May 16, 2007
@ The Grind
These are four of my photos that are hanging at a cafe in Queens called "the Grind". My friend Lisa from Florida who is an Artist told me about this place in her neiborhood that we could hang our stuff in for their grand re-opening a few weeks ago. So I had some photos that I printed and framed for a Bam employee art exhibit back in January. I ended up using two of the photos from that and I added two more that I had printed back then. If you click --->HERE<--- you can see a slide show the girl Sarah Hamilton made on her website. She helped with the decoration of the Cafe and has alot of her photos hanging there as well. If you click on her name you can see her website. and if you click on The Grind you will see their myspace page.
Posted by Victor at 11:30 PM | Comments (0)
October 10, 2006
Martin Fuchs
This is Martin Fuchs. I just want to say that I'm proud of my friend Martin Fuchs and what he is doing with his photojournalist ambitions. At some point he decided that he had to follow his dream to become a photojournalist photographer and he is doing it. Not only is he doing it he is doing it with style. Most people dont see the sacrifice and hard work that it takes to do it. The dedication and persistance is very impressive. He is an inspiration to many including myself. Keep up the great work Martin. You can see his websites at these links...
Posted by Victor at 06:27 AM | Comments (2)
May 16, 2006
DP Challenge
I entered a photo on this site called DP Challenge. I don't think I even submitted a good photo but I thought it would be a good practice to start submitting photos here. It would make me want to improve on my photos and on my editing. Any how here is my first submition to one of these things. I guess if you wanted you could sign up at the website and vote for me. But that would be a bias vote just because you know me or like me. So I wouldnt like that. Here is the link, its an interesting site anyhow. DP Challenge
Posted by Victor at 11:05 PM | Comments (1)
May 13, 2006
Benches
Walking yesterday I came upon these benches, they were all rearranged but no one sat on them. So I just found them interesting, I think they were having a bench party. I like that they werent bolted down and yet no one steals them. I think once in awhile a bench must go missing... I find that in my time here there are little things about Vienna that feels like I'm back in time. Like its an old fashion town but yet modern... I can't really explain it. I think you feel it when you live here and are not from here.
Posted by Victor at 01:02 PM | Comments (1)
March 06, 2006
Kiss
Today at breakfast at our usual place I saw young couple suddenly start to kiss. It was as if they were going to devour eachother. The great thing was that it was as if they were alone on another planet. It was such an amazing moment. Infact this foto doesnt do it justice. Its not even a good foto and I barely caught the end of the kiss. I was in such awe of the moment I couldnt get to my camera in time. But none the less at least this image reminds me of the powerful moments just before I took this foto. So I say to all of you live life as if no one is looking, dance in the streets, sing on the train, smile to strangers, make love with the lights on, love freely and enjoy life!! We'll only get this one.
Posted by Victor at 09:16 PM | Comments (1)
March 03, 2006
$#%! NO
So, I guess I will have to accept that you #$%^ers wont be leaving comments. Ok, Fine. Be that way. Spring made a brief appearance yesterday and part of today but the later part of the afternoon became cloudy and Temperatures dropped also. That concludes the weather report for today. In other news... Klimt opened today in Vienna and the word is out... Stay away from this movie. Wow, I didnt know much about Klimt before the movie and now less now. The only bad thing is that after seeing this movie it will be along time before I can look at a Klimt painting and not cringe with the memory of a horrible film. Have a good weekend and thank you for tuning in. See you next time.
Posted by Victor at 01:00 AM | Comments (4)
February 15, 2006
Let the games begin
So the olympics are going on and we wathced the opening ceremonies at our neighbor's house. I've been a little busy this week. I've been shooting a few things here and there. I'll be posting in the next week the things I've been up to. Just to give you a sneak peak, there was more skiing, there was a bowling night, a photoshoot for a friend, more Tunnel shots and an elderly woman that swatted at me with her umbrella as she grumbled loudly at me. See you soon. Post comments, we dont know how long this will work till i mess it up again. thanks!!
Posted by Victor at 12:30 AM | Comments (2)
January 30, 2006
Photos from the 5 Tram
Today on my way home after eating breakfast at Tunnel I shot these photos. I often look out the trams and I think about where I am and how I got here. I think sometimes about our purpose here on earth and these kind things. Sorry to be writting about these "heavy" topics. Sometimes people dont talk about these things. Not that I know my purpose or anything. I am just trying to enjoy life and life it to the fullest. Not sure if that means anything. Maybe I've been programed to say that. HaHa. any way, hope someone out there finds this interesting. Saw a nice movie called Rize today about battle dancing in L.A. There has been a lot of hype around this film and althought I think it was a nice movie with a good feel message I can't help but feel the hype was a bit too much. It made me expect more from the film. Sought of unfare to the film. I'm glad for David LaChappelle, not to be mistaken for Dave Chapell. I found it at times humors when references were made to the Clown dancers. I felt like it was a mix of Boyz in da Hood meets in living color. You remember Homie the Clown... Homie don't play that!! It had a good sound track... Ghetto Gospel, Tupak, Elton John written by Marshal Mathers. I found that very interesting. Here is the official movie website -->click here<--
I know you guys have been pissed off because you can not leave a comment but I'm not sure what happened. My friend Martin is looking into it but he's really busy these days so just bare with him. If you really want to leave me a comment then email me at: victor@jouvert.net Thanks!!
Posted by Victor at 11:46 PM | Comments (0)
January 25, 2006
Nikon Sucks!!
I had some problems with my camera back in November and then in December. As a result I didnt have my camera for my trip to New York in December. I also had to pay for the first repair out of my pocket for 184 euros (about 220 american dollars) I've been trying to get reimbursed since then and been having no luck what so ever. My warranty is running out in about a week and a half and I'm really not feeling happy with my camera and Nikons customer service. Besides the two problems I was very happy with my camera but now after the poor customer service I feel that I've been let down and I feel at the time when I decided to go with Nikon instead of Canon it was a big mistake. I'm posting this just out of frustration. Lets face it Nikon is a giant and my little problem and me not being treated justly isnt going to affect them. I just wish once that the consumer could win. These big companies get your money and then we have to deal with bad customer service, warranties that are barely worth it. What happened to companies standing by there products. I had a problem a couple of years ago when I bought an MP3 player. It was a Rio Karma and it was hyped at the time to be the best alternative to the expensive IPOD at the time. Needless to say it ended up being a piece of $%#! and their customer service disappeared and eventually the mp3 player stopped functioning with in 2 years of the purchase. So I don't know what is the point of this. Any way Nikon Suck!! I will eventually sell my Nikon online and buy a Canon maybe. Who knows if there are any better. Ha Ha Ha, I know some people who swear by Canon and I've seen some of there really nice Cameras and they just look better built. We'll see what happens...
Posted by Victor at 09:37 PM | Comments (0)
January 19, 2006
Dr. James
After class yesterday a group of us that are taking German courses went to our usual hang out, Tunnel, and had breakfast (FruhStuck). So we talk and get to know about another but we also practice german with eachother because not all of us know a commone language. I get to communicate in English, Spanish, and German. Its an amazing thing. So we talked in german for about 45 minutes. I'm really happy with my new german course and I'm happy the way my german is coming along. Later on in the day after my Wednesday basketball game I went to eat with a couple of friends that play with me and was able to speak some german with them as well. I'm glad that some of my friends that can speak english sometimes speak to me in german and make us have a conversation. Its great and Its good practice. Monika and I have some conversations as well. So this is a picture of Dr. James. He is from Scottland and is here in Vienna working at the university in the math department with another friend of mine, Shantanu. He is here with his wife and two kids.
Posted by Victor at 10:09 PM | Comments (0)
January 18, 2006
Portraits
So, my birthday was last week for those of you who missed the day, but thats not why I mentioned it. I got one of the best two gifts since getting my camera for my birthday last year. That brings up another story I will save for another posting. So this year I got a bottle of wine that is as old as I am. This was amazing and also gave me the belief that I'm not so old because this bottle looked to be in far worse shape as I do. Although I dare not ask which of us would taste better. hee hee. Monika, don't answer that question. Now the second gift was a photography book. Its called Photography and its written by a man named John Ingledew. Its very basic but very informative. I am enjoying very much. I'm not sure but I was thinking maybe as I read the book I could post pictures while I'm in certain chapters that match what I'm reading about. I tend to mostly take portraits so that is easy now. We'll see when I move onto other chapters how I do. So here are two recent portraits that I took.
Posted by Victor at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)
January 12, 2006
Photoshop
So the other day I met with my friend Martin and we hung out and talked about what was going on in our lives and stuff like that. We used to do this more when he was staying with me in the Bronx back in New York last year. So any way its always fun to hang out with him. He gave me some tips on how to use Photo Shop, a photo editing software,this is an important step among others to help me to become a photographer. There are many things that I need to learn so this photo is a photo that I posted the other day but this time I tried to do what Martin had suggested in a comment on that days post, so lets see how this looks. I will start doing some tutorials that Martin showed me online too. Thanks Martin!!
Posted by Victor at 02:15 PM | Comments (0)
November 29, 2005
Sebastião Salgado
My Friend Martin Fuchs who is back from 6 months in New York invited me to go with him to this openning. I almost didnt go because of the tons of german homework I've been getting. Erich Lessing of Magnum Photos was there and gave a speach just before Sebastiao Sagado spoke. Sebastiao Sagado gave a very nice inspiring speach in English. The photos that were being showed were part of the work that Sebastiao Salgado has been working on for the past 7 or so years. There are photos of displaced children. There were two cameras that were used for this project that were auctioned off the day before. With the money of this project they will be able to plant something like a million trees. With his photography Sebastiao Salgado is able to bring awareness to his fans about saving the rain forest as well as bringing attention to the help this kids need as well. I'm so glad that I went. Not only did i get to see these nice portraits but I also got to hang out with Martin and I ran into a friend of mine that I play basketball with, Matthias Cremer. He works as a photographer at Der Standard, one of Vienna's big newspapers. He recently started his photo blog, -->click here<-- to see it. Remember its in German. So this past week I have been talking to Martin about photography and I've been thinking about it. I love photography and I need to do it more often and I need to expose myself to other photographers of past and present.
Posted by Victor at 02:24 PM | Comments (2)
November 28, 2005
Got My Camera Back
It's great to have my camera back, I started shooting right away and these were two shots that I liked the most. I'm waiting for Nikon USA's response because my warranty isn't covered here in Vienna and since the problem with the camera was a defect by no fault of my own ( I had the Nikon Camera Service center here in Wien write me a letter saying this. ) So we'll see what they respond with. It's F$%@ing cold here in Wien. I love the snow and have seen snow just about everyday for the past week. Something about the apartments and homes in Europe make it feel cold. Even when I went to Greece last year it was in the 60's or mid teens but in the apartment I was staying in felt like if it was freezing!! At least on a day like today I can light a fire in our old fashioned stove. Its like a fireplace but with a small door and these were used to heat living rooms and bedrooms in Vienna and old apartments still have them. Kitchens, bathrooms and dining rooms weren't usually heated luckily we have electric heaters for the kitchen and diningroom. Man the days are so short. Its getting dark by 3:30 and by 4 its dark.
Posted by Victor at 12:23 PM | Comments (1)
November 18, 2005
Friday: The day my camera got sick...
Me and Jo came home after school to do our german homework and then to practice speaking german. I got the idea to show her Westend Cafe and the Christmas Market at Mariahilfer Kirche (church). This is the season of the Christmas Markets in Vienna. You can get home made ornaments and all kinds of christmas items. You can get all types of food and best of all you can get Punsch! Its like hot apple cider but its made with wine usually and they have all kinds of flavors. I went to one early in Novemeber when my friend Martin and I met. The one is a famous one at Rathouse Platz and is one of the first Christmas markets that open up. So any way at the Mariahilfer Kirche Christmas market my camera started acting up, taking photos that didnt fit with the settings I had set. So we had some Punsch and then we saw at the Haydn Movies ( aka american movies ) that the latest Harry Potter movie was showing in 5 minutes. We decided to go see it.
Posted by Victor at 07:12 AM | Comments (1)
November 06, 2005
Fly
Click on photo to see a larger image.
Posted by Victor at 08:28 PM | Comments (3)
November 05, 2005
Thinking
Posted by Victor at 09:39 PM | Comments (0)
October 30, 2005
Haydns Schopfung fur Kinder
So this is my second photo shoot for another workshope. This time there was a workshop between some members of Tonkunstler Orchestera Niederosterreich and yes, more kids and their parents were allowed to participate this time. Unfortunately my german isn't so good yet so I wasnt able to speak much with the members or the kids but it was fun to watch and shoot.
Posted by Victor at 04:32 PM | Comments (0)
October 25, 2005
Mushrooms for Andrew
Andrew came over and we had a great evening just talking and drinking and he even played on our out of tune piano. So on his website he has a picture of a mushroom and so when i saw this mushroom I wanted to shoot it for him. Hope you had a good flight home. Send me a link to hear the radio Broadcast, I missed it. ;-)
Posted by Victor at 08:01 PM | Comments (0)
October 18, 2005
Work shop at Festpielhaus St. Polten
One more from the workshop I did. My photos will be given to the press at a press conference tomorrow at Festpielhaus St. Polten. Its very cool.
Posted by Victor at 11:21 PM | Comments (0)
October 15, 2005
Work shop at Festpielhaus St. Polten
This is Jim Vincent, the Artistict Director for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. I met him on Friday when I went to shoot a workshop done by the education department at Festspielhaus St. Polten. This was the first workshop out of five that will be done this season. The new education department is headed by Susanne Hofer. I was very excited to meet the dance company and have this opportunity to shoot them as well as how the kids interacted with them. I first was interested in seeing their performance back in September when I saw that they were going to be performing a piece by Susan Marshall, Kiss. I had seen some of her work at BAM when i worked there. After asking Jim about that piece I was looking forward to seeing it even more. This even marks a first for me. The first time I was hired to shoot photos as a professional. I was very nervous but after meeting the Dance company I felt very at ease and the rest is history.
Posted by Victor at 10:00 AM | Comments (1)
Work shop at Festpielhaus St. Polten
Posted by Victor at 08:12 AM | Comments (1)
Work shop at Festpielhaus St. Polten
Leading the second group of kids was Monica Trogani, the Rehersal Director of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.
Posted by Victor at 07:16 AM | Comments (0)