Quote DeJour

“The unfed mind devours itself.” 

-Gore Vidal

Enjoying Photography

Sometimes as a photographer you lose your way and forget why you love being an image maker. Digging down deep to recover that chi can bet tough. Photographer and blogger Scott Bourne has an excellent post called five secrets to really enjoying photography. They are simple but are somethings that we sometimes forget. Read it, enjoy it  and go out and shoot. You can read it on the Photofocus site.

Modern-Deco

© Neil Schierstedt All Rights Reserved

Robert Hughes Is An Art Critic That Will Be Missed

 

There are two writer I have always enjoyed reading. On the political scene it was Christopher Hitchens. You may not have what he had to say but he always entertained you and made you think. We lost him this year and his writing will be missed.

Now we have lost one of our best art critics in Robert Hughes. Hughes was an eloquent writer and art critic who took no prisoners. Love him or hate him, like Hitchens he spoke his mind on art with his rapier criticism.

On being a critic he once said:

"One gets tired of the role critics are supposed to have in this culture: it's like being the piano player in a whorehouse; you don't have any control over the action going on upstairs."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/aug/07/robert-hughes-quotes-best

On The Soap Box

I don't normally use this blog as a soap box of griping but this time I am. Cold calls can be annoying but I can deal with those by saying politely "No Thank You and please put me on your do not call list. Robo calls are the most annoying call on the face of the planet. If you hang up they just call back. You have to wait to the end to opt out and they still call back. And to Ann of card services who claims to be from my credit card company and never identifies the company......bugger off!  So I can get this out of my system if you plan on calling me, remember this video clip..... Oh yeah your an automated piece of garbage. The Marx Brothers are always relevant!

Quote DuJour

What uses having a great depth of field, 

if there is not an adequate depth of feeling?

- W. Eugene Smith

Orderly Conduct

© Neil Schierstedt All Rights Reserved

Quote DuJour

"The further we delve into what we are and
what things we are, the more mysterious
we and they become."

-Wynn Bullock

Friday ClixPix

© Neil Schierstedt All Rights Reserved

Wall Madonna

Little Village, Chicago

© Neil Schierstedt All Rights Reserved

Quote DuJour

"Light to me is the most profound truth in the universe.
My thinking has been deeply affected by the belief that
everyone is some form of radiant energy."
-Wynn Bullock

On The Run

Little Village, Chicago

© Neil Schierstedt All Rights Reserved

Quote DuJour

"My imagination is a monastery

and I am it's monk"

-John Keats

Storefront Shrine

Little Village, Chicago

© Neil Schierstedt All Rights Reserved

In the Mexican community they take their faith seriously. In the case of this store they have included a shrine to the Virgin Mary in front by the entrance.

Mannequin Glow

Little Village, Chicago

© Neil Schierstedt All Rights Reserved

Friday ClixPix

Maximum Madonna

© Neil Schierstedt

Grafitti Little Village, Chicago

© Neil Schierstedt

7 Habits of Highly Creative Minds

FreelanceSwitch.com has a great post on the "7 Habits of Highly Creative Minds". It's a good read to help inspire and jog your mental rhythms. Read and be inspired at FreelanceSwitch.

Quote DuJour

"All art is autobiographical; 

the pearl 

is the oyster’s autobiography."

-Federico Fellini in a December 1965 piece in The Atlantic

Creative Vapor Lock

It's summer. Hot, 90 to 100 degrees....sticky and just plain uncomfortable. Tis the season to hit creative vapor lock. My mind is putty and it has stalled out. So I go to the Apple app store and wandered around for some mind stimulating candy. Behold a free app just to jockey the photographic mental digits into stimulation.  The free version is DotMatrix FREE by Blackop. The program takes an image from your video cam snapshot or a photo and lets you create a whole mess of unusual and funky images using their presets which you can tweak any way you want. Designers and photographers can play with this for inspiration. Playing with this shakes the old brain cells alive. Download it and give it a shot. The free version creates a lo-res .png file.  They also make a studio version for a price. I'd love to do a review on that to see how well that works. But for now the free version allows me to kick the tires. It's on Apples app store or go to Blackops site.  Below are some samples.

Quote DuJour

“ When a man realizes his littleness, his greatness can appear. ”

— H.G. Wells

Quote DuJour

"A creative is ultimately a person of action. 
They have dreams, but they toil. 
A dreamer is someone 
who never achieves a dream. 
Dreamers are bullshit."

-Lapo Elkann

Quote DuJour

"Know the enemy,
know yourself."

-Sun Tzu

The Principles Of White Space

There is a great blog posting by blogger Leo Babauta of zenhabits that deals with the use of white space.

Some of the things white space accomplishes in design:

• greater legibility
• feeling of luxury
• breathing room & balance
• more emphasis

To read the entire blog article go to DesignTaxi.

Quote DuJour

"Distraction is the only thing that consoles us for miseries and yet it is itself the greatest of our miseries." 

~Blaise Pascal