The Lights of Pittsburgh

Well, that's not really accurate -- since they don't actually light up any more.

Some shots from my trip last summer (the usual Photoshop + Tiffen filters -- but less that you might think: they were pretty weathered)

Mixed Media

Just finished up a new sculpture and it is mixed media to say the least -- including a skull, glass, steel and even a photo (behind the glass) from my Arizona set.

It is approximately 14 inches high.

Books

I've made a couple of books available off of my website

I did one on Blurb the other one using Apple's Aperture program.

Blurb definitely makes selling easier and at some level I liked the output better (slipcover on the hardcover version), but Aperture gave me more flexibility around background images etc.. That flexibility also made Aperture easier to use, although getting a result that I liked was harder aka too few constraints.

A how-to note: I created the flash file by printing a PDF in Aperture and then running it through swftools using the instructions on Tao of Mac on how to build swftools, and then disabling the print/zoom/etc menu by following this Oct 2007 post by WorldCrafter

New Sculpture

A small sculpture I recently finished

Barcelona Favorites

After Madrid, I went to Barcelona -- here's my favorite street art.

These two were in the professional/commisioned range

This one was more "of the street" I saw similar work in a few places

Madrid Favorites

Here's my three favorite street art pieces in Madrid -- not saying that they were the best in the whole city, just the best ones that I came across.

This one is definitely my favorite -- I really like the "rivet" effect.

Madrid

I was recently in Madrid and was surprised at how much street art there was -- more than anyplace else I had been.

This is a heavily decorated park

An example corner.

detail

There also appears to be a free mixture of 'sponsored' and 'spontaneous' work. This shot is directly across the small street from the corner.

NYC Subway

I initially shot this set looking for textures and backgrounds to use for photoshopping but I ended up with a few shots that stand on their own -- well "on their own" in photoshop with Tiffen 2.0 filters.

The Tiffen 2.0 filters are a substantial improvement over the 1.0 version. They allow multiple layers and individual layer "transparency" control. My current workflow involves keeping layers of my favorite filters up in the "Effect" pane. I keep them turned off but can quickly turn them on without having to wade through the filter selection hierarchy (which I'm sure is clear if you shoot with a lot of real physical lens filters, but isn't the point of this package that you shoot first and filter later?).

BTW Version 2.0 is a bit crash-happy on OSX 10.5.5, but I'm getting in the habit of doing a quick save before calling up the filters.

What I did with the stacked pipe slices

I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out

Detail

Full view

La Brea Tar Bubbles

Some shots from my LA visit last month -- I hadn't realized that the tarpits were still bubbling.

Stacked Pipe Slices

I'm working with some pipe slices and like the way they look stacked -- I'm not planning to grind them, simply use them "as is" after slicing the pipe on my chopsaw.

The background is arbitrary and designed to facilitate photoshopping.

Robert Irwin's garden at the Getty

A couple of weeks ago I was in LA -- one of my prime goals for this trip was to see how the gardens at the Getty had grown in. When it was installed Irwin had said "see what it looks like in ten years". Coincidentally, (well, probably not) this is the Getty's tenth anniversary.

I've never been particularly fond of the museum itself, and I'm not familiar with the collection, but when I first saw the garden ~9 years ago, I enjoyed it a great deal. Irwin started out as a installation artist and it shows.

I have tried to find photos that capture it, but it really must be experienced: the views in every direction change significantly as you traverse the path.
Here's a shot from the Getty web site


a nice image from flickr



and two of the nicest ones from Paula Panich a writer/writing coach





who is coincidentally giving a writing workshop at the Getty in September.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Irwin's work at the Dia Beacon



which is also impressive albeit not as all encompassing, but much closer to those on the east coast.

New Large Painting

I just finished a new "Large Painting" 90 in h x 92 in w (large for me anyhow) and am pretty happy with it.

An overall view

detail

it is specifically designed to be viewed with that particular photo spot shining at a grazing angle from the upper right corner -- otherwise the colors are off.

Allston Landscaping

There's a new landscaping project going in at the intersection of Royal and Lincoln streets in Allston (kmz file).It appears to be part of the North Allston Open Space and
Public Realm Greening Plan. This is very cool, given that the plot previously was "unkept" at best.

These are in process photos, I will put up completed photos in a later post.

Here's a view up Royal St.

Looking down onto Royal St.

plus a few shots of the installation.

Even though I talked one of the members of the team that are doing this I forgot her name (I'm awful with names). If you read this and want to be credited/linked to let me know -- I would like to give credit where credit is due.

This is a very cool addition to the neighborhood.

More St. Petersburg

I finished my St. Petersburg set/slideshow, and even though I had previously posted about its gorgeous roofs and rain gutters, I begin the set with an "electric pencil"



and end with a truck.

Similar Subjects

Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre shoot subjects similar to mine, but a much different look


I like their photos, so I'm sharing


Not as close up and apparently less use of photoshop.


Their blog is here.

Volcano shots

I think of these as being the "view from the Hellmouth"

I saw this in bldgblog and thought I'd share.





A 3K x 2K version of the last photo can be found here.