Happenings on October 8th (late post)

On Friday, I was viewing the northern side of Roma via the Italian National Monument. Again, it's surreal I am back in Roma without the great people I experienced Rome with. I won't lie. There was no one to talk to, but I have overcome that. My purpose of the trip wasn't to meet new people, but to establish what is going on with myself. The moment this entry starts to sound cliche, please stop reading it.

Currently I am photographing what interests me visually while eating a panini. I made it back down Viale di Trastevere to photograph what was "the day in the life" of walking to campus. I have had no desire to view any map because all of it is still fresh in my head. Many tourists have come up to me already asking where (x) location is. I like that haha. Here are some photos of the old apartment and the walk heading towards campus


trying to remember...my apartment was the 2nd from the bottom, maybe the 3rd.




After venturing from the apartment to John Cabot University (JCU), I grabbed gelato by campus and went to Cafe Settimiana to get a cafe latte to compliment my cappuccino gelato. I was seated next to a husband and wife dentist who were very kind to speak with me. It was refreshing to speak English, but I really want to learn more Italian. At least I have gotten by with the basic phrases, but I've been challenging myself to engage in small talk conversation with locals, wherever I may be. Ordering food on the menu has been great for starters!

View from the South side/ Ponte Sisto Bridge of the Tiber River

On my walk home I met a woman near the Colosseum who was a retired federal agent who was lost and needed to come back to Termini. I offered her to walk back with me because I needed my four hour nap. During our walk, we shared our travel experiences together and why we love traveling. Currently she works for an international courier service that delivers packages within 24 hours anywhere in the world. Sounds like an interesting job I wouldn't mind working for!

I inquired about the federal job sector she worked with. She was assigned with the postmaster which at first glance seems out of place, but it focuses more on white collar crimes and the percentage of an agent being shot is extremely low. It pays well and if an individual signed up before or at 25 years of age, one could retire before they reach 50. Something to look into...

When we arrived back near Termini, she offered to by me a glass of wine for helping her get back. She and her husband are semi-serious art collectors and was with a group on a 12 day cruise ( all paid for). That's what I want to do!

* a lot of images were photographed on my cell phone and will be posted when I arrive back in the US*

FOTO!

Roma Termini

Rosa and Katie's former apartment


Steps outside the Italian National Monument

My hostel

I was able to pack everything I needed into this small carry on ( and a backpack) only one pair of shoes came with me and that's the ones I'm wearing

View of the Tiber River from Ponte Sisto bridge. The picture doesn't do it justice but the Tiber actually looks MUCH cleaner than it did last summer

Roma, Italia Part 1

First of all, I won't be able to blog as much as I would like. Currently My laptop is next to the door and has to remain exactly where it is, otherwise I loose my signal. LAME. For now I'm posting just text, later I will post images when I'm done processing them in Lightroom.

It has been over a year sine I last traveled overseas. Since quitting my job in Saugatuck, my stress level has gone down and so has my bank account. My parents were nice enough to help finance some of my travel expenses back to the Eternal City aka Roma. Flying in wasn't too bad. Was I tired...yeah. I managed to pull a 20 minute nap on the flight to Amsterdam and from Amsterdam to Rome I slept for an hour. I was drinking a few glasses of wine (complimentary on international flights) and ate a few meals and some cheap cheap coffee too. When I got off the plane I headed straight from Leonardo Fumicino (FCO) airport to Termini where my hostel is at. It was a 30 minute train ride over to the hostel.

My hostel cost about 216 Euro = $300USD. At least I get a free Italian breakfast which is a cappuccino (no coffee shop in the US comes close) and a croissant. It's enough to get by until a heavy lunch, and a lite dinner with gelato and a cafe latte in between.

I give credit to Mary for googling my hostel (grazie!) because I ended up getting lost when its literally right outside Termini....what an idiot I was. The first night I took it easy and didn't travel to Campo. Sorry JCU crew! First thing I did was go to the tobacci store, bought a bus ticket, a lighter, and a small pack of cigarettes for 5.20 Euro. Forgot there are smaller packs of cigarettes. I'll admit, its a dumb and pointless act to do, but when you're in Rome and want to fit in with the Romans, you smoke haha. No way do I want to be viewed as an American tourist.

However I'm not viewed as an American tourist, but Korean or Chinese/Japanese. Thank you for all the italians assuming I speak any of those languages. English, Spanish, and a little Italian. PS to the guy that was behind me in the store for talking smack about me. He was surprised I knew what he said...jerk haha

So a lot of you I'm sure are wondering why I'm back in Rome. in brief, I quit my job and life is too short to complain and worry. So why NOT go to Rome?

TOP Five things I love Roma

1. Waking up and getting my Italian breakfast and the horns and ambulances...haha
2. Vino, Suppli, and pizza...enough said
3. The fountains to get nice cold acqua...SO GODO
4. Long history behind the City
5. The hospitality of Italians

All I plan on doing while I'm here is very basic. Yeah I will go to the different Piazzas and the tourist areas but I've already seen those...ALOT. Remind you I was here for 7 weeks last year and I saw every major site everyday. Although I'll now try avoding being a snob about it. Most of you I know have never been here and would LOVE to be. So go buy your ticket NOW on delta for under $900, save about $300 TOPS for a stay in a hostel for a week and maybe $300 on food depending if you want to eat at a restaurant or make your own food. I've been going to the market to buy fruit, some lunchmeat and oh you can't forget gelato either!!!

Brandy, you're a fine girl

Today we had to put our dog to sleep. She has been a loyal dog to the LaVere family for over 8 years now.

She's in a better place and free from pain. The past week she has not ate much and wasn't her normal self. To those who were lucky to know or meet Brandy, she was a very friendly dog. I was able to photograph her before she passed. I cannot recall a dull moment I've had with her. She will definitely have a place in my long-term portrait project and my heart.

Write Up

This image is titled Orpheus & Eurydice from the series Mythology: Chaos & Creation.



In brief, the Greek story is about loosing a loved one - in this case, Orhpeus. Eurydice was bit by a snake and died in the Underworld with Hades. Orpheus, depressed, convinced Hades to retrieve his wife from the underworld because he played a song. Hades agreed, but under one condition. He could NOT turn back and look at her until both were out of the underworld. Unfortunately Orpheus jumped the gun and looked at his wife go back into the underworld.

That is the story in a nutshell.

When I created these images a year ago, I was nervous and I didn't have a clue what I was doing. If you look back in my blog from May - June 2009, you will see I was doing light paintings. For those interested in gear and technical info, here is an excerpt from my thesis

"I use a Canon 40D, a 15mm Fisheye 2.8, two Canon 430EXII flashes, one Vivitar 2800 Flash, a maglite, a pocket-sized LED light, and CyberSync Transmitters. Two impact light stands are used in conjuncture with the two flash units-sometimes with color gels attached to them.

During Advanced Color Printing and my travels out west, I experimented with color flashes and long night exposures. After trial and error, the ideal settings were at f/5.6 at ISO 100. The distance of the flash from the camera at these settings was determined to be 15 feet at full power. The exposure time would typically be at least two minutes. While the shutter was open, I would frantically set off the flash by hand while swapping out the color gels as I go. When these steps were completed, the maglite would be used to make light shapes and highlight objects. In order for me to perfect my light paintings, more time was needed. Then I concluded I could merge multiple layers in Photoshop CS4 to merge the final image. Pre-production and post-production, I never cropped out an image because I wanted to give purpose to all that is integrated in the photograph.

Literary works from Joseph Campbell have also helped inspire my images. Without reading The Power of Myth, my understanding of the myth and its’ significance on the modern would not be possible."

Now mind you, you don't necessarily need the exact equipment I have. Staying focused on technical matters gets in the way of creating images!

back to the write up

Originally this was titled, Untitled #11, but later decided to appropriately name each photo. For the remainder of this I will refer to this photo as Untitled #11.


Untitled #11 seems to be the viewers’ choice. In Untitled #11 (Figure 3.6), I employed numerous symbols in order to recreate the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. I referenced Michelangelo’s painting of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, Italy depicts similar formal qualities. The guitar and the white light leaking out from Orpheus represented his role as a musician while the highlighted dress hanging from the wall was alone to symbolize loss. The tripod was accidentally kicked numerous times throughout production, but was able to manage to retain all of the objects for the final composition.

Before I started photographing, I previsualized the image in my head on the final result. Each image was an experience that dealt with different challenges whether it was technical or legal. You can expect to see new work improving on my thesis as well as skateboarding at night in the near future...

Winners Gallery: 2010 :: Best of Photography » Finalists » Matthew LaVere

Winners Gallery: 2010 :: Best of Photography » Finalists » Matthew LaVere

Check it out! I was chosen as a finalist for the Photography Forum: Best of Photography Magazine. It will be published and available in December.

The title of this photograph is Orpheus & Eurydice from the series Mythology: Chaos & Creation from my Senior Thesis work at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) in 2009.

Here is the artist statement that went along with my work

"One of the functions of myth is to make sense of the world. Whether a culture uses myths to uphold social institutions or to provide a religious experience, they all offer similar themes. The myths across diverse cultures and writings from Joseph Campbell inspire my iamges.

These dramatic compositions incorporate several metaphors from ancient myths. The controlled events create a surrealistic realm within our modern world. While photographing in darkness, I mediate how serendipitous events reflect my life experiences. Discover the power of myth in your life."



Check back in the next couple days for a write up of this image.

New Chatper, New Projects

It has been far too long since I posted an entry on my blog. Since my senior thesis which ended this past December, I have completed my Bachelors of Arts Degree in Photography from Grand Valley State University and have become a Photo Technician for a painter in Saugatuck, MI. Graduation seems surreal. There is still a plethora if information to hear and learn about.

Instead of going to bed before midnight, my time consists of researching future photography equpiment (i.e. lenses, camera bodies, flashes, photoshop techniques, light techniques, etc.). Most time and effort is spent on strobe lighting techniques.

Recently, I built a lightbox out of the following materials.

1. Cardboard
2. posterboard
3. tissue paper
4. packaging and painter's tape
5. scissors

I got the inspiriation from the Strobist blog. It has become a daily ritual to read an entry everyday. I strongly suggest you do the same

Strobist Blog

After spending less than $8 at Meijer and fifteen minutes later this was the final product



In this image the set up consists of two Canon 430EXII Flashes set manually at 1/8 power triggeredby Paul C. Buff Cybersyncs. The two cardboard flaps can act as gobos to block out light/lens flare into the camera lens.
Also you can use a mirror or granite tile to place your object on to get a nice reflection of the object.


Here is a sample image I photographed with the lightbox
Overall I am satisfied with the results of this inexpensive studio accessory. I plan on producing another lightbox that is much bigger to use. The box I used was 12x16x12. When I go grocery shopping next, I will ask for a box that is roughly twice the size of the one which is currently being used.

My next project in the next few weeks...a digital pinhole camera...yep! For now, it's back to enjoying the good life