The various stories this past week about the end of Kodachrome reminded me of a couple of articles I came across on Derek Beaulieu’s blog. Beaulieu is a Calgary based artist, a bit of a Renaissance man, a poet and artist, arts organizer etc,. Derek had been using Letraset to create text based works of art but has run into the problem of finding Letraset sheets. In case you don’t remember Letraset sheets contained letters (and more) that you would rub to transfer to another surface. They were used heavily by the graphic, design and publishing industries but have been replaced by more modern technology. Beaulieu tells a story of going to the store he usually bought the sheets from only to be told they’d thrown them out as nobody was buying them anymore leaving him without a favourite tool. You can read a story about it at The Weal or see a short film of Derek creating one of his Letraset artworks on a window in Calgary’s Pages book store.
To get you started on New Years day how about the pictures of the day from the NY Times Lens blog with images of New Year celebrations around the globe. You can also take a look at John Galayda’s photos of a burlesque show Kitty Nights from the NY Times East Village blog. A reminder of low light and black and white.
Need some incentive to get out with your camera for the New Year, why not try a little street photography? You can follow the enigmatic instructions posted at Street Photography Now to get a little inspiration. Assignment #14 posted Dec. 31 is Show Us The Aftermath. Sarah Bakewell mentions the project in an article on street photography in the Guardian.
From the Washington Post – Banker Andrew Plara became fascinated by documentary photography and became a collector, a collection that has now become part of a private museum ‘Pier 24’ in San Francisco. Story here.