I thought today’s Google logo was quite fitting to this site. So I grabbed it. Joan Miro must have been born today. Check him out at Wikipedia.com. I have always been very pleased with the efforts of Google to post new and fitting logos on their site each day. Maybe someone should make a blog about them. 
My first “Artist’s Date” was a short one. Sort of a “meet for a cup of coffee” type thing as I have decided to put it. I ran over to the local art supply store and decided to shop around for something new to do. I had been thinking that a little distraction from photography or even a parallel type thing might do me some good. So, I shopped around for a bit and settled in on the idea of doing some sketching. I thoroughly believe that a photographer, or any artist for that matter should practice sketching all of the time. This is something I haven’t done in quite some time. As a photojournalist we sometimes forget about the art side of things and focus on the journalism. This is okay, and sometimes more important, but alas, we are still truly artists and need to take trips back to the art world on occasion.
I walked around the art supply store for a little while and found a few items I thought I would need. A small kit of assorted sketching pencils, a few erasers, a pencil sharpener, and finally a couple of notebooks. I got a small pad of sketching paper, and a Moleskine sketchbook. The Moleskine books are really nice and I have a smaller one, which I sometimes write notes in. All in all I spent about thirty bucks on my first Artist’s date. It was a quick one, but I think will lead to a second date without a doubt. Just got to wait the appropriate amount of time before calling up my artist, so as not to scare her away!
I think it is all beginning to come together now. So this will just be a quick connection type post today. I had been reading a bit more on Duchamp and the Dada people and noticed one of the most famous Duchamp pieces, the Toilet, was photographed in 1917 by none other than Alfred Stieglitz. Stieglitz, one of my all time favorites, a revolutionary photographer who basically invented the word “candid,” was married to Georgia O’Keefe, and was apparently part of a small community of artists whom Duchamp encountered on his arrival to the states.
I can only imagine Duchamp’s arrival to the states. Must have been incredible.
Above and below, just a few pictures and links to help the connections.
Photographs by David Seymour are being displayed at the Corcoran in Washington D.C. This is one of my favorites. Sophia Loren at age 19. It’s just a classic portrait in a window. You really can’t go wrong with that.
Seymour’s work has long been a source of inspiration for me and I am sure countless other photographers. “Chim,” as he was known by, had an amazing ability to capture something else that so many photographs lack. His pictures are a channel for the story of his subjects and each one of them speaks with its own voice.
Well, I am quickly trying to make plans to get down to the gallery and see the prints.
