Pearl’s Before Swine

“Do not cast your pearls before swine”

I was not the brightest child when I was growing up, so I did not understand that phrase for a long time. It’s from some part of the bible, but it basically means don’t give something with value to people who won’t appreciate it for what it is.

Then it also happens to be the name of a strip by one of  my favorite cartoonists, Stephan Pastis.

His weekly strip features four main animal characters, the optomistic pig, the cynical rat (pictured above), a wise goat, and a neurotic zebra (whose hunted by alligators who live next door) along with a set of human characters.

Why do I consider him a visual inspiration? Because he blends story telling with art direction with the speed of the human attention span. Cartoonist have always had the problem of how to tell their stories in few panels or one panel. Stephen ponders the hilarity of society without trying to be to offensive by being frank. His simplistic style is like that of the Far Side Gallery.

Stephen Pastis was a lawyer before he started into cartoons, ironically Gary Larson (FAR SIDE ) worked in a music shop trying to be guitarist. They both eventually quit when they submitted their cartoons and they were picked up by a newspaper and a magazine respectively.  They inspire me that while we will have to do things to feed ourselves and our families, there is always time to rediscover something we didn’t know about ourselves. Deep inside we may have some hidden talent to make the world smile or think.

”   A long time ago, I became aware that many of us have a tendency to lump nature into simplistic categories, such as what we consider beautiful or ugly, important or unimportant. As human a thing as that is to do, I think it often leads us to misunderstand the respective roles of life forms and their interconnectedness. ”
Gary Larson

 That of course expressed from a man who once did a comic like this:

He’s so popular people have also done real life version of his comics”

 

I grew up on Far Side comics which might explain a few things about me and my up bringing and my current mind set, peculiar as I am. Stephen Pastis I discovered much later, but I enjoyed his comics just as much if not more for the wide variety. How long can we look upon ourselves and our man and not wonder if they were a giant talking cow?

It would certainly make life more interesting, if not more peculiar.
We might all become vegans in the future.

The terrible truth is I love to draw as a I mentioned in the first post, and I wish I  could draw characters like theirs. But to be a cartoonist you need to have the ability to draw the same thing over and over again with the same lines and shapes. You probably should also have something to say and say it well.

Or be able to draw something adorable and fluffy and put little speech bubbles filled with nonsense.

 I love reading comics because they don’t strain my mind like the rest, allowing me to reach that one part of the day where I’m wasting time between classes slowly melting into a pile of oatmeal to be stirred until, I’ve gotten off track. I really like comics. It was part of the daily household ritual to hide the comic section when i was home with the family, so every time I had to use the bathroom they were no where to be found. And on Sunday mornings my parents got the first swig since they had lives and got up, so it was an hour wait to read them then too. Now at school I have no paper, but a rather lovely internet database at my fingertips, waiting not included.

If I had patience which is often a rather terrible vice of mine then i will devote to some ideas about experiences in college and the USC campus. “The names and likeness have been altered to protect the guilty” would be included somewhere in every byline of comic so I couldn’t be sued by some unsuspecting victim of my daily musings.

In Honor of Dutch Master’s

In the celebration of  those who have come before I would like to dedicate this blog to the time in history where visual arts was one painting worked on by six masters, ten students, and a handful of work horses to be done in five years. The dutch masters came from the country Holland and the art became famous techniques in the year 1660 and before.

The period was also known for portraits, everyday dutch life and landscapes, bible scenes, history, etc. There were 100’s of artist with their own techniques, there were 1000’s of paintings spanning from the painting period beginnings up to the golden age and beyond. Some have been lost, but many others still hang in museums or private collections.

Bartholomeus van der Helst  who focused on creating stylized portraits began his life as a son of an innkeeper. he worked on his  skills eventually becoming a more celebrated and popular artist than the period’s greatest master, Rembrandt. Below is his famous work, Portrait of a Girl , 1645

The name and artist Rembrandt(featured below)  is famous for this period and  often called the Rembrandt Age. He painted bible scenes, portraits which were known for the expressiveness of  each person  faces. And his lack of color in his work, he prefered to work with either light or dark.

But more people know the following painting, Girl in With A Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer. In fact in the modern age of romanticizing the past, the subject has been made into a fictional book and a direct release movie in 2003. The painting had to be restored years ago when it was unearthed.

The subjects and paintings have been taking on new ways to recreate the classic subjects. Below is a singe spiral drawing by Chan Hwee Chong

Or in these live Flemish portraits by photographer Sacha Goldberger.

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Urban Decay

I had a really favorite graffiti artist named Bansky. He works mainly in London, England. I became a fan back in freshmen year. He was famous by never showing who he was. He’s had books written on him. I saw where one of his wall art should have been, but they’ve gotten rid of it. Above is a few of them, not sure if their pictures of the originals.

I watched videos on how people create stencils. It’s rather tedious process of  coming up with the image, tracing it, cutting out cardboard, and then doing a process of layering depending if you’re going to use color or not.

But this brings me to my second favorite photography subject. Urban decay. The concrete slowly being turned back to a period of stone.

Urban Decay: Arches
by VSprink

Adam Jones, cc-sa-3.0)
http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2011/04/urbex-10-more-abandoned-buildings-and-places/

http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com

Old coal tower in Shime, Japan

Sea Forts made for Anti-Aircraft in WWII

http://www.cracked.com/article_19678_6-abandoned-places-that-will-make-awesome-supervillain-lairs_p2.html

These places are creepy, and say something to the nerve of the photographers. I’ve always wanted to try, but with legal terms getting thrown around I’ll have to find someone who has done it before. I’m not sure what I like most on the subject.

The object lost to wear of nature.

The framing of  the building against the expensive sky.

Or the fact that there is enough chemicals floating in the air to kill a human.

Did I mention that these kinds of places are part of a new trend called extreme tourism? You can visit a famous abandoned site called, Chernobyl. If you don’t know the name it’s in Russia. And it was the site of one of the worst nuclear meltdowns. A reactor exploded killing a handful and giving everyone else in the contained factory town and 50 miles surrounding  radiation poisoning. Factory workers lived with their families, but all at once they had to leave over night.

And that if you visit you can’t stay more than an hour because the radiation levels are still considered dangerous.

Here are some pictures of a nursery, a control room, the amusement park, and a school room.

My Favorite Things

If there is anything i have learned about the world it is the fact that you cannot predict it, you cannot control it, and you sure as hell cannot try and stop it when it wants to throw you a curve ball.

I’m almost like saying better the main thing about life I’ve learned from Douglas Adams epic series “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe.”

In short words it a series of about five or six books that chronicle the adventures of a human from the UK, his would be girl friend  and his friends from a distant galaxies as they trot around in a space ship doing nothing in particular and somehow end up crossing their own times lines, facing down evil and slightly red taped govermeant officials.

There’s also a super human robot with a personality that make it’s chronically depressed about everything.

And a guide called Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy that written by one of the inter stellar travelers and maintained by an agency that is perpetually at lunch.

A few references to it are:

“The answer to life is 42.” (We currently are unaware of the question)

“Don’t Panic.”

And possibly very important, “I may have not gone where I intended to be, but I ended up where I needed to be”

The last qoute was from The long dark tea time of the soul.

As I attempt to juggle the ending of my senior year, trying to make sure I’m going to not only graduate on time, but with good grades while figure out the rest of my life. I look to that book to know life has way of surprising you.

I’d to shut off my brain and be inspired.

Or to make myself feel better for the moment I surf the internet.

In which case I look at pictures of kittens and puppies to make me happy. I never know how to make a cat of all animals sit still for a camera lens. Especially the way people of the internet

Or hedgehogs.

In Respect of Nature

What is with men and nature?

I have an uncle who does something other than actual photography for a living, but I wish he would make it his living. This same uncle was so gifted in the arts that he was accepted to an undergraduate program for stage design that only took two students a year. He’s an adventurer when he’s not sitting behind a desk in Maine, doing crazy mountain trails with cliff edges, wild animals, and the weather with just himself and a topography map. He’s my inspiration if I can ever get him to give me some of his old sketch books.

The pictures he takes of nature are breath-taking.

My cousins are the same way.

And so is my own dad.

I can’t post any of my uncle’s work, i don’t think he’s ever had it published for the world. So I found something like it.

This image provided via google/ http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://nightphotographyclass.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/water7.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nightphotographyclass.com/2009/10/moving-water/&h=387&w=580&sz=81&tbnid=mVdW-KMPxuirSM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=139&zoom=1&usg=__2ZRThElPEU9YZbXFxuO7qk3MV9c=&docid=VHQ3-2bBrkOqDM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=sHoSUeeMBYq-9QTLzYGIDQ&ved=0CE8Q9QEwCg&dur=413

Then my cousins who hiked out in Yosemite for three months straight.  Not the best photo, but the only one I could find via faced book that was a real nice shot of the landscape.

And then my dad, who’s got a website (shameless promotion) , but I love his stuff. I’ve got one of his picture hanging in my room of a sepia flower.

And of course, I can’t actually  drag any pictures off his website, but you can see why i love here: http://www.petitenature.net/#

 

What’s the point of nature really?

Well according to my mother it’s in the way and according to my father its to be documented, to my cousins it’s facing ourselves, and my uncle its testing the limits of a human body.Photography of nature takes some kind of vision, what you see is what you have to translate to the rest of the people looking at it.

But it isn’t just photo’s that inspire me about nature. I like to draw a lot. I’m told that I’m good with landscapes and flowers. I dunno if I’m actually interested in flowers. I used to be a fan of Georgia O’ Keefe, who spent her lifetime painting flowers up close.

(red Canna 1923) (Actual Red Canna)

She described her work as, ‘I hate flowers – I paint them because they’re cheaper than models and they don’t move.”

Words of wisdom there.

But she also says that by painting, “I know now that most people are so closely concerned with themselves that they are not aware of their own individuality, I can see myself, and it has helped me to say what I want to say in paint.”

Georgia O’Keefe I believe was inspired by an incident in her early life. I read in a biography about her. She went to a strict catholic school as a little girl.  One day in her art class they drew a pair of baby feet. She drew them small and detailed proudly she went to the nun teaching the class. The nun scolded her and said it was too small. I think O’keefe was so scarred by that moment, that the rest of her life she drew large-scale paintings of the desert, of her flowers.

I  think most of us have that moment where something shifts us and we change perspective on the world.

I suppose then when I look pictures of nature I am attempting like many others to unravel the puzzle that is human nature, what drives us forward at all costs despite the world being indifferent to our actions, our thoughts, our emotions. What is it that allows us to connect with our world and grasp it for just a second even if the moment we blink it is nothing but the wispy end of fog tailing on the edge of our waking seconds.

Is it then because we are practical creatures forced by our own nature to feed ourselves, define ourselves around our environment, and the peers that we keep pace with?

Or is it indeed because of the sacrifice of our own nature for the sake of belonging in an indifferent society, we have so deeply re pressed our own ability to connect with the outside that we must try to capture in pictures and paintings so it will be preserved in the moment forever, cheated out of its magnitude because we really do lack the openness to embrace it for it truly is?

SuperBowl Inspiration

There are few things i love more than a Raven and Super Bowl Ads. Being from Maryland it is a basic requirement when you’re born that you like the Ravens and or know of them. There are some neighbors at home who have sworn allegiance to wear purple while shopping for grocerries, clothes, and  car parts when football season begins.

My parents are not into football and I can’t tell you what a field goal is, but I know when the numbers are higher by the Raven’s name that I can start shouting Yeah! This is a big deal for us to make it to the superbowl, and hopefully when I post this we will have won it.

But that’s hardly the point of the Superbowl, it’s really all about two things.  For  Ad agencies the Superbowl  provides the largest consumer market at one time in the entire season of TV. That is  unless  by freak chance on the same time slot the Dali Lamma happens to be holding a meeting with the Pope on CNN and their waiting for a call from Abe Lincoln in the beyond.

And the half time show which we can all say we hate after its passed, unless someone manages to expose themselves then it’s news.

In particular Dorrito’s has brought the consumer to making their ads for the last four years, an ingenious part on their hand.

Here are 2011 winners:

The people who create them come from all sorts of back rounds, but with inspiration and 30 seconds they manage to pack a punch. Not sure what kind of camera’s they use, but the quality is amazing.

What Doth Inspire me?

“Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.”
― Rumi

The Great Blue Heron is one of the native birds of Maryland. It’s sighted mostly near the oceans, the lakes, and various rivers that run through my state.

This photo is not my best, not my worse, but I liked how close I was able to get to the bird without startling him to flying off. Everywhere a colony of great blue herons roost on far side of the highway that leads to our mall. We get to look up at their nests in spring and in the winter when there not around.

The heron in Native American Totem stands for Independence, Self Reliance, and Balance. Their most often associated for their ability to stand up in the water while fishing and looking ahead for dangers and anticipate things to come.

The photograph itself uses balance and negative space to frame the bird as the center of attention. The light was outdoors meaning i could capture the picture without to much shadow. I took this with my Ipod two years ago in the summer time. I like birds, and the heron is particular favorite.

 

About Me

 

 

 

Currently a Senior at USC majoring in Advertising and minor in business, with hopes of getting into a grad program for graphic design in the UK.

Camera work was playing with the camcorder on holidays making up bizarre skits and playing round in the basement. My photography was a few digital pictures of sticks in the woods and some shots of my sister.

I love movies, especially old movies from the 50’s and 40’s where nothing was CGI, but i have respect for current movies who can pull it off well. I want to get behind a real camera and try shooting video for the sake of story telling. Photography isn’t my current passion, but I want to be able to frame shots. A lot of pictures I’ve taken were more by mistake then on purpose using just a plain Nikon digital camera or my iphone.

I need direction when I’m being creative which is why I often crochet or knit, but take some liberties with patterns or my creations. I also am pretending that I’ll be an author one day which explains the constant urge to write fiction.  I draw somewhat, not the next Dutch Master, but I hope to improve those skills in able to move on with my art.