Alien Skin Exposure 7

 I don't know of any other software company that gives you freebies, called "loyalty gifts," like Alien Skin.  I love them! I just downloaded my April Loyalty Gifts presets, which are added to a great collection of filters I can use with exposure 7 in Photoshop to play around with. The photo below, left,  is with the Corbijnesque - Anton colour filter, based on Anton Corbijn's work with Time-Zero film.  Now I can look like a 65 year old Queen of the river (photo shot by sister Elsa on the Hood Canal, Washington, last summer) whose photo was captured with Polaroid film in 1964, instead of me (below, right) captured on digital film in August, 2014.

I also learned something.  Anton Corbijn is a Dutch photographer, music video director and film director.  Here's a link to an interesting interview with him from Interview Magazine:  LINK.  And Time Zero film, I believe, is Polaroid film, which Corbijn liked to use.  Apparently, Polaroid stopped producing it in 2008, according to this interesting 2012 documentary:  LINK.  A true Polaroid, faded with time, is below, shot in 1964.  I am in the backseat of a VW bug, with sister Jean in the driver's seat, in front of our old house in Santa Barbara, CA.

San Francisco Art Markt 2012

Lots of great art at the Art Mrkt.  Here are some of my favorites:

Photographs (like the one above) by Alfred Seiland
Encaustic paintings by Alicia Tormey
Works on paper by Frank Stella (scroll down on this link to the Faaris Car blog post)
Paintings by Timothy Cummings, (especially one titled "Floralia," which is not visible on the Catharine Clark Gallery website - gallery, also, of my art teacher Chester Arnold's work)
A lot of photographers represented by the Modernbook Gallery (especially Tom Chambers, Jamie Baldridge and Sara Friedlander)
Some great sculpture and paintings by the late, great Viola Frey from the Nancy Hoffman Gallery in NY
Some beautiful photocopy collage from the late, great Bruce Conner
and last, but not least, C. Antieau and Jason Holley's art from the Red Truck Gallery in New Orleans (especially C.'s "Ghost of Birds")

All in all, worth the trip to the Concourse Exhibition Center in SF this weekend!

Jamie Baldridge - Kooky, Weird and Interesting

For more see my new favorite website Bloodyloud! or Baldridge's own site jamiebaldridge.com.  Kind of in the artist Ray Caesar's camp.

Suhas Bhujbal and Alex MacLean Worth a Look See in S.F.

The Dolby Chadwick Gallery's exhibit of artist Suhas Bhujbal's citiscape paintings from Pune to San Francisco is worth a visit.  The exhibit is on from May 5 - May 28.  Born in India, Bhujbal received his MFA in Fine Art from The Academy of Art in San Francisco.   His use of layers of thick paint and brilliant color to render some of India's dense housing can only be fully appreciated by viewing the original large oil paintings.

The Dolby Chadwick Gallery is at 210 Post Street, Suite 205 near Grant.  After you're done there just walk one block away to 49 Geary and take a trip to the 5th floor to see the Alex MacLean photography exhibit at the Robert Koch Gallery.  MacLean is a pilot, architect and photographer who puts this interesting combination together in unforgettable ways.  The MacLean exhibit is on from 5/5 - 7/2.

Vivian Maier - Photographer Beyond the Grave

Some people get discovered during their lifetime, others after their death and many never at all.

I'm lucky enough now to be going through my father's 70+ years of photos and negatives putting together a book titled "Growing up Autrey."  The book combines photos from the 1930s through today with recollections of growing up from my four sisters, 92 year old mother and 91 year old dad.

When I recently mentioned my self publishing project to friend Louise Rubacky, she introduced me to another lifelong photographer, Vivian Maier, who has only been discovered recently since her death.  Well worth a look see!

Check out the following links:

Youtube documentary video
Vivian Maier (about) Blog

Lee Freidlander, Photographer

I recently became captivated by photographing textures.  It started by my looking for interesting patterns I could use to enhance other art in Photoshop but has morphed into its own thing.   Often, I find, the patterns one finds in cracked asphalt and reflections off of store windows can be more interesting than the bigger picture - proving the quote "God is in the details" to be true.  Because of my new passion, friend Marsha Armitage Bristow recommended I check out her former Rhode Island School of Design photography teacher Lee Freidlander.   I am impressed!  This photograph is from his 2008 exhibit at SFMOMA.  More info on him can be found at Wikipedia and a sampling of his images can be found at the Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco.

Going, Going, Gone

As we say goodbye to 2010, this photo and the NASA website with its "Astronomy Picture of the Day" remind me there is much to love in this beautiful world we live in.

Autrey Mill Nature Preserve and Heritage Center

Cruising around the internet searching on my family name "Autrey," I found a series of nice photos -including this one taken by ~~Lou~~ during a photo workshop he attended in Georgia.  After googling "Autrey Mill" I discovered it is a 46-acre property which was once owned and operated by the Autreys from 1877 to the early 1900s and is now a non profit preserve open to the public.  Looks like it's worth a visit!

Beautiful Jon Klein Photographs

One of the highlights of my recent weekend trip to Mendocino was a mini photoshop camera RAW tutorial from wildlife and nature photographer Jon Klein.  There are things you can't do in photoshop, however, such as add the exquisite dewdrops to a dragonfly like the one shown here which Jon captured in his original photo.  Jon explains "one foggy morning in early fall I was out for a walk near Willits and found this Meadowhawk resting on an old Star Thistle head.  The sun was starting to shine through the fog, but the dragonfly was still too cold and wet to fly."

More on Meadowhawk dragonflys can be found at the website bugguide.net but the photos can't compare to the one above.

Something Strangely Beautiful About Death and Destruction

New photographer discovery Edward Burtynsky.  

Why I like Twitter

Sometimes I think the best thing about the web is discovering new artwork from people I would never know about otherwise.  Via Twitter I discovered that one of my favorite sites 20x200 has a new Roger Ballen print out - which led me to discover Roger Ballen's own website where I could view more of his great photos.

Fabulous Madagascar Photos!

See the Kingfisher bird and more Madagascar wildlife here:  http://blog.burrard-lucas.com/2010/10/wildlife-of-madagascar/

And for more info on Madagascar, this book from the University of Chicago Press looks good:

Scott Guitteau Recommends Tichy

Scott Guitteau, a Skywalker Sound friend, is always up on what's happening in the world that's interesting.

Scott's recommendation for April 2010:  The first ever American museum exhibition devoted to the work of the reclusive and mysterious Czech photographer Miroslav Tichy at the International Center of Photography, 1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd St. in New York, through MAY 9, 2010.  

More information on Tichy can be found at Jason Kottke's website kottke.org.