Photopaintings: A Collection of Handpainted Photographs-Cheryl Machat Dorskind

I have spent the last few weeks preparing for a gallery exhibition,“Photopaintings: A Collection of Handpainted Photographs.” There are 30 images in the show. The reception for my exhibit is Friday and I am looking forward to a lively event.

For those who do not know me, I am a fine-art photographer known for my handpainted photographs and personal approach to children’s portraiture. I have written two books, The Art of Photographing Children, and The Art of Handpainting Photographs. For more biographic information, please visit my web site at www.cherylmachatdorskind.com.

I have been exhibiting my Photopaintings for over eighteen years. I will attach a few pictures of my fine art. Each photograph is printed the traditional darkroom (wet) enlargement method. The prints are custom hand printed onto fiber photographic paper and then enhanced with layers of oil paints.

This week also kicks off the third year of my newspaper column, “Picture This,” for The Southampton Press.

I teach Painting Photographs at PPSOP and will be teaching a two day intensive in Westhampton Beach, New York this fall (September 16-18). I also teach Photographing Children at PPSOP, another passion of mine. I hope some of you will join me.

Best regards,
Cheryl Machat Dorskind

Prague and Chicago

Last month I was in Prague doing a workshop and in early June I was in Chicago doing a workshop. Workshops have always been and will always be "surprise parties" as far as I am concerned at least the workshops I teach, since I honestly have little idea of what to expect and often times an even smaller idea of what we as a class will be shooting over the course of the workshop. This approach may seem a bit "unprofessional" but I know most if not all of my students have benefitted immensely from 'impulse' versus an orchestrated and planned shoot. Case in point was upon showing up in Prague, we learned of both the Kayaking Championships and the Prague Marathon. It was never my intention to shoot either prior to booking Prague as a workshop location, but as the students will tell you, both of these venues provided some welcomed and unexpected surprises photographically speaking. As we all lined the 'blue carpet' at the start of the race, (we arrived an hour before race time) we were all presented with the opportunity to shoot some great marathon photos. Casting some great shadows onto this carpet were other spectators behind us and to the sides and WOW what a GRAPHIC opportunity this presented and as the runners came through this scene, I was ready with my 12-24mm, cropping the feet of one group of runners whilst the 'long' shadows add a graphic element as well as lead the eye to the running feet.

It was several weeks later while in Chicago, that another group of students and myself were on a 'mission' to shoot some of the most interesting 'head shots' of the many people who were attending that day's Gospel Festival being held at Millineum Park.

I told each student to focus their attention soley on frame filling compositions that showed ONLY the back of a person's head.

Shorlty after suggesting this 'assignment', it started to rain HARD and the umbrellas came up quicker than the Crocus on a warm February day! Switching my attention to the crowd I back off with my 70-200mm and frist made an image of 'pattern' at 100mm as you see here but was also quick to adjust my exposure, (f/16 at a 1/4 second with the help of a 4-stop ND filter) and then I went to work on this same colorful and patternly scene choosing to ZOOM the lens during my 1/4 second exposure and voila, another worthy stock shot of "inclement weather". Enjoy!

Bryan Peterson

Swallowtail

I had a great, unexpected photography experience a few weeks ago. I came out of the grocery store to find a beautiful swallowtail butterfly walking across the parking lot near my vehicle. I stood and admired it for a bit, noticing that it didn't seem to be able to fly. I put my hand down onto the ground and it climbed aboard so I decided to take it home with me. I put him down on the passenger seat and headed home. When we arrived (at this point I found him inside my purse, lol) I placed him in the shade on one of the irises in my iris garden. For the next day and a half I photographed him in the garden, watching for changes in the light, moving him to different flowers, using different lenses, angles and points of view, really working the situation. I knew this was a rare opportunity. Around mid-morning on the second day he was gone when I went out to the garden. I like to think that he gained the strength he needed during his visit with me to continue on his journey. I made over 350 images while he was here, I'll attach a few samples (all of these were made with the Lensbaby 2.0 and macro kit).

The moral of my story is to grab shooting opportunities when they appear and to really work them!

Kathleen

A wedding photographer in OZ!

I wanted to share with you a few images from my recent trip down under to Australia a couple of weeks ago. I am primarily a wedding photographer for the past 34 years, but am very passionate about photography period. It is my hobby as well as my work. I enjoy seeing images no matter what the subject. My longtime favorite is chasing the light down the road...This is Landscape photography to me. Exploring areas where I may have never been before, but led there by he light.

The first pair of images that I'd like to share with you were taken 3 weeks ago in Australia. I was chasing the light as it made the rolling hills landscape just jump at me with depth and dimension. I was amazed at its simple beauty. All that I needed (in my mind) to complete the composition was a foreground, an element to be able to stop your eye from wondering around the scene. I pulled up into a small driveway off of the main road and walked up to the fence. I was wrapped up in the beauty of the scenery when, as I put the camera up to my eye, my shoulder was nudged. I turned and looked behind me to the left and there was a goat that had climbed up on the fence and was looking at me from eye level. Hi Billi! I now had company. I said hello and excused myself to continue shooting. the result was the next frame posted here. After the images were captured, I stayed and talked with Billi (Goat) for a while before having to head down the road as the light was only getting better.

I hope that you might consider joining me for either my Wedding class here at PPSOP or my course on posing people.

Cheers,

Ken Sklute
Canon Explorer of Light
www.KenSklute.com




"You can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself!"

Shut-up and SHOOT-UP!!!

Some of you may remember that time in the Venice-Workshop: despite the season it was cold and rainy. Who said it never rains in Italy?(LOL)

We were all bundled-up and heading out in the rain at 6 o’clock in the morning, but with an optimistic smile printed on our faces thinking, the sun will come out later, (yeah, right!)

As Bryan always points out, even unexpected and less-than-good weather conditions in a workshop can actually be an unexpected blessing in disguise (read: creative, unique photographs).

White, gloomy skies, not a single human being walking around in Venice’s Calle’ Venice (narrow streets), just us, the gondolas and the old buildings.

Think about it! What a great opportunity to concentrate on composition and unleash our creativity without for a moment being concerned by someone walking into the picture the moment we trigger our cameras. Can anyone ask for anything more?
Sure, a cappuccino and croissant, grazie!

In the first shot you can see me trying to stabilize the shot leaning against the arch and shooting-up. (No, it s not a stoned homeless person leaning against the wall in the vain attempt not to fall in the canal, LOL ).

I shot this closeup of the gondolas' ferro (the decorative front piece made of iron on this unique Italian boat), intending to isolate them graphically and at the same time include a soft (not in focus) background to give a little hint of the environment, making sure not to include any white sky, but still aiming up.

Although there is a bit of PhotoShop work in this photo, this is another good example of what getting on your knees can help you to achieve. Imagine how different this image would have looked if I was shooting from my natural viewpoint instead.

Remember, it’s all in your point of view!


Danilo

Centerpiece

João Biscainho, AZAP!(As Zoon as Possible)
From the 2 Stages exhibition at the Centro de Artes de Espectáculo de Portalegre.

Technorati: art installation, installation, visual art, art, contemporary art, vvoi

Quote of the day

One could say that our first performances were exactly as embarrassing to watch as only performance art can be. You know, when it comes to a point where the toes of the audience really start to hurt and everyone but the performers get soaking wet from sweating.

- Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset

Conclusion: no matter how bad the art, there is always hope. So before destroying and discouraging, relax. Think of the beautiful belly on this door, and of the time it took to grow. Respect that.

Pictures are of works by Elmgreen and Dragset: Belly Door (2006) and Powerless Structures, fig. 187 (2002)

Here is an interesting interview related to another work they made.

Technorati: performance, performance art, art installation, installation, visual art, art, contemporary art, vvoi

I've been busy cooking dinner for tonight and tomorrow so I can give my complete attention to the Boston/Yankees series starting tonight. At least I have the appropriate good luck footwear for the games.



They are just some quickie socks done in 2 strands of Heilo. I'm finishing up another pair and I estimate I have maybe 4 more pairs of thick socks to knit to use up all my DK weight yarn.

And now for some less boring knitting, here's my pitiful progress on the Selbustrikk gloves. I am looking forward to finishing because these gloves will look terrific with my dark gray wool coat.



I really need to sit down and force myself to knit more. I want to get working on the Halloween gloves and finish the Aran afghan some time before it gets cold here.

Sandia Crest

I am hoping to have the glove cuff to show you some time this week. I hope to get some serious knitting done during the Red Sox/Yankees series.

DH and I were complaining about how hot it was this morning and suddenly we realized there was somewhere we could go for a walk where it was much, much cooler.




This is the crest of the Sandia Mountains which overlook Albuquerque. The crest is around 10,700 feet and it is quite amazing what an extra 3000 feet will do to lower the temperature. It was a bit dark and rainy and unfortunately too slippery to walk over to the tram.

You can see most of Albuquerque in the distance.



This is called the steel forest and the lights on these radio towers are visible from my house and pretty much everywhere on both sides of the mountains for many miles.



The gift shop offers everything you might need, including oxygen.

Older

Just one remark (I can't seem to resist the theoretician's temptations of spoiling any pure, unintellectual fun). Notice the postal stamp on one of the postcards. The pleasure of seeing the "unmediated" pictures (although obviously the print suggests they are vintage publicity postcards for Paris venues) is blocked. There is, at first, a feeling of betrayal of the medium. Ah, this is not an image, it is just a postcard. It was used, handled. We are not in the presence of the original, of the source, but of some specific copy. "Specific" is in italics, because paradoxically the specificity is what, at first, appears to take away the uniqueness (aura) of the work.
But then arrives the second movement: the picture has a story. It was someone's. Someone mailed it to someone. There is even a hidden part to it! Also, the painted-on colors seem to gain depth, as they become the ideal mask, the part that doesn't lie, as it does not age, it is not a face, not a breast, it is merely the décor, the play, the mask, it is the surface that remains, it is the stamp, it is the frequency of color, nothing more, and strangely, this surface is what takes these bodies on a long and always illogical journey here.

Technorati: erotic art, photography, vintage photography, vintage pics, variete, art, contemporary art, vvoi

Edible Estates

Fritz Haeg has been recently creating edible landscape design. Or eatable landscaping. Or vegetable social gardening. Or call it what you wish. In any case, it's only with edible plants. And apparently that's just about the most in thing around these days. But that's not what I like most about it. The best part of it is its connection to the idea of creating a public space out of a private one. Haeg's transformation of space involves a community working on a private front lawn to transform it into a public space, a sort of a public vegetable garden.

My favorite fragment from a very interesting interview:

I am very interested in the real economics involved once you deviate from the commercial conventions of the art and design world.
Most of the work I have been doing never paid until recently. For years I supported myself mostly by teaching and some modest architecture fees for small projects. Now I teach occasionally and I support myself from (in descending order) architecture design fees from the few projects I do, artist commission fees from museums, occasional teaching salaries, speaking honorariums, writing, and a bit from the Sundown Schoolhouse. The amount I actually earn from any one of them varies wildly, so I do what I do and hope every thing balances out in the end. I’m always living right on the edge though. That uncertainty is the price of doing work that does not have a conventional market.

Scary. Scary.

It is also interesting to compare this to the type of question that has been recently raised in Portugal - about the illegal hortas, or vegetable gardens often in the perimeters of cities and often in public spaces, which are often seen as a horrible left-over of the Salazarist era. Today some people seem to have a different approach, considering this an important cultural and aesthetic heritage.
There is something anarchist about promoting the Estates and the hortas, that both attracts and repels me. Maybe it's the feeling that this "new aesthetics" is being forced on us the same way any attempted revolution imposes a new set of values as "universal" (notice, for instance, how in the interview the more reticent onlookers are seen as retrograde and "regressive").

Technorati: landscape art, landscape architecture, public art, installation, art, contemporary art, vvoi

Opening doors. Hand in Hand.

I never thought opening doors could be an erotic experience. And yet, the very form of a hand brings us to a very sensible-sensual situation. It's probably an alter ego thing. A Pygmalion thing. And, as all naturalist sculptures are, a somewhat creepy thing as well. This charming Hand-le was made by Naomi Thellier de Poncheveille.

(via)

Technorati: design, furniture, art, contemporary art, vvoi

Bingo

I thought I had it under control. The internet, after all, is not that difficult to move around. Not if you know what you're looking for. One does expect the unexpected, but to some extent. And then comes a site which just blows the lid off your expectations. I've had it happen to me several times, and this is one of them. i heart photograph probably only appeared on my radar now because I thought, well, it was about photography. Which it is. And its brilliant. And its curatorial eye is just damn good. It plays with the concept of photography as an art form, extending to basically any photographic work, whether it is manipulated or a documentation of an installation or anything that at a given point went through a lens. So while I'm working hard to make a show, you go ahead, and betray me. As you can see, it's worth it.

Stefania Galegati, Untitled (Dwarf 2)
Sannah Kvist, Untitled
Vibeke Tandberg, Mother+Dog, Variations #1
Koen Hauser, from Modische Atlas der Anatomie
Joel Tauber, My Lonely Tree

Adrian Nießler and Catrin Altenbrandt, from Um Was Es Nicht Geht
Melanie Bonajo, Bears
Kjersti Berg, Opp/Up
Yvonne Todd, Anonymous Cat

All images via i heart photograph.

Technorati: blog, blogs, photography, visual art, art, contemporary art, vvoi

I know this sounds really stupid but sometimes my stash annoys me. In particular my DK weight yarns annoy me because I never use them. I've decided to knit this yarn up as quickly as possible.



Here are some "8 hour socks" using 2 DK weight yarns. I figure on 3 to 4 full skeins for a pair of socks so I should have this yarn knit up pretty quickly, especially since there are lots of interesting baseball games to watch now. I finished the middle pair and started a pair with 2 skeins of red Heilo last night in the very exciting Angels/Yankees game that was on until almost midnight.



Peaches is still trying to figure out how to fit her enormous body in her pet bed.

Trying to make a frog fly

K’ung-fu-tzu (Confucius) by mi-mi (Mila Kalnitskaya and Micha Maslennikov)

Notice this is real.
Notice the starting point is water.
Notice the frog has no choice but to fly.
Notice she doesn't seem to care.
Notice we hardly have a way of knowing.

(via)


PS: From an interview about the performers in the various pictures:

Confucius is unequivocally a Shakespearian character. He is superb in tragic roles. If the project could continue, he would make a remarkable King Lear.

I was hoping to have part of my new project to show you by now. I am trying to become more skilled at charting out letters for knitting and I'm starting on some fun Halloween witch gloves with long cuffs that say "Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble". The quote is from Macbeth although I admit I always thought it was "bubble, bubble, toil and trouble".

I am learning that "N" is the biggest pain in the derriere to chart out. Still, I want to get the practice because I'd love to come up with a Christmas design with a Christmas carol charted out on some mittens. Anyway, I hope to have the Halloween gloves (with the quote from Macbeth) to show you next week.

I am not a fan of summer and I can't wait until the weather cools off! I find myself spending lots of time staring at pictures like this from one of our big snows last winter.

Hamlet Light - rehearsalsss

I am now going back to rehearsals of Hamlet Light, which will have its premiere on September 15th at the Teatro Municipal de Faro and will be in Lisbon on September 28-30.

In order to enjoy theatre, shouldn’t we forget it? Forget that we’re inside a theatre, forget how it works? How about if we just forgot the whole idea of a production and simply focused on how to advertise it? If instead of the play the audience saw the creation of a play’s trailer? What would remain? What would the new scale of possibilities be?


More on this later.
(My activity here might slow down a bit. Or not.)

Technorati: theatre, theater, performance, art, contemporary art, vvoi

Light

Lucy Pullen Ropeswing (2003)
(via)

Technorati: photography, visual art, art, contemporary art, vvoi