Sarasota Photo Walk

Yesterday I joined some other local photographers for a World Wide Photography Walk. To be honest, I'm not really sure who or what the World Wide Photography Walk is but I jumped at the chance to meet other photographers and take some pictures.

I'm really really awful at meeting new people and often make a complete and utter fool out of myself whenever I do. I don't really think I did that yesterday since I did manage to talk to a few people and even spent most of the walk with a photographer near my age. The other photographers were a deal older than I am which is not really a problem but it just served to enhance my inability to relate to others.

By chance the photo walk meeting place was also the meeting place for the local Pride walk and I was torn between which group to go with. I ended up with the photographers though and met a nice girl along the way.

I got some cool shots on the photo walk but since I normally walk around the city snapping pictures it was really nothing new to me it just happened that there were a lot of other photographers on the streets as well. It was a fun day though and I enjoyed myself.

I'm going to dedicate myself to actually getting involved in the art community in Sarasota in the coming months but that's another story all together. 

You Know Who Rocks My Socks? Irving Penn

Irving Penn rocks my socks.

What I like about Mr. Penn? Well, it's hard to put into words really. There's just something about his style and the way he shoots that draws me in.

'Tennessee Williams New York, 1951'

His portraits are usually up close often cutting off bits of the head. He went through this period where he stuck his subjects into corners. One of those subjects happened to be Georgia O'Keeffee whose expression is somewhat quizzical and even skeptical in my opinion. "Is this really going to work?" she seems to ask.

'Georgia O'Keeffee New York, 1948'

'Three Asaro Mud Men New Guinea, 1970'

Penn revolutionized the fashion photography world but he also took plenty of photos of people off the runway. I love the textures in this picture.

His works on still life and found objects are striking and even surreal. Giving the viewers a glimpse of everyday objects in completely new light; just what a photographer should be doing.

'Street Findings New York, 1999'

'Still Life with Watermelon New York, 1947'

I love the fly!

A variety of links discussing Irving Penn:

The NY Times article after Penn's death: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/arts/design/08penn.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

A short overview on his works: http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/1aa/1aa393.htm

A collection of photos: http://arttattler.com/archivepenn.html

Another collection: http://www.masters-of-photography.com/P/penn/penn2.html

A short article about Penn's photography with flowers but it includes an awesome picture; Woody Allen as Chapman which is worth a gander: http://www.humanflowerproject.com/index.php/weblog/comments/irving_penns_human_vases/