Only three days left to vote for Darktopo in the BlogAsheville awards! Best Art/Photos and Best New Blog!
"You don't tell your pappy how to court the electorate! We ain't one-at-a-timin' here.
We're MASS communicating!"
22 September 2008
21 September 2008
"Botanica Magnifica"
I try to focus on the positive news in photography. I really do. But every once in a while, something like this comes along.
A Photographer's Passion Reaches Full Bloom
"I've loved flowers since I was 5 years old, probably."
I feel that way about Legos, but you don't see me bragging about it.
"My photographs are taking the botanical world by storm . . ."
And we all know how jaded the botanical world is, Paris.
"Since I have a Type A personality,"
What does the A stand for?
"I like immediate gratification, so I always had to have a Polaroid. It wasn't until the advent of the digital camera -- the one I use now is a Hasselblad --"
Thanks for letting us know.
"I learned lighting and composition techniques from people like Rembrandt, Bruegel, Vermeer."
Wow. You must be older than Walker Evans, even.
"I always wanted to try to replicate the work of the master painters through photography . . ."
'. . . because I can't paint.'
"and I've finally broken through. My work now looks like they're Rembrandt paintings, and they're unique in the world."
Ok, stop. I can't take it. I'm serious. Stop.
"I shoot very quickly, and I know when it feels right. It takes me less than three minutes to set up for a shot, and I usually take one shot."
You're a moron.
"When Dr. John Kress, curator in the Smithsonian's department of botany, saw my work, he said it was magnificent."
He says that to all the boys.
"I've shot everything the Smithsonian has of importance."
Flowers are important?
"I've really worked hard to put this collection together, it's probably the most outstanding work in botanical history in the modern era."
No further questions.
A Photographer's Passion Reaches Full Bloom
"I've loved flowers since I was 5 years old, probably."
I feel that way about Legos, but you don't see me bragging about it.
"My photographs are taking the botanical world by storm . . ."
And we all know how jaded the botanical world is, Paris.
"Since I have a Type A personality,"
What does the A stand for?
"I like immediate gratification, so I always had to have a Polaroid. It wasn't until the advent of the digital camera -- the one I use now is a Hasselblad --"
Thanks for letting us know.
"I learned lighting and composition techniques from people like Rembrandt, Bruegel, Vermeer."
Wow. You must be older than Walker Evans, even.
"I always wanted to try to replicate the work of the master painters through photography . . ."
'. . . because I can't paint.'
"and I've finally broken through. My work now looks like they're Rembrandt paintings, and they're unique in the world."
Ok, stop. I can't take it. I'm serious. Stop.
"I shoot very quickly, and I know when it feels right. It takes me less than three minutes to set up for a shot, and I usually take one shot."
You're a moron.
"When Dr. John Kress, curator in the Smithsonian's department of botany, saw my work, he said it was magnificent."
He says that to all the boys.
"I've shot everything the Smithsonian has of importance."
Flowers are important?
"I've really worked hard to put this collection together, it's probably the most outstanding work in botanical history in the modern era."
No further questions.
20 September 2008
Profiling.
As if I weren’t narcissistic enough, the Asheville Citizen-Times will be featuring me in the Arts & Living section on Sunday, October 19. They actually did a cute little interview via email, in which I answer deep personal questions about film grain and lens flare. So start saving now, and if Wall St. doesn’t crumble maybe you can come up with a buck fifty to buy a newspaper on October 19.
19 September 2008
DarkTopo '08!
Alright, folks, it’s election season, and DarkTopo is up for two BlogAsheville Awards! Best Art Blog, and Best New Blog.
Are you tired of the same old Asheville insiders winning the BlogAsheville awards? Are you ready for a change on the blogosphere? Sure, Zenography is a pretty good blog, but is it ready to lead? We all know that Lowell Allen is just a tool of Big Photo. And AsheVegas? That’s not the kind of change Ashevillians want.
Vote here:
http://www.topfloorstudio.com/blogashevilleawards/
Best Art Blog is seventh from the top, and Best New Blog is fourth from the bottom. Don’t forget to put in your email address (for verification only).
I’m Max Cooper and I approved this message.
Are you tired of the same old Asheville insiders winning the BlogAsheville awards? Are you ready for a change on the blogosphere? Sure, Zenography is a pretty good blog, but is it ready to lead? We all know that Lowell Allen is just a tool of Big Photo. And AsheVegas? That’s not the kind of change Ashevillians want.
Vote here:
http://www.topfloorstudio.com/blogashevilleawards/
Best Art Blog is seventh from the top, and Best New Blog is fourth from the bottom. Don’t forget to put in your email address (for verification only).
I’m Max Cooper and I approved this message.
18 September 2008
Brian Skerry's Right Whales
Since its inception, photography has been about capturing images you couldn't see ordinarily. Photography is the artform of pioneers, a way of recovering something so lost you never knew it was there. The most noble and ambitious photography still happens on the front lines:
Photo by Brian Skerry, © 2008 National Geographic
Photo by Brian Skerry, © 2008 National Geographic
Chop.
To get a feel for Photoshop, I have my students run through the LunaCore Photoshop Training, specifically the "Beautify a Face" tutorial. This one teaches you great non-destructive editing skills, use of layers, etc.
Every now and then I realize how boring I've become--I'm way less impressed by all the crazy stuff you can do with software than I am with the channels palette and the RAW converter. Newbs are pretty enchanted with the lens flare and dramatic curves adjustments.
So anyway, after I'd gone through the tutorial the right way, I did this, just to prove I still can:
Today I'm posting from campus, where the only image software available is The Gimp (and it's only available because I downloaded it). I can't view BlogAsheville because the campus network filters out "sex," and we can't expose our virgin college students to all those raunchy sexblogs like A Girl Who Wears Glasses and Asheville 15, but I can download executables and install open-source programs*. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over.
Oh, and we got our water fixed. Thanks for asking.
*Actually, it's probably blocked due to the "Asheville Blogger You'd Most Like to See Naked" award that's up for a vote right now. I wasn't nominated, don't get your hopes up. Or down. Whatever.
Every now and then I realize how boring I've become--I'm way less impressed by all the crazy stuff you can do with software than I am with the channels palette and the RAW converter. Newbs are pretty enchanted with the lens flare and dramatic curves adjustments.
So anyway, after I'd gone through the tutorial the right way, I did this, just to prove I still can:
Today I'm posting from campus, where the only image software available is The Gimp (and it's only available because I downloaded it). I can't view BlogAsheville because the campus network filters out "sex," and we can't expose our virgin college students to all those raunchy sexblogs like A Girl Who Wears Glasses and Asheville 15, but I can download executables and install open-source programs*. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over.
Oh, and we got our water fixed. Thanks for asking.
*Actually, it's probably blocked due to the "Asheville Blogger You'd Most Like to See Naked" award that's up for a vote right now. I wasn't nominated, don't get your hopes up. Or down. Whatever.
14 September 2008
My smoking hot and incredibly patient wife and I went camping last night. The thing about camping is not that you're out in the woods, it's that the woods don't have the internet. So we played the top five game. Here are my picks:
Top 5 Albums
1. Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen
2. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Smashing Pumpkins
3. Master of Puppets, Metallica
4. Live at San Quentin Prison, Johnny Cash
5. Purgatory, The Tossers
Top 5 Novels
1. Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
2. House of Leaves, Mark Danielewski
3. To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee
4. It, Stephen King
5. My Side of the Mountain, Jean C. George
Top 5 Movies/Cinema/TV
1. The Village
2. The Sopranos
3. The Silence of the Lambs
4. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
5. Saving Private Ryan
And then we returned this morning to find a busted pipe in our basement, spewing water all over the place. The pipe-clamp we got at Lowes didn't work. The plumber will be here tomorrow or the next day.
Top 5 Modern Conveniences
1. Flush toilets
2. Hand washing
3. Showers
4. Teeth brushing
5. Clean dishes
Top 5 Albums
1. Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen
2. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Smashing Pumpkins
3. Master of Puppets, Metallica
4. Live at San Quentin Prison, Johnny Cash
5. Purgatory, The Tossers
Top 5 Novels
1. Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
2. House of Leaves, Mark Danielewski
3. To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee
4. It, Stephen King
5. My Side of the Mountain, Jean C. George
Top 5 Movies/Cinema/TV
1. The Village
2. The Sopranos
3. The Silence of the Lambs
4. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
5. Saving Private Ryan
And then we returned this morning to find a busted pipe in our basement, spewing water all over the place. The pipe-clamp we got at Lowes didn't work. The plumber will be here tomorrow or the next day.
Top 5 Modern Conveniences
1. Flush toilets
2. Hand washing
3. Showers
4. Teeth brushing
5. Clean dishes
13 September 2008
The District is now online! And the DarkTopo canon is extended!
For all you slackers that didn't make it to the show, The District is now online. In addition, I've remastered the Dark Topography series (again) and posted never-before-seen images. You can see it all at the newly-redesigned "images" page:
http://www.darktopography.com/images.html
http://www.darktopography.com/images.html
11 September 2008
10 September 2008
CERN
"Theoretical physics has not been so sexy since Oppenheimer designed the atomic bomb - and this time, no one gets hurt."
That's true. But let's not forget that Oppenheimer was secretly concerned that the Trinity test would ignite Earth's atmosphere--and went ahead with it anyway.
However, the existence of Hawking radiation has never been observed, nor are there currently viable experimental tests that would allow it to be observed. Hence there is still some theoretical dispute over whether Hawking radiation actually exists.
Ironic that, after all the talk and tests and controversy surrounding the nuclear age and global climate change, we roll the dice on our existence, betting on a theoretical portion of string theory to save our asses from the monsters we create.
Edited to explain the relation to photography:
When Talbot and Daguerre and those guys were playing around with chemistry and optics, did it ever occur to them that maybe they shouldn't? A thought like, "Hey, this could change the world forever and alter our own perception of ourselves as a species, are we SURE?"
Probably not. I wouldn't have stopped either.
That's true. But let's not forget that Oppenheimer was secretly concerned that the Trinity test would ignite Earth's atmosphere--and went ahead with it anyway.
However, the existence of Hawking radiation has never been observed, nor are there currently viable experimental tests that would allow it to be observed. Hence there is still some theoretical dispute over whether Hawking radiation actually exists.
Ironic that, after all the talk and tests and controversy surrounding the nuclear age and global climate change, we roll the dice on our existence, betting on a theoretical portion of string theory to save our asses from the monsters we create.
Edited to explain the relation to photography:
When Talbot and Daguerre and those guys were playing around with chemistry and optics, did it ever occur to them that maybe they shouldn't? A thought like, "Hey, this could change the world forever and alter our own perception of ourselves as a species, are we SURE?"
Probably not. I wouldn't have stopped either.
07 September 2008
03 September 2008
Photographer's haiku.
Three days till deadline:
stagger through the gas station,
clutching more caffeine.
stagger through the gas station,
clutching more caffeine.
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