Kenetic art of Peter Jansen

PETER JANSEN / REX FEATURES 

The Telegraph in the UK did a photo piece on the very cool n clever art of Peter Jansen. They come off as being comparable to a sequence of overlayed freeze frame photos.Only in 3D. 

According to Peter Jensen's web site, called Human Motions. The piece above, Runner, Bronze/Chrome, 2007 is a 6 x 17,5 x 15 cm sculpture, Limited Edition of 25, and is priced at 3000 euro's or $4808 CAD.

They are quite clever and worth a look.

Mike

Andrew Heatherington On Assignment

Photographer Andrew Heatherington blogged a few days agoabout a week while on assignment for Marie Claire magazine shooting a feature. He posted a 6:30 video of the week in a series of stills set to music. 

If you follow the blog you will have seen some of the behind the scenes pics from this particular gig before as I posted them during my travels, although I never alluded to the client or assignment specifics. As with any gig of this nature there is always a multitude of variables that can work for and against your favor. This one was no different; between last minute changes in scheduling, limiting locations, time constraints, weather, bureaucracy, traffic, baggage delays, bad food etc etc. But I love it all and I like nothing more then the challenge of being on the road, the good and the bad.

I will admit I really don't like flying - the air pressure changes hurt as much as the whole crashing thing bothering me. And couldnt imagine doing that 4-5 times in one week, but at one time not too long ago, that lifestyle was what I craved.

And maybe still do a bit. I'm just more realistic now.

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Scoble's alternative Suggested User List for Twitter

Anyone on Twitter has probably seen the SUL or the 'suggested user list'. It is full of really baffling and useless people to follow for the most part.  If you are starting out on Twitter thats not the place to follow too many useful people. And yet it is there.

PeoplePets.com is on the list ("Meet celebrity pets, see the cutest photos and create your pet's profile!"), but the @gatesfoundation (Bill and Melinda Gates) isn't. In terms of sports people, Shaq is but the outspoken @mcuban who owns the Dallas Mavericks and HDNet isn't. Britney Spears is on there but @johnperrybarlow (wrote lyrics for the Grateful Dead, co-founded EFF) isn't. CNN’s @AmanpourCNN (Christiane Amanpour) isn't on the list, but Ali Nejad, host of NBC's Poker After Dark and is a Fox News Red Eye panelist is.  The comparisons can go on...

That's not to say that there are not some good choices on there, but a good deal of it is mostly fluff. Some people like following fluff...  

Since @scobleizer (Robert Scoble), who is undeniably - whether you like him or not  and most people do like him - a force majeur in pumping up all things internet, social media, blogging and tech, it is surprising he isn't on there. And yes, he is grumpy about not being on the SUL.  But his list of who is missing from the SUL on his blog, while somewhat tech centric, does make several points.

Writing this, it dawned on me that the SUL is Twitter's version of the Explore page on Flickr. That has nothing to do with reality either, and its algorithms are shrouded in mystery.

My way of finding people is this: if looking for celebrities, famous people etc, find someone you like, say @wilw (Wil Wheaton), and see who they follow. If someone incredibly busy has 10,000 followers - or a million - and is following 30, who are those 30? What are they adding to the discourse that he or she follows them? If @namehere thinks those people have something to say, and I like @namehere, maybe I should check their followers out. Doesn't always work -especially for those SEO types who have 10.000 followers and follow everyone back, but it has several times in the past and I have found some fascinating people as a result. 

Either ditch the SUL, or re-vamp how people get on it.  Because right now, it's adding nothing.

Mike

Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies

If you are having some creative challenges, use Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies. This magic 8 ball like interface on Brian Eno's page to maybe jump start your toughts and perhaps take it in an unexpected direction. Not sure how many there are, but it could help a writer staring at a blank page in Word, a photographer stumped on the direction for a shoot, and might even be helpful for people who work at... jobs.

  "Look at the order in which you do things"

From Wikipedia: Brian Eno described his Roxy Music tenure as important to his career: "As a result of going into a subway station and meeting Andy [saxophonist Andy Mackay], I joined Roxy Music, and, as a result of that, I have a career in music. If I'd walked ten yards farther, on the platform, or missed that train, or been in the next carriage, I probably would have been an art teacher now".

Mike Wood Photography

Blue Radio from June 2009 performance

 Greg Yarker

More shots from Greg and the guys in Blue Radio from their show 19-6-2009, at the  Eastside Bar n Grill on Hamilton Road in London.   You can find Greg Yarker on Twitter now too.

Jim Fletcher and Joey Ace

Mike Thomson and Greg Yarker

 

Greg Yarker

Mike Thomson

Mike Thomson

Mike Thomson and Frank Calabrese

Mike Thomson, Clarence Poirier, Greg Yarker, 

Jim Perry, & Jim Fletcher

Greg Yarker

Frank Calabrese and Clarence Poirier

And because this one looked old school Blues in black and white, one last shot of Joey Ace on the pedal steel guitar.

Joey Ace

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Through Filmy eyes

Labatt Pyramid #1, 2009

Last weekend, after a coffee at the Red Roaster, I went for a walk with Ryn. I bent her ear, as I am apt to do, about pausing shooting for a while and she said in a round about sort of way that I should change it up. Get some creativity going.  Film would be creatively different..

A couple of years ago, I bought a rangefinder looking 35mm camera. At Goodwill for about $8.00 or so. It had a Sears m35sf badge on the body and no information could be found about it online. f3.8 fixed 38mm lens. No focusing and would accept either 100 or 400 iso film. Flash. Depth of field settings: 1, 2 or 3 people or mountains. Despite my not being sure what to do if I wanted to shoot 4 people, or flat terrain, I decided to give 'er a try. I loaded in a couple of AA batteries and found the flash would fire. I bought some film at Walmart.

Green Windows #1, 2009

Having nothing to lose aside from a few bucks for the film and processing, I put a roll of Kodak 400 speed colour (all Walmart had) in the Sears special. It must have been ten years since I last loaded film. This body was well used, and I thought the sprockets were not taking up the film. So I had to open the back and expose a couple of frames to confirm it had in fact picked up. Oh well.

  Crossing to Arts #1, 2009

It was later in the afternoon when I ended up by the Labatt Visual Arts building at UWO -where Mallory and I crashed a gallery opening in the spring. Clear blue skies - and the sun was in the right part of the sky. Interesting angles on the buildings too.

Crossing to Arts #2, 2009

My eye would see a cool building corner, and think - from hundreds of thousands of photos done on the Canons, that if I zoomed in it would be perfect. Putting the Sears to my eye, the scene composed itself differently. No zoom and way more in the way of backing up and moving around and re-composing with a 38mm lens. Some shots I just didn't bother with.

Sprinklers and benches, 2009

I had to slow down. I was only going to shoot one roll of 24 at max and had wasted probably 4-5 frames loading. So each one had to count. Be different. Not knowing what the results would be right away was something I had forgotten about. Adds an element of tension. Anticipation. And then I had to wait for the next day for Costco to develop it and burn it on CD and for me to go get it an hour later... and for me to take it home and load it into Lightroom... I guess the last ten years are an aberration in the 160yrs+ of photography, but you do get used to instant digital results.

 Green windows #2, 2009

So what did I get out of this experience? Aside from the results, I found that it was a good to shake it up and try a 'new' gadget. I wouldn't rely on a film camera for day-to-day use. But it is creative to play with one.  I also need to find somewhere that scans in better than Costco's 120dpi to jpeg Noritsu machine. It was cheap at $6 for the whole deal, but not good enough.

Next? Missy loaned me her very cool Canon AE-1.  I just need some cheap -even expired- film. This may be fun, but I also have no budget for it right now.

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Robert Mapplethorpe: Perfection in Form

Ajitto, 1981 by Mapplethorpe

There is a show at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, Italy (home to David) called Perfection in Form. On display together are 100 works by Robert Mapplethorpe and Michaelangelo. That would be a cool show to see. It's on through January, 2010.



(embedded video visible on my blog not on Facebook.)

- via  Paul Laster at Flavorwire.

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

WTD #781

What the Duck #781

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Photography on Hiatus

 Why? Self doubt. Not seeming to get anywhere with my photography. Be that selling prints, making money photographing people, or being creative in a compressed time frame. I can't seem to pick up a camera with any gusto. It's a chore. I shot 100GB or more of photos last year - and the year before too. I maybe only shot 30GB this year.

Lack of follow through from inspiration to completion. I just can't get idea A and subject B matched up in a "Wow I want to do that with you! that rocks!!" sort of way. Getting people to commit to working with me in an actually-showing-up fashion is tough right now, let alone my having the enthusiasm I have had in the past.

I have had successes this past year. What I think were successes, and other do too ( I think), including the Starbucks at Christmas and a month long exhibition in a restaurant in May, and some cool photoshoots, but nothing further and no real sales to speak of. Can't make that leap. I need the equivalent of someone to find me sitting at the counter in Schwab's - a la Lana Turner minus the figure n good looks :)

I also find I have little patience for people who have no sense of time or of commitment. I find if there is no money changing hands, they think little of canceling, delaying etc., and what that might do to me and my day. Working Monday to Friday again, my days off are precious to me. More and more, I find I do not suffer fools gladly.

I also am really screwed financially at the moment and need to get that sorted out. I need to move again before November 1st and don't have much in the way of options as to where I go. I can't afford much right now and with five weeks to go have not found anywhere. All that makes staring at Photoshop or being pumped to shoot a beautiful woman/ landscape/ praying mantis really difficult. My heart just isn't in it. Which I find really troubling.

So for the time being, aside from anything I have committed to doing in the near future, I am not going to take on anything new. I am stopping photos. That means no approaching anyone to shoot, or agreeing with anyone who wants to do shoots with me. Most certainly no more free shoots.

If some idea blows me away - or someone does, then I might change my mind. But really, I don't see that happening in the short term. Feel free to pitch something, you never know, but it is going to have to be killer. Don't expect too much in the way of random photos either as I have no point n shoot to carry around.

I don't like going all Emo and whining - I have done that to too many good friends already, so I will stop. But I do appreciate the thoughts and comments I have got so far from people telling me I am nuts for thinking of stopping photography altogether. I think its nuts too on several levels.

Photography is so much of who I now am, the void will be a big one. I will still blog, and will be back shooting at some point.

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

The Masters in the Art of Living

Sextet of Standpipes, 2009

The masters in the art of living make little distinction between their work and their play, their labor and their leisure, their minds and their bodies, their information, their recreation, their love and their religion. They hardly know which is which, they simply pursue their vision of excellence at whatever they do, leaving others to decide whether they are working or playing. 

—James A. Michener

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Abandoned Knights

 Abandoned scores, #1

The long abandoned score board that hung above centre ice at the Ice House hockey rink here in London, Ontario. Built in 1964, the building was known as the London Gardens for thirty years until it was re-branded as The Ice House by new owners in 1994. In it's time, the building played host to KISS three times, Van Halen, AC/DC, and  Johnny Cash (and was where he proposed to June). For 15 mins in 1965, the Rolling Stones played too -before a riot broke out and the police canceled the rest of the show.  

  Abandoned scores, #2

Most notably, The Ice House/London Gardens was the home to the London Knights  Ontario Hockey Association team for about 37 years up to the point that their new home in downtown London - at the John Labatt Centre, was completed in 2002.

The last score board to be used there (there were no LEDs and circuit boards in 1964) now sits alone in a partially fenced in area behind the building. I wonder how many goals, penalties, and periods the sign tracked before it went dark one last time? 

Abandoned Scores, #3

The only action it follows now are the glacial races of it's mollusk inhabitants. Proof that slow and steady wins in the end after all.

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Flaunt Magazine and the screwing of a photographer

Photographer Melissa Rodwell over on Fashion Photography Blog posted the above video along with this lengthy blog called Getting Screwed by an 'Ultra Hip' Magazine which is about being shafted by Flaunt Magazine. That post is definitely worth reading for the words and the cool bw gothic beach pics, and the BTS video - shot by Dimitrios Papagiannis and Tim Glass from The Eye Lab is worth a look.

The video is about 22 mins long and starts off with Melissa Rodwell talking about the shoot the night before: what's planned, how it came about, and so on. At about 5:28, the video switches to the beach near Malibu and the actual shoot. I enjoyed the 'how to', seeing whats involved in a large production, and what a rented $30,000 Hasselblad can to for a pic. :)

Long story short, this shoot, which was done out of pocket for tear sheets, was supposed to be 16 pages in Flaunt. And it ended up being just two pages and only a half dozen 2in x 2in pics. And Flaunt didn't even bother to tell her. She found out when it hit the news stands. Lots of not cool. And likely some bridge burning. But beautiful images.  

The video can be watched wide screen and in HD on YouTube if you prefer. I did. :)

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Ben Stiller meets Ryan Seacrest to talk Twitter

Ben Stiller YouTube video where he is trying to get Ryan Seacrest to give him a shout out on Twitter. heheh.
 And I'm following Ben, not Ryan.

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

If the video doesn't show on Facebook, then check out the original post link below

Hubble's New Eyes on the Universe

 Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team

 NASA released the first images from the newly installed Wide Field Camera 3 that was launched on STS-125 back in May. With these images, it's fair to say that the 4th servicing mission to Hubble - originally canceled, can be deemed a success. As astronaut and space walker Mike Massimino said in the news conference today, his first reaction when seeing the images was that he was glad he didnt break anything when installing the new camera. :)

From NASA's Hubble site:

These four images are among the first observations made by the new Wide Field Camera 3 aboard the upgraded NASA Hubble Space Telescope. The image at top left shows NGC 6302, a butterfly-shaped nebula surrounding a dying star. At top right is a picture of a clash among members of a galactic grouping called Stephan's Quintet. The image at bottom left gives viewers a panoramic portrait of a colorful assortment of 100,000 stars residing in the crowded core of Omega Centauri, a giant globular cluster. At bottom right, an eerie pillar of star birth in the Carina Nebula rises from a sea of greenish-colored clouds.

If you want to see even larger versions of these images, wander over to here at the Hubble Site News Center.

That is one Kick Ass Camera.

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Labour Day shots, Part 3

Hydrant with golden flowers, 2009

Going down an empty road on my way back to the apartment, I saw this fire hydrant with a lush contrasting backdrop. Perhaps freshly painted, the hydrant was a vibrant chrome yellow with blue accents. In the edge of the treeline behind the hydrant, I noticed there were a few golden yellow flowers scattered here and there. Made me think of a cartoon character who sees stars after being bonked on the head. Or a wand being waved in a Disney cartoon. Or perhaps someone blowing on a dandelion, the colour of the hydrant scattering in the wind.

*posted at 09-09-09 at 09:09hrs :)

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Blogger updated its interface for posting

Poking around in the Blogger settings a little while ago, I found Blogger, as part of its Tenth Anniversary, had updated its Post editor. And as a part of this upgrade, my two pet peeves with using it have been resolved.

First and foremost, the minuscule window in which you have to write is now corner dragging re-sizable. That perhaps made my entire day. When I wrote a post with images, it was a pain in the butt to scroll while editing for readability and layout . With the new window that is no longer a problem. The size is saved in a per-user, per-blog preference too. :)

And Peeve #2 has also been fixed. When uploading images to the blog, they got dumped by default initially right at the top. And then I had to cut/paste them to where I wanted.  And it was not precise. This too is no longer rediculame.  

While playing around with the editor, I decided to revamp slightly my page. Added an image of Miss Lizzz up top with the banner, tweaked the font colours a touch, picked a different Twitter gadget on the right. Made labels visible and one or two other things.  I will need to go through the links on the right to see which are dead at some point soon too.

Full info on the new editor, and the other features, can be found in this Blogger help article.

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Labour Day shots, part 2

Electricity Pylons near London Ontario, 2009

Growing up in Canada, but with parents who were originally from the UK, I came to know these hydro towers as 'pylons' (pie-lonz). We had one at the end of the road where I grew up in Toronto.

I still refer to them as pylons. The orange traffic pylons are actually traffic cones. :)

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Labour Day shots pt 1

For Pepin & Drouin, 5 CER, 2009

I have been stressing over the need to move by the end of October (leads always appreciated if you are in London or St Thomas) and over money in general - or the lack there of. So shooting photos has been sparse. I have not been able to get in the zone and have been, I was going to say disappointed, but that wouldn't be right. Non-plussed by my efforts this summer might be more accurate.

So on the way back to the apartment from the house sitting I was doing for the past couple of weeks for my newly married friends Leanne and Chris, I decided I would break out the camera and see what turned up.

It was, by no means, a direct route home.

The above photo was taken at the Husky truck stop on the 401 just East of London, Ontario. Maj. Yannick Pepin, 36, and Cpl. Jean-François Drouin, 31, of #5 Combat Engineer Regiment, Canadian Forces, were killed Sunday in Afghanistan when an IED hit their armoured vehicle in the Dand district southwest of Kandahar city around noon local time. Radio Canada had reporters in the convoy when it happened and they said that the LAV was flipped on its roof from the blast.

They are the 128th and 129th Canadian soldiers to die in Afghanistan since the mission began in 2002.

More photos from today to follow.


Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Changed email address.

As I had regularly been encountering frequent glitches with email getting lost (sent and received) with my old mikewoodphoto address; and a considerable amount of spam thats getting caught and not caught in the filters; along with legit emails getting swept up into the spam folder, I have abandoned it.

My new email address is not much different : mikewoodphotography [AT] gmail [DOT] com. And I was quite surprised it was still available given there are a couple of US photographers with my name as well.

Gives a bit more consistency to the brand with URL, blog and email all containing the same element.

Please use that email to contact me. That or via Facebook email if you you are on there and are a contact of mine. :)

Sorry for any confusion if you were trying to get in touch.

Oh and you can still follow me on Twitter. That hasn't changed.


Mike

Mike Wood Photography

No smoke? There is fire.

Uncredited Image via CityTV.com website

Guy wants to bum a smoke on the all night Yonge St bus in Toronto. AKA the Vomit Comet, or Zoo Bus. When he is rebuffed, he punches the woman he asked in the face. Then sets the bus on fire.

Seriously? What the hell is wrong with Toronto. The worst thing you ever saw when I took the bus in university very late at night after the subway stopped running was the aforementioned barfing, and shady characters. But there was no level of stupidity to mirror this.

Makes me embarassed I grew up in Toronto.

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Self vs Self

The other day I came across the blog Self vs. Self by Australian artist Hazel Dooney who works primarily in enamels and also in water colours. And she will be coming to Toronto in the spring of 2010 for a show. Not sure where yet though.

From her profile:

Hazel Dooney has emerged as one of the Asia-Pacific region's most
controversial young female artists. According to the Australian Financial Review, she "walks the razor's edge between respect and celebrity in today's art world" (September,2006). Her work in various media has hung in solo and group shows Australia, the USA, the UK and Japan and is included in private, corporate and institutional collections in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, the UK, and the USA.

Her blog, very much a personal journal of the challenges and successes of being an artist in Australia, is worth a look. Reading her blog this week, several things she wrote echoed with me. Especially one post on being in a McJob and not being an artist full time. She was, five years ago, where I see myself now.

She can also be followed on twitter as DooneyStudio.


Mike

Mike Wood Photography