Nice Office
February 11, 2010
What a great place to get some work done.
Harry Callahan & The Institute of Design
February 9, 2010
I have reserved every book on Harry Callahan available from the Chicago Public Library. Lately I’ve really been into the Institute of Design photographers, i.e. Callahan, Siskind, Siegel. There is one book (an incredible piece of work) that the CPL doesn’t have for some reason. That book is, Aaron Siskind and Louis Sullivan: The Institute of Design Photo Section Project by Jeffrey Plank. I have ordered it through Powell’s bookstore here in Chicago (not to be mistaken with Powell’s of Portland). I am planning on running around town photographing what remains of Louis Sullivan’s work, in order to provide a 21st century survey — and to see all of his glorious buildings in person. I will provide images as they are created.
FlatPak : Minneapolis
November 11, 2009
A nice piece at the Walker Art Center. See above for details.
The Walker has such a great photography book selection. Me = drooling.
New York City Streetlamp
August 31, 2009
In 2004, an international design competition was launched to create a new standard streetlight for the City of New York. A design by the Office for Visual Interaction (OVI) was selected after a two-stage competition process, and will be added to the city’s existing catalogue of fixtures to light streets, sidewalks, and parks within New York’s five boroughs.
In creating a streetlamp that will surely become a new classic, OVI asked themselves, “What is the light source of the future?” Hi-flux LEDs emerged as an outstanding solution. With their small size, low wattage, intensity, and extremely long life of over 50,000 hours, LEDs are preeminent as an energy efficient, minimal-maintenance source.
Rethinking the aesthetic potential of LED technology was a driving force for the streetlight’s elegant form. In contrast to the bulky cobra-heads associated with high-pressure sodium lamps, the streetlight takes on a slim, elongated profile enabled by the tiny size of its light source, which does not require a hefty decorative enclosure. Instead, the thin arc of the luminaire itself provides the necessary surface area for housing and cooling the LEDs. The revolutionary aesthetic of the streetlight is specifically derived from the requirements and possibilities of LED technology.
Reprinted here from the Office of Visual Interaction website
Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre
August 31, 2009
Several months ago I was asked to shoot a story about the economic ruin of Detroit, specifically focusing on architectural ghosts that were directly related to the automotive industry. I am not a native of Detroit, and aside from half a dozen visits to the city, I have not spent much time there.
I recently came across the photography of Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre. Among their Ruins of Detroit project, there are several excellent photographs. I particularly appreciate the one pictured above, which is an image of the ballroom inside the Fort Wayne Hotel. There are many striking images, and I personally think that the magazine should have purchased photos from Yves and Romain rather than having asked me to create new ones. In any case, it is worth your time to visit the Marchand and Meffre site in order to take a good look at some powerful work.
Detroit will always be a mystery to me.
Pleasant Hill, Kentucky
August 31, 2009
Here are a few photographs from a visit Paris and I made to the Shaker village at Pleasant Hill, Kentucky. I have many more photos of the village which will show up on Flickr eventually. The grounds are perfectly kept, and the architecture of course is stunning. I am very fond of the Shaker’s design sensibility, particularly because of the balance they struck with form and function. Their entire body of work is brilliant.