I love visiting Miami’s Wynwood Art District whenever possible. They have a fantastic art walk on the second Saturday of every month. The street art is amazing, the galleries always have interesting work and the food is delicious. What more could you want? Oh yeah, Cuban coffee… they have that too!
I usually start my visit with a cafe con leche and a snack from Versailles Restaurant and then head over to Wynwood to check out the galleries.
“We look at the world and see what we have learned to believe is there. We have been conditioned to expect…. but, as photographers, we must learn to relax our beliefs.” – Aaron Siskind
I couldn’t resist the opportunity to make an interior photograph of the religious iconography, colors and plastic while waiting for our Indian food carry-out at Palermo Pizza in Wabasso, Florida. Yes, that’s Palermo Pizza. I don’t know how their pizza is but the Indian food is excellent!
Aric Attas, Waiting for Indian food carry-out, 2013
Here’s one of the aerial photographs I made on the way to one of my commercial photo shoots in Vero Beach last week. What a great way to start the day. Special thanks to John Massung of Indian River by Air for piloting!
The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles recently held an exhibition titled The Photographs of Ray K. Metzker and the Institute of Design. Metzker studied at the Institute of Design in Chicago which was founded in 1937 as the New Bauhaus with László Moholy-Nagy forging the way. The highly innovative and influential school promoted an integration of art, technology and craft through its programs in architecture, design, art and photography.
From the J. Paul Getty Museum – “Metzker’s work is part of a revered tradition that emerged from the experimental approach of Chicago’s Institute of Design (ID), where he received his graduate degree in 1959. Inspired by instructors Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind, Metzker fashioned an entirely personal synthesis of formal elegance, technical precision, and optical innovation.
His composite works hold an important status in the history of creative photography: at the time of their making, they were unprecedented in ambition and perceptual complexity. Metzker’s devotion to photographic seeing as a process of discovery is also deeply humanistic in its illumination of isolation and vulnerability.
This exhibition offers a comprehensive overview of Metzker’s five-decade career, while also providing examples of work by instructors and fellow students at the Institute of Design in Chicago, where Metzker studied from 1956 to 1959. Learn more about Metzker’s diverse forays into photography as well as the ID and its profound influence.”
Suzuki Roshi’s book Zen Mind, Beginner’s mind is one of the best introductions to Zen philosophy and a great way to inspire your creativity. In it he writes “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.”
The quote below is part of a teaching on Suzuki Roshi’s book Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Zenkei Blanche Hartman. It will help you understand the concept of beginner’s mind and how to apply it to your life and enhance your creativity.
“Beginner’s mind is Zen practice in action. It is the mind that is innocent of preconceptions and expectations, judgements and prejudices. Beginner’s mind is just present to explore and observe and see ‘things as-it-is.’ I think of beginner’s mind as the mind that faces life like a small child, full of curiosity and wonder and amazement. ‘I wonder what this is? I wonder what that is? I wonder what this means?’ Without approaching things with a fixed point of view or a prior judgement, just asking ‘what is it?'”
I highly recommend Suzuki Roshi’s book Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind not only as an introduction to Zen philosophy but as a way to cultivate your creativity though openness to the present moment.
The Photographer’s Ephemeris is a great app for photographers who want to know where the sun and moon will be throughout the day and night at any location. This is great for planning photo shoots for the best light, especially if you’re traveling. The software enables you to search locations by name or enter the coordinates directly. Photographer’s Ephemeris will show you a satellite photo and map of your location with an overlay of the sunrise/sunset and moonrise/moonset information. You can also change the date and watch the direction of the light change to find the best time of year to photograph your subject. Super cool!
This tutorial walks you through the basics of the software and will probably give you some good ideas of how you can use it to plan your next photo shoot that requires natural light.
Looking for some inspiration for your photography? Check out this great book by Bruce Barnbaum to stimulate your ideas!
I recently had the opportunity to photograph some food at the Citrus Grillhouse in Vero Beach, Florida for Palm Beach Illustrated magazine. Scott Varricchio is an amazing chef with a true passion for food. Not only did the food look great but the flavors were complex and delicious. Citrus Grillhouse is a fantastic restaurant cleverly hidden in Vero Beach! I encourage you to check it out.
Food photography by Aric Attas for Palm Beach Illustrated magazine. Citrus Grillhouse, Vero Beach, Florida.
