Ben Wilmore on HDR on Bert Monroy's Pixel Perfect


Ben Willmore showed up as a guest on Bert Monroy’s Pixel Perfect show to do a two-part installment about High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography. In the first installment of the show he covers the basics of shooting for HDR, merging exposures, and tonemapping. In the second installment of the show, he covers postprocessing HDR merges.
First, view it here.
Then check out Ben’s even more detailed DVD HDR Mastery.
If you’ve watched these installments or Ben’s DVD tell others what you think here.
Comment!

The Future of Video Projection?


Princess Leiah, can you color manage that?
Now I know I’m a geek.
A bad Star Wars joke and color management in the same line?
But, this technology stuff is very cool.
Check this out.
Video in thin air?
The Helio display is a video projector that casts images on condensed air.

Video – Participation Pieces


This video is a record of one of my new Participation Pieces. They use images projected in the dark – with no screen. You can’t see the image until you create one. That’s what I invite other people to do. Initially, I provide scattered flour. Other materials will surely be incorporated soon. The way the screen is created changes the image. The image is never the same twice. Sometimes you see it only partially. Sometimes the screen moves. Letting the flour fall produces a rain-like effect. Blowing the flour into the air creates a cloudy effect. The participant changes the image. Without a participant, there’s no image to see. And the viewer’s point of view changes what’s seen. If you’re a participant your activity limits your ability to see all angles. If you’re a viewer you have to move to see all angles and you can’t see all moments from all angles. It takes many people to create and view the entire event.
Projection changes the image. Two-dimensional images become three-dimensional. A point becomes a line. A line becomes a plane. A circle becomes a cylinder.
What kinds of images am I projecting? Images of celestial phenomena I normally exhibit in print form. Images of the light patterns I render in my series Refraction. Animations of those line patterns created in Photoshop. I’m sure I’ll find more locations, screens, and images in the days to come.
Many of these images are of eclipses. Coincidentally, August 1 and 16 there are eclipses (solar and lunar). Find out more about today’s solar eclipses here.
After thinking about environmental sculpture and projection for a long time, I finally started creating projections during a Creativity workshop with Sean Kernan. You can find my June posts on it right here on this blog. Just type in Kernan in the Search field and click Go.
You can see my Annual Exhibit in person 8/2-3. Find out more here.
Stay tuned for online releases all weekend long.

Video – Interview by Jay Tomioka

Jay Tomioka visited with me last winter for a video interview. He’s doing a very interesting project on photography that includes extensive video interviews. Other photographers he’s interviewed include Jerry Uelsmann, Maggie Taylor, Steve McCurry and many more. One of his themes is the relationship between eastern and western sensibilities and uses of photography. It’s an important theme for me. We spent hours talking. It’s an interesting series about to be released. You can preview video excerpts here. (Each video is just under 10 minutes long.)
Read the interview here.
See more Jay Tomioka videos here.
You can hear me speak about my new work during my Annual Open Studio Exhibit 8/2-3. Learn more here.

Read more of what I have to say in interviews here.
Read my conversations with other artists here.
Sign up for Insights to receive alerts on new content here.


Video – Dove's Evolution of Beauty, Onslaught & Fried




Since their release less than 2 years ago, Dove’s Evolution of Beauty, Onslaught, and Fried videos have been viewed by millions of viewers and inspired numerous spin offs and spoofs.
Evolution reduces hours of makeup and digital retouching to one minute with time-lapse images.
Onslaught raises challenging questions about perception of femininity and early stereotyping.
Fried’s display of coiffure creation is more tongue and cheek with an inevitable conclusion.
Many people like to criticize contemporary notions of idealized beauty. I feel the core problem is not fantasy itself but confusing fiction with reality. Our fantasies (cultural or individual) can tell us a lot about ourselves psychologically. But, we all know that disaster can strike when we confuse fiction and fact, fantasy and reality. In the case of confusion over contemporary western female beauty, a long list of problems arises – greatly reduced self-esteem, prejudice, stigma, anorexia and bulemia, even death are just a few. All of us suffer when we adhere to limited definitions of beauty. Expanding our awareness of the many kinds of beauty (both external and internal, physical and social) that surround us is not only conscientious but enlightened. Imagine how much more inspiring your life would be if every day you saw more beauty all around you. Kudos to Dove (a company in the business of selling beauty products) for taking this stand and not only effectively raising awareness but also offering education, skills, and choice.
The Dove Self-Esteem Fund was developed to help free the next generation from self-limiting beauty stereotypes. Committed to reaching 5 million young women by the end of 2010, the Dove Self-Esteem Fund invites you to play a role in supporting and promoting a wider definition of beauty.
“At Dove®, our mission is to make more women feel more beautiful everyday. We believe women with strong confidence and positive self-esteem are beautiful. That is why we have partnered with the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership, a not-for-profit organization, to encourage real women to share real success stories and learn from one another. We invite you to participate in these online training modules as a first step to begin a successful and beautiful journey.”
See the Dove videos here (including Amy).
Find out more about the Dove Self-Esteem Fund here.
Find out about Dove’s partnership with the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership here.
What do you think about Dove’s initiative? Comment here!

Pilobolus Dance Theatre



I just saw Pilobolus Dance Theatre’s Lanterna Magica this weekend. It was an inspiring performance! Two hours evaporated!
Honestly, as interesting as the video clips here are, they don’t do a full performance justice. (In two hours you get to know each dancer. Each experience builds on the previous one generating a big final effect.) But don’t let this stop you from watching more. They’re great!
You can see more Pilobolus on YouTube.
Find out more about Pilobolus here.
I’ve been intrigued with dance since I was very young. The Nutcracker and Firebird ballets captivated me at the age of 4. Mumenshantz modern dance / mime at 5. The Whirling Dervishes at 6. At 7, I moved to New Mexico and began attending native american ceremonial dances. Martha Graham’s Rites of Spring at 19. Cirque du Soleil at 40. And recently Alison Chase (former creative director of Pilobolus) was a guest instructor during a weeklong workshop on creativity led by Sean Kernan. (See my posts between June 9-13, 2008.)
I enjoy seeing anyone do anything really well. But watching other creative people engaged in different disciplines is particularly interesting to me. I learn about creativity. I learn about communication. I learn about myself. Often, I’m asked what does work in other fields offer me directly for my own work. Ideas. Ideas that I can apply to my own work? Yes. I find that if you don’t get stuck on specifics but make more generalized or abstracted statements about quality and perception that these become vital wellsprings for new ways of thinking. Here’s an example. Dance and sculpture have been increasingly influential to me with respect to representations, expressions, and experiences of two essential elements in my work – time and space. The stimulus in these two other disciplines has led me to develop many new images (For just one example, see my series Allies here.)
The other question that often arises is once you’re inspired by another discipline, should you engage it professionally. Yes. No. Maybe. You have to weigh many things before making this leap – talent, passion, means, etc. My recommendation is to sleep on it long and hard. Personally, take a little time to be stimulated and energized by a wide range of experiences, free of professional pressures. Professionally, stay focused on your core passions. I don’t plan to do dance or yoga professionally. Sculpture on the other hand … well stay tuned. It’s a long standing desire of mine to work with sculpture that goes way back to early childhood and simply won’t go away. That impulse is about to bear fruit this summer. It may well become a very strong current in my work for the foreseeable future.
Stay tuned here this summer.
Sign up for my enews Insights for alerts here.
My wife made the comment that we should all make it a habit to spend a little time each year getting out and experiencing new things that will inspire and motivate us. I agree!
What was the last or most inspiring creative event you’ve attended? Comment here!

A Vision of Students Today


Feel like it’s hard to keep up with the R/Evolution? You’re not the only one! We’re going through a major global paradigm shift – technologically, environmentally, culturally.
Education isn’t keeping up. This video on YouTube highlights many aspects of the issue. (It’s hit a nerve and has been viewed almost 2.5 million times.) Here are some stunning statements you can find in it. “My average class size is 115. My neighbor paid for this class but she never comes. I buy $100 text books that I never open. I will read 8 books this year. 2300 web pages. 1281 Facebook profiles.” And the list goes on. It’s 4 minutes and 44 seconds well spent.
I felt education was falling behind when I went to college – and that was before the web.  Now? Well, I can do more than imagine. I lecture a lot at universities. I know the issues. I see the problems. I sympathize with both administrators and teachers, but mostly with students. Bold moves are necessary.
My contribution? Share knowledge. Teach well. I’m constantly educating – website, publication, dvds, lectures, seminars, and workshops. It’s one of many ways I can make a difference.
We all have different resources and strengths. Think about what you can do to contribute.
Make suggestions here. Comment.
Check my calendar for upcoming dates.

Black Balloons – Climate Change



Climate change? Green house gases? Black balloons? How do you discuss and display what’s invisible? These public information commercials by the Victorian Government, Melbourne are simply first rate. They’re a testament to the power of images to concentrate big ideas into tiny packages in truly memorable ways. They’re artfully done. Art and socio-political relevance? Incompatible? Tell it to William Blake! Better yet, tell us what you think here. Comment!
Today, you can attend my Canon sponsored lecture “Antarctica” at the Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, MA) today at 3:15-4:15pm. It’s free!
Read my Antarctica essays here.
See my Antarctica images here.