Ceramics

A1 - Angel's First Ceramics Piece

November 2009

My girlfriend started her first-ever work in ceramics this fall. This was her first piece. I love the color and the slight spiral of the little marks, like little fish swimming into the bowl. I accentuated that spiral by using available light and placement on a chair to create a spiral of light and dark around the bowl.

Colombia

Canyon road between Pasto and Buesaco

Nariño, Colombia, April 2009

I spent five weeks in Colombia, working with a coffee farming cooperative to develop agro-tourism for their villages. It was an incredible opportunity, to be with genuine people living and really enjoying rural agricultural lives, and also to capture the incredible scenery, faces, and sustainable farming practices. I met several who, after spending some time in Colombia's cities, moved back to the tiny pueblo of San José de Alban because they much preferred that lifestyle. And unlike a great number of agricultural areas, there's a thriving economy that means young people have livelihoods to look forward to. Not only is there coffee trading, well organized by small-farm cooperative and taking steps towards organic and fair-trade certification, there's also artisan-made textiles from a locally grown and processed fiber called cabuya. While coffee and cabuya allow San Jose to tap into international markets, there's plenty of land used to grow locally consumed food crops, as well as livestock, supporting the community and several restaurants in the town center. I'm sure there's problems there, but to an outsider, it sure seemed like paradise.

Check out the full story at www.cafealban.org

Sufi Music at its finest

Ustad Ghulam Farid Nizami held it down for three hours
last Saturday night. Check out the full set of photos
on Flickr here

This music takes one deep into the soul. The editing of these photos reflects that, I've dramatized each picture and emphasized the dark blues. Visually at first the photos, and the setting, did not seem too deep. Fairly bright indoor lighting, off-white carpeting and window shades, and the stillness inherent in the photograph all contribute to not really expressing the feeling of being in the presence of this inspiring human performance. My hope is that through selection and editing, this photo set does convey some of the magic of what it was like to be there.

Kwai-yin Necklace by Heyoka Merrifield

This is a unique piece by Heyoka Merrifield, who makes sacred art jewelry. This photo is from a series I took with the intent to help my mom sell this piece. You can see the whole series here. It's a beautiful piece. :)

Winter Front/Back Doors

As a Texan, winters in Montreal make me feel so alive and excited sometimes. The briskness of the cold and the shortness of the days feed an energy of quick movements that both keep me warm and get as much as possible accomplished during the few hours of daylight. However, the dominant feeling of winter is a time of hibernation, when the snow piles up all around you like a soft blanket, muffling sounds and assuaging the guilt of the lazy. These photos hopefully capture that feeling, the mercy of being able to sit at home and rest with friends and lovers. Good for warm-weather homes that feel too much excited windy energy flowing through, the low point of view helps reinforce an earthy, grounded feeling.

I like them best side by side. I think a white matte around and between them would work great, though a milk chocolate or sky blue on a bright yellow wall would also be nice.

New Camera! Pentax Optio W10

Bought this camera at B & H last week in prep for a trip to Brazil. Waterproof, dustproof, and wide angle. (Though here I'm actually shooting into the blind spot mirror on a cargo van, while waiting at the border to get back into Canada :)

China: Goat Stowage

This is from the flight from Chicago to Shanghai. I spent a lot of time standing around in the back, annoying the flight attendants and pouring myself more orange juice. After awhile I noticed someone had tampered with this sign. Jake, was that you?

Path around the bend
Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yunnan Province, China, 2007

I've just started looking through my photos from hectic trip I made to China this May. This photo is from a two-day hike through the deepest gorge on the planet. We spent day one on the high road, passing through small villages with farm fields terraced into the mountain side and stopping to eat and sleep at guesthouses that directed travelers via messages painted onto rocks extolling the plentitude of their vegetable gardens, the coldness of their beer, and the warmness of their showers.

On the other side of the gorge the mountain is practically uninhabitated. There is, however, a high road cutting across that seems to mimic the one we traveled. You can see it in the photo above, the thin line to the bottom left. Where does it go? Who takes it? As far as we saw, nowhere and no one.

What makes this gorge measure so tall is the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain whose peaks are hiding behind clouds in this photo. All day the peaks were hidden by clouds, except for about a 20 minute window during which we happened to be at the highest point of our trek. A remarkable coincidence that we made the most of by resting and taking endless amounts of photos. As we sat and watched, we noticed that the mountain seemed to make its own clouds, that white mist rising out of the snow-covered rock puffed up and sat atop the peaks. By the time we started walking again, the mountain tops had again disappeared.

China: Coming Soon

Jack
Originally uploaded by chloeandliah

I just got back from a trip to China - Shanghai, Yangshuo, Kunming, Lijiang, Tiger Leaping Gorge, and many places in between - and I'll be posting photos from it soon. I shot many many photos, 17 rolls of 36 exp., so I have to check my funds before taking them in. But here's a little taste of the trip, this photo was taken by Liah at the summit of our hike on Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Austin City 1

I'm Austin on a layover to Shanghai right now. I spent the day visiting an urban farm, walking around the hike and bike trail, and doing some last minute errands via borrowed bicycle. I love this city. Its green and warm, people are friendly, and there's an excitement over the newness of everything that's tempered by a proper amount of skepticism. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos, but there are some nice scenes I witnessed that I'll have to come back to sometime.

BOGGY CREEK FARM - an all-organic farm a 15-minute bike ride from downtown. They have hens, pick-your-own strawberries, tons of greens and vegetables, as well as a healthy does of politics over food transport. Standing in line today I heard Carol Ann, the owner, talking about the way Chinese garlic has ruined local production. Her garlic seems 'expensive' by comparison, but it actually juices when you cut it. We bought potatoes, cilantro and eggs laid that morning to make breakfast tacos and salsa, plus some beets for dinner. Lots of kids and older folks walking around, being friendly Texans.

HIKE AND BIKE TRAIL - a big wide sidewalk that follows nearly every creek running through the city. In San Antonio they paved over all their creeks. In Austin they turned them into linear parks for people to walk or bike along. They link to one another via other parks or the part of the Little Colorado River that runs through town and is officially called Town Lake.

We hiked down the Shoal Creek trail to the river. There were all kinds of new condos going up all along, like most everywhere in Austin. We also saw a bridges being repaired, with huge scaffolding erected in the middle of a dry part of the creek. We saw about fifteen turtles ome sun-bathing, some swimming slow, some scared and haulin' ass. There were also fish, and we wondered where all the fish go when the creek dries up mid-summer. At one point along the creek there was this long black flexible plastic tubing snaked around the base of a tree at one end, and around the side of a bridge at the other. At the bridge end, the snake was spewing out some orange mesh. Near Town Lake we saw where this big wall had fallen down and taken a huge tree with it. There were some people surveying the land at this spot, some on land and some on a canoe in the water near the fallen wall.

Well, gotta run for now, gotta catch a flight in the morning. In 5 hours actually. Post more later: river and joggers and the park-and-run, spiral ped risings for bikes, not wheelchairs., also LIVE OAKS.

D.C. Metro

DC Metro #3 (Outside Escalator Looking Down)

DC Metro #4 (Outside Escalator Looking Up)

DC Metro #7 (Lone Man Against Wall)

DC Metro #8

DC Metro #9 (Empty Platform)

DC Metro #10 (Girl Looking Back)

DC Metro #13 (Three Going Down)

DC Metro #15 (Watching From Above)

DC Metro #16 (System Map)

DC Metro #19 (Escalator Feet)

DC Metro #20 (Arriving Train Series 1)

DC Metro #21 (Arriving Train Series 2)

DC Metro #22 (Arriving Train Series 3)

DC Metro #23 (Arriving Train Series 4)

DC Metro #25 (Subway Doorway)

DC Metro #26 (Down The Aisle)

DC Metro #30 (Rosslyn Station)

DC Metro #32 (Entering/Leaving Rosslyn Station)

DC Metro #36 (Turnstyles)

I received many positive responses to the three photos from the DC Metro that were in my recent show (see previous post). The colors here are what attracted people the most. Thanks to a roll of Kodak Ultra Color 400 I found at a high-end photo store near the mall, and to my surprisingly steady hand considering I was a nervous man with a beard photographing public infrastructure post 9/11, the darkness of the DC metro system contrasts well with vivid color from what little lighting there was.

Not all these photos worked for the Dance Of Life : Daily Movement show, but I think they work together as a series all their own. Those above are my favorite photos from the roll. They are numbered based on the order they were taken. I shot them all in under an hour, just in time to get to Rosslyn Station where the bus would take me back to Dulles Aiport so I could finally catch my transfer flight to Burlington.

This was part of an unexpected trip to DC after I was forced into a 16-hour stopover at Dulles Airport. Soon I'll post the photos I made while staying overnight in the airport and also the shots from the DC Mall the next day, before I entered the metro.

Simplified Hydroponics - Urban Agriculture

untitled

Santropol Roulant's Rooftop Garden
Montreal, Quebec. 2005

These edible flowers and chard, lettuce and basil plants are part of Santropol Roulant's Rooftop Garden. It's an experimental garden testing a simplified hydroponic system. The plants sit in a small amount of soil-like material while their roots extend down into water. The containers are light enough to be portable and fit well on tight spaces like rooftops and balconies. (For examples see these photos here and here.) This is part of the effort to spread agriculture in urban areas.

This particular photo was taken at one of Santropol's rooftop garden parties in the summer of 2005.

Photo Exhibit Second Showing

I'm having a second showing of the photo exhibit TONIGHT, Monday, April 30, from 8-10pm.

The exhibit is at Studio Dance Conmigo in the L-Corridor building, 3655 St-Laurent. The studio is on the 2nd floor, #207, up the stairs, to the right, first door on your right.

You can check out the photos in the show in a previous post here.

This is the last week these photos will be up. If you can't make it on Monday, but would still like to see the photos, or if you have other questions, feel free to call me at 514-436-3600.

Cheers,
Jack

'School Daze' Group Show

Future Tunnels

Chicago, Illinois. 2004
w/ digital manipulations, 2007

On March 31st I took part in a group show called School Daze at a new gallery just starting up upstairs from a hip downtown clothing store. You can read about the show on the store's blog here. These two photos I tweaked for the show are one piece called "Future Tunnels." It's a couple of shots from the part of Chicago's "El" Train system where it goes underground downtown. I used Photoshop to blast up the colors and also to add some halftone screen dots and lines. I framed them in a used screen print frame that had a lot of green emulsion stains on it. Looked pretty good, but would have been better if the photos were bigger - I only printed 5x7's. Next time....

Montreal Winter 2007

Winter Trees with Sunset Fire
Montreal, Quebec. 2007


Frozen Pond in Parc LaFontaine
Montreal, Quebec. 2007



Naked Winter Trees
Montreal, Quebec. 2007

This was a strange winter, coming in January and ending in mid-April. It's hard to believe but these photos were taken just a few weeks ago after a big snowstorm that turned out to be not even our last. Parc La Fontaine, where these photos were made, is one of the city's nicest parks any time of year. In winter the large pond freezes to become a skating rink, the rolling hills provide slopes for sledders, and the trees show off all their vascular glory.

New Exhibition

Dance of Life : Daily Movements

I just presented my first photography exhibition with a vernissage on April 7. Using twelve 12" x 18" prints, I played with the theme of urban commuting. Below is the description of the show, and below that are the photos.

"This photo exhibition attempts to bring joy back into our daily commutes. Whether for work or leisure, traveling through the city easily becomes a mundane routine when done over and over, back and forth, year after year. But it doesn't have to be.

In Dance of Life: Daily Movements, the viewer sees people in the midst of their daily activities. The most important aspect of these photos is not the actual but the potential. By the very medium of the photograph, time and movement have been frozen, the actual time it took for each scene to be captured on film was a fraction of a second. Each prompts the viewer to consider what happens next. We see an open subway door, who will walk through before it closes? Will April's bare feet touch the dirty street or go back in their shoes? What direction will the women walking her dog take next?

The focus in these photos is on the places, often beautiful and stage-like, within which these actions take place. Each scene asks us to reflect upon our own travels, to reconsider them as opportunities for joyous bodily expression in multi-layered and exciting public spaces. These photos ask the viewer to consider multiple potential actions while travelling through the city. What happens when our daily movements become a dance?"

Walking With Dog
Chicago, Illinois. 2004

DC Metro #32 (Entering Rosslyn Station)
Washington, D.C. 2005

Bus Stop Evangelism
San Antonio, Texas. 2003

Rain of Cars #1 (Photojournalist and Suicide Fence)
San Antonio, Texas. 2005

Running with dog
Chicago, Illinois. 2004

Aligning Queue Posts While You Were Sleeping
Dulles Airport. 2005



San Pedro Park
San Antonio, Texas. 2004



DC Metro #25 (Subway Doorway)
Washington, D.C. 2005

Biking With Birds

San Antonio, Texas. 2003



DC Metro #19 (Escalator Feet)
Washington, D.C. 2005



April's Feet and Shoes
Montreal, Quebec. 2006

Watched by newspapers
Chicago, Illinois. 2004

You can see these photos in person at Studio Dance Conmigo, 3655 Blvd St-Laurent, #207, Montreal, Quebec. The show runs until May 4.

The photos are available for purchase as 12"x18" prints at a reduced price of $50 for a limited time only. You will be purchasing the actual prints used for the show. Also available is the high-quality Museum Rising 100% Rag 3-ply white matting custom cut for each print for the show, at $50 extra per print. Add another $70 if you'd like a custom frame. Prices include shipping. (April's Feet, DC Metro #32, and San Pedro Park have been sold, and are not available at these prices.)