post college life...

So it has been a while since I have posted because I have been unsure about the direction this blog is going to take now that I am a college grad... oh boy. Over the past few weeks I have come across some interesting artists and projects that have inspired me. Many related to the ocean or water which shouldn't come as a shock to anyone. :) I think I will start posting the "finds" I am making while I start to think about some of my own work again.

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more from mada

As I edit more photos and continue to experiment with my editing process, I find myself wondering how others will perceive my images... what they will get out of them or a feeling they might come away with.



These two photos were taken when our group visited the Indian Ocean near the city of Toamasina. This little girl was so adorable... she was happily playing with other kids and came running over when her dad began cutting up coconuts for our group to try. She was a happy little girl who appeared perfectly content with her lifestyle, but I wonder whether others will find her looking sad in these images.

The photos above are not the only time I am going to question my images... While I was in Madagascar I began thinking a lot about photojournalism and how African countries are portrayed in the media. Population growth is an issue that I am particularly interested in... the WWF wrote a paper entitled "Population trends and the environment in Madagascar". The article states,"Madagascar's exploding population exacerbates its economic stress. The island’s average population growth rate ranks among the highest in Africa at 2.8 percent per year. The population of around 14.1 million is expected to double by 2025. Since in-migration is negligible, population growth is driven by high fertility rates. In turn, poverty and a lack of reproductive health facilities contribute to the high fertility rate. Research has also shown a clear correlation between fertility and women's access to education. This is significant for Madagascar as over 40 percent of the female population over the age of 15 is illiterate. Female literacy is exceptionally low in the spiny forest but higher in the central highlands in and around the capital, Antananarivo".

This is clearly a complex problem to solve. My question as an artist is whether creating sad, even beautifully sad, images of children is going to do any real good... because unless real changes are made, Madagascar may see some very catastrophic effects due to their population growth. As a photographer is this a meaningful use of my time? And is it even truthful when I think about the actual happy children I saw?

HOLY S*@#!

Check out this:

FREE DIVING VIDEO

This is one of the coolest things I have seen in a long time... another reason why I am DYING to get into underwater videography (and perhaps finally decide on my next camera purchase and go with the Canon 5D mark II ??)

Gizmodo.com writes, "In this remarkable clip, world freediving champion Guillaume Nery stands at the edge of the world's second deepest underwater sink hole. And he jumps. The ensuing photography is a hypnotic adventure into the impossible. While Nery contends that no freediver can nor ever will make it to the bottom of Dean's Blue Hole, he spent four afternoons pulling off the stunts to simulate the effect while girlfriend/freediver Julie Gautier, just as impressively, filmed them (while freediving herself!) with a Canon 5D Mark II".

Flight - May 12, 2010

My first journal entry from the trip:

The flight alone has already been pretty incredible. Our flight from Detroit to Amsterdam was rerouted due to the volcanic eruptions in Iceland. Our flight plans actually took us above 66 degrees north, into the arctic circle, around Iceland. I was secretly hoping to pass over the northern part of the country just to get a glimpse of the amazing landscape I visited three summers ago. We never caught a glimpse of Iceland, but we did get a chance to see the eastern edge of Greenland. I opened the shade on the airplane window and I found myself looking down at black rugged mountains, layered in snow. The mountains appeared to be just peeking through the unimaginably deep snow banks, as if they were drowning.

I am writing this as we fly over a completely different, yet eerily similar landscape... the Sahara. I see nothing but sand and complex rippling patterns caused by the wind. The mountainous formations that appear every so often look like black islands in a sea of glowing beige. The differences between the two environments are immediately apparent to me. I can imagine myself struggling through the frozen landscape or the suffocating heat of the desert. The temperatures may be polar opposites, but the sense of isolation is frighteningly similar. Black peaks pear out beneath expanses of snow or sand, and both landscapes spread out before me until the horizon. There are no manmade interruptions like the orderly rectangular squares of cultivated earth outside the Amsterdam airport. These places are untamed and explored by so few. In many ways I feel like I have explored a significant part of the globe in the past 16 hours. From the arctic circle, and on past the equator, we have already begun our exploration even as we happily enjoy our inflight movies, vegetarian pasta meal trays, and beverages.

Here is an overlay of the two photos above... just for fun.

Madagascar [underwater]

I just returned from my 6 week long trip to Madagascar! I will have lots to write about this summer until I switch over to the new blog/website that I am working on. I will begin posting to both blogs :)

I have started editing the 1600+ photos I took during the trip. I am really excited about them, but it may take me a little while because I am also editing wedding photographs from this past weekend.

Here are a few underwater images... most have been converted to black & white... and of course I am into the patterns.

the finished (?) product.

I am happy to report that the opening reception on April 16th went very well. There was a great turn out and it was really exciting to see everyone, so to those of you who could stop by, thank you!!!

The show runs until May 1st if you would still like to see my work.

Here are a couple of images from the final exhibition space:

24

Today I saved 24 milk jugs from the garbage of Starbucks. It turns out that the Starbucks in Arborland mall does not recycle. I was pretty shocked and actually horrified once I realized just how much recyclable material ends up in landfills (or who knows where) as a result. The employee who collected the milk jugs for me handed me two large bags and said that he was giving me what the store probably throws away in 4 - 5 hours.

Then I asked him if every store just throws away their recyclables. He told me that he used to work at the Starbucks downtown and they recycled everything. He seemed to think that the store's location had a lot to do with the recycling situation and he wasn't sure why recycling was less accessible at this location.

So now I am very intrigued to know who is really at fault... Ann Arbor or Starbucks? Or are they equally at fault? I need to find out more details... I know that the city doesn't pick up recyclables everywhere, but does that mean recycling services are completely unavailable? In general Ann Arbor has a reputation of having a very good recycling system, so if an Ann Arbor Starbucks is not recycling what does that mean for other Starbucks locations across the country? I am also interested to look into the corporate policy of Starbucks... Starbucks advertises fair trade coffee, some brands are supposed to be "good for the planet", the store sells reusable travel mugs (my travel mug is, in fact, from Starbucks), and they also offer a discount for using your own mug. So I found it very ironic to be looking at a new mug product which was advertised as being created from sustainable/reused materials as I waited for my 24 milk jugs to be rescued from the trash....

Here they are laid out on the studio floor after cleaning them and cutting them in half.