Tag: formhals

Chapter One: Friday, May 31, 2002

Posted by Bryan Formhals – July 24, 2009


©Bryan Formhals

St. Paul, MN – Friday, May 31, 2002

Uneventful day.  I took a very long walk around the neighborhood.  Didn’t think about much.  I read some and watched a few shows about the universe.

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I’m starting to believe that there is life after death but not in the religious sense, rather in the quantum sense.

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Perhaps quantum mechanics has the answers to what happens to our souls when our physical body dies.  Maybe the soul and mind continue on at the quantum level.

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I’m not certain why I didn’t attempt to do any writing today.  I think its because I’ve been very enthralled in the books that I purchased the other day.

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The inner universe is as mysterious as the external universe….

Chapter One: Thursday, May 30, 2002

Posted by Bryan Formhals – July 23, 2009

bw-06-20-slide
©Bryan Formhals

St. Paul, MN – Thursday, May 30, 2002

I’ve decided to scrap rewriting “Into The Open” basically because I don’t think the material is very interesting and I’d rather spend my time on different projects.

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I saw Spider Man today and loved it.  I thought it was much better than Attack of the Clones which I was really disappointed in.  The love story in Spider Man was actually quit moving and well developed.  I didn’t think that it would be as interesting as it turned out.  I should try to keep more of an open mind when viewing films.  You never know when you’ll be surprised.

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I think that tomorrow will be my writing day.  I know.  Everyday should be a writing day, especially for someone who wants to be a writer.  I think that I should work on “Cosmo” some more so I can have some pages for Chooch next week.

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Strange day love wise.

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I finished the sex, lies screenplay and found the whole thing very inspiring.  I really like Soderbergh’s approach to film making and think that he’s very relatable.  He’s right up there with Woody Allen as far as influences go.  I just wish he would write more of his movies because I truly think that he’s a gifted screenwriter.  It’d be interesting to know why he hasn’t written more screenplays.  Perhaps he has but they’ve just never been produced.

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I don’t need to say much about the Zen stuff I’m reading, and for good reason.

Velocity Mixology #1

Posted by Bryan Formhals – May 22, 2009

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Editing is a maddening process. I’m currently stuck in a quagmire with my ‘ESVT’ edit.  I’m missing something. Spontaneity? Jazz? The flow? To alleviate the tension I’ve decided to riff on the photographs I’m looking at right now. Not all of them work or will make the edit, but a blog seems to be the perfect place to play with editing.  Photography’s relationship with the web seems uncomfortable at best.  It’s the wild wild west and we’re living through it, this is the time to experiment.

More…

Entering the wilderness of portraiture

Posted by Bryan Formhals – May 15, 2009

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©Bryan Formhals

I fear portraiture more than any other type of photography, except perhaps for the type where bombs, guns and insurgents are involved.  That aside, if you’re working in the fine art or documentary territory I can’t really think of anything more confounding, perplex and complicated than portraiture.  If you’re shooting candidly it’s all about instincts, reacting, anticipating, getting lucky, failing and shooting a shitload. Ok, that’s simplistic too, but something like that. If you’re shooting landscapes it’s really about wandering and making the shapes work out.  And of course, no matter what, it always helps to attempt to work at the highest level and have an idea of the type of photographs you want to live with.

With portraiture, there’s no escaping, no ignoring, no hiding and waiting for something to happen. It’s you and the subject.  And you better know what you’re doing otherwise you’re going to fuck up the dynamic.  An uncertain photographer staring at you with a camera can be incredibly uncomfortable. As if standing or sitting for a portrait isn’t uncomfortable enough.  So  yeah, it’s challenging and there’s so much more than the simple act of photographing involved.  It’s about an ephemeral relationship.

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Photo: Eyes and Sky

Posted by Bryan Formhals – May 2, 2009

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West Hollywood, Calif. – ©Bryan Formhals

My computer along with all my files has arrived in New York, so now it’s time to get back to editing ESVT.  It’s been good to think about the edit without actually slaving away with the images.  My ideas about the project have evolved since I last took a look at the master edit.  It was also kind of odd and refreshing to take a look at the photographs from my last days in LA and road trip back to Minnesota, which constitute the opening segment of ‘Drift.’