That Very Next Thing

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Kazakhstan - 13 Years Ago

I spent the summer of 1998 living in Kazakhstan. I worked with university students studying English, and traveled the Trans-Siberian and Silk Road railway systems from the capital of Almaty to the Siberian city of Semipalatinsk, known both for it's Cold-War nuclear testing site and the exiled home of Dostoevsky.

There isn't enough film in the world to do justice to this place that changed my life so much. These are pictures that, for me, at least come close. Many are of people I knew, or captured a mood or feeling that seemed to embody the cities and the people. At the time, it was a place that was beautiful and tragic and hopeful all at once. I don't expect it would be the same today. So much has changed, and I would probably find it unrecognizable. In a way, I never came back from that trip, and most what you see here isn't around to go back to anymore... But to me, that's the most properly Russian experience of it I could imagine.

These were all shot on film, and I see them, collectively, as defining indicators of the direction my eye would go ever since this time. The aesthetic preferences and compositional decisions I was forming with these has stayed with me. Those senses hang with me a little like their subject matter does, defining something for me. I'm incredibly grateful for their influence...

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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The Cadillac Black

If you've never seen The Cadillac Black live, you've missed out on one of two possible experiences. If you don't get Southern Rock, you will think you just slid into a scene from Deliverance, and the raging guitars have come to drag your soul into a bayou hell. If you're from the South, however, and Lynard Skynard makes sense to you, you might think you've died and gone to a rock heaven filled with Zeus-like amplifiers and drums forged by Thor. What you can't miss either way is just how big-city their deep-South sound is. Take what (little) you like about Kid Rock and add a heavy dose of Ted Nugent, and you'll have some idea of where to begin. But I can't say there's anything quite like The Cadillac Black experience (you can't confuse them with anyone else), and once your brain recovers, you'll thank them and ask for more.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Stereographic Cave Images

Like ducks, it's hard to take a picture of a cave that isn't boring. So in an attempt to make something from a recent tour of Cumberland Caverns, I decided that stereographic images were the way to go. After all, caves are about size and depth - wondering what's around the next corner.

If you've never seen one of these, I recommend clicking on the image to make it larger first. Then sit a comfortable distance away and begin to cross your eyes as you stare at the image. You will begin to see that the two sides move away from each other and toward each other in the middle. Relax and focus on them in a way that allows the two to converge in the middle, making what seems like a third image. Once your eyes begin to focus, you will be able to see the scene in 3-D with great detail. It takes practice for some people.