Back from European Roadtrip
I’ve just returned from my travels in Europe so updates on Old Armstrong will be returning soon. My Europe trip was a breath of fresh air and it was great to see all my family again. This trip was a little different from other trips in that it was much more of a roadtrip than a vacation, which I loved. We flew into Paris Friday and stayed the night to prepare for the ten hour drive down to Marseilles in the south of France. We then connected with a small cruise ship for a week, which took us through France, Spain, Morocco and Italy. The itinerary was a hard-hitting tour of Mallorca, Malaga, Gibraltar, Tangier, Ibiza, Barcelona, and Genova. I leaned up a lot thanks to all the walking we did, despite all the merry drinking and eating.
I go back to Europe every few years and in between trips, I always seem to forget why I love Europe and prefer to call it home. I’ve settled in my heart to eventually make a move there for a period of time, sometime in my life.
It was a long trip but not short on good realizations:
- In Malaga, the Spanish city gives you 60 seconds to cross the pedestrian crosswalk. In America, we get 30 seconds, if we’re lucky. That says something about quality of life.
- Dressing well in Europe is an everyday thing. There’s no special event or special day and no excuse you have to find to look a little nicer. You just enjoy it. Women are free to be beautiful and it’s celebrated, everyday.
- An Italian man can wear red pants or yellow boat shoes and he is still a man’s man.
- I find less cliches and cookie cuts in Europeans.
- Walking in the big cities of Paris and Barcelona and the small towns of Ibiza and Mallorca are lessons in history. You feel like you’re connecting with things and matters of substance. There are no strip malls.
- Lingering in a restaurant or a cafe with nothing to do is normal. Mr. waiter will not kick you out for taking your sweet time to read the morning paper or enjoy your cappuccino.
- The food. The wine. The cheese. Enough said.
- You leave work at work. The rest of the time you enjoy life with your friends and family.
- Italian and French craftsmanship, be it wine-making, pastries or leather shoes. Though there’s a reason Italians are not known for their pastries. No good. But they make great shoes.
My mom made the astute observation that the average, middle-class Frenchman has a higher quality of life than a rich, upper-class American. I didn’t agree at first but after this trip, I think she was on to something and I believe it. For pictures of the trip, visit my Flickr set, which is slowly getting updated. It is good to be back in California but I wouldn’t have minded another entire month of traveling.
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Going on Vacation
The bags are packed and I’m about to collapse. It’s been a long week with everything coming down to the wire so I cannot wait to finally hit Paris. I’ll be touring Europe until September 1st so you won’t see much updating around here until I get back. Ciao folks. You all rock.
Todd Selby’s “The Selby”
Finally got around to sharing this link with you all. I’ve started to spend a lot of time looking at photographer projects and portfolios and none has captured my attention and mood like Todd Selby has done with his site, The Selby. The NY-based photographer has taken to photographing artists in their most intimate element, their homes. And what has come out of these collaborations is a really nice collection of images. For the last two weeks, I’ve been browsing this site and I keep coming back to it. Nonstop. For real.
In case you missed it the first time, here’s the link to The Selby. Click on an image to view the entire set of photographs. And then come back here and let me know what you think.
The Move to Medium Format
By now, most of you know that I recently stepped up from 35mm to medium format photography. It’s been a breath of fresh air, to say the least, after many years of frustration of not getting the quality of images I’ve seen in galleries and exhibitions. Count me ignorant or count me afraid. I was never sure why it took me so long to figure out that maybe the size of my film was a change I needed to explore. It certainly was a case of being intimidated by something new. Medium format is an entirely foreign realm of photography for me and frankly, I thought, where do I even start?
But two weeks have passed and I am enjoying how shooting medium format has changed my entire photographic process, mainly slowing it down to a snail’s pace. I took 15 minutes to take my first exposure and with only 20 exposures per roll of film, I’m not so much in a hurry anymore, for anything. And it’s been liberating, to sit and think about how I want to make a photograph.
In recent days, I’ve read a lot about formats in photography and the reasons behind why many great photographers choose to shoot bigger. Indeed, I think there’s a place for 35mm, medium and large format photography. Each is suited for particular types of photography and different personalities of photographers. It really is the tool and photographer coming together that lends to a particular photographic process, and consequently, a particular set of images.
A post by Darius Himes really captured this concept beautifully. As a response to comments made in his interview with photographer Stephen Shore, he wrote:
There are several ways that any tool—here, a large format camera—affects the way one works and, by association, affects the way one envisions and thinks about one’s surroundings. The first, and perhaps easiest to grasp, is the physical interface required by the tool … all of the physical activity required to make an image becomes part of the process in an intimate way and creates parameters that your body must accommodate and work within.
Photographer Liz Kuball also wrote a post a few days ago on format that is a worthwhile read.
I leave for Europe next week for a ten day tour by boat, train, and plane through France, Spain, and Morocco. If you don’t see a blog post for the next two weeks, please don’t take offense. I’ll have many stories and photos when I come back. Ciao folks.
Beijing Olympics 2008
Photo via Zimbio.
I’m sitting here in front of the television with my family and I remember now why I love the Olympics so much. It is the great unifying event of all the nations around the world, showcasing the world’s greatest athletes in competition. This year’s ceremony in Beijing was amazing, most certainly one of the grandest displays I have ever seen put on for an Olympic game. I’m speechless.
My friend Jen captured perfectly how I felt about the ceremony:
I am in awe of the ingenuity and creativity of the Chinese. I am moved by the richness of this history and culture that I (if I so choose) am able to call my own. I am encouraged by the artistry that a country still holds onto even after the Cultural Revolution.
My favorite Olympic event has always been swimming and this year I’m hoping to catch every event with Michael Phelps. The man is unreal. I’m also tracking the French team and their pursuit of gold for Judo.
To track your favorite sports, the New York Times has a nifty interactive schedule on their website. Enjoy the Olympics my friends.
Scorecard of Men’s Fall Fashion 2008
The New York Times published their scorecard of the Men’s Fall Fashion for 2008 from Milan, New York, and Paris. It’s three months old but I just recently found it. And I dig some of it. I know this is kind of a step out of what I normally write about but friends, I have a secret love for men’s fashion and all things fashion.
The pieces from Rag and Bone, Band of Outsiders, and Perry Ellis are among my favorites.
Check the link here for more.
Vanity Fair’s International Best-Dressed List 2008
Michelle Obama, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, and the new James Bond make Vanity Fair’s 69th Annual international best-dressed list. Add in royalty, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and of course Lagerfeld and you have the list for 2008. My favorite is the hat worn by H.S.H. Prince Heinrich.
See the slideshow here.
Some of the photos are not the Vanity Fair quality that I’ve come to expect from the printed magazine. Yesterday, Ben Widdicombe at the New York Times wrote a reaction article to the best-dressed list, saying it should be renamed the “International Brown-Nose List” instead.
Regardless, enjoy the style and fashion this month in VF.