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editing: the off details which irk me

I may not have "editor" as one of my job titles, but I find myself constantly editing incorrect grammar or spelling while reading posts on official company Facebook pages, blogs, and even actual articles (an error on Kate Spade's Facebook page actually prompted this post). Additionally, I criticize the lack of trim space alotted when too much of a layout is missing from the edge of a magazine page. This has happened repeatedly in Vogue, which, in my opinion, is completely inexcusable. I cannot tell you how many times I've been frustrated with confusing graphic design choices by designers involving anything along the lines of spacial relations or visual hierarchy.

While I was not an English major, I read a lot and I write a lot. I studied photography and I have a design degree. Everyone makes mistakes, but I feel like I see them so often that people are becoming too careless.

Now and then, it has been casually mentioned that I'm anal with respect to details. Maybe so, but what happened to correct English and presentation standards?! I can't appreciate a sloppy spread or technically disastrous photograph and I can't be bothered with an explanation for how the following ever made it to my news feed:

"we think you'll agree this classic have never looked so good."

What kind of sentence is that? I'm certainly not an authority of any kind, but I do wish a bit more thought would go into presentation. The first thing I think when I come across a media/communications error is how unprofessional it looks. What kind of business would possibly want to project such an image?

just wondering...

What made people think that photographs needed to be airbrushed anyway? I'm all for making the middle school kid more confident with their yearbook picture, but really does Cameron Diaz need Photoshop for her abs or already impeccable smile? WHY did fake start selling? This creates an increasingly ridiculous alternate reality of what is ideal.

It's like Andy Warhol once said, "Beauties in photographs are different from beauties in person. It must be hard to be a model, because you'd want to be like the photograph of you, and you can't ever look that way. Photographers bring in a whole other dimension." And Photoshop brings an additional dimension after that! By the time you dissect any given photograph in a magazine these days, the model hardly ever looks like the image. If a model or celebrity doesn't even really look like their person in an image, what are we projecting this illusion for?

*applause*applause*applause*

Photographer Joni Sternbach was brought to my attention by the ever awesome HotShoe blog. Her use of the wet plate collodion process is particularly relative to her subject matter and even more admirable in context. These images are timeless -they have something to say that no digital camera could produce (genuinely, anyway).

Anyone who reads this blog or knows me at all, knows my endearing love of the traditional photographic approaches. I enjoy the convenience of digital, sure, but there is nothing like authenticity.

note to self: re-focus that shot after i shoot it.

Everyone has taken a photograph/picture/still image/etc. in which the wrong element is in focus. Even the BEST photographers, I'm sure of it. I know I've done it; not paying any attention to what I was doing, and maybe subconsciously thinking my camera could read my mind and switch to a 2.8 entirely on its own. I don't know. Point being, it's a horribly depressing moment to ever have to discover that you messed up a photo because you were in one hurry or another.

NOW there is Lytro: Picture Revolution for the consumer market (I'm questioning the image quality with this specification). If it is actually as good as it sounds, from what I understand, my eyes should never again hurt from awful lighting/focusing condtions of weekend party pictures on Facebook. I guess composition is still up to the operator, but this is a very attractive product/idea that Apple seems to be interested in (will this technology be on my new iPhone?).

The key feature is that you can adjust the focus after you shoot thanks to Lytro's Light Field innovations in image capture. I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to some more details on the limitations and a personal test run for sure.

go green with the guggenheim e-cards

Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still, #58, 1980. Gelatin silver print, 20.3 x 25.4 cm, edition 1/10. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Gift, Ginny Williams 97.4611. Courtesy of the artist and Metro Pictures. © 2010 The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York.

 The next time you'd like to send a card with an artful edge, check out the Guggenheim's e-card collection. Free correspondence that's sure to please the recipient. Choose from a selection of works by significant artists ranging from sculpture to photography, including a gallery of images of the Guggenheim's various locations.

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, 1997. © The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York. (Photo: David Heald)

fashion from the met

The Met has produced many fashion related exhibitions since the founding of its Costume Institute in 1940's (it became a main curatorial department in the late 50's). I've been coveting some of the related catalogs for my ever expanding personal library and thought I would compile a list of recent favorites:

 

 

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty ($45.00) The McQueen retrospective spanning almost 20 years of amazing fashion and the challenging of cultural expectations with pure creative genius.

High Style: From the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection ($50.00) Looking back through fashion history from the mid 1700's, this fabulous book includes luminous images of key fashion movements and work by prestigious designers.

Model as Muse ($50.00) This catalog brings the relationship of models and designers to the forefront of the creative process; therefore its effect on fashion, style, and popular culture as a whole.

Wild: Fashion Untamed ($14.95) An examination of the cultural implications of animal related accessories and adornments. This book addresses the relatively recently controversial topics in the grand scheme of the history of fashion.