We Do Amazing Things...People Project part 2

I spent a week in 2010 visiting a friend of mine, Lee Barkalow, who was studying at George Washington University which is settled in the nations capital. While on vacation I had time to explore it all, on the other hand Lee was still in school, so I spent my time walking and riding the subway around the city on my own. With delicate breezes and a chilled air the city would greet me every morning as I would start my day with a coffee and a quick walk to the subway station. With my camera in hand and the desire to explore some place new I would ride under the cities expansive history to the National Mall. As columns of marble loom over head and man made determination surround the lush field of grass I could only stand and listen to the city around me.

In the image above daily commuters from D.C. and the surrounding communities make their way to work, school, the National Mall and so many other places that a boy from a small California town could only imagine a city of that stature could hold. Just the ride on the subway was a thrill in its own. As I'm sure I'm not the only one who plays this game I started to experiment with my experience on the subway. Instead of finding a seat I stood in the middle of the car, in reach of a handle, and I awaited for the ride to begin. With a steady stance I rode the ebb and flow of the rocking subway ride. As it was difficult in the beginning I slowly grew in experience as so many other Washingtonians have before me.  Some were so used to riding the system that falling asleep standing up was just a way to pass the time...

People Project

     Human interaction and personality aren't the first two motifs I would originally think to capture. I have found myself looking more intently and deeply into the situations people put themselves in and the types of people they are as friends and family. I have started and will continue a project about people. Through stories, portraits and moments I will share my view of everyday interaction and I will show how they have influenced me.

      As I sat on the plush cushion that was displayed in the center of the room, I occasionally looked to the right and left, as Homer's own thoughts seemed to echo in my head. Or at least what I presume he may have said. "A touch of gray for this is no joyous day," he would have exclaimed, "a flock of birds fly over head yet two are given a dreadful end." Heavy strokes left vibrant strides as if there was more then what the images emphasized.
       As my gaze slid over to the right, two women stepped in front of Bellow's racial plight. With smirks and glares two contenders fight, which man will be left with victory in his sight? Both will struggle, losing a lot, but one will leave thinking he is on top. When really both have been disgraced for shedding blood was man's first mistake.
The time has come to move along to view the rest of history's song. Room-by-room I will admire portrayals of life that left men to aspire.

The Sky is No Longer The Limit

This is just a silly little photo shop poster I made from a tutorial, but can you believe that there is a company that is actually creating a program which will allow civilians to visit outer space? Virgin Galactic, headed by none other than Richard Branson, is in the mists of creating a program that will send sub-orbital spaceflights carrying a group of paying public.

If you want to learn more about Richard Branson you should, I would consider him, and I'm sure so would a lot of people, to be one of the most brilliant and forward thinking business man in the world today. I know I will look to him when I need inspiration while creating my company. Follow this link and find out more, http://www.ted.com/speakers/richard_branson.html

What Santa Barbara has to offer...

As yellow colors guide the way, dragging lines where no path of man can lay, one must think that nature's gift is something of a simple trick.  An earthy play on the human eye that uncontrollably leads the traveler's mind, away from social gains and towards her plans to reveal something more.
The chaos of yellow storms that sweep the hills leaving green behind to mix and fill. To take a moment to gaze and feel the warmth and growth that this path steals is all that she is asking for. For to see her breath will cure mans yield of always wanting something more.

Artichoke

Such awesome colors. I never loved an artichoke this much!

Growing from Beneath

I found that this angle, looking up into the sky below the flowers was much more captivating to me. Its such a subtle difference but it really is a completely different world.

I have a few more that are slightly different that I may add soon.
When light and space create shadow and form that is when beauty unfolds. Look at the negative space as well as the positive. Don't look at these images as flowers but as forms and depth.

The Great Colosseum

I have visited Rome a couple of times and every time is a different trip. In my last visit I captured this shot of the amazing Colosseum. Its something that puts you in a daze, it leaves you motionless, it gives you something to dream about. The Colosseum is a gift from Time, a souvenir for future people to appreciate. I hope it remains erect well past my time.

Eco-Ding

Hi Everyone,

A couple of years ago I started to learn how to shape surfboards. A friend of mine, whom I met while living in Santa Barbara, Weston Paglia had been shaping for a few years by then and invited me to learn. I had always wanted to learn how to shape ever since I started surfing. Its an amazing hobby and art form; to create a complicated tool that allows you to maneuver over water out of a chunk of foam, what an awesome skill to have. Shortly after we started shaping together we had the idea to start a ding repair business. The ding repair business, though not in action today, wasn't too bad of an operation. We learned almost right away that ding repair wasn't in our hearts but changing something about the way boards are repaired and the materials used was something that struck us as interesting.

As surfers not only are we in love with surfing but we also cherish our environment and its well being. So why are all the materials used in surfboard manufacture so toxic? In shaping we use polyester resin (toxic if ingested, irritating to skin and eyes), Fiber glass (strings of broken up glass that cause irritation to skin), a catalyst (hardening agent, FLAT OUT DEADLY), and Polyurethane foam blanks (horribly to inhale and bad for the environment), now in all those materials which one to you looks friendly?

Now I understand that over the past 20 maybe 30 years we have become more aware has humans of our environment. Many of you might think that the damage is minimal, but image all of the surfboards that are being manufactured everyday and all of the boards that are breaking and being thrown away...IS THERE A SOLUTION?

Of course there is and today there are shapers out there that are testing products to replace those that we use today. This brings me to my point. After we started our ding repair business Weston and I decided to find alternative materials that we can use instead of resin, fiber glass and catalyst. In result we created Eco-Ding an environment friendly repair kit. Now this is just the start but the kit involves, a vegetable oil resin (made from 98% renewable resources), hemp or bamboo cloth, and bee's wax (ding filler). Again these materials are being used to shape boards but they have not been used as a repair kit. This is the first step in our project to change the face of surf board manufacturing and we would love for you to help us in our cause.

Please visit www.eco-ding.com and leave any comments or suggestions and give our product a try!

Thanks,

Matt and Weston

A Little Bit of Nature

 

Taken in Pacific Grove California

Taken at Parma Park in Santa Barbara California

 

"Let Mother Nature Move You"

When I saw this image one day while walking on the bluffs of Isla Vista I couldn't help but see the irony in the scene. The first thing that came to my mind was the phrase "Let Mother Nature Move You." With no visible swell to move the paddle surfer, he moves himself, and as the water sits placidly reaching back towards the horizon the man made structure that is the oil rig interrupts the tranquility adding its own special beauty that is unique to this stretch of coast. 

Immersed

Oil pastel on paper
Carmel, California.

Collage Work

Inspired by a moment or idea, thoughts and visions create something different. Whether peaceful scenes of Coastal Dreaming or sudden sorrow for vanity and greed I just like to lay them out on paper.

A Stroll For My Son

Whats on My Mind

There is an absence of spirit as I choke on the words that are trying to spill from my mind.
Try I do, I spit and drool, but the wetness of voice seems to never drip from my mouth.
Though now this void for a pocket is warn soon enough its linings will fill.
Fill to the brim with the sweetest and softest of truths that I hold deep within.
As my heart starts to burn, with a rupture it would truly turn inside out.
As my heart and my brain are linked by a chain, rattling between hope and doubt, it is my turn to break free and to speak with every passionate word.

Every moment of one's existence one is growing into more or retreating into less. One is always living a little more or dying a little bit.
- Norman Mailer

Passe Livre

In 2006 and 2007 I studied abroad in Brasil as I mentioned in one of my earlier posts. While I was in Brasil I was studying the language and culture along with meeting locals and traveling to different cities and regions. Before I left for Brasil I had no knowledge of how the people would treat a fresh ignorant American coming into their country. As I naively walked off the airplane with a clean shave and crew cut I met my new "parents" standing tall looking like nothing I would have imagined.
My host father, Oscar was tall, blond and bold. My "mother" Valeria not as tall, but dark and beautiful. Along side both were two of their three children Victor and Vinicius. Victor was 14 at the time and six feet tall and with an outrageous shoe size of 14. Little Vini was only 5 but was showing signs of great height and shoe size. With radiant smiles and firm hugs they excepted me right away.
My first Brasilian meal was in that Airport in Sao Paolo international. They offered me one of Brasil's delicacies; Pao de Queijo and a coffee. Pao de Queijo is a cheese bread that is very common in Brasil and has a very unique taste that is learned to love. After I devoured my treat and we spoke a few broken words back and forth we set off on our six hour drive back to the small town of Promissao which my host family had come from.
Promissao has a population of 10,000 people and endless fields of sugar cane, which along with milk, leather, eggs and latex is one of the biggest manufactured products of that area. Later I would spend numerous hours exploring the cane fields and learning everything there was to know about Brasilian exports. Oscar was a businessman and entrepreneur. He owned a branch of a famous radio station, Band FM, he started a construction company with his brother and a reforesting company along side it. He owned various properties around the city and was loved by most everyone. All Oscar wanted to do was show me how great Brasil was, and all I did was listen.


More coming soon....

Platform Holly

This is one of the many oil platforms that are lining the coast from northern Santa Barbara down to LA County.

Poem for Chloe

With These Two Flowers I Will Show You Love,
Like Pedals Melting Rays Of Sun,
Brilliant and Warm Like Two Hearts As One.
Thorn Covered Stems Prick and Bleed,
Yet Hold Crimson Color, Ones Love to Greed.
I Give You These Symbols To Admire,
So Bright With Passion To Light Your Fire.

-MM

Travel the Earth

To Travel the Earth is a Journey that may take a Life’s Time.

One that may be Rough and Bumpy; Full of Rise and Decline.

But with all the Time to Ponder and Reflect…

To be with you, would be Perfect.

Quote of the Day

You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.
-Albert Camus (1913-1960)

When You Find Yourself (Rough Draft)