As some of you know or might have seen in a past post, my new house has a detached shop that I'm converting into a full studio. It has been no quick task. It wasn't messed up but if a photographer wants to be taken seriously and not considered a hack, you need a good looking studio.
So I cleaned it. Then my brother (who's been a major help) and I removed all the random objects, protruding nails and gutted all the shelving and the automatic garage door from the far end where I will be shooting. After that we filled holes, sanded and painted it all.
I'm happy to say that as of this past Sunday, the painting is done. I can now start moving gear in and decorating. Then it's photo project time! I wish I would have done before and after shots but oh well. I did get my brother to snag one shot of me painting the walls with my cell phone. It at least shows the odd green color that it was before... and my terrible farmers tan.
I'll be sure to snap and post photos once it's all said and done.
Saturday I went on a tour of the Allen-Lambe house over in the College Hill area of Wichita. Why should you give a rats behind about the Lambe's house? It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright himself, that's why. If you don't know who Wright was you need to be smacked with a two by four. Anyways...
The layout was in the Midwest's traditional prairie format with Japanese influences. It made me start thinking about how many other homes around town stood on Wright's concept. Even my own home has some of the fundamentals of this place. The brick he used on the outside was used inside so both coexisted in unison. It had great little nooks for art and unique lighting in the form of light diffused by thin mulberry paper lanterns inset into the ceiling. Even a portion of the furniture was designed by Frank. You can see a little bit of the lights and the cool dining room table in this shot:
The house is no longer a residence and is now solely for tours. Unfortunately, you can't just stop in like other historical sites or I would recommend you swing by randomly. But you can call them for times of their next scheduled appointment to tag along. It's definitely worth seeing. Check out their site for more info.
As I'm reading about the Occupy Wall Street and all the other protests world wide, I noticed that MSN was sure to talk about some of the protesters ratty clothes and that they could smell marijuana in the air. That is a little petty MSN. Your attempts to subtly discredit these activists with paltry and pathetic references to drugs and what you deem as lesser clothing is just plain childish high-school reporting. We all see your cheap shots to get stuck ups and conservative readers to ignore what is really being protested. Those are not solid facts but jaded descriptions used as slander.
I just had a random thought when my veggie subs arrived from Jimmy Johns. A pleasant bonus to being an herbivore is that food preparation and delivery times are pretty darn fast. I would imagine that's due to the fact that there aren't any dead animals to slice, cook until it won't induce vomiting and prepared in a non-road kill manner.
If you have to cook something before you can eat it, doesn't that kind of make it unnatural for us to consume in the first place? Hmmm...
Boy that sure looks yummy!
Sorry if that sounded a little pretentious and preachy. I was namely just excited that my food gets delivered so quickly.
Every time I pick up a food product at a grocery store, be it processed or raw, I make it stand up to my edible requirements checklist.
Are there animal products in it?
Is it organic?
Is it natural or a large portion?
Is it made in the USA?
Is it locally grown?
Is it affordable/cost efficient?
Does it sound yummy?
That might sound pretty picky, painful and expensive but it's really not that bad. I don't always strictly adhere to this list either with every bit of food I consume, save for the animals products bit. That's my personal educated choice to be a veggiesaurus. But other than that, the rest should be standards that we all look for.
We are what we eat so why not take time to choose wisely. We are no long hunters or gatherers but solely consumers. If that's our only role in life then why not consume smartly? Organics are better for the environment. Naturals are healthier for our bodies. Made in the USA supports our countries economy. Locally harvested supports your city, small businesses and your neighborhood farmer. To me, once you weigh all the upsides it almost seems like no choice at all.
We have the choice to pick things that are better for our world and bodies yet we chose substandard items to save a couple cents. We have the power of our dollar and the corporations are after it. So if we demand higher standards they will have to submit or lose money. Don't be lazy, read those labels.
"We must be the change we want to see in the world." -Mahatma Gandhi
This past week I've gone from doing nothing creative to getting projects going all over the place. I've been spreading the word and doing mad planning. There are two projects in particular that have the potential to help me finally get lastdeviant on the lips of the Wichita art community. One is for the hip hop music scene and the other is for an art magazine. Each is still pretty grassroots but they are extremely promising. I've got lots of shoots lined up for both and each will get me some new exposure I would have never found before. I'll be sure to rep them both once they each give me the go ahead.
With the completion of the home studio, the new connections and all this hype, I think this is going to be my introductory year here. I might be jinxing it by talking about it but I don't care, I'm freaking excited! I'm ready to dive in and help this art scene grow and in it will help me grow as well. So keep your eyes peeled. I've got a site revamp coming in the next week and of course there will be lots of new bits of eye candy.
I went to help out a new friend from class, Ryan Gould, with a photo shoot this weekend. Afterward, he put all the images up for everyone to review. Once we all talked about them, the model asked about when she would get her copies. He told her that she could have them all right now if she had a flash drive. Funny thing was, she just so happened to find one in her purse.
I guess they have gotten so common place that everyone has one now. I know all the college classes I have been too in Virginia and Kansas have suggested and sometimes required for students to get one. I personally own like eight of them. I remember there was a time not so long ago when ever I pulled a jump drive out of my pocket, I looked like a complete nerd. Or if I had to explain what it was, people just gave me the deer in headlights look.
Now chicks keep them in their purses. That's so rad.
When Nicky and I were deciding on our sons name, we knew if when we chose Paladin that people would think it was a little odd and unconventional, which we liked. We also figured that some people might have trouble pronouncing it. Personally, I can't even fathom saying it any other way than how it is meant to be. But then again I knew what a paladin was way back from my childhood. See, I actually enjoy reading, unlike most Americans these days. So just to clarify, his name is not pronounced pal-lay-din or pal-uh-dine, it's Pal-uh-din.
Anyways, paladins are the greatest of all knights. The title originally came from Charlemagne's (if you don't know who he is, crack a history book and look up Europe) twelve greatest knights which were the first and most famous of these noble warriors. But this was actually the lessor reason why I dug this for a name.
The number one basis for naming out son Paladin was due to the lead character on the 50's western TV show, Have Gun Will Travel. Nicky and I absolutely love that show and the lead, played by Richard Boone, was just too freaking rad. Intelligence was his greatest weapon. He could sling a pistol like no other but knew that violence was only needed if all else failed. He had style, morals and sophistication but was rough, rugged and tough as nails. I could go on but I think you get the picture.
With epic defining qualities like bad ass knights, a man's man gunslinger and sheer uniqueness, how could I not chose Paladin as a name for my son? It already sounds awesome like a rock star, artist or even a president's name?
So remember... it's PAL as in he's your friend and mine, UH as in the sound that most people utter when I ask them who Charlemagne was or about Have Gun Will Travel, and DIN as in the den of house or dinner.
As I sat in the stands, watching my daughter Alex cheer at football game last weekend, I got to do a decent amount of people watching. One thing I always take notice of is fashion and trends. I you're thinking that's girlie or gay, bite me. I like ripping on or applauding what people wear, even if I wear some weird stuff myself.
The style that was pretty overwhelming was the amount of ornate shiny crosses and fleur de lis' adorned with rhinestones. On purses, jeans, hats and tons of shirts... they were plastered from head to toe! Its not just girls that want to shimmer but dudes as well. Sparkly jeans with glittery shirts and gaudy graphics. Rhinestone dildos as far as the eye can see. It's terrible. I don't see it much on campus though so it must be mainly for aging hipsters desperately trying to look cool.
My bet is that Twilight is to blame. Everyone wants to be an emo, sparkly, ass-clown, vampire. Bad hair included.
