There is something prolific about listening to Peter, Paul, and Mary singing Blowin’ in the Wind when being surrounded by a sea of people trying to get out of the subway and up the stairs. Suddenly you see them all with new eyes, realizing all over again that everyone is just trying to find some measure of happiness in the world.
Peter, Paul, and Mary – Blowin’ in the Wind
I woke up this morning to a fading voice saying, “Your portfolio has been submitted and reviewed.” I wrote it off. I mean, I’ve been thinking about this nonstop for weeks.
But today the call came. It was like a thief in the night. I was sitting at work making logos based on compasses, when ***SHAZAM!!*** Kevin over at The Moderns (the design studio over in Manhattan) rang me up and made my summer. I can’t believe it. This is the dream come true.
I remember visiting with a BFA student when I was looking at applying to the design program a couple years ago, knowing he was about to go to New York. I remember how incredibly cool and lucky he seemed to me. I remember wondering if I would ever get into BYU, let alone the VA Design program, let alone the BFA Design program, let alone be invited to accept an internship in the design capital of Earth. And now I get to go. I guess I feel pretty excited. It’s not so much of a total roller coaster ride. I’m sure it will be once I get on that plane. A plane ride, then. Which, if you think about the mechanics of the whole thing, is way more epic.
Here’s another hand-crafted Holga shot from this winter, taken at the planetarium in Salt Lake City. I can’t figure out how that light leak took on such a delicious pink. Just a little unexpected creative direction from my camera, which is always more than welcome. Those are my pals Elise and Matt featured in full HowDidWeEndUpOnMars?! action.
Earlier today I took a stroll into the mp3 forest and shook the electropop tree, and this Au Revoir Simone remix fell from the pixellated leaves. Give it a shot with the speakers plugged in, this is a total treat that will make you forget The Postal Service was ever mainstream. These girls sound better, anyway.
Fallen Snow / Age of Rockets Remix (Au Revoir Simone)
I am usually pretty meticulous about cataloguing my prints and storing negatives, but I found a lonely and forgotten Holga roll when I was moving recently. I have rescued it from the dregs of moving boxes and stacks of things I am not sure if I want to keep, and above is one of my favorites from the roll. At first I was a little disappointed that the white truck was camped out there, but now I’m not so sure. I think it belongs.
I realized this month that I haven’t had to be patient for something for a long time. Most of the time, everything in life happens pretty fast. Having to wait to find out if I go to New York for a design internship has been super trying. Even as I write that, I question how hard it really is—I mean, at worst, you’re just sitting around, and at best, you’ve got some extra time to take care of things. But patience is such a deceptive virtue. Patience is like a drunken man at a saloon punching a gunslinger in the face, and the gunslinger promised his wife he would never fight again so he has to walk away and lose face in front of the whole town, yet in the quiet struggle in the saloon in his heart he is victorious. Patience is like having a cast on your arm and it itches so badly you can hardly keep from moaning in acceptance and defeat. Patience is also like having a super bad blister on a hike that you can’t do much about for hours, yet when you get to the top of the mountain the view is so incredible you forget blisters even existed. Patience is realizing it is hard to let factors beyond your control determine your destiny, especially when it seems like these factors are screwing around at the arcade when they should be hard at work determining destinies.
In the end though, is control over our lives just an illusion? Sure we can make choices, but are we too often deceived into believing we are Vice Admiral of the U.S.S. I Have Total Control Over My Life when in reality we are quietly making our way through the vast Forest Of Holy Crap This Place Is Pretty Mysterious And Surprising?
Ohman. Minimalism. I get a total kick out of things like this. It’s very interesting to me that the simplest of geometric forms and color palettes can carry with them such deep cultural associations and themes. Totally by Hexagonall, you can see the whole collection over at his blog.
Also, he’s done similar posters for some TV shows.
the blog has returned, with the fury of HOLGA pictures, BETTER MUSIC, and less tangents. At least let’s hope so.
Speaking of Holga photos: I’ve been experimenting with lomography since last December and it has been a wildly awesome ride. I’ve discovered that learning photography and design in a digital age lacks one incredible thing: PROCESS. With digital cameras and computers, everything you make is instant. Wham. Bam. Snap a photo, hate it, delete it. You don’t soak it in developer and watch it fade into existence. You don’t even print it. There’s no darkroom. There’s no letterpress, no printing screen, no welding torch. There’s no process of creation. We just put it in Photoshop to make it look like there was one.
So why is process so essential to art? Exactly the same reason why people still turn pictures black and white in Photoshop. The constraints of a process dramatically shape the outcome of the image. The process thus becomes your partner and friend in creation, one of infinite personalities limited only by your ability to invent, modify, or discover a brand new process. That is why the process of film photography has been such a revelation to me: the Holga has become my feral and unpredictable partner these past months, each of us interpreting what the other sees, neither of us completely knowing what the other is about to do. Maybe too anthropomorphological, but in a nutshell: the imperfections in the lomographic process contribute to the beauty of the image. There is beauty in imperfection.
The photograph above was taken in Amboy, a California ghost town and one of my favorite places to road trip to. It’s so surreal and inspiring. Also, there’s a volcano by it. No joke. Shot with ISO400 Velvia slide film, I asked the photo lab attendant if his high-tech photo printer could make a positive image from positive slide film, and he said heck yes, but when I got the pictures, he made me negative prints anyway. HOW FORTUITOUS.
I WILL ALSO BE POSTING DELICIOUS TUNES with each post, this time around please welcome Stereolab’s Valley Hi! from their Chemical Chords album. This song tastes like pineapple upside down cake at an easter candy-themed space-age dance party. Think big silver boots, orange headbands, and 60’s hair. Good and good for you. Don’t be put off by the French lyrics. Be SEDUCED by them.
Stereolab – Valley hi!
Complete blog overhaul. Get ready, it’s the year 0.
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