Bloody

PEACE to you all!

Busy

Sorry I haven't posted my SXSW Music review but I have hit the ground running since I got home. Getting ready for my upcoming photo exhibit has kept me crazy busy - printing in the color and bw darkroom, preparing master files, mounting prints and so forth.

Here is a pic from Rayko, where I do most of my work. You can see the Moon at the table cutting some foam core and just for some size proportions, the closest table is about 10 by 10 - lots of work space.

PEACE to you all!

SXSW 09 Film Favorites

Having a Gold badge at this year's SXSW I made it a point to see a lot of films. In between panels, showcases, and items on my shot list I would sneak over to the Paramount or the Ritz as often as possible to catch a flick. I ended up seeing a total of nine films, all of which were excellent - was not disappointed in a single film. Here are my top 3 picks:
1. Winnebago Man. This film was unreal, a documentary based upon one of the first ever pre-youtube viral videos. An outtake reel from a late 80's Winnebago industrial film shoot hosted by the venerable Jack Rebney was copied from VHS tape to VHS tape, making the rounds all across the country. The filmmaker tracks down Jack, now a hermit living alone in Northern California, and tells a great story of someone who came into the spotlight under less than ideal terms. There is not a trailer for the film online, however the original clip that spawned the phenomenon is on youtube, and is probably the funniest thing I have EVER seen.

Official site.
2. Iron Maiden: Flight 666. So I grew up as a huge metal kid and have even played in a few metal bands, but I am confident that this fact did not bias my review of this film. You could hate metal and THOROUGHLY enjoy this film. It is an intimate portrait of a band that truly loves what they do and have created an incredible fanbase the world over. As the film's director said before the film ran, "If you are new to Iron Maiden, welcome to the family." Funny enough, after the film that is exactly how I felt. Most astonishing I think was the fact that the band got it's own custom 757 to tour the world with their gear and crew and the plane was flown by the band's lead singer Bruce Dickinson! The sound was fantastic on the film, and invoked a feeling of actually being at one of their larger than life shows. I was grinning from ear to ear the entire film and often laughed out loud. The crowd at the Paramount was awesome, when their marquee songs would come on a few guys in the front row would stand up, take their shirts off and swing them in the air, so good!

Official site.
3. Sons of a Gun. I met Greg, the filmmaker on my flight out to Texas - he was a SXSW virgin stoked to be showing his film. Once I landed in Austin I viewed the trailer and knew it was a must see. The production was done on a shoestring, but the film portrays such a touching drama that you can't helped but be sucked in. Better characters and story could not be fabricated and can only exist in the twisted reality that we all inhabit. Really and truly a great film and a wonderful human drama.

Official site
The rest of the films I saw:
Letters to the President. A great look inside Iran. Trailer.
Intangible Asset #82. An Australian drummer's quest to find a Korean Shaman. Trailer.
Along Came Kinky: Texas Jewboy for Governor Tales from the campaign trail of one of Texas' most original characters. Site.
Objectified From the creator of Helvetica, musings on industrial design. Trailer.
Sin Nombre A young girl travels to America with the help of a former gang member.Trailer

Most of these may not ever be available on DVD or in theaters, but if you get the chance to see any of them I highly recommend you do!

PEACE to you all!

God Bless Texas

Let me start by saying thus far I love San Francisco and all, but my heart and soul will forever reside in Austin, Texas. It was wonderful to be back, it felt like I hadn't missed a step. Moving to SF was the right thing to do for now - but it will not be home forever.

So, here are a few snaps of two Texas icons - the Lone Star Flag and Kinky Friedman. The images are super grainy, I was shooting ISO 3200 Kodak that had been expired for over 5 years. In retrospect I should have hit it harder (more exposure time, wider aperture) and possibly dipped it another minute or two in the D76 developer, but oh well.

Also, as promised my write ups for film and music are on the way. Getting ready for a photo exhibition in the Haight, preparing negatives, master files and mounting is keeping me super busy.


PEACE to you all!

Blur

I think I said this last year, and it certainly applies again, was it a dream? Am I already back in San Francisco, waking up in my own bed? Certainly I did not hit SXSW (music portion) as hard as I did last year, but still had a wonderful experience. Saw lots of good music, a ton of films, and made lots of images.
Let me start with the thank yous, Scott Gress you were a wonderful host, Gin and Meow Poww Media you rock, Marc Urselli always great to see you, and perhaps thank you most of all to Bettina and Eric at Austin Bikes. Really, lending me a bike totally made my trip and I am so very thankful. If you are in Austin and need a new ride, go to Austin Bikes, they are the best!!! Also, to all of you who I love and did not get to see (Jon, Todd, Duke, so many more), I was just so overextended that I was not able to see and do nearly 1/100th of what I wanted to, I love you all and will be back in Austin soon.
Tomorrow I am going to do a write up on all the films I saw, and the following day will do the same for music and post a few images. Was shooting exclusively film during music, so I need to go buy some new chemistry and develop/scan so I can post some images.

Keep Austin Wierd (and yuppy free).
PEACE to you all!

It Has Begun...

SXSW Interactive kicked off today! Going to be a busy boy but I will check in from time to time...

PEACE to you all!

Cali Dreamin

Snapped this on in La Jolla a few months back...
PEACE to you all!

Dev

I have been accumulating some black and white film at home over the last few months and over the weekend finally broke down and bought some chemistry. I developed a roll last night with some shots from xmas time. The image below was taken on xmas eve when I went on a hiking adventure with the Soulmates, a dedicated crew of hiking fanatics on Oahu.
I really did almost die on this trip. We were hiking to the Makapu'u tide pools - which are absolutely gorgeous. The surf report indicated a high surf advisory, but we were hiking at low tide so a group of decided to make the trek around the cliff-hewn lava coastline, giant waves smashing all around us. We got to one point where the cliff cut into the coastline so much that one section had become like a waterslide, slick lava rock that shot straight down into a washing machine of a break. So, of course as I am traversing this harry spot, a huge breaker popped out of the ocean and slammed me into the rock. I braced myself on all fours but started sliding down the slick rock, I managed to find some traction and hold on, barely getting out of trouble before the next wave of the set rolled in. It was a pretty harrowing experience, because if I would have slid down there was no way I was going to make it...
PEACE to you all!

Comp

Did a shoot yesterday at a rad shop over in the Mission, Tribus Vivas Dermafilia. The shop had a cool loft with a good view of 18th above the retail space. Special thanks to Wilson, Betto, Kyana and Lukas for being so awesome.

Please note that these are VERY rough and I just literally threw a few images onto one canvas for reference.

PEACE to you all!

Lace Up

OK, a few things:
1. I have refreshed my personal website with new imagery, social media icons, and updated some of the copy. ryanchahanovich.com
2. Thanks to the venerable Hannah for lending her arm. The background image of the site, seen below, is another sneak peek into my floaters project which I have shoots scheduled today and tomorrow for.
5. I will also be making sched's for the Films, Music, and other Panels I will be attending, post those soon. For now, here is a link to free food at SXSW!
PEACE to you all!

Coming Up

SXSW will be here with the quickness! I just got my shot list from the powers that be for Screenburn at Interactive. You can view my shot list sched here: http://sxsw2009.sched.org/rc_interactive_foto
I will also be putting together another sched of the Film and Music I will be catching, post that here in the next few days. One showcase I will NOT be missing is being put on by MeowPoww, Gin is arguably the hardest working girl in the industry:) Not to mention, Ume will be there and it is TOTALLY free.
PEACE to you all!

Wrist

Been working away on my project, code name "Floaters" - here is an outtake.

ps - SXSW is right around the corner, I will be shooting Screenburn at the Interactive Conference. Make sure to get your game on.
PEACE to you all!