an eye in the world » Bay Area http://www.grantkinney.com/blog the life and photography of Grant Kinney Sun, 19 Apr 2009 20:36:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Friedlander http://www.grantkinney.com/blog/2008/02/friedlander/ http://www.grantkinney.com/blog/2008/02/friedlander/#comments Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:28:56 +0000 Grant http://www.grantkinney.com/blog/2008/02/friedlander/ If you’re in the Bay Area and have an inkling of interest in photography as art, go see the Friedlander exhibit that just opened at the SFMOMA. Robin and I went to the opening reception last Friday. It’s incredible.

There’s a quote by Jackson Pollack upon looking through a catalogue of Picasso’s work: ”God damnit.  That guy thought of everything.” It’s like that. What an amazing diversity of subject matter and creative vision, over 400 photographs in a career spanning half a century. And I’ve never seen a photographer with a better visual sense of humor–truly a delight. I am both captivated, intimidated, and frustrated–I want to be that good!

Robin’s started calling me “Kinney-lander” now. I take it as both a playful teasing about my obsession with photography and affectionately calling me to live out my potential.

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]]> http://www.grantkinney.com/blog/2008/02/friedlander/feed/ 1 hiroshi sugimoto http://www.grantkinney.com/blog/2007/07/hiroshi-sugimoto/ http://www.grantkinney.com/blog/2007/07/hiroshi-sugimoto/#comments Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:50:00 +0000 Grant http://www.grantkinney.com/blog/2007/07/hiroshi-sugimoto/ Photography has been many things, but it’s always been tied to art. Many of its early innovators were classically trained artists, although it has sometimes struggled for full acceptance in the art world. There are a few photographers out there today working as much as artists as they are photographers, who are able to take the process and art of photography beyond its more practical applications like advertising products and documenting events toward representing an esoteric experience of reality.

One of those photographer-artists is Hiroshi Sugimoto, who has an amazing retrospective exhibit that’s currently at the de Young Museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. I loved it. It’s not just a bunch a photographs hanging on white walls–it’s an experience that takes you into Sugimoto’s head and how he sees as an artist. It’s amazing. I’m both inspired by his work–taking such simple ideas and making magnificent art–as well as frustrated that my creative ideas aren’t half as brilliant (lots of room for growth!)

Here’s the info on the de Young exhibit

Sugimoto’s website
(it contains many of the same captions as in the exhibit, but fewer photographs)

A series of podcasts featuring presentations/interviews with Sugimoto.

If you’re in the Bay Area, go see it! The exhibit continues through September 23, 2007.

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]]> http://www.grantkinney.com/blog/2007/07/hiroshi-sugimoto/feed/ 0 an update http://www.grantkinney.com/blog/2007/02/an-update/ http://www.grantkinney.com/blog/2007/02/an-update/#comments Fri, 16 Feb 2007 22:32:00 +0000 Grant http://www.grantkinney.com/blog/2007/02/an-update/ 20070214_0048

well friends,

I missed my self imposed deadline to start updating in the middle of January. Life happens, I guess. I’m back in grad school full time now so things are very busy. Admittedly, updating this blog every other day is an ambitious goal, one I probably won’t be able to meet. But I’ll keep trying, nevertheless. Robin and I haven’t even gotten all of the New Year’s cards out yet, and it’s halfway through February!

Though I haven’t updated in a while, I have been thinking about the purpose of this blog: here are my thoughts so far:

  1. Sharing my photographs
  2. Keeping in touch with friends and family
  3. Expressing my thoughts about life as I am living it
  4. Sharing random internet material I think is worth experiencing
  5. Reflecting on the process of making art, both my creative process and the technical aspects of photography

I’m unsure at this point how much privacy should be a concern. I like to be open with the world, but I don’t want the information here to someday be used against me. At this point, I can’t think of a way it would be, but I’m playing it safe for now. So, if I sound a little vague as to the specifics, shoot me an email and I’d be happy to fill in the details.

The photograph above was taken on Valentine’s day from somewhere near the Emeryville/Berkeley border along the SF Bay shoreline. I’ve been wanting to explore shooting some long exposure black and whites (after seeing the work of these two photographers, Michael Kenna and Brian Chapman) and this seemed like a good place. I noticed the ruins of the pier while riding my bike one day and vowed to return as soon as I could.

The softness of the water comes from a 30 second exposure time. I had to wait until just the right time after sunset so that the exposure would be right for this shutter speed. Click on the picture to see some other pictures from this shoot.

 

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