wayne levin

I don't recall how i came across wayne levin, but my goodness, am i glad i did!  His photos are some of the best i have seen as of late.  I love underwater photography - the beautiful vibrant colors, the unbelievable shapes and textures that are found miles below the shore, but i am just mad about what levin has done with his underwater photography.  He has taken something that is known for such brilliant hues and completely reversed it and looked at it in an entirely different light by shooting it in black and white.  While he does shoot in color, his black and whites have a bit of a ghostly feel to them that i can't get enough of, and his use of natural light is absolutely breathtaking.

It certainly makes me want to get that diving license i keep talking about...

new orleans

Taken in October of 2009 in New Orleans, Louisiana.  One of my favorite things about New Orleans was the music that filled the streets for what seemed to be all day and all night.  From the single trumpet player outside Cafe Du Monde, to the highschool kids playing jazz at about 2am on the corner of Bourbon and Canal, each and everyone was unbelievable.  This is a group we stumbled upon while trying to find our way around.  These guys called themselves "New Orleans Hot Diaherra Club" and dear lord, did they wail!  This was one of the few pictures I was able to snap of them actually all standing still, as all three of them were bouncing around and dancing the entire time.  Absolutely amazing.

tea tie

i love this concept from george lee - a tea cup with a small slot on the lip for you to tie the string of your tea bag to.  no more soggy tea bag strings - lovely!

fallen princesses

by Dina Goldstein

Here's a photography project I greatly enjoy - Fallen Princesses.  The photographer took classic fairytale characters and stories and put a modern, somewhat depressing twist on each one.  The set includes the photo above with Cinderella, prince-less in a dive bar; Rapunzel sitting on a hospital bed, bald after going through what appears to be chemotherapy, with her beautiful golden locks at her feet on the hospital floor; and the Princess from The Princess and the Pea, sitting atop a pile of dirty old mattresses in the middle of a landfill.

I love seeing these stories that we all grew up with in a mature light and very current setting.  I suppose it shows that there are even bumps in the road after Happily Ever After...

brassai

"The purpose of art is to raise people to a higher level of awareness than they would otherwise attain on their own."

-Brassai

bullseye

summer

the water is wide

nowhere boy

 

My entire life, my parents have instilled a strong love for the beatles in me and my siblings.  There are multiple home videos of me and my siblings (some so young, they were not even able to stand on their own yet) dancing to song after song, from "twist and shout" to "octopus' garden" and singing along to every word.  Some of my favorite memories from when I was a child involve beatles music.   I spent a lot of time in the "woody wagon", my dad's old mustard yellow and white toyota pickup truck that belonged to my great grandpa, papa (or woody, as everyone else called him), driving around with my dad and listening to cassette tape after cassette tape of beatles albums.  I remember that my dad even let me rewind the tape to "back in the u.s.s.r." over and over again for the month that i decided that was my favorite beatles song.  Starting all of us on the beatles gave us all a real appreciation for music and a love for different styles and sounds.  I'm pretty confident that any of us fisher kids would be able to sing (almost) every beatles song, word for word if we were asked to.

Because of this love, I am so excited for this movie, nowhere boy.  There haven't really been any movies made about the lives of the beatles members and the stories of their careers, which is very surprising to me, seeing as they have made such a huge impact on music and culture.  The movie will focus on john lennon's life, but it sounds like it also will take us through the formation of the band and the beginning of their career together.  I cannot wait until the end of the year for this!

someone loves you

Taken by my pops in Paris - 2009

In the last year my dad has taken up "street photography".  This is not what most would think of when they hear street photography - candid photos of people on the street, living their daily lives, being captured in a perfect moment - nope, this is actually photos of the street.  Using his blackberry (the best toy camera one can get their hands on), he has been snapping photos of shapes, shadows, graffiti (above), textures, light and anything else that catches his eye - all on the ground.  His twist on this is that his shoes are in every single picture, whether it's his entire shoe or just a corner of it, they must be in the photo.  The photos are unexpectedly beautiful and show a city in a completely new and different light. 

My entire life my dad has come up with art projects ranging from theater design to life size painted animals to fictitious businesses.  Each project he tells me about gets the same response of confusion and excitement and in the end I'm never disappointed in what he creates.  My dad continues to inspire me and encourage me with any art I do, as he has done since I was old enough to hold a pencil.  I truly owe it to him for giving me a love of creating art and appreciating art, especially some pieces that may be over looked by others.  I'm extremely fortunate to have been raised by such creative people.  It has definitely made me who I am today.  So dad - thank you and here's to the next project!