My first SLR ever was the Canon T70, with a few other learner bodies like Pentax K-1000 with Ricoh lenses, the Nikon FE2 (which I loved!!), and my first year as SeBiArt, I used the Canon EOS Rebel T1i. Though the Nikon FE2 in particular is still a hot collectors item - it's amazing to see how much these cams have dropped in value over the years. I'm now firmly planted in the Nikon system but if I had $$$ druthers I'd have multiple systems - Leica, Hasselblad, and Canon.
I spent much of last year salivating over the Canon EOS SLR D series - specifically the 1D-X.... and after I rented 5D system + lenses for a video and stills theater assignment I thought I'd die if I didn't own this machine.
But now...Nikon just dropped this on us - the new D800+D800E and I'm near asphyxiation:
This is new kind of share (and update for some of you) about a most timely and beautiful opportunity I had this summer. I'm always going on about 'the journey' and usually a very internal and personal one at that - with the occassional dash of work/professional news. But as these two aspects of our lives are intrinsically tied - I must share this recent and particularly meaningful connection.
I have been excavating a whole heap of stuff over the past couple of years, and one aspect of my past has been left unexplored: acting. It's kinda ironic, but not entirely uncommon, to find myself on a professional journey that has little to do with my course of study in college: Theater Arts. I have certainly created real connections between this and photography, in so far as how I develop my work, and how I attempt to go about the business of creating it. The principles of collaboration that I seek always to work by, come directly from the culture of the theater world. But acting - well, this I have not done for some years now. As I often would put it when it came up: I haven't spoken text on stage/on camera for.... As I've been on my other artistic explorations, I've missed acting, not sharply mind you, but rather, I've been aware of its absence as a form of expression.
My friend Danae Grandison, another soul-searcher/explorer and accomplished graphic designer, decided to switch gears and explore the artform of film making. Her first film, Unconditional Love, is a work straight from the highway of personal explorations, directly from the heart, a beautiful distillation of what it means to come out on the other end of a growth passage emotionally in tact, and in fact, to find yourself utterly in love with life and all the vicissitudes therein; to arrive at acceptance, wonderment, and open curiosity to what comes next. We can only be in such a place when we are willing to release the past, and thus the expectations it invariably breeds for the future.
I auditioned at precisely the right time for the part in this 2 minute short - when I could understand the meaning of such a personal evolution. It was also therefore, the right project to bring me back to this art form. Oh the connectivity!
Danae's work premiered at SVA (School of Visual Arts) at the end of her film course this past August, and she received the Audience Award for her work. I was so chuffed too of course - haha!
Here's our Labour of Love - which was shot in the New York City heat wave of 115ºF! Not easy, but totally cathartic. Thank you for this journey Danae!
Real quick and at the last minute too (what a surprise!) - my little creative short is getting screened at the AFP's Shorts & Beats Festival Vol VI in San Francisco this weekend!
The festival is at PROJECT ONE (http://www.p1sf.com/) and will feature several shorts from emerging and established filmmakers and video artists from NYC and SF. The film program is curated by award winning filmmaker Daniel Maldonado of Gashouse Films. There will also be nightlong interludes of deep & funky tunes spun by New York and San Fran DJs. Fun times! If you're there - check out the flyer on info for tickets.
It's a small annual global contest with a handful of competitive categories: Visual Art, Music, Film, Fashion, DJ, and Creative. I've put a video in the Creative category. Some of you may remember I won this back in 2008 with a video presentation of my photo series SPLIT.
This video is a new edit of work I directed (shot by Fury Young) last Spring. I prepared a treatment and scripted scenes for this a couple years ago, originally to be part of my CrowDeD series.
I then adapted it for a projection piece used in a 30 minute dance performance at Nina Buisson's Avant Garde Festival in June 09'.
It's a much shorter edit now, at 7 mins, with the new title, LABYRINTH of FOREVER: Doorway for the Spirit Chasers. Mystic Urchin supplemented it with some great text too! I hope you like it.
God looked down admiringly, exclaimed "Nothing could be fine-ah!" "Than the sassy smart and sweet lil babe I just forced out that vagina!" She knew not then her destiny nor recalled the moment prior When God had asked her to descend to stir up quite a fire "Blaze not with rage but warmth and light for this is what is needed" "It will take some time to figure out, to get the garden weeded" So, each year, when the day arrives that marks your popping out Know you are light and not mistakes, and know this with no doubt
by Mark Pergola Thank you Marky-boo! I love you SO MUCH!
I must sleep and digest what I just saw and heard at the Brooklyn Museum today - and then return to this entry. But for starters - I was invited by another female photographer of color, Amanda Adams Louis, to attend a special event, a panel discussion "What's Black Got To Do with It?" at the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Auditorium. The summary of this was as follows:
This panel discussion, moderated by Elvis Mitchell, interviewer for The Black List Project, continues the exhibition’s consideration of how race, history, and each individual's striving shape and enrich their stories of success. The discussion will center on what the next four years might hold for Black women now that First Lady Obama and her daughters have moved into the White House. Panelists will include Studio Museum in Harlem Director and Chief Curator Thelma Golden, acclaimed artist Lorna Simpson , and CNN Entertainment Correspondent Lola Ogunnaike.
I had wanted very much to see this project featuring large format portraits by Timothy Greenfield Saunders - so the topic of discussion was simply an added bonus. Sitting in that auditorium and listening to these women, and to Elvis Mitchell, made me realize and remember a simple truth...it is really important to congregate, to gather and share your experience. I heard things that I thought in my self imposed isolation were my own concerns or observations. Gosh what a shock to realize how common it was that women of color do so revel in Michelle Obamas skin tone and features, and what meaning it brings to how we feel we will be perceived henceforth.
There were many areas of discussion enveloped in the question of "What's Black Got to do with it?" such as:
-How we will weather the complete destabilization, well, destruction of our federal funding for the arts, and how that will challenge particularly non-commercial artists of color. Lorna Simpson made some incredible points about the technological inequities that exist, where access and ability to participate in the new world of internet exposure is sharply limited among people of color, particularly in the poor nations of the world, in Africa and the Caribbean. The irony is that its much cheaper to get your work seen in today's digital world - but you must have access to those cheaper means in order to benefit from this advancement. When and how, in today's economy will we have sufficient initiatives to bridge this gap? At least, I heard today, that Obama's stimulus proposal will include $50 million to the Nat'l Endow. for the Arts. It's a start...
- We are now by default made to return to important conversations and cultural observations of our place, our growth, our importance, and our contributions to society, now that the "bling bling" era of self-serving materialistic distraction has now been brought to a sudden and jarring halt.
-We must now consider how to quantify the significance or gravitas of Michelle Obama's win, how black women will be viewed, and what will now be expected of them, of us; the excitement and concern of what it means to suddenly be shifted from invisibility to complete and utter important symbolic visibility..., hers, her daughters, and thus our sudden and near ubiquitous image now and forever and positively included in the photographic history of America...of the world!
Lola Ogunnaike was repeatedly noting that in her experience, she was constantly responding to comments of how her presence as a dark-skinned black woman on CNN was of particular importance to many sisters, that the meaning of this has apparently swelled with Michelle Obama's ascent to First Lady in the White House.
-There was too, a question by Elvis Mitchell whether all people of color, will disappear AFTER Obama - like how TV land looked post the Cosby Show? Could this attention be just for the moment? Where will we be in four years? And someone asked too - what is Black History Month now going to be like - and will it become redundant?
There were indeed SO many things I wanted to discuss regarding my understanding of the significance of this time - through the eyes of an immigrant, a perpetual immigrant...a West African (Sierra Leoneon born), raised, and schooled in the Caribbean, British, and American societies, seeped in the social sensitivities of the black diaspora from three very distinct points of view. I asked what I thought was quite an important question:
So now that our image has been positively redesigned in the likeness of the Obamas for other 'races' - what will this do for relationships WITHIN the black race? How does this address intra-racism? And since this panel is specifically about black women - how does this affect the relationships among all sisters of color?
More anon - but in the meantime...I've found the Black List playlist on youtube. Check it:
"We plan our lives according to a dream that came to us in our childhood, and we find that life alters our plans. And yet, at the end, from a rare height, we also see that our dream was our fate. It's just that providence had other ideas as to how we would get there. Destiny plans a different route, or turns the dream around, as if it were a riddle, and fulfills the dream in ways we couldn't have expected."
"Reading, like writing, is a creative act. If readers only bring a narrow range of themselves to the book, then they'll only see their narrow range reflected in it."
And speaking of narrow views - this is such a poignant talk on the danger of such limitations - seen on TED: "Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding."
How do I know what I think until I see what I write. ~Unknown
Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up. James Baldwin
For an idea that does not at first seem insane; there is no hope.
Einstein
no one ever really criticizes those who live out their dreams. but some will curse the courage it displays that they have yet to adopt. share not only your dreams but your daring to realize them. go forth and inspire. build together.
~Scoop i•ma•gine | e•volve
People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction, and anyone who insists on remaining in a state of innocence long after innocence is dead turns himself into a monster.
~James Baldwin~
The irony of commitment is that it's deeply liberating -- in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life.'
~ Anne Morriss
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
~Albert Einstein
When you stay awake, you see the sun. Anywhere you are, you have to make it your paradise.
~Joseph Buchanan
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.
~Albert Einstein
Tomorrow will bring different questions and answers. OWN NOW.
~Scoop
A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
~ George Bernard Shaw
A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.
~Martin Luther King, Jr.~
Live with your toes digging into the earth, with your eyes open wide, and your heart warm. This way you won't miss a thing little one. :)
~Scoop
The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge.
~Daniel J. Boorstin
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
~Steve Jobs
Art is a microscope which the artist fixes on the secrets of his soul, and shows to people these secrets which are common to all.
~Leo Tolstoy
I'd rather be busy than bored; I'd rather burn out than rust out.
Whatever you ardently desire, Sincerely believe in, Vividly imagine, and Enthusiastically act upon, Must inevitably come to pass.
- Sybil Leek, Diary of a Witch
Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.
~Oscar Wilde
For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it.
Ivan Panin
Remember to play after every storm.
~Mattie Stepanek~
The most original thing you've ever come across is actually yourself.
~Saul Williams~
Why fight it? Be seduced by your purpose.
~Scoop~
The light at the end of the tunnel is not an illusion. The tunnel is.
~unknown~
Fear is just another word for ignorance ... Freedom is something that dies unless it's used
~Hunter S. Thompson~
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.
~Marcel Proust~
Unexpected beauty in life shatters our monument to suffering.
~Scoop 2001~
Once you label me, you negate me.
~Kierkegard~
The worst realities of our age are manufactured realities. It is therefore our task, as creative participants in the universe, to re dream our world. The fact of possessing imagination means that everything can be re dreamed. Each reality can have it.
~Ben Okri~
Cautionary actions to prevent future pain or loss may also function as obstacles to any happiness you could have presently.
~Berette Macaulay~
Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections.
~unknown~
We shall not cease from exploration, but at the end of all of our exploring will be to return to the place from which we originated and to know it for the first time.
~T.S. Elliot~
Isn't it funny how the word 'politics' is made up of the words 'poli' meaning 'many' in Latin, and 'tics' as in 'bloodsucking creatures’?
~Anonymous~
"You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he, "it makes you quite invaluable as a companion."
~Sir Arthur Conan Doyle~
Magic becomes art when it has nothing to hide.
~Ben Okri~
[I am] not so interested in the length of the road so much as the width.
~A. Regsmith~
Losers fold; winners take hits.
Forget the odds; draw, raise, bluff, call, stand.
~unknown~
Great ideas are no different from useless thoughts until they are put to use.
~Kynan Cooke, 1994~
In life you don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.
~anonymous~
It takes courage to push yourself to places that you have never been before, to test your limits, to break through barriers. And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
~Anais Nin~
Choosing to live in narrow spaces leads to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors. …the willfully unimaginative see more monsters, they are often more afraid.
~JK Rowling~
Chance has never yet satisfied the hope of a suffering people.
~Marcus Garvey~
The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one. ~Elbert Hubbard~
a simple guide: no NOW...no JOY...no LIFE.
~Robert Holden~
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.
~Bertrand Russell~
Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it.
~John Lennon~
Being proactive instead of reactive always lessens the pressures of adversity.
~Kevin C. Robinson~
There are times, however, and this is one of them, when even being right feels wrong. What do you say, for instance, about a generation that has been taught that rain is poison and sex is death? If making love might be fatal and if a cool spring breeze on any summer afternoon can turn a crystal blue lake into a puddle of black poison right in front of your eyes, there is not much left except TV and relentless masturbation. It's a strange world. Some people get rich and others eat shit and die.
~Hunter S. Thompson, 1988~
The minute you try to prove yourself is the moment you've lost the point. 'Doing it' moves you forward, 'proving it' takes you back.
~Berette Macaulay~
I want death to find me planting my cabbages.
~Michel de Montaigne~
I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they go by.
~Douglas Adams~
In my sex fantasy, nobody ever loves me for my mind.
~Norah Ephron~
Every time you don't follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, loss of power, a sense of spiritual deadness.
~Shakti Gawain~
Can you get over Something you truly enjoy And if indeed, why?
~Mystic Urchin~
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
~William Shakespeare, "Hamlet"~
There are indeed a thousand ways of acquiring an opinion that have nothing to do with rational thinking.
~R.J. Hollingdale~
There is need to sway Naked Rhythm summons blues Wind and Whispers dance.
~Mystic Urchin~
Chill out somewhere for a minute. Things get clearer when you get quiet.
~Scoop~
Love is rarer than genius itself. And friendship is rarer than love.
~Charles Peguy~
We are so accustomed to disguising ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves.
~Francois de La Rochefoucauld~
A man is not an orange. You can't eat the fruit and throw the peel away.
~Arthur Miller~
There is no truth; everything is permitted.
~William S. Burroughs~
Nothing is true or false but thinking makes it so. You believe you have appeased the thunder and lightening and the ground that grows your grain; you believe it, you have. ~Shakespeare~
Knowing how to see is much more important than what kind of camera or lights you have.
~ David Harry Stuart~
Every work comes into being in the same way as the cosmos – by means of catastrophes…
~Wassily Kandinsky~
Every man takes The limits of his Own field of vision For the limits of the world.
~Arthure Schopenhauer~ 1788-1860, Studies in Pessimism
Pick a theme and work it to exhaustion... the subject must be something you truly love or truly hate.
~Dorothea Lange~
Writing, I think, is not apart from living. Writing is a kind of double living. The writer experiences everything twice. Once in reality and once in that mirror which waits always before or behind.
Catherine Drinker Bowen
Nature Will Hold You Live within Integrity Sweet Dew Forever
~Ku by Scoop~
No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good counsel, and no man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master. ~Hunter S. Thompson~
I refuse to lose my mind to the sadness locked in the illusion of my finitude.
~Chuma and Fiswe~
fear of mediocrity creates it by narrowing your vision of yourself. get as far away from fear as you can by daring your ass to face it everyday.
~Berette Macaulay~
Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming -WOO HOO what a ride! ~JAH – E~
Kill the arrogance. It will never serve you in the long run - as ultimately it acts as an inhibitor.
~Berette Macaulay~
Desire is a magnificent nomadic energy.
~Scoop, inspired by Nietzche~
Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.
~Lou Holtz~
There’s no great genius without some touch of madness.
~Seneca~
Live for the truth or lie What are the consequences? RECIPROCITY
~Ku by Scoop~
The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.
~Hunter S. Thompson~
Water marks the way, We wander thru wet slipways, Happy to be damp.
~ Ku by Steve Wilson, nee Mystic Urchin ~
“You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.”
MIND THE GAP
The delights of self-discovery are always available.
-Gail Sheehy
"Watch Your Thoughts, They Become Your Words,Watch Your Words, They Become Your Actions, Watch Your Actions, They Become Your Habits, Watch Your Habits, They Become Your Character, Watch Your Character For It Becomes Your Destiny"
One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you'd be stricken blind.
-Dorothea Lange-
“Fear is temporary. Regret lasts a lifetime.”
“Caution is the death of Creativity”
Let your deeds themselves praise you, for here I leave them in all their glory, lacking words to extol them.
