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
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)
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!
Copyright © 2004–2009. All rights reserved.
RSS Feed. This blog is proudly powered by Wordpress and uses Modern Clix, a theme by Rodrigo Galindez.