Coasters + Instagram

= brilliant idea, Coastermatic!



Coastermatic — Tabletop from Coastermatic on Vimeo.

(via Cup of Jo)

A Little Creative License...

Spring is officially here, which means it's time for me to come out of hibernation! It's been unusually busy for me at work lately hence the hiatus from blogging, but it definitely feels good to be back at Dolma :)

For my first post after nearly a month (!), I wanted to write about something I've been thinking a lot about lately - the value of creative license within the increasingly fact-based, news oriented production and consumption of information in our society.

The constant accessibility of 24-hr. cable news, the sheer amount of information available about nearly everyone and everything on the planet that is literally at our fingertips... it's truly awe-some and certainly makes for a more informed society but I wonder, does this make us any more intellectually curious, thoughtful and understanding of where we're positioned in relation to the things happening around us?

In some ways, certainly. Yet I sense that so much in our society now hinges upon whether something is true or not. Take the recent debate about Mike Daisey's "The Agony & Ecstasy of Steve Jobs". Despite the NPR snafu, Daisey has always presented his work as theatre. When we saw him at Woolly Mammoth last year, he was upfront about this - he said, "I am a storyteller". But now that certain details in his story have been presented as bungled or inconsistent, we're apt to think that the story he has to tell is no longer valid. Should that detract for his overarching message about how our (largely) ignorant consumerism fuels unsafe working conditions and the suffering of people halfway around the world?

When anyone tells you a story, you expect some embellishments. Storytellers want to impress upon the listener the significance of a story and elicit an emotional response to what they're sharing. If we took their story at face value, then fact-checked the hell out of it, could we be missing the point entirely of why they wanted to share their story in the first place? We're so keen on letting the facts speak for themselves, when sometimes we should probably be listening more closely to our emotional reactions instead.

I raise this because I think Daisey's work walks the same thin line that photography does. Photography can be presented as art, and photos can also be presented as fact. From photojournalism to the glossy magazine spreads of Photoshopped models to the sensationalist tabloid covers in the grocery checkout lane, the images we see daily run across the true-false spectrum. My curiosity doesn't necessarily lie in whether these images are real and true, but rather what sort of story are they telling and what meaning do we extract from them?

Everlasting Love...

In all my twenty four years, the longest love affair I've had thus far is with...books. While probably not the juicy answer you wanted, it's one-hundred percent true! As much as I love photography, I don't think I'll ever love it as much as reading. Though I've read a few books on my iPad, there is still nothing quite like curling up on the sofa with a glass of red wine and a big fat book and diving right into a story.

So, imagine my delight upon discovering Type bookstore's video "The Joy of Books". Since being published two days ago, this stop motion video has gone viral. Not only is the video beautifully done but you can only imagine how much time and effort went into this project! The characteristic effect of stop motion is created by stringing together individually photographed frames of objects that are moved little by little in each scene. Coupled with the music choice, "The Joy of Books" perfectly captures the wonderment I always feel when browsing the selection at my neighborhood bookstore.

Enjoy!

p.s. - the book title at the end is worth watching for!

p.p.s. - what was the last truly great book you read? I just finished Julian Barnes' Talking It Over and I can't stop thinking about it!

Bill Cunningham: On the Screen

The other night I finally got to watch "Bill Cunningham: New York" - a documentary by Richard Press about street/fashion photographer Bill Cunningham. What an incredible life this man has led, capturing the evocative, the eccentric and the everyday fashions while cruising the streets of New York (and sometimes Paris) by bicycle! And yet you don't get any sense that Bill has acquired an ounce of pretentiousness rubbing elbows with some, if not most, of New York's high society. If anything, his modesty and mirthfulness has become more stubborn despite being honored with the title chevalier dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.

He really seems to approach his work as an anthropologist, slightly removed (Bill himself wears a cheap blue workman's jacket and patches cheap ponchos with duct tape) yet utterly absorbed and dedicated to his subject. What he does every day is wake up and do what he loves. You can tell he is simply devoted to documenting the beauty he encounters. In an interview with Bill about 20 years ago, he says, "You can't let them give you any money. Then you're free... Money is the cheapest thing. Freedom, liberty, those are the most expensive."

Last Sunday's On the Street (above) is right up my alley, a reflection on black and white. But if shoes are more your thing, check out Bill's latest here.

We Got 99 Problems...

...and the rich is one.

These last few weeks spending time with my parents has been wonderful and while my dad habitually reads at least two newspapers every morning, I feel like I have been living under a rock. Today was the first day that I really became caught up in and captured by the Occupy movement. I vaguely recall my dad saying something about Adbusters shutting down Wall St. weeks ago, but somehow haven't really tuned in until today.

How inspiring. How timely. How necessary.

The protestors of Occupy Wall St. and the thousands of other Occupy Together movements around the world are coming together to remind all of us, not just the Wall St. i-bankers, that we cannot simply forgive and forget that the country's wealthiest 1% controls 34% of the nation's wealth. Without delving into this movement's staying power, goals and tactics, as advised by Eve Ensler, I choose to simply admire the truly beautiful thing that is happening right now.

The testimonials, tweets and tales coming out of the Occupied territories simply tells of people coming together to recognize each other, be heard and spread the word. They're reminding us, the people still got the power.

At the moment, there are still many questions to be answered. What are the protestors going to do? Can they do anything? Will they make a difference? What do they want? What about the bottom line?

The bottom line is simply that the bottom 99% each have a voice, and we're not afraid to use it either.

Check out this great photo essay, by Jacob Blickenstaff for Mother Jones (his photo above). Another interesting image via Mother Jones - this graph of economic inequality in America:

What are your thoughts on the Occupy Movement? Do your fingers wiggle up or down?

A World Without Jobs

We now live in a world without Steve Jobs.

As President Obama noted, "much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented." I am among the many that learned of Steve Jobs's death via push notification on my iPhone. I immediately grabbed my iPad to read the news and now am on my iMac remarking on how Steve Jobs changed the way we live.

Steve gave us the personal computer, the mouse, the concept of a friendly user interface, a sleek desktop computer with a built-in CPU. More notable as of late, he gave us iTunes, iPhoto, iCloud, the iPod, the iPhone, and of course, the iPad.

But, what Steve gave us isn't nearly as important as what he taught us.

Steve taught us that technology isn't something you have to be savvy about. Rather, technology should be as intuitive as it is innovative. It should bring ease as well as aesthetic into our daily life. Just like the company's namesake fruit, Steve showed us how technology could nourish our lives and our connections to one another. Over the last decade especially, we have seen his vision burn so brilliantly that I know the light will continue to shine on, even though he is gone.

Steve, may you rest in peace.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

                                                                         - Steve Jobs, 2005, Stanford University

...also, check out these photos submitted by NYT readers as a tribute to Steve Jobs' and his work.

(photo credit: unknown)

Fly!

"And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human being is the most valuable thing in the world... I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind, for that is one thing which can by inspection destroy such a system. Surely I can understand this, and I hate it and I will fight against it to preserve the one thing that separates us from the uncreative beasts. If the glory can be killed, we are lost" - John Steinbeck

My friend Pete lent me his copy of Steinbeck's East of Eden, which I've been slowly making my way through over the past couple weeks. I read the above passage yesterday which particularly struck a chord with me, as I prepare (read: cram) for the GRE next Saturday. I've never been particularly good at standardized testing but understand its utility. At least Kaplan is telling me to. Funny true quote from my Kaplan study guide, "Too many people think of standardized tests as cruel exercises in futility, as the oppressive instruments of a faceless societal machine. People who think this way usually don't do very well on these tests". Yikes - got it.

What are your thoughts on standardized testing? What value do you think it has, if any? I'm curious to hear your thoughts!

Just a note - my activity on this blog for the next week will be minimal. Catch you on the flip side and in the meantime, let your free minds soar!

(photo credit: unknown)

Unlocking Creativity

 

I'm the kind of person that needs to be inspired in order to be drawn to action. When it comes to work or study, this usually means being one of those people who "work well under pressure", aka a procrastinator. Today I was feeling utterly uninspired which led me to think more about what provokes my photography.

For all photographers, I think there are just those moments when you look through the viewfinder and you think, that's it. Well, that's pretty much my process 98 percent of the time. Something colorful, patterned or shiny catches my eye, and I try to figure out the best way to reveal the inner delicate beauty of that thing.

Walking towards the Metro today I passed the fountain at the station entrance, as I always do. At the bottom of the fountain, I noticed this swirl of white foamy water that reminded me of a smooth slab of agate. So unexpected and so pretty.



What helps, aside from lots of photo shooting, is browsing the work of photographers you admire. Every photographer has a different style and approach, some which may speak to you more than others.

A photographer whose work speaks to me is Max Wanger. His latest blog post gives a much more poetic - and succinct - piece of advice on sources of inspiration: just jump.