Call the Cops! I'm an Artist

Written on October 21st 2007

Having the police and hotel manager called on me. Add that to the list of experience had while working on the 365 project. During tonight’s interview I was speaking to a pleasant lady from Buffalo, NY who happened to be in the lobby of the hotel I was also staying at. I started the interview and at first things were going fine. By the 5th question the receptionist had started asking what I was doing, I replied it was part of an art project. I didn’t think anything of it at first, as generally most people who see me doing the interview either don’t give a damn or are on the curious side. I continued and he then interrupted again asking if I’d talked to the hotel manger. I replied no, it was an ART project, and didn’t in fact concern the hotel in anyway. It was an independent art project and nothing more. I quickly rushed the next questions in order not to inconvenience the lady I was interviewing, and then asked her to initial the bottom of the interview to just verify she’d given consent to being in the project. By this point the receptionist was highly suspicious and ordered her not to sign it before he rudely threatened to call the police and hotel manager. Myself and the lady quickly headed for the elevators while he picked up the phone, and I got the interview initialed and a single shot before returning to my room so I wouldn’t have to deal with the manager and cops- which I assume would not be pleasant anywhere, but least of all in a foreign country where I only know words of the language.

This is the first time in my life someone has called the cops on me and I’m actually rather offended. Enough to now name the hotel which up till now would have remained nameless:
If you ever happen to be in Torremolinos, Spain you should avoid Apartamentos Bajondillo. Not only was I offended by their staff, but also the bathrooms are leaky, they do not supply even soap, the double suite advertized will have one real bed, another fold out from the closet, and when we arrived two of the light bulbs were dead. Which I could normally forgive due to the location, but on both sides of the hotel and all along the beach are other equally convenient establishments.

Asides from this incident, interviews have been a bit harder to get but not unpleasant. The language barrier makes finding someone a bit harder as I don’t know enough Spanish to do an interview, only to clarify the questions a little bit. I have no clue how the photos will turn out as just finding a person and completing the interview is challenging enough for now.

Google it!

365 Faces of the Year can now be easily found through google without putting the name in quotation marks! Not sure if this will last the gap in posts, but I’m hopeful that it will remain the case. And I’m glad that any participants now have an easy way to find the site if they loose the card with the link on it.

Time flys like a ...

I have finished 43 days of interviews and photos- though I’m sure some are doubting that due to the backlog of images needing to be processed and posted. However I feel the need to warn you that there will be an even longer gap between now and when you see the next posted images. This coming Tuesday I will depart for a trip to Portugal, Spain and finally a wedding in London. I will be absent until the 30th of October. The project won’t be paused, and I will continue working on my half to keep up with it- however the posted portion will be paused. I’d like to post a few more images before I leave, but I’m doubting that will happen due to my full course load at school. Between now and Tuesday afternoon’s flight I have 2 papers to write, 2 weeks reading for 2 classes to do, packing for the trip, and reorganizing my laptop to create room for the photos I will be undoubtedly be taking while out of the country. Oh and classes to attend! Which should be more than enough to keep myself busy for the 2 days left. I’m hoping to use some of the flight time to process images- which hopefully means when I get back everything will be ready to copy, paste and post. But we shall see. If this is the last post before I leave- I hope you’ll still be reading when I return, but I will try to get something up if time permits.

~~~

Also I posted a brief progress update on the Facebook group on Friday which was day 41 which I'll now just paste here:

I've thus far completed 41 days - 22 are on the blog.

The workshop on on expressive portraits was exhausting- but it was interesting and I learned more about working with images in RAW, which will probably result in this project taking a hell of a lot more space on my computer, and better quality images. It's also got me lusting after a new lensbaby 3g and better appreciating the usefulness of reflectors. Though having now played with lighting equipment, I'm more convinced it's a burden to natural shots.

To see a sample of the shots done during the workshop check out the most recent post at http://uniterandomvisions.blogspot.com/
(one of my other two blogs)

I'm sorry to anyone who's been expecting the daily shot to be processed and posted efficiently; I'm currently juggling many things and rather than trying to expedite the post processing, I'd rather wait and give it my full focus with alert eyes. And due to daily life, that's not always easy to find.

Day 22 - Hef

Day 22 - September 22nd 2007
Location: Monte Sereno, California
Setting: Barbeque - Festevus for the Rest of Us

1. Preferred nickname?
Hef
2. Birthplace?
Lindsey, California
3. Paper or plastic?
Plastic
4. Favorite childhood toy?
Shoot... The Nintendo. Is that a toy?
5. Where were you on 9 -11?
Umm I was at Porterville College
6. Best piece of advice you could give?
Do everything to your fullest
7. Favorite way to spend an afternoon?
Shit. I don’t know.
8. Song of the week?
An Ocean Between Us by As I lay Dying
9. Do you know any racist jokes?
Yes. Want me to tell you one?
What do you call one white guy surrounded by 15 black guys? A basket ball coach.
What do you call one white guy surrounded by 30 black guys? A football coach.
What do you call one white guy surrounded by 300 black guys? A warden.
10. Latest book or movie you’d recommend to a friend?
Superbad. If you want a book it’d be Happy Endings by Jim Nolton
11. Who wins in a caged battle-to-the-death match: Rosie O’Donnell or Oprah?
Rosie O’Donnell. She’s a beast!

Day 21 - Jalebi

Day 21 - September 21st 2007
Location: Saratoga, California
Setting: Book Club

1. Preferred nickname?
Jalebi
2. Birthplace?
India
3. Paper or plastic?
Paper
4. Favorite childhood toy?
A doll that closed it’s eyes
5. Where were you on 9 -11?
At home.
6. Best piece of advice you could give?
Oh that’s a thinking question, can we come back to it?
(Later) Live for the moment. Or live in the moment.
7. Favorite way to spend an afternoon?
Sit in bed and read.
8. Song of the week?
I had one. ... Downtown.
9. Do you know any racist jokes?
Racist jokes? Sure.
10. Latest book or movie you’d recommend to a friend?
Book is Agony and Ecstacy.
11. Who wins in a caged battle-to-the-death match: Rosie O’Donnell or Oprah?
Rosie for sure

Day 20 - JJ

Day 20 - September 20th 2007
Location: Los Altos, California
Setting: Sidewalk of Main street

1. Preferred nickname?
I don’t have a nickname. Sometimes they call me JJ at one point of time at my work
2. Birthplace?
Passedina, California
3. Paper or plastic?
Paper
4. Favorite childhood toy?
I actually- it was my bike. I could go anywhere. Freedom.
5. Where were you on 9 -11?
I was at home. Before I went to work, and I was listening to the news as I was getting ready to work.
6. Best piece of advice you could give?
Always wear a smile
7. Favorite way to spend an afternoon?
At the beach, sure, isn’t that the best place. Just the sound and the smell. You can decompress so fast there. Overcast, sun, it doesn’t make a difference.
8. Song of the week?
Ain’t to proud to beg by the temptations
9. Do you know any racist jokes?
Actually no
10. Latest book or movie you’d recommend to a friend?
Murder at the Smithsonian by Margaret Truman. She’s Harry Truman’s granddaughter. And since she grew up in DC she did murder mysteries at all the sites.
11. Who wins in a caged battle-to-the-death match: Rosie O’Donnell or Oprah?
Tough call. I’d have to go with Rosie O’Donnell.

Day 19 - Dro

Day 19 - September 19th 2007
Location: Los Altos, California
Setting: Rancho Shopping Center

1. Preferred nickname?
Dro (Andrew)
2. Birthplace?
Los Altos, California
3. Paper or plastic?
Oh. That’s a good question. I don’t really have a preference.
4. Favorite childhood toy?
Skateboard for sure
5. Where were you on 9 -11?
In a classroom
6. Best piece of advice you could give?
Uh. *pause* Be yourself
7. Favorite way to spend an afternoon?
Just kicking it with friends.
8. Song of the week?
Ooh. Sunshine by Atmosphere
9. Do you know any racist jokes?
I know so many racist jokes
10. Latest book or movie you’d recommend to a friend?
Book, Scar tissue. And movie would have to be, 300 or Smoking Aces.
11. Who wins in a caged battle-to-the-death match: Rosie O’Donnell or Oprah?
Rosie O’Donnell for sure.

Short Self Reflection

To be honest I'm not sure exactly what I'm doing on the post processing with those last few shots- I just want to mix things up and try things out differently to keep myself out of a rut. There's the glaringly obvious preference of tightly cropped face shots that I tend to favor, so I'm trying not to let that be limiting, and only use it when I can't think of other ways to do it- but that being said, I still find the tight shots more dynamic. Some of the people I've shot have been available to play around with a variety of poses and then I get to chose the best of many shots, though others deem one sufficient, which I must respect.

Today while I was shooting my Day 31 face, a friend of her's walked up and after watching the two of us shooting for a bit, asked if he could be tomorrow's face. Having people I don't know offer to participate rather than searching for them is a bit strange; although it makes life easier and I'm still getting to meet new people. Anyways, I gave him my card and we'll see if I actually end up shooting him next.

I hope you're enjoying looking thus far, and that I get the 12 days of shots from my computer to yours in a timely manner.

Also my hand is healed- but here are a couple shots I got of it when it was still in the bandages:

Day 18 - Erica

Day 18 - September 18th 2007
Location: Palo Alto, California
Setting: Stanford University Quad

1. Preferred nickname?
I don’t have one, Erica
2. Birthplace?
Denver, Colorado
3. Paper or plastic?
Usually paper, but if it’s water bottles...
4. Favorite childhood toy?
Definitely kinex
5. Where were you on 9 -11?
I was in school in Aberdee Scotland
6. Best piece of advice you could give?
For what? Love what you do
7. Favorite way to spend an afternoon?
Kayaking, white water kayaking
8. Song of the week?
Ohh tough one, tough one. Seeing as our dorm’s theme song is umbrella, that’s gotta be it.
9. Do you know any racist jokes?
Sure, who doesn’t? Especially if you’re a victim of them
10. Latest book or movie you’d recommend to a friend?
A thousand splendid suns
11. Who wins in a caged battle-to-the-death match: Rosie O’Donnell or Oprah?
Oh. It would have to be Rosie O’Donnell I think

Day 17 - Tyler

Day 17 - September 17th 2007
Location: Los Alto, California
Setting: Peets Coffee

1. Preferred nickname?
Tyler - I don’t know. I don’t really have a nickname
2. Birthplace?
Menlo park
3. Paper or plastic?
Paper
4. Favorite childhood toy?
Legos
5. Where were you on 9 -11?
I was at Crittenden Middle School in 6th grade
6. Best piece of advice you could give?
*pause* I’m trying to think. I guess life’s short so ... no that’s a quote. The best things in life are free
7. Favorite way to spend an afternoon?
*Smiles* probably sleeping, or hanging out with friends or eating... all 3
8. Song of the week?
Lets just sat ... oh this is hard for me to say... lets just say run it by Chris Brown
9. Do you know any racist jokes?
Yeah but I don’t want to say them, they’re offensive
10. Latest book or movie you’d recommend to a friend?
The peaceful warrior -it’s a movie
11. Who wins in a caged battle-to-the-death match: Rosie O’Donnell or Oprah?
Oh I don’t know that’s a good one ... I’ll just say Oprah

Day 16 - Dan

Day 16 - September 16th 2007
Location: Los Altos, California
Setting: Backroom of Starbucks

1. Preferred nickname?
Dan
2. Birthplace?
Beverly, East Yorkshire
3. Paper or plastic?
Paper
4. Favorite childhood toy?
A dog called Brownie, a stuffed dog called brownie
5. Where were you on 9 -11?
I was going in the car to college.
6. Best piece of advice you could give?
Life is an adventure, enjoy it
7. Favorite way to spend an afternoon?
*laughs* Having a laugh with friends, and having sex. And dancing. So it’s three things.
8. Song of the week?
White Room by Cream
9. Do you know any racist jokes?
Racist jokes. Do I have to repeat it? I can’t remember it though. *cracks up* She’s actually typing what I’m saying. (Conversation with coworker... I can’t type that fast)
10. Latest book or movie you’d recommend to a friend?
*pause* *chuckle* * thinks... long pause* The secret. By Rhonda Burn. I think.
11. Who wins in a caged battle-to-the-death match: Rosie O’Donnell or Oprah?
WHAT? *cracks up* Who’s Rosie O’Donnell? I haven’t even heard of her so I’d say Oprah