Woo Blog

In light of this Fong-Torres doc I’m working on, I’ve come across some amazing classic rockumentaries. I think It Might Get Loud is a new must-see rockumentary, and I’ve yet to see it (but plan on it). Different approach, a modern cinematic style, and new concept, it should be fascinating for many audiences.

Barrels, waves, tubes, whatever you call it, they both frighten and amaze me.

Check out more photos from Clark Little here.

Shakira and her background Korean drummers:

Below, my mother, around 6 or 7 years old:

I can never become a member of the Maldives Cabinet . . . at least for the reason that they held an underwater cabinet meeting.

“Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed signs the decree of the underwater cabinet meeting off Girifushi Island.”

Click here to see more photos.

That beautiful photo above is of Ryan May and Betsy Berger, following the wedding of the young couple that took place in Canada. Ryan, by the way, works for Lifeyo.com. Betsy is a college graduate who now spends her time with her new husband in Orange County while also working on the Ben Fong-Torres documentary.

I had to not only share this photo on my blog (talk about capturing a moment!), but also wanted to share Betsy’s new blog (made with Lifeyo), RazorBlonde!

Check out RazorBlonde.com, all about fashion with an edge!

No computer enhancement or visual effects: Light Art Performance Photography uses a steady tripod-edcamera, long exposures (some over an hour), and various light sources to capture these amazing light paintings. It isn’t a new concept, of course. Film, after all, is really a light painting. But Jan Wöllert and Jörg Miedza of Bremen, Germany, took the painting with light with slow shutter speeds to a whole new level.

See more photos and read about it here.

Click here to watch a time lapse of the fire by Dan Blank on Vimeo.

So I have this random list of places to visit in my near future, or hopefully near. It’s just a Sticky Note on my computer, where I jot down names of places, buildings, anything that catches my eye while surfing the net (examples: Vitoria, Spain (Oficinas Caja Vital Kutxa); Tenerife (Spanish island); Hotel Distrito Capital, Mexico City,….). A local one on the list was the Bradbury Building, downtown LA.

I don’t remember where I first saw this, but I came across a website featuring beautiful photos of the Bradbury Building. I was surprised to see such a place existed in LA, something of that age, character, still existing and functioning today.

I was excited, I jotted it down. But the mental note went far back in my head and I had forgotten about it. I have lived in LA for over a year now!

But many thanks to the movie, 500 Days of Summer, the last scene pulled that mental note back out. I couldn’t place the name of the building immediately, but knew I had seen it before in photographs and that it was a place I wanted to go to for some time. I looked it up and thankfully found it easily.

The Bradbury Building has been used in many films, including Bladerunner (Harrison Ford film, starring Sean Young, who once sat in this very living room I am sitting in, but that is another story). The building, built in 1893 (just 34 years younger than this house) is at 3rd and Broadway, downtown. It’s still used today, with various retail tenants on the lobby floor and offices for LAPD’s internal affairs department. The Bradbury Building has become a historic landmark, so it’s also open to the public for tours or walking in to limited areas.

Anyways, the actual real reason why I am posting about this is because I was Googling for black-and-white photos of the place, and came across this:

And why this is attention-worthy is because of the story behind it, much reminding me of why I am doing what I do today.

A little excerpt: 

“Pictured here is the guy that ignited the spark I have for photography and the arts.

Growing up, my father had a darkroom in a [bathroom] small room off the kitchen which contained, among other things, an enlarger, a huge deep sink my father built from scratch, and all the necessary chemicals….“

Thanks to van Kampen photography for sharing the photo and story. Please click here to see the photographer’s Flickr photo and read the rest of his story behind it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewoodenshoes/3238124790/

I had seen an image of Ben with Michael Jackson and Marlon Jackson back in January of 1977 at Ben’s house in San Francisco (see above). But yesterday I came across another picture of Ben interviewing them along with a couple more brothers:
I love love love old photos (sorry to say “old”, Ben). But these photos, I believe, will set an amazing tone and palette for an upcoming project. I already have so many questions, so many ideas. I can say so much right now, but probably should wait until a better time …. Meanwhile, I suggest if you don’t know about Ben, Google/Wiki him, watch Almost Famous, and read his books! And enjoy the photos!

——-UPDATE——-

We had posted an article about Ben and Michael on our site. I saw these following links in the article:

June 30, 2009: Ben Fong-Torres on Michael Jackson, for an MSNBC Exclusive (ARTICLE)

June 27, 2009: Ben Fong-Torres on Michael Jackson, for an SF Chronicle Exclusive (ARTICLE)

June 25, 2009: Ben Fong-Torres on Michael Jackson, for an KCBS Exclusive (AUDIO)