Concentration

I have a write-up of my concentration and it will be posted this week

William Eggleston

William Eggleston is an interesting artist. My first impression of him was that he was a weird, dramatic, hermit type of artist. In the article I read in the magazine Aperture, he was introduced at his house by a writer and he welcomed the writer with an eerie, "I've been waiting for you." This gave me the chills but I encouraged myself to continue reading because there may be something more interesting. Eggleston way of interpreting art is very different. He mentions that he prefers to listen to music at half-speed in order to hear everything clearly. Eggleston said that people do not listen to such great musicians as J.S. Bach correctly and suggests that you can clearly listen and enjoy the music at half-speed. I thought this was interesting because for me to enjoy a piece of music, I prefer to listen to it more than once so I can hear it the way it is supposed to be played. After reading the article, I feel that to enjoy music, listening to the song slower would not only allow you to have some connection with the artist as the music was being written, but you could also enjoy each sound and instrument more.

I also thought it was interesting how after he prints he looks at his images upside-down because he says, "I always notice something I wouldn't otherwise see." After reading this, it made me think to myself that I should try it because I would see things in the image that I would not notice. It is almost as if I would be looking at a completely different image, so I would see something different.

Eggleston also said that he does not always have an "up" direction in his drawings. He says that he draws at different angles and does not always have a specific way of drawing every time. I liked this because it keeps all the drawings abstract and lets the mind interpret it in anyway that it wants. He also does not respond to people when they ask him what a drawing or a picture is supposed to be of because he wants everybody to have their own experience when looking at an image. I like this because if you name a picture, you do not allow the person to see it in any other light subconsciously. If a person looks at an image with a title, the person will be looking for a theme with the title in it so that he or she can understand the image. Eggleston believes that whatever way that a person interprets art is the best way to understand the image, and I agree with it.

Long time no-see?

Hello out there, I know it has been a while and I am here to let you know that I am still alive, and still trying to capture the world one photo at a time. Recently, I have taken action photos, some close photos of different objects, and others. I will detail these a little later.

Belgium

I may or may not have told you about the recent discovery of some distant cousins of mine which I met through Facebook.com earlier this year. I met them and one of them happens to also be a photographer. I will put up a few of my favorites to show you his work. I also took some pictures with his camera using a fish-eye lense. The first one is of me and my brother at Boston Bowl. The second one, my cousin Sam, from Belgium, took during his stay when he first arrived in the states with his sister. It was taken while my aunt was driving. The third one I do not know much about, I saw it and thought it was very nice how the colors came together at one point, and also the effect it gives when looking at it. It seems as if im being pulled into the image as i look at it. The fourth is the famous Chicago Skyline. I have seen this exact image on the internet before and when i saw his version of it, it made me love the city even more. He took this photo by the lake. The fifth and sixth photos, i took while he was at my house. I was experimenting with the fisheye lense, so i took some pictures. The woman at the computer is my other Belgique cousin, Lise, across from her is my momma, my father is sitting on the couch, and Sam is sitting on the far right. In the other picture, Sam is on the left, my brother is by the fence, and my younger cousin is on the right. Last and certainly not least, is my favorite picture that he took. The night before they left for Chicago, we went for a drive to Micky Ds and it happened to be raining and he took this picture. I think the picture is amazing because of the colors that are in it, the focus that is in the car, the eerie feeling that i get when i look at it, and also because of the effect the fisheye gives. I look to practice shooting at night so that i can get images this clear and detailed.

Chicago

Im in Chicago right now, the city of dreams, and there is a lot here waiting to be captured on film and im going to find it within in the next day or so. The one place I have been meaning to go to all my life, here in Chicago, is Millenium Park. Its a huge park with fountains, a lot of recreation space and good people. Other than that, I plan on walking downtown and seeing what I can capture. So wish me luck and I will talk to you later

Shepard Fairey

Last week, my mother, brother, and two cousins went to the ICA to visit the Shepard Fairey exhibit. My mother enjoyed the show a lot and so did I. My favorite pieces were the ones of the different musical artists, like Tupac, Biggie, Chuck D, Bob Marley, and also the one of Malcolm X. I liked the Malcolm X piece because it portrayed him as I think of him in a way. I feel that Malcolm X was either admired or disliked during the time of the Black Panthers and the picture showed him in the light, as a good person, and in the dark, as a person who people disliked. I also enjoyed the piece that was based on a dollar bill. I thought it was interesting how he twisted some words to fit his own interpretation of the dollar. An example of this is the saying "E pluribus unum", he changed to "E pluribus venom. I thought it was interesting how he changed the American symbol of a eagle to a vulture. Ill speak on this more a little later.

Marcus' Track Meet

Yesterday, I attended my cousins track meet in Needham. During the tournament, I took many b&w and digital photos of the kids racing. I got many low-shots of the kids feet while running, the emotions in their faces as they ran, and the last-second push to be first. I took shots from the side as they were directly in front of me and I also took some diagonally in front of the starting line. I attempted to catch the first move as the shot goes off and I hope I was successful with my b&w pictures. I will try to upload some of the digital ones online so that you can see them.