A Conversation

A conversation between two eyes, a short video diptych.



(Song: "Like Porcelain", Apparat - Walls, 2007)

Pacific Coast

Neopan City

After a particularly arduous semester of graduate school, I have been able to finish and develop the roll of Fuji Neopan that had been too long ignored.  These were taken over the last several months of residing in The Bay.

Seasonal Switch-Up

If there's one thing you can count on in Albuquerque, it is the unpredictability of the weather.  Spring not only shepherds warmer, longer days and relief from bitter winters; but also wild weather fluctuations.  It is also not entirely uncommon for the mid-year snow storm to blow into town, and turn things upside down.  This climactic curiosity came about in mid May, when a snow storm rolled over the Sandia Mountains and left a decent dusting of fresh snow.  Luckily, I was caught in the middle of it, and was able to experience a high-desert snow storm in the throws of Spring.  Photographs taken with Minolta XE-7 on FujiPro 800z film.

Merry New Year!

Here is my mash-up belated holiday shout out. Merry New Year everyone!

Here's to new discoveries, new adventures, new beginnings, new creations, and a new year! All the best to you all who have taken the brave step to declare a New Year's Resolution; I have not. I know all too well that my resolutions don't last a second.  They get kicked around, and tossed to the wayside after a few months (if I'm lucky), only for the cycle to continue the next year.  So can you make a resolution to no longer make resolutions?  Ha!  Forget about it and have a great year everyone!

Two Paths Go By

At a time when I desperately need to be able to write, I am constantly finding myself without words. Saying that I detest my near handicap of only being able to write with a deadline breathing down my neck would barley brush the surface of my frustration. "Then how, and why, are you writing now?" one might ask. Because if I don't write something down, anything, I will lose my marbles. Perhaps this will be the catalyst, the jump start, that will provoke prose.

Either way, I know it will get done; whether the circumstances be leisurely or hurried (preferably the aforementioned). Regardless of the conditions, I know that the outcome will be life changing. The results of the next few weeks will change the course of things to come. As old paths cross with the new, exciting new opportunities will arise.

We shall see where these paths meet, as well as where they lead, soon enough.

What we think, we become

What we think, we become, originally uploaded by Design.Her.

Having taken a little break from the blogosphere, I return. I have been having fun shooting film the last few weeks, but have fallen away from another passion.

Enjoying a relatively stress free summer, I am now faced with the ultimate reality of graduate school and its subsequent preparation. This is something that I have been pushing further and further to the back of my mind as it becomes more and more crucial. Sitting down, sorting through scores of folders and years of projects, I am reminded of what I have wanted to become.

There are many more days and nights of work that need to go into this portfolio, but the task is a challenge I am excited to undertake.

Love Story

Love Story, originally uploaded by Design.Her.

Roosevelt and Madeline, two of my little characters that I like to photograph from time to time. I picked up Roosevelt [blue] at a local coffee shop a while back and took his first photo in a bowl of rainbow popcorn. Not too long after that, Madeline joined and they have been quite the couple ever since.

This photo is off of the roll of film that I was so "patiently" waiting for. What can I say, I love film! The photos came out better than I imagined, and I am that much more motivated to keep shooting film.  There are a few photos from this roll up on flickr, and more to come!

Sadly, the July photo-a-day has come to a halt. You win some, and you lose some. I was attempting to do new things this month and forgot about a couple of days of photos. I had lost track of when I had taken photos, and just got lost altogether. However, this isn't the end of trying new things and pushing myself!

I have a few things on my plate that I want to tackle. I am rediscovering film and how much I love it, and pursuing that more. But most of all, I'm trying to truly enjoy what I am doing.

Koyaanisqatsi - Pruit Igoe

Koyaanisqatsi is a Hopi word which means "life in turmoil, life out of balance." The 1982 film by Godfrey Reggio, with music by Philip Glass, explores the urban landscape through time-lapse photography and slow motion filming. The music of Philip Glass adds a haunting and unsettling tone when paired with the powerful imagery. This was the most successful out of the Qatsi trilogy by Reggio, which was followed by Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi.

This segment of the film explores the decay of housing projects in the United States, focusing on that of Pruit Igoe in St. Louis Missouri. Pruit Igoe was designed as a modernist ideal to the housing crisis.  It consisted of 33 11-story apartment buildings on a 57 acre site. Completed in 1955, Pruit Igoe never reached above 60% occupancy, and by the end of the 1960's was completely abandoned and left to decay and attracted vandalism and violence. In April, 1972, demolition of the housing projects had begun. 

The Pruit Igoe housing complex is reminiscent of the 1925 Plan Voisin by Le Corbusier for Paris.  This was his master plan for a housing complex would replace an entire district of Paris on the Right Bank of the Seine.  This plan, which was never seen to fruition, was frowned upon for potentially separating poor communities into high rise buildings and leaving them detached from critical social ties. 

Plan Voisin by Le Corbusier

This frightening look at the failure of the modernist ideal gives a warning to the architects, designers, builders, planners, and citizens of the twenty first century. We can no longer be complacent with our buildings or our people.

In addition to this excerpt, the entire film is an exelent and resonating view into urban life. And although it was made over a quarter century ago, the truths and consequences remain everlasting.

 Pruit Igoe post completion

 Pruit Igoe during demolition