The NEXUS between CREATIVITY and TECHNOLOGY…

 

I was recently at the GATEWAY TECHNICAL COLLEGE S.C. JOHNSON iMET CENTER, hangin' out in their FABLab.  John Zehren (of the FabLAB ) had sent out an invite to folks to stop by and apply the technologies to artistic printing processes… something he,  David Jones (of the Center for Collaborative Research in Kenosha), and others had been piloting at the iMET center's FabLAB.

Its a refreshing application of a technology that "standard thinking" could lead you to believe is reserved primarily for Industrial Design early prototype fabrication.  

I instantly recognized Jones from a trip I had made with Carthage undergrad and graduate classmates many years prior to Chicago's Columbia College Printmaking space, which he had been operating at the time.

Its a wonderful thing when the utilization of a set of tools can expand beyond one's presumptions. I was able, with Jones and Zehren's support, to make some wood block prints of a design I created in Adobe Illustrator.

I intend to take my students there in the future.

"UNEXPECTED BACKGROUNDS"

I remember seeing a Scott Robert Lim video (he is a Big Time Photographer  with a truly inspiring  story) where he recounts the tale of one of his visually potent photos. He was with an Asian-American couple on their wedding day, driving around between the ceremonies and reception. Red (and gold) are potent colors in many Asian Cultures, and Lim wanted the couple against a striking background that would communicate well with the couples' outfits.

As I recall, Lim says he saw a convenience store or gas station sign (and it looked a bit run down), and asked the driver to pull over to take a photo of the couple. The couple looked a bit puzzled and concerned… had Lim lost his mind?

The result was an amazing photo of the couple in front of a striking red background. The lens compression and the cropping gave no indication where the actual environment was. The result spoke volumes for the method.

Flash forward several years, and this image (shared by "DrBatookhan") graphically communicated the exact same principle. The top is the "roadside setup," and the  bottom is the result (click to enlarge).

Nothing cooler to me than to see how these guys think when they compose.

A REALLY good PODCAST!

A REALLY GOOD POSCAST [or two]!

I'm a visual communicator. I got edjuhmacated in the 1980's, when the nom-de-mode was graphic designer. I'll admit that graphic designer  has a certain 'cachet' about it that 'visual communicator' seems to lack.  It somehow implies a discipline that is more purely visual, with less dependency or regard for the mass-communicative (and also 'marketing' goal-based) properties of the field.

That being said, for my undergrad we had two solid years of fine-arts curriculum. So perhaps Graphic Designer is a more appropriate name for what I am. 

I was fortunate enough to attend college when they had a gaggle of Bauhaus instructors– one of my professors actually met Gropius, and another had been a product/disciple of the Black Mountain School. This for the price of a public university education!

So there is certainly a thread of the fine artist that runs through my soul.

You can imagine my joy when, on an afternoon car trip, I got to hear this podcast.
I highly encourage you to check it out.

and in the same vein…

I heard this podcast about the disagreeable relationship between Gropius (the Bauhaus founder) and the wife of Lazlo Moholy-Nagy.

I guess all your creative heroes die.
I learned the truth about Hitchcock a couple of years ago, and now Manet and Gropius join him in the realm of being "merely human." If someone finds some stuff on Hopper,  I will probably sink into a depression.

[link will take you to the article page, click in the "play" triangle in the upper lefthand part of the photo for  the podcast.]

TIPS ON "INSTAGRAM-ing"

Here are some tips on creating Instagram photos.
A lot of photographers are increasing their use of mobile phones in photography (some are even using them exclusively)… and with the new features [controlling f-stop appearance, dof effects, and virtual shutterspeeds] the phone-direct-to-Instagram route is as popular as ever. While a camera is  shown here, you can certainly use the principles with almost anything.

IMPROVING INSTAGRAM PHOTOS on the Photoblogger