“Forward Facing Nostalgia” March Photo Challenge Submission: Theme Blur.

For this year’s monthly photo challenge, I’m submitting this photo for March, which is the theme blur. I’m calling the image “Forward Facing Nostalgia.”

My wife Tina was so happy to be my model for this one. She asks to be a part of my creative processes a lot. The only reason she’s not in every photo is because there are a lot of photographers with the same person in shots, and it makes me think they don’t have access to a wider range of models.

But then you have super creative forces like Jamie Beck at Ann Street who uses herself as talent all the time and it makes me question those thoughts.

It’s weird. There are people who I think are narcissistic when they constantly post self portraits. But then there are others like Beck whom I don’t feel as judgmental toward. She makes such amazing art that I become more jealous than judgmental of how she’s in so many of her own photos. 

A behind the scenes look at my February portrait

If you’re interested in a behind the scenes look at my February portrait, here’s your chance to see one. 🙂

forget the noun, do the verb

Austin Kleon on being creative in today’s environment.

Love.

 

Super cool photo project: photographer captures same people on same corner over several years.

What I love about living in Chicago is that I get to “know” so many of my neighbors who I see almost daily.

A photographer in NYC took it to the next level by capturing passers by over the years and seeing the same people on their daily commute sometimes doing the exact same thing wearing the exact same clothing.

The project by Peter Funch turned into a coffee table book called 42nd and Vanderbuilt. I love how the light is obviously different likely because of how it hits surrounding buildings and bounces around.

Go explore more here.

All the screaming is so apocalyptic

On the way home from a job in the suburbs last week, Tina and I were beside two cars when one rear-ended the other. The rear-ender car was driven by a teen girl who — after the accident — looked up from her cell phone in shock that she had taken the bumper off the car in front of her.

“What a fucking idiot!” I might have screamed.

Yesterday, I saw the above message shared on Facebook. It reads:

Dear “Ban Gun” teenagers.
11 teens die a day from texting and driving.
Let’s ban your cell phone too.
Also, your car.

If you’re a sentient being, you’ve likely seen many similar “gotcha” messages from gun toting hillbillies attempting their hand at cleverness. 

First weeks are always the best learning experiences

Last week was our first week with an employee. He’s a part-time employee, but an employee nonetheless. I’ve lived 42 years and it’s been a dream to have a company of multiple people for some time.

Dreams, dreams … they do come true.

I’m not sure what I expected out of this week. The guy we hired, his name is Nikhil, I think he’s going to do great. He’s edited a few different videos of us, which I am enjoying. He did the above video recently, and he’s got a few more on his plate.

I also want him to shadow me to see if I can teach him anything. Last week, we were on locations two days and the other three days he was in our home office. I gave him his own space in our second room that we use as my gear closet, clothes closet, and guest bedroom.

My hope with the whole thing is that he’ll want to learn as much as he can. And I hope that my point of view doesn’t strong arm him into a mild loathing that turns into a dissatisfaction. 

Who did it better?

Last Friday, we were on a location shooting product images for a client of ours. It was a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am slam through as many pieces as possible. The pieces we were photographing aren’t for a main catalog, but more for selling several samples to get move some stock out and new stock in.

We arrived at a leather chair, the I’m sitting in above, and one of our client’s said, “R Kelly used this chair in a photoshoot. It’s famous.”

He pulled up the image on his phone, and I immediately locked down the camera and tried a quick replication of it. Of course I was wearing my little booties that we used to try and keep the paper sweep clean.

We were on the move and being exact wasn’t exactly in the cards, but the one we got above makes me laugh.

And at the moment, we didn’t have access to a cigar or a tumbler of scotch. Oh well, next time we’ll be prepared.

 

Beware the Ides of March

Life is happening at break neck speeds. It’s not a mystery. I’ve heard others complain.

I look around and I can’t keep up. It gets me down. The other day I did the math. I’m awake more, so I should be getting more done.

But the sparkling colors and lights on my computer screen are often distracting. People complain about procrastination, but I complain about the temptress link in the corner of my browser to visit any number of worthless websites that do not contribute to my overall wellbeing.

Yesterday I took care of the Ferrari mess. I hope it’s taken care of anyway. There was an initial number provided and we agreed upon a sum of money for repair. That number has been transferred to the owner. Plus, some. I actually did a photo shoot on the house of the guy.

The last couple of days have been a stressful heap of anxiety with layers of tension so thick between Tina and I that we’ve had to hug it out in the middle of a fight. 

I could think of no better way to spend your Friday afternoon looking at this collection of GIFs

Check out this collection of entertaining and funny GIFs that Stan posted at TYWKIWDBI.

It’s worth the Friday afternoon distraction.

Incredible marketing or short film badassery ?

Spike Jonze got a chance at an Apple ad and he took it …