7.12.09
Interview with Greg Gerla
Greg Gerla is a commercial Photographer and Teacher in Calgary Alberta, the following are his thoughts and words of wisdom:
Q: You are a Commercial Photographer in Calgary, can you tell us how that came about?
A: I came to ACAD in 86, not really anticipating that it would be a career. It wasn’t until my final year that I realized I could probably make some money at it. So, after graduation I assisted and the struck out on my own. The rest is history.
Q: How is the Market in Calgary for commercial work?
A: If you are a good shooter the market is good. My philosophy is that if you’ve got a good product, there will be business for you. So I’ve never really pulled my hair out wondering if there are enough jobs out there. I know that if I’m a good shooter and if I provide clients with good products there will be jobs out there for me to shoot.
Q: Tell us about your journey getting to this level of success as a commercial photographer
A: A lot of ulcer medication, ha ha ha, no it’s good because there are great aspects to having your own business, having your own photo business. But it’s tough; the market now days is a bit tougher so you have to really have a passion for it. That’s what gets you through the tough times. That’s what keeps you waking up the next morning and going to the studio, even though you haven’t had a job in the last three weeks, maybe there will be one today. You have to have the passion for it, it’s a lot of bloody hard work, but it’s a great job.
Q: What made you stay primarily in Calgary for your practice?
A: Quality of life. A lot of things that had nothing to do with photography, I like the city, I like the climate (most of the time), and I like the fact that it’s close to the mountains. The people here are nice, the air is clean, and it might not be the center of the photo universe but it really balances my life. As opposed to perhaps going to New York, which would be the center of the photo universe, but having visited New York I just find that I don’t think that I could live in that city.
Q: Would you say that your style has evolved/changed since you first started, and if is has how so?
A: It totally has in some ways and totally hasn’t in others. It’s like your personality, you know people I think as they get older they shift in terms of who they are, and a lot of that has to do with experiences that you’ve gone through, it adds to who you are. Do I shoot the same way that I did when I graduated? No. There are elements of similarity, but I think the work that I do now has just been added to. Every time I look through my camera I’m adding another layer to my experience and my craft. Hopefully that comes through in the shots that I do, and adds to the shot that I’m going to do tomorrow.
Q: Do you enjoy shooting without the pressure of doing it for a client? If so, what kind of personal work do you do?
A: Someone, I can’t remember who, said that the only trouble with commercial photography are the clients. God bless them because they pay for the studio and they put food in my cupboard, but you are hired sometimes for a job that is someone else’s vision. There are times when you have to put your insight and artistic creativity on the backbench, and just give them what they want. That’s why it’s important to do your own work, to exercise that aspect of your creativity. So I find that as much input that I can have on a commercial job, I’ll take it. When I don’t get that input, that’s when I’ll come into the studio on the weekend and do my own shots.
Q: Would you ever consider showing these works in a gallery setting, if you haven’t already?
A: Oh absolutely, sometimes they make their way into my portfolio that I show clients, but I have a fine art practice and I try to have at least one show a year where that work comes out.
Q: Where do you usually show it?
A: Last year I had a show at Axis Gallery, as well as here at the studio, we transformed our studio for two weeks into a gallery. We are going to be doing that again this spring. If there is opportunity for a group show, like every other year ACAD has a faculty show. I participate in that, so I like to hang whereever I’m invited to.
Q: You share a studio with two other people, do you guys ever collaborate?
A: Oh yeah it’s great. It’s such a benefit to have people to bounce ideas off of, and to get some good creative feedback on my work. We do actually collaborate a lot; we try to have work in our front lobby area that’s purely personal that we’ve shot together to have almost like a mini show. We each get one piece hung on the wall.
Q: What inspires you? Are there any photographers out there that influence your work?
A: Edward Steichen is my hero, in terms of the work he’s done and the things that he’s put together. I’m drawn to historical shooters, or any of the big names, Avedon, David Bailey, and Helman Newton. Painters also inspire me and other artists you have the ability to see things their own way or to capture light their own way. I try to take it all in and distill it.
Q: How would you describe the photography scene in Calgary?
A: Could be worse, could be better. The great thing about the art college is that there’s a constant influx of new blood, and that is healthy for the industry. I would like to see Calgary and the community in general paying a little more attention to photography. I wish there were more shows, I wish there were more exhibitions from big name shooters that came through, and I wish corporate companies were actively purchasing photography for their art collections in their offices and their hallways. But that said it’s better than it was and that’s a good sign, and hopefully it will continue to get better. Photography is getting a little more respected at least in terms of being considered an art form, where as two decades ago that wasn’t the case. If it keeps moving in that direction then that’s a good thing.
Q: What’s next? What’s in store for you and your practice in the future?
A: Well, onward and upward, my whole mandate ever since I became a pro was to try and do better this year than I did the year before. Whether that’s in terms if income or new equipment, or an additional exhibition, or just being gratified by my personal work. I’m always trying to push myself to get a little bit further, do a little bit more, and maybe learn a little bit more that I didn’t know last year. So that’s always the case, just pushing and hopefully always growing.
Q: What kind of tips do you have for the up and coming photographers in Calgary?
A: Passion is the main thing. Be passionate and care about what you do. Don’t be discouraged, you grow in adversity. If you find yourself blocked creatively or you haven’t had a job come through, that’s when you can really start to grow as an artist and a business person. Keep at it, keep working hard and don’t loose your passion.
Q: Any last words of wisdom?
A: Time flies, if you’re a student enjoy it. Carry your camera with you and use it to find inspiration.
You can find more info and some of Greg's Work here: http://www.greggerla.com/
Interview with Audrey Smith
Audrey Smith is a Teacher and Artist practicing in Calgary Alberta, she is out to change the world with art and an Organization called R.E.S.U.L.T.S Canada. Read her interview to hear how.
Q:You are an active volunteer with RESULTS Canada, can you give us a little background information on the Organization? What is RESULTS Canada and what do they do?
A: RESULTS Canada in an NGO/lobby group that operates in five countries. The work that they do is to inform governments of worthwhile ways to commit funding to those that live in extreme poverty.
The kind of work they focus on are the conditions of poverty such as sanitation, water, education, and combating epidemics that are easy to fight with simple treatment like tuberculosis.
They focus the work anywhere in the world that people live on less that one dollar a day, like lots of countries in Africa. But there are lots of other places in the world where people live on less than a dollar a day.
Q: How long have you been actively participating with the organization and what sparked your interest to join?
A: I have been connected with it on one way or another for four years. A friend actually made me aware of it and it seemed like such a treat to be connected with people who are doing something about world problems in a direct and effective way
Q: You are an Art Teacher as well as a practicing artist. It must have seemed natural to establish Pottery to End Poverty to enhance fundraising opportunities for RESULTS Canada. Can you tell us what Pottery to End Poverty is, and what inspired you to bring art to RESULTS Canada?
A: A lot of the work of RESULTS is writing letters to politicians and that is really effective but, my work is to make art and to make art in community. It’s important to me to establish community and as I was working to prepare for a major fundraiser, I had the image of pottery on the tables with grain in the pots. It came out of a deep respect of the art forms of many of the countries we work with. Their art making is powerful, and it isn’t less than in any way, than the work we do. And so it felt like a natural collaboration to make pots and especially pots that honored the pottery making that happens in a lot of countries, and to do that in community. I think that we give because we need to give, not because they need us to give. I think that we need to make art for our health, and celebrating that art making in a communal effort is really exciting.
Q: Can you comment on the success of Pottery to End Poverty thus far?
A: Well I think It’s successful because it just keeps morffing into whatever form is appropriate for the year. We’ve done it for 3 years now and it’s different every year. I think to me if it stayed the same some people might call that success, but that isn’t for me. It has to fit into my life and it has to work in a way that fits into the lives of whomever wants to contribute. Different people have different time and different energy.
Q: Do you think Art is a strong tool to augment social and ethical change? If so, do you think that power is overlooked, or celebrated?
A: I think it’s a core, a very powerful tool for health, and I think it’s a powerful tool to express what needs to be said in ways that sometimes words can’t accomplish. I think that lots of people are doing that and I’m excited to see the incredible impact that artwork has had, and is having to change the world. But I think it is also really important that we make art for ourselves, and I think that is being overlooked. Our health is actually not that great in terms of our spiritual health, and I think our art making gets lost in our sophistication.
Q: In your personal practice as an Artist is it important to you that your work carries Ethical weight, for example does it comment on social conditions, or lend awareness to specific issues?
A: Sometimes. I think sometimes it’s important for me to submit to the art making and not require of it any pre-decided idea. It’s like Gloria Steinem once said, “Art making is political because it’s an expression of self, and that will end up being political.” I think that there are some artists like Chris Jordan that strive to make work that is intensely political and it’s wonderful. But that’s not always how i work. I guess one of the political aspects of my art making, in a way, is that its made in community a lot. And that is an important part of the art making, to do it in collaberation, working together and getting people together in community. So far I’ve made a lot in community so my art making and my teaching are mixed a lot more. In a way, that process has an affect that in some ways is political.
Q: Are artists of all mediums able to join and contribute with their work to Pottery to End Poverty, be it photography or Jewelry etc?
A: Absolutely, and that one of the most exciting things, watching people come in and contribute, and seeing how people respond to it.
Q: RESULTS Canada, and Pottery to End poverty are both organizations composed of a very strong sense of community, how can others who want to help get involved?
A: Anybody who would like to be part of it can connect with me, and they can be part of it by actually coming and making art in community. What has also worked well is for people to work in anyway that is comfortable for them, and then to come and bring their artwork in. Any work that shows up is welcome!
Anyone interested in RESULTS Canada can find more information at their website: http://www.results-resultats.ca/main/default-en.aspx
27.8.09
25.8.09
13.8.09
4.8.09
Musicians From the Crescent HTS Show and Sale 09
These musicians are:
Chris Gerhan
Rueben Bolluck
and
Katelyn Steinwand
These kids are ones to watch, if you have not heard their music I absolutely recommend you look them up on the web, you will not be disappointed, you will be amazed.
14.4.09
Poem I found
This is a poem I found in The Artist's Way , by Julia Cameron.
I think it is one of the most beautiful things I have ever read. I think it is also written by her.
WORDS FOR IT
I wish I could take language
And fold it like cool, moist rags.
I would lay words on your forehead.
I would wrap words on your wrists.
" There, there," my words would say-
Or something better.
I would ask them to murmur,
"Hush" and "Shh, shh, it's all right."
I would ask them to hold you all night.
I wish I could take language
And daub and sooth and cool
Where fever blisters and burns,
Where fever turns yourself against you.
I wish I could take language
And heal the words that were the wounds
You have no names for.
J.C
I think it is one of the most beautiful things I have ever read. I think it is also written by her.
WORDS FOR IT
I wish I could take language
And fold it like cool, moist rags.
I would lay words on your forehead.
I would wrap words on your wrists.
" There, there," my words would say-
Or something better.
I would ask them to murmur,
"Hush" and "Shh, shh, it's all right."
I would ask them to hold you all night.
I wish I could take language
And daub and sooth and cool
Where fever blisters and burns,
Where fever turns yourself against you.
I wish I could take language
And heal the words that were the wounds
You have no names for.
J.C
3.3.09
MADT written Narrative
This week our assignment was to write a short story/narrative for MADT. I chose to write a poem/folk tale/story, about the Sun and the Moon. It is a bit of a sad love story, but at the same time it is about the eternal power of love. Here it is, take a read!
______________________________________
The Earth was alive and vibrant humming with the steady energy of life within its embrace. Rivers ran through the forest branching like veins running across the land to reach the tide, the blood of the earth on a journey to return to the heart.
Only 6,584 days the Earth had lived, but it was strong and beaming with vivacity. During the day the Sun perched atop the clouds. Like golden strands falling to the ground, his rays would fold gently over the hills, feeding the trees, the grass and awakening the creatures of the earth.
During the night the Moon sat suspended in the sparkle of the stars, glowing with a gentle ambience above all those submerged in deep slumber. She was a guardian of the earth, a night light in the dark, a listener of dreams as she sat alone in the inky black sky.
The Sun and the Moon took turns sustaining the earth during their well suited shifts, without the slightest knowledge of one another's existence. The tides of the ocean whispered rumors of the Moon to the Sun, he imagined his blue sky bleeding into black and a gentle glow hovering above the horizon reflecting in the calm of the ocean, but merely in a day dream.
On the 6,585th day the Sun shone, dancing within the clouds when something occurred. He began turning black, at first it was like a small bite out of his side, but then it was completely enveloping. It continued until he appeared to the Earth like a black circle with a flaming outer ring.
An eclipse, the Sun and the Moon had met for the first time. Complete opposites, they raged with curiosity towards one another. As they told tales of the stars and the blue sky, the Earth was covered with soft night, the birds fell calm and silent, and the bees took rest in the crevices of fragrant flower petals.
As quickly as the Moon had been drawn to the sun she began to slip away. The Sun wasn't ready for her to leave, and she wanted to stay. But the Moon guards the night and the sun sustains the day.
Destiny had written the Moon’s place within the stars and the Sun’s within the blue day sky. Even the strength of love could not switch the order of the universe. Accepting their duties and reluctantly claiming their skies, deeply heartbroken they separated.
The Sun spent the days dreaming of the night, and the Moon spent the nights dreaming of the day. Love cannot change the order of the universe, but it can travel the world in miraculous ways.
The Moon sent messages to the Sun through the ocean. With the tides and the waves, it spoke soft gentle words to the Sun. As the Sun rose in the East bathed half in the sea, the Moons messages found him. Filled with bliss he turned the sky pink, orange and red and smiled as the earth awoke. In the West when he set he plunged into the sea with a glow of purple and red and spoke to the ocean, sending a lullaby to the Moon.
The Moon would receive word and would glow with unquenchable luminosity. Sending electric sparks to the stars, they shone together like voices in a choir. With brilliance they decorated the sky. Excitedly the Moon would tell stories of the night to the ocean and immense waves would crash against the beach.
The Sun and the Moon did not know when they would meet again, but they knew that they would. So they spoke through the soft tides and the gentle rains, they fought with the lightning and the deep growl of thunder. They made up with the soft sigh of the wind and waited for their reunion.
After all the night cannot live without the day.
_____________________________________
p.s. I was inspired by the fantastic natural phenomenon of the allusive eclipse, which only happens every 6,585 days. I imagined the Sun and Moon meeting as opposites do, and falling in love, an how much they would miss each other waiting for the next eclipse. Also I wanted to incorporate the fact that the Moons gravitational pull is known to effect the tides. I'm not sure how to turn this into a film, but I suspect it could either be very cute and bright, a childlike animation. Or it could swing the other way and be a very profound yet gentle, more adult love story. I'm not too sure, we will see where the wind blows.
______________________________________
The Earth was alive and vibrant humming with the steady energy of life within its embrace. Rivers ran through the forest branching like veins running across the land to reach the tide, the blood of the earth on a journey to return to the heart.
Only 6,584 days the Earth had lived, but it was strong and beaming with vivacity. During the day the Sun perched atop the clouds. Like golden strands falling to the ground, his rays would fold gently over the hills, feeding the trees, the grass and awakening the creatures of the earth.
During the night the Moon sat suspended in the sparkle of the stars, glowing with a gentle ambience above all those submerged in deep slumber. She was a guardian of the earth, a night light in the dark, a listener of dreams as she sat alone in the inky black sky.
The Sun and the Moon took turns sustaining the earth during their well suited shifts, without the slightest knowledge of one another's existence. The tides of the ocean whispered rumors of the Moon to the Sun, he imagined his blue sky bleeding into black and a gentle glow hovering above the horizon reflecting in the calm of the ocean, but merely in a day dream.
On the 6,585th day the Sun shone, dancing within the clouds when something occurred. He began turning black, at first it was like a small bite out of his side, but then it was completely enveloping. It continued until he appeared to the Earth like a black circle with a flaming outer ring.
An eclipse, the Sun and the Moon had met for the first time. Complete opposites, they raged with curiosity towards one another. As they told tales of the stars and the blue sky, the Earth was covered with soft night, the birds fell calm and silent, and the bees took rest in the crevices of fragrant flower petals.
As quickly as the Moon had been drawn to the sun she began to slip away. The Sun wasn't ready for her to leave, and she wanted to stay. But the Moon guards the night and the sun sustains the day.
Destiny had written the Moon’s place within the stars and the Sun’s within the blue day sky. Even the strength of love could not switch the order of the universe. Accepting their duties and reluctantly claiming their skies, deeply heartbroken they separated.
The Sun spent the days dreaming of the night, and the Moon spent the nights dreaming of the day. Love cannot change the order of the universe, but it can travel the world in miraculous ways.
The Moon sent messages to the Sun through the ocean. With the tides and the waves, it spoke soft gentle words to the Sun. As the Sun rose in the East bathed half in the sea, the Moons messages found him. Filled with bliss he turned the sky pink, orange and red and smiled as the earth awoke. In the West when he set he plunged into the sea with a glow of purple and red and spoke to the ocean, sending a lullaby to the Moon.
The Moon would receive word and would glow with unquenchable luminosity. Sending electric sparks to the stars, they shone together like voices in a choir. With brilliance they decorated the sky. Excitedly the Moon would tell stories of the night to the ocean and immense waves would crash against the beach.
The Sun and the Moon did not know when they would meet again, but they knew that they would. So they spoke through the soft tides and the gentle rains, they fought with the lightning and the deep growl of thunder. They made up with the soft sigh of the wind and waited for their reunion.
After all the night cannot live without the day.
_____________________________________
p.s. I was inspired by the fantastic natural phenomenon of the allusive eclipse, which only happens every 6,585 days. I imagined the Sun and Moon meeting as opposites do, and falling in love, an how much they would miss each other waiting for the next eclipse. Also I wanted to incorporate the fact that the Moons gravitational pull is known to effect the tides. I'm not sure how to turn this into a film, but I suspect it could either be very cute and bright, a childlike animation. Or it could swing the other way and be a very profound yet gentle, more adult love story. I'm not too sure, we will see where the wind blows.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)