NORTHSOUTH a photobook.

Last month I went out to Joshua Tree with my friend/model/LA Celeb Jackie Cooper. I've been getting burnt out on digital work and wanted to shoot something sort of primal and raw. All the images were taken on a Holga Camera with FujiPro400 film. The Holga is a tricky camera because it's not twin lens reflex so you can't see your focus. You sort of have to best guess where your focus is and hope for the best when you get your film developed. (It definitely makes you appreciate the little LCD screen in the back of your digital camera). There was also no shutter settings, it has a fixed shutter of about 1/100th of a second. So there was no way to set exposure. Needless to say, I loved this shoot. Old school.

Ask for it at Hennessy + Ingalls! They'll say, "Never heard of it."

Fire Walk with Me

In my last post I mentioned I had been working on a few new photo-series that would be photography and notes sort of like a lite version of a National Geographic photojournalism article (which incidentally I thought would be one of the world's greatest jobs as a kid). So here's one of those little series I shot last spring on a beach in Los Angeles.

Surf

S U R F E R S
I've been working on these photos for a while. I think they're kinda cool. I usually don't photograph subjects like this, but I was toying with the idea of creating a blog where I take photos and write a little something about them (sort of like a photojournalism National Geographic blog), but ultimately dropped that idea due to the fact that I have a number of other larger projects on my plate right now and I don't really have the free time for another. However I think I will be slowly posting photos from that concept here over time as I develop them.

Microfilms on YouTube...

I recently shot the first in a new series of "Microfilms" (meaning extremely short, shorts that are about 1min each) and they are now online. You can watch them in HD on my homepage, www.christopherdesantis.com or click the YouTube links below to check them out here.

San Francisco Panoramma

Last fall I was up in San Francisco taking some new photos for a about a month. These were some of the more interesting images. Once again I can't escape my love of Panoramic imagery or my desire to see the world in widescreen. Also check out the funny little inner city mushrooms on the last image. They can be found down between Chinatown and the Financial District.

STUART NG BOOKS : A Hidden Gem of a Bookstore

A few years ago my brother was showing me where he gets a lot of his rare and hard to find art books. Things that you won't find anywhere else and the kind of books that really help with creative inspiration and blue sky thinking. That place is Stuart Ng Books.

If you live in Los Angeles and are interested in animation or contemporary illustrative art... this is the place to go. Many great artists and illustrators have passed through Stuart's shop and many of them leave their mark with one of a kind sketchbooks and compilations that you simply can't get anywhere else. Numerous Pixar artist create one of a kind printed compliations and original story work that are inspiring and fun to flip through and are the kind of work that you will never find anywhere else. Some of my favortie things to look though there are the rare and private sketchbooks by Chris Sanders (The creator of Lilo and Stitch) and Mike Mignola (Creator of Hellboy) as well as countless other tomes of conceptual art and design. If you are an artist or work in the industry you should definitely run down to Torrance on a Saturday and check out his shop. Trust me... once you go you'll want to come back every so often to see what he has in stock next!

http://www.stuartngbooks.com

My favorite films (In no particular order)

Sometimes people ask me what films influenced me the most... so I thought about it and came up with this list of movies that I tend to watch whenever I need a little inspiration. Important note... I don't necessarily think these are the best films ever made... simply my favorites that I watch whenever I need a creative pick me up.

See if you can't guess them all from the screen-grabs below. (Click on the image to see more detail)































ANSWERS:
Jaws
The Royal Tenenbaums
Gladiator
The Empire Strikes Back
Master and Commander
The Professional
2001 A Space Odyssey
Pulp Fiction
O Brother Where Art Thou
Road to Perdition
The Big Lebowski
North by Northwest
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Spirited Away
Akira
The Godfather
Das Boot
Mon Oncle
Lost in Translation
8 1/2

LOST and FOUND

One of the side things I've been working on lately is a new book of my photography that shows the beauty in the flaws of shots that didn't make the cut. These are the types of photos where the model wasn't ready or it was just an off moment between exposures that I feel have a certain quality that I like.

Here's a little sampling of photos going into the book. I don't really know when I'll finish it. I just keep adding to it every time I photograph someone. I'm guessing when it reaches a couple hundred pages. (I hate thin art books that cost an arm and a leg!)

More Panoramic Los Angeles Photography

Sometimes I need to get out and think. I'm a big walker and I love to walk all over a city. I find it really therapeutic to walk around a city (especially on days when the city is pretty much empty) and explore public buildings or other places when no one is around. I also love to photograph those places and try to find the quiet moments in between. Here's a few cool shots (or at least shots I think are cool) that I took on a recent trip downtown...

New Commercial Now Up...

I have a new commercial I directed up on my homepage right now. It's called TOY STORE and it was for Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America.

Click HERE to check it out...

Faves

It felt good to do a little shooting a few weeks ago. Since I had a good time working with her last time, Kristen Totten and I teamed back up again for some portrait sessions. Here's some of my personal faves from that shoot.

Go buy my book!!!

WICKED BOOKS . A NOVEL

The day has finally come! About a year and a half ago I reached final edit on my first published novel entitled, Wicked Books, and now you can buy it! It just went up on the sites and there aren't any reviews or even a description posted yet, but I was too excited to finally see it up there so I decided to post it! So far all the reviews have been great and I'm very pleased with the publication. The idea for it came to me back in 2002 when I was filming a movie in Virgina and after six years of it rattling around in my head it's nice to have finally released it to make room for even more strange ideas up there. Be sure to listen to the Audiobook samples and pick up a copy from Barnes and Noble or Amazon!

FREE!!! CLICK HERE to listen to the first three chapters of the Audiobook on Podcast!

Oh Canada!

Downtown LA Photoshoot

A few weeks ago I went out with LA model Kristen Totten and did a little wandering around and took a number of photos so I thought I would post a few of them here since this will be the last of the shoots I'm planning on doing for a little while. Most of my summer is filling up pretty fast with projects and I don't know how many more random shoots I'll be doing while I prep my new projects. If all goes well I hope to have my new work ready by the end of summer... so stay tuned.

Wandering around the desert...

Here's a few shots I never really got to show anyone. A while ago my brother my friends and myself all piled into my car and went to this place way the hell out in the desert called the Trona Pinnacles. A number of movies and commercials are shot there and at the time we went to go scout it for a live action version of an animated film I was working on. It was a good day... lots of laughs. Here's a few shots from the trip. I find it helps to hold a boombox over your head blasting David Bowie's Life on Mars when you look at them.

Who I'm Surfing...

Every so often I will post a few artists and sites I think are interesting or thought provoking... some you might already know... some you won't. So if you get bored at work, take a second to click on the images below and check em' out.

Japantown Los Angeles

So last weekend I ran over to Japantown with a friend to do a few errands...
...needless to say we failed miserably but had some tasty food and walked a lot.

Here's a few snapshots from that trip. Check out the weird paralax on the tower that makes it seem like some kind of giant lumbering monster. Speaking of Japanese... I'm trying to find more songs by a band called The Beat Crusaders. If you have their albums... let me know.

Hanging at the Nucleus Gallery again...

Last weekend I stopped by the Nucleus Gallery again to see a new show called Power in Numbers 3. The idea of the show is to get a ton of artists to all create 5" by 7" works that sell for $100 a piece then donate 20% to the Make a Wish Foundation. Very cool stuff. This was also the first time I was able to make it out to see an event since they've moved locations (just down the street but the space was brand new). In general I liked the new space. The old space was more of a store with a gallery and this was more of a gallery with a store. Here's a few snapshots I took with my panoramic camera again... just for fun.

Check it out...

Santa Monica Pier

I've been doing a lot of panoramic photography lately.
I guess being a filmmaker I find the widescreen format pretty attractive. I've been experimenting with photostiching... however this shot was taken with a true panoramic camera that has a rotating lens and takes the image over multiple exposures on 35mm film. It's the only way to capture all the action of the rollercoaster and the Scrambler at full speed. If I had tried to take this with multiple exposures it would have been a lot more abstract... but I don't know what that would be saying. One of the things I like about this image is that there is a ton of interesting detail for you eye to explore... that combined with the ocean fog and ambient occlusion of no harsh shadows really punches it up.

Jurassic Art

Yes... yes... I know technically this is Cretaceous Art...
I saw this big guy while I was waiting around for the Car Wash.
Pretty cool and a steal at only $10,000. If anyone wants to buy
him for me... he's at the corner of Lincoln and Venice Blvd.
I think he would look great in my living room.

Walt Disney's Secret Daughter...

I was the sickest I've even been in my entire life last week so not much new happened... so here's a little something I made a while ago and had no idea what to do with it. The model is LA actress and improv comedian Wendy McColm. It was just one of those screwing around photoshoots where she was looking for a few fun headshots and I was just looking for something fun to shoot. But I do like them.

Steven Spielberg and Me

So... last month I was nominated for best animation at the Visual Effects Society honors. Even though I didn't win... it was a great honor just to be there and I had a fantastic evening. Two of the highlights for me was talking with Steven Spielberg (who is just as nice as everyone says he is)... and Michael Bay (director of Transformers and Armageddon). Also a very special thanks to Nikki Weiss (my rep) for the gift of the amazing tie and pocket square (she rocks!)

Nature of Water show at Nucleus Gallery

Back in January I was part of the Nature of Water show at the Nucleus Gallery. This was a great show to be a part of, and I am a big fan of both the Nucleus Gallery and it's artists.
I created five mixed digital images for the Bruce Lee themed show. Here they are with a few shots from the opening night.

If you are interested the signed originals can be purchased through the gallery.

Hello Homepage... Goodbye Blog...

I've launched a new real homepage at www.christopherdesantis.com .

Please check out my page with some highres content and links...

Thanks!

~Christopher