stella kalaw :: photographs

Neil Gaiman: Make Good Art Commencement Speech

Stella — Mon, 20 May 2013 02:14:24 +0000

I love listening to good commencement speeches. They inspire me and it nudges me to keep going with my photography. This afternoon, a friend posted this on her Facebook feed. It is by Neil Gaiman who was the Keynote speaker at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA last year. The entire speech is phenomenal. The particular quote below begins at the 9:40 mark.

And remember that whatever discipline you are in, whether you are a musician or a photographer, a fine artist or a cartoonist, a writer, a dancer, a designer, whatever you do you have one thing that's unique. You have the ability to make art.

And for me, and for so many of the people I have known, that's been a lifesaver. The ultimate lifesaver. It gets you through good times and it gets you through the other ones.

Life is sometimes hard. Things go wrong, in life and in love and in business and in friendship and in health and in all the other ways that life can go wrong. And when things get tough, this is what you should do.

Make good art.

I'm serious. Husband runs off with a politician? Make good art. Leg crushed and then eaten by mutated boa constrictor? Make good art. IRS on your trail? Make good art. Cat exploded? Make good art. Somebody on the Internet thinks what you do is stupid or evil or it's all been done before? Make good art. Probably things will work out somehow, and eventually time will take the sting away, but that doesn't matter. Do what only you do best. Make good art.

Make it on the good days too.

Wandering 165

Stella — Sun, 12 May 2013 16:00:25 +0000

On Saturday morning, my friend Erika and I hiked the Land's End Trail for my birthday. On our way back to the trail head, we saw these kids peering through their binoculars at a hawk (or was it an eagle? I couldn't decipher) perched on a tree.

Bird Watching at Land's End Trail. San Francisco, CA/©Stella Kalaw

Wandering 164

Stella — Sun, 05 May 2013 15:35:32 +0000

I tagged along with Sean and JZ when they took their kids to the Santa Barbara Fair and Expo last week. It was packed with people and so rich with colorful details. We got there just as the sun was at the perfect angle. I kept thinking of my cousin Paco who would've loved to shoot at this place with his Leica. I wondered why we never thought of coming here to photograph when we were in school? I'll probably check out some state fairs up here in the Bay Area and explore this culture.

Santa Barbara Fair and Expo. Santa Barbara, CA/©Stella Kalaw

Landscape Study 41

Stella — Sat, 04 May 2013 15:50:46 +0000

I lived in Santa Barbara for four years and never once explored the outdoors. I was too focused on school and wasn't in the space of appreciating nature. When I visited my good friend JZ this past weekend, she suggested that we do a morning hike and she took me to Romero Canyon Trail. What a beautiful hike it was especially through the oak trees that lined the creek side. Early morning fog shrouded the trail and the light was incredibly soft and delicate.

Romero Canyon Trail. Santa Barbara, CA/©Stella Kalaw

Thank You to Collect.Give Supporters

Stella — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:32:14 +0000

I've been meaning to share this thank you letter from the Guidance Center in Somerville, MA where $1,000 dollars was donated to them with the generous help of Collect.Give supporters. It is my niece's 13th birthday today and I thought this would be a good occasion to post it.

To my Filipino family, friends and supporters, Maraming Salamat po!

Collect.Give: After the Birthday party print

Jason Eskenazi: Wonderland

Stella — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 20:48:34 +0000

Jason Eskenazi's Wonderland: A Fairy Tale of the Soviet Monolith reads and feels like a novel. At five by seven inches in size, the book is easy to retrieve from the bookshelf and it doesn't take up an entire night stand. The editing of this book is very tight. Each photograph was carefully chosen to connect to the next one. Every black and white image is rich with details, carries emotional pull and Mr. Ezkenazi's eye for composition is exquisite. Because of this, my experience with Wonderland differs every time I pick it up. That's what I love about it. When I look at them again, I often find details that I didn't notice before. Wonderland gets better with age and I choose it whenever I need a dose of inspiration. I am looking forward to Jason's new book The Black Garden which received crowdsourced funding last year via kickstarter.com. He is currently doing an artist in residence program at Lightwork in Syracuse, NY.

Here's a description of the book in Jason's words:

The USSR was not only a vast closed territory with extensive geographical boundaries that stretched from Europe through Asia but is also a huge well of memory or dis-memory - a utopian vision that became a dystopian nightmare lasting nearly a century. The story of Communism is the story of the 20th century. For many, the Soviet Union existed, like their childhood, as a fairy tale where many of the realities of life were hidden from plain view. When the Berlin Wall finally fell so too did the illusion of that utopia. But time changes memory. The ex-Soviets confused the memory of their innocent youth for their nation's utopian vision, unable to confront its history and thus creating nostalgia for tragedy. This book tries to seek and portray the socialist dream, the nightmare of the USSR beneath the veneer and the reality that emerged after the fall. And like all fairy tales try to teach us: the hard lessons of self-reliance.

Portraits 12

Stella — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 16:50:00 +0000

I saw this gentleman emerge from the garage last Wednesday. He was heading back from his break to the diner around the corner. He crossed the fluorescent light and I instantly thought the scene would make a great portrait. I said hello and asked if I could take his picture. He gladly obliged. I was quite surprised. Sometimes it just takes confidence to ask.

Wandering 163

Stella — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:48:00 +0000

Wandering 162

Stella — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:25:46 +0000

Wandering Series Featured on Fraction Magazine Issue 48

Stella — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 04:47:40 +0000

A big thank you to David Bram for featuring the Wandering Series on Issue 48 of Fraction Magazine. I am also humbled to be in the company of Richard Bram, Polly Braden and Eric Kim. To be quite honest, I didn't expect this at all. I've been quietly doing street photography for several years and sharing them here on my blog and a few on Flickr. When I heard back from David, I was very surprised. Thank you for seeing the potential in this body of work.

Editor's Note:

I've been a fan of street photography for quite sometime, and I've had a desire to do a Street issue for as many years. But I have to be honest, this issue nearly killed me.

Let me explain.

Finding two male photographers who had solid street projects was not the problem. There are plenty of male street photographers out there in the world, and I am thrilled to show you the work of Richard Bram (no relation) and Eric Kim (cousins). But finding two female street photographers proved to be a bit of a task. I had to resort to posting to the Fraction facebook page, begging for help. Why is this?

Luckily, through the use of social media, I was able to find two, fantastic female photographers who are doing terrific photographic street work. I am very excited and pleased to show you the work of Stella Kalaw and Polly Braden.

Creating this issue has led me to think a lot about the nature of project themes and how men and women may be drawn to photograph different things. I would love to further this discussion on the Fraction Facebook page.

I hope you enjoy this issue.

-- David Bram, Editor-in-Chief