One of my favorite blogs in the class is Aaron Katzen’s. I really enjoy looking at vast landscape pictures and Aaron has a plethora of beautiful desert shots. The blog itself is clean and helps to showcase his talents with eye-catching pictures and videos.
Category: Projects
Have you ever wondered who your neighbors are?
Turns out I have some pretty nice people in my neighborhood.
Here’s a short video/slideshow about my neighbor Harry.
The past three months have flown by for me. The fall semester is coming to a close and I am feeling the usual pressures that come along with the end of the term; it’s crunch time. Being a father and husband does not make things easier because sometimes I am torn between spending time with my family and getting my schoolwork done. This semester was not much different than the rest, but there are certainly more holidays in the fall, which makes things a little trickier to juggle.
I feel that having a family allowed me to understand What Remains: The Life and Work of Sally Mann a little better because I can relate to some of the difficult artistic decisions she has had to make throughout her career. In no way am I comparing myself as an artist to Sally Mann, I just do not have the experience or breadth of work that she has accumulated over the years, but I do have a family and I have used them in some of my projects. However, there is always the question of whether you should or should not use your family in your artwork.
I can only begin to imagine the amount of criticism Sally Mann received for the controversial pictures of her children. I have to admit that I was somewhat uncomfortable looking at them before I knew the story behind the pictures. Sally definitely has a different way of looking at things than the majority of the population. Sally said many profound and meaningful things throughout the documentary, but one thing that resonated for me was: “You need to photograph the things you love the most.” For me, as with many people, family is what comes to mind.
This was the moment that her photographs “clicked” for me and I was able to understand where she was coming from. Her last project mentioned in the film was about the decomposition of human remains (hence the name of the film). I found myself to be disgusted at first glance, but then mesmerized as I stared into the photographs for longer periods of time. The main thing I have learned about art throughout my life is that anything can be art; it just has to be viewed through the correct lens.
I finally decided to stop by my neighbor’s house this weekend and talk to him about my digital photography project. As I mentioned in a previous post, we usually wave hello to each other whenever we pass, but I was a little nervous because I had never really spoken with him and I was not sure how he would react to my request. I decided to bring some cookies along with me and thank him for taking care of my dog after he had escaped a few months ago. I also gave him a DVD of a documentary project I had recently made to show him the type of work I have done in the past. I figured that I should share a bit about myself since I was asking him to share a glimpse into his life.
It turns out that I have an incredibly interesting and friendly neighbor. His name is Harry and he has worked at the San Onofre nuclear power plant for over 29 years. Being that we just had a major power outage a few weeks ago, I had to ask about it. He mentioned that, like most of us, he had no power, but went on to explain some of the safety procedures at his job. After the incident in Japan I felt a little anxious about living so close to San Onfre, but I feel better knowing that there are measures in place to cope with emergencies.
In total, we spoke for about half an hour and I actually ended up helping him with something while we talked. He was moving his van from his driveway to his backyard to do some maintenance on it, but he had to drive it through a slim carport where there were only inches of room on each side. It was a definitely a tight squeeze (check out the pictures below). He also told me that he has been trying to use up all of his vacation days before he retires, which is why he has been working on his personal projects (cars, motorcycle, etc.). All in all, I am glad that I finally walked over and spoke with my neighbor and now friend Harry.
I have several project ideas in mind, but there are two that I have been thinking about for a few days. The first one would be based around my 3-year-old son and the other project idea that I have in mind would be about one of my neighbors.
As a father, I am fascinated by the things that my son does on a daily basis. I love to just watch him build with his legos; lately he has been building castles with our couch cushions (truly a site to see). What can I say, I love my son and I love his creativity (I’m a proud papa).
In terms of my neighbor, the thing that intrigues me is the fact that I see him almost daily and waive hello to him, but I have never really spoken with him. I would like to know who he is because I see him working on his garden, his cars, and his various “toys” (motorcyles, remote controlled cars, amongst others).
Maybe I will try to do both projects, only time will tell.
Natalie spoke about her experiences as a photographer and an artist. She also shared some memorable stories from her past that came to life as she showed the audience the pictures she took during those times. Her photographs of bears, salmon, eagles, and people in all types of extreme conditions were amazing. I felt that she made a good point about cameras being “passports to experience” because she traveled to all types of remote locations and met a great deal of people.
She mentioned that she likes to show personality in her pictures and they absolutely capture a breadth of emotions: from complete misery to overwhelming joy. The Exxon-Valdez oil spill was definitely a sad event and her photographs were able to capture the horror and despair of both the animals and the people cleaning up the spill. She also spoke about her salmon project, how she persevered, “believed in herself” and “believed in her projects.” This gives an artist like me hope, because I certainly believe in myself and my projects.
I think I should start with a brief explanation of what the TED Prize is; TED stands for: Technology, Entertainment, and Design.
“The TED Prize is awarded annually to an exceptional individual who receives $100,000 and, much more important, “One Wish to Change the World.” Designed to leverage the TED community’s exceptional array of talent and resources, the Prize leads to collaborative initiatives with far-reaching impact.” (www.tedprize.org)
The winner of the TED prize this year was “JR”, a French graffiti artist whose real name seems to be a mystery. JR’s recent work consists of taking close-up pictures of people’s faces, creating larger than life art galleries with paper prints, and then gluing them in strategic parts of a town or city. My favorite piece was the one done in Africa with the pictures of people’s eyes on three moving train cars as they completed the faces glued to a mountainside village; it was amazing. His other projects span around the world: Paris, Rio, Israel, and Palestine to name a few. These projects are astounding and seem to have a positive impact on the communities.
The fact that JR started out as a graffiti artist just goes to show that he is not afraid to take risks. Gluing his artwork on government buildings, gang-controlled Brazilian favelas, and different places in the Middle East certainly takes some guts. JR was asked: “Could art change the world?” He replied: “Art cannot change the world, but it can change the perception of the world.” I agree; once people step back and look at something as art, it allows them to keep an open mind and consider things from various angles.
Last Monday I watched the film Waste Land, directed by Lucy Walker and I must say that I was truly humbled and amazed by it. This documentary followed the inspiring work of artist Vik Muniz during a three-year project in the world’s busiest landfill, Jardim Gramacho in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Jardim Gramacho literally translates to “Gramacho Gardens”, which is certainly ironic because the landfill resembles anything, but a garden. In spite of this, after watching this movie I could understand how the humble, yet proud “catadores” or “pickers” could see a symbolic garden at Jardim Gramacho.
One of the aspects of the film that I really enjoyed was the personal growth and transformation of the pickers as well as Vik Muniz and his crew. The film demonstrated how great people can be if given a chance, no matter where they come from or what they do. At the beginning of the film Vik mentions that Jardim Gramacho is the place “where everything that’s not good goes; including the people.” Even Vik had a preconceived notion of what these people were going to be like before meeting them. The people at Gramacho proved their resiliency and showed that they could still smile even with all of the nauseating garbage around them; I felt like there was a real feeling of community among the “catadores.”
Additionally, as a father, I felt a real sadness when the pickers would talk about their children because it made me think of my three-year-old son. I could not even imagine the horror, misery, and grief that Isis must have felt (and probably still feels) when her own son died at Gramacho. Nonetheless, even with all of its low points, this film was definitely inspiring and had enough highs to make me smile at the end. It goes without saying that Vik and the film crew had a huge impact on the “catadores” as well as the other way around; I would say they influenced each other during the making of this film. This was definitely an inspiring film that embodies the indomitable human spirit.
Sebastian Maselli 