With the City as my Backdrop

I realize I've been missing my Friday posts. No excuses, that's not cool because I'm only hurting as I'm doing this to build my portfolio. My life has changed a little so I haven't had as much time to dedicate to working on it, especially drawing. I'm in the process of rearranging things and figuring it out so hopefully I can get back into a regular rotation soon. One heads up though, I have been working on a more extensive piece that can't be finished in a weeks time unless I dedicated a 40 hour work week to it, but hopefully it'll be done soon.

Anyway, last week, I promised some more shots from the Ben Franklin bridge. I guess you can call this a mini photoshoot with poet Jirbaud in between my snapping pics of the city elements. Here goes...




This last one we both felt really captured his personality. If you know Jirbaud, you know his shoes.

Nature

I want to go to a national park and take in the scenery, like Yosemite or Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon. That would be awesome. I can't help but think of all the great pictures I could take.

On the Open Road

Earlier this week, I went on a road trip. It was supposed to be 9.5 hours there and 9.5 hours back. No big deal right, easy peasy; I've driven that long in a straight shot before so I wasn't really worried. However, other people were because I was driving alone, no one to be my co-pilot and keep me up or takeover when I got tired. I was confident I could make it with no problems and considered this as a very good introduction to how it will be when I get my RV and move from place to place easily and at will.

I normally don't like driving, but this trip I realized that I actually do like to drive. I just don't like to drive in the city with the crazies and the traffic. You're so disconnected from your environment and the scenery around you, that's why I prefer to use a bike in the city. Driving on the highway is a totally different experience; it's like riding a bike in the city. There's much more freedom on the open road, no need to worry about traffic lights or cars cutting across at cut streets. You can just enjoy the view that surrounds the highway and let it accompany you while you drive. What's so great about driving long distances is that you get to watch the sky change as the hours pass or as the weather changes from location to location. It's really quite spectacular if you think about it. From this trip I have decided that I love the open road and an RV is perfect for me.

I like the way the sunrays pass through the trees and make patterns of shadow and light on the road. And the way when there's a bend in the road there's an element of mystery as to what's coming up next.

The bridge ahead of me and everything around me disappeared in the fog. It was serene, like driving to a cloud, so peaceful.

I like to catch glimpses of a beachy shore when entering and exiting a bridge. It just makes my day better.

P.S. Not the best pics because they were taken with my tele while driving.

City Elements

The first time I visited Philly, I crossed the Delaware river riding from New Jersey on the Ben Franklin bridge and was amazed at the view of the city from the bridge. I thought it would be a great place to take pictures from. When I moved to Philly, I found out that the bridge is open to pedestrian traffic and I immediately decided that this would be my favorite place in the city.

This week, I finally got the chance to walk on the bridge, hang out and take some pictures of the city. It really has lived up to my expectations and so far is my favorite place in the city. On this trip I focused more so on elements of the bridge itself than the view of the city, capturing patterns in the urban landscape. So here's a few shots from that trip, more forth coming later this week.





This last shot was from this pretty little park sitting on the river bank looking at the bridge. This might be my second favorite place, but more on that later.

You say I'm different. It's because you don't know me anymore. I've changed. I'm more me now than I ever was before.

Sometimes I wonder why I write

South Beach

I want to go back to Miami. I was only there for a week once, but it has so much potential. Everything was so sparkly and wonderful. To start, the drive in to South Beach across the MacArthur Causeway was eye catching, I had a hard time keeping my eyes on the road. I was surrounded by clear blue water and boats that made my eyes jump from the cruise ships on the right to the marina on the left and back.

Arriving on the island, I was confronted by Art Deco architecture and pre-1960s cars parked in front hotels that all referenced another era. I felt as if I was in a different world.

It's not the beach that made it great, I've been to better beaches but they didn't have the same kind of atmosphere. The city scene combined with the natural scene and laid back vibe is what made it so welcoming to me. Is it my paradise? No, waaaayyyy too many people, but it is a place that I would like to visit often and have a more extended stay.

Paradise

I want to go to a beautiful place, my own little paradise. There would be a beach of course, with grass blowing on the sand dunes and sparkling blue water. There would be an endless supply of beauty for me to discover, be inspired by and capture with my pen, camera or brush. The sunrise and sunset would always be different and worthwhile to see, so I would never miss it. I would walk along the beach and feel the sand between my toes, the sun's warmth on my shoulders, and the light sea breeze on my cheek. Don't you think life would be pleasant? I wonder if my utopia exists.

Music

I still haven't come up with a name for this weekly feature thing.I was thinking about calling it "Sharpening my Tools" since this whole exercise is meant to resharpen my skills as I build my portfolio. However, it sounds a little lame when I say it out loud. Anyway, the theme I've chosen this week is music. I chose music because, if you know me, you know I love music. I love all kinds of music, I'm eclectic like that.

I chose to shoot these two instruments, the saxophone and acoustic guitar, because they are so versatile. They can be used in any style of music. I went with that idea because they reflect my music tastes. I hope you enjoy.

Click on the images to make them larger.



Don't forget to suggest another theme.

What's in a Name?

I need to come up with a name for this new weekly project that I'm working on. Last week I called it weekly check-up, but that was because I hadn't thought of anything yet and that made sense at the time. It's not the permanent name that I want to keep so if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to let me know.

So far the guidelines are that I pick a theme or subject or medium for the week and come up with either a piece of art or photography executing that theme. The theme can either come from suggestions or my own head. I will reveal the final piece in a blog post at the end of the week, either Friday or Saturday.

If you have a title or theme suggestion, shoot me a comment.

Weekly Check-Up 1

So...this year off I'm working on my portfolio for grad school. To help me stay on track, I made a deal with my friends to post some art work or something at the end of each week to show that I've been working on something. All of these works won't end up in my portfolio but they are helping me get back in the mix of things since it's been so long since I've used my drawing skills. This week was the first week and I probably picked a pretty hard subject to jump right back into drawing,, but it's something close to my heart, my camera. I decided to draw it because I couldn't capture in the earlier post that showed my tools. This is the beginning of my journey. I decided to show various stages of completion to show how I work.


This first image is me putting down the outline of my camera. You can see some of the construction lines that I used to guide my angles and the shape of the lens. You can also see a slight difference in the sketching style between the camera and strap. I used a looser style on the strap because it wasn't as necessary to be precise, just needed to rough in the basic shape.


In this image I'm beginning to shade and define the camera's shape and how the light plays on the surface.


It's not finished yet but this is what I have so far. I used a hatch on the strap instead of the smoother shading I used on the camera body to give the strap some texture. There's still some white spaces because I haven't decided how detailed I want to get and whether or not I want to draw in the brand name and writings on the lens. Also, I haven't quite figured out how I want to deal with the glass on the lens yet. I still need to darken the values in some places to give it a more finished look.

Practicality? ...scoff

Should you ever give up your dreams for any reason? What if it's so impractical, you can't imagine how to succeed? Should you abandon them then due to practicality? Maybe. I hope not. I once had a professor who said if your plan seems obtainable, then you're not dreaming big enough. I always try to keep that in mind when people tell me my dreams are impractical. Screw practicality.