Archive for the ‘Rambling’ Category

Technology Yay!

Sunday, May 2nd, 2010

Since I am the proud new owner of the new iPad 3G I’m testing the blog application I downloaded from the app store to blog from my iPad. I have the cool new iDock so typing from an actual keyboard instead of the touchscreen. It’s the ultimate. No more laptop for me. Thank you Steve Jobs. This is truly a brilliant way to work. My husband and I were watching a movie on it while eating dinner at the kitchen table reflecting upon how utterly 2001 it all was… and I don’t mean the year. But where are our jet packs? seriously. Yeah, I know they make them now, but you can’t train on them in the United States, and I doubt they license them. But, aside from that I feel a bit like Judy Jetson.

And these apps for photos and video on the iPad… S.I.C.K. I love it. I think I’m going to ditch the idea that film photography is still the best way to produce work now. It’s all about iPhone/iPad and once I get the connector strip for a digi cam I’ll just do all my editing right on my iPad, produce an iPad book of iPhone/Pad photography and be set with it all. I may never get on my real computer again. (I’m joking of course.) I’m just in love with Apple right now. Oh yes, I bit the Apple. Gladly. Give me MORE. What’s Steve going to come up with next?

I’m still waiting (im)patiently for the photo book app. Why isn’t it here yet? Someone hurry up and make the application for designing a book directly on the iPad/iPhone and do it quick. My foot is continuing to tap… tap… tap… tap. I know exactly how to design it. Someone hire me to do it so I can hurry up and make an iPhone book without getting on my computer.

And I’m going to call out Hipstamatic one more time for having a faulty application. Folks, you can’t upload the pictures from your application from the photo library on the iPhone. Just tried using this application to upload an image taken with Hipstamatic and it ruined the entire post and I had to start all over again. Your app is so faulty that iPad won’t even allow it to sync to the device. It takes some really cool images, but it’s plainly obvious that none of you Hipstamatic developers really give a _ _ _ _ that people can actually show the pictures. What? We’re just supposed to show people our iPhones? Or post to Flickr or Facebook as something suitable? Come on!

OK – end rant… but GRRRRRR. I’ll post a photo taken of Cindy Lou Who’s house by another more friendly app called Cinemafx. Download it and start playing all you iPhoneographers.

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My Book is finished

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

I have always wanted to print a book of my work that I could be satisfied with. When I think of art books I envision each page to be a representation of a print that I would make. So many self publishers fall short of this goal and really don’t care about the quality of each page, but more so the quantity of books they can get through their printers which aren’t usually calibrated frequently. When the printers aren’t calibrated frequently this causes each book to be printed different from the next which could be one of the issues, but there are several. As you can see on my site I sell a book printed by Blurb. I’ll be taking that down and “discontinuing” sales of DISCONTINUde as the quality is not up to my standards. They missed my deep blacks in ALL of my prints. There is no detail. It’s just black. One of the prints I’m attaching in this posting … Achilles Knee (model, Stephanie Anne)… none of the trees to the left of the picture even show up in the book. They are just a black blob, as are each of the prints in the book. And that’s a shame because the size of the book is really cute and square (5×5) like my photos and I wanted it to be a nice little book one could keep. And many of my sepia toned images turned green. So, even if I used a little color to try and get their printers to behave in a manner that would look good for my prints, nothing worked. I even calibrated Photoshop to use their color calibration. It was really disappointing. This was also to be a book that they would showcase at an event so people could see the quality of their work. It was so disappointing for me that I told them they couldn’t showcase my book. I spent days and weeks putting that book together too.

Achilles Knee - ©2007 Zoe Wiseman - model: Stephanie Anne

Achilles Knee - ©2007 Zoe Wiseman - model: Stephanie Anne

A&I had printed a couple of my photographs in their books for group shows they had which I was a part of, and both of my photographs looked excellent inside of Nude X and I Spy With My Plastic Eye. When asked to do a show of my work and a book, I went into the book making process with a lot more optimism and was not sorry for it. Creating a book is a lot of work. It’s much more than just slapping an image on a page. It takes time to create a flow, work out where you need to put type, what font to use, which image should represent each theme. So when you spend that much effort to layout and creating an art piece with your photography and then paying for it, it’s so nice when it all comes out perfect. My book Fiat Lux is beautiful. And I’m not tooting my own horn or A&I’s because they gave me a show. I’m blunt… if something sucks I usually say so straight away. I’m not getting paid to say this either. They aren’t sponsoring me, I’m paying for my own publishing. They really do care about quality and it’s obvious that they all enjoy seeing a great product come from their lab. In fact, I’m sure they would be embarrassed if something subpar ever exited the building.

I’m very excited for people to see and purchase this book during my opening… and will not hesitate to add my signature to it because it is something I definitely approve of. When I held it for the first time yesterday, I turned into a giggly little girl. See you all next Thursday the 18th!

Fiat Lux - fine art nudes by zoe wiseman

Fiat Lux - fine art nudes by zoe wiseman

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Funshine

Friday, January 15th, 2010

YELE

YELE

I can’t live where it’s cold

I wrapped my heart around the sun

I set my eyes along the beach

and the gray is now out of reach

I can’t see or be

no time for my thoughts

as they escape my world around me

I run and run

I run for the sun

I wrapped my heart around it

I can’t live without it

a being in the light and water

holding onto that last bit of

FUNSHINE

now my soul is part of the sun

Sunny Heart

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Happy 2010, so long 2009…

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

2009 was rather good to me. I have a lot of things to be thankful for, and there are a lot of people out there I send my love to and thanks. You all know who you are… and there are so many of you I don’t think I could begin to name each one of you or I would be here till next year! Yes… I’m that thankful and that graciously overjoyed that you are all in my life.

In these troubled times of economic crisis and the loss of work of so many people around the world, 2010 really should be a time to come together and stand by one another in order to better all of our lives. I’ve been trying to do my part within the art community by building bridges and creating opportunities for not only myself, but for all the friends who share my love of photography. I was able to do this several times in 2009. I feel honored to have contributed to connecting people and hopefully leaving them with a bright spot when they look back upon the year in reflection.

January 2009 started out working with the Palm Springs Photo Festival producing all the workshops and organizing all of those days. Finding talent and assistants and working with some quite amazing photographers helping them get their classes off without a hitch. I got to meet some of my favorite photographers, Greg Gorman, Steve McCurry and Duane Michals and help them produce an outstanding workshop program for their students. It wasn’t all fun and games at times because it was a lot of work, but it was a great experience that I’ll always look back on and smile at. A bright spot.

I launched ARTnudes Network in June – A Networking/blogging website for models, photographers, painters, sculptures and sketchers – Mostly fine art nude photography, but all artists are welcome to jump in as long as it’s art related. I’ve had this concept on hold for so many years and it is amazing to finally get it going and see so many people connecting with each other. There are still many things to do with it and it will be done! It’s intended for serious artists, and artists who want to be serious.

In August my best friend, brides maid, and always epic photographically model (that was a mouth full) – Ida Mae, gave birth to a baby boy. I am so happy for her!!! We were planning on another maternity shoot before she gave birth two days before she went into labor a month early. What a beautiful moment of 2009. I got to see her in November when I was staying in Hanover, New Hampshire over Thanksgiving. Brief but special. It was great seeing her in her element.

In October I had a most excellent vacation to Australia with several of my friends from Community Zoe. I’ve written quite a bit about it on this site, but I can’t begin to describe the amazing time that was had. It was perfect. The best one yet. Might have to do it again! This is definitely a bright spot – but more like an entire sun ray – or if you would look at a pie chart this would take over about 40% of the pie. At least. So, super sunny spot. Maybe I should create a pie chart with the amount of bright spots and relative percentage of impact they had on me over the year. hmm.

In September my modeling work was hanging in two galleries at the same time. In Melbourne, Australia in the work of Michael Marlborough and in Charlotte, North Carolina in the work of Bryce Lankard. Two of my best friends and they both had gallery shows at the same time. Kind of cool. And my photography work was published in the book 210 Photographers – 1×2. That three thing. Sunny.

October was Australia, but more of my work was also published in the book NUDES Indexx II . Then the newspaper clip about all of us in the Cairns’ Post.

Once returning from Australia I helped Jeff Dunas get his Palm Springs Photo Festival community site up and running, then it was a gallery show at A&I called I Spy With My Plastic Eye, and another book publishing that was produced for the show. The print that I made for the show has sold too, so bonus! It all benefitted WeSpark – a non-profit organization that provides free support for cancer patients. It makes me feel good that my art was benefitting such an important cause and thank you to A&I, Astor Morgan and Baret Lepejian for having me be a part of such a cool event!

I attended the BMI Awards to watch my husband receive his 8th BMI Crystal Statue @ the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, the one from Pretty Woman. You never know who will be at these award ceremonies. One year we were sitting at a table next to Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys and another time Paul Anka and Mark Mothersbaugh from DEVO and another time the family members from the late Howling Wolf. It’s great people watching, good food, and a great celebration for all the recording artists that BMI represents. And concerning copyright, I don’t know of another organization that fights for the rights of artists in the way they do. If only photographers, painters and other artists had something similar. I learn a lot each time I go. And it’s always a proud moment watching my husband get an award.

In December I got a wonderful opportunity to have a solo showing of my nudes @ A&I in Hollywood. I’ll be producing a book and showing about 40 – 50 of my prints. The opening reception will be on February 18, 2010. (my fingers still want to type 2009, eeek, have to get used to that!) So, I’ve been in editing mode from the day I found out until now. Excluding the lovely time I spent in Kauai, Hawaii during the Holidays. I think I’ll be making Hawaii a December ritual.

Speaking of Kauai – I also was able to make beautiful pictures with a model there named Whitne Drake who, as luck would have it, lives about 15 miles from where we were staying. So, I’ll end this with a few pictures we made together in Kauai at the end of the road and at the end of 2009.

Thank you to all who have come into my life, I’ve learned many things from all of you. If you stand in the light, the shadows look prettier. And if we can all come together for good in 2010 maybe the shadows won’t feel so forgotten or “insert random thought of wisdom here.” I think all of us can make it brighter. I’ll do my best.

Enjoy some pictures. Film images coming later… these are iPhone nudes if you can believe it. My secret’s out!

© 2009 Zoe Wiseman ~ Model: Whitne

© 2009 Zoe Wiseman ~ Model: Whitne

© 2009 Zoe Wiseman ~ Model: Whitne

© 2009 Zoe Wiseman ~ Model: Whitne

© 2009 Zoe Wiseman ~ Model: Whitne

© 2009 Zoe Wiseman ~ Model: Whitne

© 2009 Zoe Wiseman ~ Model: Whitne

© 2009 Zoe Wiseman ~ Model: Whitne

© 2009 Zoe Wiseman ~ Model: Whitne

© 2009 Zoe Wiseman ~ Model: Whitne

© 2009 Zoe Wiseman ~ Model: Whitne

© 2009 Zoe Wiseman ~ Model: Whitne

© 2009 Zoe Wiseman ~ Model: Whitne

© 2009 Zoe Wiseman ~ Model: Whitne

© 2009 Zoe Wiseman ~ Model: Whitne

© 2009 Zoe Wiseman ~ Model: Whitne

© 2009 Zoe Wiseman ~ Model: Whitne

© 2009 Zoe Wiseman ~ Model: Whitne

© 2009 Zoe Wiseman ~ Model: Whitne

© 2009 Zoe Wiseman ~ Model: Whitne

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Dartmouth Wanderings

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

My husband is from the Hanover area near Dartmouth College. His father was once a professor here. So, we’re visiting for Thanksgiving and I have been wandering around taking photos of the area.

One of the original Animal House – yeah from the movie. It’s easy to see how it made a great movie.

The other, not so light hearted, Skull and Bones frat house. You know, the evil lair where Presidents and chicken hawks and Dick Cheney’s and Bush’s learn destruction. Yet, aforementioned names learned so at Yale. It sits as a windowless gargoyle like creature on a bluff looming over the street. A black door with no door handle and no obvious way to gain entrance. Just like the frat really is, so is the building. Dark.

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“Contests”

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

I don’t submit my work for silly contests. Yet, just about every single contest out there, I’m talking with jurors and such, sends me about 2 emails a day to give them money so that some bonehead who thinks he or she knows everything about photography can say whether or not my piece of art is up to par. Some of these contests cost $75.00 to enter! I wonder how many unsuspecting artists souls are being devoured by sending off a check… and then some of the contests do a rights grab afterwards! So, you are basically paying them to use your work. I want to know what the house looks like of the founder of these awards. I bet after receiving all this cash it’s a nice posh ranch house in Bel Air. I also bet (after seeing some of the names of the contest winners) that these “contest winners” were planned before the contest even started. They get a few well known photographers ask them to be in the contest and give them the prize so that that photographer’s name lends them credibility, then they can continue to mooch off artists in order to keep their lights on. Vampires.

And to go through all the contests out there, and if you check to see who has won the contests you start to see some very familiar names over and over again in each contest. That’s really not a coincidence.

When did things get so depressing? This isn’t the way artists should be treated. I literally get 10 different contests who email me regularly – The International Color Awards are seriously on my last nerve! An email a day from them!! International Color Awards! You aren’t getting my money, and I don’t shoot color.

End rant.

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Check List

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

Before you go on a trip, especially one that won’t allow you to rent gear, you need a check list. A packing list, and a bag that you can carry on the plane. Checking your gear and trusting airport baggage with expensive equipment is a bit foolhardy. If only I could Fed-Ex it all so it arrived before me. But I don’t even trust that. So – I thought I’d let you all into my ritual of organizing before a photo excursion by posting my check list.

iPhone snap of Holga back

I’m debating on taking my Speed Graphic 4×5. I know I’ll want it at some point but the terrain is going to be rugged and traveling light seems like that will give me the most freedom. Not only would I have to tote the 4×5 around but boxes of Type 55 too. So it’s not sounding too adventurous at the moment. Thinking about renting something while I’m there for a day so …

Yeah – I kind of have to shoot 4×5 – at least one day. Even though it will be insanely cumbersome, it will probably be worth it.

I have a few days yet, trying to think of more crap I can fit into a carryon seems exhausting. If only I just needed clothing.

For those wondering what the prize is going to be… I’ve decided to give whoever guesses where I am 2 movies I made to music of my photography mailed to you.

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