Maurizio Cattelan at the Guggenheim

The Gugg One Copyright 2012 Bryan Moore

The Other day i went to the Guggenheim with a couple of friends  to see one of the last days of Mauizio Cattelan‘s retrospective.  I was not very familar with Cattelans work just what my friend had told me and a piece I saw on Sunday morning with Charles Osgood.  “Sunday Morning” is something I watch every week and segment they did on it seemed very interesting, but the thing that sold me was Cattelan was basically retiring so this would be the one time to see every piece ever did including those in private collections.

The Black and White Photo above  was taken on another day with my Hasselbald in the attempt to use architecture as a subject matter for abstract photography.  The Building its self is one of the best things I have seen at the Guggenheim just clean simple lines  it can be used to make some great compositions the thing that limits it is trying to exclude the surrounding building.  The digital images below are from my iphone when I went to see the show this weekend.  One of the interesting things about this show was for the first time in the galleries history the entire show was hanging in the center void in the middle of the spiraling ramp.  It had just snowed for one of the first time here in NY so I had decided to take my time and walk to the museum and photograph along the way, so I had my hasselbald with me.  Usually they don’t let you take pictures from any where but the ground floor  or at least that is what I have been told in the past.  I took advantage of the lean rules and tried to get in some shots but it was dark to be shooting with me hasselabld, so we will see what happens this time when I push the film.  One of the thing that really interested me was since every thing was hung in the middle people lined the walls looking and point allowing for some great shots as shown below

Inspired by a Master: Edward Burtynsky

a couple years ago I was walking around Chelsea, looking at the galleries, and when ever i am in that area I have to go to the Hasted-Kraeutler gallery.  When I walked in the gallery they were showing Edward Burtynsky‘s Quarry work.  Burtynsky is a Canadian born Photographer that focuses on human manufactured landscapes. The  prints the gallery was showing were printed pretty large maybe about 4 or 5 feet tall.  I was really taken back by the photos, I think it is one of the first times I have been really impressed with abstract photography, and a perfect example of it.  The First image in this post is one of my favorites and I belive was the first one I saw. What I loved is at first it didn’t look like a photo, but even when you realize it is a photo the key is becomes about the shapes and patterns because the subject is almost taken out of the visual discussion. Burtynsky achieves this in a lot of images be shooting in an almost birds eye view so even when there are recognizable thing like heavy machinery, it doesn’t register as that right away because your seeing from an uncommon view.  The other thing that really plays  to his advantage is (at least in this quarry series) is that he almost flattens the scene he is shooting.  The adjustable of depth in the picture is due to Burtynsky 4×5 field camera, a tool not often used today.  Burtynsky really came on the radar just a little more than a year ago with the release of his book “OIL” which won a number of awards as a photo book.

His collection of work really inspired me to explore abstraction in photography, but the hard question  is what can i use as a subject that was prevalent but that I could also use in a why that it would register beyond its subject matter.  Walking around I found my self looking up a lot  and even the people on the street are always shooting up towards a building roof and I always turn to see what they see in this tower of concrete that couldn’t possibly fit in the frame. But as I started looking up I realized it did have to all fit in frame in fact it would be good if it didn’t fit in frame because then I could use just part of it.  I started shooting the building  but adjusting my angle to try to crop out sections of buildings and sky  in my viewer  so hopefully the images become more about the relation of positive and negative space and the pattern and use of lines in the structures

Below is an photo I took from the same night and area as the last post I did. I really love the contrast in this shot between the buildings and the sky.  One of the interesting things is its a night photo and the sky is almost white and the building are almost black. Having that very direct divide between the too really allowed to split the frame up using the surrounding buildings.

Steps in the Sky Copyright Bryan Moore 2012

Build it to the Sky

Architecture Abstraction One Copyright 2012 Bryan Moore

Last Post I mentioned that I have taken a number of shots of the Chrysler building but the one prob with photographing it is everyone has photographed it, from about every angle.  The other issue is when you photograph a famous building like that  it usually just becomes about that building.  The photograph above  is from an area near my house, one of my favorite areas in town in terms of buildings.  The architecture and patterns on the buildings in this area  allows for a lot of different compositions.  The night this was taken it was a light drizzling rain but a real nice fog had formed really smoothing out the harsh spot lights lighting the scene.   I ended up shooting at least two rolls that night, this photo was one of the last shots, as it had started to really rain and I had to take shelter under a covered part of the building and try to wait it out.

Gotham City

Gotham City Guardian Angel Copyright Bryan Moore 2012

Over the last year or more I have been taking a lot of photographs of  the sky and architecture and how how these man made building interact with opens space of the sky.  When I first moved here I lived with my dad and  he had an Apt where you could see the Chrysler build and had  looked for an apt with just that view.  Living with him that first year  his passion must have rubbed off on me because I find it the subject of my pictures often, of course it doesn’t hurt that it is very photogenic and in my general area.

This is another picture that was originally taken for my Introuvable collection but got placed in my bucket of film to develop later, although I do have a photo in the book  that is very similar but set in Fog instead.   I like this shot a a lot because it reminds me of Batman and Gotham City,  The Building are clearly defined and well lit only added to by the high contrast of the shot, and full clouded moon in the background.

Inspirational Guiding Light

Light of Inspiration Copyright 2012 Bryan Moore

 

I have been trying to write this post for over a week now and have had a lot of trouble  finding the words to put it in.  In short  I have been lucky and got to spend a lot of this last week with some of my closest friends since I moved to NY.  My Friends influence me a lot in the work they do and the interest they have.  With out them I would have some of the interest that I have today, not to mention that NY life would have been a lot harder.  The thing that really use to surprise me back in school was when you would hear about an artist they were usually friends with other famous artist or lived in similar areas.  As i look around at my friends though they are all very talented people who I could see  at the height of their fields.  I choose this picture because of that inspiration my friends give me.  I originally took  this photo as part of my introuvable  collection  but it got lost on a side roll and placed in my box of film to develop later.  I love how the background almost falls completely to black  so the focus is really on the lamp that shows a range of tones  all the way  to the bright bright ends of the scales as the light bulb flares out  of its metal mesh cage.

I was lucky enough to have this week off and  have been trying to refocus my energy in to finding a  gallery to show my work in for this year, as well as trying to edit my work in to a new book and portfolio to send out to apply for new opportunities in my art work.  The thing that always  seems to stand in the way  is I prefer to create work so much more than trying to sell it as most artist do I think.  I have to step out to do some things today  and I will defiantly be taking my camera in hopes of seeing some thing

The Light Ahead

The Light Ahead Copyright Bryan Moore 2012

Every year you will hear it ” this is gonna be a great year” “This is the year I am gonna make it”  for the first time I can remember  I don’t feel like that.  I don’t have that good vibe about the brand new year, Just this morning I was told that the lab I take all my work to was sold over the holiday and will now not do any B&W film development.  Fortunately I have done alot of business with  them in the last 6 months and one of there printers reached out to me to  still do my work as a freelance client.  He had developed close to 300 rolls of film for me And I have been pretty happy with the way the film has come out, I am still  not sure of his skills as a printer  but if all else fails I will have to rent a lab some where in the city.  But I say its fortunate that he called  b/c I had planed to drop some film at the lab that afternoon.  I am still not sure if it was shady or convenient that he agreed to come pick up my film, either way though  I agreed to it.  He said  I would get it back Thursday so I am looking forward  to see what kinda shots I get back.  it was half 35mm and half 2 1/4.  The 35mm is from my lieca and I was really experimenting with shooting blind and just judging light by eye,  so the photos could be any range of thing.  Its hard for me to shoot like this though b/c I feel so strongly about composition and I  prefer never to crop.  I wanted to show this pick cuz its one of the last new years pictures i have from 2010  and also,  I may not have good vibes about 2012, but it could be like this.  A bunch of garbage in the foreground and just gets brighter the further in you go.

Out with the old

Times Square Slop Copyright 2012 Bryan Moore

For the last couple of years,on New Years eve I have run down to the celebration in Times square to show up for the last 5 mins and photograph the left over mess. This has become a fun little challenge for me b/c  depending on the crowd and police and things it determines how far and what I can see.  This year it was not cold at all almost 50 degrees  i think  so the crowd this year a was the biggest I have ever seen stretching about a miles long of tightly pack people.  When I showed up at the last 5 mins the closest I could get was Central park  or Columbus circle. Luckily where I was I could see a HUGE screen that was set up to do the count down  so as the last second ticked away the crowd exploded with sounds and song.  Then from  the right fireworks started shooting out of the park  which was a surprise to even me.  AS i said before I like to see how close I can get to where the ball drops so i can really photograph the epicenter   of it all, but this year the crowd was so big and thick and no one was really leaving b/c it was such a nice night out.  I pushed my way thought all the people but The police were keeping a close eye on every street and had penned every one in with only one exit so it I wasted the first 20 mins just trying to find an area that was not completely penned in and tried to work further south.  fighting against the mass of people that were leaving I found the police again being the major stopping force in my advancement to  the area I really wanted to photograph.

I shuffled down the street  looking for something I could photograph with out much luck at all although I did see some amazing scene that I wish I could have captured  but due to the crowd and mass of people it was impossible to get a clean shot.  The shot above  is from last years new years when I got much closer  and all the trash that is left by the huge crowd of people.  This is all taken with a long exposure so you can see the ghost of people moving through the area. I hope that every one had a great new years and a continued great 2012

A State In-Between

A State In-Between Copyright 2011 Bryan Moore

The end of 2011 is in sight and it has yet to be seen what 2012 will bring.  Like many people I am looking back on the year and how I spent the time.  What did I achieve in that year, what goals did I fall short of.  I choose this photo today  Because I am not really sure about this next year, I am not sure what I would like to happen or expect to happen  all I can see is the end of this after that it just falls off in  to a blankness.  But then again the year is what ever you make out of it  so I hope that  every one has a wonder full rest of the year and that your next one starts off with a bang

A True New Yorker

New York 2011 Copyright Bryan Moore 2011

As of this last month I am Finally a True New Yorker.   Like some other metropolises in the world  you can’t just move there and be a local, it is   one of  those unspoken rules that it takes a decade  to be come a true new yorker.   I moved to New York  in the Dec of 2001 The city was still in raw emotions  from the attack in September.  That event in itself created a new, city and never being  in NY much before that I spent the next ten Years living and watching the City change and grow to what it is now. New York Is Truly one of the best cities in the world, and nothing makes you realize how great its is like  leaving it.  I spent the last few days back in MI with my family, the first time I have left the city since about the beginning of May, and after 7 months the city can really ware on you.  I  just flew back in to the city last night  and had to run out to get something to eat before the stores closed, and as  i walked through just the near by city block I was fill with the  thrill of being back in such an amazing city with a million things to  do and see, I feel filled with a inspiration to  go out and really photograph the city while the point of view is still fresh.

I have been really poor with time management lately and  have been meaning to post about multiple events that I have seen and experienced in the last months and I hope to post  more about the city and things I have seen and of course a new image or two during this week.  but for today I choose this image, being the 10th year I have lived her (the longest I have lived any where in my life now)  b/c this image is iconic NY.  The Chrysler building, and the Waldorf, are just two of the building land marks in the city and line up nicely in the canyon of buildings on the left and right of the image, these building create a nice frame that really focus  your eye to the key points of the image.  Although after 10 years you would think  you would explore all of these urban treasures, but most people that live in NY have not been to  some of the most obvious attractions, like the empire state building or statue of liberty.  I have had the pleasure  to eat at the Waldorf one night  just a couple of years ago but I have still  not  really been in the Chrysler building, Maybe in the Next 10 years.

Spot Light on Style: David Hart’s Essentials

Under Ground Style Copy Right 2011 Bryan Moore

This last week I was very fortunate  to have my work mentioned as an essential for Fashion Designer David Hart.  David Hart is an extremely talented designer with great foresight and the ability to focus his vision in to a wonderful product.  After having his neck wear appear multiple times in GQ,  they Sent Sean Hotchkiss to write an article  about Davids 10 Essentials things.    I feel very honored to have him name my work  as one one of his essentials, and beyond that  gives me one of the  highest compliments I think someone could: comparing my work with Cartier-Bressons in the same breath.   My work is often compared to old school photographers and a very classic style, which is a  point I feel me and David share.  A tie to a very Classic stye and way of thinking, and trying to bring those classics in to a new age.

I Choose this picture  to post with this article because It was one of my favorites from the huge box of film I had developed.  I also feel like this picture  shows that raw street feeling David refers to in his interview.  This picture was taken  in Grand Central Station, I had been standing in the station for a while watching the people go up and down the stairs.  I knew I was going to take the picture here it was just a matter of waiting for someone with a good style to walk through a system of shoot I heard Bresson did him self.Thank you again to David and I hope you all take the time to check out the article and his new design.

http://www.gq.com/style/ten-essentials/201110/david-hart#slide=1