I’ve heard of art as a vice, but making a vise art?

© 2009 Mimi Azrael All rights reserved

So, challenged by a friend who set up this apparatus on my fireplace mantel today to repair humidity damage to the wood wall, I shot this image through squinted eyes pretending the apparatus was a sculpture. Shot on a 5dMarkII in available light (no flash), the “sculpture” could be a modern, industrial candelabra or the work of a visionary with found objects? (Well, on second thought, maybe not.) FWIW, the apparatus consists of two vise grips and two metal uprights crossed by a horizontal 30″ Closetmaid shelf track.  The engineering feat is the spring action control of buckling that puts pressure on the wall to flatten it.  Too much information?  The design is quite ingenious.  (Not my idea, so I take no credit).  But as we looked at the apparatus, it occurred to us how oddly interesting it looked.  Like a sculpture installation.  Prodded to take the bait of my friend’s challenge, I picked up my camera.

Beside the oddness of the construction, there’s something about the reflected light and gridded lines formed by the apparatus that caught my interest  – i.e., the grid of windows reflected in the glass of the picture frame,  the grid of the “+” shadow in the center of the image, the perpendicular planes of the mantel, the picture frame and the two metal uprights and the various mouldings, etc.).

My friend tells me that the apparatus will have done its job in a day or so.  But, I may leave it up indefinitely…

CAMOUFLAGE ART: Can you find the Invisible Man?

Once again, Stephen Heller — who writes the Visuals column for the New York Times Book Review and The Daily Heller blog for Print Magazine, — gives us shock-and-awe images. This time, he acquaints us with Liu Bolin, a 36-year-old performance artist from Beijing, whose art form is what Heller calls “camo art.” Check this out:

Can you find Liu Bolin??

Liu, known as the “Invisible Man,” steps into his images… literally. He has been known to spend upwards of 10 hours painting his body to nearly perfectly blend into his surroundings, turning an eventual photograph of him into a living, breathing trompe l’oeil image.  In the photograph below, he is barely visible blending into an enormous American flag.

Performance artist Liu hiding in plain sight.

The YU Gallery in Paris has a month-long, one-man exhibition of Liu’s photographs which will close on October 31st.  Nine large images from the YU Gallery exhibition can be viewed here on the website of the Herald Sun, a Melbourne, Australia newspaper.

When asked why he does this, Liu explains that blending into his surroundings communicates social invisibility. “I experienced the dark side of society, without social relations, and had a feeling that no one cared about me, I felt myself unnecessary in this world, ” Liu told the London Telegraph. Liu considers his work a form of protest against the Chinese government, which he said, closed his art studio in 2005.   This photo, one of his most political, is amazing (see right):

Click here to view a YouTube video of Liu being painted.

At PDN PhotoPlus Expo ’09

Just returned from 2 days at the PDN PhotoPlus Expo’09 at the Javits Center.  Can’t think of a better space to hold this event.  I.M.Pei’s stunning architecture brings the outside in, spectacularly.  A gorgeous day in NYC on Thursday helped and brought light streaming through the lobby (see below).  Besides the product Expo, conference seminars brought thousands

© 2009 Mimi Azrael All rights reserved

of people together to celebrate and share their passion for photography.  Walking thru the Expo, two booths were catnip:  At the Canon booth, I played with a prototype of Canon’s new dSLR, EOS 1D Mark IV (featuring, get this, an unthinkable ISO range up to 102,400!) Check out Rob Galbraith‘s review.  I’m not tempted, tho.  Love my two 5DMarkIIs. But over at the Lowel Light booth (really, the Tiffin booth, now that Tiffin bought Lowel), Lowel showed off prototypes of two new lights that will come to market in about two weeks:

First, the Lowel Blender, a compact high CRI LED light (4″x3″x3″) — constant light) for both still and video shooting — which features a dial on the top of the light that allows you to switch from daylight to tungsten quality light or to blend the two!

Lowel’s/Tiffen’s other new product, the SoftCore is a variation on its successful RIFA lighting system — but without the built-in softbox.  In this case, less is more, because the fixture features a universal speedring and counterweight system, making it possible to attach it to any softbox.  And the new 80Watt high C.R.I. fluorescent lamps give off soft daylight quality light. OK, enough about gear.  The Expo is really about images.  Looking at images, analyzing images, and listening to accomplished photographers talk about their images.  Living and breathing images.

My favorite talk was by legendary photographer Jay Maisel, whose slide presentation, Light, Gesture, Color, and his conversational behind-the-scenes anecdotes showed why the convergence of these three aspects of an image — or their absence — make an image “work” or “not work.” Good stuff.

Leaving the Javits, walking cross-town, inspired, I framed passing street images in my mind and even shot a few on my phone camera.  Can’t say any of them “worked,” but here’s one I’ll share (see above).  True, the tree looks like it’s growing out of her head — not good.  But there’s something familiar about her gesture — a New Yorker being a New Yorker quizzing a street food vendor– and, yes, there’s some (but not such great) light and color.  Oh well, one out of three…  Here’s another shot, this one of building, but I rotated it 90 degrees CCW to make it look more abstract.  Composition could be better.  And the metering? — let’s not go there, it’s a camera phone, after all.  Give me a break.

…more to come

LISTEN TO THIS: “Somewhere Else” – Killian Mansfield’s music wizardry

Killian's recording session with John Sebastian of The Lovin' Spoonful (see New York Magazine article)

While riding the Amtrak today to NYC (for PhotoPlus Expo, natch), I read about Killian Mansfield, a 16-year old musician, whose heroic 5-year battle with a rare form of cancer was the subject of a compelling New York Magazine profile.  A musical prodigy — a “ukelele wizard” of incredible talent and range  – Killian’s abilities, though appreciated by his loving family and devoted circle of friends, largely went unnoticed in musical circles until he decided, while hospitalized following a devastating terminal diagnosis, to record a cd in a family friend’s recording studio with a cherry-picked dream team of professional musicians. His intention was to raise money for Hope & Heros, the Integrative Therapies Program for Children with Cancer at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. Amazingly, Killian fully realized his intention. A-list recording artists and songwriters, including the legendary Dr. John, The Band’s drummer Levon Helm, The Lovin’ Spoonful’s John Sebastian, Todd Rundgren and others responded to emails and telephone calls inviting them to record with Killian.  The product of their collaboration is Somewhere Else, thirteen tracks of music that will delight and transport you. Despite his illness and weakening condition, Killian completed the recording of all tracks of the cd, approved the final mixes and posed for the liner photos, but lived long enough only to see a mock-up of the finished product;  he died on August 20, 2009, before the cd went into production.  Individual tracks or the cd in its entirety can be downloaded at iTunes or at amazon.com.  Proceeds benefit Kids with Cancer.  For more information, check out the Killian Mansfield Foundation.

COPYRIGHT: Shepard Fairey now admits lying and tampering with evidence in fair use case against AP

Fairley now admits that he lied and says he used Mannie Garcia's AP photo on the left after all.

L.A. street artist Shepard Fairey, creator of the iconic Obama “Hope” poster, confessed on Friday to lying in court papers and admitted that he tampered with evidence in an effort to conceal which Associated Press image –shot by Associated Press (AP) photographer Mannie Garcia — he used to create his Obama poster. Initially, Fairey said he used a photograph of Obama sitting next to George Clooney.  Now, Fairey admits that he used a different image of Obama — one of him alone.  Even more damaging, Fairey confessed to having fabricated documents he gave to his lawyers and now also admits that he deleted electronic files that were generated to create the poster image, all in an attempt to cover up his use of the solo image of Obama.  See Fairey’s amended pleadings here.

Fairey originally said he used this AP image, and now says he knowingly misidentified it and fabricated evidence to bolster his fair use claim.

Fairey’s confession wholly discredits him (and should expose him to court sanctions), but may not necessarily affect the outcome of his copyright “fair use” claim against the AP, which has counterclaimed that he infringed its copyright in both images. To prove fair use, Fairey has to prove, among other things, that he ”transformed” the AP image.  Despite his admission of fraud, the issue of transformation could still go to a jury.  Had Fairey used the image of Obama sitting with George Clooney (see left), as he originally contended, his claim to fair use would have been stronger:    (1) his adaptation would have comprised less than the whole, original image, and  (2) the effort required to transform the original image into the eventual poster would have been greater — two measures of determining fair use.  See Copyright Office discussion of fair use.  Also check out coverage by Wired magazine.  The case, still in the discovery stage, is not likely to go to trial for some time, if it ever does.

In Chicago: Blue skies and an October haunting on Michigan Avenue

© 2009 Mimi Azrael All rights reserved

Photos from Chicago: Won’t be long before temperatures in Chicago will dip into single digits… and below!  Meanwhile, while walking up Michigan Avenue last week, I saw vivid, blue, cloudless skies and temperatures in the mild 70s.  Crossing Pearson, past the historic Old Water Tower (built in 1869 see below) and near the shops of Water Tower Place, I snapped the Hancock Building (all 100 stories of it) staring down at me. The day before it was shrouded in fog, so it was a welcome sight.  Still, can’t imagine walking around here in February.

Later on, at dusk, I looked out our hotel window towards Lake Michigan a few blocks away.  Here’s a pic I snapped of the Old Water Tower and beyond lit by the sun’s reflections in nearby buildings.  Built of limestone, the Water Tower took 2 years to construct. It is not, contrary to popular belief, the only building in Chicago that survived the Great Fire 1871.  It is one of several that survived, although it’s true that it is the only surviving building that remains standing.  The fire killed 300 people, left 100,000 homeless, and destroyed the entire central business district of Chicago.  Interestingly, though so many buildings were consumed, the home of the woman — Catherine O’Leary — in whose barn the fire supposedly began, survived.

© 2009 Mimi Azrael All rights reserved

People say that the Old Water Tower is haunted.   Legend has it that the spirit a man who worked in the Tower on Sunday night, October 8, 1871, the night of the Great Fire, has been seen haunting the Tower.  The man was a hero and is remembered for having stayed behind to man the water pumps as the flames approached.  Rather than be consumed by the fire, he hanged himself.  Chicago lore has tourists reporting that they saw the shadowy figure of a man, believed to be this man, hanging in one of the Tower’s upstairs windows.  Great Halloween tale.

Here’s an old photo of the Water Tower (from the Illinois State Historical Library showing what the area looked like long before the Hancock Building and Water Tower Place (mall) came along.  The tower, now dwarfed by high rise buildings, conceals a 138′ standpipe — a reservoir that was used to maintain water pressure. Today, the building houses a Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau Visitor’s Center.

TECH: Apple’s Snow Leopard bug is a “serious screw-up.” Meanwhile, backup!

A bug in Apple’s Snow Leopard OSX upgrade that “wipes out” the home folder of the principal account user has caused upwards of a hundred users of Snow Leopard to lose data, according to Wired magazine. The BBC reports the number suffering data loss is more than a hundred.  Apple reportedly is working on a fix. The bug irretrievably “wipes clean” users home file where personal documents, images, and videos are stored, and reverts the home file to default settings, causing data that is not backed up to be lost forever. Information security researcher Jonathan Zdziarski, quoted in Wired, calls this bug a serious “screw-up”  and an “embarrassment” for Apple.  Meanwhile, if you upgraded to Snow Leopard, backup, backup, backup!

OMG! Whitening the Clouds?

Artist's rendering of a proposed wind-powered sea vessel that injects sea salt into the air to "whiten" the clouds. reflect the sun's rays and cool the planet!

Whoa! I’m all for ending global warming… but spraying sea salt into the air to whiten the clouds?? The idea is that the salt particles in the air will reflect the sun’s rays and could cool things down, according to physicist Alan Gadian, a senior research lecturer at the School of Earth and the Environment at the University of Leeds, UK. He makes the argument in a BBC News op ed piece that time is running out and that “cloud whitening” is a solution that should soon be tested.  Yikes!  I like my skies blue, thank you.  And in Baltimore we have enough cloudy, hazy days.  Hope there’s enough time to come up with another solution.

BBphone camera shot of my nightstand

Shot with a Blackberry

Last night I was playing with the camera on my Blackberry and shot this pic of the stack of books on my nightstand.  Swear, I didn’t arrange anything.  This is how they happened to be. First thing I noticed was the clarity of the image from a phone camera — especially the legibility of the text.  Next, I noticed how true the colors came out. Then I laughed when I saw the odd combination of books.

WATCH: Mel Brooks’s 1963 funny short, “The Critic”

Check out Mel Brooks’s 1963 film short, The Critic, now on YouTube.

Brooks created and narrated this animated short, which earned him an Academy Award in 1964.  It’s a fun, clever satire on “modern art.”

Also, great graphics and soundtrack.  A quick watch.   Thanks to Steven Heller, whose blog, The Daily Heller, at Print magazine, uncovered this gem.