that I am travelling to England to take an 19th century technique workshop …
To criticize the filter a bit: I found it unnecessarily difficult (if not impossible) to frame the image correctly – guesswork, experience and luck is needed – most likely the software is programmed this way on purpose. Annoying nonetheless. It is NOT a Holga after all, but a digital device. If I WANT a lucky shot, I can close my eyes.
After a couple of shots (= too few) my iPhone was sucked dry. So I switched over to the iPad to cover the actual crossing via train through the Eurotunnel. The dog was our main reason for choosing this means of transportation but it did not go half as smoothly as we had hoped for. Due to an incident earlier that day another train got stuck halfway through the tunnel, delaying everything. Nightmarish for the passengers, no doubt about this. But also for us. Instead of approx 30 min, we were in those coffin like carriages for way over two hours. Our only advantage was that we could still see the sky when we looked out of the small windows.
I will upload some images of that the next time. We just arrived at Lacock and I have not yet downloaded the files from the iPad.
I am thinking about covering the collodion workshop with digital hipstamatic. It would be so incredibly off, to actually be interesting again. Will ask if it is ok.
And of course:
Dalwhinnie, Bowmore, Bruchladdich, Bunnahabhain, Caol Ila, Lagavulin, Laphroaig …
Hopefully this winter.
I took this image as part of a series in 2009 while Tone and I visited the small town of Lobo in Texas. It was totally out of fun. I wanted to see if I could get a U2 kinda feeling into them … Maybe because I was a bit tired to listen to Graceland Radio throughout the day.
It gave birth to an idea, Overtone, which I am working on since then.
There is nothing like playing around a bit to make you happy!
Speaking of inspiration … (see last post)
I am a total sucker for airports, planes and flying! My father took me for my very first flight in a glider, when I was only a couple of months old – to my mom’s dismay, who had to stay behind and watch. Friends say that she was bathed in sweat when we finally landed. Poor Mom … she never really understood, even though she was a flight attendant herself.
Continue reading ‘Inspiration – Flying’
In Romania.
I’m just saying.
“LOOK3 is hosting an experimental two night event to present the work of 90 innovative photographers on a farm 30 minutes west of Charlottesville. This initiative, which we are calling LOOKbetween, is designed to showcase early-career talent and engage the presenting artists with media professionals on practices and trends influencing the direction of photography today. We want to turn the traditional mentorship model on its head and let the next generation of photographers, editors, publishers, curators, and media professionals share their vision for the future.”
At this point I want to thank the amazing organization team from LOOK3 for their seemingly supernatural efforts. It was PERFECT! Just as if practiced for many years – but hey, no: the event at the Deep Rock Farm was a first timer for everybody! Unbelievable.
LOOKbetween was a magical experience. And I am still a bit at loss for words – and images. So if you want to see more about the event, I encourage you to visit the LOOKbetween tumblr page and to take in the impressions.
I think I can talk for most of us that we were a little overwhelmed and that we would have loved 1-2 additional days to really fully unfold the potential of this awesome get together. And I think the connection aspect is one of the central ones of LOOKbetween.
I am immensely greatful to have been chosen to be in the first group to attend LOOKbetween. If anybody ever gets the chance, please do yourself a favor and attend! Regardless of if as an invited artist or as a visitor.
Below just a vage impression of mother nature watching our show … Huge insects in the projector’s beam of light, like erratic shooting stars, of which there also where many. Enough to make our dreams come true? We will see … and certainly do our share for it to happen.
What do you do on the first day in New York? You go to the MoMA. Of course. This time I was eager to see the huge Hery Cartier Bresson exhibition. 
We got into the MoMA fast – cutting the line with our online ticket – which was great. Soon I found myself standing in front of the same railing that I always stand to take a picture of my bottom part. Why? Do not ask me because I do not think I know it myself. Anyway, this time it was actually not easy as the light was dim … it was raining cats and dogs outside – which was another reason why I loved the fact, that we did not have to wait in that enourmous line of people that was winding itself around the block.
When I went to Kenya in 2006, I saw all these women in Nairobi with the most magnificent braids … each and every hairdo seemed unique, like a signature. It was so beautiful I thought that I would do a portrait-session there that focussed on hair. I remember I spent quite some time thinking about how to best go about this and how the pictures should be done and look like … I wanted to start the project in Mosocho, where I knew I would spend some time. But what was my surprise when I got there to see, that most women there just had their hair cut short like men. That was unfortunate.
I did get some snap shots, like the above, but that was not what I had planned to do. Next time maybe?
In the MoMA I found this piece of artwork from Lorna Simpson (Wigs (Portfolio), 1994). Not necessarily what I would have done but quite intriguing prints of wigs on light felt. I really liked the texture of it … after all felt is made out of “hair”.
The photograph above is from Diane Arbus and one that I had never seen before despite being a huge fan and knowing most of her work.
Even though it was allowed to photograph the images, it was not easy to do so without capturing the whole room – the same problem occured if you simply wanted to look at the images – you found yourself dancing in front of the frames to help separate the room from the picture. There is magnificent non-reflective glas around and I truly wonder why it is not used for these beautiful collections of photographs.
The HCB exhibition was exquisite (no cameras allowed in there, though) and despite of my promise to myself to not increase the weight of my already heavy backpack … I simply had to buy the hardcover catalogue. It is really worth it – have you ever seen an HCB contact sheet?!
I almost did not make it.
I was not late, my luggage was not to heavy, I did have my ticket, I did have my passport, I did not forget to do anything … BUT somebody changed my name in the system of Miles&More. So when I printed my ticket, I was not I but I was sort of different. Too different.
Calling Miles&More they confirmed that I would not be able to fly to the US with this ticket, but that there was no way to get a replacement in time for the flight and that I probably did change the name in the system myself. That was an interesting argument, because I cannot do that in an existing account without someone from Miles&More typing the stuff in. Very, VERY bad problem management, I thought. So I went up the ladder of responsability and after talking to the boss there they managed to sort things out. And I got my ticket and my name corrected in time to take my plane. But I admit I did sweat a bit. That was close.
I still wonder who changed my data, though … I have this account forever and never had problems with it. But data just does not seem to be safe anymore these days. Too many humans involved.
The good news were: I had a wonderful flight. Just slept right through it.
Despite of having worked intensely and in a flow like state of mind during the days in Lobo, the best was still to come.
What I did not know before, was that visiting Marfa would be the big WOW effect: it was the first time I witnessed the power of art. Like in a laboratory; in a controlled environment.
We had been travelling through Texas for a while and there was definitively one kind of recognizable pattern all over the place. And then you come to Marfa and … everything is different. Different architecture, different people, different food, different conversations, different life concepts, different work concepts, different questions, different everything. Galleries everywhere, a big book shop and you can even rent yourself bikes and polaroid cameras … In the middle of nowhere you find this completely amazing culture in this small town. The only difference being that it has been infected by the arts virus a couple of years before.
I never noticed the isolated power or art before. We take it for granted here in Europe as we take much more for granted that has been fought for by older generations. That is unfortunate. We are visually flooded on all kind of channels and it is difficult to say what was first. What is cause and what is effect.
But cause and effect were clearly layed out in Marfa …
I do not like to use this exclamation too much, as I feel it is being widely abused, but I definitively see the world a little different now! And it does make a huge difference to me and my work.
Some links for further information:
Marfa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97uWR8e0dDo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lryy7YBhM4A&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36tmOSqXJ-U&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtfwtckigKQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8oeK3pY3Z8&NR=1
Prada
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK37lwXqNaU&feature=related
Food Shark, Marfa Texas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy53Hx_pDjo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-MG8cRiDC4&NR=1
Chinati Foundation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3CY0JaH5ws&feature=fvw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aFGYD7Fc48&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lryy7YBhM4A&feature=related
(click here or on the image to see more)
A look at the sky told us that the sunny days were about to change: thick, dark clouds gathered on the horizon. Later on, thunder rolled in the middle of the night over into echoes in the mountains. When we got up to drive to Lobo the next morning, everything was much darker than usual for the time of the day. During the 15 mile drive the weather rapidly deteriorated towards a heavy storm with flood like rainfalls (which later were hugely dramatized in the tv-news).
So much for “desert”, “dust”, “cactuses”…
We sat there in the dry car waiting for a sign that the bad weather would pass … But it looked like we would be sitting there for quite a while – with nothing to read, with no crossword-puzzles … only Graceland Radio. So we drove back to the motel to check the weather report – which was totally depressing: they were predicting the next sunny day for the day after our departure to Germany. We took refuge at Chuy’s … eating verrry slowly while hopefully and pointlessly peaking outside to see if things were getting better. They were not. We spent the rest of the day educating ourselves through tv-series psychology.
The next morning we anxiously waited from 5 o’clock on at the window of our motel room to check on the weather. It was temporarily dry, but only when the light started to show we knew we probably would get lucky with some rays of sun … We hurried to Lobo for some more musician pictures for Tony while we were waiting for the next hole in the clouds. I really needed the sun to get the one or two shots I felt were missing in “Pink Lobo”. Thankfully the cloud godess was good to me and allowed a little blue hole in the dark blanket that was the sky. Things were looking up. Eventually the hole moved towards the sun and provided the necessary light to finish what I had started. Then we were ready to pack. That night we did not prolong our stay – and the next morning we left for Marfa.
Marfa … It was to be an eye opener for me.
… to be continued
(click here or on the image to see more)
