Flickr

All Hallows Eve

I love Fall. It's my favorite time of the year. The colors of the leaves can be intense. The weather is crisp with just a biting hint at the Winter to come. There is time to work on images made the previous Summer.

I have had it in mind to migrate into the boarder regions of the art with a new for me style. I wanted to create my own images, using people's work like Miss Aniela and Brooke Shaden as my inspiration. The base images would be a continuation of variations on a theme of Steampunk.

Using the Open Source Photoshop equivalent called the Gimp, I needed to learn how to hide and reveal, clip, crop, size, and skew small bits of images. I wanted to take this new knowledge and blend it with the approaches I'd taken in using texture layers to see where the art would lead me.





It didn't take long for me to get way in over my head and to begin to see the possibilities for a whole new approach to image making. In this new context, I really mean image making. With the stress on the word making.

Now that I see what is possible, I feel the pull to try and create a new body of work based on noir Victorian gothic, Tribal Fusion, and Steampunk themes. So stay tuned. The image found here may be just a stop-off point along my Muse's Path.

Twin Paradox Cafe' - show through October 2009

My Alternative History - Images from the Age of Steam show hangs at Twin Paradox Cafe, 8609 SE 17th Ave, Portland, OR through October 2009.

Artist statement:

Philosophies et Images

Antique de l’autre cote’
du Multiverse Capture Photonique des Age
de Victoria,
de Vapeur,
de Tribal,
de Shamanism,
de Punk

I have stumbled upon something improbable, something astounding, something of incredible rarity and beauty which I would now like to share. Images from across a “Seam” that has suddenly opened between various Ages have, quite unexpectedly, become available to this our current Age. These photonic creations have withstood the incredible stresses of alternative reality Multiverse time sharing to be revealed here for perhaps the first time in this, the post-Modern Age.

To the contemporary mind, the best explanation of what can take place in parallel Ages of alternative reality goes something like this: Think about what might have happened if Victorian Age steam power was never supplanted by oil. Think of how a Victorian Age Steam culture might have evolved as new technologies and applications were made upon culture and society. Ponder a moment on how a Shamanic or Tribal Age might have grown as tribes and peoples lived and learned and applied their crafts and talents. Or consider the impact of a continuing vibrant and fully functional Noir Gothic society.

The tear in the fabric of the Multi-verse, the “Seam” between Ages which have allowed these photonic creations to pass this way appears to have weaved itself once again closed. As time passes, the portraits from other Ages have become ever more tattered and torn. A significant amount of information has been lost. These are amongst the last alternative reality photonic portraits to pass this way. However, if anything further comes my way, I will be quite joyed to share them.

Your Humble Servant – Christopher Mark Perez
~ Original Photographic Prints ~
$200 – matted, framed

Care has been taken to ensure the highest and most long lasting qualities in the preparation of photographic images and related materials. Prints are prepared using 200 year archival pigment on acid free cotton fiber papers.

smilingmonk2002@yahoo.com
www.hevanet.com/cperez
www.flickr.com/photos/christophersoddsandsods
photosketchpad.blogspot.com
www.myspace.com/christophersoddsandsods

ProPhoto Supply - Gallery Show

A portion of my In the Railyard is showing through the month of September, 2009 at ProPhoto Supply in downtown Portland.

So as you head down to order your new Canon 7D, take a moment and have a look in the entry way gallery before you talk to Dave Cleary about your new toy.

Great Oregon Steamup 2009

As I work with the 1080p video capability of the Canon 5D MkII, I begin to see some interesting possibilities. The image quality is quite outstanding. A friend says that standard definition video (640x480) gives you a sense of how something is shaped. He says that 1080p gives you the texture of the thing. I couldn't agree more.





I have been editing videos using Sony's Movie Studio Platinum Plus. It's a nice application that allows me to create 1440x1080 digital cinema materials. The capabilities of the software suite is pretty good. The only thing I would like (without having to pay more for it, of course) would be additional blend options for merging video track 2 onto video track 1.

Each year in Brooks, Oregon a group of steam powered farmers haul out their great collections of equipment to share with the public. These events are held over two weekends; the last weekend in July and the first weekend in August.

This year I spent time with the steampowered tractors. They are awesome good fun. Next year I should spend a little time in the steampowered sawmill sheds. That thing is definitely not something a person should try to recreate at home. LOL!!!

Anyways, until then, here is a short video of one of the earlier tractor designed engines.

Photography

Drama and $24 million

Photography

Portland Photographers' Forum Newsletter

...

This Month's Meeting: Wednesday, August 19, 7:00 p.m.

Guest Speaker: Christopher Perez Alternative Histories

"Ideas for my large multi-year photographic image projects arrive when least expected," Chris Perez says."As I read various novels by Jules Verne, Tom Robbins, Ian Banks, Terry Pratchett, and Susanna Clark I could almost see what images from Alternative Histories might look like. In similar time, I worked with Tribal Fusion bellydancers to see where I might be able to take a related idea. Talking with NagaSita (one of my models) I learned that there are active communities of people engaged in the pursuit of Alternative History ideas of Tribal Fusion, Noir Victorian Gothic, and Steampunk. These styles are based on the idea that we live not in a uni-verse, but rather, in a vast multi-verse of time coincident Alternative Realities, just like the novels I was reading." "My photographic project swiftly incorporated these ideas and extended them to include the thought of how image might look as they pass through a "seam" between the various multi-verses. There would be hints familiar to us, such as graphic design elements from 1880 Paris, France. Images would be stressed and somewhat distorted due to the pressures placed on them as they passed through a "seam". Clothing styles could be emblematic, in the case of Steampunk, of what might happen if oil never replaced steam." "This is how my overly active, geeky, complex mind works. This is how my Steampunk, Tribal Fusion, and Noir Victorian Gothic series of images came into being."

Photography

Someone provided a very nice calculation of the number of potential photographic art collectors about a decade before I ran a similar calculation. The difference between my calculation and this author is that I assumed all art and came up with a figure of a most 300,000 potential buyers in the USA. The author's calculation of 10,000 collectors of photographic art seems about right.

Without going into details, I feel the collector market for photography is indeed rather small. With a large number of artists vying for print sales, it puts pressure on photographers who work in the area of collectible photography.

No matter how you view it or what you believe, its important to understand the forces in play.

Flickr

There is a rather unique way of finding images on Flickr. It is provided by FivePrime and is called Hive Mind.

I have started to use this as a means of finding the very best examples of a subject, style, or tool.

Here are links to semi-random subjects. Each page is sorted by Flickr's "Interstingness" property.

qtpfsgui - an Open Source HDR application

texture layers - a technique of image manipulation that I particularly like

Canon 5D MkII - a look at "interestingness" from the point of view of specific camera equipment

This is a brilliant way of swiftly reviewing the very best work to be found across the Flickr universe. If you ever wonder what the state of the art is, just take a look using this image filtering tool. You might be utterly and pleasantly shocked, just as I am.

News!!!

I received the following email and am very excited by the opportunity.

Dear Christopher, Thank you for your interest in Photo Life. We would like to publish one of your images in our "Spotlight" column... Thanks Christopher... Kind regards, Xavier

Photo idea

A fine proposal for how you get out and do some great work

Railroad

My work through the Center for Fine Art Photography has been posted.

The Juror did not select me for any additional rewards. I feel inclusion of my work along side fourteen other artists is reward enough.

Flickr

Here's a quick way to find one's own Flickr Images that made it to Explore.

It turns out that one of my images made it to #29!!! I'm amazed and, of course, quite happy.

Ideas and how my images tend to evolve...

As I advance in years my photographic images are tending toward complexity. I used to feel that zen-like images of simplicity and austerity were a style I could explore for a very long time. Alas, after many trips to south India, I find that I love color, texture, line as well as detail. While not the only source of change, India has had a huge influence on me.



After reading a rather fun series of books about alternative histories, I thought it might be worth a photographic exploration of the topic. I started with Tribalism as expressed by bellydancers. Then I tried my hand at Steampunk. This video is of an image created out of one such photo-session.

The model is NagaSita. She is a local dancer and theatrical arts talent. The processing was performed in the PhotoShop Open Source equivalent called the Gimp. The evolution of the image clearly expresses the changes in how I felt as I worked the image to completion.

Paris, France

Galerie Esther

Paris, France

A nice list of places

Paris, France

To dream... to wish... to desire... to wonder... could it be?... might it be?...

Galerie Baudoin

Galerie 1900-2000

Galerie Agathe Gaillard

Galerie Camera Obscura

Galerie Esther Woerdehoff

Galerie Francoise Paviot

Maison Europeenne de la photographie

A more complete list of international galleries...

Canon

A most remarkable firmware update for the 5D MkII

India

Such inspiration - if ever there was a body of work that I wanted to create, it would look like this

India

Stunning use of a Canon 5D MkII and 1080p digital cinema

Wasteland from Bombay Flying Club on Vimeo.