Things, Not Stuff

Things, not stuff. Only the most beautiful things.

I recently moved out of my room- where I had lived for two years. I was amazed how much stuff I accumulated in just 24 months. Much of it was useless or excessive- three sets of sheets, birthday cards from three years ago, three pairs of polka dot rain boots, 24 chap sticks etc.

After packing up the contents of this space, I went for a walk with some friends through a park nearby my house. It was early in the evening, marked by the soft light of late summer casting through the trees, and I started collecting the above "things". Believing, at that time, they were the most beautiful things I could find- emphasized by the excellent lighting.

All of this got me thinking about possessions, specifically the difference between "stuff" and "things". Why to we hold onto things that are of no use to us? Is is for the sake of owning them? Or is it out of fear of not having them?

I don't know why I was so drawn to the various leaves from above. I think it was a reminder that sometimes simplicity can be more beautiful than anything else, but we are sometimes sifting through too much stuff to find it. These leaves were all that was needed to adorn the trees in their own lovely foliage. Perhaps, the best things are a few nice leaves collected from a stuffed forest.

I then made a pact with myself that in the future I would only keep the most beautiful and most valuable things, and to try to filter out the extra stuff which suffocates us everyday.

Annie of My Eye

Photograph from Book

Karen Finley at her home in Nyack, New York, 1992
Annie Leibovitz
"A Photographer's Life"

The Story of My Favorite Dress

dress

v. dressed, dress·ing, dress·es

v.tr.

1. To decorate or adorn.



2.To furnish with clothing.



3. To arrange a display in.



4. To garnish.



5. A one-piece outer garment for women or girls.

Outta My Light

Great photography always boils down to great "photo", in it's literal sense. Although light should always be taken into consideration when taking a photograph, light itself can often times be the subject.

In the word of "Little Wings":

Got it like a ghost that girly gleaming
Look at what the light did now

"Through the window"
Black and White Digital Images










"Tea Cups"
Studio Lit
Black and White Digital Images

Take Away Shows

If you haven't heard of the Take Away Shows, I worn you now, make sure you don't need to be productive because this site is known to suck you into an video watching oblivion more powerful than a cigarette addiction.

The Take Away shows, hosted on "La Blogotheque" are short films of indie musicians performing in the streets of Europe. (But mainly in Paris). Filmed by Vincent Moon they are not only beautiful in color and surprisingly high quality in sound, but also powerful in their spontaneity. Unscripted performances while walking through the streets allows room to see the reactions of people and oftentimes their eagerness to join in the music. The melding of created sound with natural noise is raw, beautiful and inevitably addicting.

Special thanks to Maggie who sent me Bon Iver "Lump Sum" and gave me the key to this magical music portal.Here are a few of my favorites:

Bon Iver




Arcade Fire



Yeasayer



Sufjan Stevens

Neato

Some of the neat digital art I've found or that has been recommended to me in the last few weeks. Enjoy!



Old School Animation





Datamoshing




(Thanks Zack!)



Mixed Media Animation





(Thanks Sophie!)



Just Plain Cool

For The Little Kid In Us All

Adoration of an Oxymoron

Stop motion. I didn't realize I was so interested in this until someone actually showed me what it was. Looking back, I see my intrigue in the concept started long ago. Two years ago, to be exact. I did a photo project which had to center on a randomly assigned word. Mine was was "instant". So I made a series intended to look like film stills, because "instant" to me was a type of measurement, a precise sliver of time which often lacks transition before or after.
Fall of this year, I continued with this interest, and took a series of photographs and composed them into a film. The images were shot with the intention of being stills, but I started playing with the idea of creating a sort of "digital flip book". This was a rather unsuccessful attempt as the motion is choppy and it's rather repetitive, but it marks the beginning of my understanding of stop motion animation.

Exchanging Niceties with a Tree
Song "Lighthouse" by Electrelane




From there I was finally introduced to the concept of "stop motion" after seeing "Muto" by Blu (see below). I fell in love with the oxymoron right then and there. The wonderful thing about stop motion is that it works both ways. It can take something that is not moving at all and give the illusion of motion by sheer number of images and speed of viewing to make a satisfying deception for the viewer. The photos are still, the camera is still, and the inanimate objects in the photos are still. The only time things are moving is when there is no camera to record it's actual motion. Or it can take something that is moving, like a person, freeze parts of their motion with a photograph and reshape that movement with a film.Whether motioning what is stopped or stopping what is in motion, the trickery is oh so charming.

Here are a few of my favorite stop motion films:



(Thanks Maggie!)








(Thanks Ethan!)





Finally I decided to tackle this primal form of animation myself. I struggled significantly (see entry below) in finding a solid idea for the project. However, I became interested in the concept of metamorphosis, and specifically, the caterpillar to butterfly transition. This is where the title "Holometabolous" comes from, meaning "complete metamorphosis." As a college student, I was thinking about how transient life is during this period. It is the time when so many people are tying to "find themselves" but are doing so in a setting where classes, friends and current home are in a constant flux. We spend so much time adapting that it is impossible to really map your identity. Plus if you were to identify yourself completely, it would be that much more difficult to handle the inevitable future transition.


The Garden State

I also don't think people give enough credit to their context. We all find ways to adapt or affiliate with our background, and must accept that our sense of self must adapt too. Essentially, identity is malleable, and the only way to really find it is to accept that, to an extent, you will always be searching for it.

Holometabolous
"Know thyself. A maxim as pernicious as it is ugly. Whoever studies himself arrest his own development. A caterpillar who seeks to know himself would never become a butterfly."
-Andre Gide