Dia de Los Muertos /  by mirena

"Dia de los Muertos is a traditional Meso-American holiday dedicated to the ancestors; it honors both death and the cycle of life. In Mexico, neighbors gather in local cemeteries to share food, music, and fun with their extended community, both living and departed. The celebration acknowledges that we still have a relationship with our ancestors and loved ones that have passed away. In San Francisco, Day of the Dead has been celebrated since the early 70s with art, music, performances and a walking procession, which help us contemplate our existence and mortality -- a moment to remember deceased friends and family, and our connections beyond our immediate concerns."

-I took the following photographs at the Mission district of San Francisco as well as at the Mission Cultural center, where an altar installation was held at the beginning of November. In my culture when it comes to the dearly departed it's all somber black and sometimes crying.. Here I was just hypnotized by the beauty and the exuberance... A woman who gave me sweet tea and bread told me on this day I am supposed to be happy. This is what I red afterwards and made me change my outlook entirely: "Don't just cry mournfully over the individuals, dreams and influences that have helped make you what you are. Dance for them; sing for them; honor them; leap into the air and kiss the sky for them." It was almost wonderful..

Dia de Los Muertos mirena_rhee_dia_de_los_muertos_02mirena_rhee_dia_de_los_muertos_03

Dia de Los Muertos - an installation at the Mission cultural centermirena_rhee_dia_de_los_muertos_05

Fashion Feud /  by mirena

My favorite sport is base jumping, I practice a special version of it where you have to perform some aerial acrobatics and go through a series of hoops to get the chute to open. I really enjoy this. Occasionally I look at fashion and the display of fabrics accompanied by beautiful lighting.

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SomeKind_of_Fashion_Feud_mirena_rhee_03

Fashion Feud is a live "Project Runway" like competition on stage. Designers are given an hour to create a design to prepare for a runway on stage. Models will have a walk-of on stage with their newly designed outfits. The audience will judge who the best designer of the evening by their applause. Fabrics will be provided from"Mood Fabrics New York". This event is sponsored by "SCION".

On my second visit to Alcatraz... /  by mirena

The Sun sets over the Walls of Alcatraz I felt the oppression embeded in the walls and the pain of the inprisoned ghosts, I wouldn't say this was very attractive to me. I find it very strange this place is a tourist attraction.

Looking out of the rock and towards the beautiful city across the bay I can think of only one thing - how very priviliged we are to enjoy our freedoms and to enjoy the freedom to do the things we love.

For unconditional love and other things /  by mirena

When someone tells you repeatedly they love you - you get used to it and when this is gone you terribly miss it. Unconditional love is a very hard thing to get over and I have been trying to come to terms with that loss this past week. I will never forget this black monday, I hope the worst is over and I can keep my head up moving forward. My grandfather Spas passed away in the morning of September 28, 2009 bulgarian time and I was absolutely powerless to do anything to be able to see him for one last time. I spent endless summers with him, family and friends and these were the happiest days of my life. Once I found out I sent heartbreaking letters to friends who knew him. This is what a friend of mine wrote back:

mirena -

so sorry to hear of the passing of dear diado spas - such a wonderful vital man full of genuine good spirit - i think he must have had a terrific life and earned a lot of good karma to have continued to enjoy everything as he did at a ripe old age - that plus eating a whole lemon every day!

you are a lucky lady to have had such a real connection to this kind of spirit - so seldom in our world today -

i am sure that his positive vitality will continue to inspire you your whole life - this is when memories can truly have meaning -

please give my condolences to nicki his daughter your dad and your whole family -

my heart is with you!

And he attached this picture from my birthday a couple of years ago - Grandpa Spas is in the middle:

diado_450

The Flying Tree inspired by Piranesi /  by mirena

The second in a series of drawings inspired by Giovanni Battista Piranesi. I drew the first sketch a few years ago while on a stint modeling 3d Baghdad for the US army - in between IED detonation simulations I was thinking about the Flying Tree from Stephen Baxter's book Raft... and started imaging it in my notebook.  My visual language is drawing on my work as a 3d artist but the look is a few centuries old, an etching technique developed in the fifteenth century and mastered by Piranesi in his capricious fantasies. I really enjoy seeing how the imperfections of the drawing are shaping up in total juxtaposition to the flawless figures I imagine in my head, the dreams of a 21 century polygonal brain. One of a series of drawings inspired by Giovanni Battista Piranesi

Waiting for the astronomical twilight on my hands and knees under the dome of the Palace of Fine Arts /  by mirena

I returned to the palace of Fine Arts to reshoot photographs I took a month earlier - back then I had wondered into the space by chance and didn't carry a tripod... which resulted in grain and noise. I looked up the time stamps on the files and then googled for the sunset time for that day. Turned out besides sunset there are all these interesting terms associated with sunset data like Civil Twilight, Nautical Twilight and Astronomical twilight. According to the charts I had taken the picture (below) 20 minutes after sunset and 10 before civil twilight when wild things come out, obviously, beasts are partial to beautiful light. Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco near Astronomical Twilight

Today sunset was around 7:30 pm so I waited 2o minutes for the twilight to set in and some amazing things happened during that time - a guy stood under the belly of the dome and sung with the most beautiful voice a song called "Salve Regina" ... after that I lied to a couple of Tourists that the Palace was a part of a pre-earthquake bathhouse, absolutely not on purpose and out of sheer ignorance.

So Here it is San Francisco palace of Fine Arts - round Two:

Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco at Astronomical Twilight ( almost 2 hours after sunset )

Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco at Twilight

Avedon vs Frank vs Adams /  by mirena

I hit the jackpot st SFMoma and was able to see the three back to back, floor to floor. I totally fell for Robert Frank and the fact that The huge pieces, maybe 4x6 feet, by Avedon had less in them than the tiny by comparison Frank photographs. Yes, frank and honest and authentic, grainy, rainy, oppressive and grim - Robert Frank's pieces were a crime back in the sugary 50s and still zap you today. "Quality doesn't mean deep blacks and whatever tonal range. That's not quality, that's a kind of quality. The pictures of Robert Frank might strike someone as being sloppy - the tone range isn't right and things like that - but they're far superior to the pictures of Ansel Adams with regard to quality, because the quality of Ansel Adams, if I may say so, is essentially the quality of a postcard. But the quality of Robert Frank is a quality that has something to do with what he's doing, what his mind is. It's not balancing out the sky to the sand and so forth. It's got to do with intention." (Elliott Erwitt)

photograph of a Cafe in Beaufort, South Carolina

The think in pictures blog mentions that Jack Kerouac wrote in the introduction of The Americans that “after seeing these pictures you end up finally not knowing any more whether a jukebox is sadder than a coffin.”