Beautiful Losers

I stumbled upon this creatively inspiring documentary the other day and feel duty-bound to share it. The film focuses on a group of artists who met in New York (mostly through their shared involvement in the skateboard community) in the early 90's and - with the help of a small gallery called Alleged - propelled each other into the art world limelight. What really resonates with me is the overriding theme that art isn't about technique, schooling, or subject matter. Art is about creating something for the sake of creating it. That's it.

Here are a few of the artists featured, and a sample of their work:

-ESPO-

-Geoff McFetridge-

-Ed Templeton-

-Harmony Korine-

-Barry McGee-

-Margaret Kilgallen-

Here's the trailer:

Europe Trip: Barcelona, take 1

The city of Barcelona was so beautiful, photogenic and memorable... it may take two or three posts to do it justice. Here's the first:

- Kara on the roof of Gaudi's Casa Mila -

- The view up from our vacation rental in La Ribera -

- Two more Casa Mila rooftop sculptures -

- Interior of La Sagrada Familia Cathedral -

- Detail of the 'Passion' facade door of La Sagrada Familia Cathedral -

- Political graffiti in La Ribera -

- Caught shooting from the hip outside the Picasso Museum -

- Kara with a gargoyle/street performer along La Rambla -

Online Magazines: Type and the Moving Image

As with most great things you see for the first time, the idea of an online magazine article integrating video and type is so obvious it hurts my feelings. I'm hardly the first in my field to blog about this, but I just loved the idea (and the beautiful execution) so much I thought I'd be nice and share.

Cooking Dinner Vol. I from William Hereford on Vimeo.

Europe Trip: Madrid

Europe Trip: Amsterdam

My apologies to the few of you out there who actually try to follow this blog. I've spent the last five weeks traveling through Europe and, while I brought my camera bag, I opted against bringing a computer. In an effort to play catch-up, I thought I'd share some shots from each of the cities we visited, starting with our first stop: the gorgeous city of Amsterdam.

Gallus Cycles

My good friend Jeremy Shlachter builds custom bicycles by hand in Fort Worth, TX. As a novice to the process of bike building, I am blown away by the attention to detail and the focus it takes to put together a frame. The measurements alone take a day or two to get right. I've been documenting the process in what will undoubtedly be an ongoing series. What I'd really like to do is shoot right on through to the point where it's handed off to its new owner. I've been shooting video as well, and I'm hoping to make a short documentary following the process, from pieces of raw tubing to a fully functional cycle.

- schematics and measurements -

- custom lug work and the Gallus logo -

Absolut + Spike Jonze: "I'm Here"

Absolut continues its excellent tradition of sponsoring amazing work by incredible visual artists. "I'm Here" is a short by the consistently innovative Spike Jonze, the plot of which is better viewed than described. What I love about these Absolut-comissioned projects is that the company doesn't insist on product placement, or even direct correlation to their vodka. It also appears that no expense was spared. This was undoubtedly a fairly expensive film to make, and wouldn't have been the same without the visual effects.

Check out the trailer:

I'm Here Trailer from We Love You So on Vimeo.

You can view the entire film at the official website.