Color Spray over Sunglasses
Another shot from the photoshoot with Lifestyle Guru Kristen Gray – taken on Abbot Kinney in Venice, California. Combining the color spray of the faux stained glass with the over the sunglasses glance…
Books Taking Flight
A flight of fancy that feels somber; having laid my father to rest this weekend, I wanted something that could show a little of the feelings… Of course, given his thoughts on putting his pictures online, (NOT a fan), I decided not to do that now.
These books taking flight, at The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles, did make me think of how the memory, the story, of one’s life can take flight- I think that works for me at the moment………..
Dangerously Making Up
Shot from a photoshoot with Devina Narang, one of the pre-eminent Indian make-up artists who also travels to NYC & LA frequently to work. This visit, she was in Los Angeles working the LA Fashion Show, including the event at the Beverly Hilton that I shot at.
If you are looking to walk around the fire in Mumbai anytime soon, she would be the makeup artist you would want for your special day…
Candleholding Columns
Tea candle holders in the forefront, and a decanter behind, with a view of the Pacific Ocean from a house in Malibu, California.
Stained Paint Windcatch
Photo from a shoot with Lifestyle Guru Kristen Gray – taken on Abbot Kinney in Venice, California. Really like the stained glass-esque wall painting on the side of the building that formed the background.
Dome of the Bisected Hemisphere
On this, the 16th anniversary of the 9/11 that I’m sure every news report will tell us not to forget, and remind us that we haven’t forgotten… I wanted to share this picture of Abdulnasser Gharem’s sculpture, titled “Hemisphere”, which was featured in LACMA earlier this year. It represents the duality of Islam, (or frankly, all religions), between the peaceful and spiritual, (as depicted by the right half, based on the green dome of the Mosque of the Prophet in Media), and the political and violent tendencies, (as depicted by the left half, based on a Persian military helmet). The midpiece that is front and center is models on a noseguard from the helmet, which protects the face while also separating it.
And while we can list this duality in all religions, given the beauty of this work, and the darker responses to the terrorist attack 16 years ago, I wanted to post this – today – to show that beauty can come from all places, and that almost everything has two sides.
(Also, I’m really happy with how the picture came out.)
Meow Mau
Photograph of a statue of an Egyptian Mau, (i.e., cat), from Ancient Egypt. This exhibit at LACMA shows the Mau, which was designed as a tribute to the goddess Bastet. Given how much I like cats in general (and Mizu in particular), I’m surprised it took me this long to feature this statue.
(As this post, I should be photographing the Great American Eclipse 2017- maybe that will be featured in next week’s blog…)
A Wild Jerusalem Sphere Appears!
In Malibu one day, I came across this objet d’art in an acquaintance’s home. At the time, I thought that it was interesting, and maybe it was a small model of Jerusalem? Apparently, I was right on both counts, as it was indeed the city of Jerusalem in the form of a sphere. Frank Meisler designed the concept inspired by Mediæval maps which depicted Jerusalem as a circular city at the centre – the navel – of the world from which all distances to other cities were measured. The sculpture depicts the spirit of the city, its ancient walls and buildings of many styles, periods and cultures. It is mounted on a marble base the sphere is revolvable, and forged of metal silver and gold plated. And you can see the Malibu coastline of the Pacific Ocean in the background…
Twilight Freedom Sculpture
Taken the morning of July 5th, this is a shot of the Freedom Sculpture installed on Independence Day, July 4th, 2017. It took 4 years for the Farhang Foundation, a non-political, non-religious, non-profit Iranian-American cultural organization, to commission, secure city authorization and raise enough money build and install the Freedom Sculpture, a permanent iconic monument celebrating religious freedom, cultural diversity and inclusiveness — the humanitarian ideals or Cyrus the Great that have been enshrined by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution of the United States.
With over a million supporters, from all across America and over 50 countries around the world, the Freedom Sculpture has become the most widely crowd-supported monumental gift in U.S. History. It now stands like a “Statue of Liberty for the West Coast”, in the heart of Los Angeles, one of the world’s most culturally diverse cities, as a permanent symbolic reminder that freedom, inclusiveness and respect for diversity are the foundational values that truly make America great.
The winning design of the Freedom Sculpture was created by renowned artist and architect Cecil Balmond. It is themed on the Cyrus Cylinder from 2,500 years ago, widely considered the first declaration of human rights, whereby Cyrus the Great Persian King originally granted individual and religious freedoms to all within his vast and culturally diverse empire. The large-scale, modern-day sculptural interpretation of the Cyrus Cylinder is made of two finely crafted 100% stainless steel cylinders, one within the other. The interior cylinder is gold, and the outer element is silver – both interacting with each other in an exchange of strength and vulnerability. The two rings are linked internally to form a strong and robust structure.
I do really enjoy this sculpture- and am sure it will make further appearances in this photoblog.
* I would have taken some photographs during the fireworks during the installation celebration, but the organizers decided real cameras were verbotten- such an annoying yet very LA thing…
Piano Strings Low
Low angle shot of the inside of a piano, showing the string pushing off into the distance… I personally like the way the shows interplay across the strings.
Mysidian Moments Photojournal 