Jonathan Harris talk on Documentation and Collecting Stories

This is a documentary i watched in one of my classes, which also made me think of this class where documentation and story telling/ narratives correlate. His method is so interesting and the things he found along his various journeys was inspirational in the sense of seeing how powerful documentation is and the story it tells.
Here is a link to this 20 minute talk( definitely worth watching)

Jonathan Harris Collects Stories

Affordable Firewire 4 to 9pin

Hey Guys some of you may need a firewire cord or just may want one for easy uploading footage and stuff and i ordered one off amazon for only about $16 which is pretty good compared to radio shack where its $40. So here is the link, hope this helps for anyone who needs it. Firewire on Amazon

Maya Deren on Netflix

So i was just searching some films on netflix, and if anyone really loved (or liked!) the Maya Deren work, Netflix actually has her experimental films and the "Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti"on instant play, which is cool. so check it out if interested.

Downtown Community Television Center

Hey Class,

So last night at very short notice i found out about this place called Downtown Community Television Center, which is a really good resource for video. They had an open house last night that had final cut pro workshops, adobe illustrator, and introductions to these amazing cameras ( the Canon DSLR which looks like a regular canon camera which actually takes video) Whats cool about that is that the camera is great for documentary, because it looks like a still photo camera and people are really comfortable when you shoot with it, not knowing it actually shoots video. Anyway the place also has very cheap rentals for video cameras, and even though we have access through Parsons, its always good to know other places just in case. There are a bunch of workshops related to video editing, adobe and much more and i believe they have really good discounts for students. There are many events and video related things going on and its a great network to meet people, learn stuff and become involved. Check it out, its right off canal street. The website is linked  here.

Psychoanalysis Reading

This week I was assigned a reading for my New Genres class on Psychoanalysis (visual culture, visual pleasure, visual disruption). I came across some information I believe to be directly tied to this class. The chapter on Psychoanalysis from the book called Visual Methodologies by Gillian Rose discusses the media of film and its power. I found what to be said particularly intriguing. Since working with Film and Video is a completely new way of thinking and working for me, I found Rose's interpretation or analysis to be quite insightful. Here is an excerpt from the chapter..( I have underlined some key points)

Film has proved particularly amenable to psychoanalytic interpretation, and from the mid-1970s through the 1980s the journal Screen carried many essays exploring particular films in relation to psychoanalytic ideas. Cinema is an especially powerful visual medium because film can create a total world for its audience. Films manipulate the visual, the spatial, and the temporal and, as Laura Mulvery (1989:25) says, by 'playing on the tension between film as controlling the dimension of time (editing, narrative) and film as controlling the dimension of space (changes in distance, editing), cinematic codes create a gaze, a world and an object'. In particular, film is a powerful means of structuring looking, not only the looks between the film's protagonists but also the looks between its protagonists and its spectators. Since psychoanalysis in its Freudian and Lacaian forms argues that visuality is central to subjectivity, it follows that film can address our sense of self very powerfully- and that psychoanalysis can offer some powerful readings of films.

I hope you too find her writings helpful and eye-opening while filming! -Nicole Muller

Downtown 81

One of my favorite artists is Jean Michael Basqait, graffitti artist, poet and writer. He is a noteworthy and an influential and inspiring artist to many. I was looking up films to watch and found one that he starred in 1980-81, which was a huge time period for artists and musicians in nyc. I watched the film on netflix, which if you have an account you can watch "Downtown 81" instantly. It was so amazing to see NYC in raw perspective at this time, from the cars driven at that time to 5th Avenue Guggenheim. There were some really interesting and cool shots in the film, and this film is not necessarily a documentary but is has elements of a documentary and is very dream like and surreal. Check it out. Here is a link with the synopsis of the film. "Downtown 81"

A Lesson in Framing

        After class today i decided to walk down broadway near Strand bookstore and my attention was caught by a man dressed in a brown suit and dress hat holding an old fashioned polaroid camera. The way he stood laid back just awaiting something holding one of the most beautiful peices of equipment i've i ever saw, i had to stop. I asked him first is it a land camera, because i myself have a old polaroid land camera made in the 1950's that reminded me of his. We began to talk and he asked if i was a photographer, and i said no but i'm into photography and the arts, and i actually said i'm a film student automatically, when technically im a design tech major... Anyways he began to open up his bag which revealed another camera which happens to be a polaroid land camera that i asked about only made in the 60's. He began saying let me give you your first lesson in framing. He started showing me the two places on the camera which you look out of that say "range" and "view" Range gives you perspective of what is going to be in the frame, and view lets you focus in on what your'e seeing. At first it was a little struggle adjusting to the weight of the camera and the tactile feel of something so old, but after a while i got the hang of it. He had me focus in on a taxi cab from a distance, once i got that, then the light pole, a bag of garbage, then a shriveled  wrapper on the ground, then finally a close up of himself. When i finally felt comfortable in framing and focusing, he showed me how to adjust the aperture on the camera, flick it back and take the picture. My first shot wasnt too bad,except for the flash was too bright. We did some readjustments and this went on for a while practicing, till i finally got the right shot! It was really amazing talking to this man who by the way his name is Louis Mendes who is a portrait photographer and native of NYC. I realized at the moment, opportunities like these dont come around so very often so i started asking him questions. My first question was,
"How did you become interested in photography and taking photos?" He replied

" Well growing up my family took a lot of photos and my sister particularly was the photographer of the family. When being a photographer, you're never able to be in the picture, so one day she handed the camera to me, so she could finally be in a photo, and i've had my hands on cameras ever since."
What Louis does today is photograph many other photographers and the NY Times did a great story on Louis last December. (An Old-Fashioned Camera in a Digital Age) I also asked Louis
"Being a student,designer and artist in this world today, what advice do you give me for pursuing the art world?" He looked at me and said
"Learn as much as you can, receive an education and stay focused."
The thing about New York City is, you never know who you're going to run into, what you're going to see and what you're going to learn. Like he told me, "People see me and this camera attracts attention, you don't see it everyday and people want their photograph taken... its spur of the moment." Like me stopping to admire his 1940's camera and taking the time to appreciate the words of someone who has lived life and still has the drive, creativity, and spirit to keep on living, documenting life, making history and inspiring the people of today, through the fashions of yesterday.

(My land camera which is a slightly older version then Mendes's)

Louis Mendes