On Friday, Oliver, Niko, Kayla, and I went to the LA Zoo to peek around and see some animals. Now you can see them too.
If you know me, you may or may not be aware that last year I was one of a few students at Santa Monica College selected to participate in a documentary photography class that was run in conjunction with the Getty Museum. For that class, each student picked a topic and created a photo essay. The culmination of all the hard work that went into the class will be a gallery exhibit at Santa Monica College. You can see the invitation to the exhibit below. If you live anywhere near Santa Monica, California and can make it by the opening this Saturday, fantastic! I’d love to see you there. If not, no worries. Let me know what you think of the work if you have time to look at it.
You can view the work that will be shown here: http://www.matthewandersonphotography.com/
or here: http://www.matthewandersonphotography.com/ballona_getty/
You can see more information about the Getty class here: http://www.getty.edu/education/college/olwe/
L.A. loves cars this I know, because the freeways tell me so. Saturday involved a trip to Peterson Automotive Museum for me. Quite the interesting place. Included in the Supercars exhibit was a Bugatti Veyron. Beautiful piece of machinery.
It never fails that I am awestruck and humbled when I encounter Nature’s most majestic creations. It’s amazing how quickly life and the world can come smashing into perspective when one stands in the middle of some enormous valley etched in stone over millions of years. This expansive piece of art was brought to life with brushstrokes of rushing water, exploding volcanoes, growing trees, and forest fires. The beauty is inspiring, and it makes me wonder why it’s so easy to forget this feeling. Why do we continuously get caught up in the minutia of insignificant things? Why do I check my email so frequently? Why do I stop and enjoy the moment so infrequently? Do I have to be smacked upside the head with beauty before I realize that I’m surrounded by it? Can’t this realization be had on a daily basis?
I think so. I just have to tie that little red string around my finger to remind me to look.
To remind me to…
Stop.
Look around.
Look close.
Stand back.
Squint your eyes.
Open them wide.
SEE things.
See like a child, you will never stop being amazed.
Here’s to slowing life down and enjoying it while it happens…
As my homeboy Sway would put it, “What’s up world?”
I’ve been slacking and lacking in the blogging department, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been out capturing images… Today I went through a few of the recent prints I’ve made in one of my photo classes, and here are the results… I hope you like… These are all scans of prints I made in the ABSOLUTE DARKNESS! Can you believe it?
Also, you’re only supposed to put one space after the punctuation at the end of a sentence… Can you believe it?!
So I’ve taken a little (large) hiatus from posting an image of the day, and I apologize for doing so. Things have been busy around these parts, and I haven’t had time to post an image all the time. I hope to start it up again in the future, and if I do, you’ll know about it…
With that, I’ll leave you with a recent iPhone snapshot…
Nary a boring day in Hermosa Beach.
On Sunday I was working on a photo class assignment that resembles a scavanger hunt, which meant I was outside wandering around with my camera. An example of one aspect of my mission was to capture a scene with three pastel colors on three-dimensional objects with no black or white in the frame. To imagine how difficult this is, take a look around you quickly. Assume you wanted a 4’x6′ frame to be filled with an image. How many places can you see with no black or white within this area? Not many. This was one of seven shots where the instructions were this specific. While I understand there is a purpose to the assignment, I still reserve the right to be frustrated when wandering the streets for hours looking for these Holy Grails…
Wandering around with my brain in “Pastel” mode, I was nearly knocked over by a man running past me not looking where he was going. He was staring over his shoulder into the sky behind him, as if he were about to be attacked by birds or air sharks or something awesome like that. Just as I’m hoping this moron decapitates himself on a volleyball net, a giant silver flash comes into my field of vision… The man catches a 15 foot silver bullet as it falls out of the sky.
“Pastels, pastels, pastels, pastels, HEY watch out! WHAT THE FU<K?!” Says the hyper-eloquent Matt in his head… These things are instinctual, probably picked up in my past life as a Duke of Somewhere-landia…
Turns out, he’s got a massive tubular balloon that he can punch into the air and send it sailing 60+ feet up. It’s pretty cool to watch him play with it, but most of the entertainment comes from watching him chase it as it drifts back towards terra firma. Knocking over children on bicycles (don’t worry, that’s why they wear helmets these days), crashing into patio bar areas, and even bouncing off the top of a police SUV; this shiny inflatable contraption rained down terror from the sky. It was awesome. Keep your eyes open for this device to be used as the next cutting edge weapon in urban warfare… And hope you never have to see it!
Check my Image of the Day Project HERE to see which images from the collection below will make it into the project… They’ll be up shortly…
P.S. The flower images were from outside of my office on Monday.
Nobody likes to move. Fact.
Nobody dislikes moving more than me. Speculation.
Proof: I dislike moving so much… I avoid buying normal things people use on a daily basis because I’m afraid of amassing a pile of junk I’ll need to move in the future.
Case in point: I don’t own a cookie sheet. The only reason I have silverware at all is because Joel felt so bad for my pathetic ass when he left, that he was compelled to leave some behind. My apartment does not have a kitchen table, coffee table, toaster, spatula (making eggs is hilarious), television… You get the idea.
If I’ve made you concerned about my well-being or left you thinking I’m pathetic, I’m sorry. I assure you, I’m not. Well, that’s like, my opinion, man. I’ve managed to live with people who’ve had all these things for the first 28 years of my life, and haven’t found a need to collect the things we so loosely call “necessities” at this point.
SLAP! Back on topic, Matt! Sorry for the digression.
My point here is that I’ve recently come to terms with the fact that I’ll be moving away from the beach. Sad. So very sad. This weekend the PTB (Powers That Be, remember? Keep up people!) were either trying to make the separation anxiety kick up early, or they were trying to give me a show for one of my last few weekends here. That show (read: Beautiful Sunset) is the subject of the images for today… Now since it’s blistering cold elsewhere in the country, I won’t dwell on this too much, but I’d like to mention that this beautiful sunset came with a side of ridiculous wind. A wind that ripped chills through bodies, ripped hoods off heads, and ripped feeling from hands gripping cameras.
Maybe that wind was part of the mixed message, but there’s more. Just when I think there’s no way I can walk away from this lovely little beach town buried in big ‘ole L.A., I get the hint that I need to get the ford out of dodge… PTB had me open my patio door at just the right time, which led to an introduction to my downstairs neighbors, or as I will now call them, the Ghost of Hermosa Future. Ebenezer Matt introduced himself to the 42 year old New Yorker who now occupies the room directly below him (one of two roommates). A perfectly polite gentleman. What’s the problem Matt? Well, since you asked, here’s the problem. In the slightly invasive 5 minutes he spent walking through my apartment and telling me the differences between his and mine, he managed to bring up the fact that he’s been living in Hermosa for 16 years. He moved here when he was a punky little 26 year old, and has been juggling roommates and living the beach life ever since. A little strange you say? Well consider the fact that some of his recent roommates were younger than he was when he moved here in the first place. Jebus.
Old man neighbor is all well and fine, until you smash cut to 9PM last night. Said 42 year old man is scream-talking to someone about some fight somewhere involving someone he knew. “Bam! blah blah blah blah… BAM! muffle muffle muffle… Knocked OUT!”
Welp sunset, you were pretty. You are replaceable though. The Ghost of Hermosa Future is powerful, and has opened my eyes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about rush into a responsible amount of responsibility or anything drastic like that. I just know that there is more for me out there, and now it’s time to move on. Hopefully moving on gets me closer to my lady, because she’s the missing link in the evolution of my life…
I hope you like the images below, I risked having my hands amputated to get them for you…
See which one I picked for the Image of the Day Project HERE…
Yesterday’s images come from my drive home from work. The rain slowed it up a bit, but it was nothing to worry about. The secret to LA traffic is to make your time in the car productive. I’ve thought about lifting weights, teaching myself how to cut sushi, or maybe giving myself some face tattoos. None of these panned out, so I’ve taken to listening to some audio books. It won’t work for every type of book or every type of person, but if you find something that holds your interest, it can be a great way to pass the time.
In summary, we’ve got the road, the ride, the rain, the Richard, and the Rand (The Fountainhead, read it)…
I intend to post an image from these as part of the Image of the Day Project HERE…
Matt He Wanders On 