Etsy

Hey guys!!!

What have we been doing all this time we haven’t been blogging?
We’ve been lying on beaches, sipping margaritas and working on our tans.

Yeah, right. In our dreams…

No we’ve been doing the whole “working for a paycheck to pay the rent” thing. And putting together our very own ETSY SHOP!!!!

Yes thats right, we’ve got an etsy shop. We caved in to public demand and put up our very own shop. So if you need a gift for that someone special during the holidays or just need to quench that burning desire to spend a few bucks, please consider purchasing one of our amazing prints!

You’ll sleep better at night knowing you’ve supported a local artist (local in the general sense of the word. I mean, we’re both from the planet Earth I assume) and that one of our prints (soon to be YOUR PRINTS) came direct from our adventures on the road. It’ll probably still have the faint smell of stale cigarettes and dirty martinis.

Now, when you view our shop, we only have about a fraction of the photos we took up at the moment. Don’t worry; we’re uploading more and more every minute. AND when you view our WEBSITE any and all of those photos are also up for grabs. Just email up with the title and info, and we’ll sell you one of those. We’ll sell you any and all of our prints.

Shit, we’ll even sell you our grandmothers. As long as you don’t mind long nights of Scrabble and shots of Ensure.
Really. They’re mean Scrabble players.

So to conclude: ETSY

Go buy.

Now.

That is all

This is one of those A-Mazing prints you can purchase from our Etsy shop!

Oh wow, look at this. ANOTHER A-Mazing photo!!!

-M & V

I miss summer…

Down She Goes

So I went for a walk today, because my pants are getting tighter and the holidays are only getting closer. But I did lunges on my walk, and I haven’t really done exercises like that as often as I should.

This was me going down the stairs about an hour later

 

Moral of the story? Don’t exercise. Now that track pants have become acceptable to wear in public, stick with those. Or get jeans with an elastic wasteband.
Sitting down is difficult. Now I understand why there is a need for rails by the toilets.

 

-M

For God’s sake, go have some fucking fun today.

I love fun. I’m sorry if that makes me a bad person or a shallow person, but I fucking love fun.

Warning: this is one of those entries we do about our lives that has very little to do with photography.

View from our fire escape in the village

I had fun in New York. I could not possibly recollect all the bars that I went to, or give you any kind of useful guide to drinking in the village, as an outsider. I didn’t even feel like an outsider, I felt at home. I can tell you that a beautiful bartender gave me a drink so strong I was too sick for dinner and had to take a nap. Maybe walking was a problem too, I don’t recall… but I got up and went right back to bar hopping like a champ. It’s the way of KodakKerouacs, we don’t let alcohol bring us down. I drank champagne out of a mason jar. I had the best Mojito of my life. My liver hates me, but it was worth it. Below is a collage that tells the story of my friend finding a furry arm on the ground, and killing all of Manhattan with it, so he could find peace an quiet. We actually don’t know this other guy, but all of us were sloshed and happy, and unified in our delirium of happy drunkenness.

Oh, an I met a guy on the A-train who I went out to breakfast and later for drinks with. He is fabulously interesting, but got a little freaked out when he figured out our age difference. oops. We talked about how much we love the A-train, the city, and our love for dying mediums. His books are replaced with kindles and my film is replaced with SD cards. He comes to Harlem to go to small bookstores and convenience stores to collect a genre of book he specializes in, pimp fiction, and he says the experience of doing such is so entirely “other” that ordering novels online can never compare. We knew our missions were similar at the core: preservation of a way of life. I played the date out right, I ended it by showing him the view from our rooftop. C’mon, you know that’s romantic! But c’est la vie, it wasn’t meant to be. Don’t hate a girl for trying. It is wonderful to connect to another traveler on the road of life.

The best thing I did during the trip was going to see “Discovering Columbus” by Tatzu Nishi.

View from the circle

I guess the idea behind it is that Columbus discovered America, and now we can discover Columbus! You know, that statue that stands 75ft high in the middle of Columbus square. So, you get to experience the statue in a new way, as if you’re in his beautiful NYC penthouse living room (instillation art always sounds silly). It was truly amazing. Not so much for it’s substance, but for the people in the environment, and the stunning view of New York.

Columbus in the exhibit, 75ft in the air

Visitors to the public work were comfortable and lounging on the furniture, flipping through magazines, and treated the event like a party you go to at a friend of a friend’s house. I have come to feel as if the instillation is more for Columbus than his visitors. He gets to be a true New Yorker for a couple months. You can tell he likes it.

View from fauxpartment

Of course mistakes were made and drinks were had, but I can’t put my whole life into this blog, as much as I’d like to do so. Every trip invigorates me and inspires me in a different way. This trip inspired me to be more ambitious, work harder, party harder, and flirt with as many boys as possible. These are all noble in their own way.

Let Freedom Ring

What a day. We’ve been waiting for this day for so long…the day when FINALLY all those automated calls and unnecessary emails will stop!

Now, I am not here to tell you who to vote for or why this candidate is better than this one. But I am here to tell you to vote. Seriously. None of this “Well, I don’t like either one” or “They are both horrible” or “I am an anarchist” shit.

Fuck that.

You live in AMERICA. You have a civic responsibility to get out there and cast your ballot. I don’t care if you don’t like either candidate.
Vote.
Vote Republican.
Vote Democrat.
Vote Libertarian.
Write in your own choice.
But VOTE.

Maybe your candidate will win, maybe they wont. But at least you had a say and a choice in who to pick. If you don’t vote then you have absolutely no right to complain about government or how awful you think it is.

And while I’m on a roll, even if you did vote and your person didn’t win, don’t spend the next four years complaining. Suck it up. Why waste so much energy hating the other side? Instead of spending four years fighting and complaining, suck up your arrogance, swallow your pride and move on.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all about protesting and rioting and exercising your first amendment rights to protect what you believe. That’s what America is founded on. But also remember that there is no need to be hateful or spew derogatory comments. Compromise and kind words will be much more effective than empty threats and ignorant complaints. I guess thats my inner hippie speaking.

As for me, well I’ve already exercised my right to vote. Now I’m going to exercise my right to drink beer, eat  pizza, and watch this election unfold.

“What’s that you say? Oh I’m sorry. I can’t hear you over the sound of my FREEDOM”

Convention Review

This past week has been a whirlwind. I spent four days in NYC for a conference, had to escape the city by rented car and ride all night back home (11 hour trip) then said goodbye to a former flame and close friend as he moves to another state, found out my dad had a heart attack (he’s fine, but has to have a few procedures done), and went out Wednesday to celebrate Halloween, and still managed to get up and go to work. I’ve been trying to digest all that’s happened, but I think I need some tums.

First thing I want to say is that there was this little storm that hit the East coast, knocking out power, destroying homes, and even killed a few people. Thousands of Americans have been living in shelters, and millions have been affected in some form or another. I was nearly trapped in NYC in an area that was flooded and lost power (yeah, Greenwich Village, how crazy is that?), and I feel for everyone from the airports staying in homeless shelters and wishing they could be home. Please donate $10 to the Hurricane Sandy fund at the Red Cross.  Or donate your time and resources in some other way.

That said, I attended the PDN PhotoPlus convention in NYC last weekend. I had a blast, my liver can attest to that, and I’d like to take this entry to talk a little about the convention. I feel conventions can be broken up into 5 parts: Vender Expo, Seminars, Meetings, Portfolio Reviews, and Parties. I’ll cover the first two here, and the last one in a second entry of its own. The other two are pretty boring.

Vender Expo:

The first priority for any attendee at a vender expo is to get ALL THE FREE SHIT THAT YOU CAN!

This does not include the sick lens cloth I got on a keychain. It’s so baller I’ve already attached it to a camera bag. and yes, you see some FREE FILM (who doesn’t love that?) from Kodak. It’s Portra 400, from the Kodak stand at the expo and desperately needs to be shot.. Great for shooting in a studio situation, and I’m going to try to do a few portraits in the next couple weeks, so it’ll be perfect. Don’t be too jealous of my metal water bottle and chocolate covered espresso beans and paperclip keeper. I don’t know why i need the paperclip keeper, but I thank Drive Savers Data Recovery for giving it to me.

The next step is, if the Print File guys are present, go buy something from them. I have tons of storage boxes from expos that cost me $5 a pop. This year I spend a whopping $2 on negative holders for 35mm film that hold 36 negative, INSTEAD OF 35, WHICH MAKES NO SENSE. I really hate having one image leftover. stupid. But yes, shopping is a must. Venders have all kinds of great deals on gadgets you never knew you needed. You also need to test all the fancy cameras you can’t afford and play with gear you have no need for. What I hated about this expo, is that all the venders thought they’d use pretty, young women as models to test cameras. They tap danced, and sat on motorcycles, and walked around wearing bikinis, and, most disgustingly, they were painted with G-strings and pasties. What the fuck, PDN? I didn’t want to spend so much money to go to what was essentially, a strip club. I’m probably going to write a letter of complaint. Unique Photo provided those girls, so don’t give them your business, if you respect women.

Seminars:

My favorite seminar may have been Cristina Mittermeier’s on “Giving Purpose to your Work.” She founded iLCP and continues to be a photographer for the organization. I was blown away by the work, and the sense of mission behind everything that the organization does. She talked about finding a couse you feel deeply about, and how to use photography to fight for it. She inspired me. I know her deal is environmentally driven, but I kept thinking about what we’ve been wanting to do as KodakKerouacs, and how to really give meaning to the presentation of our work. Please check her out.

Lauren Greenfield does excellent work. Thin changed the way I thought about eating disorders and my body in a life-changing way. I will see The Queen of Versailles . But her seminar of photography and filmmaking was more of a plug for her films than anything useful for the attendees. It was all over the place, and the longest two hours of the whole trip. waste. I’ve heard her speak before, and I recall it being much better and less tedious, but this was hugely dissimilar.

Another good seminar of note was done by Andrew Hetherington and Monte Isom. They are extremely personable, and both have blogs. Andrew was hilarious, and gave very smart advice on networking and photo contests, and Monte displayed how eloquently FOCUSED he is. Andrew inspired me to work on my style and portfolio, Monte inspired me to make a hundred spreadsheets and start calling every good photographer and publisher and magazine and….. Moral of the story: be focused and postion yourself to get lucky.

Stay tuned for my entry on Art and partying in the big city. You might learn something of value!

 

 

Flee NYC

I’m going to take this as a sign that the KodakKerouacs and all of our photographic fabulousness was just too much for New York City to handle.

Hurricane Sandy is hurling through the East Coast as we speak. Rather, as I type. I hope everyone was able to get out safe and sound. If you are staying put because you honestly think you can go up against a hurricane, then I hope you can swim.

If you remember per our last post, Valerie spent the weekend in NYC attending a photo conference. She had a flight home Sunday that was cancelled or delayed or something. I’m unsure because when I asked her if she was able to get out of the city before the hurricane the only response I got was:

“Renting a car. Driving back. Ugh”

This was yesterday afternoon and she was slated to work this morning. I know she got back safe, but I don’t know any thing else from how the weekend was, or what time she got back. I’m sure she’s in bed right now, passed out from the fun and excitement of the conference, and the thrill of fleeing from the city. But she’s back safe and as soon as she gets her proper 16 hours of sleep, she’ll be writing a post of her adventures and how she landed us a book deal (Hopefully. I mean, I still haven’t had a good talk with her. For all I know, she skipped the photo conference and partied on the upper east side with Jake Gyllenhaal all weekend).

 

Tootles!

-M

 

 

Siesta time is OVER

” Where have you guys been?”

“What have you been doing?”

“Are you ALIVE?”

“Or do you just like to ignore us??”

 

Calm down people. Below lies the questions to all of your answers. And some giggles too.

 

 

-M

We’re not indecisive are we? No, I don’t think we are. Do you? Maybe we are…

So, we’ve just changed our whole book proposal idea around, upside down, sideways, back ways, and every which way. And we have nine days left to create it.

Maybe I should give you some background information.

We haven’t been online much lately (our bad) because we’ve been CREATING A BOOK PROPOSAL. AHHHHH!!!!!

Exciting isn’t it? And damn stressful too. We’re creating a book proposal to send to publishers so they can see how awesome our art is and publish us. Yay!
A proposal consists of explaining what your book is about, why they should publish you, how the world cannot survive another minute without a book like yours, and a few sample chapters.
The proposal needs to express:
-how serious we are about ourselves (Oh dear)
-how passionate we are about our work (We make love to it every night)
-how individual our book will be (We’ve honestly never met anyone like us. Really. Not even close.)
-how awesomely talented we are (Andy Warhol is quite jealous in his crypt)

Easy peasy.

But of course, the KodakKerouacs being who we are, we have decided to change the entire format of our book design and proposal. And we have nine days to write it out, design it and print it.

Awesome.

Well, Confucius say the path to success is lined with empty coffee cups and bloodshot eyes.

TALLY-HO!!!!!!!

-M

Check out our website. EVEN MORE AMAZING PHOTOS…OF TEXAS!!!

RUN-DNC

Long time no see!

Hey guys,

It’s been awhile. I know, I know. A lot has been going on. We had the DNC in town last week, which was pretty cool. Lots of big black SUVs with government plates, newscasters everywhere, and oh yeah the President was in town as well. It doesn’t matter which way you swing in the political sphere it was a big deal here. All eyes were on our small city, which rarely happens. So I kind of took that week off of life and spent as much time as I could downtown stalking political celebrities.

All I saw were super excited delegates, none of whom I recognized because well, they’re delegates. They’re normal people. I was looking for Joe Biden, for Michelle Obama. Shit I would have settled for Sarah Palin!

Anyway, I didn’t blog, I didn’t edit photos, I didn’t do anything but become a political junkie.
The DNC has left, the dust has settled and I’m ready for work.

I’ve finished scanning all of my photos of the trip. Thats right. ALL OF THEM! Woo Hoo!! I don’t remember if I did a blog about that when it happened. If I did, my apologies. But it’s so exciting, it needed to be said twice.

What do I do now? Well, onwards to the book!
Valerie and I had what will now be a weekly meeting on Tuesday. It’ll be weekly because Whole Foods has $2 glasses of wine on Tuesday.
It was quite a productive meeting and we both left with high hopes, and a little buzz. We’re meeting again tomorrow night to work on our book and to draft up a proposal for the publishers we’re submitting to.

**If any reader out there is friends with a publisher, knows one, sleeps with one, or has passed one in the street,
please let us know. We haven’t done any of the above (that we’re aware of)**

While I did take photos of the DNC, you guessed it! They are film and have yet to be developed.
But while you’re waiting, please check out our website because we’ve uploaded more of our trip photos!  Not all of them by any means. (Let’s be realistic people. It took me two months just to scan them all in)

And in conclusion, I leave you with some sound advice from the Great Houdini

-M