Utah x Ether “Probation Vacation”

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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
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De La Weekend (Maine)

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We spent the long Easter weekend up north in a town near Portland Maine. One of B’s good friends from college lives there with her family. Her husband is a ridiculously talented chef. It was really nice to get out of the city, enjoy some fantastic company and amazing cuisine. This post is kind of photo-heavy because there was so much good stuffs to shoot. We checked out the lighthouse and old WWII era military installations at Fort Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth. There are also some snaps from wandering around downtown Portland. The Paella below was seriously better than Barcelona. I wish that I would have used a tighter aperture for that photo though, because the depth of field is more shallow than the Kardashians. Some serious amateur hour moves going on behind the camera in that one. Despite the terrible photo (two photos actually), I think that pro skills on display in front of the camera, along with the deliciousness of the food transcends the blown out bokeh.  Very good times were had. Can’t wait to get back there when it is a bit warmer.

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Pre-Easter Round Up

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Getting an early jump on the weekend this week. Also extending it through Monday. It’ll be nice to get out of town for the holiday and breathe some country air. Before that, I’m dropping these images. Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of attending Baldwin’s F/W 2016 preview. Baldwin is out of Kansas City and is known for their denim with the signature white rivet on the back pocket. The presentation was dope. The looks were fantastic. Unfortunately, none of my images turned out very sharp. I wanted to bring something very small to shoot the event, but I forget how bad the AF is on my rangefinder in low light. Anyway, I feel like you can get the idea. I really like the look in the last image below: first lady model on the left, hoodie/wool jacket combo.

This is my first (and possibly last) attempt at a ’roundup’ type of post. So if you have the time and attention span to go down the rabbit hole, peep below for some links out to other good stuffs (also peep the rest of the Baldwin images [duh])–

For my moto friends: Enter to win this SoCal adventure touring freebie from the Gear Patrol Guys, et al.

Art/Photo/Design/Journalist peeps: Throw your hat in the ring to cover Barcelona Design Week for Booooooom!

Skate kids/Fellow Gen Xers: Read this super interesting piece on Jake Phelps 20+ Year Editor of Thrasher Magazine a/k/a the Anna Wintour of Skateboarding.

Street Art Fanz: As if going to college in San Diego did not already provide enough visual stimulation, El Mac just finished a very sick large scale piece on the UCSD campus.

Lastly, treat your wait staff well this weekend (and always).

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Summer Wristwatch

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I have a couple of wristwatches with metal bracelets that I rotate during the cooler months. But for several reasons, I don’t enjoy wearing metal on my wrist in warmer weather.  One reason is that I sweat when it is hot outside. Feeling a metal watch sliming around on my sweaty wrist is just kind of nasty. Another is that metal watches can be heavy. In the summer months, cycling becomes my primary mode of local transportation. New York City streets are not the smoothest surfaces. Those rough streets send all kinds of vibrations up through bicycle frames. There have been instances where I received a bruise on the back of my left hand, from the spot where the crown of a metal watch was repeatedly hammering into it during my evening commute. Watches with nylon bracelets just look more summery too (in my opinion anyway). Hence, I prefer to use a lighter watch with a nylon bracelet during the warmer months.

My preferred summer watch of yore was a Nixon Sentry. Summer before last I found out the hard way that my Sentry was not waterproof. I have been looking for a replacement ever since its demise (the colorway that I like is no longer made). With the summer months again approaching, I was pretty excited to see this 1st PAT-RN collaboration with Timex show up in my reader feed this morning. It actually reminds me of the very first wristwatch that I ever owned. Gifted from my dad when I was 7 or 8 years old, it was also a Timex with an olive nylon bracelet . The watch needed to be manually wound up every morning and had the kind of glow in the dark material later determined to cause cancer, haha. The simplicity in styling and reversible nylon bracelet on this 1ST PAT-RN collab is exactly what I was looking for in a summer watch. It also happens to be extremely budget friendly. Needless to say, I snatched one up immediately. Unfortunately it ships from Northern Ireland, so I still have have to wait a few days to try it on. They are available for purchase here.

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SRAM’s Super Bike Friendly Office in Chi Town

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Even thought I don’t consider myself a hardcore cyclist (I don’t own any spandex), I do appreciate the culture. Of course there are a lot of aspects about it that can rub people the wrong way. Despite one’s opinion about cycling culture, I think that most could agree that SRAM’s office in Chicago (by Perkins + Will) looks like a pretty amazing space to work. It seems to be a true marriage of form and function. Video tour below, or more looks here.

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De La Weekend (Armory Week Edition)

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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.

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

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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.

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Roland Sands KH9 Pani

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I have seen a lot of super customized Panigales. The Roland Sands KH9 probably one of the most unique to date, IMO (besides this one). It seems like the custom bikes that Roland Sands puts out usually steer clear of the sport bike genre. But with this bike, it is clear that even a sport model customized by RS is left dripping in style. Their client apparently has a drag race car, which they styled the bike after. According to the RS blog, they also took some inspo from one of the Jeff Koons BMW art cars. Even though this isn’t my personal taste, I have to admit that it is a beautiful work of art. More looks on the RS blog.

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“Maker” Videos

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I had a good laugh about this one. Core77, rounded up some of the latest vintage of parody “Maker” videos. They summed up things when they contrasted the helpful and informative variety of instructional videos against a possibly more pretentious less helpful type of the genre, saying:

But there’s another breed of maker videos, often on Vimeo, that we think of as “I’m a Maker, and Here’s My Story” spots. You know the type: They start with piano chords, dolly shots of dusty workbenches, a voiceover. These videos can excel when they reveal an uncommon craft like Ben Harris’ traditional boat building, or they strike a chord with Core77 readers for featuring an industrial designer who quit the profession in order to build things, like Ben Cramp. But other times they can devolve into overly-romanticized studies in well-worn tropes.

The flannel on flannel and father who leaves to join the pro bowling tour really struck a chord with me. Watch below:

De La Weekend (Springtime in Feb Edition)

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Sunday was one of those few days that I was able to talk B into a quick portrait session. The weather was super warm for February, and the afternoon light was awesome. We were shooting with the 50mm f/1.2L, wide open. I love the way that it naturally vignettes. Buttery.

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De La Weekend (Super X Gonz Edition)

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We hit a little Soiree Friday night at the Super store on Howard. The event was for the launch of custom model of sunnies designed by skateboarding legend Mark Gonzales. He was there autographing copies of a ‘zine that he published in connection with the event. A bunch of our friends were also in attendance. I brought along the range finder and got a few snaps. Made for quite an enjoyable evening.

A pretty funny story (possibly only funny to me) about my first encounter with the Gonz: Tenish years ago, I used to frequent the skate park in Riverside Park. It was the only public park on the island with a (barely) vert ramp. One Saturday morning I arrived at the park right as it had opened. The only thing required for admission was to have a helmet with you, and sign your name on a piece of paper. An NYC Parks worker was the gatekeeper. I picked up the pen to sign in, and noticed that I would be number 2 on the list, right below “Mark Gonzales.” Assuming that some punk kid had signed in as the Gonz, I snickered to myself and for a split moment considered signing “Tony Hawk” or something instead of writing my real name. When I walked up the stairs onto the deck of the halfpipe, Gonz was up there. I remember him wearing bright green corduroy pants and no pads. We skated together for like 2 hours. It is probably my most memorable session that I ever had on that ramp.

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Probably my favorite shot of the night (below).

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And one flick from Saturday:

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