LIfe Savers and Citrus Smells

Deciding what kind of photographer you want to be is a very difficult decision. There are so many things possible and so many places you can go. Some are more lucrative than others and there comes the question of, "Do you pick one that makes money?", because the cool ones pay like shit. There's very little money to be made in photojournalism, and fine art is hit or miss. Yet these are the fields I'm drifting towards. I'm most drawn to photojournalism because of the human-interest aspect. I want to take important pictures that make a difference in the world when I grow up. Which is all fine and dandy but rather difficult. And to top that off, for the past year I've been shooting artsy fartsy pictures. Great… so what do I do?

I think the answer lies somewhere in that vast middle ground. Find something that makes you happy and find a way to live by it.

This week I was told that a piece I created could be sold for $150, which is good because I've never been as proud of anything, ever. It was a wintergreen oil transfer of a self-portrait based on the painting "nude female with a green shawl" by Kathe Kollwitz. It was shot for an assignment where we were supposed to create a photograph based on or inspired by a painting. I did it pretty well but I wanted it to have a more painterly quality so a friend suggested a glue transfer because it would be pretty raw. When I brought it up to my professor she explained the wintergreen oil process. I also found a craigslist forum about it that was very helpful.

Original Painting

It's a very simple process. You need a Xerox copy of the image you want to transfer. Inkjet doesn't work as well because the paper absorbs the ink whereas a Xerox uses toner, which is a powder. The oil and the powder create the transfer ink. I transferred onto watercolor paper, but apparently you can do it on anything. Tape the paper down, then tape the Xerox face down to the paper where you want it. Then coat the back of the image with the oil and rub it with a piece of cloth until the image is as strong on the watercolor paper as desired. You can peel up a corner to check every now and then, just be sure to place it back down in the right place. It'll be wet so don't touch it for a while. You should probably wear some gloves as well and definitely do it in a well ventilated area.

My Photograph

I showed mine around and got a lot of good feedback and suggestion for what else I could use. A friend of mine has been doing this for a while but she's been using Citrasolv which is a natural cleaning supply that does the same thing except it smells like oranges instead of life savers. I've been on the lookout for the past week and finally found some at Gristedes. I played around with it this weekend and it’s not going as well as the wintergreen oil did. I made a big print for the class critique but it got strange lines from my nails and I didn’t have the strength to make it dark enough. I’m going to show the smaller print that I made last week in class and I’m interested to see what my classmates have to say.

My Transfer

Plus, I’ve convinced my Photoshop professor to let me work on this for my final project for his class for the rest of the semester. In which case, everyone is getting some ballin Christmas presents this year.

Tuppence, Tuppence, Tuppence a Bag

On Sunday I took advantage of the lovely fall day and wandered around Manhattan. One of my favorite people at FIT, Louis Lucci, and his friends were feeding birds in Bryant Park as part of a project for Parsons. When I originally heard about it, I jumped at the opportunity to help. I love birds. I have a giant pinhole camera full of feathers I want to use to create a Peter Beard-esque piece. Rats with wings… pffff. I, of course, showed up late, but we kept it going for an extra hour, moving around the park, making friends with small children and small animals.

A couple and their grandchildren were eating cheese doodles at a near by table and decided to participate, rather then waste their own tasty snack. They even said that next time they come to the park they’re going to bring their own seeds, since the kids loved it so much. Perfect, spreading the joy.

Lately, I find myself shooting with a lot of longer exposures. The ‘Night’ series were 7 to 10 second long exposures, with a tripod. I prefer without. I like the blur and the sense of movement, especially for these. We see birds walking down the sidewalk next to us in New York, which doesn’t seem strange, but it is! Birds are supposed to fly and sing and wake up early to eat worms, not walk down the street eating hot dogs and Styrofoam. American culture has not only taken over a large portion of the human race but now birds are being sucked in! Can you imagine if the birds of today pulled a Hitchcock... think about it.

I also made pit stops at ICP, the Apple store, a Verizon store, Tents and Trails, and City Hall Park. I was then attacked by the angriest mosquito that has ever existed. Another troubled winged individual who grew up in the big bad city, but that's a story for another day.

The Beginning of a Beautiful Relationship

Slacking and fear of not knowing what to say has brought me to the point of no return and now I MUST begin blogging. Because I want to build my own website and don’t want to just just plug my images into a generic template the delay in getting a website up is becoming detrimental. So I begin here. My mom always told me I was a good writer but you know that they have to say that and I’m concerned that I wont have anything important to say on a regular bases. But I’m going to try with all my might to add photographs everyday... alright... every couple days... and hopefully someday, everyday. Photography is my language. Photography is how I express how I feel and what I think and who I am. This will be a learning experience for sure, but an important one that I'm looking forward to sharing with you all. 

So for now, here are my images that will be on display on November 19th at the Fashion Institute of Technology. The third semester BFA show will be having a reception that night and we would love for everyone to come see our hard work. 

Thanks.