Mauna Loa and Cocokealohi at the Merrie Monarch Perpetuating the Art of Papale

By in Art World News

Mauna Loa and Cocokealohi at the Merrie Monarch Perpetuating the Art of Papale

MAUNA LOA MAC NUT AND COCOKEALOHI ON PERPETUATING HAWAIIAN CULTURE THROUGH PAPALE THIS YEAR AT THE MERRIE MONARCH FESTIVAL.








Mauna Loa and Cocokealohi Keep Hawaiian Culture Alive at Merrie Monarch

HONOLULU,HAWAII (KITV4) Katie Natori form Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut and Teal Salvador of Cocokealohi were on Good Morning Hawaii talking about perpetuating the Hawaiian culture through papale this year at the Merrie Monarch Festival.

Mauna Loa is the sponsor of the 2023 Merrie Monarch Royal Parade. Over the years, The Merrie Monarch Foundation has become an institution in Hawaiʻi and the world at large as one of the great perpetuators of Hawaiian culture. Inspired by the legacy of King David Kalākaua, the Merrie Monarch Festival is a week-long celebration of Hula, ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian Language), and creative arts.Our hardworking team members from all corners of Mauna Loa came together to create this masterpiece of a float! The Mauna Loa team from factory workers, supply chain, marketing, and administration celebrate and work together in assembling their parade float. And this year, Cocokealoha will be part of the float collaboration.

The Never-Before-Seen Photographs of Barkley L. Hendricks

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The Never-Before-Seen Photographs of Barkley L. Hendricks
Barkley L. Hendricks, “Untitled (Self-Portrait)” (c. 1975), gelatin silver print, 24 inches x 16 inches (all images © Barkley L. Hendricks; courtesy the Estate of Barkley L. Hendricks and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York)

Barkley L. Hendricks was known to wear his camera around his neck like an extension of himself. Most people associate the artist with his paintings that gracefully embody the Black experience in America. But in an upcoming exhibition titled Myself When I Am Real, opening at Jack Shainman Gallery on April 13, his photographs will take center stage. 

His widow, Susan Hendricks, knew about the painter’s vast inventory of slides, negatives, and prints, but in formally editing and scanning the images since late 2018, she uncovered a vast cache of never-before-seen photos by the artist.

“People have seen a lot of his paintings; they’re fantastic,” she told Hyperallergic. “You could look at them many times over. But this is an opportunity to really have a fresh eye into what Barkley was looking at and why he was so intrigued with some of the images.”

Barkley L. Hendricks, “Untitled (Lamont)” (1976), gelatin silver print, 10 inches x 8 inches

Hendricks, who died on April 18, 2017, described his camera as a mechanical sketchbook. “He always said he was a photographer before he was a painter, ” Susan Hendricks recalled. His next-door neighbor in Philadelphia gave him his first camera, a little Kodak Brownie, when he was 10. For 62 years, he took photographs that inspired his portrait paintings, putting Black Americans living in urban areas at the forefront of his work in the 1960s and 1970s, when many of the subjects in mainstream artworks were White. His innovative works led him to win the 2016 Rappaport Prize, the President’s Award from the Amistad Center for Art and Culture in 2010, and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award in 2008. He also taught studio art at Connecticut College for 38 years.

Hendricks’s art is creative and unorthodox, honoring himself and addressing social issues in the United States. One of his most recognizable paintings is “Victory at 23” (1981), a portrait of a Black woman wearing an all-white suit that has a watermelon pinned to it, standing in front of a white background and holding a black balloon as she blows a bubble in the air with her chewing gum. In “Misc. Tyrone (Tyrone Smith)” (1976), a man against a bright pink backdrop wears jean overalls over a white blouse and a black jacket with his legs making a V-shape as he holds a white tote bag. “Icon For My Man Superman (Superman Never Saved Any Black People-Bobby Seale)” (1969) depicts a Black man wearing a blue Superman shirt and sunglasses in front of a gray background with white, blue, and red outlines around him. Hendricks’s work embodies the charisma of his compelling and intriguing subjects.

Barkley L. Hendricks, “Untitled” (c. 1870), silver gelatin print, 5 1/2 inches x 7 7/8 inches

Although the audience sees the subject’s personality in his paintings, Elisabeth Sann, a director at Jack Shainman Gallery who has worked closely with Hendricks, argues that his photographs show more of his character. 

“I love his little jokes that he had, visual jokes, the puns, and I think that the paintings hinted at it in the details here and there,” she said. “But I think you really get a better sense of that in the photos.” 

Barkley L. Hendricks, “Untitled” (1992), archival inkjet print, 16 x 24 inches and “Untitled” (1997), archival inkjet print, 16 inches x 24 inches

Hendricks took powerful photographs of historic moments on the television in his local Connecticut dive bar to convey the beginning of people’s access to 24-hour TV, capturing, in Susan Hendricks’s words, “the zeitgeist of that moment of American culture.” These include an image of Denzel Washington playing Malcolm X in the eponymous 1992 film and the moment when Brook Lee became the first woman from Hawaii to be crowned Miss USA after taking a stand against Donald Trump, who had criticized previous winners. “Untitled” (1992) is a close-up image of the screen while “Untitled” (1997) is a wider shot of his neighborhood bar that gives the audience a more detailed look into the atmosphere and decor, with a view of a deer’s head hanging on the wall. Susan argues that the images mark the start of the public over-consumption of television.

Barkley L. Hendricks, Tales of Hoffman Woman #2” (1984), color photograph, 9 3/8 inches x 12 1/2 inches

His photographs sparked conversations, whether about media and TV or high heels. In a 1993 Art Talk interview at the Griffis Art Center, Hendricks said he noticed that when he added high heels to his unique and avant-garde photographs, it created dialogue. “Tales of Hoffman Woman #2” (1984) is one such image, featuring a Black woman wearing a white dress with one bright orange heel still on and the other resting sideways in front of her feet. Next to her is a wooden piece of furniture resembling a pew chair. The image evokes Hendricks’s childhood, when he used to watch women kick off their heels at church when they sat down and then put them back on when they left. He understood the shoes to be an important fashion statement for women in the community, especially his mother, and decided to use them in his art to connect his work to his family. These references to intimate moments emphasize that “art and life are inseparable.” 

“Clothing and fashion are a part of our daily lives,” Hendricks said in his 1993 interview. “I like to use that element [shoes] to convey a particular state of mind, and let’s face it, a number of human beings define themselves by their fashions.”

Barkley L. Hendricks, “Untitled” (1967), archival inkjet print, 16 inches x 24 inches

All of his photographs capture moments of everyday life thoughtfully and beautifully. “Untitled” (1967) is a print of three Black women sitting in a semi-circle talking amongst themselves, with one figure in the center holding a camera. Looking at the print, the viewer gleans the subjects’ essence, style, and personalities; as in “Sister Lucas” (1972), a round photograph of a Black woman smiling, the piece encapsulates Black joy. “Untitled” (2004), featuring a woman in a white hat painting horses in the middle of a forest with a dog sitting at her feet, projects a sense of calm and biophilia. Another highlight of the exhibition, “Untitled” (1992), is a black-and-white print of a car with a Martin Luther King, Jr. photo stuck to the inside of a side window, centering the significance of Dr. King in an everyday moment.

“If he could have taken the camera with him to the hospital where he went before he left us, he would’ve had it with him,” Susan told Hyperallergic. Hendricks loved capturing the world around him, and in turn, the audience saw a world that admired him. As he put it in 1993: “I like what I do, and I can do it for a long time.”

Barkley L. Hendricks, “Sister Lucas” (1972), silver gelatin print, 4 5/8 inches diameter (tondo)
Barkley L. Hendricks, “Untitled” (2004), archival inkjet print, 16 inches x 24 inches

A Versatile and Effective Two-lens Kit for Landscape Photography |

By in Photography

A Versatile and Effective Two-lens Kit for Landscape Photography |

The beauty of landscape photography is that there are so many different ways to photograph the same scene. As such, it is nice to have options to cover the full range of scenarios, but that also needs to be balanced by keeping the amount of bulk you are hiking with in check. This excellent video discusses a versatile two-lens kit that will not break the bank or your back.

Coming to you from Mike Smith, this great video discusses a two-lens kit for landscape photography: the Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD and Tamron 50-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di III VC VXD. I really think photographers should consider carrying a telephoto lens in addition to a wide zoom. The latter is the standard tool of choice for landscape work, but a telephoto can help you single out isolated interesting elements and create more abstract images, allowing you to get more shots out of a single scene, which can be quite beneficial if you have to hike a long way to get to a location. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Smith.

And if you really want to dive into landscape photography, check out “Photographing The World 1: Landscape Photography and Post-Processing with Elia Locardi.” 

‘Tether:’ New show features La Jolla artist’s exploration of being bound by body and burdens

By in Native

‘Tether:’ New show features La Jolla artist’s exploration of being bound by body and burdens

Finding freedom in highlighting the nature of gender expectations, La Jolla artist Christiana Updegraff is showcasing a collection of three-dimensional works at an exhibit in Solana Beach.

The show, called “Tether,” also features works by Rancho Peñasquitos artist Alexandra Carter. It opened April 8 at Oolong Gallery and continues through Friday, May 5.

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The exhibit focuses on the ways in which the artists — both of them mothers — feel bound to their children, partners and others’ expectations.

To flesh out the theme, Updegraff employs many materials in her projects, using industrial supplies such as cement or wood and “a lot of domestic objects that are deconstructed [and] items that have a certain gender affiliation or expectation,” she said.

Christiana Updegraff’s “Dangle, Tangle, Drop” is one of the works in the exhibit “Tether.”

(Christiana Updegraff)

Updegraff’s works include string, textiles and fabrics designed to bring focus to the body and elicit “a visceral response in the viewer,” she said.

Her creations in the exhibit explore the isolation and unmooring Updegraff felt after she and her husband, video editor and La Jolla native Tucker Bass, moved to La Jolla from Los Angeles in August 2020 with their newborn and 2-year-old.

The family moved to be closer to Bass’ parents, and while that has been a boon, the restrictions early in the COVID-19 pandemic meant isolation for Updegraff.

But she was able to create in her art studio in the garage in close proximity to her children, all the while probing the concepts of loss and caretaking.

“The minutiae of caretaking is ever-present in my work,” Updegraff said, “particularly during this time of staying at home and having to provide for these two little people and their needs all day and then not being able to leave and come back. … It’s literally like dishes and cleaning and giving of myself to these other two people.”

“There’s such a loss of community for parents in general,” she said, but the pandemic quarantines compounded her feelings. “The loss of myself … was really difficult for me because there was no other community. There was nothing to turn to.”

Updegraff, who earned a master’s degree in fine arts from San Diego State University in 2011 and creates art while teaching full time at Long Beach City College and SDSU, also explores “gender constructs and how society places expectations on men or women … and how those differences shape our experience in the world.”

Christiana Updegraff’s “1005” is another of her creations on view at Oolong Gallery in Solana Beach through May 5.

(Christiana Updegraff)

As a mother, Updegraff said she sometimes feels pulled to conform to expectations of gender that compel her to be a caretaker while also pursuing her career.

Updegraff was raised in Kentucky and says she was confronted by Southern society’s differing expectations for her and her brother.

“I felt that very acutely growing up, so I’ve really tried my hardest to dispel those notions of gender constructs and fight against those,” she said.

Updegraff also references fertility in her works, as well as “how people present themselves to the exterior world,” she said.

The idea that one must maintain “an air of perfection … is particularly pervasive in today’s culture when dealing with women,” Updegraff said. “You can [try to] check all the boxes that you’re supposed to check. I think we all bravely try to fulfill [that], but it’s unattainable.”

That notion is exemplified in many of the works in “Tether,” she said.

“It’s amplifying that not everything has to be OK,” she said. “Some of us are coming unglued and pushing against the idea of being perfect.”

Oolong Gallery is at 349 N. Hwy. 101, Solana Beach. For more information, visit oolongallery.com. ◆

A Conversation With 7-Eleven’s Marissa Jarratt, Executive Vice President And Chief Marketing Officer, And Mario Mijares, Vice President Of Loyalty + Analytics On The Future Of Emotional Insights + Loyalty

By in Art World News

A Conversation With 7-Eleven’s Marissa Jarratt, Executive Vice President And Chief Marketing Officer, And Mario Mijares, Vice President Of Loyalty + Analytics On The Future Of Emotional Insights + Loyalty

Brands will be required to deliver on the promise of individualized experiences and find new and innovative means of capturing sharper customer understanding at a time when consumers have never been more in control. They will also need to quickly respond to the changing definition of brand loyalty, one less about points, and more about day-to-day delivery of brand value. To do so, will entail reimagined agile insights systems that enable human-led design and continue to place the customer at the heart of brand experience.

With that in mind, I wanted to speak to a brand who is in the process of modernizing its entire insights suite to understand best practices against the backdrop of a consumer environment where convenience continues to trump loyalty time and time again. For my most recent column, I had the pleasure of sitting down with two leading marketing executives at 7-Eleven. Marissa Jarratt is Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, and Mario Mijares is Vice President of Loyalty and Analytics. Following is a recap of our conversation:

Billee Howard: You mentioned the word insights is overused. I couldn’t agree more. Tell me why you feel this way?

Marissa Jarratt: The term insights is often used to describe an understanding of what is happening. In reality, insights are more about the why something is happening – and what we can do about it.

For example, in the first few months of Covid we noticed a spike in snack shoppers around the 8 p.m. timeframe. After looking at data in our C-Shopper analytics platform and speaking with the Brainfreeze Collective proprietary customer research panel (more on these later) – we uncovered the why: without a commute, customers were eating dinner earlier and snacking later in the evening. This insight ultimately led us to an increased focus on our 7NOW delivery business as a solution to bring products directly to customers’ doors.

Howard: Why must all insights work start with a question or hypotheses?

Mario Mijares: A clear question – and corresponding hypothesis – serves as a guide through the research process. Without a clear question, you may waste time on analyzing data you don’t actually need. It’s also important that you test your hypothesis with data. But data can only tell you what is happening – but it will not tell you why. This is one of the ways we leverage our Brainfreeze Collective panel – to give us the why behind the buy.

Howard: Tell me about the new insights product suite you launched and the rationale behind it?

Jarratt: Many retailers are entering the retail media space – but we wanted this to be a differentiated offering for our vendor partners across the whole marketing and innovation funnel. As the number one immediate-consumption retailer in the U.S., 7-Eleven had the ability to break the mold.

A few factors drove our decisions: Retailer offerings are fragmented, and none of the existing offerings cover immediate consumption consumers. A lot of product innovation is introduced first in the convenience channel. Vendors are looking for fewer but better options.

We are very excited to introduce the latest innovation to come from 7-Eleven – a suite of four data-driven tools to identify opportunities, diagnose those opportunities, test solutions and activate those solutions. It consists of:

  • C-Shopper – A state-of-the-art analytics platform to understand consumer purchase and behavior data.
  • The Brainfreeze Collective – Our proprietary customer research panel, made up of over 200K consumers, for quantitative and qualitative research. It allows us to target consumers with very specific shopping behaviors.
  • Gulp Media Network – Targeted performance media that enables total market awareness, consideration and conversion. It is a closed loop solution with the ability to track ROAS.
  • Later this year, we’ll also roll out our Lab Stores – which will allow vendors to run experiments in real stores with real consumers. The goal is to de-risk activities such as new packaging, product innovation or pricing changes and better understand the impact of merchandising and messaging on the customer in real time.

Because 7-Eleven customers tend to shop elsewhere throughout the year, the suite can be a one-stop-shop for any and all immediate consumption occasions. Our approach can be stated in one word: simplification. Not only does Gulp Media look at both demographic, geographic and attitudinal signals, but it can also add signals for what shoppers have purchased.

Howard: Why is it so important right now to add emotional intel into insights, particularly amidst the most fragmented consumer landscape in history?

Mijares: Behavioral economics has shown that consumers aren’t necessarily rational – they often make impulse or emotional purchasing decisions, particularly in the immediate consumption or convenience store space. What consumers say they’ll do does not always equate to what they’ll actually do.

This is why The Brainfreeze Collective is so valuable – because we can see how consumers actually behave after they participated in the research, allowing our team to become experts on how to structure and phrase the research to deliver the most accurate data. We know retail fragmentation is already complicating things for CPG vendors – and the immediate consumption market is even more fragmented – so we’re continuing to learn as we build a solution that will address the totality of this market.

Clark Schiring wins Best Artist for Best of Summit 2022

By in Photography

Clark Schiring wins Best Artist for Best of Summit 2022
Clark Schiring, photographer and owner of Wilderness Exclusives gallery in Frisco, poses for a portrait at his gallery May 20, 2020. Wilderness Exclusives features high-end landscape and nature photography.
Jason Connolly/For the Summit Daily News

It has been a little over two years since photographer Clark Schiring set up shop on Main Street in Frisco, and the community has embraced and supported his vision by naming him Best Artist in Summit County and a finalist for Best Professional Photographer. Prior to becoming a photographer roughly 12 years ago, the Nebraska native worked in the construction industry.

Schiring has enjoyed the medium of photography since he was young. However, the hobby initially frustrated him when he couldn’t get his vision to match what the lens captured. He started with a beginner’s guide to photography from a Barnes & Noble bookstore to teach himself how to take better photos. 

He wanted his hobby to become a career, so he studied under Jeffrey Rupp at the Denver School of Photography and took workshops from National Geographic’s Ira Block. Schiring enjoys taking dramatic, stimulating images that highlight the world, though he has a particular affinity for Summit County. To him, the photos aren’t fully finished until they’re mounted and framed on a wall.

Schiring previously split his time between Denver and Frisco, but he and his wife have lived in Frisco full-time since 2021.

“Seeing how much this community supports its local businesses is a really encouraging breath of fresh air,” Schiring said. “It is definitely different from living in a big city such as Denver. … It is very warm and welcoming.”

His gallery has expanded beyond showcasing his own work and now includes other artists. He also hosts workshops designed to help beginners on their journey or assist seasoned photographers in finding new vantage points.

“It’s tailored to whatever the guest wants to do,” Schiring said.

People can see Schiring’s work in person at his gallery, Wilderness Exclusives at 720 E. Main St., Suite 102A in Frisco. He enjoys spending time with customers and chatting, as well as helping them select a memento that represents their home or vacation.

Wilderness Exclusives is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and noon to 6 p.m. Sundays. His work can also be viewed at WildernessExclusives.com.

This story previously published in the Best of Summit guide. See complete results at SummitDaily.com/bestofsummit.

Positively Baltimore: Exhibit shines light on hip hop in our culture

By in Art World News

Positively Baltimore: Exhibit shines light on hip hop in our culture


News Anchor

Positively Baltimore: Exhibit shines light on hip hop in our culture



SURROUNDING THE MUSIC IS CANON. THAT’S THE MISSION OF A NEW EXHIBITION ON VIEW AT THE BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART. THE SHOW ENTITLED THE CULTURE OF HIP HOP AND CONTEMPORARY ART IN THE 21ST CENTURY, BRINGS TOGETHER ART, FASHION AND MINDSETS THAT HAVE MADE THE GENRE INTO A GLOBAL PHENOMENON IN. JOINING US NOW IS THE CHIEF EDUCATION OFFICER FOR THE BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART AND THE CO-CURATOR OF THE CULTURE EXHIBIT. IT’S GOT ME ON GILT. GOOD TO SEE YOU. WONDERFUL TO SEE YOU. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS EXHIBIT. AND I THINK I LOVE IT BECAUSE IT’S SOMETHING THAT WE COULDN’T HAVE DONE IN THE PAST. I DON’T KNOW IF WOULD HAVE BEEN AS WELCOMING IN ANY MUSEUM TO START TALKING HIP HOP. AND THIS IS GREAT THAT WE’RE IN A MOMENT NOW WHERE I THINK YOU’LL HAVE A LOT OF FACES THERE. ABSOLUTELY. WELL, YOU KNOW, IT’S REALLY ART CONTENTION THAT THERE WAS NEVER REALLY A BIG SEPARATION BETWEEN ART AND HIP HOP. YOU KNOW, THE OLD HIP HOP HEADS HAVE BEEN VERY MUCH INVOLVED IN THE ART SCENE FROM THE START. AND YOU MENTIONED THE ART SCENE BECAUSE IT’S AS A WHOLE, IF YOU JUST THINK THAT HIP HOP IS MUSIC, YOU ARE DEEPLY WRONG. BUT WE ART AND FASHION AND TECHNOLOGY ELABORATE A LITTLE BIT ON THAT FOR FOLKS WHO DON’T KNOW JUST HOW MUCH OF A CULTURE IT IS OF ITSELF. OF COURSE. SO THERE ARE FOUR PILLARS, ACTUALLY FIVE PILLARS IN HIP HOP. MOST PEOPLE THINK, OF COURSE, ABOUT THE MUSIC. AND WITH THAT IS IN SEEING AND DEEJAYING AND SCRATCHING RECORDS. BUT ALSO, YOU KNOW, BREAKDANCING AND GRAFFITI, YOU KNOW, AND THEN LATER ON THE FIFTH PILLAR, KNOWLEDGE WAS AT IT. SO ALL OF THAT TOGETHER COLLECTIVELY IS WHAT WE THINK ABOUT WHEN WE THINK ABOUT HIP HOP. AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO LOOK FAR. I MEAN, YOU CAN LOOK ON TELEVISION ADS NOW ON A BUS STOP OR YOU CAN GO TO A SUBURBAN MALL AND THE MOST SUBURBAN AREA OF WHATEVER CITY YOU WANT TO NAME. AND YOU CAN SEE THE INFLUENCES THAT HIP HOP IS AIR OR. ABSOLUTELY. WELL, IT IS THE SINGLE MOST STREAMED MUSIC FORUM IN THE WORLD. YOU ARE THE THE U.S. IS THE SINGLE LARGEST CONSUMER. FRANCE IS ACTUALLY THE SECOND LARGEST. FRANCE’S FRANCE. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THAT FOR ME? ABSOLUTELY. SO, YOU KNOW WHAT? FRANCE HAS A REALLY INTERESTING HISTORY WITH HIP HOP AND YOU SEE HIP HOP COME UP ALL OF THE PLACES SORT OF ACROSS THE BLACK DIASPORA AND BEYOND. AND SO MARSEILLES HAS A VERY, VERY BIG HIP HOP SCENE, AS DOES AS DOES PARIS, AND HAS REALLY SINCE THE EIGHTIES. SO IT’S A VERY IT’S A VERY VIBRANT AND INTERNATIONAL SCENE IS HIP HOP. YOU’VE GIVEN ME EXCUSE TO GO TO FRANCE NOW. NOW, CAN I I GUESS, PLAY? WHY WOULD I PAY THE BUDDY? SO TELL ME ABOUT THE CULTURE IN THE EXHIBIT FOR SOMEONE WHO WALKS INTO THE MUSEUM FOR THE FIRST TIME, AND THIS IS WHAT THEY WANT TO SEE. WHAT WILL THEY BE SEEING? SO THE CULTURE IS AN EXHIBIT THAT LOOKS AT THE INTERSECTIONS BETWEEN CONTEMPORARY ART, FASHION, MATERIAL CULTURE AND MUSIC. OVER THE PAST 20 YEARS, YOU KNOW, WE KNOW THAT THIS THIS YEAR IS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF HIP HOP. BELIEVE THAT OR NOT, WHICH STARTED ALL THE WAY BACK HERE IN THE BRONX WITH THAT VERY FAMOUS WALK PARTY THAT KOOL HERC AND HIS SISTER CINDY CAMPBELL THREW AS A BACK TO SCHOOL PARTY. AND THAT’S WHERE THIS FIRST FOUR PILLARS THAT WE DISCUSSED EARLIER CAME TOGETHER FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME. SO FAST FORWARD 50 YEARS. WE’RE NOW IN THE 21ST CENTURY. BUT WHAT HAPPENS AROUND THE TURN OF THE LAST CENTURY, RIGHT AS WE GO THROUGH THE 20TH INTO THE 21ST, IS TECHNOLOGY, NAMELY MOBILE COMPUTING TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL MEDIA MAKES IT POSSIBLE FOR MUSIC TO TRAVEL AROUND THE GLOBE AND IMAGES AND CULTURE TO TRAVEL AROUND THE GLOBE IN A WAY THEY NEVER REALLY COULD BEFORE. AND SO THIS IS THE MOMENT WHERE WE CONTEND YOU’RE REALLY SEEING THE RISE OF HIP HOP AS A PREDOMINANT GLOBAL FORCE. AND IT’S OUR ARGUMENT THAT YOU CAN’T REALLY UNDERSTAND CONTEMPORARY ART IN THIS MOMENT IN TIME. IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND HIP HOP, SO YOU WILL SEE PAINTING AND YOU WILL SEE SCULPTURE AND YOU WILL SEE VIDEO, BUT YOU WILL ALSO SEE CLOTHING AND YOU WILL ALSO HEAR MUSIC VIDEOS. AND YOU WILL ALSO SEE MATERIAL CULTURE. WE HAVE EVERYTHING FROM PHARRELL’S VERY FAMOUS BUFFALO HAS TO BE FAMOUS. YEAH. GRAMMYS. YEAH. ALL THE WAY TO TO A REALLY AMAZING LOOK FOR THAT VIRGIL ABLOH DID FOR LOUIS VUITTON IN ONE OF HIS LAST COLLECTIONS FOR THAT DESIGNER. THIS IS GOING TO BE GOOD. IT’S A REAL QUICK GIVE ME THE DEETS. HOW LONG CAN FOLKS COME AND SEE IT HERE IN BALTIMORE BEFORE YOU TAKE OFF TO SAINT LOUIS NEXT? ABSOLUTELY. SO WE WE OPEN. WE OPEN TODAY, WHICH WE’RE VERY EXCITED ABOUT. THIS IS THE THE 5TH OF APRIL. AND THAT WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE 16TH OF JULY. ALL RIGHT. WE’RE LOOKING FORWARD TO THE CULTURE OVER THE BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART. THANKS SO MUCH FOR JOINING US TODAY. THANK YOU. BYE BYE. AND THAT’S ALL FOR THIS EDITION OF 11 T V HILL. THANKS FOR JOINING US. SEE YOU NE

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Positively Baltimore: Exhibit shines light on hip hop in our culture


News Anchor

The exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art shining a light on hip hop’s place in our culture. The show entitled “The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century” brings together art, fashion and mindsets that have made the genre into a global phenomenon.

BALTIMORE —

The exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art shining a light on hip hop’s place in our culture. The show entitled “The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century” brings together art, fashion and mindsets that have made the genre into a global phenomenon.

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Bent Rej’s erotic and liberating venture in pin-up photography

By in Photography

Bent Rej’s erotic and liberating venture in pin-up photography

The Danish photographer Bent Rej made a name for himself as an artist comfortable on the liberated side of life as a 25-year-old when a newspaper editor sent him to cover The Rolling Stones on the Scandinavian and German legs of their 1965 tour. This was the proverbial deep-end of counterculture photography, but with his quirky moustache and undeniable ability to cling to his talent amid the tumult of hedonist upheaval, he not or swam, he shouldered out a space for himself as one of the foremost culture photographers in the game.

One of the core tenets of his success was simple coolness. Cool is a much-maligned word by the cynics of this world, who think that it implies a level of vapidity. However, the timeless swagger that seeps out of Rej’s snaps is a profound middle finger in their direction. His empowering pictures display a perfect eye for showcasing the zeitgeist at its most crystalline. They make sure that the personality of the individual shines through, imbuing them with an aura of endowing bluster.

So, thanks to his experience photographing the likes of Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa, The Faces and Jimi Hendrix in the 1960s, when FIAT reached out to him for their erotic calendar in the 1970s, he knew how to ensure the models had their say in how they came across. There is no voyeurism or objectification in these snaps, just a liberated sense of sexiness being celebrated from both ends of the lens. 

Above that, there is also a palpable sense of fun on display. This stretches over the wry portfolio description that the daughters of the late photographer have applied to his Pin-ups collection: “Some of the biggest Danish models of that time, and a lot of beautiful faces. Commercial assignment for FIAT car calendar back in the 1970s. Not the worst we imagine.”

In an era when the likes of Helmut Newton were quipping: “There must be a certain look of availability in the women I photograph. I think the woman who gives the appearance of being available is sexually much more exciting than a woman who’s completely distant. This sense of availability I find erotic.” There is something refreshingly reversed about that in Rej’s empowering and liberated snaps.

In the rock ‘n’ roll world, he was there to observe the skill of the performers and capture the intimate moments. It is a great credit to his work that he continued the same ethos over to a field where those norms are sometimes problematically reversed. In some ways, while music might have been his mainstay, this makes this rare commercial effort among his most definitive. 

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Shutterfest 2023: Unlocking the F.U.N.damentals of Photography |

By in Photography

Shutterfest 2023: Unlocking the F.U.N.damentals of Photography |

Shutterfest stands out as my favorite photography conference to attend each year! As I write this, I am wrapping up day three of the affair. I always look forward to the various workshops, lectures, and unique experiences available throughout this fun-filled event like no other.

I’d like to take a moment to recap some of the main highlights of the event. The event included many wonderful learning opportunities led by some of the biggest names in the industry. The workshops covered a diverse range of topics, including wedding portraits, posing, color gels, lighting, boudoir photography, and much more. 

Shutterfest 2023 really put the fun back into conferences! It was designed to provide a focused, unique, networking (F.U.N.) event for photographers and other industry professionals. Here’s a closer look at each element.

Focused: Workshops and Lectures for Mastering Your Craft

One of the main reasons I anticipate Shutterfest each year is the wide variety of workshops and lectures available. I can really concentrate on the skills I need now. The focused approach to learning guarantees that I always leave Shutterfest learning something new.

The lineup of learning opportunities covered every photography genre and included advice from top industry speakers. Some of the biggest names to attend include, but were not limited to, Gary Box, Ray Alvarez, Miguel Quiles, Ralph Nogal, Michael Anthony, Ning Wong, Peter Hurley, Tanya Smith, Scott Detweiler, and the host of the festival, Sal Cincotta. 

Shutterfest attracted dozens of respected photographers and professionals who shared knowledge and experience. It’s a perfect chance for photographers of all levels to learn from some of the top people in the photography industry. 

The event was full of hands-on learning opportunities. Workshops included the chance to experiment with new equipment. Some lectures and workshops even included live demonstrations. 

The carefully curated selection of classes and lectures provided the opportunity to hone our craft. Over three days, photographers of all experience levels got to pick up new skills and techniques.

Unique: How Shutterfest Breaks the Mold

Shutterfest always leaves a lasting impression thanks to its unique approach to photography events. Unlike other events, there is more of a focus on hands-on and live demonstration. It’s a conference that has moved past just focusing on just PowerPoint presentations.

Along with demonstrations and hands-on classes, Shutterfest included two programs with on-site models. This is what really sets the event apart! The Rent-a-Human (RAH) program and the unofficial After-Hours programs both offered the chance to photograph live models and put what we just learned into practice. The models come with wardrobe, hair, and makeup! If you are up for it, after-hours shoots can go on until 3 o’clock in the morning!

The combination of live photo shoots, expert speakers, and various creative experiences set it apart from other photography conferences that I’ve attended. 

The RAH program allows photographers to shoot professional models and build their portfolios. It was completely free to use and involved working in groups of two to five photographers. Shutterfest also had over 250 models on site. It was a massive portfolio-building opportunity.

The After-Hours shoots were provided to let photographers think outside the box and experiment with shooting at different times of the day, evening, and late hours of the night. Many of the models were available for these after-hours shoots. 

These programs were another example of how Shutterfest aims to inspire photographers. The organizers of the event want us to get outside of our comfort zone and start creating original work that stands apart from everything else out there.

Networking: Connect and Collaborate With Other Professionals

Throughout the event, I got the chance to work closely with others in my chosen profession. It’s a rare chance to connect with professionals and build more relationships in the industry. Along with photographers, we interacted with a wide range of models, vendors, and other professionals.

Shutterfest includes a strong emphasis on networking. The event included numerous networking opportunities, including parties. However, one of the best parts was the chance to team up with other photographers to shoot models. We also got to meet vendors to learn about new equipment and techniques.

Photography is often a relatively solitary profession, even when shooting models and other subjects. It’s fun to connect with other photographers and talk shop. Discussing our tools of the trade and sharing our approaches to photography was inspiring.

The entire three-day event had a collaborative feel. Everyone freely shared advice and their work, providing the chance to expose ourselves to new ideas and photography concepts. I believe I made quite a few professional connections and, hopefully, several lifelong relationships. 

Conclusion

Shutterfest 2023 was another fantastic experience and more than just another photography event. It was the chance for a community to come together and celebrate the fun-damentals of photography. I loved every minute, from the focused lectures and workshops to unique experiences and networking opportunities.

Attending Shutterfest is a great way for photographers to take their careers to the next level. You can connect with others and learn from experts. 

Whether you’ve visited Shutterfest before, I highly recommend adding Shutterfest 2024 to your calendar next year. It’s sure to be another outstanding opportunity for photographers to share their work and meet like-minded individuals. As a maternity photographer, I have certainly learned a lot that I will take back to my business.

So, what are your thoughts on Shutterfest? Did you make it to Shutterfest 2023 or any of the past festivals? What is your favorite conference and why? Don’t forget to plan for Shutterfest 2024 as well, as they have an early bird special.

I’d love to hear what you think about Shutterfest. Feel free to share your thoughts or experiences in the comment section below. 

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