Good RIDDANce MOfOs !!

ADVICE to future ap 2d students: It's gonna be impossible to pick a concentration you won't get bored with, so just pick one you won't kill yourself over. Art is visual. Don't get to caught up in an idea.

My favorite piece that I did this year was my miami cityscape photograph of night time and day time.

(about myself) I learned that I don't really like cheesy sunset portrait photography. It's extremely difficult to be creative anymore. HDR is actually kind of stupid. I need to learn film. I can't stand deadlines. I also learned that whenever I go out and intend to get a picture, I always make it happen. It's just that I don't do it enough.

http://keltonphoto.carbonmade.com/projects/2502335#6

My favorite thing we did this year was that awesome barbeque we had at the end!!! Grillin burgers and grillin burgers. I also liked the scholastic art awards I guess.

In Ten years I'm going to be doing an underwater shoot with professional surfers off the island of Crete, afterwhich return to the shore with my ravishing wife 'Irina' and two year old son 'kelly' and grill up some filet mignon in the backyard of my friend's summer home, skating a mini ramp and listening to live samba music.


Quote : I'm not sure when I'll be coming home or where I'll be coming from.

Here are the twelve that were not on display at the ap art showcase.

I would look forward to my grandma coming over. She always had funny things to say, and her Costa Rican accent made anything she said interesting. She talks about her younger days back in Central America and how living was when she was a teenager. “Everybody always has to be somewhere, all the time,” she says about modern northwest living. “No one takes time for themselves anymore. It’s always go, go, go, with no siesta. You know, in Costa Rica, people take naps in the middle of the workday”. It was her nostalgic talk of this lifestyle that got me thinking about how we live. It’s true. Nothing ever stops moving. Even nature convinces me of this. Rivers are always moving and pointing somewhere, the ocean is unceasingly crashing on the beach, even a tree planted firmly in the earth doesn’t get by without a little swaying. And all of this is happening on the surface of this planet, which, too, is forever spinning.

some shots i got this weekend

I tried taking some pictures like this in hawaii, but it didn't work. Every time I tried to use a 1,2, or 3 second exposure, the result was always too bright. Blown out. Because light is always traveling, so if the shutter is open for two seconds, that's two seconds worth of sunlight hitting the lens. Of course it's going to be blown out. So I wondered how people do it successfully. I thought about putting sunglasses in front of the lens. The aperture is also important in doing pictures like this. The aperture, or f/stop, acts the same way that your pupil does. When you walk out into harsh sunlight, your pupil shrinks in diameter to let in less light. When you walk into a dark room, your pupil gets larger to let in more light. So with a camera, you can control the f/stop to do the same thing. Smaller numbers, like 2.8, mean that you're letting in more light. Larger numbers, like 22, which is the largest on my camera, mean you're letting in less light. So, even when I set my f/stop to the darkest I could make it, my 3 second exposures were still too bright.

I was in a photo gallery in Maui and I saw some more pictures with the moving water effect. I asked the guy, "How does he do this without his shots becoming white and blown out?" his answer was simple: "Oh, he has a neutral density filter". I found out that a neutral density filter is, pretty much, sunglasses for your camera lens. You can get them in a degree of stops, 2, 4, and 6 i think. So I went out and splurged and spent like 20 bucks on a 4-stop neutral density filter. So now, I can go all the way to f 26 if i want to.

And it did the trick for my pictures.

so the other day

i was making a count of all the pieces i have done, because i thought i was way ahead and would have no problem being done by april 29. turns out i only had like sixteen done or so...which means i need eight more before the end. this is a wierd feeling to have in art class...being behind. well i've come up with some more photo ideas for my 'the world is always moving' theme:

1. Girl is pissed off at guy so she throws her drink in his face, capture the liquid in mid air and splashing over his face. (red plastic cup, light blue t shirt)

2. a girl's long hair is getting thrashed by heavy wind

3. long exposure of a waterfall or of a stream

4. a girl is sitting on the edge of a merry go round, facing inwards. the camera is in the center of the merry go round, facing outwards at the girl. Have like a 1 second exposure where the girl is pretty much in focus and the background is wooshing by.

Four Concentration Pieces

Just for fun

Exciting news from a stranger

My last day on Maui for spring break was a very good day. There were three major components that made this day great, but only one is worth blogging about cause it relates to art. I don't really remember how I found out about this photo contest, but a couple weeks ago I entered a picture, "Feat", into a contest about health or something. Like the 2010 youth photo contest...this year's issue was health in communities. Or something like that. Anyway, when I was in Maui I got this phone call from a 503 number. I immediately assumed that it was someone asking me to cover them for work. I answered anyway. "Hi, this is so and so calling from the department of something or other" I was dumbfounded. I thought I was in some kind of trouble. "The department of what?" Then she told me that she was calling about that photo I entered. "We just wanted to let you know that your photo won first place." And then it went on from there.

Im kind of jacked. She said that there would be 300 dollars coming my way, too. And I get to go to the award night at the Hollywood Theatre next week. And my photo is going to be at one of those first thursday events in portland and at the state capitol and some other places around Oregon. But I'm really trying to be humble about this, because, well when I took that photo of that boy's feet my intention was never to get money for it. It was to show how bad things are and to give people a glimpse of perspective and how good they might have it and not realize it. Hopefully, since the photo will be around Oregon more people will see it and it will impact more people in that way. That's what photojournalism is about.

I don't want to exploit.

Snowboarding shots

So there's the sequence above, or the individual photograph below. I don't even know if I'm going to use either of these photos. This was my first time shooting snowboarding. It was actually really hard because snowboarders usually don't like to stop and wait so I can 'set up' because to someone who doesn't know the troubles of photographing, all there is to it is clicking the button. But no. It was extremely bright outside and I had been wearing goggles all day so when I took them off, by eyes couldn't adjust to the blinding white snow in the sun. So I pretty much had to guess what shutter speed and f-stop to use. I chose 1/2000 and f11. Iso was 200. But, now that I see how it came out, I'm not complaining. I'm pleasantly surprised with these first tries.

exited for school

Yesterday I was talking to this guy on facebook that is already a student at Brooks Institute. His name is Krishna, from Singapore. I asked him which program he is doing, because I have to eventually decide between the 'professional photography' program or the 'visual journalism' program. He was originally in the pro-photo program but recently switched over to VJ. I gave him the name of my website and he took a look. He thought my work was really good and told me that it's better than some people who are halfway finished with their degree at Brooks. He said many people come to Brooks without a proper foundation, and he's glad I'm not one of them. So that made me feel a lot better about going there, and I'm less nervous.

Concentration Statement (Again)

My grandma Zoila hails from the land of Costa Rica. She has raised four daughters there and has lived the majority of her life there. When I get to see her, she always talks to me about her younger life back in the rich coast. It's not the kind of talk that most people experience with elders...that rambling...unrelated, obselete talk. No, she always grabs my attention. One of the things she usually brings up is that people in the northern united states never cease moving. It's always go, go, go with no breaks. She views this in a somewhat negative light. She says that people walk briskly past each other on the street without making eye contact, just trying to get to their next appointment, after which they will dash out and run on to the next demand...ignoring anybody that they might have passed. I agree with her. I agree that people need to stop and take a breath, say hello to a stranger, take a nap, laugh without reason. (In Costa Rica people have designated nap/snack times in the middle of the work day).

With that background in mind, my goal is to capture the reality that everything moves without ceasing. The water moves up along the beach, the cars streak by in the night, the weather is always pointed in some direction, even the earth is spinning. Spinning and spinning for ever and ever. And when you take a look at the human body, everything of use is pointed forward, ready for advancement, ready for what's next.

So, whether it be organic or inorganic, my concentration is movement. motion. moving movers. moving because the earth doesn't have a choice, moving for the sake of reaching a destination, or moving just because moving the body is fun...so fun. My grandma said that things need to slow down once in a while. But, this is where I live, and my pictures are going to show that things just don't slow down.

movement: eli jumps onto the hide-a-bed

So this is one of my favorite sequence shots i've taken. The kid in the pictures is my cousin Elijah, who lives in Boca Raton, Florida. These shots were actually taken inside the house of David Dobson, a renowned world photographer who I had the opportunity of staying with and learning from for a few days when I was in Miami. David was taking a shower at the time and my cousin and I were having a very lazy morning. My favorite part about David's house was that he had so many plants...they were strewn about the area with no restrictions...they were big, green, hydrated, and happy. So in the first picture I focused on the plant that was right in front of my lens. I wanted to capture the feeling that his house was like a jungle, and I was peering through the foliage to see my cousin on the other side, amidst more plants. In the second picture, I am peering through the same plant, but this time I focused on eli as he leaped from the white tile floor to the white-sheeted hide-a-bed to sleep once more after a late morning omelette. You can still see the blurred plant in front of the lens in both of the second pictures. The third picture is just a simple shot of Eli after he is settled...with the greatest look on his face. I feel successful in using depth of field well in these images. I made them black and white because everything in his apartment seemed to be white save for the green plants. Shooting in black and white just made what was already white even noticably whiter, not to mention there was a window directly behind Eli that at mid morning shone more brilliant softness into the room and on the sheets. This sequence shot just goes to show that even something as relaxing as sleep requires initial movement...

movement 8: clouds and stars

There's not much to say about this piece...I was lucky to go outside and be able to set the shutter speed to thirty seconds and capture these clouds moving across the sky that were actually red. Seriously red, no photoshop here. I think for some reason the shutter being open longer made the clounds more red. I like the balance that the stars provide. You could say it's very evenly salted.

movement 7: divorce

So this was really fun. I felt truly innovative doing this. I was thinking about how you can capture the movement of a car's lights going by at night and thought how cool it would be if somehow a car's lights spelled something. But that would be impossible. So I went out and got some glowsticks at michael's to make my own moving light. The hard part was deciding what to write in the air...it had to be meaningful. I couldn't just write "this is movement" or scribble aimlessly. And at the time a had been thinking about my frustration of having to live in two different houses...and with the step parents in the picture I've lived considerable amounts of time in four different houses...while still going to Lakeridge. So this was a comment on the impact of divorce on kids.

Compositionally, this was really difficult. I had to put the camera on a timer, set the shutterspeed to 15 seconds, and go run in front of the frame and start writing, backwards, in the air separately for each word. You'd be surprised how long it took me to get the word "where" in the frame and just the right size. But it came out well.

Movement 6: light from the left

I love this photo. The think I love about it most is the intense, intense shadows. This is my favorite park to shoot at because the concrete looks so meshed, texturized, and conglomerate-like. The builders didn't care about making the concrete look pretty, they just made sure it was rideable. This was taken at mid-day. You would think that it would be difficult to get long shadows at noon, but in oregon during the wintertime, the sun goes low across the sky instead of high over it. This means that at any hour of the day you can get long, dark shadows...even at noon.

This is matt's fronside air. Just look at the concentration.

Movement 5: matt's frontside air

This counts for a 'movement' piece right? I hope so...We took the effort to drive out to west linn park right after finals to get there before the masses came so I could get the shot. This was shot at a shutter speed of 1/2000 (!) and an aperture of 5.6. It was pretty bright out, so I put the ISO at 400 and this was the result...There is a first time for everything. This was my first time shooting skateboarding, and I'm pleased.

Stumbled across this baby in my bedroom. I'd forgotten my grandpa had given it to me. It's broken, but it could probably be fixed. It's a hasselblad 500c made between 1947 and 1967. Obviously it uses film, which is awesome. See the thing that sticks out of the top? That's what you look through. And what you see is mirrored. Basically, framing your image is like trying to walk straight after an hour at vigorous speeds on the merry-go-round. It takes a long time to get used to.

I ordered this today

With christmas money and money from work, it was just enough to buy this. I'm broke again. I wonder if this is how I'm going to be spending my money for the rest of my life...

A moving river, a moving brother

A (slowly) moving river

Moving in

A moving me, an inanimate tree

A moving sea, an inanimate me

The transition from night to day

Concentration Change

I'm changing my concentration for two reasons. The first is that the idea doesn't interest me as much as I confessed it did. The other reason is that I don't have the desire to take photographs of my friends posing with their moms. I've decided to do my concentration on something that's more important to me. Movement. Both metaphysical and physical. It has occurred to me that everything is moving in today's world. Nothing that advances stands still. Nature is moving. Rivers are flowing to a destination. The waves in the ocean are crashing on sands unceasingly. A hummingbird flaps its wings and flies, or it dies. We don't live in a one-day situation. We live on a spinning earth with each day leading to the next. And if we don't spin with it, we're left behind in a sorrowful, still-standing void of unproductivity. I want to capture the types of movement on earth that we don't control, like the transition from night to day, or the way water moves. And then I want to capture human movement that seems necessary to us. Like getting to work on time. (Images of the infinite amount of cars' lights streaming buy on a busy road). But there is plenty movement that is creative, and fun, rather than necessary. This is where people interest me. What is the most fun way that I could get down these stairs? How creative can I be in riding this piece wood down this mountain? Can I do other things on my bicycle besides pedaling from point A to point B? Can I describe the way this music makes me feel just by the way I move and bend my body? I could go on. I'm fascinated with skateboarders. (Specifically skateboarders who love skateboarding.) I've witnessed them go on and on into the cold and blindness of evening ripping up concrete bowls indefinitely. "Don't you need some water?" "Afterwards." It's their desire to move, to induce pleasure by creative, acrobatic, dangerous, movement. Snowboarders are the same way. "You could get seriously hurt trying a backflip!" They say without the risk there is no thrill. There is something about being upside-down, suspended only by your own momentum. The wind rushing against you gives you a great sense of self-propultion. You never heard of evil kinevil jumping his motorcycle over ten automobiles only to land in an endless sea of soft marshmellows. "You could get seriously hurt trying to ride your snowboard down this twenty-stair handrail! You could just walk down the stairs you know." Is this a joke? Not only is the snowboarder going to ride his snowboard down the handrail, but then he will be so enlivened by what just happened that he will run back up the steps just to do it again. And then next time he will try and spin onto the rail. Maybe he will try and bend his board while on the rail! "You could have been seriously injured driving your motorcycle at seventy miles an hour off that sand dune and landing on that other one a hundred feet away!" "Yeah, but I FLEW!" It is the unending creativity in moving the human body that is what drives all action sports. This intrigues me. It excites me. I want to capture just one moment in time of these fun endeavors and turn it into ART!