Jon Hall

Babysitting the little chickadee

2011-09-15T22:51:00.001-07:00

Some friends of ours let us watch their little munchkin now and then. Oh, the wonder.

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Creative jamming today with the little ladies

2010-11-26T14:07:00.001-08:00

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becoming part of light art.

2010-11-25T10:56:00.001-08:00

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for want of wonder

2010-11-24T10:47:00.001-08:00

from http://sophisticated-simplicities.tumblr.com/

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generosity

2010-11-22T13:19:00.001-08:00

"Generous people generate things. And, consequently, their worlds are more varied, surprising, colorful, fruitful. They're richer. More abounds with them, and yet they have greater thirst and deeper capacity to take it all in. The world delights the generous but seldom overwhelms them." — Mark Buchanan

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rain on the plane

2010-11-21T05:27:00.001-08:00

On the flight home from Portland, we had a pitstop in Oakland, landing in the rain. It was fairly stormy and windy, and the crowd on the plane broke into cheering as soon as the pilot touched down.

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Tijuana's gritty technicolor

2010-11-20T17:23:00.001-08:00

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street art, near 25th and C St

2010-11-17T17:46:00.001-08:00

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street art, Market and 10th

2010-11-15T17:44:00.001-08:00

Seen near Market and 10th, in San DIego

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With a spirit of discovery...

2010-11-15T15:32:00.001-08:00

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A day with the alpacas

2010-11-14T12:35:00.001-08:00

Digital painting over photograph, done on my phone.

Yesterday Nat and I spent the afternoon working at an Alpaca farm. She's been interested in Alpacas for as long as I can remember, and the nice folks at A Simpler Time were kind enough to allow us to come help with wonderful animals.

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street art on Kettner

2010-11-13T08:00:00.001-08:00

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the border

2010-11-12T08:00:00.001-08:00

Video interview of Peggy Peattie, photographer, and Sandra Dibble, border reporter with UT, discussing the border region of Tijuana and San Diego. Sandra's observation that the border extends far into Baja, and up north of the border seems like a keen one. We often view the border as a two-dimensional object, this single barrier that separates Mexico from the United States (or perhaps more accurately, the have's from the have-nots). The reality though is that the border has not only have height and width, but also depth. The border is more a region, and it's realities and life extend south into Baja, and north well into the U.S. A good thing to know (and embrace), I think.

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Falling

2010-11-11T08:29:00.001-08:00

photo: Golden Hill

In the decent from summer to winter,
Daylight grows shorter,
Shadows grow longer,
And the temperature lowers.

We're Falling.
The air and leaves turn crisp.
The sky is dry and piercing blue.
And as the legacy of harvest hangs thick,
like maple syrup.
I think of things less pressing,
yet more important,
As I fall toward winter.

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now is now

2010-11-10T07:25:00.001-08:00

Seen in Barrio Logan.

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they don't make 'em like they used to

2010-11-09T22:21:00.001-08:00

While in Portland I came across the First Presbyterian church of Portland. Built in 1887, two types of local stone were used in it's construction. The sandstone was quarried from near Bellingham Washington, and the black stone is basalt, quarried from Mt. St Helens. It's hard to describe the look of this structure. The texture of the exterior is amazing. The steeple soars 188 feet high. Somehow they managed a fairly human-sized scale, while still creating an impressive piece of architecture. It's also amazing how stone like this holds up to the elements, as it seems to have not aged at all.

As I walked around the church, trying to envision what it took to cut and assemble this vast number of stones, I realized we'll likely never again see construction like this. Felt like a privilege to see it at all.

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Mercado.

2010-11-09T00:15:00.001-08:00

During a recent visit to Tijuana, we went to a local mercado. It's a place locals shop for just about anything, a place filled with wonderful smells and sights and sounds. You just can't find anything quite like this in Estados Unidos.

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Fall in Portland

2010-11-08T20:43:00.001-08:00

If only for a few days, it was nice to experience Fall weather.

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my favorite time of year

2010-11-07T22:11:00.001-08:00

Fall.

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Powell's

2010-11-06T10:05:00.001-07:00

1. Powell's shelves new & used books together.

2. Some used books look just like new, others have what connoisseurs call "character."

3. 99% of all books ever published are now out of print.

4. The book industry uses nearly 1.2 MILLION TONS of paper per year, but keeping paper per year, but keeping used books in circulation helps cut down on waste.

My kind of place.

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dinner at Rocco's in Portland. Choices abound.

2010-11-06T09:57:00.001-07:00

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"It's what I do that teaches me what I'm looking for"

2010-11-02T11:38:00.001-07:00

photo: the neighborhood we live in, where we're "doing."

"It's what I do that teaches me what I'm looking for" —Pierre Soulages

Special thanks to @rogre for tweeting Soulages quote. Good inspiration, it is.

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Voting tip for youngsters

2010-11-01T18:51:00.001-07:00

@pourmecoffee: For young first-time voters, it's similar to clicking "Like" button but with limited choices you don't actually like.

OriginalMessage:
http://twitter.com/pourmecoffee/status/29419663003

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Inspiration.

2010-11-01T07:23:00.001-07:00

The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case.

—Chuck Close

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My Tony Bennett painting, just featured on Surfstation.

2010-10-31T23:03:00.001-07:00

One of my paintings was just featured on the Surfstation website. Thanks @srfstn!

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adding a little light to the sum of light.

2010-10-31T22:21:00.001-07:00

The film is called The Year of Living Dangerously, 1982

Dialogue Between:
Billy Kwan (played by Linda Hunt), seasoned freelance photo-journalist based in Jakarta, Indonesia
Guy Hamilton (played by Mel Gibson), Journalist, neophyte, foreign correspondent from Australia

Walking through a poverty-stricken Jakarta, the following conversation takes place between Billy and Guy.

BILLY: And the people asked him, saying, what shall we do then?

GUY: What's that?

BILLY: It's from Luke, chapter three, verse ten. What then must we do? Tolstoy asked the same question. He wrote a book with that title. He got so upset about the poverty in Moscow that he went one night into the poorest section and just gave away all his money. You could do that now. Five American dollars would be a fortune to one of these people.

GUY: Wouldn't do any good, just be a drop in the ocean.

BILLY: Ahh, that's the same conclusion Tolstoy came to. I disagree.

GUY: Oh, what's your solution?

BILLY: Well, I support the view that you just don't think about the major issues. You do whatever you can about the misery that's in front of you. Add your light to the sum of light. You think that's naive, don't you?

GUY: Yep.

BILLY: It's alright, most journalists do.

GUY: We can't afford to get involved.

Billy Kwan, the photo journalist who had spent so much time among the horror happening in Jakarta, had been changed through his experience in poverty-stricken Jakarta. He had allowed himself to be changed, had chosen to get involved, and he seemed to recognize that in the confusing, chaotic, painful reality of getting involved, that something good just might come of it. It's not what journalists do, but it's what he did. And it seemed to make all the difference. This was one of the primary themes of The Year of Living Dangerously, and one Americans are largely unaware of. We like our lifestyles, our high standard of living, our master-planned communities and cable TV. Billy and Guy, two westerners witnessing first-hand the horrors of Indonesia, were confronted with the realities much of the world faces everyday, and westerners rarely encounter.

Rob Bell once talked about a similar experience he had, entering into a poverty-stricken place of death and dying while in Rwanda, visiting a woman who was dying of AIDS. She was being cared for by a neighbor who spent her days caring for this dying woman. There was nothing the neighbor could do to save her life, only tend to her immediate needs, with what few, meager resources they had. It seemed a hopeless reality, but for Bell, he considered it holy ground he was standing on. I tend to agree.

Getting involved can be messy. Actually, it's usually messy. And attempts to help, or just get involved, can seem like a drop in the bucket, a small, useless gesture that can't possibly turn the tide of change. Death. Poverty. War. Current-day slavery. Or closer to home for me... homelessness, drug and alcohol abuse, or a $7 billion fence just a few miles from my home, that separates the haves from the have-nots. Or maybe it's just the folks in my neighborhood, some of them artists struggling to make a living, looking for a way to do what they love, create items of useful beauty out of recycled materials, and share some of that with others.

Getting involved is hard. It's costly. It's risky. But its good. More than good, I think it's my own little piece of holy ground.

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dodging bullets

2010-10-29T18:25:00.001-07:00

Been a fast and furious week, leading into an equally fast and furious weekend. Had a dream last night that I was being shot at. That's kinda how this week has felt. Oh Sabbath day, you can't get here soon enough.

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Dia de los Muertos: Kingston Trio

2010-10-28T08:00:00.001-07:00

Acrylic on album cover, 12" x 12"

Frame made from reclaimed fence from my backyard

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Dia de los Muertos: This is Sinatra!

2010-10-27T08:00:00.001-07:00

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Arial}

Acrylic on album cover, 12" x 12"

Frame made from reclaimed fence from my backyard

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Dia de los Muertos: Tony Bennett

2010-10-26T00:54:00.001-07:00

Acrylic on album cover, 12" x 12"

Frame made from reclaimed fence from my backyard

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Dia de los Muertos: Let's Polka

2010-10-26T00:51:00.001-07:00

Acrylic on album cover, 12" x 12"
Frame made from reclaimed fence from my backyard

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you are what you do

2010-10-25T01:07:00.001-07:00

You Are What You Do from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

From the folks who brought you Invisible Children, an impressive time-lapse work of art that calls us out of our slacktivistic tendencies and into an activistic hope. I like that.

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Could ____ be a museum?

2010-10-19T00:04:00.001-07:00

"Could ____ be a museum? Could _____ be a classroom? Could _____ be a civic space? Art is a way of thinking that asks questions about the world around us. Sometimes even the most overlooked objects, situations and places can be looked at differently if thought about as art."

This was a question posed at The New Children's Museum in San Diego. The family and I visited there recently, and I was intrigued at this particular exhibit. Emily contributed (that's her, above), and I was fascinated at some of the responses posted on the huge wall that is part of this exhibit. When looked at as art, things can take on a very different context, and that can be a good thing.

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Let's Polka con mi amigos para Dia de los Muertos

2010-10-17T17:05:00.001-07:00

Working on a new series of Dia de los Muertos paintings, as I "muertify" a these classic American album covers from the sixties and seventies. I've got five new paintings headed to a gallery in San Miguel de Allende, a city 3 hours south of Mexico City, for an upcoming showing. I'll also have a handful at Make Good for the Dia de los Muertos event on Saturday, October 30th.

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First harvest

2010-10-17T15:22:00.001-07:00

I only harvested a small amount of lettuce, there's a lot here. Sharing tonight with friends, hope it's good!

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Foggy night in Golden Hill

2010-10-13T22:56:00.001-07:00

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what hope looks like

2010-10-07T08:07:00.001-07:00

I shot this at the Nueva Generacion home for boys in Tijuana last year. My friend Luis runs this this place. Along with his wife and own children, they provide a home to 15 or so boys who have no home.

Luis isn't what I would consider your typical orphanage leader. He isn't looking for handouts, American-led construction projects, or vacation bible school to be done. Instead, he's looking for folks to come and simply spend time with his boys. Play futbol. Make art. Strum a guitar (some are aspiring musicians). Or just have some pizza together, which is what we were doing thus day. Luis is creating a place where these boys, who've had anything but a normal, productive life, can thrive, and learn what it means to love (and trust) other human beings. And maybe, just maybe, give themselves to something more.

It's a place of hope, for sure. When I saw how the boys refer to him as their "dad" (and genuinely so), I realized just how amazing this place is.

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analog: Emily and her new Diana Mini

2010-10-07T08:00:00.001-07:00

shot with Lubitel 2 | Ilford Delta 400 | f11/250

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analog: Alley off Grape Street, North Park

2010-10-06T08:00:00.001-07:00

shot with my Lubitel 2 | Ilford Delta 400 | f4.5/125

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analog: Basic, East Village

2010-10-05T08:00:00.003-07:00

shot with Lubitel 2 | Ilford Delta 400 | f11/125

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analog: Ceiling fan at Basic, East Village

2010-10-05T08:00:00.001-07:00

shot with Lubitel 2 | Ilford Delta 400 | f5.6/125

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analog: Sabbath

2010-10-04T08:00:00.001-07:00

shot with Lubitel 2 | Ilford Delta 400 | f5.6/250

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analog: Natalie at Bird Park

2010-10-03T09:00:00.001-07:00

shot with Lubitel 2 | Ilford Delta 400 | f4.5/60

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analog: Bird park

2010-10-02T09:00:00.001-07:00

shot with Lubitel 2 | Ilford Delta 400 | f4.5/60

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my favorite photo of my favorite people

2010-10-01T14:04:00.001-07:00

shot with Lubitel 2 TLR
Ilford Delta 400
f4.5/125

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the air is thick tonight with a sweet post-rain fragrance.

2010-09-30T23:11:00.001-07:00

After a long, cool gray summer, Fall appears with record-breaking scorching heat. Then today, downpour and thunderstorms, ending with a spectacular sunset I was able to soak in from the beach. And this evening, a persistent sweet after-rain smell is permeating the air. Absolutely wonderful.

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Stunning sunset this evening. The end to a wonderful (and rare) day of weather in SD

2010-09-30T18:52:00.001-07:00

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early morning in the garden

2010-09-29T07:04:00.001-07:00

the cabbage seems to be growing pretty well. Love the colors in the early morning light.

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Street art (literally)

2010-09-26T11:55:00.001-07:00

Seen during my walk this morning with Rover. He was unimpressed. I thought it was cool. Wondering if this is the same artist who painted a GIANT face on the steep slope at the base of B St in Golden Hill?

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Algebra homework w/ my 8th grader on a Saturday night

2010-09-25T22:25:00.001-07:00

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Eggplants are sprouting!

2010-09-25T21:47:00.001-07:00

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Drawings from South Africa

2010-09-22T18:27:00.001-07:00

In the Spring of 2006, I spent 17 amazing days in South Africa. I did a handful of drawings while there (and painted a mural). Last night I stumbled across some of the drawings, and just posted some of them to Flickr here.

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350

2010-09-22T15:14:00.001-07:00

Whatever your position on global warming might be, two things are true about this video.

1. We need to do a better job of taking care of our planet.

2. This is a STELLAR example of a compelling, highly informative video using only graphics, symbols and music. It's an insanely genius and well designed execution of how to communicate a complex idea quickly, simply and effectively, to an international audience. The creative in me went weak in the knees at first sight of this.

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Dreams Where I Am Sleeping

2010-09-19T22:15:00.001-07:00

Dreams Where I am Sleeping is a new single from The Tree Ring, a local band here in San Diego. Led by Joel P West, The Tree Ring is set to begin recording their debut album. They've produced some amazing music, Joel is a goof friend of a friend of ours, and I hope to see them do great things. In order to finance their upcoming album, they're looking to make this more of a communal effort, so you can help them out by going here.

Dreams Where I Am Sleeping (single) by The Tree Ring

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Cool season planting. It's time.

2010-09-18T12:18:00.001-07:00

Seeds sprouting faster than I expected. Peas are taking off, carrots are just now beginning to peek through. Broccoli, Romaine Lettuce, and Cabbage is making for a full urban garden. Looks like I need to get that other raised bed built in a hurry.

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Monster head

2010-09-17T12:49:00.001-07:00

Natalie, wearing one of the new hats by Shayna at Make Good. Diggin these. More of Shayna's amazing creations here.

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Handmade Revolution at Make Good tomorrow, 11a-4p

2010-09-17T11:11:00.001-07:00

I'm only part of the roadie crew, my first job of which is to scrub the floors at Make Good tonight with a bucket and brush (Cinderella, anyone?). I'm excited for the ladies of the Revolution though, and Make Good. It's the first blending of these two talented groups, and I hope great things for them both. If you're in the neighborhood, love to have you drop by!

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Garrett & Kendra, on Wooster St

2010-09-16T22:45:00.001-07:00

Love this photo of my nephew and niece. I shot it that past Spring, on a visit to New York. They were both so amazing acting as my guides and companions during my time in Brooklyn and New York, indulging all my detours toward art installations and the ocasional street art (like this one, on Wooster). I miss sharing life with them, and was so thankful of the time we were able to spend together.

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And then Everywhere was Eden Once again

2010-09-15T22:32:00.001-07:00

The Dinner Party, 1979
Judy Chicago
Brooklyn Museum of Art

This past Spring I had the opportunity to spend a few days in Brooklyn for my niece's college graduation. She was an art major, so needless to say we spent a fair share of time taking in more than a few art experiences, including my first ever visit to the amazing Brooklyn Museum of Art. It was there that I encountered The Dinner Party.

Judy Chicago started this installtion piece, called The Dinner Party, in 1974, completing it (with the help of hundreds of collaborators) in 1979. I've seen this piece in books, and honestly have always glossed it over, never paying much attention to it's meaning or purpose. For me, this is a prime example of the power of experiencing art in person. It's a wholly different experience than through a book or online. And clearly, this installtion is meant to be experienced solely in person.

Judy Chicago was arguably the most significant American icon of feminist art in the 70's. The Dinner Party consists of Entry Banners, Heritage Panels, a Heritage Floor and a massive ceremonial banquet arranged on a triangular table measuring 48 feet on each side, with a total of 39 place settings. This iconic work remains important on many levels. It was the first truly monumental work of American art conceptualized by a woman. It focuses on the contributions of women to Western civilization over the millennia, and it seeks to reclaim many of the "crafts" traditionally associated with women (embroidery, needlework, china painting and ceramics). It's utilization of "central core" imagery (as they put it. Or rather, er... vulvae) were virtually unprecendented in artistic production at the time.

Walking into the exhibit, the viewer is led down a hallway with hanging banners that read:

And She Gathered All before Her

And She made for them A Sign to See

And lo They saw a Vision

From this day forth, Like to Like in All things

And then all that divided them merged

And then Everywhere was Eden Once again

Kingdom of God imagery is not lost on me. It was a powerful experience, for sure.

More photos of The Dinner Party, and a few other photos of the art I encountered while in New York, can be seen here.

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Kaufman House

2010-09-15T12:00:00.001-07:00

Shot with my Lubitel 2, ISO400, f22/250

The Kaufman House is one of the more famous examples of desert modernism in Palm Springs. Built in 1946 and designed by architect Richard Neutra, it's a restored private residence today, so this is as close as I could get.

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my first car.

2010-09-14T12:30:00.001-07:00

Shot with my Lubitel 2, ISO400, f5.6/125

My first car was a '69 Beetle. When I found it, it looked a lot like this, desperately in need of a paint job. It had an old musty smell, a well-worn motor, burned oil like crazy, needed a tune-up monthly, and a leaky brake line meant I never knew if I could really stop in a panic. Still, it was a great car. Hard to believe it was only 10 years old when I found it (looking back, it seemed so much older). To see these same cars chuggin' away 30 years later is amazing.

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modern

2010-09-13T10:03:00.001-07:00

Shot with my Lubitel 2
ISO400, f22/250

This famous piece of moderist architecture in Palm Springs was designed by architect Albert Frey, and built in 1965. It's iconic amid mid-century architecture, stood empty for most of the 90's, and was restored into a visitor's center in early 2000's.

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thunderstorm

2010-09-12T09:59:00.001-07:00

shot with Lubitel 2
ISO400, f22/250

When zooming in on this image in high res, the film grain is just wonderful. No amount of noise filter in PhotoShop can reproduce that glorious grain of real film in a 50 year old camera.

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dinner at Mazara's

2010-09-11T09:57:00.001-07:00

Shot with my Lubitel 2
ISO400, f5.6/125

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when slow is good.

2010-09-11T01:07:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago Sophia and I stopped at a yard sale, and I bought an old twin lens reflex camera for ten bucks. The seller teaches high school photography, and said she bought the camera used, some 20 years ago. After getting home, I did a little research and found out it's a Russian made camera called a Lubitel 2. They started making them in the 50's, ending in the early 70's. When first introduced they were somewhat revolutionary in Russia, the first affordable camera with decent quality, meant for the everyman. It's plastic body kept it inexpensive, but the ground glass lens kept the quality decent.

Most camera's back then shot a big film, 120 format. It comes on a spool, and shoots a big image, some two and a quarter inches across. The camera is the dead opposite of high technology. There's no electronics on the camera, it's pure mechanical simplicity. And with only the most basic manual settings, getting the exposure right is pure guesswork (for me anyway, especially without the benefit of a light meter). It's hard to get further from digital than the Lubitel 2.

I shoot digital quite a lot. Amassing a library of somewhere north of 30,000 images, it's easy to shoot a lot with digital. No film costs. No processing fees. No waiting. Digital is instant and prolific. It's wonderful.

But in the instant-gratification reality of digital photography, I've wondered if some things get lost. Shooting these last few weeks with my Lubitel, I now know this to be true.

It took me just over two weeks to shoots two 12 exposure rolls of film. That's 24 shots. I could easily crank out 24 shots with my digital camera in a couple of minutes (and maybe one would turn out decent). With my Lubitel, and only 12 precious exposures per roll, I found myself carefully composing my shots, checking lighting, thinking about the exposure settings, making sure focus was right. I was selective with my shots. And for those couple of weeks, there was the constant anticipation, the delayed gratifying hope that these photos just might turn out okay. It was wholly a different experience with photography than I've had in a long, long time.

Today when I picked up the film, I was beside myself. I was freaking giddy. While plenty of shots were under exposed (and some double-exposed… oops), a number of shots turned out far better than I expected. The rich contrast of black and white 120 film. The amazing grain of 400 speed. And the depth of field… so much better than I expected. The process was slow. It took time. There was uncertainty. And man, was it good.

We live in a world where speed and efficiency can become the golden pursuit, the measure of productivity and goodness, our god. I work day in and out in a business measured by such things. It's what people often come to expect. I'm not saying these things are bad, but without a check and balance of the goodness of slow, good things (really good things) can be missed. The benefit of process over product. Journey over destination. Slow over fast.

I can't wait to shoot and develop the next couple of rolls off my Lubitel. Then again, I suppose I can wait. Maybe I'll even enjoy it. See more photos from those 2 rolls of film here.

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stay cool, San Diego

2010-09-04T14:34:00.003-07:00

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Street art, South Park

2010-09-04T14:34:00.001-07:00

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mid-century goodness

2010-09-01T22:09:00.001-07:00

During my week in the desert, I spent one morning in Palm Springs searching out some of the terrific examples of mid-century architecture this city has. A few hours was nowhere near enough time to explore and photograph even a small portion of the what the city has to offer. As a young kid growing up just south of Los Angeles, I remember this era of architecture well, and seeing wonderful examples like the Rackstrom-Reid Building (1961, above) takes me back.

Mid-century exemplifies simplicity, beauty and clean design. There's very little fluff in mid-century design. Most everything is purposeful, measured, reserved and asymmetrical.

The Santa Fe Federal Savings & Loan Building (E. Stewart WIlliams, architect, 1957) is a great example of public space that integrates well into the desert environment. It's a glass pavilion, bringing the desert landscape inside. Built on a human scale, it has a cantilever roof, a base that appears to float the building above the ground, and these killer louvered shades on the exterior of the building, that are as beautiful as they are functional. They're huge, but made of lightweight metal, and slide as smooth as silk on tracks (I tried them out), allowing people to adjust them to the setting sun. The building was for lease, a sad statement of the recession.

Can't wait to go back and explore more.

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I trust the symbol that is arrived at in the making of a painting.— Richard Diebenkorn

2010-08-27T22:56:00.001-07:00

Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

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decompression: phase 2

2010-08-26T10:04:00.001-07:00

Yes, it's 116 degrees during the day, but the mornings and evenings in the desert are truly spectacular. When I shot this photo of the Santa Rosa Mountains looking south yesterday afternoon, it looked unreal, like a painting. The impossibly brilliant, golden reflection of the sun off the lower mountains, set against a perfectly complimentary color of deep purple and blue of the mountains in shadow, and the sky. Behind me was a thunderhead exploding up, and dumping rain on the mountains to the north. It does me good to see such things.

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slow.

2010-08-25T11:27:00.001-07:00

On Monday I bought the first roll of 120 film I've purchased in over 15 years. I got it for an old camera I picked up recently at a yard sale for ten bucks. 120 film is big and ancient looking, with the film wound around a spool. It was high tech... 50 years ago. Loading 120 film requires care, as it's easy to accidentally unspool the roll while loading, exposing it to light and ruining the entire roll. It's truly old school.

The camera I'm loading it in, a Russian made Lubitel 2 from the 60's is old and clunky, and loading the 120 film is like stepping back in time. With no light meter I'll be shooting using the Sunny 16 rule of thumb, and trying my best to focus using the tiny built-in magnifying glass on the focus area in the viewfinder. With Russian made mechanicals and a plastic body, it's about as far from the miracle of modern technology, speed, quantity and efficiency in modern digital photography as I can get.

And I love it.

Don't get me wrong, I dig digital. I shoot with digital all the time, and I really like the speed, the convenience, the ability to shoot a large number of photos in a short period of time. I like the instant, warp-speed gratification of seeing what I've shot. The ability to—just moments after shooting—download hundreds of photos to my computer and in short order do just about anything in post using Lightroom or PhotoShop (I can even make them look like they were shot with film). It's really phenomenal, a near-miracle of modern technology. But in all it's instant wonder, there's just something it will never have, that wonderful slowness of real film in an old mechanical camera.

So this week, I'll carry my new (old) Lubitel 2, and I'll go slow. No time-tracking. Anti-speed. Anti-quantity. No rush to the next thing, getting a kid to the next dance class, or rush to make that next deadline. Incredibly, my week of vacation is already half-over, and today is the first day that actually feels like vacation. I woke up late. It's eleven and I'm just now having breakfast. Decompression, while not complete, is in full swing. I know that just as I reach cruising altitude, REM sleep occurs and the dreaming begins, the "ding" will come over the in-flight intercom, I'll have to return my seat to it's full upright position and prepare for landing back into the real world.

Until then, here's to going slow, and hoping that my journey into slowness this week takes a long, long time.

Posted via email from Jon Hall

decompression chamber

2010-08-24T18:24:00.001-07:00

First full day on vacation, entered the first phase of decompression.

Posted via email from Jon Hall

Wall art on Ray Street

2010-08-22T13:19:00.001-07:00

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Purple Cheshire Cat

2010-08-21T17:03:00.001-07:00

Acrylic on cereal box

Stef painted this Cheshire cat yesterday. She pulled an old cereal box from the recycling bin and painted on that. Love it.

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pure joy

2010-08-17T10:52:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from Jon Hall

implode or explode?

2010-08-16T21:35:00.001-07:00

"Daddy, if you had to choose, would you rather implode or explode?" My 9 yr old's question to me while we were in the car today.

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pop a slide

2010-08-11T21:15:00.001-07:00

RT @brianalvey Man what a long day with customers. I just want to grab a couple of beers, zip down the emergency exit slide and call it a night.

Posted via email from Jon Hall

i miss him :-(

2010-08-11T19:13:00.001-07:00

A little over a year ago we lost a dear friend, Scott Ulry, to a brutal fight with cancer. When I first met Scott, it was clear he was a salty, crusty dog. He'd seen some of the best and worst life had to offer. Scott had been around the block and back, would speak his mind without the benefit of a filter of any kind, had a stare that could kill, and a heart of pure gold. Scott and I shared many passions, including Mexico, photography, art, and a love for those less fortunate than us.

My girls had the good fortune to hang around Scott quite a bit, as he was part of many of our trips to Mexico. Bringing (often) hundreds of people with us, Scott persevered through difficult physical limitations and worked harder than anyone I ever saw. He'd cook the food. Take the photos. Tend to administrative needs. Drive (and help load) the immense van with all the gear. Scott would do anything needed, at any time. He was imperfect, and you never knew if you were going to get the pissed-off Scott or the smiling, good-natured, wry humor Scott. But it didn't matter. Me and my family, we loved him. And I know we weren't the only ones.

So today my 9 year old daughter sent me an email. She rarely ever sends email, so when I saw it was from her, I knew it was probably something significant, especially when I saw the subject line. She'd been looking through old photos on the computer, and found the one above of Scott and his lovely wife, Suzee, taken a few years ago at an art event we attended. She attached it to the following email to me:

From: Stefani Hall
Date: August 11, 2010 6:18:40 PM PDT
To: jonerichall@gmail.com
Subject: i miss him:-(

i miss him:-(

he maid the lunch

he did the pics

i miss just so much

I miss him too, sweetie.

Jon

Posted via email from Jon Hall

Viva la Revolucion, my contribution

2010-08-11T00:13:00.001-07:00

I took the fam to the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego last weekend to see Viva La Revolucion, the first major street art exhibition in the U.S. They have a place where you can contribute to a wall of art. So I did. http://www.mcasandiego.org/exhibitions/616/viva-la-revolucion

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Brooklyn architecture

2010-08-07T20:07:00.001-07:00

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Bottle Bowling, the next big thing

2010-08-04T21:25:00.001-07:00

More here:
http://m.flickr.com/#/photos/jonhall/4861466621/

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Biggie Smalls

2010-08-02T18:29:00.001-07:00

Recently got the new CS5, messing around with Illustrator. I'm scoping out a new Dia de los Muertos series on dead celebs, so I guess this would be a study for that. Too many ideas, not enough time.

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Here Not There: San Diego Art Now

2010-08-02T17:51:00.001-07:00

Went to see the Here Not There: San Diego Art Now exhibition at MCASD this past weekend. A nice showing, for sure. I was excited to see art from local artists, people whom MCASD feels are making significant contributions to the narrative of art in San Diego.

Contemporary art usually requires some work in order to engage what's going on. For me, it's a love/hate process. One side of me says SAY WHAT YOU MEAN, make it clear, be a little more obvious. As a graphic designer, who's job it is to express ideas clearly and succinctly, contemporary art can be a frustration. But then, (at least part of) the process of interacting with contemporary art is the process itself. And that, I think, is the true beauty and oft unrealized potential of contemporary art. How well an artist can bring me through that process, guide me, challenge me is a big part of my appreciation for it.

Much of it too though, is contextual. James Enos' piece that is part of Here Not There is a criticism on the suburban landscape of the city of Claremont, and was particularly powerful for me. I suspect this is largely due to my own very personal experiences and bias against the suburban environment, and I'm not sure others would have such a strong reaction/connection to it. I grew up a child of suburbia, in the post-war era where the master-planned community was the modern utopian expression of the American Dream. For many it's only now turning out to be less than a dream. For many, a growing nightmare. I think that's a big part of why I feel so connected to my little old neighborhood, a old-school, grid-based neighborhood where it's still possible to walk to the market, to see art, to have a beer, to see my friends.

Which is where art becomes powerful. Here Not There, being art by locals, is an opportunity for the people of San Diego to see their city through the eyes of artists. Are they seeing all that needs to be seen?... commenting on all the needs to be commented on?... challenging in all the ways we, and our leaders, need to be challenged?

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Street art, 28th and B

2010-07-31T10:22:00.001-07:00

Walking my neighborhood on any given day, it's pretty certain I'll come across some element of street art. Often it's unexpected, found in small obscure places, spots you really have to be paying attention to in order to see. This morning as I was hanging yard sale signs in our neighborhood, I saw this. An amazing little, very detailed drawing. There it was, stuck to the pole of a stop sign, as if the artist had carefully placed it there for me to enjoy as I was hanging my ugly cardboard yard sale sign. I love it when I come across unexpected little pieces like this. Kinda like small expressions of beauty, handcrafted by some talented person who's out to shed a little light on a gray morning like this. Whoever did this little drawing, thank you.

Posted via email from Jon Hall

the master of understatement

2010-07-31T02:05:00.001-07:00

In 1972 Massimo Vignelli, a rather famous graphic designer, created this map of the New York subway system. Vignelli was a master of distilling informational graphic design down to it's essence. He'd remove, remove, and remove some more, simplifying the design to it's most irreducible form. I saw him interviewed in the documentary Helvetica, and in it he talked through the design of this map, now a collector's item. He talked about the principal of simplicity, and how critical it is to good design. In comparison, the subway maps of today are a tangled mess that lack clarity, and are anything but simple.

I found this map at a flea market in Brooklyn. Thumbing through the stack of maps and New York memorabilia this one vendor was selling, I was amazed to find this. The seller knew what he had, and was selling it for $125. I wish I would have bought it.

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Bellport Green

2010-07-31T01:48:00.001-07:00

Bellport is a small village in Long Island. Made up mostly of wealthy city dwellers with summer homes and regular working folks, Bellport was exploding this past Spring with the most brilliant shades of green I'd ever seen. We don't get this kind of green in Southern California. Here in Long Island, with a long, cold winter, Spring brings about a true explosion of life and fertile growth that is stunning.

Posted via email from Jon Hall

New York Architecture

2010-07-31T01:44:00.001-07:00

This is the exterior of a bank building in the Williamsburg burrough of Brooklyn, shot this Spring. Nearly every time I looked up when walking the street sof New York, I was amazed at the architecture I saw. This building was no longer a bank. On this day it was housing a killer flea market.

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Comic Con 2010

2010-07-31T01:07:00.001-07:00

While at Comic Con last weekend, we took some liberties with some equipment in the lobby of the convention center, and created a little impromptu art. You can see the res tof our photos of Comic Con here.

Posted via email from This Side of Paradise

Aniversario feiz, mi amor

2010-07-16T17:23:00.001-07:00

The days grow longer
and shorter, somehow,
as time passes.
The world around you and me, changing.
Always changing.
People coming and going.
Trends, movements, ideas here and there.
Fortunes and hope, gained and lost.
But in and around and outside of all of that
my love for you dreams' dreams of light.
No shadow, no darkness,
just beams of wonder and brilliance.
Light that fills my soul, the way love should.
The way only your love does.
Thank you for 22 love-filled years.
Aniversario feliz, mi amor.
Te amo mucho.

Posted via email from Jon Hall

Arts and Culture Forum recap

2010-07-14T23:41:00.001-07:00

Recap of the arts and culture forum, here.

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Love what you do. Do what you love.

2010-07-14T22:46:00.001-07:00

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Shepard Fairy in South Park

2010-07-14T18:56:00.001-07:00

He's putting up a huge installation at 29th and Ivy. Pretty cool watching it come together... Amazing what they can accomplish in a single day.

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NYC Subway

2010-07-14T16:29:00.001-07:00

Spent all four days in New York and Brooklyn riding the subways. Loved the experience of riding this kind of public transport. Got a Subway app for my iPhone that really helped, especially with the crazy, unpredictable closing of certain lines over the weekend.

See the full gallery on posterous

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May Day

2010-07-14T16:00:00.001-07:00

See and download the full gallery on posterous

While in New York this past Spring, I was able to visit Shepard Fairey's May Day exhibition at Dietrich's.

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Space4Art Opening

2010-07-14T15:54:00.001-07:00

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Celebrating our friend Matt

2010-07-14T15:53:00.001-07:00

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Seeing

2010-07-14T15:48:00.001-07:00

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.
—Franz Kafka

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Subway at Fulton St

2010-07-13T22:47:00.001-07:00

Subway at Fulton St, originally uploaded by hallywood.

The Urban Landscape

2010-06-20T06:30:00.000-07:00

One of the unique, unmistakable traits of New York City is the architecture. The variety, size and character of the urban landscape in New York is stunning. Even so, after walking its streets for just a short period of time, I found it easy to become blind to it, focused only on the few steps in front of me, the almost constant mass of people, the sounds, and the frequent avoidance of being hit by a cab or bus. This was a constant issue, as traffic lights are mere suggestions to pedestrians in New York City, and walking across a red light is no more uncommon as blinking.

Occasionally I would have a vantage point of my architectural surroundings that would cause me to stop and gaze in wonder. Seeing the age, the progression, the patina and the history of these buildings was inspiring. I shot the photo above from the Museum of Modern Art. There was a window spanning floor to ceiling on the fourth floor, and it framed this street scene below, creating what looked like a piece of living, architectural art right outside the walls of MoMA. I had to shoot this a few times, as the auto-metering on my camera kept trying to make the exposure lighter than it actually was. even though it was midday, the canyons of Manhattan tend to stay rather dark, like the canopy floor of the rainforest (and what appears to just as much diversity of lifeforms running about). I had to manually adjust the exposure to get it closer to reality, a midday scene where tall building blocked any direct sunlight, leaving a wonderful, flat, even (but surprisingly dark) lighting.

I found it intriguing, New York's mix of tall narrow buildings jammed together like so many people packed on a subway. The diversity of style, color and materials, that together formed a whole that seemed to aesthetically, just work. I'd chuckle, thinking to myself how silly this makes so many Homeowner's Associations—popular among master planned residential communities here in Southern California over the last 30 years—appear. The architecture of New York would be an HOA nightmare (and I kinda love that).

I was also intrigued at the artistry and craftsmanship of so many of the buildings in New York. Its something I rarely seen on the west coast. I attended a flea market, held in an old bank building in the Williamsburg burrough of Brooklyn. The building, no longer occupied as a bank, was a stunning example of 19th century architecture, with incredible attention to detail paid at every level. I found it particularly intriguing that the bank teller windows—in my experience, typically the most mundane and pedestrian of interior bank design—had incredibly detailed and wonderfully made sculpted bronze reliefs of what appeared to be Greek figures. I got a chuckle out of one female, topless bronze figure, small and next to a teller window. Bronze naturally ages to a deep brown color, except where it is touched frequently, in which case it's a brilliant golden metallic bronze. Let's just say many a boy likely felt up this Greek figure over the years, the lack of patina on her breasts standing in testament.

I walked away from New York thankful that this city has managed to preserved so much of it's architectural history for the rest of us to soak in. In many ways, this urban landscape was void of any hint of a natural setting (Central Park notwithstanding). Yet if we are truly created in the image of a creative God, then it stands to reason that this place is an expression of that creativity, God-given and holy in it's own right.

Spring in New York

2010-06-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite photos I shot while in New York this Spring. I was there to celebrate the graduation of my niece, who just completed four years at Pratt in Brooklyn. Her accomplishment was significant on many levels, but mostly it felt good to be there with her and my family, wrapped in the metropolitan wonder of New York City.

As often is the case with places I go, I shot a lot of photos while in New York, and I've been wondering what to do with them. I usually post most of my photos on Flickr, but mostly they sit there, all by their lonesome. While that's an okay thing for me—Flickr is serving as something of an archive of my experiences, photographed—I thought it may be beneficial to share some of them here, along with some stories to go with.

So every day (or every few days) I plan to post some photos of my trip. More than a boring slideshow of how I spent my Spring vacation, I hope to bring to us left-coasters some insights from the old coast. At least, from this largest city in the United States. There's no way I could ever hope to sum-up what New York is all about in a few blog posts. As a Californian, I can say that I could likely never hope to grasp what it's all about. But I was intrigued by so many things, on so many levels. And there's something good about getting outside of the world of Disneyland, the bubble of Southern California, and getting a glimpse of another land that is as similar as it is different from my own.