Alex Vernon.com

Yesterday after spending seven hours at PCNW developing, making contact sheets and going to class I got to make my first print from a negative. I am having a lot of fun with this class. Even though I already know all the basics like exposure, using shutter speeds and aperture etc., the whole developing and printing process is new to me. Yes, Photoshop is much more powerful but there is something special about traditional printing. As one of my fellow students said “It has a magical quality about it.”. I especially enjoy the hands on aspect, it’s more satisfying to me than computer manipulation. That being said I’m not giving up digital since it has many advantages, however my film camera well get much more action in the future. It was starting to resent me from sitting in the bag for a few years.

What was the picture? A bunch of rocks that my roommate made a walkway with. Doesn’t sound like much but I think it’s pretty cool. Once I buy a scanner or find someone that has one I’ll post it.

I started my first tattoo yesterday at Slave to the Needle. Five hours under the needle, with another five coming in March. I decided to go out out for my first one and do a half-sleeve. I have wanted a tattoo for years but could never make up my mind on what I wanted. I finally decided on a dragon, a longhorn skull, fire and water. A dragon with fire because I was born in the year of the Fire Dragon (as was Bruce Lee, but I don’t have his moves). I chose to have a medieval dragon because of my European heritage. Water because I am an Aquarius and a longhorn skull because I’m a Texan. I left it up to the artist John Fitzgerald to figure out how to put it all together. The night before my appointment I was wondering how the dragon and the skull would work together. The dragon could hold it but then the skull would be small, I also thought it might be cool to have the dragon wearing a longhorn helmet. When I showed up John showed me what he had come up with. He had two bad ass drawings, one of a dragon and one of the skull. Since I’m not The Governator we were having issues with fitting both on my arm. I even suggested that I could save one for the other arm but he wanted to make it work and I’m glad he did. After cutting the drawings he looked at them for a minute, then placed the longhorn skull on top of the dragon head. It hit both of us at the same time, “that’s it” we said. As I mentioned earlier, I had thought of something similar the night before but had not mentioned it to John, a little bit of synchronicity I suppose. So that problem was solved and as a nice bonus I got something more unique than just a dragon. After the dragon, skull and water stencils were laid he encountered another obstacle, where to put the fire. Again I suggested I can wait until the other arm but he wanted to make it work. Fortunately for me he didn’t immediately agree with my other arm suggestions because I think it made the tattoo much better. Fast forward five painful hours and now I’m halfway through with the tattoo. I am extremely satisfied with the results so far and I can’t wait until it’s finished. He even said to a fellow artist that it was one of his favorite pieces. \m/ I will post a couple of pics in the next day or so.

For those in the Puget Sound area I highly recommend John. Not only is he an excellent artist (and I can’t stress that enough) he is a very cool guy as well. He even bought me a couple pieces of pizza halfway through the session. Click on his name above for a link to his portfolio.

Last Saturday I went to see a couple of short documentaries on Cambodia at the Greenwood Public Library.

Incidentally I ran out of gas for the second time in my life on the way. I was at the photo lab beforehand and decided I could make it back and fill up later since I was running late (for those that know me, this is no surprise). Well I did make it back to the house with my car sputtering and unable to start again. Not as cool as my dad running out of gas at the gas station and coasting to the pump but at least I made it home.

Even though I skipped getting gas I arrived about ten or fifteen minutes late. So I missed the first half of Searching For The Truth: My True Story but what I did catch was interesting. The filmmaker Dara Duong was in Cambodia when the Khmer Rouge came into power. In fact he lost his father to the violence. The film was Dara in Cambodia interviewing ex-Khmer Rouge officials. Surprisingly even though they were old men now they showed no signs of remorse and admitted no responsibility for what they had done. Even though those events took place over thirty years ago no trails have been held to date. Dara has opened The Cambodian Cultural Museum and Killing Fields Memorial here in Seattle. I plan on visiting it soon and will review it here when I do. I also heard he originally started the museum in his car then moved it to his garage before he obtained a space, pretty cool.

The second film Visions from Cambodia was less enjoyable for me. It was following the journey of the filmmakers on a voluntourism trip to build houses in Cambodia. It did have some useful information about Tabitha the organization running the house building among other things. However the impression I received from the film was “Hey look at what we’re doing, aren’t we great?”. I thought more time could have been spent on the people the houses were being built for as opposed to the construction by foreigners. However I liked it nonetheless and the previous statements are just my opinions and you know what they say about those.

I went to see these films because years ago I had a girlfriend that was half khmer (Cambodian). I used to hang out with Cambodians quite a bit at that time and found them to be a fascinating people. We never talked much about what happened in Cambodia, so seeing the films was a good way to increase my knowledge of the situation. Oddly enough I have never seen The Killing Fields movie. Back at that time it was a little too close to home. Obviously I didn’t go through any of it but I didn’t want to know what those I cared about went through. Much time has passed now so I do want to see it but it will have to wait until I get a place and my TV and DVD player out of storage.

Some more info:

The Killing Fields

Khmer Rouge

Angkor Wat

Friday night I went to see a lecture by Jonas Bendiksen at PCNW. I hadn’t heard of him before but I knew he was a Magnum photographer so I knew he must be good. I have to say I was very impressed. Not only were his photos excellent, he was a great speaker and his slide show was very entertaining. He also had immense knowledge of his subjects the people of the former Soviet republics. To top it all off he is only twenty-eight years old, which depressed me a bit, especially because I’m going to be thirty next month. It also inspired me as well because what he accomplished. If you live in Seattle check out his photos at PCNW. If you don’t check out his book Satellites.

I have decided to not drink for a week. Not only does my liver need a rest but my bank account could use one too. However that’s not the reason I’m doing it. I have realized I’ve been drinking way too much since I arrived here in Seattle. Observing myself from the outside I have come to the conclusion that I am doing it to escape. Much like how I used drugs in the past. Drinking get my mind off of not having many friends here, not having my own place yet, being separated from my dog and feeling like I’m spinning my wheels. I’m also tired of staying up till 3 and sleeping in till 12 almost everyday. That was fine when I was 19 but I’m turning 30 next month and I feel I need to slow it down a bit. I think I’m also using drinking as an indirect excuse for stagnating. I was going to do this but I’m hung over, or I was going to go there but I slept in too late. In addition I start photography and Spanish classes next week and I don’t want alcohol to interfere with those pursuits. Finally I will probably drop a little weight as well which will be a nice side benefit. Ok I might have a glass of wine or two but no beer, liquor or trips to the bar. I’ll drink to that, well maybe I will next week.

Check out the example time on my Synaptics driver. I wonder how that one got past QA.

It also has a mood pad, hmm….