Requiem for a Blog

My heart is broken, my eyes full of tears, my soul heavy and my mouth full of croissant (ok it’s not relevant but it’s morning, and I‘m French)….

So now I am sure you are asking, what’s happening? This croissant is much too expensive, and now I know the real reason for this international economic crisis. But the crisis is nothing compared to the bad news I’m about to tell you…

This post is the final post of my blog…. I know, it’s verrrrrrrrry difficult to read these words but all good thing must come to an end. Please don’t jump out the window, run out into traffic or worse melt your brain watching “Jersey Shore” on TV.

Instead, go on my website www.charles-camarda.com where you will find all the things you loved about my blog reincarnated as News, Gallery, Current Work and very soon, the Picture(s) of the Week.

When I say reincarnation, don’t imagine a zombie from the “Thriller” music video, but something more perfect and evolved like the phoenix rising from the ashes, as in the Harry Potter movie if you have no imagination (but now I am not sure the latter is a good example….. I don’t know what is worse; a zombie dancing in the street or a boy whining his way through 8 movies).

So see you soon on my website, and thank you for loyally reading my blog and for your continued support.

Farinelli

When you sing, you could have three results. First, the manufacturers of cochlear implants will employ you for life. The second is “yes it’s ok, it’s nice”, in a same tone as “Could you pass the salt please...” The third reaction is; you could find employment in a hair waxing salon and make a fortune. Why ? Because your voice is so perfect, than when you are singing, people’s hair stands on end, and now it’s very easy to remove. (Work with me people!!!!) Or if your name is Carlos Aznarez you could just sing like an angel and be totally brilliant.

I met Carlos, a few months ago, and immediately I liked this guy. The first reason is that we have the same first name. I think this name is a mark of distinction, intelligence, class and of course modesty (One of us has more of the final quality than the other. Guess who?). The second reason is simple, Carlos (not me, the other one) is really, really nice (humph, come to think of it, so am I, so forget the parentheses).

At Christmas I brought Carlos to a friend’s party to sing. His performance is still in everyone’s mind. I have had the chance to spend some time with him, and take some portraits of this talented tenor, singer/composer.

Labalaplablabla...

Last Saturday I exposed myself to the general public… At the same time I showed some of my work and tried to sell myself and my work. What a surprise, people liked my photographs and even bought some. Why are my photographs more interesting than me? (Remember, I am French and I must take care of my “big fat ego”…)

So more seriously, at this event, one thing was verrrrrrrry interesting (expect me of course), it was…… the food!!!!! I became a sushi addict. Free buffet (means extensive dieting after), all you can eat (means “I am not feeling very well right now, can I go outside for some fresh air”…) And at the moment when your stomach was working harder than your brain, some bands were playing good music. I was happy to be a part of the reenactment of a roman banquet …

Even more seriously, this was public’s first glimpse of some of the photographs from “The Human Face of Science”. The reactions were very good, positive and enthusiastic. Thank you very much, but if I can send this personal message to one of my fans: ”Please go home and don’t stay camped out under my windows, and don’t keeps stalking me!!!!!!!!!!!!!’’ . To the others, see you at the official exhibition…. Soon… Congratulations to the organizers, Labapalooza was an amazing success.

(for one time it's not my pictures...)

Electric Dreams

Three weeks ago, I launched my new website www.charles-camarda.com . Thank you to the 76 Facebook addicts who have clicked on “I like”. In addition to pleasing your gregarious social networking instincts, you have helped me to have a higher ranking on the search engines. Merci, Merci……..

Marathon Man

Last Sunday I was hired to take pictures of the New York City Half Marathon. I was lucky because the press agency gave me an accredited press pass. Imagine the frustration of the security guard who saw me go back and forth several times waving my official pass at him just for the pure pleasure of being able to do so.

I have proof that the marathon runners do not come from the same planet as us, or at least as me. Firstly, they are in shorts and tee shirts while I was following my Inuit fashion sense favoring pants, sweater, thick socks, and a heavy jacket. The guy who was cold was not who you’d think. The second proof is that the first man over the finishing line completed the race in 1hour 23 seconds and the first woman’s time was 1 hour 8 minutes 51 seconds. Just in this case, and don’t read anything else into this, I will compare my performance to the woman runner. In 1 hour 8 minutes I would just have time to go to the boulangerie ,and after to stop by the post office, chit chat with the postman and walk home watching the squirrels in the trees. In other words…another world!

In conclusion, I have decided to prepare myself to run with the winning guy next year…or not. (I guess not).

The Human face of the science

As you may know, I have started a photo project entitled "The human face of science".
By taking artistic black and white portraits of scientists, I'm trying to show their human nature, to make scientists closer and more available for the public opinion and to change the cliché image of the 'mad scientist'.
This collection of portraits is designed for an exhibition or in a further future for a book about scientists. Each picture will have a caption explaining the human side of the scientist as I have seen it.

Several scientists and students from CSHL have already accepted to pose for the project. I have tried to capture their very specific habits, expression or hobbies.
You can view these pictures at : http://www.charles-camarda.com/album/scientist/scientist.html

I'm still looking for scientists to pose and I would be delighted if you joined the club.
I'm looking for people with an interesting history or hobby.
Please let me know if you would be interested. Please do not hesitate to say no if it's the case.

I will be setting up my photo studio at the piano room in Davenport the week of January 10th.
Please let me know if you could come and when so that I can organize a schedule for you and for me.

The typical photo shooting takes less than 5 min, however I appreciate discussing with the people just before the shooting in order to better know them and capture their spirit. The whole process usually does not take more than 20min.
That would be great if you could bring any accessory that you think defines your personality or your hobby (outside of science!).

Please feel free to forward this email to other scientists that may be interested.

Addams family

A few weeks ago, some friends came to my home for Halloween. If you don’t know what Halloween is, or if you want know what I think about it, go and read this post : http://charles-camarda.blogspot.com/2009/09/usual-suspect.html

Everybody would love opening their door to Nicole Kidman, Liv Tyler (if she doesn’t talk), Pink Floyd (perhaps I need a bigger apartment) or The Beatles (but you need to be God’s best friend)… and on this night, the best option arrived, better than these guys lumped together…….or not…… The Addams Family…. It sucked… Where were Nicole and Liv?

Almost all the family was in my house (my cat is still in hiding). Under their masks, or perhaps their masks were their true faces, some of my friends were here. All scientists, all with PhDs…. And I promise, knowing these guys are working for your health, for your future, for the good of the world is scarier than your worst nightmares…

Sometime evolution plays a good trick, and now, I know why scientists have this reputation for being a little weird and crazy.

The unconscious disease - Part II

This post is the second part of http://charles-camarda.blogspot.com/2010/10/unconscious-disease-part-i.html and once again, there is “adult content”, so people under 18 should read no further… and may I have a second lens for Christmas please Santa…

When I arrived my English was like a soft drink in a Scottish pub…nonexistent! Within the first few days of my arrival, I spent a weekend with a group of people. I didn’t know anybody, and when the clock struck noon, and our stomachs yelled “famished !!!” We went to the picnic table to have lunch. I think many people have stomachs that share something in common with Pavlov’s dog. At twelve o’clock, even if you were not hungry before, you suddenly are now. So I was in a middle of a big group of people, and because I am a well brought up young man (in appearance), I wished the girl next to me ‘’bon appetit”. I don’t know if it was my accent or that she didn’t know this phrase, but for one second her eyes became so big she looked like a surprised puffer-fish ! I tried to repeat the phrase with the artificial addition of an English accent, but it came out as ‘’booonnne appetiiite”. I got a double puffer fish look. Hiding in the shadows, like the devil ready to play trick, was another person who was watching us. He completely understood what I wanted to say, and apparently he has a PhD in puffer fish behavior. He looked at me and said “Dig in”. Politely, I repeated what I had heard to this girl, and “dig in” became “dick in”. I am sure she had no comprehension of French manners, but she understood the second sentence very clearly. The “devil” corrected the situation quickly by explaining my mistake… This story has a good ending, because nobody in the group was upset by my suggestion, and soon all became friends.

Photographing wildlife is one of my favorite activities. Just as many famous people are linked to a mythical animal, I also have my own personal obsession... One day I was talking to a friend and I said ‘’ My dream is to take pictures of a Harfeng” (I was in the habit of seeing puffer fish reaction). “A harfeng…? What is a Harfeng…” For once it was easy to explain what I meant and drive away this stupid fish.

- Did you see Arry Potter?

- See what ?

- Arry Potter

- A reporter ?

- Yes yes, Arry Potter’s white bird

- ……………….. a reporter’s whtite bird ? No.

- What ? Amazing you’ve never seen Arry Potter !

This is a perfect example of the “H disease”. And by the way a “harfeng” is a snow-owl and my friend never saw a white bird with a reporter, but did see “Harry Potter”. Of course with this terrible malady, when I said to another person ‘’I want to shoot a snow-owl’’ and it came out like ‘’I wHant to shoot a snow howl”, you could imagine the puffer-fish invasion…

So these are some of my mistakes in this country. I am sure many of my friends have more examples, but there are nice to me and say nothing, or perhaps they know, I don’t take pictures, I shoot……

The unconscious disease - Part I

Before reading this post please be aware, that it contains “Adult content”. So, if you are under 18 stop right here… I know thinking that the younger generation will stop reading here, is like believing in Santa Claus…. But just in case, I can only hope. And by the way if Santa Claus reads this may I have a new lens for Christmas…

A while ago I met the director of a scientific research lab. He saw my project about the ‘’human faces of science’’, and apparently, he liked it. After that he hired me to take pictures of the people in his lab. I decided to shoot these new portraits in a similar way to my original project. The director had liked how the scientists looked: not like scientists. So for this project you have escaped seeing a person shown full length, holding a frame, with his genitalia exposed…. The result is almost the same, without the genitalia, but with a big smile instead…

Now, you must say to you “what the point?”

If you don’t know French person or at least have never talked with one, you might not know a terrible malady he suffers from, “the H disease”. The French drop “H” when they should not and also… add it when they should not.

Do you want an example? I have a friend; everybody calls him Oliver, but not me. To me he is Holiver. When I want to go to eat, it’s because I am angry. Actually I am not in a bad mood, I am just hungry. If I don’t like you, I ate you…. So for my photo shoot, I asked my model, “show me your happiness.” But with the ‘’H disease’’, it came out as, “show me your penis”… My model knows this terrible disease, because he works with French people, and his face broke into a huge smile... I was delighted, “Yes like that, perfect….” I thought he had followed my direction and was showing me his happy face… Two days later, I was having dinner with one of my friends, and she told me about my mistake. Apparently the lab is still laughing, and I had avoided an embarrassing situation with a guy dropping his paint…

This is just the first of the list of my mistakes… I will tell many other misunderstanding due to my “H disease” in my next post.

The proposal

Spring and summer always come with longer and warmer days, beautiful bird song, butterflies and bees creating new flight-paths between roses and wild flowers, and all nature prays to the sun god… It‘s the quintessential bucolic spirit… Humans participate in this ‘’summer pastoral party’’, imitating the awakening rhythm of nature, by creating firstly… The Barbecue (could anything be further from nature than the barbecue but we do use it outside during the summer and it’s groovy) and secondly, the summer wedding.

I think for many people you have a wedding and “A Wedding”. I am not talking about money, food, or location (although the food, of course, could be the most important). The first type of wedding is when a distant (and not favorite) cousin gets married, and you can only remember him as an annoying brat whose foolishness often caused you to be punished. To avoid this type of wedding, you could volunteer to take care of your mother in law’s Yorkshire terrier with peeling skin, and unforgettable BO (the dog’s not your mother in law’s…. I hope...). The second type of wedding is the friends/sibling, wedding. A day that is almost as important for you as it is for them.

So for the second time this summer I was invited to a wedding. After the episode between Brazilian girl and Australian boy (read http://charles-camarda.blogspot.com/2010/05/my-best-friends-wedding.html if you have forgotten) comes Italian girl and San Salvador boy… The couple asked me to perform my favorite task for them (the first person, who thinks or says cooking, can go paddling to the rhythm of drums on a roman galley.)

Imagine the difficulties for their future child. Which soccer team to cheer? He/she will learn very quickly three languages (Italian, Spanish and English), but faster than this, the art of diplomacy.

You must know this, both of them are scientists. As a scientist I made an experiment; will the groom’s suit dissolve in water? Perhaps for you it’s insane but I am just a photographer and I wanted to know. So I asked the groom to take two pairs of trousers (in case)…. The result is: A very funny and unusual picture!

To finish, I just want to send all my good wishes to Silvia and Agustin…