Filed under: Life in general, photography | Tags: art, graffitti, Ljubljana, Metelkova, postmodernism
Since we (OK, I) brought up postmodernism in previous post, some self-irony is in order: the callout reads “Hey…! Stop bullshiting!”
Filed under: Black eye cafe, Polaroid, photography | Tags: duck, egg, pan, Poladroid, Polaroid, restaurant, Robert Venturi, sign, Tallinn, wait
Bon appetit!
The sign reminded me of an expression “duck” that I picked up years ago in Robert Venturi’s book Learning from Las Vegas. Although Venturi speaks about buildings, not signs, though I think he would not oppose my usage. The “duck” is a building in which the whole form and its function are tied together – i.e. hamburger stand shaped like a hamburger.
Filed under: Black eye cafe, Life in general, photography | Tags: 35, birthday, blogging, photography, visual diary
A week ago, Grasswire turned three.
I turned 35.
And I seem to have reflected more on the first than on the second issue. OK, there was an occasional flash or two about getting old and all of that but, wow… three years… has it really been that long?
I was never able to sustain writing a diary, no mater at what age I started. Even the paper scrapbook dedicated to bits and pieces of my everyday I started a few years back failed for some reason. But this has been up for three years. Hmmmm, definitely time for a bit of reflection, or at least a new banner :)
Grasswire started as something between a visual diary (click here to see the first post) and a way of keeping my international friends updated with little obscure details that mark my days. For those of you who have been wondering, the name itself means nothing really, apart from allusion to news service and availability of WordPress domains at the time. I entered the blogosphere through the fascinating world of art and craft blogs and modelled my blog on that of Swedish illustrator Camilla Engman. It took me ages before sidestepping from this format to include more images and more text. And to share not only present but also past stories, which was a beneficial side effect of following the inspiring blogs All the dumb things and Fox and Maus.
Lately, Grasswire has again been more about the photographs from the present as I’m working and reworking my thesis, but this should be over in a month or so. So three years later, I find myself on a verge of another tipping point, awaiting the start of a new life of which I know only that it will be fun. Why wouldn’t it be, I have three great companions for the road ahead. And f course you, my readers :)
Filed under: Black eye cafe, photography | Tags: candid photography, New York, shooting from the hip, street photography, subwas portraits, Walker Evans, Westerns
In one of the photography seminars I attended a few years ago, the instructor made a point about photographing people. “Photography is like old Westerns” he said: “You do not shoot people in the back.” Although I’m not so keen on camera-gun analogies in the manner of Susan Sontag as I used to be, this particular one really struck a chord with me. And while I do tend to adhere to the basic premise of the ethics of Western-style photography, I’m not entirely immaculate: I like to shoot from the hip. Trying to catch life unaware, somewhat in the manner of Walker Evans’ subway portraits. A recent post by Razzbuffnik and yet another computer crash made me go over some of my last year’s images from New York where I took my new lens for a long semi-candid image hunt, taking images of people as I walked by them.
OK, sometimes you get caught, but still, the way subjects gaze back is markedly different from "composed" photographs.
It is fun, regardless of the enormous number of discarded images. Not only is it a challenge to capture the right image, there are also those unexpected surprises that you might not even have noticed in the first place.
A bit of luck and some cropping can get you a long way.
Though a lot of photographs make me look like some sort of feet fetishist. Though some people would judge you by your footwear, so these failed images could speak a story of its own. Of a sort. Perhaps.
Untitled missed shot.
Another untitled missed shot.
Filed under: Black eye cafe, photography | Tags: Ljubljana, shadow, train, train commute, tree
Toying with my camera while waiting for homebound evening train. No more afternoon lectures this semester, wohooo!
Filed under: Life in general, photography | Tags: Bled, decay, nostalgia, off season, resorts, Slovenia, tourism
There is a certain atmosphere in the holiday resorts during the off season that I really like. It is hard to say just what it is, a touch of nostalgia, a hint of anticipation, a dash of surrealism, a vast, empty space for projection of images, dreams, hopes. The place hibernates, but it is much alive in the minds of people who are mostly far away. They think of it in colour, not in rainy shades of grey. There is a bit of decay in the air, of loss, but more than that, an energy of unspoken expectations and memories.
We went to Bled today for a rainy walk by the lake. Well, you could say that Bled, being icon of Slovenia’s tourism, is never out of season, but that is not entirely true. Sure, the winter season will start soon but right now it is just where I like it, neither here nor there.
If these chairs could speak, what would they tell? Stories of animate summer night conversations? Or complain about the cold and dampness of their storage, of aking wires and rust?
Filed under: Polaroid, photography | Tags: briefcase, business, New York, Poladroid, Polaroid
Well, I hope not. The past two weeks have been rather intensive and I hope that weeks ahead will really be more Decemberish, meaning less stress, more crafts, more posts, and hopefully, the smell of cookies. Mmmm.
Filed under: Life in general, photography | Tags: advertising, frames, glasses, mannequin, no logo, rant
We went to an optician today in search of a new pair of glasses for me, which is always half amusing half traumatic experience. At least for me. All these new (miss)identities. Plus I guess I’m not a regular customer. What I want are regular frames, discrete but also defined. Problems usually start with the word “regular” but today, we had more work and sighs with the word “discrete”. I mean, I don’t want a huge Armani logo screaming from the side of my frames. Nor any other huge and glittery logo for that matter. I’m not a fuckin’ mannequin nor an I a walking billboard. Like CC said, with a logo that size, they should give them to you for free.
The seller was a bit lost when I stated my no screaming logo wish and spent quite a few minutes searching at the far end of display rack and in the backs of the drawers.
Filed under: Black eye cafe, photography | Tags: graffitti, numbers, wall
Just finished my second batch. More are coming soon.
