Matthew and The Jones'

Tomorrow I drive up to Chattanooga, TN, to shoot for Matthew Perryman Jones's new album. We have a really great concept worked out, so if all goes well, awesomeness will occur.

Speaking of the Jones'...

About a month ago Cannan Elizabeth Jones came into the world.

She is a cute baby.

Fact.

Matthew and Megan wanted some shots of the new wee one, so away to Nashville I went.

















Peace. - Caleb

Wayne Grayson and This Weekend

Saturday I had the opportunity to produce a song by my friend (and high school brother) Wayne Grayson.

The song is not yet mastered, but I thought I would allow you all to hear it anyway.

Enjoy.

Click Here to Listen

Title: ???
Wayne Grayson - Guitar, Vocals
Abby Hebert - Vocals
Lori Cheng - Cello
Corey Scogin - Sound Engineer

Peace. - Caleb

Matt Chancey for President

Matt Chancey is my brother.

Fact.

He's running for President...of the Alabama Public Service Commission. This is a state wide office, which means the 50-60 people from Alabama who visit my site each day can vote for him.

Yay!

Matt called me about a month ago and told me he was running for this office. He followed by say, "Ok, I can either ask you to give me money, or some photography. Which one would you prefer?"

I love family.






Peace. - Caleb

P.S. I'm terrible at explaining what this office actually does, so if a certain THOMAS RICHIE has a few moments to spare, I would much oblige a explanation in the comment section.

Tim Keller Quote

"The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less."

- Timothy Keller, The Reason For God (New York, NY: Dutton, 2008), 181.

Peace. - Caleb

Inspiration and Respiration

I remember at one point in my life discussing the similarities between the words inspiration and respiration. It's the idea of the green house effect equalling the concept of community and sharing ideas.

It goes something like this:

Respiration -
We breath in oxygen, is comes out carbon dioxide, a plant takes it, repackages it into oxygen, which another person then inhales.

Inspiration -
We take in inspiration, with which we produce art, which then is delivered and interpreted by the surroundings, and is given to another person as inspiration.

That being said...

Cory Godbey provides me with a lot of oxygen.

Peace. - Caleb

Random Film Shots

- Paper Route

As recently as in five minutes ago, I stumbled across these three random shots. They were all shot film. Two of them are from concerts. One of them features Bryan Johnson wearing a "I'm part of the family" t-shirt.

Enjoy.


- Peter Bradley Adams


- Bryan Johnson

Peace. - Caleb

Wideo Wonders (3 of 3): Pitchfork.tv

Pitchfork.tv is pretty wonderful.

Basically it's a site for music videos... but that doesn't seem to do it justice.

It has featured videos, live-in-studio performances, whole shows, etc.

My favorite sections is called "One Week Only", which features a streaming movie that is available for only, you guessed it, one week.

Check, Check, Check, it out.

Peace. - Caleb

Wideo Wonders (2 of 3): La Blogotheque - Les Concerts A Emporter

I've talked about and referenced Blogotheque before, but I thought I would do it in a more formal, straightforward post.

I don't know much about this group, because pretty much all of their site is in French. And I don't speak French. Fact.

But what I do know is that it is headed up by a guy named Vincent Moon, and he makes some remarkably inspiring videos featuring great musicians.

The first Blogotheque video I ever saw was of Sufjan Stevens:

#50.2 - Sufjan Stevens (MusicNow) - The lakes of Canada
Uploaded by lablogotheque

The second, featured the band Arcade Fire:

#41 - Arcade Fire - Neon Bible & Wake Up
Uploaded by lablogotheque

Then, Andrew Bird:

#45.3 - Andrew Bird - Spare-Oh
Uploaded by lablogotheque

Then I was hooked.

He puts up around a video a week, so it's worth checking in pretty frequently.

Here's one of his most recent, featuring the band Bowerbirds:

#90.1 - BOWERBIRDS - Bur Oak
Uploaded by lablogotheque

Peace. - Caleb

P.S. If you go to the Blogotheque website you can download all the videos in either iPod or full quality... for free!! What an amazing service.

Wideo Wonders (1 of 3): Fredo Viola

Fredo Viola is amazing.

Fact.

I discovered him, oh, sometime this morning, and I have been watching his music videos and listening to his online album (yet to be released) all day.

Just for kicks, here's how his bio begins:

I was born in London, England and spent my first five years living in England and Rome. After that my family moved to New York, then Los Angeles, where I spent most of my adolescent years, singing professionally as a boy soprano and studying art once my voice changed. Finally I moved back to NYC to attend NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

Interested? You should be. This guy does everything from animation to music to videography.

Here's one of my favorites:



Go check him out!

Peace. - Caleb

Grey Haven: Watch the Grass Grow #1

This weekend I helped Grey Haven create it's first of many video projects, entitled "Watch the Grass Grow." The idea was inspired by the amazingly-amazing Vincent Moon and his Take Away Shows (which I will be blogging about in the coming week).

The idea: Take a musician (or group of musicians), place them in an interesting environment, and film them playing a song.

Check it out and tell me what you think!



Peace. - Caleb

Liquid Art (3 of 3) - Tea and the Art of Civilization

People are connected to each other. No one stands alone. In fact, the only way to stand is on the shoulders of those who came before you. That may be depressing to some of you who consider yourselves very "independent" in mind and place, but in reality it is a very encouraging thing. We do not have to invent the wheel. We invent better cars. We do not have to create an alphabet. We write poetry.

Right now we are able to use the ideas and discoveries of the billions who came before us in order to think, discuss, and create. And that is a wondrous thing.

Carved above the doors in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi is the proverb "Know Thyself." Among other things, this proverbs points to a very basic principle of history: You have to know where you came from, in order to clearly see where we're going.

This brings us to the final Liquid Art post.
____________________________________________________

The guys at Portland Studios are fascinating.

Fact.

They're an illustration, animation, and design firm out of Greenville, SC, and I can't seem to take my eyes off of what they create.

Recently, they posted an entry on their blog discussing civilization. They used this discussion as a basis for seven piece created through the medium of tea.

The illustration featured above and below were painted on the back of index cards, using tea.





Please go and read the blog entry, as well as view the other pieces inspired from the post.

Peace. - Caleb

Liquid Art (2 of 3) - The Fountains of Bellagio

Cheers Bryan for capturing this!

Peace. - Caleb

Liquid Art (1 of 3) - Primavera Coffee Roasters

I just spent the past 36 hours with my friend Josh Wilson, who in addition to being a great shooter, is also employed at Starbucks. The company is going through some major changes as of late, and it was fascinating to hear what will be happen in the future.

More emphasis on atmosphere and excellent quality, less on profit and speed of service.

This is a very honorable undertaking that Starbucks is doing, and I can't wait to see how it will turns out.

However,

if you live in Birmingham, you have a shining example of a coffee company whose emphasis has always been on the quality, atmosphere, and the Art of coffee.

Primavera Coffee Roasters is remarkable.

Fact.

I first heard about them from a friend in Chattanooga, who was originally from Birmingham. They didn't pop up in my life again until I started attending UCF a few years ago. Primavera provides the coffee for the UCF House, and it was during my frequent all night writing fits, that I came to love of their Guatemala Atitlan.

Primavera again reminded me of their awakening taste, when they became the sole provider of Urban Standard's coffee.

I have this to say.

Those who take their art seriously usually gain my respect by their sheer dedication and discipline.
Those who are able to expose art in unexpected and unique fields, keep my eyes and spark my creativity.
And those who are able to accomplish both of these things with passion and consistent excellence become a part of my passion and a part of my art.

So, thank you Primavera for helping me Awaken my Senses.

*

Peace. - Caleb

P.S. CNN recently covered a story featuring Brett Burton (co-founder of Primavera).

*Photo provided by one of my students in Romania

Joshua Longbrake

Joshua Longbrake is a wonderful photographer.

Fact.

I've been admiring his work for a long(brake) time, and have had the privilege to e-mail back and forth with him every so often. Bob Miller first turned me on to Joshua's blog about a year ago, and I've been a regular reader ever since.

Joshua has a ever-growing series of photos of portraits in which you can't see the person's face. (See opening photo.)

Seeing that I don't have an original bone in my body, and the fact that I needed to use up the last few frames on a roll of 35mm, I thought I would admiringly imitate a Longbrake, using the closest Joshua I could find.

Keep rocking it out man!



Peace. - Caleb

Matchstic & City Church Eastside

Matchstic is a wonderful company.

Fact.

A few months back they decided to choose an organization to which they could donate some pro bono work. After much consideration, they landed on City Church Eastside in Atlanta.

I spoke with the co-founder of Matchstic, Craig, soon after they made their decision, and told him that I loved the idea and if they needed to partner with a photographer for the project I would love to be that photographer.

A few weeks ago I received a call from Craig.

.....

I'm excited.

To express my excitement, I sent Craig some pictures of myself sporting the team colors. Go Matchstic!





Peace. - Caleb

Clothes of the Future

I got to get one of those "candy for cuties" containers.

Peace. - Caleb

Wedding this Weekend

Tricia & Judah are getting married this weekend in Mobile!

The great Josh Wilson and I will be shooting the wedding, and we couldn't be more pumped about it.

Trish came into the studio about a month ago to have her bridal portrait taken, and before she left I ran off a roll of her goofing off around the curtains. I hope this gives you an idea of the wedding fun we will be experiencing this weekend!













Peace. - Caleb