Johnny McCormack

Hailing from Auckland NZ, photographer Johnny McCormack came onto my radar this week via Juxtapoz. Jux highlighted a series that McCormack recently published entitled “Homecoming.” While the set could readily be dismissed as just another minimalist collection of cool tones, I really enjoy this project. I admit that part of the allure for me personally is the way that the images of the snowy mountains lit by low winter sun resonate with my fond memories of growing up in the Rockies. Personal sentiments aside, I think that the aesthetic presented in this collection has the ability to evoke a certain mood in anyone. McCormack describes the project saying:

HOMECOMING stems from the ‘out takes’ whilst travelling internationally to shoot commercial and editorial work for over a period of sixteen consecutive winters. Shot on the outskirts of the pacific rim, paying close attention to the notion of a return and yearning for ‘home’ a body of work began to unravel.

Being far from home, finding solace adrift in strange and incongruous territories, places of wonder and curiosity – the photographer attempts a sense of belonging via his lens while living and operating within transient circumstances.
The resulting landscapes evidence places of retreat and pilgrimage – for the viewer, potentially to also find a way to return home.

[Images via]

Old School Transparency

2016-shotbyjake.com-7246

Last summer I saw some atypical wall art (in a bar, in Jersey) that caught my attention and got my creative wheels turning. In this bar is a light box hanging on the wall with 35mm slides mounted under glass. The slides are backlit by they light box. I liked the way that it made me get up close to see what each of the individual images were. I decided that I wanted to replicate the piece, putting my own spin on it and using my own images. This was part of the impetus of picking up a manual 35mm camera again this year for the first time in probably 20 years. It has been a lot of fun shooting with that thing, even though it is one more camera to lug around. I’m trying to keep it as simple as possible though, using only a 50mm lens and shooting mostly natural light. This way I can avoid being weighed down with extra glass and strobes.

Last week, I had the first roll of slides developed. There were a couple of images that I really liked. But, for sure Sturgeons law was in full effect. I put together a little makeshift light box to get an idea of the aesthetic. Just for fun, the top image is linked to the full resolution file. I had to compromise on the image quality quite a bit to get the file size small enough for a manageable upload. But I feel like there are still enough pixels to get the gist. I also included a couple of details in the images below.

After shooting 2 or 3 more rolls, I plan to start building the light box. Stay tuned! Ha.

2016-shotbyjake.com-7225

2016-shotbyjake.com-7227

Belgium’s ‘The Crystal Ship’ 2016

Roa1

Roa Detail

The city of Ostend, Belgium hosts the (mostly) large scale art festival called The Crystal Ship. Among the participating artists are a couple of my favorites. The Belgian native Roa contributed to the collection (image directly above and below). I love his stuff, and actually met him a while back.

Faith47 was also a contributor to The Crystal Ship (second to bottom). She has a huge piece that I love in DUMBO painted in an underpass. She also has a really cool piece at Wynwood. But I’m seriously digging this piece.

Finally, I seriously love perspective pieces. There are a few pretty cool ones painted for the festival. But my favorite is the one by 1010 (bottom image). Hoping to be able to check these all out in person, at some point. Check the full recap on Juxtapoz.

Roa2

Roa

Faith47

Faith47

1010

1010

All Images Via Juxtapoz

Utah x Ether “Probation Vacation”

utahxether2

Part of me feels like “urban exploring” and graff has become a little bit passe, especially since the advent of instagram giving kodak courage to the masses when it comes to these activities. Then there is another part of me that still has favorites in this realm, especially when it comes to graff. Without getting delving back into the question of “what is art?”, I will disclose that my bias lies with those artists whose work pre-dates the onset of social media madness.

As a law abiding citizen and responsible adult, I can’t really condone vandalism or property damage. I also have my opinions about thrill seeking at the expense of personal safety and the safety of others. Now that the disclaimers are out of the way, I have to admit that I have been a longtime fanboy of the woman/man graff duo Utah and Ether. They descended from Chicago’s MUL crew and went on to become globetrotting scofflaws. You can find an interview from 2013 over here for more background.

In addition to appreciating the aesthetic appeal of their work, I find the “romantic couple” dimension of their story quite fascinating. They were both arrested in 2008 after a painting spree spanning multiple continents and 10+ countries. Needless to say, the arrests didn’t slow them down much. They have recently released the first two installations of a series of videos titled “Probation Vacation: Lost in Asia” produced by The Grifters. Episode 2, shot in India is embedded below. You can catch the first one (Turkey) over here.

UTAH & ETHER – PROBATION VACATION: LOST IN ASIA (Episode 2 – India) from The Grifters on Vimeo.

Image: screen grab from above video
[VIA]

De La Weekend (Armory Week Edition)

2015-shotbyjake.com-4385

It was Armory week in NYC. I didn’t actually go to the Armory show this year. Nor did I go to Scope or Pulse, which I have really liked in past years. I did, however, go to Art of Paper for the first time ever. Mostly I went because it was at Pier 36, which is walkable from our apt. There was some decent work. Nothing blew me away. I have included images of a few of my favorites.

2015-shotbyjake.com-4374

2015-shotbyjake.com-4382-2

2015-shotbyjake.com-4392

The light was very nice when we left. Here are some snaps from the walk home along the East River.

2015-shotbyjake.com-4404

2015-shotbyjake.com-4436

2015-shotbyjake.com-4450-3

2015-shotbyjake.com-4478

Lastly, I borrowed this old 35mm beaut (below) from my amigo over the weekend. I bought a bunch of film on Amazon today. Should be loaded up ready to snap by the end of the week. Very excited about it.

2015-shotbyjake.com-4503

de la weekend (Delray issue)

2015-shotbyjake.com-3540

There was a snowstorm in NYC over the weekend. It so happens that we already had plans to be away. So, I guess you could call it dumb luck that we missed the first real winter storm of the 2015/2016 season. After nearly 15 years on the east coast, I finally ventured into the Sunshine State for the first time in my life. I was not disappointed. I had been wanting to checkout the Wynwood area for a while. As cool as the formal complex was, unsurprisingly most of the good stuff was off of the beaten path. There was plenty of good happening after sundown as well. The full moon certainly didn’t hamper the experience.

2015-shotbyjake.com-3280

2015-shotbyjake.com-3289

2015-shotbyjake.com-3303

2015-shotbyjake.com-3310

2015-shotbyjake.com-3362

2015-shotbyjake.com-3568

2015-shotbyjake.com-3378

2015-shotbyjake.com-3478

2015-shotbyjake.com-3380

2015-shotbyjake.com-3459

2015-shotbyjake.com-3393

2015-shotbyjake.com-3418

2015-shotbyjake.com-3424

2015-shotbyjake.com-3617

NYC Coffee Cups

Coffee-Cup-Survey-Gear-Patrol-Lead-Full-

I’m not a coffee snob (or anything even close to that). When I buy coffee, I usually just get drip (or a double shot Americano when in Europe) and usually take it black because it saves time. I think that coffee tastes disgusting, though I drink a lot of it primarily for its caffeinated properties. Because of this, when I buy coffee, I generally select coffee shops based on things such as branding rather than what it “tastes” like. I will admit that I appreciate some good visual design when it comes to coffee cups (and almost everything else). There are a lot of ’em here in the city. Within a one block radius of my office there are at least 3 non-chain coffee joints. In that same radius there are probably 5-7 chain locations (Starbucks/Dunkin/Coffee Bean). I find myself patronizing the non-chain brands almost exclusively, and a lot of it is based on branding (i.e. the visual aesthetic of the disposable cups/sleeves). My friends at Gear Patrol, published an awesome little blurb this week visually cataloging some of the cups that can be obtained around NYC. I thought it was such a cool idea that I’m sharing it here. There are a few others that I would have included in the image had I been creative enough to come up with this idea. But I think that they chose a good cross-section. Check out the original piece over here.

[Photo: Henry Phillips]

Iceburg Murals by Sean Yoro

AoAna-19

 
I’m pretty blown away by these pieces Sean Yoro put up. On his website, Yoro posted a statement about what he observed while working on these murals:

Series of murals painted on a few of the thousands of icebergs freshly broken off from a nearby glacier. In the short time I was there, I witnessed the extreme melting rate first hand as the sound of ice cracking was a constant background noise while painting. Within a few weeks these murals will be forever gone, but for those who find them, I hope they ignite a sense of urgency, as they represent the millions of people in need of our help who are already being affected from the rising sea levels of Climate Change

Politics aside, this work definitely grabbed my attention. Check out Yoro’s site here.

sean-yoro-iceberg-murals-01

sean-yoro-iceberg-murals-02

sean-yoro-iceberg-murals-03

sean-yoro-iceberg-murals-04

[VIA]