Morning Jolt – Coffee at Meshuggah Cafe – St. Louis Loop

Magner’s at Meshuggah

Meshuggah Flowers

Matt’s Lomo Effect

We live in amazing times. The difference between the pictures below is the result of applying only one effect which I downloaded from the Internet which was created for my Lightroom photoediting program. In fact, I too could come up with a series of adjustments and then export them as a “preset” and put it on the Internet and share it with other folks.

The effect that Matt has created here, very successfully I should add, is a special one, though. Matt has intimitated some of the effects one may get from using a Lomo camera. These cheap cameras, made in the former Soviet Union, were somewhat unreliable, but also could produce images with high contrast, intense color saturation, cool vignetting and accidental blurring from time to time. My friend, Jeremy Huggins, created some beautiful images with his Lomo. The only one I can find online currently, though, is his entry into my last photo contest (#7 here).

I am not sure how much I will use this effect, and I will likely tinker with it when I do, but I find lomo-style images very appealing.

The Sun Sets on “Nature is Never Spent”

Well, this evening, with a few simple snips of fishing filament, I will be taking down “Nature is Never Spent” from Meshuggah.

Thank you to all who visited. Even though I did not visit Meshuggah much during the month it was up as a customer, it was very nice to know as I drove by or contemplated friends sitting there that the exhibit was up around them.

Oh, and if you bought a picture, it should be yours in a very short amount of time. Thank you.

THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

Nine out of 18…

…fifty percent, is not bad at all for the number of pictures sold in my current photo show. However, I would be happy to sell some more before (or after) the show comes down next Wednesday. Many thanks to everyone who has visited the exhibit either virtually or online. Oh, and if you mention it, this discount still applies.

Still available (in most-to-absolutely-least-surprising order)
Rust
Dearest Freshness, Deep Down Things
Archetype
Sunflowers for Vincent
Ichabod
Maple Seed Still Life
Pull Tab, 2005
Fallen
Shine

Final Days! Great Savings!

Well, my exhibit at Meshuggah will only be up for a week or so more, so if you were interested in seeing it hanging, now would be the time to go.

I have been very pleased at the number of sales as of this writing. Yet, even though I have just moved into a new flat and have wall space for many of these (indeed, I have already thought about specific places for some of them), I would be far more interested in finding these pieces good homes other than my own.

To that end, for this final week, please feel free to take $5 off the price of any one piece in the show and $15 off if you buy a pair , but you must mention this blog post. (I just had to throw that last phrase in to make this an authentic ad

Now, I realize that this is a little bit unfair to those who have already very kindly purchased pieces (thank you), but I will still happily apply the discount if you purchase a second piece!

“Nature is Never Spent,” A Photo Show at Meshuggah, An Opening

Well, hello, blog readers. It has been a while, by the standards of this blog at least. I always experience a sort of version of the post-holiday blues when I finish a big endeavor like the photo contest. And, if one is prone to be low anyway, that can lead to a fair amount of intertia from time to time. At any rate, enough of that, except one final note on the contest. If you are a contestant and wanted judges’ comments and did not get them, please feel free to email me.

The Show
This Thursday I will be putting up a show at Meshuggah Cafe in the St. Louis Loop. I must confess that this has been a dream for a rather long time, as Meshuggah is a pretty cool place, and I really, really wanted to hang some photos there.

In contrast to the strength of that dream, but perhaps in keeping with the aesthetic of Meshuggah, the show is rather more subdued and consists of smaller prints than previous shows, framed in old, some rather dingy, vintage frames. It is titlted “Nature is Never Spent,” which is a phrase from the poem “God’s Grandeur,” by Gerard Manlely Hopkins.

The size of the prints, though, does mean that the pricing should be rather nice. I am envisioning prices between $30-100, with most on the lower end of the spectrum. The online version of the show and price list will be coming soon.

I am not necessary completely satisfied that I have evoked this poem as well as I did “Pied Beauty.” However, to be fair, it is a bit more of a daunting task. I see this poem as being about humankind’s impact on the earth as a result of the Fall, with the counterpoint that God still shines out through nature by the sustaining work of the brooding, nuturing Holy Spirit. I did wish to convey both the grandeur and mystery of God more and the depravity of humankind more, but, nonetheless, it is a start, and there can always be a second take.

Opening
If you happen to be in the St. Louis area from 6-9pm this Friday evening, May 29th, please feel free to come by for an opening. The cafe will be open for its regular customers. However, the owner knows there will be an opening. If you like, you can purchase supper or some snacks or a “cold frosty one,” as Mike Shannon is apt to say, or a glass of wine from the cafe. Of course, you needn’t purchase anything at all, but if folks were to buy some goods, it would be a nice thank you to Meshuggah. I may have some cookies there as well.

Hope to see some of you there.

Format Changes on The Dassler Effect

Hello, readers. You may have noticed that the Evoking Spring Photo Contest tab has disappeared from the header above. This is because it is now a sub page under the tab “Contests.” Past contests are also listed there. And, yes, since I have gone to the trouble to make pages and sub-pages you are right if you are assuming that there will be future contests and exhibitions. It is kind of fun.

I am not sure when the next photo contest will be, but there will be one, Lord willing. And, in the Fall, the haiku will return. And who knows what other types of contests may turn up in the meantime.

And, for those of you in or near St. Lou, I have just confirmed that I will be having my next photo show at Meshuggah Cafe in the University City Loop beginning on May 28th. And, for those of y0u not in the area, I will put up an Internet version as well.

Finally, thank you all again for your interest in these contests and exhibits.