It is totally overwhelming to pass through these images with the aim of choosing my favorites as each of them made it through many rounds of editing and are among those images I deemed necessary to both remember and convey my experience. The 800 photos that reside in the albums are, however, more than most people have the time to comb through so I wanted to elevate the tip of the iceberg and make the whole (almost the whole) journey accessible.
Below you can get a taste of where I was, what I saw and who shared these experiences with me. It is, by no means, the whole picture – 21% of it to be exact – but it is a good place to jump off from. If you find yourself curious or inspired to see more, click here for complete albums on each leg of the journey. My hot minute in Moscow seemed like a footnote compared to the bigness of Asia so it will appear when I have time to add it.
Perhaps what may be more satisfying would be to view this slideshow full screen, I recommend that, and you can click this link to make it so.
still in frantic mode and looking forward to chilling the hell out this weekend. its my own fault for spinning in other peoples static and letting the crazy sweep me away but, such is life, and at the moment im weak and going with the flow instead of swimming against the hectic stream. peace is on the horizon.
a while back i might have mentioned that i was collaborating with some filmmakers on a documentary film called Rcokumentary. It was made during the first ever Paul Green School of Rock Music Festival in Asbury Park, NJ. I happened to document the same fest in photos and found these guys right after I moved to Austria. I ended up doing the graphic design, cover art and a slammin photo slide show of my work from the fest. Did I just say slammin for real? what an ass.
in any case, the film (and some dough!) just arrived in the mail and it always makes me happy to see the fruits of my labor. this was a very cool experience and im hopeful to do more collaborating in the future. speaking of that…i almost forgot that i am in the process of collaborating as we speak!! its too soon for details but my buddy Andy and I are making some Trans-continental video art. You will surely hear all about that when the time comes.
Now I am stepping away from the imac that i should rename Vortex instead of C3PO…this bitch is hard to get away from!!
So Zeus himself appears to be sitting on the Alp behind my flat practicing his lightening bolt toss. Seeing a bolt of lightening crawl from the sky all the way to the plateau has been my pastime this evening…a truly magnificent storm indeed.
So something along the lines of 3 weeks have passed since I got my internet fix, not counting a quickie hotel reservation here or there, and I am relieved to have my window to the world back. In all honesty, I missed you. Last we spoke I was packing up my village life and headed for the ‘big city.’ It has been a real breath of fresh air to live in my own apartment. I’m not a terribly materialistic individual but I do value the notion of nesting. I have learned that I am much more content with life when I have a little oasis to return to after whatever came before. I have also learned that I am happier with less space rather than more. I haven’t done the photo shoot that I want to but I have fired off a couple shots to give you a sense of where I’m at. If you’re interested, you can click here to see them all. If you took the efficient attributes of my Orchard St studio and stirred in some charm from my friend Jimmy’s flat in Vermint (vermont to those of you not in the know) then aged it 500 years and set it sail across the ocean you would have Kirschentalgasse. Exactly how an Ex-Pat should do it if their in an old european city, I think.
My minimalist Euro friends are all shocked that I could have it feeling so lived in after only 3 weeks but I have a tendency to generate the “things” that make home homey. It’s really a lovely spot and I am looking forward to hunkering down here for a while.
In the midst of my move, my dear Aunt and Uncle dropped by for a visit. They were uniquely lucky to have experienced my village and stadt living situations and even partook in some flea market hunting for my dishes and things. I have only had one other visitor here before them and each time it happens I am overflowing grateful and simultaneously knocked off kilter. Its as though when loved ones arrive the door to my vacuum chamber opens and I realize how alone I am over here. Not to say that I am wallowing in loneliness but, let’s face it, there’s a lot of water between me and just about everyone I know and my peeps seem to wait for me to come to them (via video, phone or whatever). In the scheme of my life, it’s not a terrible problem but I do find myself very sad, disproportionately sad, when my visitors leave. I can’t tell if its because I miss them or because I’m bummed they don’t miss me more. That’s probably both unfair and incorrect but that’s the fun of a blog…express yourself and sort the rest out later. Anyway, I got off track there…we had a lovely time. If you’d like to see the whole album from our short and sweet visit, click here and you’ll find it. I’ll spare you the details from our romp around the Inn Valley, save for what I already mentioned, and just leave you with a couple pix.
I had about 3 days after Shelly and David departed to finalize some of my move, wrap up things at the office and prepare for my summer holiday. I know that those of you who read this must think that my life is a holiday but I can tell you with certainty that this trip was my first “real” vacation in almost 2 years. Sure, I travel all the time but quite often it is for work (photography or swarovski). This trip there was no rock band, no destination and no plan. Not always the makings for a great time in my funny world but it ended up being perfect. I really want to give you a good recap on the trip and in order to do that I need to think about it some more.
I did finished uploading my photos of our journey from Austria to Slovenia to Croatia to Italy to Austria and finally culminating in Germany where I had to wave goodbye to Grace. It sounds like a whilrwind but it wasn’t. It was relaxing and inspiring and a lot of fun. I’m going to try something new here with a little slidshow action of some of my initial favorites and fill you in more this weekend…
Here’s hoping the last few weeks saw all of you racking up some of your own adventures…
So go for it, click the player below for a nice little ditty by Daniel Lanois to accompany the sideshow and whet your appetite for a good story to come. If those itty bitty flying pictures dont satisfy your need to know what went down, hit up my flickr page (to the right) and look away to your hearts content. If you try hard enough maybe you can hear the water lapping on the Croation shore or smell the sweet grass in Cortina.
even in the midst of the busiest moments i have managed a way to come and share a little of what i’m up to…though the past week or so it hasn’t really happened. sure, a song here and a postcard there but no real meat. this isn’t because my life is now vegetarian, it’s because a lot of the colas that i have been throwing in the fire seem to have caught and i’m now working too many hours to try and keep up. you know that boulder that i’m always pushing up the hill? well, it would seem to have finally reached the top and now i’m hauling ass down the other side trying to catch it!
here’s a little taste of what is keeping my wheels spinning: i am building a new website to house one of the blogs that i write for, i am designing cover art and a photo slideshow for a documentary movie, i am in the process of applying for permanent residency in Austria, i am developing a series of diptychs for what will be my first (hopefully) exhibition this july, i am booking travel to 2 festivals that i will be photographing for pitchfork and i am in the process of 2 hefty projects at work that are certainly seeing me earn my salary. i’ve reached a creative critical mass but am having too much fun seeing all these amazing things come to fruition and develop to stop.
some of you may know, but the european championship is happening in innsbruck now and i managed to see portugal kick the czech republics ass while tinkering with some code and, as tomorrow is austrias turn to play, i think i will (try) to step away from my myriad distractions and ‘live a little.’ they’re not expected to win so, as the underdog, i am looking forward to rooting for the home team. i might even drink some beers while im at.
once all these fires that im starting light up, i will have many exciting things to share so you can all look forward to some exciting things on the horizon. in the meantime, here’s a song to help all the noise in my head dissipate enough so i can fall asleep.
This photo is called “Man With Noise In His Head” … that’s a bit what my head looks like right now.
things can’t be too bad, right? Purple sunrises and ladybugs. I happen to think that those things are both pretty lucky.
I am finally about 85% healthy, maybe 90, and I feel like things are on the upswing. The last month of downtime…Im going to refer to it as my hiatus…was really good for me and, now that the dust has settled, I’m ready for whatever comes next.
What comes next is pretty simple actually. It starts with a capital W and ends with -ork. Aside from that I found a group of ex-patriots here in Innsbruck that I’ll meet for coffee on Friday night before going to see some new music at a club in town. New people and new music. New times 2. Jury is out on whether or not I’ll score a photo pass for the show but if you know me, you know Im working on it.
My travel plans changed a little and I had to bag the Paris weekend that I was looking forward to. A combination of too many sick days (for my own liking, not for Austrian standards) and too little cash were the culprit. Im going to save that trip for when I can have more than 2 nights away. Amsterdam is still on though for the end of the month and I am really looking forward to seeing my dear friend Zeina.
Since good things come in 3’s I should mention that aside from the amazing sunrise and sweet ladybug (who has been living on my desk now for 3 days in perfect harmony with Doozer), I got another something good today…..iTunes 7. my former Netflix-loving self can finally rent movies online even though I live in Europe. Its really a tremendous gift to me and, although the selection is lacking at the moment, it is fresh and cheap and wont take up room on my harddrive. Yay! As we speak I am watching Under the Tuscan Sun and the references to the ladybugs in this movie are making me giggle as I watch my own ladybug walk in circles around my keyboard.
Before I go, here’s another picture of Doozer making nice with our new roomate…
Speaking of three, here’s a little food for thought…Albert Einstein’s Three Rules of Work
1. Out of clutter find simplicity
2. From the discord find harmony
3. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
These rules bring me some comfort since the W-ork that I mentioned earlier is cluttered, difficult and not without it’s share of discord. I guess that means that, with the right perspective, I have some simplicity, harmony and opportunity in my future.
found out about a screening and slideshow of Crispin Hellion Glover’s new movie What is It? happening in Asbury Park tomorrow night from my buddy at thefullcatastrophe. You may remember him as McFly but he has evolved from there and this film is the second installment of a trilogy. After the screening he will read some narratives he’s written along with a slidshow. It’s all surrealistic and dark but looks like it will be thought-provoking and worth my time. The reviews mention how the imagery is so bizarre and poetic that people laugh because they don’t know how else to respond. If one aim of art is to evoke then i am very interested in seeing what this is all about…i like work that leaves me feeling…
grace brought putney swope up last night with her friend alec and however skeptical i might have been about the movie after the first 5 minutes, i can say the movie was fucking awesome (and ridiculous!). if i ever have a band i am going to call us “the ‘lectric fans”
