Walking Impressions for Inspirational Flight, with a whole lotta Leica

Back in October that photographer friend of mine I recently posted about, Christian Macauley, and I spent a day getting inspired. First he met up with me at the PDN Int'l PhotoPlus Conference and Expo at the  Jacob Javits Center. It's a sort of capitalistic-anxiety-inducing-soul-sucking-goodie-coveting-"shit-I'm-poor"-yet-thoroughly-exciting event where you get to look, touch, test, and learn about the latest photo, video, printing, and  software tools, as well as marketing services newly available to image makers. 


Armed with my floor map and exhibitor list - off I went for my industry  education and the free goodies! I'd hoped to sit in on a seminar or two but the whole thing got a bit overwhelming after a while, so off we went. 

Composite Source: YellowKorner

Christian took me walking through SoHo and we stopped in this pop up gallery set up by YellowKorner, a British company specifically aimed at making photographic prints more accessible to buyers of lesser means than trust fund babies.  Pop up galleries are the coolest concepts I think - they are to visual artists what low cost old warehouse spaces and self-publishing programs are to musicians...in a way: prime spaces (on short n' free or barter loans, or leases) to exhibit work in a gallery setting, sans the politics and prohibitive costs or commission fees for the artists.  

Anyway - there were some great prints on display, but one image/artist, Kourtney Roy, held me spellbound and sent me rushing to the nearest bench, to jot down my reactions in my little journal that I carry with me at all times.  Since photography is typically prohibited in exhibition spaces - I needed to write something to remind me of this work and what I felt upon seeing it.   I am thoroughly moved by artists who can produce a simple image that induces complex emotions or projections from the viewer.  I felt her image accomplished this perfectly - or at least, it did so for me... and the fact that it was a self portrait killed me all the more.

 



Heart reaching into the 'guess' of an event 

- prior - now - or about to happen,

The hanging pause of the story of two...

Who falls, who catches, who fails, who saves?

Deal, Dare, or Damage?

Is there Death, Ownership, or Love?

Another stop along the way was a thing of wonder, a prime example of reasons to LOVE LOVE LOVE New York: The Levi's/Leica Workshop.

 

 Located where the Deitch Project used to be, :(, Levi's®, along with sponsorship by Leica, opened up a temporary space for photographers to utilize an incredible wealth of equipment PLUS studio space...FOR FREE!!!

photo & logo composite: http://workshops.levi.com

The list of cameras included the Nikon D series, the Canon EOS-D series, and of course a range of film and digital Leicas - including the  $30,000 monster body Leica Camera AG S2 and  fitted with the Summarit-S 1:2.5/70 mm lens. Other vintage/film cams on hand were the Hasselblad 500 series and the Mamiya RZ67 Pro II. There was an open white studio space, plus a cheesy basement set - both of which you could use with your choice of Profoto monolights, modifiers, and power packs; make up stations for M.U. artists and models; MAC G5 work stations with 30" screens for post-production work; and printing stations for fine art prints, etc.  It was QuiTe incredible.  All you had to do was sign up in time, book the space, and the camera you wanted to use, and voila!  No deposits even (while in house)!  The insurance on this friggin deal must have been INSANE!  You could even sign out cameras to shoot on location - for a mere $100 refundable deposit for 24 hours! 

Wha-HUH????!!!!!  

photo source: Camera Monster

I thank my lucky panties that I got to squeeze in two sessions before it got too crazy in there.  I opted to shoot with the Leica S2 which I couldn't believe was available both times.  And you know - I couldn't take myself too seriously with it all. I decided, rather than to use this opportunity for work, to just have fun; so I called up some friends to 'shoot the shit' - hahaha. No major planning, no stress, just show up to the studio where all was on hand PLUS the Bentley of cameras in my hand (that creates images with pixels the size of a fucking fist ), and here's the silliness we got up to: some friendly portraits, fashion fun with an African feather headdress (JuJu hat), and a music bubble session Las Vegas 70s style - heeeheee.  Gotta love New York!  Thank you Christian!!! And thanks Michael, LaLa, Justin, Yolanda, Manny and Kevin!! It's all coming back to me now - I CAN'T BELIEVE I shot with that thing! :D

Michael Gilbert, founder of Language of Opposites

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The Ruling Valve

Performer: Crimson Heart Replica 

Does the wounded part of your heart direct your life, or do the wishes of the soft untarnished part race to create your experiences? People say life is short.  But I say life is long.  Think of how many memories you have, how many people you've met, how many disappointments you've moved past, how many surprises have tickled your outlook?  And just think how many more of those are ahead.  Every aspect of life, major or minor, in every place you have lived, every job you've had, every failing or successful result from any effort, every person - asshole or angel, stranger, family member, or friend, has shaped and reshaped your choices for your life,  the lessons you've learned, and how you feel about yourself and others...in short your identity...your heart.  

Our hearts get molded and recolored over and over again, but over the course of this long LONG journey we start to see and feel a graphic pattern of our ruling valve; the one that shapes our perceptions of this journey.  Does your ruling valve restrict flow to protect the whole heart from the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune*?  Or does it pump energetically and openly, absorbing those arrows with an enduring life flow of wonderment and delight?  We all know the latter creates ease, and the former creates pressure...and with enough of the former, follows an inevitable implosion of explosive destruction.  That valve would restrict any inclination for open exploration, including the idea that seeking to remain innocent is life affirming, rather than emotional suicide.  

Like most people, my valves work in shifts, and as I get older I restrict myself more frequently - which always comes about from

fotos © Monique MOGI Gilpin

fear of a myriad of things, including fear of wanting good things for myself. But my ever dreaming childlike valve keeps screaming to reign supreme.  I breathe better by searching for fair perspectives in things; mercy and forgiveness  amidst negativity, acceptance of the inexplicable or indelible hurts, and the insistence in dancing on common ground with myself and everyone I share space and time with.  Yes there are some serious assholes out there, and real life challenges to contend with, but I feel we must understand that those who behave like assholes are simply people who are emotionally restricted by fear; and that the mental and physical work required to overcome personal conflicts or life challenges are better sustained with an open flow of positive energy (if even at a distance), than by use of suffocating anger or despairing restrictions of the heart.

What you are choosing at this precise moment is what is ruling your life at present.  But life is long, so there's time, now - if there's a need - to change your ruling valve.  What you feel, is how you live. It's your heart, no one can break it, build it, or open it more completely than you. 

* from Shakespeare's Hamlet, III.i., To be, or not to be, - sililoquy
 

----

Crimson Heart Replica: Beautiful Mistake

"My music is my natural instinct, an illustration of immense emotion bleeding out from passionate hearts and souls." ~CHR 

---

To all my peeps who keep my ruling valve open. 

♡♡♡

"Sonnet 29" - Performed by  Rufus Wainright, Clips from Pride & Prejudice:

When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

--William Shakespeare

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RELATED JOURNEY POSTS:   Warm Light and Love (AUG 2010)

                         I Broke Up With Self-Sabotage...(JUNE 2010) 

SUPPORT POST: Another Modern Salone Pilgrim

So by now you know that every now and then I just HAVE to drop a word about a friend/fellow artist/seeker/human being who is on their own  inspiring journey.  Another such soul is MyronChristian Macauley.  Yes - um we have the same name, AND we come from the same country, Sierra Leone, AND, AND, he's a photographer and a fine one at that. 

MCM image from Marc Ecko ad campaign in Europe

A mutual friend  - also a photographer and restaurant owner, Sean John, introduced us some years ago and I've been an admirer of Christian's vision ever since. I've heard him refer to the body of his work in a nutshell as a hybrid of fashion and fine art photography...well...with a big helping of spiritual mysticism I might add.  His images have a dreamlike, ethereal quality that is attempted by many image makers today but rarely accomplished to this standard. Rather than one-dimensional aesthetic imagery, I think Christian produces mentally and emotionally provocative beauty.  

He recently put out a coffee table book, Modern Man in Search of Soul, Pub. MCM Collective, July 2010, currently available on Amazon.com, and at Bookophilia (if you're in JA) which showcases some of his best mystical work chronicling his creative and personal  spiritual journey over the past seven years in Thailand, Brazil, Kenya, India, and Greece. 

During my last stop in New York I made it a huge priority to get the book for my library. I ran over to Sean's spot, Spur Tree, to meet up with Christian and Danae Grandison of (book designer from KGN6 Design  and business partner for the MCM Collective)to get my copy.  Of course there's no big mystery why I'd love it (having been on my own version of Eat, Pray, Love for the past year and a half!), but trust - if you flip through this journey, you'll be transported further than any plane can take you.  

Here's a video from MCM's journey:

Modern Man in Search of A Soul from ofa on Vimeo.

Footage and reactions from a recent Pop-Up Gallery show in SoHo:

You can find more about him here:

-JAMATI

-The Observer

-MyronChristian Macauley blog 

You can buy your book at these places too:

-Greenlight Bookstore 

(Fort Greene, Bklyn - in store)

-Georgia Salon 

(Nolita, NY - in store)
www.georgianyc.com

-Studio Museum of Harlem (NY)

144 West 125th Street

(212) 864-4500
-MCJ bookstore 

(Nolita, NY - in store)
www.mcnallyjackson.com/

K&M Camera 

(Tribecca, NY)
www.kmcamera.com‎

RELATED JOURNEY POSTS:  The Wanderer: And Old Path to Renewal (Feb 2010)

                                                Marathon for Stillness (March 2010)

                        SOLE of REDEMPTION: Majesty of the Little Things (May 2010)

In Search of Simplicity, with a Ku

arawak head

The past few days, I've been looking out, around, and up.  Amazing how easy it is really.  You just have to choose to step out your door and let yourself see.  Funny how alluring the idea is that we have to plan a faraway trip to do the same thing... Funny how seduced I've been by that idea...

the hang after the clean up

poor man's orchid

birth of a breadfruit

pine nuts

bougainvillea

ackee

i don't know...pussy willows???

poor man's orchid tree

breadfruit tree top

not sure really...

sun setting palms

Mellow

I lay here laid bare,
as unplanned to be open,
happy to be shared.

Haiku by Mystic Urchin

JANUARY  2011

last shadows til night...

So yah - I went back to the Bahamas...

...and barely shot a thing.   Truth is I was with family for the holidays and we spent much of the time indoors; and frankly a good chunk of the time it was actually cold!  We're talking 50s, even 40s!  Not exactly beach weather - ha!  Anyway...here are a few sightings:

Waterside

west bay

south bay ridge

from the other side of Balmoral Island...

Seashells on Porches

queen conch

cross barreled venus with white coral - cool way to dress up plants I thought...

coral and shell mix in a dry nut shell

 Vegetation

baby coconuts

I frankly can NEVER remember the name of this flower.  Anyone?

hot mix of local peppers

elizabeth street roots

Atlantis

shark tank with encased water slide that takes you thru the tank.  not for the risk averse I should think...

$25,000 p/night suite - i bet those who can afford it still stay for free...

glowing jellies

my nephew and the blow fish