SOLIDQUALITY

A trend that seems to be growing is home grown photo essays involving the toys of our youth in real world scenarios. A lot of these appear on Flickr. One popular one started by Stefan and features a pair of Storm Troopers in all sorts of high jinks. Recently another blogger picked highlights and called it “what Storm Troopers do on their day off.” These are all very inventive and well shot. A great source of inspiration.

Recently, a friend has also engaged int his pass time with a toy figure of Yao Ming. Tung Trinh started posting the photos to his blog. He has a great eye and hope he continues to refine his talent as I will continiue to enjoy the fruits of that labor. See more of his other photography here.

Recently I became a Contributing Editor to a blog dedicated to cataloging the vernacular typography of NYC. The blog was started by Jason Powers and Matthew Anderson. I know Jason from working together at AOL.

I have to say it has been a real pleasure to have an outlet or those found moments of design glory. Silly type all over NYC that hasn’t really been appreciated now has a home. I am very glad to be apart of it and will do my best to contribute quality finds from around town.

I have pretty much depleted the blocks around work so soon I will have to branch out. Send me an email if you have any suggestions. Check out the blog here: nyctype.com

Luckily my wife travels to Japan often, so we can take advantage of Japanese technology for a cheaper cost than could be had int he states. Recently she picked a Fuji Instax Camera for us to take photos of the baby and such. The Instax is basically a Polaroid. The film format is smaller  and more rectangular but the quality is just as surprising and rich. I will have to eventually scan some of the results but if you find one I recommend it as a good replacement for a Polaroid.

I think the most surprising thing for me is that its the first time I used a real film camera in a while and it made me realize how much better I am with a viewfinder. And with the added pressure of a limited number of shots. The digital camera with 4 gigs of space has really made me lazy when taken photos. So much so, I am almost always dissatisfied with my digital results. But a real film camera , you really need to take a moment to make sure everything is composed right. I should really try real film again.

So, over the last weekend I made a visit to the City Museum of NY and saw two interesting photo exhibits.

The first is titled Eudora Welty in New York: Photographs of the Early 1930s. It is a recreation of the her first solo exhibit held in 1936 at the Photographic Galleries of Lugene Opticians in New York City. In addition they also include photos she took of NYC. Many are anonymous portraits that capture the mood of the 30′s in each location. The poor sharecroppers of the south and the brooding streets of NY.

The second exhibit captures the South Bronx at their height of deterioration from 1982-1984. Entitled Broken Glass: Photographs of the South Bronx by Ray Mortenson, its a fairly compact but intense show. Alot of photos lined up right next to eachother kind giving you a relentless view of the endless abandoned buildings. Every where you look a very different and stunning view. I imagine it must have been similar to being in the neighborhood in the 1980s. Destruction in every direction. There are a lot of interesting plays with scale and dimension where the black white phtoos really flatten out even though they are depicting 3D spaces.