Archives: November 2005
Sat Nov 26, 2005
Television Advertising or Art?
I haven't watched TV for nearly 10 years. My only exposure to TV culture is what I find on the Internets and what I hear from friends. I do on rare occasions watch a movie. In fact, I just got back from seeing the new Harry Potter Flick at Tower Theatre in South Hadley, which means I probably won't viewing another film for about 3 months (Amy reads the books, so I am her partially willing escort anytime a new movie hits the screens).
Despite loathing most moving pictures, I do find myself drawn to creative television advertising. Partly because advertising is a close cousin to the work I already do and partly because it's a medium I think I would enjoy working with. Every once in a while I come across a advertisement which prompts me to ask: is this art?
This question bounced around my head as I watched this advertisement featuring 250,000 multi-colored bouncing balls cascading through a few San Francisco streets. The ad was created for Sony to announce the arrival of their new Bravia LCD TV's and appears to be for the European market only. Amazing, the bouncing balls are completely real. No computer graphics were used. To my eyes, this is art, pure and simple. Someone had a vision and executed that vision very deliberately.
There's a bunch of information here about the making of the ad as well as some neat behind the scenes shots up on Flickr. Definitely worth a look.
And moving on. Here's an epic ad from Carlton Draft which expertly mimics the inimitable Carmen Burana score. Pure Genius!
And finally, here's a somewhat old Honda ad. A masterful peice of work, once again acheived without the use of computer graphics.
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Nov 26, 05 | 10:25 pm | 
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Tue Nov 22, 2005
Speaking of frightful food ...
There aren't many things you can combine with tomato juice and arrive at a palatable drink. Vodka springs to mind. Is there anything Vodka can't improve?
So what genius decided to combine tomato juice and clam juice together? Enter Clamato! Equally disturbing is their tagline: Brings flavor to your life. Thanks, but my life is flavored just fine without the refreshing briny essense of mollusks and vined ripened fruit.
At first one would think that maybe Clamato was intended for cooking or maybe even mixed drinks. But then we discover that the fine folks at Clamato, Inc. have decided to combine these hapless clams and tomatos with some sort of energy drink and labeled it: Energia. It's a pity they didn't think of a more creative name. I think aTOMic Clam Cocktail has a nice ring to it.
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I just learned: What is Turducken?
And umm, you should too:
http://www.thesalmons.org/lynn/turducken.html
Oh what I would give to have witnessed the thought process that led to such a creation. I can only suspect that some serious drugs were involved.
Bon appetit!
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Just some photos
A few Tuesdays ago I couldn't resist the urge to train my camera on Peter and Eric and their adorable cooing babies. Capturing moments like these make carrying 5 pounds of camera everywhere I go worthwhile.
Canon 20D with Canon EF 50mm @ 1/40s f/2.2 iso800
Canon 20D with Canon EF 50mm @ 1/50s f/2.5 iso1600
Technical notes: I am an avid available light photographer. That is, I choose to shoot using whatever limited light is available and forgo using flash to provide supplementary light. To me, the flash alters the captured image dramatically, creates harsh shadows, glowing eyes, and other nasties. It's also difficult to capture a candid moment when you're blinding the subject with a flash. Photographers should aim to be as discrete as possible.
For these shots I choose to use my 50mm f1.4 prime lense, my cheapest, albeit my fastest lense, being 2 stops faster than anything else I own. This is the best lense I own for available light shooting. At f1.4 this lense is somewhat soft and dreamy and creates a razor thin depth of field. To sharpen the lense it needs to be stopped down to at least f1.8. I choose f2.2 - 2.5 since it offered a slightly larger depth of field. Even stopped down the depth of field is amazingly thin. I managed to get the babies in focus (which was my primary subject), and left the fathers to fall slightly behind the focus plane. Creative photography is all about compromise.
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Thu Nov 10, 2005
Powerhouse Gym Promo
Here's an earlier proofing of a lead box promo I just completed for Powerhouse Gym in West Palm Beach, Florida. Soon (translation: within the next 5 years), I'll be adding some tutorials and sharing some practical graphics and photo editing tips. Surely someone among my three readers will be interested.
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Mon Nov 07, 2005
First they brought in tea and cake!
Growing up as a first generation Irish-American, tea was as common in my house as stout and whiskey. Tea was a very social event in the household of my youth. The moment a visitor stepped through the door a fresh pot of water was placed on the stove to boil. Needless to say, I have a certain affection for a good cup of tea. Unfortunately, in the Land of Plenty good tea is hard to come by. In a health foods store in Ireland I found a box of organic Earl Grey and it was unspeakably delicious, but alas the 20 bags did not last long. As luck would have it, Amy discovered a wonderful herb shop in Northampton callled Acadia Herbals which stocks a variety organic loose leaf tea. We are undoubtedly addicted and visit Nate the herb peddler quite often to replenish our stash. The Earl Grey he offers is fresh and robusts and satisfies likes a meal. You haven't really had Earl Grey until you try it.
Canon 20D with Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 @ 1/800s f/4.5 at iso200
His friends assembled at the wake
And Mrs. Finnegan called for lunch,
First they brought in tay and cake
then pipes, tobacco and brandy punch.
Biddy O'Brien began to bawl
"Such a nice clean corpse, did you ever see?
"O Tim, mavourneen, why did you die?"
"Arragh, hold your gob" said Paddy McGhee!
from the Irish Ballad, Tim Finnegan's Wake (listen)
Porter quaffed down with a laugh,
The gentry have their aching livers.
Water is alright in tay,
For fish and things that swim in rivers.
from the Irish drinking song, Water is Alright in Tay. Extolling the merits of porter over tea.
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