Posts Tagged ‘vacation’

review of my Think Tank airport International 2.0 bag from Adorama camera

September 23, 2012

     

which i bought from Adorama for our trip to alaska. i like to spread my purchases around to different stores to see what they have changed since my last visit. i also check their web sites, the last bag i got at B&H video so i thought why not visit adorama ?

adorama has expanded their store some somewhat but seem limited in floor space and lack some ‘touch & feel’ of some products. i realize most of their business in web generated where people don’t need to touch a product. i am a touchy feely person.

i did met a salesperson who was having a computer problem but hey i understand. we worked through it. they showed me a picture of the Think Tank medium bag that had four wheels, cool. i decided not buying it that day and took  their card  so they would get credit for the sale. a day later i ordered on line where the picture came up it only had two wheels. i called customer service who explained that some of the web pictures don’t get updated right away. OK no problem ship it. i arrived a day or so later and i didn’t open it right away because i wasn’t ready to pack camera gear.

pictured above is what i got. lots of room for two cameras, 70 to 200 lens, speedlites, battery chargers, lens filters, etc this case even has a pocket for a laptop. but it’s  unpadded and in front of the case, not usable for me, i am a padding type of guy. but great place to store magazines for reading when your flight gets bumped as did our united airlines flight from anchorage ak. took us 24 hours to get home stuffed into the rear seats of a boeing 737  which i call the tube, that doesn’t have enough room to move your seat back, leaving only about 8″ between your face and seat in front of you.there outta be a law against this.

this bag has two different locks one on the main zipper which is nice and another on a cable to lock the case to something else. but if a thief wanted something out of the case they would use a knife to cut the case open.

the bag worked for what i needed, keeping my gear together. it has a limited warrantee which probably doesn’t cover the zippers which is where i’ve had problems before.

the odd thing about this purchase is i can’t review this bag on the adorama web site, i must have deleted their email link so when i when to adorama site it wouldn’t let me write a review, oh well. purschasing things these days isn’t as easy as it seems. now i could have returned the bag but it is what i saw on the web site so what’s the beef? none really just my surprise as it was different from what i saw in the store. i’ve no problem with the bag working as promised. a bag is a bag.

jene

The Clock, Christian Marclay @ The Lincoln Festival thru aug 1, 2012

July 13, 2012

are you looking for something to do in this sweltering summer heat here in the city that never sleeps. well this might be right up your alley at the Lincoln Center festival. see link here for line updates. for some reason new yorkers don’t mind standing in line because there are so many of us wanting to go somewhere from buying our groceries or being entertained.

Artwork That Runs Like Clockwork

Christian Marclay/Paula Cooper Gallery

Christian Marclay’s 24-hour film montage, “The Clock,” is coming to the David Rubenstein Atrium in Lincoln Center.

By
Published: June 21, 2012

This summer the city that never sleeps will have another glimpse of an artwork that doesn’t relent much either: “The Clock,” a spellbinding, time-telling 24-hour wonder of film and sound montage by Christian Marclay, the polymath composer, collagist, video artist and pioneer turntablist.

An assemblage of time-related movie moments that had its debut in London in autumn 2010, Mr. Marclay’s “Clock” is already a popular classic. It is also a functioning timepiece; a highly compressed, peripatetic history of film and film styles; an elaborate, rhythmic musical composition; and a relentlessly enthralling meditation on time as an inescapable fact of both cinematic artifice and everyday life. Perhaps the ultimate validation of appropriation art, it thoroughly demonstrates how existing works of art — in this case films — become raw material for new ones.

“The Clock” counts off the minutes of a 24-hour day using tiny segments from thousands of films. Bits of “High Noon,” “Gone With the Wind,” “Laura,” “On the Waterfront,” “The Godfather” and “A Clockwork Orange” speed past, mixed with early silent films and less familiar foreign ones.

As the action, music, sound effects and dialogue of one film bleed into those of another, each segment specifies a time, sometimes through spoken words, but mostly through shots of wristwatches, clocks, time clocks and the like. All are synced to real time. When it is 11:30 a.m. in “The Clock,” it will be 11:30 a.m. in the world outside. Exactly.

The first New York showing of “The Clock,” at the Paula Cooper Gallery in January 2011, had people lining up around the block in a relatively deserted west Chelsea in the dead of winter. Now, for 20 days starting on July 13, Lincoln Center will present the piece in a specially built theater in the David Rubenstein Atrium on Broadway between 62nd and 63rd Streets. Admission will be first come first served in a setting — lined with movie-palace velvet curtains and outfitted with enormous couches that blur boundaries between living room and screening room — that accommodates only about 90 people at a time.

It may be a challenge to get in, even in the wee hours, which is when I want to go, but I intend to make every effort, and recommend that you do too. The piece will run Tuesday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and then settle in for three 38-hour weekend marathons beginning at 8 a.m. Fridays and running to 10 p.m. Sundays. It will be closed Mondays and ends on Aug. 1.

more information on the artist Christian Marclay can be found at the New Yorker here

enjoy, but i won’t be standing in line myself they give me the willies.

jene

Introducing the Polaroid Z2300 Instant Printing Digital Camer

July 5, 2012

way cool do you remember the days of click and peel ?

Nostalgia Never Dies:

By Leslie Lasiter –

Amidst the slew of top-of-the-line, hi-tech photography gear, it’s refreshing to see something old made new again. The Polaroid Instant Camera has been a mainstay in garage sales and thrift stores, eventually finding a home with a member of its large cult following. Despite its antiquated photo processing and bulky shape, the Polaroid is beloved for its stuck-in-time quality, and dreamy, if not slightly blurry, images.

The new Polaroid Z2300 shares many of the treasured qualities of its predecessor, with its simplistic layout and paperweight-like quality. If it were a car, it would likely be dubbed a “clunker,” but its heaviness should not dissuade the devout instant camera fans from giving it a shot. The camera has a three-inch LCD screen and 10 megapixel sensor, and can print photographs the size of a business card on ZINK paper.

In photography chronology, the Polaroid Z2300 occupies a space somewhere between the old Polaroid 600 Instant Cameras and Instagram. Staying true to its roots, the Z2300 prints out photographs within seconds to give you something tangible to put in your wallet or stick to your photo album (the photographs have a peel-away adhesive on the back). However, if your photo album has already made the jump from scrapbook to Macbook, the Z2300 has a USB port for easy uploading.

Much like Instagram, the Polaroid Z2300 allows users to choose from a variety of vintage filters, and even adds the classic Polaroid white border. The Z2300 can be pre-ordered now for $159.99 and has an August 15th ship date. A 30 pack of the ZINK paper costs $14.99, a bargain considering the hefty price tag on a ten pack of Polaroid 600 film. For lovers of low-tech cameras, the Polaroid Z2300 puts a hi-tech twist on a classic.

originally posted http://resourcemagonline.com/blog2/

jene

Flying was never this adventurous before the underwear bomber

May 8, 2012

like your mother said ‘before you leave the house wear clean underwear.’ has never before been more important than now. i am sure the TSA will be checking you status the next time you fly, what with the discovery of a new underwear bomber  plot. the question is only how? any suggestions?

things i am looking forward to do when i get back from hawaii….. woohoo

January 30, 2012

we are off to Hawaii [the big island]  tomorrow, apartment is secure from the neighborhood burglar, as secure as i can make it now, so don’t worry it never does any good anyways. have most of camera gear with me and i’ll try to be more careful this trip. i am sure i’ve over packed too much clothing but don’t know what we’ll run into. humpbacked whales breaching woohoo, redhot lava flows, volcanos active and not, lots of stars, sandy beaches, hawaiian shirts. plenty of sunscreen and cf cards.

this is our 1st year anversary after having put our dog to sleep ending her suffering. of course i have to dream about her last night. part of growing older being seperated from the ones we love. something to look forward to. oh well i’ve nothing but fond memories of her.

now if i could only figure out how to relieve my sons suffering but he’s not an honest person with anybody and without honesty there’s not going to be much progress. i think he’s on his way to living in a cardboard box and hollering curse words at passing people, talk about pain there it is. theres noting i can do about it.

yesterday we went to see ‘Crazy Horse’ at film forum, Celebrated documentary director Frederick Wiseman spent ten weeks with his camera exploring one of the most mythic places dedicated to women: ‘The Crazy Horse.’

Over the years this legendary Parisian cabaret club, founded in 1951 by Alain Bernardin, has become the Parisian nightlife ‘must’ for any visitors, ranking alongside the Eiffel Tower and The Louvre. which i thought was beautifully lit but it’s the crazy horse. what’s not to like except the length of the movie, but wonderful anyways.

these are some of the things i am looking forward to do when we get back. well these and getting ready for a joint exhibit with mary in Lancaster PA beginning in April. i will post more on the exhibit closer to the date when we figure out what’s going to be shown.

it’s so wonderful living in a cultural center, we get an opportunity to see so much as it comes through. walking down the street today i saw shoots coming up to meet the sun, they think it’s spring already. now if only i could get my wireless system to work. oh well.

heres the partial list:

Weegee at icp

Weegee: Murder Is My Business

January 20–September 2, 2012

For an intense decade between 1935 and 1946, Weegee (1899–1968) was one of the most relentlessly inventive figures in American photography. His graphically dramatic and often lurid photographs of New York crimes and news events set the standard for what has become known as tabloid journalism. Freelancing for a variety of New York newspapers and photo agencies, and later working as a stringer for the short-lived liberal daily PM (1940–48), Weegee established a way of combining photographs and texts that was distinctly different from that promoted by other picture magazines, such as LIFE. Utilizing other distribution venues, Weegee also wrote extensively (including his autobiographical Naked City, published in 1945) and organized his own exhibitions at the Photo League. This exhibition draws upon the extensive Weegee Archive at ICP and includes environmental recreations of Weegee’s apartment and exhibitions. The exhibition is organized by ICP Chief Curator Brian Wallis.

cindy sherman at moma:

Cindy Sherman. Untitled #466. 2008. Chromogenic color print, 8' 1 1/8 x 63 15/16" (246.7 x 162.4 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired through the generosity of Robert B. Menschel in honor of Jerry I. Speyer. © 2011 Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman

February 26–June 11, 2012

The Joan and Preston Robert Tisch Exhibition Gallery, sixth floor

Cindy Sherman (American, b. 1954) is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential artists in contemporary art. Throughout her career, she has presented a sustained, eloquent, and provocative exploration of the construction of contemporary identity and the nature of representation, drawn from the unlimited supply of images from movies, TV, magazines, the Internet, and art history. Working as her own model for more than 30 years, Sherman has captured herself in a range of guises and personas which are at turns amusing and disturbing, distasteful and affecting. To create her photographs, she assumes multiple roles of photographer, model, makeup artist, hairdresser, stylist, and wardrobe mistress. With an arsenal of wigs, costumes, makeup, prosthetics, and props, Sherman has deftly altered her physique and surroundings to create a myriad of intriguing tableaus and characters, from screen siren to clown to aging socialite.

Bringing together more than 180 photographs, this retrospective survey traces the artist’s career from the mid 1970s to the present. Highlighted in the exhibition are in-depth presentations of her key series, including the groundbreaking series “Untitled Film Stills” (1977–80), the black-and-white pictures that feature the artist in stereotypical female roles inspired by 1950s and 1960s Hollywood, film noir, and European art-house films; her ornate history portraits (1989–90), in which the artist poses as aristocrats, clergymen, and milkmaids in the manner of old master paintings; and her larger-than-life society portraits (2008) that address the experience and representation of aging in the context of contemporary obsessions with youth and status. The exhibition will explore dominant themes throughout Sherman’s career, including artifice and fiction; cinema and performance; horror and the grotesque; myth, carnival, and fairy tale; and gender and class identity. Also included are Sherman’s recent photographic murals (2010), which will have their American premiere at MoMA.

In conjunction with the exhibition, Sherman has selected films from MoMA’s collection, which will be screened in MoMA’s theaters during the course of the exhibition. A major publication will accompany the exhibition.


The exhibition is organized by Eva Respini, Associate Curator, with Lucy Gallun, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Photography.

Major support for the exhibition is provided by Jerry I. Speyer and Katherine G. Farley, The Modern Women’s Fund, and The William Randolph Hearst Endowment Fund.

Additional funding is provided by The Broad Art Foundation, David Dechman and Michel Mercure, Robert B. Menschel, Allison and Neil Rubler, Richard and Laura Salomon, The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, Glenstone, Michèle Gerber Klein, Richard and Heidi Rieger, Ann and Mel Schaffer, and The Junior Associates of The Museum of Modern Art.