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Michael D Housewright
  • Housewrighter
  • Imagery
  • Video Production
  • About Michael
  • Contact
  • Housewrighter Musings

Housewrighter Nominated for Prestigious Photo Award

One of my Nominated Images

The Housewrighter was just nominated for a prestigious photography award by the industry-leading website Hipstography. I would very much appreciate your vote. Just follow this link VOTE for HOUSEWRIGHT and vote for my COMBO 280 - Michael Housewright.

Hipstography is the recognized leader in presenting images from one of the iPhone's most dominant photo apps, Hipstamatic. The site is curated by the very talented and passionate Eric Rozen. I was a fan of the site before I was a contributor. My Pacific Coast Series (Combo 280) is an example of how artistically powerful the tool can be, and how striking the coast of California is, even in the absence of color.

Please consider voting for me, and sharing this page with your friends. More exciting news about The Housewrighter coming this week.

 

Stay Tuned,

Michael

tags: Adventure, California, Eric Rozen, Histamatic, Pacific, Monochrome, michael housewright, Travel, Images
Sunday 01.25.15
Posted by Michael Housewright
 

Lake Tahoe - Smoky Images

A Ghostly Abyss

Lake Tahoe - Smoky Images is a 3 part photo essay on the duality of disaster. As is typically the case when I travel, I had to jettison my expectations within the first few minutes of arriving at a destination. The last time I visited Lake Tahoe was in 1999. I was under 30, recently rejected from a job in Rome I had wanted more than any other job before or since, and had just visited the Napa Valley for the first time. I lost my only black and white roll of film on that visit 15 years ago. I had to make amends for that misfiring roll of film, and shoot the clear, blue skies, and wondrous mountains in full color as well as black and white (the lost roll). As we neared the infamous Donner Pass, we saw the smoke. In just a few more moments, the sky was opaque with grey smoke and the aroma of an acrid campfire. Juliet and I talked about how many of our friends love the smell of burning wood, and that they might be in for some sort of nesting, fireplace vacation if they had been here to experience it. As for me and my wife, we basically loathe the smell of smoke (of any kind). For a brief second we can tolerate it, but our sensitive respiratory and olfactory systems break down quickly from there. In this case, we had a 25,000 acre, and growing, conflagration to manage.

By the time we drove into our hotel property, in the purportedly stunning town of Incline Village, Nevada, visibility was less than 300 feet, and I felt  like what Dante described so beautifully in The Divine Comedy, 

Midway upon the journey of our life,
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straight foreward pathway had been lost

So much for long exposure photos of the Milky Way. So much for sitting under the cool night air and relaxing in the warm outdoor jacuzzi. We got into our room and headed immediately to the beach. The chestnuts, pine nuts, branches, grass, forest creatures, and this vacation, were all roasting over an open fire. The air stank with misery and menace. The waves were vigorous on the lovely sandy beach. According to the guy managing the boat dock (where one may rent motor boats or schedule private charters on the hotel catamaran) there are gorgeous mountains directly in front of us, and encircling the lake. All we could see was an odd Abyss (see the first image) and a few boats bobbing in the rough surf. It was easy to understand the size and depth of this lake, simply because I had not experienced such waves on a lake since the last time to the Great Lakes. It was now time to figure out our latest recipe for vacation Lemonade. So, we immediately started drinking, and started querying the locals for dinner spots. We would up at a place called BITE and enjoyed some of the best "American Tapas" (as they label them) I have tasted. The fried chicken sliders alone are worthy of the trip.

We left the restaurant and awaited the hotel shuttle to bring our buzzed and oxygen-starved bodies back to the room. We noticed a few stars that were bright enough to shine through the lingering smoke. It appeared the evening breeze had shifted, and the fires, some 50 miles away, were now sending their noxious vapors into other areas. There was a glimmer of hope that tomorrow might be free of fumes. As we drifted to sleep on the shore of Lake Tahoe, I could not help but think once again of Dante when I pondered my hopes for the coming days.

"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here"

....to be continued

tags: Adventure, California, Humor, Images, Incline Village, juliet housewright, King Fires, Lake Tahoe, michael housewright, Nevada, Photgraphy, Photo Easy, Travel
Friday 10.03.14
Posted by Sarah Finger
 

A Feral Humans Photo Shoot - Handley Rock

Feral Humans Dwelling in Local Cave

A Feral Humans Photo Shoot was not a choice. It was a duty to my species to capture these rare beings in their natural habitat. Travel photography need not shun the sensual in my opinion, and in my journey to the mystical Handley Rock, high in the hills above Redwood City, I found these two playful creatures frolicking among the recent hipster graffiti. One was called Dakotah, and the other Jason. These two souls, who sometimes masquerade among us, making coffee, were perhaps a bit shy at first, but their natural attraction to one another, and the bright lights, became quickly apparent.

Feral humans are sometimes scary. We are often afraid of getting our hands dirty in life, but what about our feet? What about our beards. What about epic beards or dirty feet is scary? Feral people do them both with sex appeal. Feral men and women do not need trainers, Sephora stores, or Photoshop.

The colorful cave markings became clearer as the lovers broke their embrace. This temple, where rights of feral engagement are carried out, was only 4 feet tall. My equipment and my height were challenged for every shot. The feral art was on the walls, on their bodies, and in their hearts. I was simply an observer in this beautiful interplay.

The green paint on the cave walls symbolizes envy, left at the door. In this cave there is only love, play, and feminine hegemony.

I turned my camera away as the play became more than my sensitive audience could bear. The formerly shy mammals looked only satisfied with their ceremony. I wondered aloud to them that I was not sure how the vanilla world would react to this rare cave capture. My voice startled them and Jason's hair assumed a war position. He grabbed Dakotah like a Bernini warrior, and my camera was so frightened, it lost its ability for color.

I was able to calm the warrior with my assurance that I was no threat. He knew I was not, long before I said a word. Look at that grip, the impressions in her legs. This was something like love. This was such a compelling moment in my life. I had just witnessed something beyond my own life. I was witnessing humans outside of technology. What the fuck was happening here, I kept wondering to myself now? These people were touching, smelling, breathing one another. How could people function without the orb of social media?

I began to believe I was dreaming. I was no longer an observer in this adventure. I was in a cave, with feral humans, and I was chosen to share their game, unfettered from the chains of science. This was natural selection, for them, and for me.

Finally, the action abated, and I was simply invited, without words, to share this brief saga. "Go back home, tell those that would judge our magic, that they are leaving all that is real in life behind them. Go tell them to get feral, as you call us. We are love. We are play.  We are the only thing that life offers outside the miracle of birth, and the agony of death. We are what is between the beginning and end. No one fucking wants control, they want to be feral. They want to be sensual, accepting, and accepted. Our circle is growing, come in, remove your phones and your shoes. Get dirt on your parts, in your hair, and love like there is no calendar"

This is the Housewrighter, reporting on the Feral Humans of Handley Rock

tags: Adventure, Amazing Photo, Bay Area, Dakotah Snow, Fantasy Photography, Feral Humans, Handley Rock, Housewrighter, Images, Jason Dean, michael housewright, Photgraphy, Portrait Photography, Redwood City, Travel
Wednesday 10.01.14
Posted by Michael Housewright
 

Pacific Coast Series Part 2 - Redondo Beach

The fog wafting over the happy beachgoers

The Housewrighter Pacific Coast Series is my laboratory of recent photo work along the NorCal seashore. A fellow photographer friend told me about Redondo Beach (not the one in Southern California) and it was indeed striking. Just south of Half Moon Bay, and north of the fabulous Ritz Carlton (see below), this compelling cove is rife with great shooting opportunities. In this study, I used my Olympus Stylus 1  to create all the images you will see. I am continually amazed how versatile, this little cam is, and what wonderful images it produces. I shot the above image from about 75 yards and edited it on Snapseed.

I really enjoy the splash of green moss along the rocks pairing with the green of the golf course at the Ritz in the background. In my next post, you will see some of my slow shutter work I have done, and it looks very cool with this hotel in the fog. I think the RC is going to want to buy this one from me. Shot at about 115mm and edited on Snapseed.

I put the Stylus 1 on a little Gorilla pod and activated the built-in ND filter. This was a 1 second exposure, stopped down 5 stops at about 175mm equivalent. The surreal blur and moss in the foreground make it look like a scene from some Hawaiian volcano opposed to the California Coast. I worked this in Snapseed, Old Photo Pro, and Image Blender to create the final image. All edits were completed on my iPad Air.

This lone fisherman Hipster was trying his luck for the first time in his life with a net. To avoid copyright issues, and to make it a more moody image, I used GLAZE to apply a painterly technique. I blended it back with Image Blender and finished it off on Snapseed. I shot this at 3oomm at f2.8. This one is why I get up in the morning.

This is perhaps the best advertisement for the serenity and solitude offered by the California Coast in my neck of the woods). Who doesn't want to pitch a tent right there, and have the whole beach to one's self? The powerful 300mm zoom on the Olympus makes this image possible on a fairly foggy day. This one is just the image, and a little bit of Snapseed. I often shoot cropping to the square on my Olympus, as I have a trained quick assessment of my work with the iPhone. I took some cool stuff with the iPhone this day as well. However, this was one day I was glad I had the Olympus Stylus 1

Stay tuned for announcements about my upcoming shows, classes, and maybe even something much bigger :-)

tags: Adventure, California, Half Moon Bay, Images, michael housewright, Olympus Stylus 1, Photgraphy, Redondo Beach, Stories, The Housewrighter, The Ritz Carlton
Wednesday 07.16.14
Posted by Michael Housewright
 

Pacific Series - Panther Beach

Panther Beach - Near Santa Cruz

The Housewrighter Pacific Series is a choice of my favorite Hipstamatic images from the past year, all taken along the Northern California Pacific coast. Today's image is from Panther Beach. I was driving north along the PCH from Santa Cruz, when I saw a little strawberry stand. I stopped and chatted with the owner of the stand about strawberries and modernity. He hated the proliferation of internet reviews for his beloved Panther Beach across the street from his stand. He claimed that dirty hipsters and derelicts from San Francisco were coming down and spreading their filthy graffiti on the rocks, and breaking away pieces of the coastline out of spite and stupidity.

Of course, I had to see for myself what this beautiful place was like before the interlopers completely annihilated the joint. To my great surprise, and awe, Panther Beach was absolutely stunning. A secret so beautiful rarely stays hidden for long, and in this age, the hipster moon was sure to rise above Panther Beach. Fortunately, while there were far more people on this beach than I typically see along the coves of NorCal, no one was painting on the rocks or making 3rd wave coffee with filtered seawater.

I perched on the bluff with my dirty little iPhone 5 and I snapped this piece of wonder using the Hipstamatic App with Florence Lens and Maximus LXIX film. I did only minimal processing beyond capture, just to give the waves a touch of sharpness.  This image would look wonderful on your wall at 30"x30" under 1/8" non-glare plexi and an aluminum back. This would be a 200 year piece.

$1475

 

tags: Adventure, California, Hipstamatic, Images, michael housewright, NorCal, Pacific, Pacific Ocean, Panther, Panther Beach, Photgraphy, Stories, Travel
Friday 06.06.14
Posted by Michael Housewright
 
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