If you gave me the hypothetical option of photographing anyone I wanted, I’d ask if it could be someone who had already passed away. If so, I’d choose a Byronic hero like Mikhail Lermontov, or another one of the 19th century Russian Romantics, or even Lord Byron himself.
If I could choose someone living though, I’d choose Tiana.
The last time I took pictures of Tyler was at the bike park. He looks very different without his beard. I prefer with than without; it adds so much more personality.
Included is one for my body shot series.
A few portraits of Meghan. Her big eyes and waif-like figure give her something of an innocent look, while the dress and labret balances this out with a bit of an edge. Very appealing, in my books. Makes you wonder which part is more true of her.
Good news. Wait no. Great fucking news.
I met with Frédéric, the owner of the Salon, and after showing him a portfolio of my pictures, he agreed to let me have an exhibit in the next show in February.
As this wasn’t only his art gallery but his house as well, I offered to let him make the decision after seeing my completed work. He told me there was no need, as he trusted me based on what he had seen in my portfolio, which I felt was a very nice compliment.
As artists (and I use this in the loosest sense of the word to describe myself), we’re very different. I told him that I like to study photographic techniques, especially in photos that I like, and apply those techniques to what I want to express or show. When I look at a piece of visual art, I look at meaning and intent. When I create, I keep the same thing in mind. Frédéric, on the other hand, is more of a gut-feeling type of artist. He does what he feels is right, and doesn’t worry as much about the underlying message.
He asked if I was single, and I told him I was. “Good”, he said, “That’ll help you focus”. It made me think of a quote by Alexander Dumas:
Woman inspires us to great things, and prevents us from achieving them.
I made a remark about how I’d have a forum to develop my ideas now, projects I never pursued because I didn’t have a way to get them to a wider audience. He told me that I shouldn’t worry about an audience, and gave me an example to demonstrate his point: if you create the most beautiful thing you’ve ever done and you keep it in your basement, it isn’t art because no one sees it1, but to get caught up in that dilemma, and to not create simply because of that, is a tragedy.
So now I can pursue and develop one of my photo project ideas. I have to decide on a theme. I have see how much enlargement I can do to my photos without too much loss of quality. I have to decide on the size of the final prints. I have to decide on the frame size and shape. I have to get the final prints framed.
I’ve always wanted to create accessible art2.
Perhaps this will be my chance.
Since he’s never been bowling before, we decided to go for Trolley’s 30th.
Rock ‘N Bowl is an interesting phenemonen. Aaron thinks it’s for the 14-year-olds to get all hooched up and feel like they’re going clubbing. Didn’t stop us — Trolley included — from getting carded at our table when pitchers.
Five-pin is harder than I remember. Maybe because I was trying to spin everything, so it would either hit the left pins, or completely gutter on the right when I tried to adjust. For our two teams, it was a pretty close match through the night.
For the photographs, I tried to play around with light settings. 2nd-curtain-sync wouldn’t work for me, and I didn’t realize that there’s a setting for it on the 580EX flash which overrides camera settings. As a result, the pictures are mostly flash-less to capture the mood of the wildly swinging light.
The next day, I discovered that I somehow pulled my left glute and right groin muscles. A gentle reminder on Trolley’s birthday that we’re all getting older.