Yer City's A Sucker Photo Challenge

YER CITY'S A SUCKER PHOTO CHALLENGE

Let me explain.

THE GOAL: Spark a network of photographers, young and old, rookies and veterans, amateurs and professionals, to go outside, experience the joy of their favorite places, document their experiences photographically, and state their case (via photographs) for the "greatest place in the world."  Get out there, take pictures, and show off the amazing places all across the country and all across the globe.  Then argue about it with others by challenging their photos with photos of your own.  Obviously, I think Kansas City is the greatest place in the world, but that's where the challenge comes in.  Prove me wrong.  Join in with photographers from all across the nation (maybe even the globe).

HOW THE CHALLENGE WORKS:

1.  I am kicking this off by posting the above picture of The Scout Monument in Kansas City's Penn Valley Park.  

2.  In order to challenge my picture, the challenger must comment on my blog post.

3.  In your comment, talk a little trash (no vulgar language please) and give a link (or just type the URL) to your blog where you have posted a photograph to challenge mine.

4.  Your post as a challenger must include these things: 

• a) a photo, taken by you (not by someone else) of a place you really like, the photo can be one that you took a long time ago, as long as it was you who took the picture
  
• b) the name, location, and/or brief description of the place in the photo 
  
• c) a link back to The Bait Shop (this blog and I explain why this is important below) 
  
• d) a link to the post which you are challenging (I'll explain this further as well) 
  
• e) something in your post that says this picture is part of the "Yer City's A Sucker Photo Challenge"
  

5. Post a picture on your blog that is captures an even greater place than the photo you are challenging.

6. Then other people can challenge the challengers and so on and so on until people all over the country are heading outside to take pictures (or resurrecting old pictures) of their favorite places and challenging each other.  

*Quick Note: Once this thing gets going, there will hopefully be a lot of people on a lot of different blogs posting photos of their favorite places.  Thus, eventually the photos you will be challenging will be on other blogs, maybe even taken by people you've never met

NOTABLE PARTICIPANTS

To kick this thing off, I'm sending emails to three photographers I know and one photography class.  They are as follows:

Cassie Edmondson: photography teacher at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.  She started a cool photo blog with her class.  She's way cooler than me and has a knack for wearing things 6 months before other people.  I guess you call that a trend setter. 

Allison V. Smith: a Dallas-based, freelance photographer.  She's my favorite photographer of all time and is super trill.  Here's her blog and her website and buy her zine.

Bobby Neptune: a friend of mine from the University of Arkansas.  He's got big plans for using photography to serve people across the globe.  Check out his gallery and his organization, Echolite Media.

Booker T. Washington Photography Class: they're running a pretty trill blog.  Plus, my hope is that this challenge will be a fun way to kick off their school year.

USE FLICKR IF YOU DON'T HAVE A BLOG

What if I don't have a blog?

1. Post on Flickr and in the description of the photo put all the information that you would be putting in a blog post (see above).  In your challenge, just put a link to your Flickr photostream.

2. On Flickr, I've created a Group Photo Pool here.  Add your photos to the pool.  While your at it, become one of my contacts on Flickr.  Here's my page.  I've already added to photo above to the group pool on Flickr.

WHY DO YOU HAVE TO PUT A LINK ON MY POST BACK TO THIS BLOG?

1. No it's not an shameless attempt at self-promotion.  My goal is to promote Booker T., Allison Smith, and Bobby Neptune.  The more people who read the post, the more people who will check out their work.

2. This is the only place where "the rules" for the challenge are consolidated.  It helps people have an idea of what is going on.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

1. TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS.  The more people we get involved, the more fun it will be to look at other people's pictures, to have our own pictures looked at, and to challenge one another.  Maybe you could even mention it in your status on Facebook.

2. POST LOTS OF PICTURES.  Post pictures from lots of places.  You don't have to choose just one.  And look at other people's pictures.

3. Direct people back to this blog post so they know what is going on.

4. Be creative.  Have fun.  There really are no rules.

5. Rep your city as hard as you can.  You'd better believe I'll be repping KC harder than anyone.

So that's it.  Make a case for your favorite place using your camera.  You don't even have to have fancy cameras.  All I have is a cheap Holga and a point-and-shoot Canon PowerShot.

- Joel

The Walkmen

Here's a video for a track off of The Walkmen's new album. The song is called "In the New Year." I'm not a big fan of the video but I love the song. The new album is one of my favorites this year.

- Joel

P.S. Daniel is telling me the future is pants rolled to the ankles with no socks. Interesting.

Allison V. Smith

Allison V. Smith is officially my favorite photographer. I know I have already mentioned her a few times on here recently, but I will mention her again. I just bought her photo zine, full of pictures taken with her Lomo. As a extremely raw photographer just learning how to point and shoot, I've been taking lots of pictures on film with my Holga. Smith's Lomo and my Holga are similar cameras. If you're interested, you can purchase her limited edition photo zine from her blog here. The picture above is from the zine.

Allison is from Dallas and is actually going to help out at an event we're having at work next week. I think the reason I love her photography is because she makes it seem so simple to take beautiful pictures. Trust me, it's not very simple. I've learned that quickly. But there's something in her photography that makes you think, "I want to go out and try that."

- Joel

Matt & Nat

I got back from Las Vegas for Project early this morning and am spending the day trying to make up the time lost during the flight. Project always gives me a new excitement about what's going on in contemporary men's fashion, but that's a totally different post.

I've been itching for a new bag recently but have had a difficult time finding one. A lot of factors have to be taken into account when a man is buying a bag:
1. Price- I could find a thousand bags I love, but would have to pay an equally large amount of money.
2. Style- Classic is the way to go with touches of modern design. Nothing too business looking either.
3. Masculinity- I want a bag for work, not a purse.
4. Adulthood- I'm not delivering messages and I don't like having a strap across my body especially when wearing a suit jacket, so it's a no for messenger bags.

But all things considered I found a great bag, The Kahn by Matt & Nat for their fall 2008 men's line. Matt & Nat bags are Vegan (so no leather, everything is PVC including the lining), but have an amazing leather look and feel, the lining is softer than suede. The bag retails for $285 so I didn't have to sell my car to buy it and it is a great finishing touch for an outfit dressy or casual.

Until we next meet,

dc

Back like U.S.A. Basketball

I write this post as I stay up waiting for the Gold Medal basketball game between Spain and our United States of America.  Tip-off is set for 1:30am which means I still have another hour to go.  Chances are I won't be making it to church tomorrow (thus the picture above which I took tonight in downtown Dallas).  What better way to kill some time before the official resurrection of our nation's basketball team by the Redeem Team than post on the blog.  Here are a few thoughts:

1.  It's nice to see Daniel rejoining the blog.  It was getting lonely without him.  

2.  Daniel and I decided that "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis can officially be crowned Song of the Year.  It just doesn't get old.  Since I got my new MacBook, it has held the top spot on my iTunes' Top 25 Songs Played.

3. The new Walkmen album is really really good.  When I bought Bows + Arrows back in 2004, I didn't like it for a long time.  It took me awhile to get used to Hamilton Leithauser's voice, so I can understand the hesitation from first time Walkmen listeners.  However, I absolutely love their new album You & Me.  It's a bit more subdued than previous albums but not to its detriment.  Definitely worth checking out.

4.  I've been reading a book called Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris.  Sedaris is hilarious.  I love the way he pulls humor out of otherwise mundane circumstances.  You get the idea that everyone he spends time with has one or more eccentric personality traits, but I think he just has the knack for finding eccentricity in everyday life.  From what I hear, everything by David Sedaris is great.

- Joel

P.S.  Get ready for the Tender Culture Project.  More details later.

Back like Jordan wearing the 45 (And a Ksubi leather jacket that I love)

I've been absent lately but I'm back. Here's what I've been doing lately:
1. Working
2. Being married
3. Working

The end.

It took something great to resurrect my blogging life, and something great I received. I know I was going to finally get a leather jacket this fall, the past two years I haven't and regretted it. I began saving and searching, but it found me.

Last month I was looking through GQ and saw it, a shrunken leather jacket by Ksubi (formerly known as Tsubi). Since we carry Ksubi I special ordered it through our Ksubi rep and yesterday I got it.

Unbelievable! It's fitted, soft, and thin. Amazing and perfect! I love it! I'm using a lot of exclamation points!

Check out Ksubi online, their an Australian clothing brand that is quirky to say the least. They became prominent a few years ago for making great skinny denim.

In the mean time I'm rocking my leather jacket in 80 degree weather.

dc

Holga Pictures

I got my first roll of film back today. I tried to scan some of the decent shots here at work, but most of them are coming through too fuzzy. I'll have to figure out a different plan. Here are two pictures that were decent and also scanned well.


By the way, Daniel told me about a great website today: http://www.thecoolhunter.net/ . Check it out. I've also added it to our links on the side.


- Joel

Photo Excursion

Today I went on a mini photo excursion with my friend Cassie. We went to the Dallas Arboretum and to an antique store in Plano. Here are a few pictures.

- Joel

Happenings Lately

I got a new camera today - actually two new cameras. One is digital - a Canon PowerShot SX100IS - and the other a Holga. I have yet to learn how to load the film in the Holga, but I did go take a few pictures this evening after work. I'm putting a few up here on the blog to document my progress as I learn how to use my camera and learn about photography in general. These certainly are nothing spectacular.

In other news, here are the books (and short stories) I've read lately as well as the music I've bought.

Books:
Death By A Meeting by Patrick Lencioni - great leadership book on how to approach and facilitate meetings
Short Stories by Flannery O'Connor - I've read Good Country People, A Good Man Is Hard to Find, Geranium, and Everything That Rises Must Converge

Music:
Something For All of Us by Broken Social Scene Presents Brendan Canning
Hercules and Love Affair by Hercules and Love Affair
Re-Up Gang by Clipse Presents Re-Up Gang

Also, I've been addicted to the band Spoon lately. Each of their last three albums (Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Gimme Fiction, and Kill The Moonlight) are all worth listening to.

- Joel

Holga

I just bought a Holga 120CFN camera. Now that digital photography is the industry standard, photos captured on film are increasingly nostalgic. To me, the Holga's appeal is rebellion against the industry. It's a return to simplicity, when the world didn't move quite so fast and our lives weren't dictated by 1's and 0's. This is the essence of a photographic movement called lomography. Lomography is a rejection of traditional rules of photography. It emphasizes capturing life in the moment and a photographic freedom unhindered by common notions of aesthetics. Lomography is perfect for someone just learning to work a camera (that's me), because it embraces beauty found in spontaneity and trial and error. Here are the 10 Golden Rules of Lomography as set out by the Lomographic Society (http://www.lomography.com/):

1. Take your camera everywhere you go.

2. Use it any time - day and night.

3. Lomography is not an interference in your life, but part of it.

4. Try the shot from the hip.

5. Approach the objects of your lomographic desire as close as possible.

6. Don't think.

7. Be fast.

8. You don't have to know beforehand what you captured on film.

9. Afterwards either.

10. Don't worry about any rules.

You could say that lomography is a rediscovery of the joy of photography. It's finding fulfillment in the experience of taking pictures by freeing yourself from the outcome/idea of the perfect shot. Below are some pictures taken on a Holga. We'll see if mine turn out as well.

- Joel

Whose Flow is Ferocious: Jerry, George, Elaine or Kramer?

Hipsters, ganstas, nerds, and late-afternoon TBS watchers can finally put down their weapons of cultural warfare and be at peace under the banner of one well-made mixtape. Wale (pronounced wah-lay) recently dropped his Mixtape About Nothing, borrowing from Seinfeld's concept of "a show about nothing." Fittingly, the mixtape begins with the signature bass notes we all identify with Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer. It also includes memorable clips from the show scattered throughout as well as a guest "appearance" by Julia Louis-Dreyfus (the real-life Elaine). Her stint is not-so-made-for-TV as she drops an F-bomb. Though the concept is loosely dedicated to Wale's love for Seinfeld, the mixtape is heavy and substantive and amounts to much more than "nothing." Pitchfork's Jayson Greene says, "His 'mixtape about nothing' is really a mixtape about almost everything, and with it Wale has produced one of the year's most improbable and inspiring successes." I agree. Wale tackles a broad range of issues far beyond the scope of drugs, sex, and violence with a grounded objectivity rarely found in the rap game today. Though Wale has been tagged the next Lupe Fiasco, I find him to be much less "preachy" and hyperbolic than Lupe. He spits his lines with much more reason, as if he chooses to interact with everyday people over stepping onto the soapbox.

How much will you have to pay for a Mixtape About Nothing? Nothing, of course. It can be downloaded for free here. Enjoy.

- Joel

Wale's MySpace page

Ben Rector

My friend Ben Rector is staying with me here in Dallas right now.  He's a musician and he's recording his next album.  This post, however, is about his current album, which can finally be purchased on iTunes.  It took nearly a year from it's original release date, but Twenty Tomorrow, Ben's debut album, is finally available on iTunes.  Here is one of the many reasons to purchase this album; Ben is probably going to be relatively well known in the years to come.  You'll want to be able to say, "I bought Ben's first record before anyone really knew about him."  You can have that on all of your friends for the rest of your life.  Maybe you're a little hesitant to buy the entire album.  That's fine.  Just get the song "Disarm."  Once you listen to that song, it will make you want to buy the whole thing.  Check it out.  If nothing else, your purchase will be helping an emerging musician.  Plus, he's really cool and he's my friend.

- Joel

Ben Rector MySpace

Pitchfork Music Festival '08

Pitchfork Media (www.pitchforkmedia.com) has begun to hold an annual indie hipster mega-music fest every summer in Chicago.  If you like indie music, you would most likely enjoy the festival - that is, if you can stand being surrounded by lots of skinny, and most likely smelly, swaying in the heat of July.  Here are a few performance from this year's festival.  Check out pitchfork.tv for even more performances.

- Joel

Fleet Foxes - "English House"

Dodos - "Fools"

Gnarls Barkley

I've never been a huge Gnarls Barkley fan.  Outside of "Crazy," I couldn't name you one of their songs.  It's not that I dislike their music, I just have never really listened to much of it.  They made a pretty strange video for their song "Who's Gonna Save My Soul?".  The song isn't bad either.  Check it out.

- Joel

KiD CuDi

A fresh mixtape dropped last week.  KiD CuDi is a rapper from Cleveland and the tape is called A KiD Named CuDi.  This mixtape has a fresh sound.  A lot of the beats I would classify as "galactic."  Lots of low-key synths with understated bass hitting in the background.  It's worth checking out, especially since you can download it for free from KiD CuDi's blog (link below).  I haven't quite made it through the entire mixtape yet, but the highlight for me is "Cleveland Is The Reason."  I also really like "Is There Any Love?" and "Day N Night" (the first single available on iTunes).  Also, CuDi raps over Band of Horses "Funeral" on the track "The Prayer."  I don't know if he'll blow up on the radio, but CuDi is bound to be an underground sensation.

- Joel

KiD CuDi's blog - download the mixtape here

Cleveland Is The Reason (via YouTube)

Childhood Pictures

The picture above was taken by Julia Fullerton-Batten, a German photographer.  The picture below is by Rarinda Prakarsa.  Both pictures make a unique statement about childhood.

By the way, I've been reading a lot over the past month.  Here are the last three books from my reading list:

Stalefish: Skateboard Culture from the Rejects Who Made It - Sean Mortimer

The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton

The Shack - William P. Young

- Joel

Fly Golden Eagle

What do you get when you combine a golden one-piece from China, spray-painted angel's wings, and electronic beats?  Fun new dance music.  This kid in the picture above, a student at Belmont University makes pretty fly music under the moniker Fly Golden Eagle.  The song "Orangitango" could be a club banger in my opinion.  Put it on really loud with everyone semi-inebriated and it could blow up.  But it needs no assistance from alcohol to be a fun song.  I also love "Shiny Golden Pinky Ring."  Check out Fly Golden Eagle's myspace below.  If you like what you hear, buy the album, State of the Industry, on iTunes.  

- Joel

Fly Golden Eagle Myspace

R-E-U-P-G-A-N-G

One more from the ReUp Gang.  Here's a new video from their upcoming album Clipse Presents ReUp Gang.  Pusha's Playcloths shirt is hot.  Honestly, the beat is not up to Hell Hath No Fury par, but I'm guessing they'll save most of the best beats for the pure Clipse album (without Liva and Sandman) coming out later this year.  The ReUp album drops August 5.

- Joel

Arrow

I really like the picture above. It was taken by Allison V. Smith. In my opinion, it would work well as an album cover. Below are two other pictures from Allison Smith. You can find more like these on her blog: superficialsnapshots.blogspot.com.


- Joel

Todd Hido

The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City has a few photographs from Todd Hido in its permanent collection. Hido, a native of Ohio, takes some very eerie pictures of homes at night. I also love his landscape photography. Below are the two photographs on display at the Kemper Museum. Also, check out his website (link below) for great photography. If you do go to his website, you may want to steer clear of the "Portraits" section, however. Many of the photos in that section contain strange, naked women. Still, Hido's website is worth browsing, because the "Homes at Night" and "Landscapes" sections are amazing. Check out his exhibition Roaming at the Stephen Wirtz Gallery in San Francisco here.

- Joel

http://www.toddhido.com/

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