Norman Jean Roy - still shooting film

There are few photographers I name out and I will only name out because I think they are really good. Though I do admit there are times I do name out photographers I don't like. Its like writers you like/hate, directors you like/hate, films you like hate.

Norman Jean Roy is one of the photographers I though from the start or at least the first time I saw his work thought was really good. That guy can really shoot a portrait. He possess a great understanding of light and particular with chiaroscuro. But what really got me going in a recent video I saw on the Vanity Fair website is that he shot it with film. I recently shot some architecture with film on my sturdy old 4x5 and it felt good. There is something in the quality of film which you can't get in digital. One thing I think about film especially in 4x5 is that you have to make choices. In digital you don't virtually because you have unlimited shots. with 4x5 you have to previsualize a butt load.

but more about Roy, his work is great to look at.

Tabbing - the dirty desk of the browser

I'm a big fan of tabbing on my browser - tab, search imdb for the name of this actress - tab, read up on computer hardware - tab, read up on tech gadget's on Engadget - tab, research on new camera rumors - tab, catch up on gossip news - tab tab tab tab tab.

I've got 20 tabs on this Firefox browser right now and I've probably just read up on 8 of them. The rest are probably curiosities of thing that were related to, ah, umm, what was I thinking about again. Its probably related to the messy desk. But its something I can't live without now. Tab this tab that.

I checking up on icanhascheezburger.com when I noticed they had a picture on shaming (this is a fair example but really the last picture I was on), then I started to check out other fail posts, the started to look at collegehumor.com when I saw an ad of their bustedtees.com site. Then the link line breaks there to component shopping on newegg, then reading about video cards on tom's hardware then catch up on ATI video card then randomly read some other blogs about other people.

So is that how my brain really works?

From thought to paper, from paper to screen

For anyone that's really talked to me about what I really think about mediums - be it film, photography, sculpture, painting, etc - I'll usually tell them about my initial formalist impressions of the piece but if they really get to me I'll tell them I'm really interested in the process. What is the 'process'?

Simply put, its the pathways to reaching the final product - film, photograph, sculpture, painting, etc. Its no secret - all final products of mental capacity are a result from the smidgen of a simple idea. Take for example a film (not that I know how it really works): its starts as a story, in some cases turns into a book others into a script; from the script a film. Its transformation or metamorphosis from a idea to a film isn't really that simple, its probably as complex as a caterpillar to a butterfly but if you take a step back its really what it looks like.

I've always been a fan of the process ever since I was a kid taking things apart. Sometimes its that simple - A to B, B to C. Other times its more complex say like how a banker does their job or how buildings gets made.

So why am I thinking about this? For a long time now I've been reading books that became movies, usually reading the book before the movie. A fine example of this (even though its really recent) is The Da Vinci Code. Better book than the nearly three hour movie but why? Is it the choices made or the lack of choices made? What about a Tom Clancy classic, The Hunt for the Red October - definitely a better movie than the book. Or what about books that are completely different from the movie or vice versa? Say for example Stephen King's The Shining/ For any of the mentioned above I think it has something to do with the adaptability - can one medium translate to another and be seamless at the same time? Yes and no.

Take for example the most direct book into movie I've read know, Nick Hornby's High Fidelity. Its a completely good and watchable movie, definitely a good book. But its completely the same, nearly scene to scene chapter to chapter and its even in sequence. Wonderboys by Michael Chabon, was made into a near mirror image of a film starring Michael Douglas and Tobey Maguire. I'm glad they removed a scene from the book in the film adaptation. But are books meant to be shown on the screen? Many will argue that its the greatest form of capitalization. I wouldn't blame them. There aren't mainly Da Vinci's in our time, renaissance men or women if you will. Writing is one part of the equation whilst film making is another. There are very few that are masters in both realm let alone masters in many field as the Da Vinci's in those times were.

Lets not too far ahead of my thoughts, I have plenty of them on these sort of transitions. Let's assume that I will write another one of these, notably in the form of From the thought.

Pet names

I came across a funny article on msn.com this morning - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28540800/

Simply put, the thing that caught my eye was the name 'Kanye East'. I couldn't stop laughing after I read that. Its funny and stupid and original at the same time.

Larry Sultan - R.I.P

A great photographer died recently. Larry Sultan, a fine art photographer died back in December due to cancer. I was reading one of my month-to-month must read photo blogs by Magnum photographer, Alec Soth.

I first came across Sultan's work during my second or third year in SFAI. A teacher of mine suggested it to me even though I've seen the work but what really kept me curious was the fact that Sultan was a former student at SFAI. As it is with most schools they like to boast the fact that certain artists, etc, came from this school. Sultan was one of those (other notables Annie Leibovitz, Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead). When I started looking at this work I was amazed - the tone of work, particularly in his Pictures from home series (the two pictures above, a series about his parents) shows a intimacy with the subject separated with a distance which is akin to the documentary style.

What is really special is that he had his show and book The Valley (cover picture for the book, same title below), a look into the pornographic film industry in California debuted at the SFMOMA while I was still in SF. A little time after that the staff at SFAI managed to get him for a talk which turned out to be a sell out crowd.

I can't say it enough but if you're given the opportunity to see work in person, do it. Be it a film or a painting or a sculpture, see it. I was amazed at the scale (most of the prints were 40"x60", the middle size 30"x40") but most of all I was pleased with the presence.

When I read this news from Alec Soth's blog, the only thing I could think was that another great photographer that has influenced me as left the building. Larry, we're still following your lead.