Milwaukee Ave. Arts Festival

So in case you havent heard, Milwaukee Ave Arts Festival is badass. or in their words:

"Once a year, Logan Square's commercial corridor transforms into a full-blown arts district."

Conceived by I Am Logan Square organization and involving the help of all sorts of area artists and collectives, MAAF takes place in Logan Square, July 29th-31, on Milwaukee Ave (go figure) from Kimball to California. This Festival will play host to all sorts of badass curated visual and performance art, local cuisine and (more excitingly) local beers, as well as live music and a SHITTON of people.

i only caught the tail end of it last year, so this year i decided to get involved. I'll be taking photos of the event, and since MAAF was conceived and organized by the gals from I Am Logan Square Gallery, i've also been getting involved with their events; taking photos and writing blogs covering various Logan Square events. ill be sure to post them as they're posted on IALS blog.

that being said, i'll be interviewing Brett Swinney and Tracy Kostenbader from AnySquared, who are spearheading the gallery organization and fundraising for the event. I had the pleasure of talking a bit with Tracy today, and i'll be posting some info and photos when i talk with her and Brett more in depth.

that being said, here are a few photos from my daily visual diary.






these all have a common quality i cant quite put my finger on. but i think it's stretching. longing, distance, distortion. or whatever intersection where those three would meet. onward, outward, lost; respectively.

Chicago

This Is Home Now

Carnival SF + Street Life

i’m going to miss the fuck out of this, i just know it. i just know it hasnt hit me fully yet.

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

tourist photos of tourists taking photos

Welcome to San Francisco

tourist photos of tourist taking photos in San Fran

well that was a relatively productive weekend.

so i started framing photos for my upcoming show in June.

actually, i finished framing, aside from the 18x24's that are shipping...tomorrow. so i decided to follow said framing party with an after-framing party.

Also went to the Red Gate Studio and Foundry (theres quite literally no web presence for them. ill be sure to post a url when its available) for a fun little bonfire and party they were having. A friend of mine, Jason Hawk, is one of the owners/artists that live there, and its a really badass space located just off the california stop in *gasp!* Logan Square! (i really do love this area) it actually reminds me a shitton of a lot of warehouses and parties i went to in Miami Art Basel. Anyway, everyone who lives there is super awesome, the parties are fun and the work coming out of there is amazing. you should definitely keep an eye out for any openings or parties theyre having there.

in motivation to keep me writing, im going to try to update every day with a "photo of the day" or two (i hate editing down to single digits.) from my visual diary ive started doing.

(over dramatic photographic statements are cool.)

oh yeah, having a camera again is badass. i really needed a break after last year, to clear my head and work on the rest of my life; but i couldnt be happier now. when i decided to study photography as a, you know, rest-of-life thing, i remember being violently against digital. Partially some "fuck the status quo" thing, and i'm really glad i learned photography the way i did. start with film and you'll learn to slow down, think about the picture, visualize it and expose it properly. after awhile, you wont have to "slow down" at all. Anyway, i think a lot of my opposition to digital was how it was being used by my peers. in other words, quick, dirty, uneducated, shoot-till-youre-right....pretty much anti-everything i previously described.




where was i going with this? oh yeah! digital. so good now. i moved from printing wet to scanning film to shooting digital. it really streamlines the post production (in exchange for size quality, depending on the camera) and makes it great for keeping up with social media.

my favorite thing about digital, though, is using it as a learning tool. it allows you to try something new, or test a technical idea and get an immediate answer. i think this is going places.

well also, i dont have a film scanner. but hey! im getting the fuji x100! well....whenever fuji can catch up to their pre-orders. heard they had a few earth shakes(too soon?). but really though! have you seen this thing? compact, sharp, quiet, beautiful rangefinder. digital! and 1/9th the cost of a leica! my lord. i want it now now now.