Void

So, as some of you may know, the 2011 Silver & Ink Photography show was last night (advertised below) and it was a great turn out for the night. There was so much great work being shown, which easily made it the strongest Silver & Ink show SCAD has put on thus far. I was very proud to be a part of it. The image you see here titled "Void" was the selected piece from the show and was taken in Jacksonville, FL as a part of my 10 piece portfolio for my Black and White Technique class. It was shot on 35mm film and printed in the dark room on matte paper. I have always been fascinated with bridges and for this portfolio I wanted to capture the graceful side of bridges that few people ever get to see. The entire portfolio is how I as an artist view bridges and while working on the project I began to view bridges differently. It quickly evolved into just night photography because that is when bridges come alive. I was lucky because Jacksonville takes pride in its bridges and lights them all up nicely at night. Many of my photos are of Jacksonville bridges and many shot on the same night, a few being shot at 3am in the morning! Stay tuned for more. Up-date - This image was purchased by SCAD for their permanent collection (Spring 2011)! My first really big and important sale. Very exciting.

SCAD Silver & Ink 2011

So, this coming Saturday (April 30th) is the opening reception of SCAD's largest annual photography exhibition - Silver & Ink! I was fortunate enough this year to make it in the show and several of my talented friends and fellow photo students made it in the show as well. If you are in the area you should come on by. I only have one image in the show and the above images are part of the same series that the gallery piece is from, but you will have to come to the show to see the one that was actually picked for the show! Saturday, April 30th 6-9pm at the SCAD River Club.

Old Plantations

So, being an architecture student I find myself appreciating architecture more and more - as well as appreciating it more than most people I know. On the RUF retreat we stayed in this wonderful plantation house and this panorama was taken from the front porch showing the front entry condition. The columns are covered with solid wood panels 30' tall. I repeat, they are covered on all 4 sides with solid pieces of wood! Now thats one large piece of wood. Imagine the tree they had to get that from. No one currently lives in the main house so they just rent it out to visitors while the grounds of the plantation are run as a farm, but if I was given a choice I would certainly not mind living here.

Tree Farm

As I mentioned earlier in the previous post the grounds at the plantation near Macon were beautiful. This is just a taste of the grounds around the main house. This farm grows mainly pine trees and as you can see they are growing them like crazy. This photo was taken during our tour on Saturday afternoon and I took it from the flatbed of a moving truck. Sometimes photos just come out right no matter what the situation.

Weekend In Macon

This past weekend (April 15-16) I went out towards Macon GA on a retreat with my campus ministry group called RUF (Reformed University Fellowship). We stayed at an old plantation and farm and the grounds were simply beautiful. To add to this the lighting during the day could not have been better. It was diffuse light all day which made for such great photos. The photo on the right was taken with a flash while I walked around at night since it was so nice being outside. I had a great time and I really hope I will be able to visit there again soon.

Unique Perspective

This is another photo from my most recent trip to Italy. The story goes that we were walking through the streets of Rome and all of a sudden I saw a sweet crack in the wall. Yes, I get fascinated by some of the strangest and most mundane of things sometimes. But, this crack has a story to it. It is a stress crack so it was made from structural shift in the foundation or in the wall of the building and was made over the course of several years, and since this is in Italy and all buildings there are old this is commonplace. I enjoy different perspectives of seemingly ordinary spaces and I love to play with the edges of compositions because that is where the energy of the image is. That is precisely what I did here.

Special Education Week & Autism Awareness Month

So, as the title of this posts says, this is in honor of Special Education Week & Autism Awareness Month. My sister Allison works with autistic children in New York and she is a one-on-one with a kid named Nick (both of whom are pictured here). Nick is a great kid and I've had the pleasure of meeting him twice. He writes articles for his school's newsletter, already does advanced math for his age, and even co-wrote a short movie script with one of his friends. Each case of autism is different and Nick's case has made him non-verbal. He communicates by typing on an iPad - I know, really high tech huh? My sister loves what she does and will be going back to school this coming fall (Columbia University to be exact) in order to get her masters in special education. Keep an eye out for her as she will be breaking ground on new autistic and educational research in the next few years. Oh, and is this not a band photo or what!

Two Towers

So many of you know that I simply love everything Italy. I get it from my Dad mostly. I've been there a few times and my most recent trip was this past summer with my school. I was able to take two classes and visit my adopted homeland once again - what more could I ask for? I will probably be posting Italy photos from time to time so you have been warned. Don't worry, I will only post the best ones. This one I took in Venice on the last day we spent in Italy and it is in St. Mark's Square. Obviously a place called St. MARK's Square has to be a cool place - right? Well, of course! On our last day there the square began to flood, which is a regular thing. Don't worry, Venice is not sinking, the water table is going up so make sure you do everything you can to be responsible with your energy use - you can help save beautiful places like Venice! In the mean time enjoy the photo. Up-date - this photo is now hanging up in my house! That might not seem very exciting but the print of it is 3 feet by 5 feet! Its giant and looks awesome.

Using Photos in Multi-Media Projects

Krishna

Here is a link to a short video I made for my final project in my World Mythology class I had last quarter. The project was to depict a story from Mythology in an artistic way and I picked the story of Krishna from Indian Mythology where his foster mother scolds him for eating dirt and when she asks him to open his mouth she sees all of creation. I believe this is one of the best images Mythology has to offer us and I depicted it by using several of my own photos in a movie. The story also talks about seeing time since time is a very important aspect of creation and in order to depict time in an artistic fashion I used music because music is one of the only art forms that is purely dependent on time. Without time music would simply not exist because it works within time while other art forms can exist outside of time once they are created. So, in conclusion the video uses photos and sound design in order to depict the story of Krishna and Creation. Enjoy.

Student Center

Here is another SCAD photo. This one is the interior of the Student Center which used to be a Jewish Temple and still has all the proper temple decorations and markings on the outside. The inside has been completely re-done and makes for an interesting space. I almost never go to the Student Center unless I have a meeting there or if they are holding a lecture. I probably would visit more often if I lived closer but since I live so far away it's kind of a pain to travel across town just to go to the Student Center for a few hours. One of the things students constantly complain about and make fun of is the lighting in the main atrium space. It changes colors constantly and even in this panorama you can see the light was changing from red to green as I was panning across taking photos (left to right). Its cool the first time you see it but after that its just annoying and distracting. For awhile the band shell in Forsyth Park was lit the same way at night but I think they are just back to plain white light which is better.

SCAD

So I'm currently working on documenting some SCAD buildings and I did this vertical panorama of SCAD's first building, Poetter Hall. Yeah, I don't know how to pronounce it either. It is famous for the twin canons that frame the front door. It is the home to the admissions department as well and the graphic design school. It is also the home to Shop SCAD, a small art store where students, alumni, and faculty can sell stuff they make such as paintings, notebooks, necklaces, earrings, and other small artsy things. I have only been inside the academic part of this building once on a tour in my first year at SCAD. Kind of a shame but thats how it goes at SCAD. Once you are in your major classes you pretty much get land-locked to that building and since my major is not in this building I have no reason to go inside. I'll leave it for the graphic design majors.

Tensegrity

This one is a Savannah photo. Since I go to school in Savannah it is only fitting that I put up some Savannah photos from time to time. But as I mentioned earlier I try really hard to not go for the stereotypical views of places. That being said very few people could probably pick this out as a Savannah photo. This is the new band shell in Forsyth Park. For those of you not from Savannah, Forsyth is basically a tiny version of New York's Central Park. This band shell opened up a year ago and has already made a huge impact on the park and as you can see it also makes for good photography. The main structure is a tensile type structure and this makes for a very interesting and dynamic force in the park where before there was just an abandoned old building that was fenced off. Now that this new building is up and running the land all around it is in full use once again and just about every Sunday afternoon you can find hundreds of people just laying around the park in the meadow in front of the band shell enjoying life.

Miami Beach

Well, you can't have a trip to Miami without taking a quintessential Miami shot. Here we have what most people think of when they think of Miami. A raised viewing deck at a fancy hotel that you can see the beach from, palm trees swaying in the breeze, bright and clear skies, beautiful people sunbathing by the pool, ext... Hopefully I will be able to travel to Miami again one day but I will have to work on my tan first. Us architecture students almost never see the sun, always in the studio.

Alice and the Chess Room

Another Philip Stark interior for your enjoyment. This room is a modern chess room that has influences from Alice in Wonderland. Everything in the room is white save for the black squares on the chess boards and the one red chair. This photo looks like it was staged in a studio with super bright studio lights but this is all natural light. Sometimes you just find the right places at the right time.

Asia in Miami

Now, if you know me pretty well you will know that I have a fascination for just about anything Asian and when I was able to visit the Setai Hotel in Miami I just wanted to stop and spend the rest of the day there. The Setai is an Asian themed hotel in South Beach Miami that opened up in the last few years. Its design is greatly influenced by the simplicity of Asian design in that it has simple geometries that create pleasing harmonies and inviting spaces. It might be a stretch to say that this hotel has very spiritual qualities to it but if the owner or people who work there were ever to claim that, I would be their first believer.

Strange Interiors

These are some images from inside the lobby of the Viceroy Hotel and Spa. The interior was designed by famous designer Philip Stark and they are true to his style and taste. This means that just about anything can happen and does. The first image has a bench that is in the position of a table that is sitting on a diagonal floor piece that is different in material than the rest of the floor and the "stools" are something like miniature Easter Island heads. The curtain wall windows are covered entirely in a transparent green tinted film, which makes the space feel very creepy. The second image is of the mailbox room and as you can see there are several mailboxes that are impossible to reach. There is also a chandelier hanging in the middle of the room and everything from the stone to the metal has the same color range which makes the entire space very uniform. You can be the judge as to whether or not you like this type of design but you have to admit it is very different.

MiamInception

This photo was taken in downtown Miami on the pool deck of the Viceroy Hotel and Spa. At the time I had yet to see the movie Inception but I was familiar with the movie poster and I framed the buildings similar to the composition of the poster. The downtown area of Miami is still rather new and is still being built in some areas. These towers are all a part of the hotel and the pool deck is nestled between them and offers amazing views of the city.

The Art of Parking

A slight change of pace is in order. These are some photos I took on a trip to Miami with my architecture studio. We were designing an urban beach hotel and we traveled to Miami to research urban beach design down there, but really it was just an excuse to get out of the class room. Anyway, when we got there the brand new 1111 Lincoln Road Parking Garage designed by Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron, had just opened. The photos I've supplied are some details of this amazing structure. I mean its a parking garage with high fashion retail stores at its base and scattered about the upper floors, a triangulated spiral staircase at its heart, and a penthouse apartment on the top. Its not just a parking garage, its a work of art in steel and concrete!

Reach for the Stars

Here is another vertical panorama from my recent trip to New York. This one is of the rocket thrower statue at the World's Fair park. I was fortunate enough to have wonderful lighting this day and was able to catch the sun right behind the statue without turning said statue into a silhouette. This statue is seen by many people every day and when situations like that occur I try to capture that subject in a new way. This view, with the world sculpture in the background, I believe is very new for people familiar with this statue.

Points of Access

Here is another architectural study of the Main Public Library in New York. I thought it very interesting that one corner of this building could hold so many different forms of circulation. A door on the far left, normal hallway, stairs down, and stairs up. All points of access start here it seems, the only question is which path will you choose?

Subway

I am constantly amazed by the world around me and one thing that never fails to impress me is the New York Subway. This time I was able to ride some of the above ground trains and the panorama above is an example of one of the above ground stations. To think that a gigantic system of trains is constantly moving underneath one of the largest and busiest cities in the world is a little hard to imagine. Especially when you take note that in some stations trains criss-cross over and under each other thus making it even more complicated. Most New Yorkers probably pay no mind to this extreme example of extreme engineering but never fear New York Subway, your complexity and design has not gone unnoticed.

Roller Cluster

Here is a fun one for you. Another panorama image I created on my trip to New York, this one out at Coney Island. I had never been out there before and wanted to go even if it was not summer yet and none of the rides were open. I did find this little guy however. A brand new roller coaster set to open up later this month. It looks like it could be fun but take a closer look at the track. It looks like they took a regular sized roller coaster and due to the restricted site folded it over on itself. The track looks like it runs too close together. I would have been able to get a better sense of it if the car was on the track but I guess I will just have to visit it again someday and possibly even ride it.

Rose Reading Room

Also on my trip to New York I was able to visit the Main Public Library near Bryant Park. On previous trips to NYC I had only seen the outside of the library, never the interior, so this was a real treat. The main reading room is a huge open room that for a person studying architecture is even more distracting than the tourists walking around. If I lived in New York City and was near the library I still would not be able to use it as a library because I would be constantly in awe of the building itself. And even if I was able to get over the architecture for a little while I would still have to deal with the tourists. Never the less the main library is a beautiful and important structure in New York and I was glad to have visited it. The picture shown here is a vertical panorama I created that shows the room from floor to ceiling. The panoramic format allows for more information to be captured in one image and is thus very useful for interior architectural spaces. Hope you enjoy.

New York State Pavilion

On my most recent trip to New York City I was fortunate enough to travel out to the site of the 1964 World's Fair. Once the site of futuristic architecture as well as the hopes and dreams of a utopia dubbed the "World of Tomorrow." Now all that is left is a giant steel world sculpture, the Queens Art Museum, some statues, and the decaying New York State Pavilion. When I first saw the abandoned State Pavilion I was very confused as to what it was. Unlike most architecture that is able to give the viewer at least a hint to its purpose and function, this structure does nothing of the sort. Its giant concrete columns hold up a steel ring that has angular dagger-like blades fixed to it. This ring also holds up a series of cables that support a central, smaller steel ring that hangs above the center of the structure. At the base of the columns is a curved wall that creates the inner structure and is painted with white and red vertical strips that all have different widths. If this is not strange enough, the front of the building has three towers each topped with what appear to be circular viewing decks, which would be awesome if there was any visible means of getting up to these decks. The towers look too skinny to house an elevator or a spiral staircase for that matter. The only other logical purpose these towers could have is a stand for a UFO and the writers of Men In Black would agree with me. The final scene in MIB I takes place at this very structure when the cockroach alien crawls up the tallest tower and attempts to fly away in one of the "viewing decks." Finally, even though the pavilion is in decay it is still an important feature to the park and I only hope one day someone will be able to bring it back to its former glory. The two images are both vertical panoramas I created from several photos of the pavilion.