One Hand Clapping: May 2011

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Beautiful Live Music

I've always been one to chose studio recordings over live renditions when prowling Youtube but I came across a live version of one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands and I've got to share with you all. The song is called To Build a Home and is being performed by Patrick Watson with accompanying orchestration. To Build a Home is featured on the band The Cinematic Orchestra's most recent studio album entitled Ma Fleur. For further reading about the band, album, and artist please resort to the links provided.

Enjoy.

As An added bonus I've decided to share their awe inspiring live performance of Breathe. This song can also be found on their Ma Fleur album. The accompanying female vocalist is Eska Mtungwazi who's family hails from Zimbabwe.

Sincerely,

-S.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Come On Up...

For all of you who, for whatever the reason, happen to just be in one of 'those' moods. I present to you a song I've never disagreed with and that is Come On Up To The House from Tom Waits' album Mule Variations (1999). This was Tom Waits' first studio album produced since 1992's Bone Machine. Tom Waits' pain stricken gritty voice crooning about life seems to offer an odd connection to that dismal, dreary 'mood' we all experience from time to time. You might ask me, "why surround myself with audible misery on top of my current emotional state?" I respond to you by saying that Waits' voice opens the door and welcomes you in almost accompanying your misery as if saying 'yeah kid, I know; me too.' Once you're in you begin to relax and give yourself in to the song. As the lyrics of the last verse pass through your ears-
"There's nothin in the world
that you can do
you gotta come on up to the house
and you been whipped by the forces
that are inside you
come on up to the house
well you're high on top
of your mountain of woe
come on up to the house
well you know you should surrender
but you can't let go
you gotta come on up to the house"
-you realize you can't let go; you must persevere.

Hope you all find enjoyment and eventual comfort.

Sincerely,

-S.

P.S. An additional song to check out would be Hold On which can also be found on Tom Waits' Mule Variations album.

Anti-Records home page
TomWaits.com

Sunday, May 29, 2011

No More Facebook - Sunset at Chattsworth

I've made the not so difficult and quite freeing decision to divorce myself from Facebook. With some of my free time I had yesterday I traveled out to Chattsworth, New Jersey around sundown and was able to enjoy quite the sunset.

Additionally, since I am now off Facebook please send me an email letting me know if you would like to receive notifications about new posts.

I do hope you'll all still keep in touch with me and my random postings. I know they may not be pertinent to the goings on in the world but I hope that you enjoy them nonetheless.

Sincerely,

-S.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Image of the Night #2 - 'Untitled'

Not a lot to say tonight. Shot this with my old C330 while coming home from work tonight.

-S.

Monday, May 23, 2011

A Sort of 'London-ish' Day

Been taking a lot of walks lately and today's stood out quite a bit. Not only was I displeased to find that the weather had taken a dive a bit, returning to it's former cold, wet former self, but the light was as flat as it could be. It was a very 'London-ish' day in my opinion. The sun was being triply diffused through thick translucent layers of clouds. So, my challenge was to see how I could take such seemingly dull and uninteresting light and create some decent images. The result: several images who's color stands out (as it tends to on most overcast days) but ultimately have a cold, 'hyper clean' feel to them. It was surprisingly enjoyable to walk around even with the weather being so sup-par. During a second round walk to my friend Wyeth's apartment I stumbled upon yet another local NYC nuclear fallout shelter. What luck!

-Hope you enjoy these.

Sincerely,

-S.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

A Quick 20 Minute Jog-n-Shoot

Ever watch that movie Yes Man (2008)? Well in the movie Zoey Deschannel hosts this odd fusion activity that involves taking pictures while jogging. I didn't plan on it but I left to run some errands and saw that the quality of light was stunning. This was around oh, seven o clock and it didn't look like the light was going to last too much longer so I ran back inside, picked up my trusty ol' camera and yep, you guessed it, started to jog around. I only covered a single lap of about 2 city blocks but due to the lighting a poor quality image could not have been taken.
Here are the results of my 20 minute jog-shoot

As you may have noticed there is a second NYC Fallout Shelter image. I'm thinking of making this an ongoing series simply cause I find it interesting that I've lived here only 2 years now and not once noticed either of these fallout shelters and they're both quite near where I live. Anyway, thank you all for your continued time and attention.

Sincerely,

-S

P.S. If any of you are at all interested in purchasing any of the images you see feel free to contact me at SRS2Photo@Gmail.com. Due to some occasional outstanding circumstances not all images seen are able to be sold but I do try and display those that can be.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Image of the Night #1 - 'Urban'

Doing my best to get back into the swing of blogging. Recently I've begun working (interning) at Hearst Corporation and it's been rather exciting, if not time consuming. Anyway I just wanted to pop on and deliver an 'Image of the Night'...now, no guaranteeing this is even going to be a regular occurring post...more likely it'll be a quite irregularly occurring post but I'm going to do my best.

Featured is a piece I recently shot simply called 'Urban.' It is a piece that's for sale and if anyone is considering buying a print please email me at: SRS2Photo@Gmail.com.

Sincerely,

-S

Recent Images from a Rainy Day

It's been raining a lot up here in New York City and today there was finally that brief pause, that short repose between drizzles where the light is gorgeous. You can't find it anywhere else or at any other time.
Here are a few images I snapped while out on a very short walk before needing to find shelter again.

Hope all who shared the weather with me were able to get out and appreciate the day somehow.

Sincerely,

-S

Welcome

Greetings. Here you will find postings of whatever I happen to find interesting at the time. I hope you will also find some form of personal connection here as well. I'll be highlighting topics such as: Art, Architecture, Music, Design, Religion, etc. As well as posting some random tidbits about various locations throughout New York. I check my site and e-mail often so if you have a question or comment I'll be sure to respond to it quickly. I thank you for taking the time out of your day to share in some of my interests.