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Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category

Filling the Well

Posted in Art, Goddess, Money, Myth, Photography, sculpture, tagged , , , on December 15, 2011| 4 Comments »

She is hidden there–under the stairs– a beauty in white marble lulled to sleep by the water flowing next to her. She is the keeper of wishes and the goddess of the wishing well. The coins sparkle under ripples. She is warmed with pink stone, and if you choose to sit with her, it will be at a respectful distance, back to back.

It is her quiet company I seek sometimes when I am feeling overwhelmed or drawn out or lacking in some way. Visiting the well replenishes me and restores some clarity, presence and grace to an otherwise hectic life.

Join me for a moment:

Wishing Well Fountain at the Boulder Library – YouTube.

Wishing Well Fountain at the Boulder Library–from above – YouTube

And why not toss in a coin, make a wish~

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Mermaid’s Afternoon

Posted in Art, Myth, Photography, Writing, tagged , , , on December 2, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Life on land comes at a cost…

[Photo by Michael Eastman, as found on Fauxology]

Fable Of The Mermaid And The Drunks by Pablo Neruda – YouTube.

(Read by Ethan Hawke, from the soundtrack of IL POSTINO)

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Fable of the Mermaid and the Drunks

All these men were there inside
when she entered, utterly naked.
They had been drinking, and began to spit at her.
Recently come from the river, she understood nothing.
She was a mermaid who had lost her way.
The taunts flowed over her glistening flesh.
Obscenities drenched her golden breasts.
A stranger to tears, she did not weep.
A stranger to clothes, she did not dress.
They pocked her with cigarette ends and with burnt corks,
and rolled on the tavern floor in raucous laughter.
She did not speak, since speech was unknown to her.
Her eyes were the color of faraway love,
her arms were matching topazes.
Her lips moved soundlessly in the coral light,
and ultimately, she left by that door.
Hardly had she entered the river than she was cleansed,
gleaming once more like a white stone in the rain;
and without a backward look, she swam once more,
swam toward nothingness, swam to her dying.

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Mermaid’s Morning

Posted in Art, Creativity, Earth, Myth, Photography, tagged , on December 2, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Dive in with me, my kelp forest can be lonely…

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Musical Movie Candy Part 1-Marie Antoinette

Posted in Art, Creativity, Film, Music, Photography, tagged , , , , on November 6, 2011| 3 Comments »

Behold one of my favorite scenes, favorite movies, favorite soundtracks:

Marie Antoinette – I Want Candy – YouTube.

You want candy? I want candy! I realized today that some of my favorite musical movie scenes have fantastical CANDY themes. So I decided to bring you as many as I could as part of a series. I can’t explain it. Maybe candy is inherently whimsical and inspires great film. I’m not sure I care.

Please just delight in the masterpieces I have presented you today. You simply must watch the video above; I have seen a lot of artistic movies and this scene stands out as one of the most memorable.  And yes, there’s a point…what if a teenage girl were running your country? (Of course if you watched the film you’d know it was really the foreign war–by which I mean the American Revolution–that was bankrupting the country.)

Now click here  for a stunning collection of stills from the film. Pure eye candy! I can’t encourage you strongly enough. Click! click! click!

Utter gorgeousness! Delicious! You must witness this rococo masterpiece of a film! Please validate my excessive use of exclamation points! This atmospheric character study was directed by Sophia Coppola, director of Lost in Translation. She is the woman who introduced us to Scarlett Johansson and, incidentally, ran an art gallery at UMass while I was there in the late nineties. I even met her briefly as part of a questionable film project we wound up shooting in her gallery. (As I recall the exhibit included a soundscape that repeated phrases like “Everything’s plas-tic, fan-tas-tic…Bubble chowder!” Even then she was intrigued by creating atmospheres with music and film. Trust her judgement…on the former, if not the latter.

Lest you think I am done, mais non! Attendez! This movie inspired one of my all time favorite Vogue covers as well, shot by master photographer Annie Leibovitz:

Here is an excerpt from “Annie Leibovitz: Life Through A Lens” which shows her process during the Vogue photoshoot for this Marie Antoinette:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNyIUlra9LU

Enjoy!

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Is this yummy or what?

Read Musical Movie Candy Part Two–Hedwig’s Sugar Daddy

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Fluorite Rocks!

Posted in Art, Creativity, Earth, Photography, Science, tagged , , , on November 5, 2011| 3 Comments »

There are a ton of reasons why I love fluorite. One, it’s a gorgeous mineral.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fluorite-Quartz-226207.jpg

Two, it comes in rainbow colors. Three, it feels soothing to have it around.

Four, it’s good for your teeth, and five, certain types of fluorite actually glow in the dark!

Can you see the unusual way the light moves through this crystal? Fluorite works with light in a very different way than most other minerals. According to The Beading Gem’s Journal:

Just recently China put on display in Wenchang, Hainan, the world’s largest luminous “pearl”. These are not really pearls as we know them but a rare kind of glow in the dark (phosphorescent) fluorite. The Chinese call them legendary luminous pearls or yemengzhu and believe touching one will bring good luck and fortune. The first yemengzhu fluorite was discovered in a Guangdong tungsten mine back in 1982. Since then, new and larger deposits have allowed several giant pearls to be made. This latest, the largest so far, has been valued at 2.2 billion yuan or about $331 million.

"This giant luminous pearl specimen, which weighs in at 6 tonnes and is 1.6 m (5 feet) high, took 3 years to grind into a sphere! " --from The Beading Gems Journal

Six, apparently it is good luck…and is supposed to aid in the development of intuition and creativity.

Mostly though, I just think it is captivating and I could stare at it for hours…

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Here is a video of the giant luminous pearl. (Yeah, sorry, it’s in Chinese.)
西瓜波值 22 億　唔係 啩 – YouTube

And since they oddly chose not to show the five foot phosphorescent bead actually glowing, here is a very rough approximation of what it would look like. (Wait for it…!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F-JubniQ68

[Laugh all you like, but I dare you to find a better video of glowing fluorite anywhere on the internet. ]

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Are there any particular minerals you seem to have a fondness for?

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Piano Keys and Snowdrops–Jazz Legend Cecil Taylor

Posted in Art, Music, Photography, Spirituality/Religion, tagged , , , on October 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »

The first snow arrived and now the melting water drops are playing percussion on my skylight. It’s reminding me of free jazz master Cecil Taylor on piano, when I saw him play one cold winter’s day in Amherst.

Cecil Taylor in a brilliant blur

[Visit Photographer Mary Gaston’s Flicker page  (some rights reserved)]

Free jazz requires you to learn how to listen to it–unless you, like most babies, love it straight away. You have to learn to love it as a wall of sound, or a texture, and let go of expectation from one minute to the next. For me it’s an exercise in zen. It is pure listening, with each moment unique to my ear. It is a physically felt experience, and as different notes and tones hit different pieces of my body, it is as if I were that keyboard with all different keys. From the number of free jazz shows I attended –and dating a DJ, there were quite a few– I’ve learned that they are like a pure exchange of energy from the musician to me. If the man playing is filled with light and has a good heart, as in the case of Cecil Taylor, I feel it. If he is angry, or sad, or stagnated, I feel that. The music fills the room and entrains me to it, and as this musician pours himself out into pure sound, I become immersed in it until I am the same. It is as close as you can get to pure communication.

Try to listen by feel, and watch how Mr. Taylor dances as he plays. I think it makes more sense that way.

Remarkable for a man in his eighties, isn’t he?

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Were you able to let go of the need for continuity and just experience it as it happened?

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Ode to Eggy Weggs! Egg O’Lantern with a Side of Clockwork Orange

Posted in Art, Film, Photography, tagged , , , , on October 13, 2011| Leave a Comment »

The eggs! They just continue to fascinate. I started to crack one this morning and instead I made a jack-o-lantern. Actually, an EGG-O-LANTERN.

The shell had cracked and fallen off but the inner membrane remained intact. (Honestly, such a week of egg weirdness!) You shine the light through and the delicate creature glows in perfect Halloween style.

I was almost expecting to hear ‘Ode to Joy’ erupt into my own personal movie soundtrack, I was so excited. Speaking of the old Ludwig Van, let’s visit Alex in A Clockwork Orange and see what one ought to do with all these mysterious egg-like creatures:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89GSUhzT3Ow

What’s that, Alex? Smash them? How terribly anti-social of you! Now be a good boy and take your pills. There you are. All better then?

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Here are a few more of my photos of the lovely Eggy Wegg. I’m curious if you like them, so click that button on your favorites:

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Do you look for beauty in the mundane?

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Alternate Uses for Egg Whites–Digital Art Contest #1!

Posted in Art, Contest, Digital Art, Photography, tagged , , , , , on October 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »

During last week’s pie baking frenzy I was inundated with extra egg whites. Like a good like baker, I saved them and googled “alternate uses for egg whites.” I should have made meringues. I could have slimed them on my face. A nice healthy egg white omelet awaited me. But no. I abandoned them in my refrigerator, with the best of intentions, until today. And I discovered neglected egg whites dry into beautiful topaz crystals.

So anyway, this cracked me up. Naming the photos was particularly fun…”Reconstituted Egg”? Fantastic.

Now it’s your turn. Take these photos, do something with them and enter the final products in my Digital Art Contest #1 -Alternate Uses for Egg Whites.

Submit by Saturday, October 22.

Winners announced the week following. First place wins a post dedicated to you and your work. Contact me with any questions or if you need help transferring files.

Thanks! I can’t wait to see what inspired art work comes of this!

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