reâ‹…bus [ree-buhs] Origins: 1595–1605; rÄ“bus by things (abl. pl. of rÄ“s), in phrase nÅn verbÄ«s sed rÄ“bus not by words but by things.–noun, plural -busâ‹…es.1. a representation of a word or phrase by pictures, symbols, etc., that suggest that word or phrase or its syllables.2. a piece of writing containing many such representations.The Rebus Project is a collective portrait of San Francisco assembled over a 30-month period by photographers and writers who live in the city. Conceived by Jasper Sanidad and hammered out over beers and shots with five other founding contributors at The Tempest Bar and Restaurant on Natoma Street, Rebus is a multi-dimensional urban documentary with the aim of defining San Francisco beyond its accepted pop-culture parameters.Dividing the city into 30 square quarter-mile grids, Rebus observers converge every month on a designated square to explore, photograph, study and document the life of that area over a one-month period. The project began in August 2009 with an exploration of the Mission, the Castro and parts of Upper Market—all of which fell within the first grid. In September, the grid encompassed areas of the Outer Sunset and Ocean Beach. In October the Financial District, Moscone Center and the Embarcadero. San Francisco is a city of small, but distinct neighborhoods in close proximity—thus each grid will reflect in microcosm the diversity of the city as a whole.When, in February 2012, the last quarter mile is documented, the project will present a classic rebus combining pictures and words to form a single, unifying narrative and a wide-angle mosaic of San Francisco.~ Text by Al McKeeTo learn more about the Rebus Project, San Francisco, please visit http://www.rebus-project.com/.
Notebook / Misc
Notebook: For Jasper...
February 23rd, 2010 - 1:30AMFighting about art is like cocaine. Chasing that high is the same thing to me. Looking at photographs and drinking beer in our usual corner became a ritual, the prints all smelled like cigarettes when we were through.
It took me a long time to realize it, but one night it just dawned on me, and of course this epiphany came while I was considering just how wrong someone else was about someone else’s photograph. I love fighting about it almost as much as I love creating it. And when I provoke someone about it after I get a few beers in me, it’s only because I enjoy it so much.
For More About The Rebus Project, San Francisco, please visit http://www.rebus-project.com/.
2nd Annual Fine Art Photography Auction
Notebook: Happiness Is Never Grand...
"Why don't you let them see Othello instead?"
"I've told you; it's old. Besides, they couldn't understand it."
Yes, that was true. He remembered how Helmholtz had laughed at Romeo and Juliet.
"Well then," he said, after a pause, "something new that's like Othello, and that they could understand."
"That's what we've all been wanting to write," said Helmholtz, breaking a long silence.
"And it's what you never will write," said the Controller. "Because, if it were really like Othello nobody could understand it, however new it might be. And if were new, it couldn't possibly be like Othello."
"Why not?"
"Yes, why not?" Helmholtz repeated.
He too was forgetting the unpleasant realities of the situation. Green with anxiety and apprehension, only Bernard remembered them; the others ignored him.
"Why not? Because our world is not the same as Othello's world. You can't make flivvers without steel and you can't make tragedies without social instability. The world's stable now. People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can't get. They're well off; they're safe; they're never ill; they're not afraid of death; they're blissfully ignorant of passion and old age; they're plagued with no mothers or fathers; they've got no wives, or children, or lovers to feel strongly about; they're so conditioned that they practically can't help behaving as they ought to behave. And if anything should go wrong, there's soma. Which you go and chuck out of the window in the name of liberty, Mr. Savage. Liberty!" He laughed. "Expecting Deltas to know what liberty is! And now expecting them to understand Othello! My good boy!"
The Savage was silent for a little. "All the same," he insisted obstinately, "Othello's good, Othello's better than those feelies."
"Of course it is," the Controller agreed. "But that's the price we have to pay for stability. You've got to choose between happiness and what people used to call high art. We've sacrificed the high art. We have the feelies and the scent organ instead."
"But they don't mean anything."
"They mean themselves; they mean a lot of agreeable sensations to the audience."
"But they're told by an idiot."
The Controller laughed. "You're not being very polite to your friend, Mr. Watson. One of our most distinguished Emotional Engineers"
"But he's right," said Helmholtz gloomily. "Because it is idiotic. Writing when there's nothing to say"
"Precisely. But that requires the most enormous ingenuity. You're making flivvers out of the absolute minimum of steel; works of art out of practically nothing but pure sensation."
The Savage shook his head. "It all seems to me quite horrible."
"Of course it does. Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness never grand."
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
Notebook: Fine Art Gicleé Prints
Fine Art Gicleé PrintsAfter careful thought, much consideration, and a bit of persuasion from friends and family, I have decided to make available fine art gicleé prints of my original drawings.All gicleé prints are reproduced to the same dimensions as the original drawing. Prints are made using Epson UltraChrome K3 archival pigment inks and printed on 100% acid free watercolor paper to ensure maximum longevity.In addition to my Silver Gelatin prints, Gicleé prints may be ordered through this website using Paypal. A Paypal account is not required to place an order. Please do not hesitate to contact me directly if you would prefer to make your purchase off line.While in my own very humble opinion nothing can ever compare to the originals, rest assured, these digital reproductions are of the highest quality available. Of course, if you would like to inquire about purchasing the original drawing, feel free to drop me a line.To view all drawings available for purchase as fine art prints, please visit the drawing archive:http://www.josephszymanski.com/prints/drawings/.
Chillin'Productions Party
Chillin' Productions 11th Anniversary Party in San Francisco...Featuring 180 Painters/Photographers, 80 fashion Designers, andtwo pieces by yours truly...
Live Painting by:Steve Javiel ( www.stevejaviel.blogspot.com)Daniel J. Valadez (www.danieljvaladez.com)Ian Ross (www.ianrossart.com)
June 13, 2009 - 8:00pm-2:00amMezzanine - 444 Jessie Street, SF CA 94103http://www.mezzaninesf.com$7 at the door - 21 with ID
Notebook: Will Photograph For Food - Obama and the Arts
"Homeowners, banks, Detroit—everyone wants a bailout. But President Obama will need to invest serious money, and time, boosting the arts, too." - Jeremy McCarter | NEWSWEEKIt's an interesting concept to say the least. Everyone else gets a bailout. Wall Street got $700 billion and they don't even make anything, save for manufactured wealth. Why not the artists? Or more importantly, funding to offset the already scarce private donors and programs that took a huge hit when the markets went sideways.Most would say that the last thing on our minds at this point should be the arts. I beg to differ. Art is a lively hood for a great many people in this country, just like working for GM or Chrysler. It's also a huge industry, one that suffers just as much, if not more so, during difficult economic times.Let's come at it from another direction, just for sake of argument, and without putting my politics too far out there. The annual budget for the National Endowment for the Arts is around $130 million. If the Pentagon could be persuaded to sell off just one of their F/A-22 Raptor fighter jets, with a price tag of $133 million, we could double the NEA's funding over night. Hell, let's go for broke and sell off two...Read the entire article, "Will Act For Food, Obama and the Arts" at Newsweek.com.
Lost In Translation: Autocord Repair Manual...
Disassembly of Front Cover and Shutter Holder:1. Tear off front cover leather -A,B, (2136,2137) take off four setscrews (9004) and the M.X. changing knob (2132) so that the front cover set (219 set) may be taken off.2. Open the back cover and take out the light shield barrel (1034), shutter nut (2141) and shutter and also disconnect the soldered portions.3. Take off successively the focus adjusting washer (2140), reset ring (2020), shutter seat (2017), charge ring washer (2018) and shutter charge ring (2019).Adjust shutter after the shutter being assembled:Charge the shutter with the focusing lever being set at the near or closeup distance. If it fails to be charged, lift little by little the crank arm adjustment plate so as to select the charge point and then check if the reset ring arm is in contact with the shutter lever when the former is charged. Adjust the overcharge at the infinity position and confirm this adjustment at the near position also. If the adjustment is not sufficient, make further adjustment by means of the adjustment plate.
The Reassembly, Part #2
Post Disassembly, the Leica IIIf I snagged off Ebay is starting to shape up. Picked up a 3.5cm f/3.5 lens and a multi-finder off Ebay as well. Up next is to order a new leather covering.If you ever have a camera in need of a new covering, check out cameraleather.com. The web site is pretty dated, but this guy has everything from classic black pebble calfskin to red lizard skin coverings, if that's your bag. It's a pretty simple and cost effective way to bring an old camera back to life.It's difficult to tell from the photograph, but the chrome is pitting badly on most of the top plate, so I'll probably end up stripping the chrome, and re-painting the body in black lacquer. Mechanically the camera is in great shape after I re-built the shutter and cleaned out the 50 years worth of dirt.Have a look through the Leica IIIF tag to see a few images I've shot with it so far...
"Change Has Come To America"
I have gone to bed with such a deep feeling of shame more nights than I care to remember in these past eight years. On November 4th, I fell asleep with the hope that our nation and it's people can some how dig ourselves out of the colossal hole that has been dug."This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:""Yes, we can." - Barack Obama
The Disassembly, Part #1
Leica iiic, factory converted to a iiif. Purchased from Ebay in a non-functioning condition. Stripped the camera, rebuilt the escapement, cleaned and lubed all the gearing, now the shutter fires like butter. Stay tuned for the re-assembly...
Notebook: Las Vegas, Nevada
In hindsight, there is something a little unsettling, at least to me, about hopping a plane to Las Vegas on a Friday night with all of eighteen dollars in my pocket and a handful of film in the bag, though a free ride helped stem the discomfort, and a hotel room twice the size of my apartment would alleviate the rest, and nothing makes photographs quite like the most ridiculous city ever created by man, woman or god, so it wasn't as though I could turn down the offer.Both white trash and new money were out in full force, Elvis was, as a matter of fact, in several buildings, lounge lizards and blue hairs, pumping the slot machines like rats hitting the feeder bar for another tasty food pellet, and just when I thought I had seen it all, in strolled a young woman in white with full bridal party in tow, groom and groomsmen dressed to the nines, they made their vows to one another right then and there, in a shopping mall food court.“Who are these people? These faces? Where did they come from? They look like caricatures of used car dealers from Dallas, and sweet Jesus, there are a hell of a lot of them at 4:30 on a Sunday morning. Still humping the American dream.†- Hunter S. ThompsonThanks Doc, for the Vegas bender...
Starting From Scratch...
It's long overdue. Time for a house clearing and some major reorganization of presence on the web.The openorigins.com site will continue to function as is for the time being. I will continue to post in a somewhat regular fashion, but there will be significantly less new content being published. The new site, www.josephszymanski.com, will now host all of my personal work, while gradually the origins site will be phased out and re-vamped into something completely different. What that is I'm not quite sure, but I have a few ideas cooking.The new feed address is http://feeds.feedburner.com/MostlyPhotography.. The origins feed will stay the same for now, though eventually it will most likely forward here. I encourage everyone who is subscribe to update to the new address. I'll send out some more reminders on this over the next few weeks. If you wish to subscribe via email, visit the Subscribe page.A good deal of the static content here is the same, with a few updates, additions and minor changes. The fine art prints section has been completely overhauled. Check out the print sets page for custom image sets.Some notes on code. I have done very little debugging for Internet Explorer and make no promises that it will function perfectly, or even properly. If it doesn't work, download a real browser instead of an over inflated piece of bloat-ware like IE.As always, enjoy...
Five Reasons To Buy Art
I do my best to keep my politics off the web and away from my art, but frankly, George W. Bush is an imbecile and a boob. That said, we here in the states did get a tax rebate thanks to him. There are no jobs, health care, no affordable housing, and we’re spending billions searching for phantom WMDs, but we got a rebate. A whole $600, part of the economic stimulus package of George W. and the rest of the right wingers and schmucks calling the shots. Just Brilliant, thanks guys…Rather than waste all that cold hard cash at Wall Mart and Costco like they hope you will, I suggest a more enlightened approach. Buy some art. Here’s why…1. Art is one of those peculiar things that most everybody loves, but nowhere near enough people actually support it. Do yourself a favor and support an artist, I promise that you’ll enjoy the feeling you get almost as much as the art itself.2. Most everything in this world is fleeting, nothing lasts forever, except art. It may not be popular, it may be dated, it may not be worth a fortune, but it will always have a place in the world.3. Art is an investment. Again, it may not be worth a fortune, chances are you aren’t buying the next “Starry Nightâ€. However, nearly all art will appreciate over time.4. The process itself can be an enjoyable one. It is no myth that artists are often peculiar, eccentric and abnormal folks. If nothing else, purchasing a piece directly from the artist will be incredibly entertaining.5. WalMart, Costco, Sony and Microsoft do not need anymore of your hard earned money. Honestly, please don’t give it to them, they have enough already. Do any of us really need a 50 inch plasma screen TV anyway? By a piece of art instead, they have better warranties.
Notes: March 4th, 2008
The woman at the coffee house never understands, too much already rolling around in her head I suppose, waiting in line with the rest of the addicts looking for the afternoon fix to keep things moving, to keep the day moving along, waiting in line with minimum wagers behind the counter taking orders and giving attitude… “…could I have a small coffee in a large cup please?†and minimum wager with glassy eyes and furled brow wondering back at me about why I’m asking for things not on the wall, because if it’s not on the wall it doesn’t really exist, so “I’ll have to charge you for a large†she says and makes a face and waits for me to answer, holding up the line of addicts waiting for a fix…“I don’t want a large, I would like a small, in a large cup…â€â€œWell, the price of cream and sugar is part of the coffee†she says being overtly visibly frustrated and annoyed with the un-ending line of addicts piling up making her day more miserable by the second quite perturbed that someone has asked for something thats not on the wall, if only they just stuck to what was on the wall, I can make a half-caf skinny mocha whatever with foam because thats on the wall, but a small coffee in a large cup…“I don’t want cream†I reply, “or sugar. I would like a small coffee, in a container that is large-ish or larger than what you normally put a small coffee into, nothing more, just room, the coffee needs room, that’s all, I just need the room.â€Glassy eyed miserable minimum wager blinked and paused,… and thought about things for a minute, I watched the wheels turn in her head and could see that things were not going well for her at that very moment what with the line of addicts waiting for a fix, and so I gave up and ordered a large coffee, paid for the large coffee in a large cup and dumped out enough to leave me with a small coffee in a large cup, because the woman at the coffee shop just never understands.I just like the room…
The Disappearance Of Group M35
Some who read this are already aware of the abrupt disappearance of Group M35, but I feel it is necessary to address the photographic community as a whole concerning the events that have unfolded in recent months.In November of 2003, Charles Clark and myself began what was to eventually become Group M35, quite literally, in our living room. The intent was to build a place for those of us who took great care and pride in our work. A community where an artist could feel at home and find support from like minded photographers. It was our goal to provide a place for the work that does not belong in the archive of Corbis or Getty.The result, unfortunately, bares little resemblance to the original idea. The dishonest and fraudulent practices of Charles Clark while at the helm have destroyed the aspirations of a talented group of individuals. It has been made overwhelmingly clear that Group M35 is no longer and in fact never was a viable entity. The New York and San Francisco studios has been shutdown, and nearly all of the members have resigned, and their respective material returned.I cannot help but feel responsible for the current state of things. Many of the issues that have lead us to this point I have been aware of for sometime. I wanted to believe that we would one day be a successful self-sustaining organization. Unfortunately, that desire blinded me to the reality of the situation, and like the rest of those in the group, I had no idea just how deep the rabbit hole really goes. I only wish that I had voiced my opinion earlier. Perhaps much of what we are now dealing with could have been avoided.I am ashamed at what has become of the agency, and appalled by the manner in which all of you have been treated by Charles Clark. You have been cheated by the very person who was entrusted to protect you. Your generosity, your trust and your work has been taken advantage of, and for that there is no excuse. I offer all of you my most sincere apologies for the catastrophe that this has become. I hope that we can put these unfortunate events behind us and that some good may come out of the relationships made in the last three years.Perhaps the most disturbing fact, this is not the first racket that Charles Clark has pulled on un-suspecting photographers. His sociopathic and destructive behavior goes back decades and is well documented. I urge all of you out there in the industry, spread the word, and steer clear of this individual.I wish all of the former members and visitors to groupm35.com the best, and thank you for your support and dedication to the group. Once more I offer my deepest apologies for all that has transpired.Sincerely,Joseph SzymanskiFormer Member, Group M35 / Webmaster, www.groupm35.com