“i was an eager hustler + a reluctant artist. but the irony of it is that to make the hustle work, really work, over the long term, you have to be a true artist, too.”

jay-z, decoded

talking w a friend that recently that relocated to berlin from elsewhere in germany + he passed along a few images + thoughts that got me thinking. to hear the inspiration that he’s found is one thing but to see it in snapshots is entirely another. having moved recently myself in a big way i can only second the notion that you really need to be around what you need, what you want to do. if that’s in the city so be it. if it’s in the country, good for you. if it’s on a far off mtn peak, even better.

not to say there aren’t good people + great ideas everywhere but your access to them or ability to relate to them does change with the environment around you. try it, you’ll see.

here’s a handful from the relatively new ‘hood.

have always had a fascination with this stuff. ripley’s believe it or not museum, that’s incredible, the guiness book of world records, mc escher. it all fits with me. as i dove deeper + deeper into photography i was always intrigued by the curiosities that i could discover. partly due to luck + partly due to a ton of time outside, particularly up in the mountains, shooting in the early am + late pm, i’ve been fortunate to have witnessed a few of my favorites.

spectre of the brocken

This 200 foot high shadow figure lurking about the misty mountaintops goes by various names, mountain specter for instance, in China it is called Buddha’s Light, and one would assume that somewhere, at some time, it must be have been called something along the lines of “The Holy Crapuolossus: Bowel Evacuator.” It is best known, however, as the Brockengespenst or Brocken Spectre, owing to the ideal conditions at The Brocken, a peak in the Harz Mountains in northern Germany, for its sudden appearance.

first saw this in a galen rowell book as he has a stunning example, one of the best i’ve ever seen. long documented by alpine climbers + explorers it essentially involves having the sun directly behind you + (this is the hard part) being above the clouds or something for a shadow to be cast upon, ie, steam, fog, etc. this is from early summer in the bridger range in south central montana.

fata morgana
if you’ve ever seen this it’s like seeing the aurora borealis for the first time, you never forget it. this is crazy science, especially if you’re riding a chairlift up a hill you know well + BAM, there’s everything upside down. without getting into the physics it’s a complex mirage formed by light bending through layers of very different temperature air, ie, super cold air in the alpine. here’s a great shot of the cabinet mtns in the northern montana rockies looking like something out of southern utah.

rolling shutter
seeing this all the time now thanks to the prevelence of camera phones (also with video – totally reminds me of a miyazaki movie). in a nutshell, most phone image scanners go from top left to bottom right so moving objects lean to the left. i’m not sure but i think that also why there’s the difference between the vertical shot running the prop vert while the horizontal shot runs it horizontal. essentially any electronic shutter camera, ie, not an slr like mechanical shutter, will produce this effect.

ton more out there too. this video from a merrell project a few years ago by our friends @ cabin46 has a slick little ditty @ 1:28.

two great videos with ideas + inspiration via brain pickings. the feature is called opening lines: how famous creators got their start.

I used to play the guitar when I was ten, you know. So I figured maybe my thing is playing the guitar, maybe that’s my little gift. Like somebody can make a cake, or somebody else can saw a tree down, and other people write… Maybe I got a better gift. But as of right now, I haven’t found out what it is.” ~ Bob Dylan, in a 1963

the first is steve jobs back in the day. really much more vocal then i expect but obviously excited about his work + motivated. the second is artist raghava KK on his life + it’s evolution along an inspiring + unique path. i like what both are saying. not just via their stories but through their lives, their actions. it’s readily apparent that they love what they do. + as a result have been stuck on it for a long, long time. the 10,000 hours of malcolm gladwell. the stick-to-it-ness that has to be in place to really succeed.

great assignment in southern, or earlier this week. here’s the view from the iphone. haven’t been that way since i was yosemite big wall bound with little more then a haulbag + 100 lbs of gear so amazing to reconnect.

more assignments lined for the next few weeks so will roll out the work as it’s published. in the meantime, i’m speaking at the art institute of portland tonight. telling the kids everything they need to hear but probably haven’t.