San Ardo oil fields on Highway 101 — by Joe Reifer
Watching, Reading, Listening, Doing (WRLD) is an experiment in paring down artistic input/output into quick summaries to refer back to. Disparate inputs help create interesting output. Let’s see what’s been in the blender lately.
San Ardo oil field gigapan: The image above is composed of 2 rows of 7 images, with 2 bracketed shots at each camera position. The iPhone app PanoCalc was useful in figuring out the number of photos to shoot. The images were stitched in PTGui Pro using a Mercator projection. The final image is 10,000 x 8,000 (80 megapixels). Below is a zoomable version created using Pano2VR.
Reading
Charles Burns continues to amaze me with his unique vision in the 2nd installment of his darkly original, narrative-shifting trilogy – The Hive. Highly recommended. The ASMP Guide to New Markets in Photography was worth reading for the 50 concise photographer biographies. Judy Herrmann’s values analysis exercises are also quite good. The remaining material is a high level overview of changes in the photography industry, but the advice is rather general. Worth checking out from the library for photographers of all levels. May be of particular interest to photography students who don’t already understand the industry. If you enjoyed David Hurn and Bill Jay’s On Being a Photographer, you might try tracking down Occam’s Razor. What was true about the art world 20 years ago is even more true today. The photography world needs an articulate curmudgeon like Bill Jay to stay honest. I wish the photo blog world had half of his wit and insight.
Watching
Aki Kaurismaki’s Le Havre blew me away. A bohemian shoe shine man protects an African refugee from being deported. Those of you familiar with Kaurismaki’s long history of dour films will be surprised how uplifting Le Havre is. And the cinematography is fantastic. Highly recommended.
I really enjoyed this Thomas Pynchon documentary with music by The Residents. The film is a goofy speculation about Pynchon’s choice to remain out of the public eye. Word on the street is that a new Pynchon novel called Bleeding Edge may be released this year.
Another excellent holiday gift (thanks ss!) was Cul De Sac. In 1995, a 35 year-old plumber and ex-soldier from suburban San Diego dug an 18 foot hole in his back yard looking for gold. Apparently meth was involved. He ended up stealing a tank from the National Guard and went on a rampage crushing cars before the police opened the tank and shot him. A really interesting meditation on the decline of the post WWII 50′s suburban dream.
Listening
ALTO! is a three piece band from Portland, Oregon with Derek Monypeny on guitar, and Steven T. Stone / Kyle Reid Emory on drums /electronics. Somewhere between krautrock, outrock, progrock, and experimental. Listen to side one of the album on ALTO!’s Bandcamp page, download a track for free, or name your price to buy the whole album.
Little planet panorama of the Salton Sea under a full moon — by Joe Reifer
The full moon rises over the Salton Sea, while rows of dead palm trees stand stoically on Yacht Club Drive in Salton City. You’ll never want to eat tilapia again after visiting the Salton Sea. Dodge the dead fish on the beach in the interactive version below. Move your iPad or iPhone to navigate the pano in this gyroscope enabled version.
Technical details: This image is 4 shots around at 5 degrees up with a Canon 8-15mm fisheye lens at 8mm on an EOS 60D. Each exposure was 90 seconds at f/8, ISO 800. A 5th shot (nadir) was taken to patch the tripod shadow. Shooting 4 around does not require a zenith shot, and results in a resolution of 10,500 x 5250 (55 megapixels). Shooting 6 shots around and 1 up (zenith) yields more resolution, but may not work with long exposures and fast-moving clouds.
360 Night Panorama of Desert Christ Park in Yucca Valley
This 360 degree night panorama at the Desert Christ Park in Yucca Valley Caliornia shows statues depicting the Sermon on the Mount. That’s the full moon behind the joshua tree on the left. The park was dedicated on Easter Sunday, 1951, and the statues were built out of steel reinforced concrete by an artist named Antone Martin. When I visited the park about 5-6 years ago, the statues still showed damage from an earthquake in the 90′s that cracked some of the concrete, causing the rebar to show in places. The statues have since been repaired. The 360 interactive version of the pano is below, and here’s a gyroscope enabled version for the iPad and iPhone.
Little Planet panorama of the room Misty Rock at the Madonna Inn — by Joe Reifer
A little planet panorama shows the interior of the room called Misty Rock, which is room 191 at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, California. A 360º interactive version of the image is below. The room has a secluded, cave type feel and includes a rock shower with a waterfall. Here’s an iPad and iPhone version of the 360 pano that you can control by moving around with your device.
The image is composed of a bracketed series of 3 exposures at each of 7 camera positions. The photos were stitched in PTGui Pro, and Exposure Fusion was used to blend the images. The interactive version of the pano was created using Pano2VR. The final resolution is 14,000 x 7,000 pixels (98 megapixels).
Who needs a tablet under the tree anyways — I want photo books! Here are 7 works that I read in the second half of 2012 that were an artistic inspiration. And here are more art books from the first half of the year.
Infra: Photographs by Richard Mosse
I saw Richard Mosse’s book Infra when browsing the photo section of The Strand book store in New York last month. My only real association with color infrared is the classic Beefheart and Zappa album covers. Mosse has pulled off an amazing accomplishment. This book contains amazingly beautiful large format war photos from the Congo shot on expired color infrared surveillance film. Lying somewhere between photojournalism and art, Infra is hypnotizing. Hands down the must see book of the year.
William Eggleston: Chromes
While in New York, I thought I was saving money by crashing with photographer Gabriel Biderman for a couple of nights. On top of his excellent collection of photo books was a fresh copy of William Eggleston’s Chromes. The lost scrolls of contemporary color photography? Beautifully produced by Steidl, Chromes is 3 hardcover books in a case. It’s like having 3 more Eggleston’s Guides. The current $345 price tag is steep, and will only get steeper. After spending an evening with this amazing series of photos, there was no doubt that I needed a copy. Hey, $345 is about what 2 nights in a New York hotel would have cost me — so thanks, Gabe!
Bruce Davidson: Outside Inside
Did I mention that Gabe also had a copy of Steidl’s 3 volume set of Bruce Davidson photos? Over 800 images chosen by Davidson. And at $195, this set is reasonably priced compared to Chromes. John Bartlestone: The Brooklyn Navy Yard
Also on the shelf at Mr. Biderman’s was John Bartelstone’s black and white documentary look at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York’s oldest industrial facility. If you’re interested in the history and transformation of World War II military facilities, this book is a must see. Bartelstone is an architectural photographer, and the compositions are very clean. The book shows a great feeling for the location. Highly recommended, especially if you’re interested in this type of subject matter. In Camera: Francis Bacon: Photography, Film and the Practice of Painting
In Camera takes a deep dive into how one of the greatest painters of the 20th century used photography as an inspiration. In addition to the interesting biographical details that emerge from this look at Bacon’s process, we are treated to some insights into how images can trigger feelings and memories. I picked this book up from the returns cart at the library, and it’s a sleeper. Highly recommended, whether you’re new to Bacon’s paintings or already a fan of his work. Jean-Philippe Toussaint: Camera
Less plot, more character. Hinting at something. Making you think a little bit. Very subtle comedy — this description of Toussaint’s book could very well substitute for what I’d like my photographs to do. Chris Ware: Building Stories
Let’s just get this out of the way first — Chris Ware’s 14-piece graphic-novel-in-a-box is a wonderful but melancholy work of art. Building Stories is also a riveting story, and amazingly designed. Viktor Pelevin: Omon Ra
What if you dreamed of entering the Soviet Space program and going to the moon. And what if you got your wish. And what if it turned out to be something very different than you expected. Life’s funny that way. If you like black humor and space travel, this is your book.
ALTO! is a three piece band from Portland, Oregon with Derek Monypeny on guitar, and Steven T. Stone / Kyle Reid Emory on drums /electronics. Somewhere between krautrock, outrock, progrock, and experimental. Listen to side one of the album on ALTO!’s Bandcamp page, download a track for free, or name your price to buy the whole album.
