Na Yeon Choi
What a fantastic victory for the 24 year old South Korean, Na Yeon Choi. Poise, skill and some rather good luck led her to her first US Major Championship. It was a difficult course depleting most of the opposition. She and fellow Korean, Amy Yang were the only two competitors to finish under-par. Yes without a doubt Na Yeon Choi is my favorite female athlete. You go Girl!
There are times when I have a visual dream. In the waking. A collage of kinetic images. And as painful as it may sometimes be, I can but only love … living my art; finding fuel for it in the most unlikely places …
This piece is an exploration of the moment when waking from a dream. The dream persists, but so does the realities of life: Our personal journey. As they intrude. Crash. Collide. And take us for a ride along the highway of uncertainty. I think it is here, in this moment, that we can rise from our slumber with our greatest fear or with our greatest hope. As we face the day, with our portfolio of experiences, memories, and designs, we can, with internal intent and wisdom, begin our search for a better tomorrow.
http://youtu.be/58Nwb7HmbLQ – Sometimes In the Waking the Reality Is More Pressing Than the Dream 3:10; music by Nine Inch Nails
http://youtu.be/Wdrl6O_H1uE – Copyright 2012 Walter W Smith
…
the night
- blue
with restless dreams
– isolated
in scattered refuge
in sudden refrain
– through the darkest storm
“I think we dream so we don’t have to be apart so long. If we’re in each other’s dreams, we can be together all the time.” – Calvin & Hobbs
The night holds many mysteries when time stands still….
she remains transfixed trapped in summer's night contemplating the approaching storm
Searching for chance in the process of creating art.
Within the context of my digital and video work, the objective is to find visual ambient experiences. The process at times, is a stationary camera. Post-production: Unedited film, or with very minimal post editing and digital effects. With this piece, I altered the color tonality. The difficulty in the piece was balancing the black sky, now slightly colorized, while maintaining a brightness/contrast without compromising the visibility of the lightning strikes.
Art can be discovered by random chance.
An Unfolding Night Next To You is the first in a series of new HD experimental video work-in-progress. Some years ago, my first exploration of the still camera and chance recording was an hour-long piece entitled Oceans of Art. This 2012 video was filmed during a late night drive on HWY 221 in South Carolina through a scattered rain storm. Darkness, lightning strikes, pressing rain, and the headlights of passing cars all merge with the music of sound design artist, and master of glitch Alva Noto, creating an eerie journey into meditative abstraction. Rain drops falling on the window shield create a mosaic of pixel forms. These forms are constantly moving and manipulating the video. While sporadic lightning strikes fill the night sky. Patience is in order to gather the full ambient feeling of the piece. Things are there.
Recommended viewing: In a very dark room by single candle light.
http://youtu.be/-KKafg4qoaQ – Copyright 2012 – Walter Smith
The Tour de France is underway. It will cover over 2000 miles in 3 weeks. This shot was taken during stage 2 in Belguim. The images of bicycling has always been a hallmark of Pop-Art.
Red. The color of those who lost their lives during the American Revolution. This is a photograph of the Enoree River In the back country of South Carolina. During a recent hike, I visited the Musgrove Historic State Park. A signifcant battleground between the British, American Loyalists, and the American Patroits. Intense and bloody battles insued. A divided country. Friend vs friend. Brother vs brother.
red…
a transfusion of color
in blood and tears
– of lost
and gain
but not without
the soul in pain
– the spirit transformed
and the cries of freedom
in red flow
down by the river
brave men fought for independence
– for some
The Olympic trials are in full swing. Competition. Endurance. Will. Beauty. Art and sports a Pop Art tradition. London 2012.
Exploring nature through video …
I enjoy working with video. It has always been a true love of mine. It is however, a very challenging medium. It takes time to learn new programs and to obtain the right equipment. And it is expensive. Exhibiting video art in a gallery usually requires a grant. And grants are difficult to come by these days. In the 1980’s and 1990’s, I was awarded a couple of grants for a video installation and a multimedia collaboration. All in all, through recent years, and mostly because of the expense, I’ve shifted from video art to digital imaging. 2-dimensional work. Photography, prints, and digital art.
However, I do want to invest more time in video making. At the heart of this endeavor is having the right mindset for video. Filming. Set design. Editing. Video making is much different from taking photographs. I must remind myself not to think in terms of large production. But rather find inspiration and subject matter in the in-between spaces. Mood. Ambient nature. Form. Simplicity. Lo-tech – high-tech.
The pieces “Water for Meditation” and “On Water” are two perfect examples of ambient nature. They are not very complicated to film and produce, yet fulfill, in this instance, my desire to create an ambient environment for meditation. Transporting the viewer to a moment of relaxation. “On Water” is micro short (26 seconds) in length, while “Water for Meditation” is nearly six minutes long. I prefer long meditative pieces, however I realize that it takes a considerable amount of investment on part of the viewer to “sit” through the minimal motion of a piece of great length. All in all I hope to produce in the future some rather experimental pieces. Incorporating original imagery and music created by me. Work that at this time is a mystery to me.
Below are 2 links to my YouTube channel and the video pieces; “Water For Meditation” (Sunrise Remix) and “On Water”.
Please enjoy. Any feedback is well appreciated. In the future, I hope to post videos more regularly.
http://youtu.be/pyYahhz2svM – Water For Mediation (Sunrise Remix)
http://youtu.be/wGXnumdn_Ys – On Water
Tybee Island is a small public beach located on the Atlantic Ocean near the Georgia/South Carolina border. It is just a few minutes away from historic Savannah GA.
Here is a detail of the cover of my new published book of digital abstract art, poetry and prose. Available in hard and soft cover at Blurb publishers. Select picture to link to my bookstore. A preview of the book is also available online.
n e w d i g i t a l s c a p e s 