Here are a few of my new pastels for my upcoming two person show in Santa Fe. Check back soon because I will be posting a few more new pastels this week.
Show: "Life's Colors"
Alexandra Stevens Fine Art celebrates twelve years in Santa Fe with our traditional Christmas Eve Open House featuring Victoria Taylor-Gore and Daniel Bayless. Come and enjoy the Art and the Canyon Road Farolitos. It is a magical evening on Canyon Road.
Location: Alexandra Stevens Gallery of Fine Art Event Dates: 12/24/2011 - 1/30/2012 Reception: 12/24/2011 • 5 to 7 pm
These are three new pastel landscapes that will be in the Panhandle Plains Invitational at the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum. The show runs from Feb. 26 - Mar. 26, 2011 and there will be an Artists' Reception on Sat., Feb 26 at 5:30 pm and a Fixed-Price Sale at 6 pm. For more information about the show click here.
"Along the Road 3" by Victoria Taylor-Gore, Pastel, 5 x 9 inches, 2011
"Along the Road 2" by Victoria Taylor-Gore, Pastel, 5 x 9 inches, 2011
"Along the Road 1" by Victoria Taylor-Gore, Pastel, 5 x 9 inches, 2011
It's not a new year for me until I do my first pastel. This is a larger one (22 1/2 x 34 1/2 inches), and it is done on a warm rust color paper...usually my pastels are done on black paper. The warm color popping up from underneath in a few places is a nice contrast - especially in behind the edge of the clouds and blue sky. I love the late light of twilight when the setting sun projects a soft golden-orange glow on the land.
My Christmas video and entry for the Philip Bloom Holiday/Weekend Challenge 4 - http://www.vimeo.com/groups/challenge4. The theme of the Challenge is to reflect what this year has meant to you and express what the Christmas Holiday means...how we celebrate it. Funny, I usually spend the holidays making art, so this video is an expression of my artwork and filmmaking....both things that have come to life over the past year.
Music - "Silent Night" by Emorej Purchased music license from Jamendo.com
I had been planning to do a Christmas video this year...especially after hearing the song I used for the video - "Silent Night" by Emorej. When Philip Bloom announced his Holiday/Weekend Challenge recently, I decided that I would combine my Christmas video and his Challenge. I want to thank Mr. Bloom for all the knowledge, inspiration, and motivation he shares with others...after all, it's his fault I bought my Canon 7D in the first place :)
I have been collecting props for this Christmas video from Ebay (vintage hand painted figurines from Italy) for a few weeks, and when they arrived a few days ago, I was so excited about how lovely they looked with my own pastel backgrounds.
I shot this with my Canon 7D, Tokina 16-50mm f2.8 and 100mm f2.8 macro lenses, Kessler Crane Pocket Dolly, Zacuto Z-Finder Pro 3x, and the Focus35.com Track and Skater Dolly. This is the first time I've edited in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 - love the fast rendering and exporting time, and great quality.
Once in awhile, things just fall into place. I was thinking about doing a new Christmas video a few weeks ago, but was just too busy with end of semester work at the college to get started. I also had some other deadlines with my artwork for the Santa Fe gallery. But I did come across this song - "Silent Night" from the album Re-Imagining Christmas by Emorej http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/678355. I have licensed music by Emorej before and just stumbled on this track. I knew I had to use this beautiful song for the video, so in a sense, the music came first in this case.
Then I realized a Nativity scene would be perfect with some of my pastels as the background. I did the following pastel with this in mind:
Last week I finally had time to get serious about this project (didn't know if I'd have time to even do it), and searched Ebay for Nativity scenes in the scale I needed. I finally found some vintage Nativity scenes and figures that I could afford...what I ended up ordering were all miniature vintage Italian hand painted Nativity figures and scenes. Some Nativity figures are made of paper mache, some plaster, and some hard plastic, but all are hand painted from Italy. Vintage nativity scenes like this were once on hand in at low budget chain stores like Woolworth's. We had a miniature nativity scene with Christmas lights in my house when I was a child, but it has long since vanished. Here is some information about various Nativity sets - found this very interesting, and one very much like mine is included in the article - http://www.catholichomeandgarden.com/christmas_nativity_sets.htm
The best part, is the first Nativity scene arrived today - in time to get started and finish my new video with the figurines and pastel backgrounds BEFORE Christmas!!! And the second, but more important thing is that the pastel I already finished this week (before the first figures arrived) is the perfect scale for the figurines - I had just guessed when I did the pastel, but it will work perfectly. Here is a snapshot that shows how the pastel and figures work together:
The past weekend I decided to get a showreel done...not for job applications or professional purposes, but to collect what I thought were my successes in my first year creating short videos. Hopefully by doing so, I can take account of what I've learned and think about how to improve.
In every short I've done so far, there have been mistakes and things I should have done better. The fun of a showreel is getting to cut out the best shots out of each short and put them together. But the challenge is to narrow the selections to no more than four minutes (and from my showreel, you can see I failed at that limitation). Getting diverse clips and experiments that I've done to somehow hold together and flow and make some kind of sense wasn't easy either. The saving grace was to find a song that loosely tied them all together with the theme of "life is a dream."
Another thing that goes along with this reel is an acknowledgement of how I was able to learn so much in a year (of course, there is still a ton more to learn). So this is also a "thank you" to the amazing community of filmmakers and photographers that help and support each other along the path of HDSLR filmmaking through the Internet, conferences, workshops, meet-ups, etc. I'd list all the people that have helped me so much by sharing information, inspiration, and their generous support and encouragement...but there are too many to list, and you know who you are anyway : ) Thanks, my friends.
"Warmer House" by Victoria Taylor-Gore, pastel, 10 x 14 inches, 2010
This is what I did with my morning today. I'm taking new work to Santa Fe for a general opening at my gallery in Santa Fe - Alexandra Stevens Gallery on Canyon Road.
This video belongs in my "The Conversation" series (http://vimeo.com/14891218, http://vimeo.com/15119881, and http://vimeo.com/15499048) - but I wanted to freshen up the title. "Dream House" seemed more descriptive of the video since more of the Marx vintage doll house is featured in this short. This series of short films deals with a surreal conversation between miniature Marx vintage figures with sets that are Marx tin litho dollhouses. The story is implied - symbolic figures and juxtapositions allow the viewer to come to their own conclusions. Certainly the film noir influence is apparent and so inspiring for me.
Shot with a Canon 7D, Tokina 16-50mm f2.8 lens, Tokina 100mm macro f2.8 lens, Focus35 skater dolly, and always use my Zacuto Z-Finder Pro 3x! Edited in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4.
Also, so happy with my new Alzo 790L video light - worked wonders - no noise reduction necessary! The small light inside the bedroom window is actually my iPhone with a LED light flashlight app turned on - worked great and easy to get in small places. It even has a "strobe" effect that I used for the flashing light in the bedroom.
Note - added some of my own drawing elements - in a few pf the opening shots there is a tree in the foreground - that is actually a tree I drew and layered over the other video.
So I'm in the pastel mode again after working on a series of short films...getting ready for my Christmas Eve exhibit in Santa Fe at the Alexandra Stevens Gallery.
video in public, I mean : ) I don't know if this is a problem for others embarking on the world of hybrid DSLRs or not, but it's taking time for me to feel comfortable shooting video in public places. Even with the small footprint of HDSLRs, I'm finding that people watch me, stop in front of me, and worst of all...run away when I point a camera at them. Not at all natural looking! I have a tendency to move the camera away or point it down when I start getting attention, and that can ruin the perfect shot.
It's more compounded because I come from a fine art background (and I'm an introvert), and don't have the experience that seasoned photographers bring to the "human" element of getting good "people" shots. There's much more to getting great video footage than using the right lenses, good camera stabilization, and proper audio...there is direct human interaction.
Part of my fear isn't just how people react - I worry about security in some places. Will I be stopped and harassed? I was once, at an amusement park, and they wouldn't stop until I accepted a "press pass" (even though I told them several times I wasn't with the press).
One lucky situation was at a performance of traditional Mexican dances by El Ballet Folklorico Nuestra Herencia at the Underwood Center’s Ice House during the Dia de los Muertos Procession in Lubbock, Texas. I was approached by the dreaded security guard, and he asked me what I was doing there. I told him I was a teacher sponsoring a student trip to see the procession events (which was true), and he actually took me through the crowd closer to the dancers to get a better view. Nice. So I'm thinking that directly approaching security first and explaining what I'm up to is a good idea. I'm finding that my Canon 7D with a big Tokina lens and a monopod isn't helping me blend into the crowd. Adding more gear to a rig would make me even more visible. I think more people are catching on.
I know the only solution I've come up with is to brave the real world and shoot as much video as I can. Hopefully practice in public will improve my people skills. I've been fortunate to get great video footage a few times...when people just forgot I was there. But I'd like to hear how some of you professionals deal with shooting on location in public places. How do you make people comfortable and get natural shots when you are just out and about with your camera (and you don't have a telephoto lens)?
I've taken a break from my more conceptual and surreal short films (see posts below about "The Conversation" series) and have been shooting out on location near where I live for the last few weeks. My inspiration was the "One Day on Earth" project. I love that my new skills as a HDSLR enthusiast has enabled me to highlight the hidden beauty and dynamics of where I live in the Texas Panhandle. I compare it to my own various series in my past fine art work. Throughout graduate school at UCSB in Santa Barbara, CA I concentrated on a surreal and symbolic body of work. At one point, I just needed to take a break from it. So after returning to Texas from Santa Barbara, I decided to do several landscape series at Buffalo Lake and Palo Duro Canyon near Canyon, Texas. Those landscape series seemed like a huge jump for me, but later when I resumed creating my surreal imagery...the skills I gained in working with with color, light and form of the land strengthened my surrealistic pastels.
Shooting on location also makes me "think on my feet" - practice managing my camera, lenses, and gear together and discover my strengths and weaknesses...experience what tools I'm missing and what I need to improve. I love working at home in my studio with miniature props (and will definitely continue to do so), but going out on location literally widens my horizons. As one of my Twitter friends @PolvoPolvo (Glen Ryan from Sydney, Australia) said, "...yeah it's all about learning stuff everytime you shoot."
So here are two of my latest short films - hope you enjoy. My Vimeo channel is http://vimeo.com/vtg .
I'm finding that shooting more out on location is improving my skills, so this is another learning exercise...lots of great subject matter here locally. Don't worry...I intend to continue my conceptual art films! I just have to think faster out on location, and it's good practice for me. Now time to get some good on-board video lights for night shots...another lesson learned!
Shot with a Canon 7D and a Tokina 16-50mm f2.8 lens, and my essential Zacuto Z-Finder Pro 3x. All of this is handheld or supported the camera with a monopod. I used a Singh-Ray Vari ND filter on some of the earlier shots. I pushed it a bit far - some shots had almost no light. Post in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4.
Palo Duro Canyon State Park, near Canyon, Texas. This is the first pure landscape short film I have done - used my wonderful Kessler Crane Pocket Dolly. I've lived near Palo Duro Canyon for most of my 50 years...and it never ceases to be a constant source of nourishment and inspiration. It is the second largest canyon in the US - and quite a surprise as it sits in the middle of the High Plains.
I set out to do this video for One Day on Earth (10-10-10), but my shoot was cut short (battery in my car died) and I didn't have much time to do footage in the way One Day on Earth requires. These shots were hasty, and only at the top of the canyon, but seems like I'm all about making something out of practically nothing - lots of post manipulation helped : ) Anyway, this video reflects part of my life for that day.
Music - Angels of Hope by Roger Subirana Mata Purchased music license from Jamendo.com
Shot with a Canon 7D, Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 lens, and a Tokina 16-50mm f2.8 lens. Edited and color grading in post in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. Also used my Zacuto Z-Finder Pro 3x - saves me every time.
If you are in the Santa Fe area on October 16, come by the Alexandra Stevens Gallery during Historic Canyon Road Day. There will also be artists doing art demonstrations in our gallery and along Canyon Road - live music too! Hope you can make it! Details about History Canyon Road Day are posted below the slideshow of some of my recent pastels at the gallery.
Press release from the Alexandra Stevens Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico:
Historic Canyon Road Day will once again be the third Saturday in October, Oct 16, 10am - 4pm. This years festival will have some special activities that we haven’t seen in years past. As you may remember, this is the day that artists are invited to paint and speak to art lovers along Canyon Road. Whether on the street, in the courtyards or in the galleries, art lovers love watching the process, learning about the creation of art and meeting the artists. The Historic Canyon Road Festival, sponsored by the Santa Fean Magazine is part of the Santa Fe Arts Festival, You can learn more at www.historiccanyonroad.com and www.santafeatsfestival.com. The festival is dedicated to supporting K-12 School Music Programs for Santa Fe Public Schools. During the day, painters and small groups of student musicians along with their teachers will be performing for the delight of all.
At 2pm, at the parking lot across from our gallery Alexandra Stevens Gallery 820 Canyon Road, Santa Fe a live concert will feature 2 professional bands. This will also include a live radio feed on Radio Free Santa Fe, KBAC 98.I encouraging visitors and locals to participate in the festival and see the art on Canyon. I hope you will join us for this delightful event that has grown bigger every year. Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions.
Music - "Silent Tears" by Roger Subirana Mata Purchased music license from Jamendo.com
This is the third video in a series called "The Conversation": The first part of this series is here: "The Conversation" http://vimeo.com/14891218 The second part of this series is here: "The Conversation Part II" http://vimeo.com/15119881
This short surreal film continues the juxtaposition of miniature toy Marx plastic figures - and a Marx vintage 1950's dollhouse. For added lighting, I used a small portable light table. These are dream sequences, and I used multiple characters to suggest a psychological interplay between the figures. As in the other two videos in the series (to date) there is no literal story, only an implied one. To me the magic is taking something ordinary and transform it with the use of light, design, optics, and strange placement...make these characters into more that plastic toys. What they suggest is subject to interpretation - an active process between the image and the viewer.
At this point, I think there will be a few more videos in the series...not sure if I'll combine these videos into one longer film or not.
Shot with a Canon 7D, Tokina 100mm f2.8 macro lens, Kessler Crane Pocket Dolly, edited in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, used Digieffects Aged Film effects for old black and white movie texture effect (plus some post manipulation of value in Premiere Pro). And last but not least, my Zacuto Z-Finder Pro-3x which I find essential with macro shots. I also used Neat Video to remove unwanted artifacts in the dark shots, and then added back more uniform film grain effects with Digieffects "Aged Film."
These are more photographs that I've taken to prepare for another scene in my video "The Conversation Part III" (http://vimeo.com/15499048). I placed the Marx plastic miniature figures on a small portable light table...and got the idea for the "men at the table" from an old black and white WWII movie.
I love my Canon 7D for it's ability to make both stills and video...I like to take photographs first to plan out shots for my videos...get interesting angles, test light, which lens to use - works well.
This video is Part 2 in a series - this is the black and white version. The first part of this series is here: "The Conversation" http://vimeo.com/14891218 The color version of "The Conversation Part II" is here: http://vimeo.com/15150029
Video and Editing by Victoria Taylor-Gore
Music - "Queen of the Wind" by Roger Subirana Mata Purchased music license from Jamendo.com
This is my second video in a series using vintage 1940's - 1950's Marx toy figures and dollhouses. My approach is based on a combination of Surrealist film and Film Noir (as far as lighting and 1940's - 1950's imagery). Like most surreal works, my goal is to imply a story...not to provide a literal narrative. New meanings and interpretations are provided by the viewer - strange juxtapositions of images evoke different stories...
This black and white version is consistent with the first in the series - with a Film Noir look and the symbolism of dark vs light...pushed the blacks to create a more tense emotional effect. I did the color version of this video just because the footage had such rich color, and it's fun to compare the different atmosphere of black and white vs. color.
Shot with a Canon 7D, Tokina 100mm f2.8 macro lens, Kessler Crane Pocket Dolly, edited in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, used Digieffects Aged Film effects for old black and white movie effect (plus some post manipulation of value in Premiere Pro). And last but not least, my Zacuto Z-Finder Pro-3x which I find essential with macro shots.
This video had lots of dark shots that were too "noisy" so I used Neat Video - http://www.neatvideo.com/ - to clean up the unwanted noise and artifacts, and then I used Digieffects Aged Film to add back an overall aged film grain (the way I wanted it!).
This is my new project using vintage 1940's - 1950's Marx toy figures and dollhouses. I'm not sure if this short film is finished...I have more scenes in mind, but may just do some more short films in a series. It just seemed to be enough, and the music has been a great inspiration...Roger Subirana Mata is a wonderful composer, and I love the way the track "The Dark Symphony" changes from optimism to suspense to mystery. My approach is based on a combination of Surrealist film and Film Noir (as far as lighting and 1940's - 1950's imagery). Like most surreal works, my goal is to imply a story...not to provide a literal narrative. New meanings and interpretations are provided by the viewer - strange juxtapositions of images evoke different stories...
Shot with a Canon 7D, Tokina 100mm f2.8 macro lens, Kessler Crane Pocket Dolly, edited in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, used Digieffects Aged Film effects for old black and white movie effect (plus some post maniuplation of value in Premiere Pro). And last but not least, my Zacuto Z-Finder Pro-3x which I find essential with macro shots.
Twitter never fails to be a great source of inspiration.I found out about the Plastic Bullet contest (http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/social/plastic-bullet-ipad/) last week from Philip Bloom's tweets (@PhilipBloom on Twitter) and decided to give it a try - grand prize is an iPad.I've had the Plastic Bullet application on my iPhone for awhile, and it's a great photo application - gives your photos a wonderful old"toy camera" look.
So I got serious this weekend, and shot several hundred photos of some vintage 1950's Marx "Campus Cuties" plastic dolls that I had for another ongoing project with miniature toys and dollhouses.I set up the shots of the dolls with minimal backgrounds...some have a Marx miniature 1950's pinball toy game in them.All of the photos were taken with my Canon 7D, Tokina 100mm f2.8 macro lens, and then were imported into my iPhone to apply Plastic Bullet effects.I played with some simple directional and reflected light, and Plastic Bullets created interesting and unique lighting changes in each one. It's amazing that I only used two of the dolls that I have, but varying the light seemed to change the dolls into different looking characters.
The monochromatic shots seemed to be more evocative. Some exposures work better with Plastic Bullet than others, so I experimented with different settings to enhance the images. As a typically surrealist artist, I really like the element of chance by not being able to control what Plastic Bullet will do to an image - you have to grab an image as you see it because you can't save, manipulate, or reproduce that effect again.See more explanation of Plastic Bullet here - http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/products/all/plastic-bullet/
The Plastic Bullet contest suddenly became less important and the project itself became my priority (the competition for the Plastic Bullet contest is pretty stiff anyway, and I can't decide which one to submit...but who wouldn't like to win an iPad?). What was important was the inspiration I get from things occurring all over the world through Twitter, Facebook, and now Flickr - connecting with other professionals in video, art, and photography - learning from them and finding out about events, new technology, new ways to express myself as an artist. I never would have done this series if I hadn't checked out Twitter the other day - pretty cool.
As far as theme goes, these are part of a larger project using vintage toy miniatures in surreal environments and using composition, placement, and light (and color in other images) to create an implied dialogue.The "Doll Series I" has a fifties film noir look due to the monochromatic and aged frame look created by Plastic Bullet.The only challenge will be to print them...my iPhone 3G output for Plastic Bullet isn't very large, so don't know how I'll handle that other than printing them on a small scale, but larger prints would be more dramatic.If anyone has any suggestions for that, let me know.
As a fine artist working primarily in pastels, my beloved Canon 7D is taking me into unknown territory - video and photography.I try to apply what I know about composition, lighting, color and texture to photography and video.But I'm still playing catch up with the technology of photography and video...it's an incredible learning experience for me.
"The Conversation: New Ongoing Series of Photographs by Victoria Taylor-Gore"
I bought my Canon 7D to make videos.But something is happening.With this magic image maker in my hands...I am falling in love with photography too.
When I watched Vincent Laforet's wonderful three day CreativeLive workshop a few months ago, I realized the importance of planning...storyboarding...how to get a story across. His ideas really impressed me - so much that I created my own template for storyboard sheets.But this pre-planning can be a problem for a surrealist like me - you see, often surrealists only imply a story - provide clues that have to be solved and interpreted by the viewer, and the conclusions are never the same.So I have decided to make surrealist thumbnails - hints of a story with photographs - not necessarily in any logical order, and no apparent end in sight...just the workings of the imagination linked together in a sequence of possibly related images.
Don't ask me what these images mean - I'm not sure.They are intuitive juxtapositions of objects (true surrealist form).Yes, they are characters - plastic toy miniatures, but I'm placing them together with a visual impulse, not a logical one.So the story evolves as I go, and I see things later that I didn't plan.
My own interpretations will differ from yours, and I hope my thoughts don't color your impression.But I see strong commanding male forces contrasting the gentle beauty of the female form.The reclining woman for me is a symbol of the feminine, the earth, the intuitive, mother nature.The strong male characters (WWII generals and presidents Truman and Eisenhower) symbolize the power of the masculine, discipline, order.I try to make symbols of ordinary objects - get beyond the personal and make something small and plastic like a toy evoke greater principles and suggest implied relationships.
Tech notes: Most of these photographs are right out of my Canon 7D (but of course I optimized them for the web).A few photographs have some levels manipulation and cropping, but I tried to create the color and atmosphere with set lighting and camera settings alone.I used a Tokina 100mm f2.8 macro lens...all shots are handheld.The background images are created from a 1950's Marx tin litho dollhouse and images from a flat screen TV (set on the Turner Classic Movies Channel).
This project is not complete - more to explore and I'll be posting additional photographs in this series.As we speak, I am starting a video with these characters and this theme, so check back for the video of "The Conversation."
Planet5D (the best Canon HDSLR information on the planet) published an article on my new video "The Drive" which was a project involving my series of New Summer Pastels. I also did a behind the scenes video for "The Drive" that is posted below. Please read the article here - http://blog.planet5d.com/2010/08/the-drive-pastels-video-and-a-toy-car-art-by-victoria-taylor-gore/ - for my inspiration and techniques involved in making "The Drive." I have also posted "The Drive" again below the behind the scenes video. Thanks to Mitch Aunger and Planet5D for all the generous support! Vicky
Shot with a Canon 7D, Tokina 16-50mm f2.8 lens, Tokina 100mm f2.8 macro lens, edited in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. I also used my wonderful Kessler Crane Pocket Dolly in a very unconventional way - see the for more info. on that :) My Zacuto Z-Finder Pro 3x was an absolute must for close up focusing.
Thanks so much to @PlanetMitch (Mitch Aunger) for the article about this video on the Planet5D blog here - http://blog.planet5d.com/2010/08/the-drive-pastels-video-and-a-toy-car-art-by-victoria-taylor-gore/
I worked on this project through the summer - both the pastel backgrounds (that I'll show in my gallery in Santa Fe) and the video. I'm using my own pastels for the backgrounds for the video and mixing in real objects (like the antique toy car) into the scenes.
The video includes themes that I have often painted before, but making the scenes work for the video gave me new ideas for my work. The style of the paintings are my style...not a style I invented for this project. The best part though is that by using my pastels as part of the film, it has enriched my composition and challenged me to come up with more creative points of view. I love combining both my passions - pastel and video.
Shot with a Canon 7D, Tokina 16-50mm f2.8 lens, Tokina 100mm f2.8 macro lens, and Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 lens. Editing done in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. I also used a Zacuto Z-Finder Pro 3x...a piece of gear that I find essential, especially with the precise focusing needed with close up shots like this. I also used my wonderful Kessler Crane Pocket Dolly in a very unconventional way - see the BTS video - http://vimeo.com/13781262 - for more info. on that :)
I worked on this project through the summer - both the pastel backgrounds (that I'll show in my gallery in Santa Fe) and the video. I'm using my own pastels for the backgrounds for the video and mixing in real objects (like the antique toy car) into the scenes.
The video includes themes that I have often painted before, but making the scenes work for the video gave me new ideas for my work. The style of the paintings are my style...not a style I invented for this project. The best part though is that by using my pastels as part of the film, it has enriched my composition and challenged me to come up with more creative points of view. I love combining both my passions - pastel and video.
Shot with a Canon 7D, Tokina 16-50mm f2.8 lens, Tokina 100mm f2.8 macro lens, and Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 lens. Editing done in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. I also used a Zacuto Z-Finder Pro 3x...a piece of gear that I find essential, especially with the precise focusing needed with close up shots like this.
"Carnival" by Victoria Taylor-Gore (featuring song "Balloon Girl" by Hungry Lucy from Victoria Taylor-Gore on Vimeo.
Video and editing - Victoria Taylor-Gore http://www.victoriataylorgore.com
Music - "Balloon Girl" by Hungry Lucy Purchased music license from http://www.jamendo.com/en/
Cast - Meredith Dunn
This is a video I did during a photography shoot of Meredith Dunn at a local amusement park. A still from this video was included in the "15 & One: Fifteen Photographers and One Model" group photography show at Artgecko Gallery in Amarillo, Texas in July, 2010. Artgecko Gallery - http://www.artgecko.com/. I'm not a professional photographer (I'm a fine artist with a passion for video), so I appreciate being included in the show...it was a great learning experience for me!
Shot with a Canon 7D, Tokina 16-50mm f2.8 lens. Edited in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, with "Aged Film" effects from Digieffects (for the grainy texture), and filters from Photoshop Extended CS4 (added the surface blur and watercolor filters) to give the video a soft, textural, and dreamy/aged film effect. I also used my Zacuto Z-Finder Pro 3x, and it really helped me keep clear focus on the model.
This was my first video shoot with a model, and thanks to model Meredith Dunn for her professional and expressive performance and cooperation :)
Video, Art, and Editing by Victoria Taylor-Gore http://www.victoriataylorgore.com http://www.anartjournal.com (blog)
Music "Day After Day" by Pawel Blaszczak Music license purchased from http://www.shockwave-Sound.com
This is a preview for a long project I am doing this summer. I'm using my own pastels for the backgrounds for the video, and mixing in real objects (like the antique toy car) into the scenes. Check back in a few weeks for the final video.
"The Wandering Stars" by Victoria Taylor-Gore (Tribute to Georges Méliès) from Victoria Taylor-Gore on Vimeo.
"The Wandering Stars" - is my own remix of "L'éclipse du soleil en pleine lune" by Georges Méliès. Méliès added magic to filmmaking, so this is my tribute to his surreal imagery. He is regarded as "The Father of Special Effects," and Charlie Chaplin said he was "the alchemist of light."
...more about Méliès here: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0617588/bio
Video and Editing by Victoria Taylor-Gore http://www.victoriataylorgore.com
Extracts from "L'éclipse du soleil en pleine lune" by Georges Méliès (1907) - from the Prelinger Archive (public domain): http://www.archive.org/details/L_Eclipse_Du_Soleil_En_Pleine_Lune
Music - "Hippy Trippy" by Gavin Courtie & Liz Radford Music license purchased from http://www.shockwave-sound.com/
This is a video about how I do a pastel - a pastel filmed from start to finish. I've always called pastels "magic colored dust," and they proved to be a colorful subject. Recently I read a quote by the late Louise Bourgeois (rest in peace) that inspired my approach to this film, "I am not what I am, I am what I do with my hands..."
Filmed with a Canon 7D, Tokina 16-50mm f2.8 lens, and a Tokina 100mm macro f2.8 lens - love these lenses. Edited (with no color correction, only some adjustment to the levels) in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4.
Just a short experimental piece about the sketches I do that Just a short experimental piece about the sketches I do that usually serve as thumbnails for larger pastels...but there is something special about the small sketch in its own right. I plan to do more videos about my own artwork, and this was a test to see how I can manage it on my own. It's a challenge to be both in front and behind the camera without it coming off a bit boring :) Next will be a video of my pastel process...but I'm not eager to have my camera around all that pastel dust!
Filmed with a Canon 7D, Tokina 100mm f2.8 lens, edited and color graded in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4.
Video and Editing by Victoria Taylor-Gore http://www.victoriataylorgore.com
Music - "Lost City" by Adam Skorupa Purchased music license from http://www.shockwave-sound.com/track_search.php
I shot the footage of the bird with a Canon 7D (no image stabilization, handheld), a Tokina 100mm f2.8 lens, and editing done in Adobe After Effects CS4 and Premiere Pro CS4.
Other images were collaged over the bird footage to create a mysterious atmosphere...lots of experimentation with color and other effects in AE and Premiere.
The story of the beautiful bird in the video (think it was a Cedar Waxwing) - One sunny and windy afternoon I found it on the ground in my backyard and tried to "rescue" it - although I'm not quite sure what I would have done - take it to a vet or something. But it was wild, and that probably wouldn't have worked. At any rate, I had to try to move it since my dogs would have gotten it. When I approached the bird, it had the energy to fly to a nearby tree and it sat there on a branch for a few hours, so I was able to get some footage of it. In the early evening I went back thinking that if it was still there, the light would be perfect to get some more shots of it. By then the bird was gone, and I was relieved that hopefully it had taken off and was OK. But I found it a couple of days later, lifeless in the front yard...so the bird was in its final day/days when I took the footage of it. I buried the bird, and somehow making this video of it made me feel a close connection to it. This little bird had become a living part of my work...makes the video quite bittersweet for me - just emphasizes the fragility of life.
This video consists of sections of several pastels that I have done in the past. Using Photoshop, I have isolated different areas of a few pastels and then imported the flat 2D "sets" into After Effects CS4 and put them on 3D layers so that the viewer can visually travel through the drawings. Final editing was in Premiere Pro CS4.
My pastels are usually simplified landscapes and architectural spaces with exaggerated perspective, and the 3D layer manipulation of my work in After Effects (with its inherent warping and distortion of form) plays well into my artistic style.
The slideshow below was made with PhotoSnack (http://www.photosnack.com) - a very easy and professional way to present your images on a website, blog, or other social websites.
The Suitcase (sketch) by Victoria Taylor-Gore This is an ink sketch for my pastel titled "The Suitcase" - see pastel below. You can see how things change from idea to completion...adjustments in shapes and arrangement are made for the larger scale as well as the modification of value and color relationships.
Red Shoe by Victoria Taylor-Gore"Red Shoe" and "The Suitcase" are new pastels in my new black and white (with a touch of color) Route 66 series...more to come in the next month. These pastels are highly influenced by classic film noir, with a bit of my own imagination and symbolism thrown in...
Red Walls by Victoria Taylor-Gore "Red Walls " is another pastel that I just did for my upcoming two-person show with Phil Epp in Santa Fe at the Alexandra Stevens Gallery in July. Show information: July 2009- Phil Epp and Victoria Taylor-Gore.
These artists will be featured during the Month of July, with an Artist Reception July 10th from 5:30 to 7:30. For purchase information see Alexandra Stevens Gallery in Santa Fe (www.alexandrastevens.com).
Little Temple by Victoria Taylor-Gore "Little Temple " is another pastel that I just did for my upcoming two-person show with Phil Epp in Santa Fe at the Alexandra Stevens Gallery in July. Show information: July 2009- Phil Epp and Victoria Taylor-Gore.
These artists will be featured during the Month of July, with an Artist Reception July 10th from 5:30 to 7:30. For purchase information see Alexandra Stevens Gallery in Santa Fe (www.alexandrastevens.com).
Through the Window by Victoria Taylor-Gore "Through the Window " is another pastel that I just did for my upcoming two-person show with Phil Epp Santa Fe at the Alexandra Stevens Gallery in July. This exterior is a bird's eye view of a house with a chair that is positioned to look through the front window of the house...an "outside looking in" theme. The perspective is exaggerated to enhance the emotional impact of the structures and make them come to life. Show information: July 2009- Phil Epp and Victoria Taylor-Gore.
These artists will be featured during the Month of July, with an Artist Reception July 10th from 5:30 to 7:30. For purchase information see Alexandra Stevens Gallery in Santa Fe (www.alexandrastevens.com).
Fire Behind the Door by Victoria Taylor-Gore "Fire Behind the Door " is another pastel that I just did for my upcoming two-person show with Phil Epp Santa Fe at the Alexandra Stevens Gallery in July. In this interior, I an exploring three dividions of space. The left side is a shadowed section of the room with a window that frames a distant temple on the hill outside. The center section of the room is illuminated by the light streaming in from the door. The right section is again a darker corner of the room with a fire that glows in contrast to the dark. Show information: July 2009- Phil Epp and Victoria Taylor-Gore.
These artists will be featured during the Month of July, with an Artist Reception July 10th from 5:30 to 7:30. For purchase information see Alexandra Stevens Gallery in Santa Fe (www.alexandrastevens.com).
Afternoon Light by Victoria Taylor-Gore "Afternoon Light " is another pastel that I just did for my upcoming two-person show with Phil Epp Santa Fe at the Alexandra Stevens Gallery in July. In this pastel, In this pastel, the late afternoon light glows into the dark room with a fire in the corner fireplace. The landscape above the bed reflects the afternoon light as well. Show information: July 2009- Phil Epp and Victoria Taylor-Gore.
These artists will be featured during the Month of July, with an Artist Reception July 10th from 5:30 to 7:30. For purchase information see Alexandra Stevens Gallery in Santa Fe (www.alexandrastevens.com).
Two Doors by Victoria Taylor-Gore "Two Doors" is a pastel that I just did for my upcoming two-person show with Phillip Epp Santa Fe at the Alexandra Stevens Gallery in July. Inside and outside...light coming in and light going out. There is a little more distance in the view out the window than I usually have achieved in previous interiors. The room is dark for contrast to the late evening glow from the outer landscape. And of course, there is a painting of my little boat in the room...always ready for a journey, but not quite. For purchase information see Alexandra Stevens Gallery in Santa Fe (www.alexandrastevens.com).
Red House by Victoria Taylor-Gore These are new spring pastels that I have done recently. "Red House" is a large pastel reminscent of the "Passages" series, but with color...I'm just in the mood for color! This summer Iwill be having a show at the Alexandra Stevens Gallery in Santa Fe in July with Phillip Epp, so check back for more details, images, and show dates.
Around the Hill by Victoria Taylor-Gore "Around the Hill" is a pastel that I did for my Christmas 2008 show in Santa Fe. I was interested in the road curving around the hill - some dynamic movement. The land has warm and cool greens and warm red shadows. The chair is there to invite the viewer to sit down and enjoy the view...for purchase information see Alexandra Stevens Gallery in Santa Fe (www.alexandrastevens.com).
Second Passage by Victoria Taylor-Gore "Second Passage" is a pastel that I did for my Christmas 2008 show in Santa Fe. This pastel is based on an earlier piece from my "Passages" series - I enjoy the constrast of the grey neutral color with a bit of rich color in certain areas for emphasis. This series is about the journey of life, symbolized by the passage of the small boat...for purchase information see Alexandra Stevens Gallery in Santa Fe (www.alexandrastevens.com).
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