Category Archives: Uncategorized

I LOVE shooting theatre.  It’s one of my own greatest passions.  Sugar is California Musical Theatre‘s newest show opening next week at Music Circus!  It’s the classic movie SOME LIKE IT HOT, live on stage, with a brassy score to accent the  antics of two male musicians, disguised as women who join an all-female band while fleeing from the mob. Music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Bob Merrill, the composers of FUNNY GIRL.  Saw a bit of the Sugar rehearsal yesterday and shot the publicity stills on Tuesday.  The costumes blew me away.  Incredibly fanciful feminine dresses for the women, so lovely, whimsical and colorful.  The rehearsal was fascinating if just to watch watch director Glenn Casale do his thing and see how it’s all sewn together.  I laughed out loud at some of the bits too so I know this will be another amazing show!  Very amazing too was Elizabeth Stanley, as Sugar Kane, the Marilyn Monroe part from the movie.  Tough shoes to fill but Stanley really took it on and completely embodies the sweet quirkiness of the character.

I sometimes wonder if Marilyn Monroe had any idea even when she was at the top of her stardom that she would become a worldwide icon in the way she has.

Meet Alton Pryor, Author.  86 years old and still writing.  So far he’s published 52 books, many in print form but as the world of publishing is changing he’s publishing more in e-book form these days.  Prolific!   His best selling book is his very first one too– “Little Known Tales in California History”.  It’s sold over 150,000 copies.

Pryor began as a journalist, writing for newspapers, magazines and handled international affairs for United Press International in the Sacramento bureau.  He also did a bit of radio news.

One of his favorite stories is how he had a ten minute one on one interview with Ronald Reagan on the day he announced he was running for governor.  “There were dozens of journalists in the room.  Being with Reagan I felt like I was the only person there.  That’s how he was.”  Pryor was working for a magazine at the time and had no idea Reagan would go to win a governorship  and ultimately the presidency.  His big lament– “I didn’t get a photograph with him!”.

After 27 years in the business he found himself out of a job and a chance experience changed the course of his life.  At his son’s suggestion Pryor began doing a bit of freelance work, which included a 500 word article on Southern California settlers.  During his research he found out so much more about California history in general he began collecting the stories.  Again his son offered sage words “You’re a writer, write a book.”  Pryor’s love for California history encouraged him to take a leap and a book publishing business was born.  Stagecoach Publishing.  www.stagecoachpublishing.com

Along with author Naida West he was one of the founders at the authors booth at The California State Fair.  You’ll find him there most days this year too.  Stop by and say hello and look at his amazing array of books.  I’m pretty sure you’ll find one you want!  I did.  I bought a boxed set for my dad who is having his 85th birthday in September.

The Legacy Project

Author Alton Pryor

Rachel Lynn Sebastian came to town for a brief visit the other night and stayed overnight with Chris and I.  What a pleasure!  So before we could let her leave we had to do a few pictures.  I whipped out my cell phone and got some fun ones on the porch, one of which I just knew would be good fodder for me to use while playing in apps– my current obsession.  Seems I’m always photographing textures, details or scenes on my cell phone, not necessarily quickie portraits.  So lately I’m making more of a point of it.  Four apps to do this one.  I think it captures the magical spirit of Rachel, now in Portland performing on the Van’s Warped Tour, making music and new admirers wherever she goes.

Portraits.  I find them endlessly fascinating.  Perhaps it’s because I find people endlessly fascinating.  Each one a virtual galaxy of details to be appreciated.  The Legacy Project is borne from that reality.  We are beautiful, we are each a galaxy, we have a story.   That’s what The Legacy Project began as.  A way to express the beauty and a kind of visual story about someone.  A story told in visual expression, interpretation, inspiration using contemporary tools and techniques.  

There are so many historic and breathtaking portraits to see, which served as my own inspiration as an artist.  I chose only a few to share here to illustrate the point, and none of them contemporary.  Thats an entirely new discussion, which I will be taking up another time.

The very first known portrait is a cave painting found in Angouleme, France circa 25000 BC.

This following is the official Imperial Portrait of the empress and wife to Emperor Qinzong of (1100–1161) of the Song Dynasty in China.  Done by the Imperial Painter, no other name given.

And one we all know well– George Washington by Gilbert Stuart in 1796.  I love this one.  Texturally so beautiful and the blush in the cheek, the detail in the eyes…

After looking into this a bit to learn more about how it was done way back in the days before cameras and a digital darkroom… Creating a portrait took considerable time, often over several sittings.  Cézanne, on one extreme, insisted on over 100 sittings from his subject.  Goya on the other hand, preferred one long day’s sitting.  I’m with Goya.  🙂 The average was about four days.  And could still be for some traditionalists.  Some make a drawing of the face, then complete the rest of the painting without the sitter.  This is how I do it too in my own way– by making photographs and then embellishing, manipulating, and “painting” them.   In the 18th century, it would typically take about one year to deliver a completed portrait to a client.  I believe it’s the artistic germination process that adds to the time, which thankfully is now greatly shortened. 

It’s amazing how much alike all the charming Rapalje children children look.  Nearly a carbon copy of each other.  And notice the Napoleon Bonaparte hand in jacket pose on one of them.

The Rapalje Children. Oil on canvas. Painted by artist John Durand, 1768. Collection of the New-York Historical Society. Durand was regarded as one of New York’s finest painters. He lived in the City for only a brief time –1766 to 1768, during which time he painted members of the Beekman, Bancker, Rapalje and other prominent New York City families of the era.

We all need to be immortalized!  As I get deeper and deeper into The Legacy Project it gets more and more exciting.  Mid-July I’ll begin revealing more and telling more. 🙂

……………………………………………  

The word perception keeps coming up.  Is it because this art image is nothing at all what it seems?  It’s origins are from two different pictures, two different women, and not just what appears to be one?  Some would call it a composite.  I just call it a piece of art where I took from one image and another and another to combine things while paying attention to my minds eye.

The original image was shot some time ago.  It’s of two girls backstage at a fashion event.  Just a quick grab shot because I liked their hair and makeup.  I began working on it a couple of weeks ago, just fooling around, trying out some new techniques.  It’s how I teach myself– trial and error– and it’s the best way for me to learn.

I’ve stopped and started on this one several times now, waiting for the moment it told me it was done.  To get there I kept searching for and adding the next thing needed to move it towards completion.  Pictures do that.  They tell you what they need if you just listen and pay attention to your third eye it will happen.   The germination process.  Sometimes an artpiece just flows out like water at Niagara Falls.  sometimes it takes an entire season of waiting and noodling.  Either way its important to trust your instincts, trust the process.

I collect details, often with my cell phone.  Seems to me everyone does these days.  Just the other night I was out with friends having dinner and all four of us were doing something with our phones.  Texting, taking a picture, loading it to Facebook with a status update.  Sharing on instagram with every #hashtag you can imagine.  Maybe it’s the crowd I hang with but we are definitely phone obsessed.  And like I said, I collect details.  I find beautiful textures and details everywhere I go.  and I use them in my work all the time.  These beautiful little picture moments that add some visual interest to an image when I need that little something.

I was at a birthday party at a most fabulous mansion a few months ago.  The kind of mansion Hollywood would rent for a big budget movie.  The kind of mansion that comes equipped with it’s own grand piano.  The kind of mansion that has acreage and fishing and peacocks and you can cook on a spit near the olympic sized pool.   I found this big beautiful chandelier handing so quietly near the winding staircase.  Yes, I shot it with my cellphone.  And today, when I was working on a piece I found this photo again.  I’d turned it black and white.  I combined it with the other image and voila.  It’s a kind of Photo Zen Garden.  The invisible image underneath is what gives this black and white one the colorful effect.  I like it!

You wanna know something big?  I’ve been an artist since birth and I think I’m just now finally owning it.  Crazy!  What the heck has taken me so long?  What does it take for any of us to own up to truths we avoid or deny?  I’ve managed to have a very successful career as a photographer and creative so luckily I’ve always been on the right path for me.But lately there has been this rumbling and grumbling thing, quiet but forceful, going on inside me.  I’ve been mentoring and teaching others how to look at themselves– to ask the question “Who Am I?  What do I want?” as part of their personal career growth.  Perhaps by asking them I asked myself unwittingly and suddenly there was this shift and “opening”, for lack of a better word.  Last week during a meeting with a friend about my Immortalize Yourself project things suddenly became clear.

Let’s start here.  Besides my photography career I’m a crafter.  That just means I like to work with my hands and make things.  I make scarves, clocks, jewelry, I work with fabric, I sew, I paint, draw, design, and lots more.  I have for as long as I can remember tried to find ways to incorporate my imagery into functional and wearable art and sell them.   There have been times I’ve wandered into the retail realm wanting to sell my crafts,  functional art, design skills as a new career.  But primarily it’s the imagery that has always been the thing, the core, the bottom line.  I crafted simply to have a vehicle for my works.  That was an actual revelation for me.  I realized I wasn’t honoring my artistry in a full and meaningful way.  The thing I do more than anything else, do at every opportunity and take the greatest pleasure in needs to be front and center in my world and livelihood.

I’d be delighted if you really love my work and are now or become a bonafide fan.  And if you wandered here by accident that’s ok too.  You’ve come at a very interesting time.  I’m an artist and owning it for real for the first time in my life.  My medium is photography and I love what I do more than anything else in the world.  I would choose this again, unwaveringly.

I’ve been super prolific for the past couple of weeks.  Partly because I have an idea and a specific goal in mind and am super excited about it– more on that later as it develops.  So it’s really juiced me up and I’m in hyper drive making new work. These are two new pieces I did just this week.   I’m putting myself out there and people will think what they think, and some will share the good, the bad and the ugly opinions.  OK!

In the movie Amadeus the King says to Mozart that his extraordinary new musical piece has “too many notes”.  And of course Mozart argues that it has just as many as he requires, no more, no less.  So it is with any art, what’s done is done.  The artist steps away, the piece complete.  Voila.  The public cheers or jeers…

So, I’m also saying that it’s ALL subjective.  You don’t like herring?  You don’t like Abstract?  You don’t like violent films or dogs?  Move on, make another choice, do what’s true for you.  And don’t expect anyone else to agree.  They like Herring and dogs and slasher movies.  There’s always something for everyone.  Don’t bother defending your work to anyone.  You do what you do, why not simply honor that.

No matter what, simply have the courage of your own convictions and stand behind your own work and smile if they hate it, smile if they love it.  I may have learned this long ago but even now, with a new perspective and artistic shift, I’m experiencing it anew.  Interesting stuff.

I don’t always know where I’m going when I begin an art piece.  Really.  And I let the image talk to me.  When I choose the original image it’s an instinct.  Something in it inspires me, speaking in a silent voice.  This image originated from a session I did about two years ago and as I was searching my archives today came across it.  At the time we’d done some really fun pictures– and truth be told the images stand on their own as very cool.  Artsy, sexy, weird, spacey and I just love that kind of stuff.

A make-up artist created a head piece skull cap and I created the wire wrap.  I find it very futuristic and the directness of her gaze and body language is what made me choose this particular photo.  Also the clarity in her gorgeous eyes.  I also used one of the fractals I’ve made as pattern and detail.

For about two weeks now I’ve been massively inspired and when those juices are flowing you must ride it out.  So I’ve been knees deep in one art piece after another.  I love to “paint” pictures.  I can’t seem to get enough.  My minds eye sees splashes of color and texture, muddled skin, brush strokes.  So instead of doing what I’ve done most of my photography career– doing the simple, appropriate retouching– I’m going whole hog into what my brain and hands are craving.  Honoring truth, the kind of truth that sets each and every artist apart from the person next to them.  Not better, wiser, smarter or more beautiful or quirky or creative.  There is no measurable thing in making art, in my opinion anyway.  You think it up, you express it.  There is no correct medium to work in.  The perfect medium is the one that calls to you.  Digital painting has me firmly in it’s deliciously addictive grip.