Congratulations to the Shutter Sisters who were the grand prize winners in Name Your Dream Assignment. The shutter sisters will travel to five continents to create a visual catalog of hope from surprising sources while an entire community of women photographers do the same in the United States. Their dream is to tell stories that change you and me forever. This assignment takes a community of dreamers on a journey around the world where we consider the essence of hope-that elusive quality that makes it possible to believe this is not the end of your story no matter how simple your stress or profound your tragedy.
PinxitLuc didn't manage to capture the big dream - but still has plans on making the journey to China for the eclipse (albeit, not on a 9 week cultural and nature bound photographic journey). The journey isn't over - it simply takes another shape ;) Best wishes to all the photographers who entered. We are all winners, each trying to capture and share this magnificent world - in order to translate the human experience. I encourage you to visit some of the websites put together by the judging panel (one judge documents her incredible experience with her pal - a coyote). Finally, kudos to MEDICO for their proposal - but bigger kudos to the mission they are trying to fulfill.
Remember, as Henry David Thoreau once said, "If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." THANK YOU to everyone for your support in this. Keep dreaming and keep believing! When one door closes, it challenges us to open another one.
PinxitLuc.com doesn't allow downloads - but you can view current work and download pics by clicking here.
Let me know Do I still got time to grow? Things ain't always set in stone That being known let me know Let me
Seems like street lights glowing Happen to be just like moments passing in front of me So I hopped in the cab and I paid my fares See I know my destination But I'm just not there
All the streetlights glowing Happen to be Just like moments passing In front of me So I hopped in the cab and I paid my fare See I know my destination But I'm just not there
In the streets... In the streets I'm just not there In the streets I'm just not there Life's just not fair
Seems like street lights glowing Happen to be just like moments passing in front of me So I hopped in the cab and I paid my fares See I know my destination But I'm just not there
All the streetlights glowing Happen to be Just like moments passing In front of me So I hopped in the cab and I paid my fare See I know my destination But I'm just not there
All the streetlights glowing Happen to be Just like moments passing In front of me So I hopped in the cab and I paid my fare See I know my destination But I'm just not there
In the streets... In the streets I'm just not there In the streets I'm just not there Life's just not fair
Songwriters: Englishman, J; Mcildowie, B; West, Kanye; Williams, A
The blossoms are blooming, birds are beaming and kite flyers are on the mall. It really is a magical time.
Le Printemps par Théophile Gautier
Regardez les branches Comme elles sont blanches, Il neige des fleurs. Riant de la pluie Le soleil essuie les saules en pleurs.
Et le ciel reflète Dans la violette Ses pures couleurs… La mouche ouvre l’aile Et la demoiselle Aux prunelles d’or, Au corset de guêpe Dépliant son crêpe, A repris l’essor. L’eau gaiement babille, Le goujon frétille Un printemps encore !
==== English translation =========
Springtime By Théophile Gautier
Look at the boughs, How white they are, It’s snowing flowers! Scoffing at the rain, The sun dries The weepy willow. And the sky reflects In the violets Its pure colors… The fly opens its wings And the dragonfly With the golden pupils, And the wasp-like corset, Unfolding its silky wings, Has resumed its flight.
The water happily babbles, The tiny fish wriggles It’s Springtime again!
Jangela S is the photographer behind "PinxitLuc." Although she has her degrees in political science, Jangela has been studying Art History since high school and minored in 19th and 20th century Art History during her undergraduate studies. Jangela has studied photography as well as television and film production/editing.
Her basic philosophy is simple, photos along with her passion for writing allows for a unique ability to describe the mind’s sky to others. Both have the ability to translate history and personal experience in a way that encourages others to assume ownership of the world, shed light on the most troubling problems, end struggles or inspire dreams. Jangela still clings to the notion that we each have a fundamental stake in the world around us. She prefers to shoot nature and culture (people) - both have been shaped by the forces of history and both have the potential to influence and shape the future.
If you don’t want to be confined as a second hand observer - touch life. We each have the power to instigate the initiatives that can create actions, which may have enormous potential. Even through words, even through an image. A small change in initial conditions can lead to significant changes in the future. And, a lot of this can be perpetuated through the image and pen. Everyone is fundamentally human, and the more we are able to see that, the more we will cling to awareness, embrace hope, inspire dreams, and act as one.
Jangela firmly believes that travel and photography allows the viewer or the one who experiences the moment to see things differently, although she cannot predict how - in the most extreme cases there is a provocation of change, which makes her think of a quote that hangs on her wall. “Change has considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better. Obviously, then, one’s character and frame of mind determine how readily he brings about change and how he reacts to change that is imposed on him.”
Jangela has been taking pictures for most of her life. Although, she didn’t fully understand the dynamics of the medium until she started modeling in high school and was exposed to true technique. She often says that although she was the subject, that was the time when she really began to learn about the art, the skill, the practice and what she refers to as “the light.” She started shooting on her fathers Mamiya Sekor 1000 DTL. When she studied photography in college, she used this very same camera – and continued for nearly a decade. She converted to digital in 2006, but unfortunately for her – has yet to graduate to the realm of digital SLR. So she refers to herself as the “everyman’s photographer”. She uses a camera that is in the price range that just about anyone can afford (Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H9) – but still get some SLR type flexibility. With changes in pricing and technology, she is still hoping to move up to a DSLR this year – she yearns for that extra inch of clarity. As far as her style, she says she is motivated by light, contrast and wherever she can find it – nature, portraits, landscapes. It isn’t what she does for a living but it’s a realm of her minds sky, another way she can relate her world to others. Jangela often says that she can’t imagine a world without photographs because they allow us to touch life and motivate others to do the same.
A quote from Jangela:
"When you really start using a camera and it becomes another appendage, you notice things more. The world looks different and begins to take on a new appearance. How the letter "i" is missing from an old shop sign, how the word "antique" is written with antique font on a banner hanging from an old mill, near a barn house - advertising the wares being sold. How the rich, draping blossoms of a newly sprung tree contrast against a worn 17th century colonial home at sunset - as your car goes speeding by. You notice these things because your mind wonders how the image would be translated by your camera (the framing). Or, if you were to take the photo and edit it, perhaps that 17th century colonial with the blossoming tree, and you decided to make the entire photo high contrast black and white, except those purple flowers - left in color against the black and white background. What impact does that have on the viewer?"
For anyone interested in photography - Jangela recommends taking a class to learn some of the basic elements. If you are unable to take a class, she recommend actually looking at photographs and looking at how light is used, contrast, and composition. Read your camera manual and become familiar with some of it's basic and more advanced features - and purchase a book about photographic techniques. Above all, practice.
Every one of Gregory Colbert’s photographs captures a moment that happened.
The cynical eye is trained to assume trickery in images such as these, is resistant to the idea that they could represent the actual and the possible, but these images owe nothing to Photoshop, photo manipulation, montage, artificial lighting, or special effects.
He has taken the medium of the instantaneous and turned it into something slow, expansive, epic. You could be looking at a moment that occurred yesterday, or three hundred years ago. The effect is uncanny. You feel as if you are in the presence of a dream, a myth, a fairy tale.
Ever since I first learned about Gregory Colbert's Nomadic Museum, I have wanted to visit it. The first stop was Pier 54, in New York from March until June of 2005. Over 2 years later, I can no longer recall what precluded me from attending an event so close, in a city I visit fairly often, for an artist whose work I've been absolutely yearning to see in person. These sentiments would need to be echoed when I had to cancel a trip to LA, where I thought I would get to see the exhibit on the Santa Monica Pier, where Mr. Colbert and the divinity of his works laid stateside from January through May of 2006. Between April and July of this year alone, I have been to LA 4 times - what was so important that I couldn't get out there once in a 5 month time-span in 2006?
So, this year, the exhibit was scheduled to close in Tokyo on June 24th. I had been planning a trip to Thailand and normally stop in Japan. This year proved to be the exception. Due to last minute planning, and the other countries on my itinerary - I could not find any flights that would get me to Tokyo before the exhibit closed, afterward - yes, before - no. I have been checking the site to see where I might be able to see it, or if the opportunity is lost.
Why do I care so much about seeing this artwork and visiting the Nomadic Museum?
Photographer Gregory Colbert—who travels the world taking pictures of people communing with whales, elephants, and other animals— got the idea (and funds) for the museum after his one-man installation in 2002 at the Venice Biennale’s Arsenale, a vast shipyard dating from the Renaissance. “Ashes and Snow” was the first solo exhibit ever to occupy the entire space. And every last piece of art in it was bought up by the chairman of Rolex, who then encouraged the artist to use the money to mount the show—as is—in other cities. So, Colbert asked the avant-garde Japanese architect Shigeru Ban to design a museum large enough to travel with it.
Known for his clever use of paper and recycled materials, Ban also designed a Pompidou spin-off in Metz, France. For the Nomadic Museum, 148 empty containers are stacked in a self-supporting grid. Fourteen containers are used to ship building materials; the remaining ones are rounded up at the museum’s next port of call. A tent-like fabric fills in the gaps between the containers and serves as the roof.
The interior of the museum has no natural light. The installation is a three-part experience. In addition to 100 images, the show includes a “floating library,” in which pages from an epistolary novel Colbert has written is projected on screens. At the end is a film—narrated by Laurence Fishburne—showing people dancing with elephants and other cross-species encounters.
As for the art itself, Colbert displays thirteen years and 33 expeditions (Burma, India, the waters off Tonga), where he has assembled what he calls “a loving exploration into the nature of animals in their natural habitat as they interact with human beings.” The people in his work include Burmese monks, trance dancers, and, of course, himself.
Colbert’s 2002 show at the Arsenale was attended by 100,000 people. As Colbert once said, “It’s not just a museum...It’s a full experience.”
In my pilgrimage to find this place, I am hoping that when the Nomadic Museum opens it doors in Mexico City in early 2008, I will be standing there, smile on my face, giddy as a school girl.
