Blaine Kern’s Mardis Gras World
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Category Archives: art
Since Antarctica
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public art
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Roosevelt Island
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To be an artist
To be an artist you have to give up everything, including the desire to be a good artist…
– Clayton Cubitt
I have to agree with this. It’s not to say that you shouldn’t want to be good. But it shouldn’t be the ‘why’ of you doing something. I see plenty of people buy nice camera equipment or take classes out of a desire to become artistic. But the people that stand out… the people that get noticed, they do it because they have to do it. They might occasionally stop and plan — that’s good craft — but they just as likely will be overcome by a glimpse of something and react instinctively.
It isn’t to say you cannot be good without that passion. Just that when you find your passions, those are places where you will really stand out.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
Art vs Craft
Art is why you do something. Craft is how you do something.
– Clayton Cubitt
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
New Shoot
Since they’ve started using this shot, it should be safe to share. Was very happy to do a photo shoot a couple weeks ago with Since Antarctica. They were as hawt as they are awesome.
Be sure to check out their upcoming show on March 29 at The Velvet Lounge in DC.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
Art
Crush old American-made cars. Display them in a vast empty factory that formerly employed those Americans, on a property footprint that could house thousands of them. Charge them twice their minimum wage to view. Forbid them to take photographs of any of it. Position guards every 50 feet to monitor them. Wonder why people think art is elitist and disconnected from their lives.
– Photo and Words by Clayton Cubitt
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
Next Year
Resolutions, goals, whatnot. What do I want to do or get from the coming year.
I’ll publish a photo book. I don’t know what theme there will be yet. Lots of possibilities. But I want to do something new with my photographs. So I will put together a book, and offer it up on a print-on-demand service. Actually selling anything is a pretty low priority. Putting together an Artomatic exhibit this past year was an experience. So now onto another new one.
I’ll buy a house. I’ve actually been at this for probably close to half a year. But sadly, even though I have a contract, we haven’t yet made it to closing. Knock on wood, we will close shortly after New Years. And then the real fun begins. There’s all the excitement and fun I look forward to … painting, decorating, hosting, renovating… . And there’s all the unexpected problems… furnace, leaks, thefts, breakage. There’s the fear, of being responsible. There’s the accomplishment of another new way to take control of my life. It’s going to be something.
More to come…?
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
Style
While overall, I can be drawn to a photo for many reasons, there are some obvious trends in my favorite photos (taken by other photographers); as seen by looking at my favorites on Flickr.
Japanese
Many of the Japanese photographers in my Flickr list have similarities in style. It’s a soft-focus, high-contrast style; often in black and white. It conveys an intense and intimate atmosphere. Bokeh is big; or at the very least, a short depth of field. Some of my favorite Chinese photographers are similar, but often with a deep, sharp focus, instead of the shallow soft of the Japanese.
Just Lost by Jon Siegel
Untitled by Junku Nishimura
Shooter by Tetsuya “Blues” Kusuyama
Other notables include Fabrizio Quagliuso and Tommy Oshima.
Street Photography
You pick up a camera. You walk out into public by yourself; or with a friend or two. And you take pictures of other people, other places, and their stuff. It’s very hard for most people, because not only are you outside of your own comfort zone, but you’re invading other people’s. You might be capturing beautiful pictures. You might be documenting the every day around you. You might be telling stories and sharing moments. But it’s all coming from the public around you with minimal staging and equipment.
naomi klien by Ronnie Yip
Untitled by Sara Flemming
West Thirty-seventh Street by Joe Holmes, (in my opinion, the King of street photographers)
Pro ERA demo, Washington DC, 1981 by Marcelo Montecino
(Ironically, I had a hard time finding sample of “street photography” on Flickr that I could use. These people whose livelihood as photographers relies on an open, public space, had all locked down their photos and disallowed uses like this entry. Don’t share with me? I won’t share my audience with you.)
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
May 2011 Latex Shoot
I did another one of the Latex Body Paint photo shoots, last weekend. Wonderful model… good time. I was told the privacy standard this time was basically “the model doesn’t want to be recognizable”. So I’m posting one of the few photos without a face in it. Click below to see it. (Warning: It contains nudity that may disturb small animals, children, and my mother.) If you’re my friend and interested in seeing the rest, let me know…
Continue reading
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Faces Project Update
Just a quick update on the Faces Project. It is still alive and well. It was originally scheduled to be done by now. I gave people a month to write their stories. We had about 9 participants.
But at the deadline, only 3 people had gotten me their stories. Life was hectic, so it took me a while to follow up with everyone else. But I have, and so far, almost everyone has written back that they still want to participate, and pretty much everyone is promising something within a week. So we’re moving… we’re moving…
In the meantime, the delay means you can still jump in and contribute a story, if you wish. You can still find the photos and a project description here.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
Photo Shoot
Finally processed most of the photos from the shoot a couple weeks ago. You can click on the photo below to see them. WARNING: There is nudity, and it’s probably not safe for small children, nor my family.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe
I love this photo. Came across it a while back on Tumblr. It was taken by Gerard Malanga, of Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe. I hadn’t known until I heard an NPR Fresh Air interview with Patti Smith, that the two of them were a couple at one point in their lives, and lifelong friends. The dress and the location are just perfect. The look passing between the two of them. Such an incredible confluence of art in one photo.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
Faces
“Faces” project off and running. Write a story describing the origins of what’s happening in a chosen photo. Open to anyone now – 3 weeks remain to contribute. Join us: http://www.strangeday.net/faces/?page_id=2
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Since Antarctica at Asylum
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Faces Project
Looking for people who’d like to participate in a (hopefully) fun project; writing a short piece — in any style — about a provided photo. To learn more, visit http://strangeday.net/projects/faces/faces.html
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
Artist and Audience
To an artist, first an audience is a life jacket, then it is a dinner jacket, then it is a straightjacket.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
Katie West
Things like this are why I love Katie West’s work. Normally she’s known as a self-portrait photographer; but she expresses herself so well in any format she chooses. This appeals to me both directly if not exactly, and in wanting a woman who thinks like this.
How I choose my lovers
I find them on subways reading books I have on my list of Books To Read. I find them at bars dancing more enthusiastically than anyone else; even if they can’t really dance. I find them in line at the grocery store on a Friday night buying cookie dough, milk and that’s it. I find them in the Canadian poetry section of bookstores. I find them at work, having great ideas and wearing seasonal socks. I find them on the internet, creating things that make me wish I had thought of it first.
When I sit beside them, they smile. They’re easy to talk to. Their intelligence surpasses my own. Their vocabulary makes me swoon. Their brilliance with words makes me start to imagine them naked. They make me smile at a frequency I feel is too much for any respectable person, so I bite my lip in an effort to stop. After half an hour in their presence, my lips are sore, and yet I still wouldn’t refuse their kiss.
The way they see the world is very different from the way I see it, and we can share our views and always our eyes get wider. They listen to me. (So very few people actually listen to me.) They make me laugh; I make them laugh. We are at a party and they say something so beyond everyone else’s scope with an ease that makes me lean into them hard. But they do it softly, and gently, so no one feels inferior, instead we all feel better for having heard it. They argue with a grace that moves me. Between their legs. They are collaborative. They are receptive to constructive criticism. They think honesty is the best policy.
They touch me gently in all the right places at all the right times in ways that only make me imagine them touching me roughly in all the right places at all the right times. I mean, they place their hand on the small of my back as I walk through doors in front of them, which makes me think of their hand on the small of my back as I’m on all fours in front of them. They lean in and whisper things in my ear that are completely inappropriate at the absolute worst moments because they know it makes me crazy. They hold my hand like they mean it.
These are the sorts of people I choose as my lovers. You see how so much of what you fret about is non-existent in my process? Believe it’s true for others. And love you how I love you, okay?
Katie has also recently self-published another collection of self-portraits. Definitely not safe for my family or work, but her work is always incredible. I have a print of hers hanging on my wall, (the only other photographer’s work on my walls is Dorthea Lange). It’s cheap, it’s filled with amazing images, it’s only a click away… buy it!
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!
sketch
Sat in on an art class at the Torpedo Factory, last week. Mostly tried to keep quiet in the back of the room, so as to not remind the teacher I hadn’t paid to be there. Did some sketches while I was there, though. Better than I expected, after so many years absent from the practice.
Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!