Portrait | Curtis Santiago

What can I possibly say about Curtis Santiago?

Let me skip back a bit... I was introduced to Curtis Friday night by my friend, Pamela Masik, when we went down to the Met to check out his show. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I can safely say that if I did have expectations, they would have been exceeded upon seeing him live. His demeanor before the show was friendly, real, present. When performing, the passion brewing just below the surface was released, and with it, a rawness, an edge, an energy only possible when the source is authentic in doing what you love. He is an artist to the core.

I had the pleasure of spending a day with him- I photographed and he sang and we both talked and talked. About art, influences, family, heartbreak, travel, what makes us who we are and why we feel we have to do what we do. He had this way that made strangers just want to say hi... and me not want to say goodbye!

He is far ahead of his time, but I think the time is nearing... the world is almost ready, Curtis!

Some are Collectors...

Some are travelers. Some are foodies. Some are movie freaks. And some are collectors.

I was visiting family this past weekend, and was dying to go in the garage, which I knew was packed like tetris with collectables. The light was streaming in a dusty window, the sill lined with various cola bottles. The dust danced, and continued to settle on the restored Chevrolet truck parked in the middle of it all. There is a different energy with those older items, as if they have a memory from all the lives and hands that nurtured them along the way. It is calm in here. Behind the truck lay bikes. Many bikes. All old, all with their own character. Can you imagine the stories they could tell! I envisioned my grandfather, camera slung over his shoulder, riding along a road that would lead him to his photo for the day. Because he always had a goal: a train or a ship or a street he wanted to record and file away... I wish I could be riding alongside him. I think of him a lot.

This post was originally about my uncle, a collector. But now I realize that my grandfather was also a collector, a collector of images. I laugh aloud as I remember the many filing cabinets filled with his passion of his family and places and ships and trains. Thousands upon thousands of 8x10 photographic prints! He was the biggest collector of us all! And what a gift he has left us. Until now, I felt I didn't really have the opportunity to know who he was, but I realize in this moment he is waiting for me in his photos.

I look forward to knowing him.

 

For a Rainy Day

Sometimes we put things out there, and well, we just don't know how it will be received. But at the end of the day, we owe it to ourselves to do our best at everything we set out to do. We owe it to ourselves to be ourselves, our authentic selves. And usually that involves a bit of risk. My lifestyle has been very different from most people. I don't work a 9 to 5 job. I find it hard committing to something more than a week in advance. I am most comfortable with camera in-hand. My favorite experiences usually involve a road I've never driven with no destination in mind. I travel extensively. I camp in the desert for a month at a time to surf un-crowded waves with my family. More than anything, I love to share myself and my experiences with those I love. Usually, it's words and images from afar, but once in awhile I put together a short slideshow to better portray the experience. And sometimes something amazing happens, like it did this past Friday. I was talking with a friend whom I haven't seen for at least a year. She wanted to share with me the impact of forwarding on my slideshows to people in her life. She said in particular, one individual was so moved by it he had shed a tear and called her immediately, and has since watched it every time he needs cheering up. I can't begin to describe how this made me feel. I'm sure many others can relate, because I too, have been touched by things created and passed on by others (and usually in moments when I need it most). But to know that by sharing an experience, it has changed someone's day many times over is simply amazing to me. Hearing that news was the greatest gift I could have received, and in turn, I am re-inspired to continue putting my experiences out there. Maybe, just maybe, this will find its way to someone else that needs that little hit of sunshine on a rainy day.

This is the slideshow I made last Fall about our annual trip to the Mexican desert in search of un-crowded waves. The handsome men featured are my two brothers and my father. The cat (we named him Carlos- he stole my heart!) was a wild, desert kitten that befriended us. Carlos brought us half eaten lizards as gifts and loved riding on the back of the motor bike. After watching this again, I think I am about due for another adventure!

Thanks for sharing and thanks for watching!

Walk in the Park

What better way to pass the day than to take a walk in the park!

It was freeeeezing, but so beautiful. I see the life trying to break through the frozen earth, and it gives me hope that warm days are soon to follow. I mean, winter can't last forever, can it???

This was a fun series to edit- I used a texture and a seventies color filter on the image taken with a tilt-shift lens. This lens is incredible- Nikon PC 24mm- great for achieving the straight lines in architecture and also fun to use artistically. Two very different styles used to achieve two very different results. Thank you, Nikon.

 

Featured FBFA Artist!

Farmboy Fine Arts is an incredible design company based here in Vancouver. They do site specific custom artwork in hospitality, corporate, retail and health care environments worldwide. What makes FBFA such a great company is that they are made up of really great people. I am proud to work with them and proud to know them!

This month, I was the featured artist for the renowned Farmboy Fine Arts. As the feature artist, I have a collection from Italy featured in the custom artwork section, as well an interview on their monthly podcast and more images and information on their blog and monthly newsletter. Check it out!

To see this months Stockyard, click the image below...

To listen to the podcast (interview starts around the 6 minute mark), click the image below...

DJ Wyatt Agard sends us another eclectic electric music mix, and your host Fatima interviews this month’s Podcast, famed Farmboy Fine Artist, photographer...

Melissa Gidney,
"Over the years, I kept coming back to photography. It grounded me, it centered me, it continually helped me see and appreciate the things we often overlook. I have become an observer: one of nature, of emotion, of movements, of lines, of life. As I go about my days, in my own backyard or on the other side of the world, I am filled with complete awe and appreciation for what surrounds me. Everyday,I feel blessed to be doing what I love.

I'm almost 30 and yet feel life is just beginning. I am thankful of where I came from and excited for where I am going. I love my job, travel and spontaneity. Laughter is one of my favourite sounds. There is nothing like the smell of black coffee and good legs on a glass of wine. Where the mountains meet the ocean will always be home to me.

I like to photograph that which gets overlooked, or the everyday in such a way it warrants appreciation again. I like to open eyes, to inspire, just as my viewfinder does for me."

To see the full newsletter, click here.

These are examples of the great things FBFA is doing with my images. Currently my work is displayed in over 100 hotels around the world.

Midnight in Montreal

There is something special about the first snowfall of the year. Even though the days are frigid and icy and there is not a leaf left on a tree, this is the first real proof that yes, it truly is winter. Summer has turned to Autumn which has fallen into a silent, white, billowy winter. Experiencing a snowfall in the city can be a remarkable experience, and to experience it in the old part of Montreal at midnight is even moreso. It was as if the city had shut down for this event, leaving the street lamps to glow in the night, lighting the flakes as they whipped in the wind, eventually settling on the abandoned benches, the bare branches and the early Christmas decorations. The city was silent. Padded. And oh so beautiful. Walking the streets in old Montreal at midnight... a memory I won't soon forget.

Canadiana Harvest

Road trips can be therapeutic. Music blaring, just loud enough to not hear yourself singing (although we all sound better in the car, don't we?), road snacks, and for me, a lot of reminiscing. I always dread the 6 hour drive home, until I get on the road and get swept up in the landscape and the memories. One of the best parts of the drive is to see the changes that have taken place since my last visit. Pine forests heavy with snow, then the bright, fresh grasses in the spring to the fields of wild flowers, orchards and vineyards laden with fruit in the summer. One of the most spectacular though, is the brilliant reds, yellows and oranges of the Fall. Harvest time. I see remnants of a pumpkin patch, the odd one left behind to return to the earth. Apples forgotten on leafless trees, perhaps once hidden from the fruitpickers, now long gone. Smoke plumes from chimneys leaves a lingering haze in the valley, a soft burnt smell in the air. It is as if the rush and excitement of summer has slipped away, and now the valley is settling into quiet slumber, storing its energy for another year. Nowhere else, than in the countryside, is the change in seasons more evident.

There are stretches of road I particularly enjoy. The Similkameen Valley is stunning, the vineyards and lush fields follow the river, meandering down the narrow valley banked by the steep mountain ranges. But my all time favorite is a stretch of fields, ranging from vibrant greens in the spring and summer to golden in the Fall, and eventually smooth white velvet in the winter. There are a couple homesteads, now abandoned, but not forgotten, surrounded by groves of poplars with their poignant white trunks. Sometimes I drive past and the vision is ordinary, but other times when the lighting is right, the snow fresh or the fields golden, I am forced to stop and breathe in the extraordinary beauty. Those are the moments to be cherished, and I wrap them up and tuck them away for another day, a gift that lasts a lifetime.