Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Upcoming Exhibition

Just found out today that I got into a Columbia College Alumni exhibition entitled Greater than 16x20; less than 4x5.
Opening Reception
3rd Floor of Columbia College Library
Friday April 16, 5pm-7pm

Exhibition runs from April 16 - October 1, 2010


I will have 3 pieces in the exhibit, 2 of them are brand spanking new images that I shot in January!

More info to come.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

De Pavones - more new images

I've been working on some more images from the series. I'm just about done working with what I've already scanned, so I'll have do some more scanning next week.

Pavones tag


Macho
This image was made at the big Pavones town event, Bingo. Macho is a fisherman and takes tourists out in boats to go fishing. Jesse and I went out with him many years ago. Here, Macho is making and selling a juice made out of sugar cane. He gave me a little sample, it was very sweet without much flavor. You can purchase the regular sugar cane juice, or get a spiked version which is probably much more enjoyable...


Hector
I photographed Hector on my previous visit to Pavones. His family runs the ceviche restaurant, Brisas Del Mar. Hector, age 11, has quite an artistic eye. He loves to draw. The mural behind him was sketched by him and a friend. I gave Hector some drawing paper and colored pencils and when I saw him the next day, he had done about a dozen detailed images of the local scenery and of monster trucks. He let me pick one of his drawings to keep. I chose one that he had drawn of his house, with detailed depictions of local flora along the uphill incline of his driveway that leads to the house.


The Road
This is one of my favorite things about Pavones. I love walking, riding bikes, and driving up and down the twisting and bumpy dirt roads. A completely different vista is at every turn, and the condition of the road and roadside vegetation varies with the seasons.

Friday, March 05, 2010

Surf Pavones O Not


I finished another image from my de Pavones series - a sleepy guard dog taking an afternoon siesta. This was taken on the side of the ferreteria, Pavones' local hardware store. I was attracted to this scene by the sleeping dog, bold color and text. The sleeping dog references the ubiquitous presence of dogs both in Costa Rica in general, and Pavones specifically. It is always quite a shock for us Americans to see so many beloved dogs roaming freely in the streets, and a surprise to realize that most all of them have homes.

The tag on the wall is a curious detail because it is almost a threat, as in the standard construction to do (a particular activity) or die. But it is softened with the change of die to "or not". The text is an interesting combination of macho surfer talk combined with humble Tico talk. It is also a confusing mix of languages, an attempt at English, but instead of "or" the tagger wrote "o," slipping back into the Spanish equivalent.

This image speaks to both the Tico culture, and specifically Pavones culture, which revolves around surfing the world's second longest wave.

New Photos - Evan & Zoey

These are some photos I shot of my nephew Evan and my niece Zoey while I was in Florida for Christmas. Evan is age 7 and Zoey was 10 at the time, although she'll be turning 11 in one week. I've been photographing both of them since they were babies, but photos are now fewer and farther apart since I live in Chicago.


Evan


Zoey


I miss these kiddos... another reason why I'd like to get back to Florida permanently! Relocating halfway across the country as an adult is so much harder than it was a grad student. Hopefully a teaching job in Florida will be in my near future...