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Washington, DC

You live in Brooklyn and you use Verizon to connect to the internet. Creepy, right? Reveal yourself!

I know that it’s taboo to talk about gear. Focusing too much on this stuff misses the point of what making photographs is all about. Richard Avedon used to require his students make their final portraits for his class in a photo booth, which is a rather extreme way of making this point and Richard Avedon, of course, was correct. However, Avedon didn’t use a photo booth too often to make his portraits so it’s not altogether unimportant either one the substantive view is there.

I have some thought I would like to share about about digital equipment for new commercial photographers, something that’s on my mind because I’ve been thinking about how to make my commercial stuff look better now that I’m doing more of it. But if that’s not your thing, then by all means, no one is going make you read the rest of this entry. Read the rest of this entry »

I dont think I was on my A-game, though it probably went well on the whole. All six people on the committee were welcoming and friendly, though it was still fairly intimidating. Of course, now I’m scrutinizing everything I said, and while I’m certain I could have articulated a couple of things much more clearly and effectively if I was less nervous, I’m also pretty sure that it wasn’t as muddled as I feel like it was.

The program seems amazing, even more so that I know that they only take 4 people. Though everyone in the School of Arts has certain classes together, the level of instruction you get when working in your discipline sounds phenomenal. It makes for a wonderful program that’s almost impossible to get into! So I’m guessing it’ll be a couple of weeks before I find out what the deal is, but I’m excited and nervous, and even more so now that I’ve been there and seen it all.

I just woke up and I’m sitting here in a daze of exhaustion having gotten up just a little too early after going to bed a little too late. I also have the hick-ups. My interview at Columbia is this afternoon, and It would be nice to go to school there.

oh la dee da they must have made some mistake I mean don’t they know who i am?

Once a year, the New Yorker descends into self-parody in order to sell expensive real estate to high-end advertisers and bump up issue sales. They call this the style issue, and I carried it around for a week befor I even opened it and man oh man is it a waste of time. They confront such complex problems as counterfeit handbags and where to shop in Dallas, TX while throwing in a couple of extra reviews of art and architecture. Not even the first 30 or so pages are free of commercial blight; music critic Sasha Fere-Jones pens a few words for ‘critic’s notebook’ reviewing the viral marketing campaign for the forthcoming Nine Inch Nails album, which he refers to as an artform.

I don’t mean to be closed minded here. My art is all about scavenging the pop culture wasteland, presenting what I find quth a mixture of reverence and disgust - that’s what I do. But where’s the disgust?

I will say though that whenever the New Yorker does a double issue, they run some pretty hilarious cartoons.

This has nothing to do with art, but, man, the internet is getting so good. I just read this Times article about GrandCentral, and immediately signed up for it. What it does it pretty rad. It lets you sign up for a phone number (you can pick your area code - I picked 917 - and then it let’s you choose from like 30 numbers) that, when called, will ring all of your other numbers at once (work, cell, home, etc.) It’s in beta testing right now so it’s free. After beta is over, it’s free for two numbers. A premuim plan is a little pricey for the casual user - $15 per month.

I only have one phone number, but I signed up anyway because of the other useful bit of funtionality this service provides. Pretty soon I’m going to be moving from DC to New York, and I suppose I could change my phone number and it wouldn’t be that big a deal. But it would obviously be a pain and I still get opportunities from time to time that would stop coming if I were to change my phone number. GrandCentral let’s me link my current number to a 917 number. Problem solved.

The other cool thing is that when people leave you voicemail when they’ve called you using the GrandCentral number, you can manage all the messages from an email-style inbox on the GrandCentral website. I have a real problem checking my messages because I get really fucking bored going through them one by one. This kind of functionality is long overdue and it’ll be good for those of us who can’t afford an iPhone.

The New York Times has two articles about the future of movies, specifically of the downloadable variety, in the Arts section today. Here and Here. Are they just finding out about this?

Pretty predictable, probably. But I can’t help who I am. Ha. I went with Bladessari over Gursky because, I mean, someone in my final four had to be a little different from the other three. Click it to enlarge.