I recently took a two-week vacation to Ecuador. I was born there, and haven't been back to visit in 8 years. I thought I might get altitude sickness in the capital, Quito, which at 9,000 ft above sea level is the second highest capital city in the world. Thank goodness I was wrong, and going back was a much needed adventure. It's interesting what a 2 week visit to a third world country does to your perspective on New York.
Little girl catching a ride from the cops.
Some recommended experiences: the rainforest, the bootleg mall (I got Rosetta Stone for $10), delicious fruits you never knew existed, the art of Guayasamin, desolate beaches, active volcano hikes, THE MUSIC, views to die for... And all that's without even talking about the Galapagos Islands.
Wildlife in the Amazon.
"Mother and Child" by Guayasamin
Standing at about 14,000 ft, deceivingly close to the Pichincha volcano.
Needless to say, it was great to get away and have my senses stimulated again. I easily forget my love of hiking and clear, endless starry skies. If you are a fan of nature at all, Ecuador has basically every climate found on earth... so I highly recommend it.
Last Sunday was the opening for Atif's group show, POSITIVITY, curated by the legendary New York photographer Jamel Shabazz in Brooklyn, an exhibition featuring the works of all young and up and coming photographers "that explores photography beyond its subject matter highlighting the POSITIVITY represented in the definite moment when the lens captures and shines on an individual or object."
Of course, being on the road, we couldn't get our shit together to even tell yall about it, but better late than never. The show was dope and pieces from Atif's Desi Project were on display to shine some light on the Brown community.
Jamel was originally offered to do the show as an exhibition for himself, but he opted to curate instead and help cultivate and promote younger, relatively unknown talent, so much respect to Jamel for doing what he does.
The show was hot and muggy as all hell, but well worth the trip. We met some good ass people and saw some dope work, next show I promise we'll let yall know about ahead of time!
the show is on display through July 26th at the Danny Simmons Corridor Gallery, 334 Grand Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11238. Click here for a map if you're in the Clinton Hill Area and wanna swing by.
Trolling around the web I came across these astonishing images of newlyweds getting pictures taken just as an earthquake measuring 7.9 hit Sichuan Province in China last week.
The earthquake has since left 80,000 people dead or missing. Pretty crazy to me that this and other natural disasters, like the cyclone in Mayanmar that left 134,000 dead or missing just 10 days earlier, give me statistics that I can't possibly imagine.
As individuals we commonly have just a handful of people in our lives that we consider close enough to us as family. It's distressing enough just thinking of losing those people in my life that when I see a number like "100,000 people dead" it becomes so much for my mind to wrap around and almost meaningless in its immensity.
Regardless of how we view stats, the pictures make me grateful for what I have, and who I have with me, as little as it may be! This memorial day weekend let's make sure we appreciate that we are fortunate to have our friends, family and health around us.
If you want to help the millions left homeless and in need, donate to the American Red Cross below: China Earthquake Myanmar Cyclone
I've been in Dumbo for the New York Photo Festival since Wednesday. Powerhouse and the VII Photo agency have done a great job in putting this together. I'm just surprised that it took so long for there to be a Photo Festival in NY.
I didn't go to every event but heard they were all great and of course there was a party at the Powerhouse Arena almost every night. Good times, make sure you are there next year!
I went to the Jamel Shabazz book signing on the 7th at the Bronx Museum. Like always Jamel's exhibition is stunning. If you get a chance definitely go check it out, it's up till August 5th.
Armen's show was a great success. Though the photographs varied in style they all came together in an elegant way once on the walls. The room was filled with positive energy and part of the reason was because Armen was able to bring so many different types of people together... there were people from my high school, Tisch heads, street heads, fashionistas, Russian ballet dancers, old, young, lame, cool, seemed like everyone was represented. Here are a couple of photos, more in the gallery.
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First off I want to thank everyone who came out to the event on Thursday, hope you all had a good time. I'm still in the process of throwing up the gallery of images but in the mean time here are a couple.
I didn't get a chance to post the opening of this exhibition but right now Kadir van Lohuizen has a show up in Dumbo called Diamond Matters. It has to be the best exhibition I have seen since Salgado at ICP. The images were incredible at telling the story and he did a great job following the entire process. It felt like I was looking at the lifespan of a diamond that had been found and is now in someones earrings. The following are details
Umbrage Gallery 81 Front Street Brooklyn Oct 30th to Dec 4th.
Its up for a while and I urge you to check it out. Umbrage did a great job publishing Kadirs Book. It's elegantly printed in tritone on 3 different papers, from rough to glossy, mirroring the evolution of the raw diamond to their apogee as Bond Street tiaras. The packaging is on point, hardbound with a suede spine and small diamond on the cover.
I'm lovin this camera and I love shooting film so much that I bought all the chemicals to cook my own film. I made a mess in my bathroom doing it but it came out great. It was a little contrasty and that was probably because I wasn't paying attention to little details like temperature and stuff but it came out fine.
Some recommended experiences: the rainforest, the bootleg mall (I got Rosetta Stone for $10), delicious fruits you never knew existed, the art of Guayasamin, desolate beaches, active volcano hikes, THE MUSIC, views to die for... And all that's without even talking about the Galapagos Islands.
Needless to say, it was great to get away and have my senses stimulated again. I easily forget my love of hiking and clear, endless starry skies. If you are a fan of nature at all, Ecuador has basically every climate found on earth... so I highly recommend it.
