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