It's oh so fun to be a starving artist. I haven't been to the grocery store in six weeks. It's horrible. I've got a lovely things like cheese, crackers, chicken, rice and corn. That's really about it. I think that I'm going to apply for another job, just because as much as my box office income is good, it really doesn't work to well when I'm living on that paycheck to paycheck just to make rent. It's kind of an indication on how the future is going to be I'm sure, but I hope that it won't be that bad and that I can still have some form of expendable income... hence the need for the second job.
But today. On my lovely day off when I have no plans at all, I'm just sitting and watching Season 4 of Friends. Which truly is my favorite thing to do, to make me happy. To make me not worry about everything else going on and feel better. Nothing quite like a lazy day. Which I'm sure will turn into a job search at some point....
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
I Think I'm a Mis-Matched Sock
Laundry is the most constant thing in my life. And the dishes. They both just pile up every day and accumulate until I'm drowning in them.
Right now I feel like a mismatched sock. Which, might I add I have more than 30 of. Half of these socks I had no idea I even had. And I kinda feel like them right now; off to the side and just waiting for something to happen to me. Waiting for my match to miraculously appear from the dryer. Or a drawer. Or under the bed.
Anyway. I'm horrible at writing down my actual thoughts. I try to. I have THREE notebooks in my purse. My little black book (I've written on the first 5 pages) my little brown book (4 pages) and my yellow book (6 pages). I think about writing all the time, and my head thinks in these grand, rambling sentences. But I can never manage to find time to put pen to paper, which saddens me, because I can find so much to type. I type all day, every day. Thousands of words, and it takes me half the time that it would to write it down (which is 90% of my appeal I suppose), but it drives me crazy sometimes to not be able to actually write what I want. To create an actual piece of paper that has words on it, not just a digital reference. I suppose I'm rambling, but I feel the same way about my artwork right now. Everything is digital, on the computer, not something that I'm touching and feeling and MAKING. That's why I love printmaking so much, but even that just feels like such a bit of digital imagery to me right now, even though it shouldn't because I'm making huge monotypes full of ink and I'm usually a hot mess and covered in ink when I'm finished. But besides those actual moments when I'm covered in ink.... I feel like a mismatched sock.
And a quote from my grandmother to leave this off: "Carly you can do anything you put your mind to. ANYTHING. I just hope you don't decide to be president because I think I'm getting to old for the campaign trail."
Right now I feel like a mismatched sock. Which, might I add I have more than 30 of. Half of these socks I had no idea I even had. And I kinda feel like them right now; off to the side and just waiting for something to happen to me. Waiting for my match to miraculously appear from the dryer. Or a drawer. Or under the bed.
Anyway. I'm horrible at writing down my actual thoughts. I try to. I have THREE notebooks in my purse. My little black book (I've written on the first 5 pages) my little brown book (4 pages) and my yellow book (6 pages). I think about writing all the time, and my head thinks in these grand, rambling sentences. But I can never manage to find time to put pen to paper, which saddens me, because I can find so much to type. I type all day, every day. Thousands of words, and it takes me half the time that it would to write it down (which is 90% of my appeal I suppose), but it drives me crazy sometimes to not be able to actually write what I want. To create an actual piece of paper that has words on it, not just a digital reference. I suppose I'm rambling, but I feel the same way about my artwork right now. Everything is digital, on the computer, not something that I'm touching and feeling and MAKING. That's why I love printmaking so much, but even that just feels like such a bit of digital imagery to me right now, even though it shouldn't because I'm making huge monotypes full of ink and I'm usually a hot mess and covered in ink when I'm finished. But besides those actual moments when I'm covered in ink.... I feel like a mismatched sock.
And a quote from my grandmother to leave this off: "Carly you can do anything you put your mind to. ANYTHING. I just hope you don't decide to be president because I think I'm getting to old for the campaign trail."
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Interview with the AMAZING Matt Armendariz
For my business class, my professor had us conduct interviews with photographers that we found inspiring, and on the list of my top three was photographer Matt Armendariz. He's a photographer that lives and shoots in Long Beach, California, and his true passion is food. He's primarily a food photographer, though both his website and his food blog have featured bits on both people and travel, so he really covers pretty much all the things I love! His blog is the number 7 food blog in the world, according to the Times Online, and he has been featured on Martha Stewart as well as in many magazines. I was so happy that he answered some of my questions about business and random studio questions, though I was really most pleased about him sharing his passion with me about food and photography. I have some of his answers below!
Are you a Californian (I am :) ) or have you lived elsewhere and has that influenced the way you work and conduct business?
I am originally from Austin, Texas but have lived in Chicago and San Francisco before settling in Los Angeles. I think this has influenced how I run a business, most definitely. Having worked with different designers and photographers in those cities has shown me the things I love about running a business, the types of services I value as well as the things I did not want to do. I'm not sure it's affected me creatively as much as it has in running a business.
What inspired you to become a photographer? Did you attend school for photography or are you self taught?
I'm self taught everything. I started as a graphic designer and art director. I was hiring all sorts of photographers for projects as well as the stylists, booking the location, creating the story, etc. I started having moments towards the end of my art direction career that became exceedingly frustrating: what i was getting back from the photographer wasn't what I was seeing in my mind. So I'd work with another photographer. And the same thing would happen. Mind you, the photos were perfect -- beautiful, correctly exposed, nothing wrong technically. But this issue kept nagging me until I realized that the problem wasn't with the photographer but with me. What I was seeing in my mind wasn't the same as what I was getting by putting together 4 people or how ever many to make an image. So I realized the only way to remedy this was to learn how to shoot myself. If I couldn't learn and figure it out then I'd have to learn to communicate better with the photographer or find someone that shot the exact way I wanted. Granted, that's a bit of a problem...one should hire a photographer based on what they can bring to the project. So becoming a photographer was the only logical choice I could have made.
For 3 years I never put down a camera. Not once. It went everywhere with me and I mean that literally. I had to learn to become comfortable with it in my hand, how to make it become an extension of my mind. I already had the creative part down -- I spoke the language of color, proportion and perspective fluently from all those years in design. What I needed to learn were the technical aspects, specifically f stop and aperture. Once those all started working together I began to make the images that I had in my head, it was a huge moment of self revelation. I haven't stopped since.
You said you like to shoot travel and people as well, have you ever considered shooting those as your primary focus? What is the allure to the food photography industry for you? You've said that all cuisine has beauty, but is that why you started/continue to shoot it?
I probably won't ever stop shooting food. It's the thing I love most. There are times when proportionately it's less but it won't ever be out of my system I'm sure. Also, with my background in food I feel as if it gives me an advantage on set. I can't tell you how many times I've let my big giant multimillion dollar clients know that something won't work on set or that this food subject isn't in season right now or culturally this group may like this photo but this other group would see it differently. And this is all just about food! I think the allure is that I know it, I breathe it, it's what I do even when I'm not shooting food. And we will always be taking pictures of food, always.
But back to my answer up above, that really explains why I started shooting food. By default I was in the food business and I was able to use my own images in my work once I felt like I was good enough.
Are you a Californian (I am :) ) or have you lived elsewhere and has that influenced the way you work and conduct business?
I am originally from Austin, Texas but have lived in Chicago and San Francisco before settling in Los Angeles. I think this has influenced how I run a business, most definitely. Having worked with different designers and photographers in those cities has shown me the things I love about running a business, the types of services I value as well as the things I did not want to do. I'm not sure it's affected me creatively as much as it has in running a business.
What inspired you to become a photographer? Did you attend school for photography or are you self taught?
I'm self taught everything. I started as a graphic designer and art director. I was hiring all sorts of photographers for projects as well as the stylists, booking the location, creating the story, etc. I started having moments towards the end of my art direction career that became exceedingly frustrating: what i was getting back from the photographer wasn't what I was seeing in my mind. So I'd work with another photographer. And the same thing would happen. Mind you, the photos were perfect -- beautiful, correctly exposed, nothing wrong technically. But this issue kept nagging me until I realized that the problem wasn't with the photographer but with me. What I was seeing in my mind wasn't the same as what I was getting by putting together 4 people or how ever many to make an image. So I realized the only way to remedy this was to learn how to shoot myself. If I couldn't learn and figure it out then I'd have to learn to communicate better with the photographer or find someone that shot the exact way I wanted. Granted, that's a bit of a problem...one should hire a photographer based on what they can bring to the project. So becoming a photographer was the only logical choice I could have made.
For 3 years I never put down a camera. Not once. It went everywhere with me and I mean that literally. I had to learn to become comfortable with it in my hand, how to make it become an extension of my mind. I already had the creative part down -- I spoke the language of color, proportion and perspective fluently from all those years in design. What I needed to learn were the technical aspects, specifically f stop and aperture. Once those all started working together I began to make the images that I had in my head, it was a huge moment of self revelation. I haven't stopped since.
You said you like to shoot travel and people as well, have you ever considered shooting those as your primary focus? What is the allure to the food photography industry for you? You've said that all cuisine has beauty, but is that why you started/continue to shoot it?
I probably won't ever stop shooting food. It's the thing I love most. There are times when proportionately it's less but it won't ever be out of my system I'm sure. Also, with my background in food I feel as if it gives me an advantage on set. I can't tell you how many times I've let my big giant multimillion dollar clients know that something won't work on set or that this food subject isn't in season right now or culturally this group may like this photo but this other group would see it differently. And this is all just about food! I think the allure is that I know it, I breathe it, it's what I do even when I'm not shooting food. And we will always be taking pictures of food, always.
But back to my answer up above, that really explains why I started shooting food. By default I was in the food business and I was able to use my own images in my work once I felt like I was good enough.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Aaaand I'm Back!
I might not be in France anymore, but I find that I still think about writing a lot, as well as the fact that I'm HORRIBLE at keeping a journal, but I can type like nobody's business. I'm finally just getting back into the swing of things here in the states, and I'm all the way through mid-terms in my second to last quarter of SCAD! I only have two classes left that start in March; Senior Project and Alternative Processes.
I'm both thrilled to pieces to be finished (one of a handful of my graduating class from high school to actually finish in four years) and scared half to death. Due to a major change in my relationship status as of late, I find myself without a plan, a place that I want to move, a job that I want and a place to put my furniture in June. But, I still have my cat, Earnest, my camera and my ridiculous amount of spunk about life. So everything will be okay, because in the end, whatever is meant to be will happen. That's the outlook that I'm taking at least.
My (new) website should be up and running sometime this week! I've been working hard at trying to figure out what I want to put on it... I truly have so many photos. I think that France will have its own section, but that will take quite a while to sort through as I still haven't even looked at half of the photos that I took there. I don't even have any new work to really put up, I've found it hard to shoot after the intense overload of France. But, soon (hopefully my birthday, but probably graduation) I'll be getting a big, beautiful 5D Mark II, and then I will never want to put it down. It will be like falling in love with photography all over again.
But. It's late, the laptop is dying and I have a shoot in the morning.
Ahhhh, what a good feeling to write again.
I'm both thrilled to pieces to be finished (one of a handful of my graduating class from high school to actually finish in four years) and scared half to death. Due to a major change in my relationship status as of late, I find myself without a plan, a place that I want to move, a job that I want and a place to put my furniture in June. But, I still have my cat, Earnest, my camera and my ridiculous amount of spunk about life. So everything will be okay, because in the end, whatever is meant to be will happen. That's the outlook that I'm taking at least.
My (new) website should be up and running sometime this week! I've been working hard at trying to figure out what I want to put on it... I truly have so many photos. I think that France will have its own section, but that will take quite a while to sort through as I still haven't even looked at half of the photos that I took there. I don't even have any new work to really put up, I've found it hard to shoot after the intense overload of France. But, soon (hopefully my birthday, but probably graduation) I'll be getting a big, beautiful 5D Mark II, and then I will never want to put it down. It will be like falling in love with photography all over again.
But. It's late, the laptop is dying and I have a shoot in the morning.
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