Have A Blast Tonight! :) (Movies & Photography)

Good Afternoon, Awesome Lady,

I'm at home, all done with hair salon errands, so I wanted to wish you best of luck and excellent results for your film screening this evening. I hope you guys win! And, I hope you have a full theater and a lot of fun watching. :)

I will be hanging around here until it's time to head back to Pearl's. Too hot to do my walk now, I'll sandwich it in there somewhere tonight. It's movie night for me, too, of course. Two more Satyajit Ray films to go. Tonight we will see "The Home And The World", another one never before seen by me. It's a long one, almost 2 1/2 hours, so I may be a few minutes later than usual. But it'll be pretty close to 10pm I would imagine, give or take.

Well, two thumbs up in advance for your movie! Have a great screening.

I Love You, Elizabeth.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

11:10pm : So how'd it go? Good I hope. I saw all your posts, and I especially like the one about cinematography, which can apply to any form of visual art, really. "What makes you different from other cinematographers"? It's exactly that - trusting your inner vision. In your art, and in all technical matters surrounding your art, it is better to always focus inwardly, as if you were the only artist in existence. There is plenty of time to be a fan of other's work, but when you are creating something of your own, it is best to tune every influence out. Ritchie Blackmore once had a great philosophy relating to learning the guitar. He'd had a year of classical lessons to start with, but he said "it's good to have that foundation, to learn the proper fundamentals, but if you keep going that way you never develop an individual sound". So the same is true in visual arts. Always follow yourself.

I noticed something way back, when I was photographing The Meadows building after the quake, and that is that the eye is literally a part of the photographic process, another refractor in the lensing of a picture. This is akin to the system in which guitar notes are produced. The note begins in your mind and emotional system, and it very rapidly travels down your arm, through your fingers and into the body of the guitar, through the fretboard, and a note (or chord) is produced. And while you never want to overthink this process, because it will trip up your playing, you still want to be aware of it - be on top of it - so that you can control it for maximum effect. Art of any kind is all about the maximum effect coming out of You the Artist. It's not about what the audience wants, or what is expected, or what you've been influenced by.

It's all about You. So with your camera, both still and motion picture, always remember that your eye is physically part of the process, which starts in your mind. And in that way, you will imprint your personal signature onto your pictures.

And we've already talked about photographic Feng-Shui and all that. But I find it helpful to really focus inward - get into your own head, in other words - and listen to that quiet, mysterious inner voice when taking pictures. Adjust your frame to make small (even minute) corrections until your Feng-Shui feels perfect......

Photography is really a physical process involving the body, and especially the eye and mind. The camera is merely the tool.

Oh man, now I can't wait to go take some more pics myself!  :)

I am also glad that Russian Circles are gonna play the free show in Chicago. Free Summertime concerts rule! I am hoping we will have some here, too. We usually do, it just depends on whether there will be some good ones, i.e. "ones I like", haha. But you've got Agalloch and Russian Circles coming your way, and no doubt others, too, so it will be a good Summer for music.

I can hardly believe it's May already. Time flies, in the big picture, but in the middle, in the day-by-day part, it goes slow. Kinda weird, I know.....

And that's all I know for today. Except that the Ray movie was really good! A heavy drama with political intrigue. Few actors, much dialogue........but absorbing. And great photography.

I Love You, Elizabeth. I will see you in the morning.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)