nickonkenShoptalk

Real Moments, and Spontaneity

Went to an art show party last night for Arielle Pytka, my friend Sacha's sister. You'll find Arielle modeling in a lot of the Roxy campaigns and many others. I enjoyed her work, especially the typography driven pieces.

My director friend Omri(who I collaborate with on a lot of projects ie: The Legend of Santi), got into a conversation with their dad, Joe Pytka who is one of the most famous commercial directors. He's directed over 5,000 commercials in his career. He had some great words of wisdom.

The thing I walked away with, is staying true to spontenaity and real moments which something. It is the element that we as humans connect with in films, and imagery. So many times, big productions get convoluted and art directed to the point where you lose spontenaity of real moments because there's not room to let them happen. It's part of the process. Authentic moments are a big part of my work, and something I want to strive to keep and try to infuse as much as possible into commerical shoots. When I shoot I like to create scenarios and let moments happen, then snap the photograph at the right moment.

The conversation was a good inspiration to keep looking for those moments.

1% Inspiration, 99% Perspiration. The 99% Conference

Just wrapped The 99 Percent Conference here in New York. This conference was about making creative ideas happen, and it was definitely inspiration in that respect. Overall it was great, and a lot of the speakers were inspiring which made it worth it, but I don't feel they connected the dots as much as I would have liked to hear. I was hoping to hear more stories, and methods of how to get from A to B, but it was more so just motivating you to go from A to B without any HOW to get from A to B. How do I move an idea forward by creating a product, business plan, and raise capital to implement? (If any 99% people reading this, that would be my only constructive feedback) Would I go back again? Yeah, if the processes were refined. It would have been great to hear how the speakers went from point A to point B. It was great to be with a group of creative professionals. The branding of the conference was fantastic.

Ok, so that said, I did get a lot of really great nuggets of wisdom. Of which, Here are a few to impart to you that really stuck out to me.

1. "Surround yourself with people that motivate you." -Scott Thomas(Design Director for the Obama Campaign) "You are who you hang out with." -Jason Randall This was a big common thread of the conference, and something that was a great reminder to myself. I've always believed in aligning and spending most of your time with people that motivate and inspire you. It's a key to being successful. Hanging out with people that inspire you to be a better person and motivate you creates a synergy that propels your dreams. What does your close circle of friends look like? In the same respect, how much do you give to inspire others?

2. "Write everything down." -Scott Thomas Another great reminder that makes you commit to getting things done. I recently started writing my to do list down on with a sharpie on a piece of paper. It's definitely helped me to be more productive.

3. "Personal & Professional projects compliment each other." -Ji Lee(Creative Director, Google Labs) This is so true, and something that completely translates into the world of photography. I've always been a big advocator in shooting your own projects. If anything, you are building portfolio work that will get you hired for your vision in the future. Sometimes they will translate into money down the road. (experiencing that now) Ji talked a lot about personal projects and how they are an essential part of the creative journey. They challenge you, and create a personal motivation. They are always fun, and give you a purpose in life even if its for a short period of time. Previous Related Posts: Testing For Your Book, ABS Theory, Expanding your Default

4. "Sharing is Rewarding." -Ji Lee Always the case. Sharing is always personally rewarding. Besides, what goes around comes around. Give and it shall be given to you. I believe that. This blog is a way for me to give back in a broad casted platform. Life in this world gets busy, so gets hard to answer everyones questions as much as I'd like to.

5. "I cannot depend on others to make things happen." -Ji Lee So true. You can only depend on yourself to make things happen. Make the decisions to get'er done! Do Work!

6. "Reduce everything to an action you can do RIGHT now." -Scott Belsky This simplified things for me. Sometimes we get so bogged down in the grand scheme that it gets too overwhelming to even begin. Reducing to a single action that you can do right now make it easy to get that ball rolling.

Slumdog Millionaire

One of my greatest inspirations are great films. I'm sure you've heard the rave about Slumdog Millionaire by this point, and if you haven't then let this be the start. This film for me was hands down one of the most amazing films I've seen. It was amazing in all aspects, but most of all, the cinematography. Every clip from the film was a beautiful photograph. If you've ever photographed in India, you'll know what a crazy place it is to photograph. It reminds me of shooting there. Here are a couple stories from my shoots in India:

http://nickonken.com/Asia/Varanassi/
http://nickonken.com/Asia/SouthIndia/

I'm definitely inspired to push my travel work even further. The soundtrack to Slumdog, was pretty amazing too. A lot of it was by MIA. The story was a wonderful one that kept you on the edge of your seat the whole time? I mean, it's not everyday someone can write a great lovestory based on Who Wants to be a Millionaire..

So, if you haven't seen it, go see it.Watch the trailer here.

Here are a few of some of the beautiful stills from the movie:

A Short Love Story: Stop Motion & 2D Animation

My new friend August Bradley just led me on to this amazing and inspiring stop motion/2D animation. It's a short love story by Carlos Lascano, and music by Sigur Ros. It's a 3 minute movie. Give it a watch. I'm definitely inspired.

A SHORT LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

The Wisdom Book

Andrew Zuckerman created a very inspiring personal project called Wisdom. It's a film where he interviews famous cultural icons and asks them what wisdom is to them. He also does a book of portraits of all the people in the film. The words of wisdom from these folks is truly inspiring. Check it out!

http://www.wisdombook.org/

Pinhole Camera the size of a small trailer.

This video is pretty fascinating. John Chiara builds a pinhole camera that he actually has to go inside to change the film. He drives it to the destination, then has to park the camera. Very interesting to see the process. Check this 7 minute video out:

My Top 3 Graphic/Graphiti Artist Inspirations

These guys all gear towards different directions, but they create amazing art. I love them all for different but similar reasons. They all have very distinct identifyable styles, which is where an artist begins to make their mark. (It's what any artist should be aiming for.) So, here they are not in any particular order.

Banksy:

If you haven't heard of Banksy, he's famous for his thought provoking and unique street graphiti art. The way he integrates the subject of his art with the actual real environment amazes me. I'm sure you've seen his work in one form or another even if you didn't recognize it at first. His style is very graphic, but with a slice of dimension.

Check out his work here: http://www.banksy.co.uk/

Shepard Fairey(Obey Giant):

His most recognized work everyone has seen, and that is his campaign poster of Obama. You might have heard of the brand Obey Giant, which is his brand of art. He's very propaganda oriented as his art is very political. It's more in the form of posters, books, and such. Truley an inspiration.

Check his work and blog here: http://obeygiant.com/

Scott Hanson(iso50):

Scott is an amazing designer that used to do freelance design, and has now created his own brand out of own style of design and his own music. He's got a very vintage graphic style that is mixed with photography. His work also is amazing. His blog that's oriented to graphic design is fantastic.

Check out his work here: http://iso50.com/iso50.html
and blog here: http://blog.iso50.com/
and Music here: http://tychomusic.com/shop/

Vincent Laforet's REVERIE with the new Canon 5DMKII

Just a diversion to the real thing. Head on over to Vincent Laforet's blog to check out the short film he shot with the new Canon 5D MKII. It's pretty unreal. I'm definitely inspired. This video is spreading like wildfire right now.

The film: http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2008/09/22/without-further-ado-reverie/
Backstory and tech specs: http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2008/09/20/something-very-interesting-is-comingboth-to-this-blog-and-to-our-industry/
Behind the Scenes of REVERIE: http://blog.vincentlaforet.com/2008/09/23/behind-the-scenes-video/

Eduardo Srur- Recycle installation

I love Brazilian art. Brazil seems to appreciate and put a big emphasis on art. Most of the art there is very Edgy(for lack of a better word). I just caught wind of this installation on the Method blog. It's a piece by Eduardo Srur that was installed in a river in Sao Paulo. It's pretty fascinating in it's scale and concept.

Check out the whole exhibit on Eduardo's site.

Popping my Virgin America Cherry

I flew up to Seattle for a last minute job this last weekend, and I decided to give the new Virgin America a whirl, and I must say, they are fantastic. All the subtle coolness factors from booking my ticket online with their well designed site and brand, to checking in, and the on plane experience. They are definitely targeting a hip target market. I'm think they are the Apple of the air carrier world.

Here are a few things I liked that give them strong differentiation than the other carriers.
1. Young hip branding. Their brand is simple and strong.
2. Fares are relatively cheaper, especially within the 2 week advance. I flew economy up and first class back down for the same price as United's economy tickets.
3. Check in counters are modern design, and all flat screen computers
4. The gate staff girls are young and highly attractive
5. They were playing pop music at the gate
6. Once on the plane, they have a laid back fun vibe.
7. Attractive female flight attendants
8. Great purple lighting
9. Great leather chair design. From the back they look like Star Wars storm troopers
10. The normal safety video was a funny, witty, and somewhat sarcastic cartoon.
11. The RED entertainment system is a screen on everyone's seat and is touch screen.
12. They use Google Maps to identify where the plane is.
13. They play cool downtempo chill music when the airplane is taxiing.
14. They have electrical plugs in every seat so you can use your computer the whole flight.
15. They will have wifi and ethernet internet access around the end of the summer.
16. The cool looking water bar in the back.
17. They use Method hand soap in the bathrooms.

Those are just some of the subtle differences of the airline. Enough to stand out. I fly quite a bit, and have grown to appreciate these small nuances.

Here are a few photos from the SD750: