Listed in an online photography directory
Yes folks! Got a pleasant surprise when I learned that this humble blog has been included in an online photography directory called Photo Webs Planet. This blog is now part of the more than 600 photography-related websites listed in said directory. Together with your comments, visits, likes, follows and recognitions via blog awards, this latest development (though outside of the WordPress community) surely made my day. Thank you all and keep on clicking!
Back to blogging
Sorry for my one week absence my blogger peers. I had to attend to some important family and business matters. And as the saying goes that absence makes the heart grow fonder, I did missed all of you. Like everyone else, this act of blogging has become so ingrained in my system that a day seems incomplete without posting something. Imagine going “blog-less” for a week or so. Well I hope all of you are safe and sound. I’ll go around in your blogs and see what’s the latest on your end. Keep on clicking! Thanks!
JJ’s art blog
The above is from the “Floral” series, a sample of the many creations I did when I started photographing years ago. In my youth I painted using watercolors and acrylic. When the camera became my brush, I continued my art but in the photographic way. It was when trying out various image editing softwares that I was able to merge photos, apply styles and effects and come up with “digital art.” All are based on photos I took. I have a sizeable collection of these creations that for a long time were tucked away in my hard disk. Now they are presented to the world through their own home, the Junsjazz Art & Vision blog. If you have time I invite you to visit the blog and immerse yourself in a world of brilliant colors, moody darkness, surreal concepts, runaway imagination and unrestrained creativity. Thanks! Happy midweek my blogger peers!
Issue #5 is online
Yes folks, you can now enjoy Issue #5 of Junsjazz Images & Inspiration Digital Magazine. It carries an all black and white theme and features the following photographers and a selection of their works:
Shannon James O’Neill
Richard Cooper-Knight
Xavi Geis
Emiliano Valdarquis
Petra Stridfeldt
Jennifer Koe
My heartfelt thanks to them for sharing their time and talent in this ongoing digital publishing project. Same gratitude goes to six other photographers I have previously featured. You’ll notice that Issue #5 has an edgier design and meticulous lay-out. I guess I wanted to outdo myself with each new Issue. I hope you’ll have a great time going over it as I did creating it. Again, put on those headphones for a multimedia experience. Thanks!
The most ambitious issue yet
Issue #5 of the digital magazine edition of this blog will be out later this week. This is the most ambitious issue so far in this ongoing online project of mine. It has an all black and white photography theme, thematic background music, subtle lay-out changes and design, contextual voice-overs and, from eight pages in the first issue, this latest outing has now ballooned to 26 pages from cover to cover. Half of it is devoted to six photo bloggers who have responded to my invitation to be featured in Issue #5. In the above magazine cover pic, their names have been deliberately blot out; I will reveal them when the issue goes online. Before that happens, I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart these six photographers who took the time from their busy lives to coordinate and communicate with me with regards to the content, materials and permissions to use their copyrighted works. For that I am grateful. For the past two issues, I have been sharing this digital platform with photographers and it gives me immense pleasure and satisfaction that in my own little way I get to confer recognition to my peers. And I’ll keep doing so in the next issues.
The poet and photographer (2)
A second pairing off, this time from Lila of the blog Lila’s Twist and your’s truly
The poet and photographer combined
The above literary piece (used with permission) is by Kelly Hartland paired with one of my nature photos. I have been toying with the idea of a collaboration between two classes of artists – the poets and photographers. The concept isn’t unique, there have been poetry/photo books by poet and photography authors who combined their works. I broached the subject to Kelly who thought it was a great idea, and to Lila (of the blog Lila’s Twist) who was excited about it. We now have digital publishing platforms where we can create and publish online books and magazines. I have been doing it for the past four issues of the Digital Magazine edition of this blog. But this here at WordPress is a community, and a collaboration is a collective undertaking. If this project ever hopes to push through, what is needed aside from the materials is a concerted effort, the deliberate coming together of talent and creativity by everyone involved. Can these two breeds of artists, distinct in perspective and perception, different in methods and styles, but one in rendering imagery and inspiration, actually join forces? Oh, you tell me. Two of them just collaborated above.
Poetry and photography
The play of written words in poetry and the art of the visual medium in photography are both powerful instruments. Though each class is different in presentation and technique, both evoke imagery and inspiration. Unlike prose, the approach of poetry is short and concise, and using techniques of metaphor, hyperbole or simile (for instance) spark the imagination of readers. Photography, on the other hand, is more or less a direct approach – a visual representation of the world as the photographer sees or envisions it. A viewer of a photo will see it as it is. If it is a flower, the viewer will see it as a flower as the photographer intended it to be – whether he presented the flower as an abstract, a macro, a black and white image, still life or a silhouette. A photo may be open to a few interpretations but it will always be within the confines of what the subject is. In poetry it is different, a flower may mean different things in a wider scope depending on how the poet played with his words and presented his piece. A flower may represent happiness, joy, beauty, form, simplicity, nature, silence, humility, essence or even life itself. Though there are distinctions, photography can draw or learn elements from poetry. I like this article by photography author Michel Freeman and would like to share it with all of you. Titled Why Poetry Might Help Your Photography, it takes a look on what makes “poetic imagery a very useful inspiration for a visual medium like photography.” It also tackles some noted collaborations between poets and photographers, a project I would like to do and explore – blending and unifying the works pf photo bloggers and poet bloggers. I could do a whole new separate digital magazine for that.
The photographer’s block
Like all artistic endeavors, we sometimes reach a blank wall. For those who use the mighty pen, it is widely known as writer’s block, the inability to produce new work. For photographers who use their eyes to scan, the mind to process and the camera to capture, there is also such a thing as a photographer’s block. The camera as a tool has nothing to do with it, but it has everything to do with the individual. I read bloggers who have decided to pick up the camera after a long hiatus, saying they were inspired to shoot again after seeing some great images. What causes this photographer’s block? Since most of us treat photography as a hobby, it remains just that – a side activity in our daily dealings with life. We are caught up in our everyday struggles at work, family, home, school, business and whatever we are engrossed with that we forget or don’t have time for our hobby. There is also a condition called eye strain (you know this when you sit in front of your computer for hours) which reduces our perception and the ability to notice (we know this is important for the photographer’s sense of  seeing). Then there is the monotony of subjects, shooting the same thing and situation over and over again, resulting in what noted photographer George Barr calls the seeing fatigue. Just these three aforementioned examples are enough to extinguish the creative flame. We need sparks of fresh ideas and inspiration. Though this article, 25 Ways to Jump Start Photography Inspiration, was written five years ago I still find it relevant and applicable to this day because they are simple, practical and can be done (most of them) immediately. Don’t be overwhelmed by the number of tips, they contain just two-sentence explanations each, are short and direct to the point. I won’t mention the 25 of them here, again simply allow yourself a few of minutes to go over them. From among the list, I will just cite one: look at photoblogs and get inspired. I do it here all the time, looking over the incredible works of photo blogger peers. It’s enough to keep my creativity simmering and my passion alive. Kick off the doldrums and take pictures!
Issue #2
Yes folks, there is already an Issue #2 of Junsjazz Images & Inspiration interactive digital magazine. Well, at least for the magazine cover; the contents are still a work in progress. Issue #2 will feature images of Philippine churches and cathedrals, some of my random thoughts, and of course a selection of photography tips and techniques that I have compiled and shared in this blog. The second issue will come out before month’s end, hopefully after the Christmas hangover and before the big bang of the new year. For the meantime, if you haven’t seen, viewed, heard, read and flipped the pages (sorry for the verbs, the magazine is a multimedia experience) of Issue #1Â featuring sunsets and sunrises, here’s your chance to do so. Just click the link. Thank you always my friends for following, for the comments, the likes, appreciation and support. Its probably why I haven’t been “facebooking” for awhile and have been more engrossed in “wordpressing”. It’s different here in the blogging community, the audience is more engaged and active. Have a great week ahead my blogger peers! Stay safe, have fun and keep on clicking!
Reality blog award…now my turn to nominate
Thanks to Xavi Geis for this nomination. I’m new at this but I guess rules are rules so here goes the question and answer portion:
1) If you could change something what would you change? Disability and sickness
2) If you could repeat an age, what age would it be? 20
3) What one thing really scares you? Drivers who do not follow street signs and traffic rules
4) What one dream have you not completed yet and do you think you will be able to complete it. A solo exhibit
5) If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be? Luther Vandross
Now it’s my turn to nominate others which puts me in a quandary because there are lots of really great blogs out there. My nominees:
http://drronsphotos.wordpress.com/
http://strassenfotojournal.com/
http://leannecolephotography.com/
http://pramudiya.wordpress.com/
http://georgevagabon.wordpress.com/
http://kellyhartland.wordpress.com/
http://ainewarren.wordpress.com/
Thank you all! Keep on clicking! ~JJ
Windows
No, not the Bill Gates invention that hangs, crashes and attracts viruses. This is the real deal. The functional part of a structure that keeps out harsh elements or lets in light and breeze. I’ve got a large image collection of these – windows. I featured this photo because earlier as I was going through various WordPress blogs, I found images of the same exact subject taken from the same place. It may not be the exact windows but its definitely from the same street at the Chinatown district in Singapore. And Lyn, author of the blog Little Yaris Photo, confirmed it.  Here are her photos of these colorful windows. Keep on clicking my friends!
Junsjazz Images & Inspiration 