
Hello design.
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Kenneth Josephson
-Amanda
















In December of 2006, Mexico's new President Felipe Calderón declared war on the drug cartels, reversing earlier government passiveness. Since then, the government has made some gains, but at a heavy price - gun battles, assasinations, kidnappings, fights between rival cartels, and reprisals have resulted in over 9,500 deaths since December 2006 - over 5,300 killed last year alone. President Barack Obama recently announced extra agents were being deployed to the border and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heads to Mexico today to pursue a broad diplomatic agenda - overshadowed now by spiraling drug violence and fears of greater cross-border spillover. Officials on both sides of the border are committed to stopping the violence, and stemming the flow of drugs heading north and guns and cash heading south.






I just moved to a new apartment and I didn’t have the opportunity yet to meet any of my neighbors. I thought that the “One shot” assignment would be a good excuse to get on with someone of the building. A lot of times I hear someone playing music in the apartment next to mine. Sometimes I hear the piano and other times someone playing the guitar. I had no idea if the musician was a man or a woman, a young or an old person. I didn’t know either if he or she was a multi-skilled artist or if there was more than one musician living in the same place. So I decided to ring the bell of the apartment number 5 and for the ten seconds that I was waiting in front of the door, thousands of questions came into my head: Is this person living alone? Is her or him obsessed with cats? Is this person really a professional musician or does he/she play for fun? If she is a woman, do I have something in common with her? If he is a man, is he the man of my life? …
Anyway, someone open the door and I could see Michael, a charming old man with an indelible smile. We were talking for a while and it was so funny to discover that we have more in common that I could imagine. He never traveled to Spain, my country, but he is a huge fan of Flamenco music. We were talking about Camaron and Paco de Lucía, Billie Holliday or Stan Getz, while he was playing the guitar in his living room.
Rus


-Andy

Like every semester, I look for interesting people to shoot. I sent out a bunch of emails to circus performers, troupes and schools hoping they'd be willing to let me take portraits of them. This is Gregangelo. He's the owner/founder of Gregangelo's Velocity Circus here in San Francisco. He was the first to reply to my email. He said he's more of an 'in-person' person and would rather meet me first to talk and see his place. I could easily say he is one of the most interesting and creative people I've ever met. I was real nervous and wanted to make a good first impression. After spending the day with him, I couldn't be any more excited to shoot and work with him further. This image was taken in between all the action in his busy home. Thank goodness he stayed still for a moment just for this one shot. 


I liked the approach to set the one-shot parameter on our portrait. I think this encourages us to get to know the person and develop a comfort level with them in order to capture any personality or emotion in their eyes. With giving ourselves only one chance to get a good portrait, it forces us to take more time into getting to know the subject.
Me: 








I'm working on a group exhibition with the Graphic Design MFA department called The SoftSpot.John Cameron Mitchell clip, as mentioned in class.
Just brilliant.







The frequency with which Nadav Kander updates his website errs on the side of almost never, but a little while ago he posted up those Obama administration portraits and a few other newer pieces. Of that new work, these portraits of Lily Allen struck me immediatly. Kander blends the essence of geometry and beauty in a haunting, tragic way. His work is something to admire.



























yeah. thats me. yeesh.
at least i wasn't talking.
Victor Wang is in there for a second too.
James
Hey all, this is Jon Snyder saying what's up. I'm still here for one more semester and thought I'd chime in and take James up on the blog invitation. I've got some new work up above and may try to swing through the class on Saturdays and get a crit too.









































