The holiday season is over, the new year is here, and the RVA art scene rolls on full-force with the first First Friday of 2014!
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Richmond Beeristoric: A History Of Beer Brewing In RVA
At this moment in Richmond beer history, it seems that we are living in a golden age of unprecedented abundance. Since its founding in the early 18th century, Richmond has had a community of people united by a love of beer. However, Richmond’s history of brewing has been characterized by transitions between boom and bust – very much like the city of Richmond itself.
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Life On The James: Down To Nothing Carries The Banner For Richmond Hardcore
I first saw Down To Nothing play at St. Stephen’s Church in D.C. This was back in 2010, not long after I’d been introduced to the latest generation of straight edge hardcore bands, including Down To Nothing as well as Trapped Under Ice, Cruel Hand, Cold World, and more. The macho bravado and heavy, fast riffs that were these bands’ stock in trade bore a superficial resemblance to the scene breakdown bands (The Devil Wears Prada, Suicide Silence, Whitechapel) that I had listened to through most of high school, but straight edge hardcore was more real. Songs about friendship, loyalty, and hardships were more relatable then mindless brutality. Instead of swoopy, asymetrical haircuts and 808 bass-drops, raw album production and the tough guy asesthetic seemed much more badass.
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1708’s “In Light” To Shine Along The Canal Walk This Weekend
Created in 2008 on the 30th anniversary of the non-profit arts organization 1708 Gallery, InLight Richmond was born as a “public exhibition of light-based art and performances.” The Gallery hopes the project gives something special and unique back to the community, and it’s pretty easy to see it does.
In order to incorporate and celebrate all of the different great places within Richmond, the 1708 Gallery holds this exhibit at a different location in Richmond each year. This year the designated location is in Shockoe Bottom along the Riverfront Canal Walk. Shockoe, Richmond’s oldest neighborhood, is the site of many historical buildings, the Canal Walk, and the Richmond Slave Trail. It was also the first site in the world with a triple main-line railway crossing which is still visible today. It doesn’t hurt that Shockoe is also the original site of the 1708 Gallery when they were located on East Main Street.
1708 receives about 80 to 90 proposals a year for the project, artists are juried to get into the show.
“One of the objectives, in addition to picking the strongest projects, is also picking artworks that communicate with one another and communicate with the site,” said Emily Smith, the Executive Director for 1708, of the initial selection process for the project.
During the show, artists are juried again. “The juror selects the best in show. He’ll select that the night of. There’s also the ‘Best In Green Award’ where we invite someone who is familiar with green technologies or green sort of politics etc, to award a project that best addresses green issues or eco-friendly issues. There’s also a ‘People’s Choice Award’ that the audience can vote on through text messaging,” Smith explained.
This year’s juror is Ken Farmer, Co-Founder and Creative Director of Nuit Blanche New York, a company that designs and produces installations, A/V performances, exhibitions, and various large-scale events. NBNY is perhaps best known for its signature event “Bring to Light: Nuit Blanche New York”, which is a free art festival on the New York waterfront. Farmer is also the co-founder of DoTank Brooklyn, a collaborative community of urbanists and artists who hope to enhance their cities through small-scale change.
“It’s been everything from very ambitious projects that are clearly really thought out, designed and built up, there have been projects that are very poetic and really embody, sort of the particular tenure of the space. There have been projects that are the perfect blending of art work and site selection,” said Smith. “So, there’s not one kind of parameter by which the best of show is selected. It really is a variety of circumstances and contexts of which the juror is making the decision.”
“We want the audience to be aware of the real beauty of the city but also experience it in a very unique and a kind of magical way,” Smith said when explaining what 1708 Gallery wants the audience to take away from this experience.
The one-night festival will kick off with a Community Lantern Parade on Friday, November 8, 2013 from 7:00 p.m. to Midnight. InLight will take place along the Riverfront Canal Walk between the Turning Basin and 17th street. In addition to light installations, there will also be food tucks and performances.
Check 1708 Gallery’s website for more details regarding the event.
Headline photo Via Jason Peters, Meandering Dynamics, InLight 2012, photo by Terry Brown
Catching Up With Dirty Richmond
Born and raised in Chesterfield — about thirty minutes south of Richmond—Brian McDaniel made a name for himself in 2009 by launching Dirty Richmond, a street style and lifestyle blog that gained national attention. Now approaching his one-year anniversary at Ledbury, we wanted to catch up with McDaniel and talk with him about his time at Dirty Richmond and the world of fashion blogging.
McDaniel graduated from VCU with a degree in business management but was always interested in photography and seeing what other people were wearing. The passion for photography and street style was the reason why Scott Schuman, photographer and founder of The Sartorialist, was and still is a huge inspiration to McDaniel.
During a life-changing study abroad trip to Hong Kong in the second semester of his junior year, McDaniel realized that he talked about Richmond… a lot. He realized that he loved Richmond and had a lot to say about it. Combining this new realization with a new camera, McDaniel created Dirty Richmond, a place where he could showcase what people were doing, wearing and who they were.
In the beginning, McDaniel stayed in the compass of VCU because it was “safe.” He also realized the hardships of starting a fashion blog. “Starting a blog is so hard and I don’t think people realize how hard it is to start a blog. It’s new, you don’t have any followers, you’re figuring out what direction to go in, what the blog is going to look like, what your voice is, who your readers are and what kind of content you’re going to use,” says McDaniel. “But through actually doing it you figure all that stuff out.” And figure it out he did.
Eventually, McDaniel moved out of the comfort of the VCU compass and began to photograph people all over Richmond. “There’s two people I like photographing: people that you can tell are obviously into fashion and cared about what they were wearing and put a lot of thought into it and other people who didn’t really care at all and were who they were and were natural in how they dressed,” said McDaniel.
Dirty Richmond gained popularity locally and nationally but that is not what made McDaniel’s day. “It was cool getting recognized in publications and people started telling who I was, but what really made it all worth it were the people that I just met through the blog that I would have never ever met or talked to or approached otherwise. Over time, through repeatedly taking somebody’s picture, you become friends with them in a way,” said McDaniel. For him, the thrill has always been about the personal connection and the excitement of capturing the perfect person in the perfect outfit at the perfect time.
Although Dirty Richmond is no longer active (for the time being), it has opened a lot of doors for McDaniel. The attention he gained from Dirty Richmond combined with his unique blogging techniques, helped McDaniel to land his job at Ledbury, a local menswear store where he blogs frequently. Although McDaniel may be expanding his brand and tackling new career choices, he has not forgotten where he started and offers advice to anyone who wants to do fashion blogging. “Just keep an open mind and don’t think too much. Through Dirty Richmond, for example, a lot of times I would think too much about if I wanted to stop and photograph somebody and miss an opportunity…Those times, where I was going back and forth in my mind and I didn’t stop them, I regretted it,” says McDaniel. “Also, keep your eyes open and observe what’s around you.”
RVA #12: The Fashion Of Photographer Marcus Hyde
Looking at Marcus Hyde’s photos, I can’t help but wonder what led the man who started out shooting rocks and trees for his high school darkroom class into the realm of fashion photography. Despite its association with fashion, much of his work, in my opinion, has enough artistic merit to stand alone as portraiture. A number of his photos are startlingly erotic but far from too edgy for the likes of a Victoria’s Secret catalogue. The feminine form in its most statuesque incarnations reigns supreme.
Marcus is passionate about spending time behind the lens, and makes a point to shoot every day. This passion led him from Richmond to Florida’s Full Sail University for film school. He then came back to work in Richmond for a bit before moving Los Angeles, where he’s resided for the past five months. One thing I wanted to pick his brain about was the difference between working and living here versus on the West Coast. As I learned, it wasn’t a lack of work that drove him from Richmond, but a desire to experience life in a fresh location. Travel, connections, and dedication are crucial elements to his particular formula for success.
You’ve been living in LA for how long?
Almost four months now.
How’s it going?
It’s definitely different, a totally different world.
How does it compare for you work-wise? Have you been able to get a lot more work there than in Richmond, or at least decrease the amount you have to travel for work?
It’s about the same. It’s just basically getting my name out once I’m actually here. No one really knows I’m here until they start seeing me work with someone. It’s definitely a word of mouth type of thing, but it’s been picking up.
Did you go to art school?
I went to Full Sail in Orlando. I did film and video there.
Are you still doing film work or just concentrating on photography?
I’m mainly concentrating on photography, but am trying to get back into film. You don’t really need a team to do photography; film is so much more involved.
So you went to Full Sail, then came back to Richmond to work for awhile?
Yep. Came back here, picked up the camera, and basically started shooting.
I see you shoot primarily fashion photography. What got you into that, specifically?
It kinda just fell into place. Originally I didn’t intend on shooting photos, it was always just video stuff. I just started shooting photos of friends. Then I actually had models contact me thinking that’s what I did–and it wasn’t. Once I worked with those models, then agencies started contacting me, and from there I thought I might as well just do it.
How do you about the process of setting up work with the agencies?
I’ll either contact the agency or they’ll contact me and tell me what guys or girls they want me to do testing with. If I contact them they usually send me a package of about 20-30 different models. I’ll pick the ones I want to work with, and just go from there.
So how do you choose who you want to shoot? Is there anything specific that you look for in a model?
Different unique looks. Just [people that] have a unique, not everyday look.
I feel like a lot of what you see, looking at fashion magazines, are trends. Think Twiggy popularizing the waif look, Gisele Bundchen popularizing the exotic look, etc. Have you noticed any trends in particular regarding the models you work with?
I really just see the trends in photography. With modeling and fashion, that stuff’s always changing, but there are a lot of trends with photography.
Are you into men’s fashion, or fashion in general? Or is this type of photography simply what you fell into for your work?
It’s weird, I don’t know. If it’s looks good, I’ll get it. I like streetwear. There’s a company out here called Orisue; I like them. As far as high end, I like Louis Vuitton, Hermes.
Why LA over New York then, for fashion work? There’s always been that battle between New York and LA…
Well, I’d been to New York but had never been to California before. People always talked it up like it’s the place to be, so I figured I’d see if I liked it.
So you moved out there without ever having visited?
Yeah, I’d never been before; just picked up and moved.
A lot of people in fashion seem to bow at the altar of Terry Richardson. Are there any specific photographers who inspire you?
There’s no one in particular who inspires me, but seeing different ads, there may just be one thing that inspires me. I can see 20 different pictures and pick out one thing from each picture and then put my own spin on it. It’s just different things, not one photographer in particular.
So I read on your blog that you used Canon over Nikon. Is that still what you prefer?
I shoot a Canon 5d Mark 2. I’ve used Nikon before but Canon just feels more user friendly. They both produce great images.
So you’ve been doing photography since high school. You were working with film then; do you still?
Yeah. I did a two year black and white darkroom photography class, but that was really it. When I was doing that I was shooting rocks and trees–just random stuff, not even people.
So do you prefer shooting people? I imagine it’s cool to get to interact with people and build relationships.
Yeah, everyone’s different, so I like shooting with different people, meeting people and traveling and stuff.
So I guess now you’re concentrating on editorial work vs just doing photography for photography’s sake. Do you see yourself getting back into the latter, or are you trying to focus simply on editorial work?
I want to try get more into editorial stuff. [With] editorial stuff, you can be creative and shoot however you want to shoot it. Basically, I want to try to shoot something that’s set like a movie scene, something that tells a story.
On your tumblr and website you have mostly single shots of models, but they’re all quite different. To make each one unique, what are the little things that inspire you? What gets you going/gives you the chills?
Lighting, shadows. Which is kinda strange. I like that more than anything, honestly–just the way photos are lit. Natural [light] or artificial strobes or whatever.
Do you do a lot of stuff with artificial lighting?
Since I’ve been in LA, it’s probably 98% natural light. Back home it was more studio, artificial light.
Sunshine, definitely one of the pros to LA. Do you ever see yourself coming back to Richmond? Do you think this is a place where an artist’s career can really grow and become something to make a living off of, or do you think it’s better to make a move somewhere with a bigger market, like you’ve done?
I’ll definitely come back to Richmond to visit, but I want to keep moving and going different places and seeing what I like.
So your move was more to experience different things and make different connections, less to do with not being able to find enough work here?
No, I had plenty of work in Richmond. I’d been shooting full time, every day.
What advice would you give to yourself 5 years ago? Say to someone who’s trying to do what you’re doing coming from a town like Richmond. What’s been the key to your success?
You’ve just got to be passionate about it. If you’re not 100% always about it, anytime of the day, anytime of the night, you’re not going to go anywhere with it. I live and breathe shooting–that’s all I do.
That’s awesome. I wonder, with some artists who I know and don’t see working every day, whether it’s something they’re truly passionate about. Sounds like it’s your life force.
Yeah, and in order to stay relevant and [have] people know who you are, you have to constantly shoot, or constantly do what it is you do. Otherwise people will ask where you went, figure you fell off, and wonder what happened.
Yeah, if you don’t there’s inevitably someone out there trying harder than you. Have you met a lot of other photographers in LA?
Yeah, I’ve met a bunch. There are a lot of really really good people out here too, but the photographers seem cool for the most part. It’s really competitive but there’s a lot of work too.So I’m sure it balances out.
Was your experience at Full Sail your first time living outside of VA? Is that what made you want to try living and working in different cities?
Yeah. If you don’t have an ultimate goal in mind, a bigger picture, Richmond will suck you in and you’ll stay there for a long time. It’s not completely a bad thing, though. There are a lot of really good people in Richmond.
Is there anywhere else you really would like to live and shoot?
I’ve never been outside the US. Would love to go to Europe somewhere. Never been to Hawaii either. LA’s cool, besides the people. It’s totally different from back home. People are way more real on the East Coast and in VA.