Shooting with Don Wildman from Offlimits

Hello my friends,

Been a bit busy, but enough about that. Wanted to let you know new Travel Channel photography is coming out soon! I got the great opportunity to do a second shoot with the wonder Don Wildman from out show called Offlimits (premieres soon ::wink::). We shot at this AMAZING location on Long Island City called The Foundry and I instantly fell in love with it (as did Don and I with their insanely cute "guard dog", sadly not pictures). The dog made us go over our shoot time, but I think it was worth it. Still waiting on Don't approval from the images, but I wanted to give you a "sneak peek" of what's to come!

ps - funniest guy ever.

Tartan Day - NYC

I was so excited to stumble upon Tartan Day two weekends ago! So much Scottish pride here :)

First Post in a Year!

Ciao interwebs! Can't believe its been so long, and that so many of you have stuck around. Thanks for all the notes! I have a new goal to update Tyranny every other day at the very least. To start it out, please view this AMAZING video on night photography. Enjoy!

Night Photography: Finding your way in the dark from Mark & Angela Walley on Vimeo.

The Photography Post : A New Photo Aggregation Site

Hey fellow art-lovers and trollers of the interwebs; Do I have a treat for you! Launched not but 2 days ago, The Photography Post is a pretty amazing little site that brings users all of the latest and most interesting photographic projects from across the internet onto one site! TPP doesn't discriminate between solid new source or causal side blog; all they are looking to do it find the pulse of photography on the world wide wed. It's REALLY cool. So far it's turned me on to a ton of interesting sites I had no idea existed before, like Ads of the World, which showcases some of the weirdest and most visually striking ads that we in America would never get to see.

Thanks, internet!

James Pomerantz Photography

Everyone should check out this guy. Very, very cool stuff. And on top of it, he's started a blog about getting his MFA at The School of Visual Arts! I'm interested to read along, especially since hardly anyone gets their Photo MFA these days.

Earthquake Rocks L'Aquila, Italy - Kills 90+

Photos from flickr by bluecristal85

Coverage on NYtimes.com. Such insane imagery going on around this disaster.

RIP - William Claxton, 80 years old

Mr. Miles Davis, taken from William Claxton's website.

A mutual infatuation of photography and music lead me to William Claxton and his documentary photography of the Jazz legends of the 50s and 60s. I believe this happened sometime during my freshman year in college; I can't be certain of the exact date because all I really remember is immediately falling in love, deeper and deeper with every photo, and then things became a blur. Beautiful, rich, original and compelling, Claxton took such legendary musicians as Billy Holiday and Miles Davis (whom normally roamed the dark stages of smokey clubs and dim-lit backstage areas), out onto the bright streets and beaches of sunny California, and showed their deep souls in the light of day. Through Claxton's photography, a viewer could feel the intensity through which these musicians lived ever day of their lives -- where it was crying out the blues, dancing on the streets in joy, or clutching at their instruments or mics, longing for their next chance to shine. It was as if, by staring into a Claxton portrait, you became engluffed in the Blues, immersed in Jazz, taken over by Soul. Black and white photography has always been a passion of mine, and to know that each one of Claxton's photos was not only taken with passion and pleasure, but then slaved over through processing, printing and spotting with his own bare hands, makes even more energy and life stir from every print he's created. It's beautiful and stirring, and though I'm sad to hear he is gone, I know his photographs will stay with me forever.

Thank you, Claxton, for sharing your passion with us.

Sometimes, I love the Internet

Photo Courtesy of NYtimes.com

And sometimes, I don't. But today, and really in the past 2 weeks or so, there have been some increasingly interesting and kooky articles out there that have been just so relevant to my life. (Or, at least I like to believe they are :) I couldn't decide on just one to talk about today, so I decided to start something new! Announcing: the inaugural addition of "What's Lizzie Reading? : The Online Edition". Enjoy!

What's Lizzie Reading? : Online

--Rachel Hulin's commentary on the New York Times Magazine food issue from this weekend. SO MANY COOL PHOTOGRAPHS! If you enjoy stop-motion explosion photography, you'll love these images of corn, apple, and pumpkin in mid-eruption. I think what makes me love stop-motion photography so much is that it captures the essence of the random nature of...well, nature. The only thing you can really control about what a photography will look like when literally shooting an apple is what the light exposure will be. Not where the pieces will fly, or how "juicy" it will look. So, for these images to be so lovely in the end, so beautiful, it just shows how wonderful the unpredictability of nature is. These photos were taken by Martin Klimas, whose other stop-motion photo essays are just as powerful. My favorite is Essay 4, where porcelain or ceramic statues are exploding in seemingly mid-action sequences. Dancing or fighting, swooning... Lovely.

--NYtimes.com has a wonderful Big City piece online today about how the economic slump combined with the over development of the west side of Brooklyn is leading to much heartbreak and lost dreams for new homeowners, who once believed that Brooklyn would never stop growing. This is one of those situations where people are finally hear the warning bell that we've been sounding for YEARS now about how terrible this over development of the waterfront was for Brooklyn, and how it had to stop sometime. Yet, unfortunately for those who bought into it, some didn't hear the bells soon enough. It's so unfortunate, because as much as someone wants to be right about such a charged issue, they often never want to be right in a way that is so devastating for so many people (as this situation will surely become for whomever bought property in these new buildings). What will all of these half-finished/vacant apartment buildings mean for Brooklyn's waterfront in this new down-facing economy? This is what I wonder...

--NYtimes.com has another awesome article today, located in their Arts section. Edward Rothstein speaks about caricature in politics, bumbling candidates, and how the over-characterization of a political figure through satire, SNL skits and cartoons can lead to a completely different perception by the public of that candidate; a perception that is often at times more powerful than any arguement coming from that actual person being characterized. Very fascinating.

--As I began to write this recommendation, I realized that this article is actually located on The Christian Science Monitor, a website I didn't even know EXISTED before, let alone could have such an interesting article on bicycles and recycling in Brooklyn. Gothamist.com was what lead me there, so kudos to them for not just looking close to home for wonderful writing and interesting observations. Brooklyn is having a bicycling revolution (duh)! Read on to find out more.

--If you are interested in some beautiful wedding photography, as well as photo-essays of "People Sleeping in Public", and anything in between, please click over to my friend Ashley Garmon's photo blog PhotoSmashing. She's lovely, and so are her photos.

--It's Paddington Bear's birthday!!!! So much of my childhood centered around this bear, as well as others (Winnie the Pooh, most prominently), so Google.com made me happy by promoting Paddington instead of some guy named Columbus.

That's it for now. Enjoy!

The Sweet Science

In response to the assault I went through in 2006, I found a home at Gleason's Boxing Gym in DUMBO Brooklyn, and in the power everyone seemed to exude from knowing how to defend themselves. I never took any formal lessons, but the environment of the old, eclectic gym and the comradery of the trainers, boxers, and spectators who were both very old and new to the sport intrigued me and drew me in like a warm blanket. I based my Senior Thesis Photo Essay around this gym and the objects that inhabited it. I loved the idea of doing still life studies of simply the things that made the gym what it was, and not just the people. (The essay, titled "The Sweet Science" is on my website).

So, I found it ironic today that, when dealing with my friend's recent assault (see post below), I came across a very interesting photo essay on boxing by Nicolai Howalt, where he compares shots of young boxers before and after a fight. I particularly love the one posted above because there are such subtle changes in his exterior; you almost have to look at it again and again to catch everything. Very fascinating.