dave's blog

Artist Spotlight 2:Henry Fox Talbot

davidmcclure — Mon, 04 May 2009 04:52:26 +0000

Henry Fox Talbot is a photographer that also took black and white photos, this Castle photo exposes its rich historic history. I think if he was to take a color picture, it would still be good just will not have the same impact. i realize he did not have a choice in taking a picture in color, but thats a good thing.

This photo of a door way and a broom is a documentary and testament of how life was, it reminds me not to take the conviences of life for granted, even if its a not.

Artist spotlight:Edward Steichan

davidmcclure — Mon, 04 May 2009 04:42:37 +0000

Edward Stiechan is a photograper, I was at Museum of Photographic Art and I saw this exibit, I like the style Edward has in his work. In any photo you can see that he captures the subjects in a dramatic style. Black and white photos tend to do that, but it seems that the subject was meant to be in a black and white photo.

This photo is great because in black and white the wrinkles are much more detailed. The age is moreprevelant of the subject and his face and beard are more balanced in black and white.

The skyscraper is very dramatic the perspective makes it look taller. The windows and corners are better seen in black and white. I enjoyed the exibit, its a shame they only had several pieces of his work.

trip to botanical gardens

davidmcclure — Mon, 04 May 2009 04:17:37 +0000

I went to botanical gardens to see what pictures i could take. Its cold and rainy and i got lost looking for it. The light was poor because of the clouds, but i thought since I am already nearby I should look at it.

These flowers showed good color even though it was cloudy. I like the texture of the leaves as well as the shape.

These look like bells, they look a little dull. However the shape and the way they hang off the tree looks nice. The yellow color was warm enough to make the picture look okay in spite of the rain. soon the sky got worse and it started getting cold and windy. Weird because at this time of year it should be warmer ans sunny. The tour was cut short because the rain got worse.

Indian Rock

davidmcclure — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 22:10:24 +0000

Indian Rock, is the place for young native girls who are ready to transcend into womanhood. The site was of great significansce to the native people, a rock that sits high atop a hill that overlooked much of San Diego county, what better place to have a comming of age ritual than on top of a hill with the ceenter being a proud strong rock. Sadly the site has been heavily developed by track homes. The view is still amazing but one must imagine what it would have been liked before it was settled and developed.

What a vast area you can see from up here, it was almost like being on top of the world. Preservation of this site is heavy even for the small area that it cover compared to the housing all around it, it still holds a great deal of significance for Native people, it also has many native plants, which we learned about on our tour there. the thing I remember most was how the native plants developed there own way to deal with weeds, where native plants were there were no weeds, amazing. The plants do this also without damaging there nieghboring native plants. Its beautiful what we could learn as people from the plants.

Rincon Planting

davidmcclure — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 21:53:53 +0000

Rincon reservation, is a place near the foothills, geeen and beautiful. The class visit was to take pictures of the site, but also to plant trees and plants. Yep were gonna get in the dirt and work. However I really enjoyed the experience, I like planting and mving dirt around, it gives me a sense of accomplishment. When I planted the first plants digging a small hole and placing the little plants into the ground, it was a great feeling. I think I planted some six to eight plants. Looking around at the green hills and the lush trees, I got a clear sense of the power of nature as well as the gentleness. I admit though that planting does have some dangers, not weareing gloves I got a few splinters in my hand, but it’s the price you pay when you work, especially outdoors. The people there were really nice, very welcomming.

Our other purpose was to take pictures of our classmates working outdoors, there were some very enthusiastic people working, it brought to mind a more natural feeling of planting crops for food and a connection to the land and a network with the people all around working on the land.

I think that though we were there for a reason there was more to it, being exposed to how native people lived and the plants that they became attached to.

Pechanga

davidmcclure — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:55:41 +0000

The Pechanga reservation, a place right next to the casino, it was more like a discovery tour than a visit to a reservation. I car pooled with leslie, Emily, Lauren. We parked near a gas station and jumped onto a shuttle bus. Willy was our guide for the reservation,the first place we went to was a great oak tree(costal live oak tree). It was enormous, and had a branchdiameter that made itlook like a giant hut. Interestingly the tree is used as like others there for classes. It really was a beautiful and remarkable tree, especially since the roots are on several feet underground and don’t spread. Other locations likethe pond have intersting plant life, one plant is used in basket weaving. The wooden huts are like time portals to bygone era. i would like to bak some time and check it out again soon.

Amongst the other cool objects I saw at pechanga the sweay hut was really cool, it wasn’t like on television. The Wood huts were also different than on television, I always pictured Indian huts made from animal hide.

above is the sweat lodge. Below is one of the huts.

Wild AnimalPark

davidmcclure — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:39:13 +0000

The drive to the wild animal park was very scenic and convient, only about twenty minutes away from where I live. The scenery consisited of emerald colored hills and small ranches. When I got there and met up with my class, Maren gave me a ticket, she was our giude through the animal park, who alerted us to the elephant that was going to give birth soon. From there she talked about the imprtance of learning about our enviroment and getting legislation for protecting the endarged enviorment here in San Diego. We looked at alot of the plants native and non-native that played important roles in the ecology in california. I was then given a plant to try and eat by Deborah, our Professor, called indian lettuce. Guess what it tasted like lettuce! It was really good. I want to try and plant some in my back yard sometime. After that I had to go to class, unfortunately, but I ran around to look at as many animals as I could on the way out, I will go back sometime soon with my family.

A great view from the garden of the wild animal park.

Sally Mann

davidmcclure — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:40:56 +0000

Photograph artist Sally Mann, she always has a peculiar way of choosing who or what to photograph. I liked these photographs better than the one we saw previously, they were faded and macabre. It reminded me of the old police photographs of jack the ripper victims. I liked the one picture of the girl with her eyes closed, it seemed like death was just a like sleeping peacefully, in contrast to the rotting corpse with the gaping mouth.

I agree with Sally about the art world being fickle, one minute your hot the next your not. In a way it mirrors the a.d.d. personalities of hollywood. It is unfortunate as well because artists fell like they have been passed over if the shows go bad, or get cancelled, however you pick yourself up and move on like she said. I feel that alot of artists that think outside have the best ideas, and try to bring a sense of clarity to obscure subjects.

QUIZ 1

davidmcclure — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:44:23 +0000

Tierra Miguel Farm

davidmcclure — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:33:51 +0000

Tierra Miguel Farm is located between Palomar Mountain and Escondido, bordering Temecula. I left with Leslie and Emily from the San Marcos. The ride was a long one I think it was about 45 minutes. I thaught it would be about 25 to 30 minutes, but it turns out that we went the long way. We arrived late and quickly sat down for a presentation by Beth Ann Levendoski about the farm and how its unique compared to others. I learned that they use only a natural growing process, no chemicals or pesticides. After the presentation the class started taking pictures, the problem was the light was alomost gone, so it was a bit of a scramble to get pictures. We were given a tour by Jonathan and shown some of the crops grown there. A few students tried the vegtables and enjoyed them, the carrots were sweeter than the seemingly mutated manufactured types found in the grocery store. We were only at the farm until a bit after dark. We packed up the gear and headed home . One thing that I learned from the presentation that the two biggest crops grown one is sod. I never considered sod to be a crop, you learn something new everyday.