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I saw Sofia Coppola’s latest film Somewhere on Christmas. The film was playing in limited release in Los Angeles and other cities. The film chronicles a few weeks in the life of fictional actor/celebrity Johnny Marco played by Stephen Dorff. Opposite Dorff is Elle Fanning, who convincingly plays Marco’s 11 year old daughter Cleo.

The film centers around Cleo being left with Johnny after her mother unexplainably needs to “get away.” Johnny fumbles his way through full time father the best he can while his clumsily deals with the other women in his life, a seemingly non-stop troupe of shallow sexual relationships with the attractive women who seem to be both drawn and repulsed by him everywhere he turns.

Johnny and Cleo’s relationship is both sweet and tender. You can tell that he has a genuine love for his daughter and feels his only real connection on this planet with her. Tea parties underwater in a hotel swimming pool, ice cream in bed at an Italian luxury hotel, her tired head on his shoulder as a waiter at the Chateau Marmont serenades them with a gentle acoustic rendition of Elivs Presley’s “Teddy Bear,” — these moments portray a soft authentic human Johnny Marco who seems to relish the brief moments of human connection he can find with his daughter.

Contrasted with Johnny’s tender moments with Cleo is the cliche of being a Hollywood celebrity and the ultimate emptiness that all the money and fame can bring — accented, as one might expect, by plenty of booze, cigarettes, pills and then there are those women again. The women are non-stop, like a drug for Johnny, but a drug that ultimately never satisfies and leaves a string of disappointment and resentment behind in its wake. Anonymous hateful text messages litter the movie on Johnny’s cell phone from what one would imagine are the series of shallow sexual relationships that he quickly moves in and out of.

Johnny is both awkward and distrustful with his celebrity status. He quickly gets out of a conversation with a new actor at a party who tries to engage him about method acting. He looks like a deer in headlights as he’s bombarded at a press conference about his latest film, barely able to offer any substantive answers at all — the last question in the press conference seems to be the hardest and most direct for Johnny and we are left hanging without an answer. “Who *is* Johnny Marco”?

The answer is, even Johnny doesn’t know who Johnny Marco is. At his best he is a flawed but well meaning father. At his weakest an empty shell of man who has been manufactured into yet another quality Tinsletown superstar product — his only little moments of self pride seem to be around things like the fact that he does his own stunts (and has injured his arm to prove it). Johnny is more or less a celebrity shuffled around by Hollywood’s money machine, his sense of individuality limited to the logo t-shirts that he wears to express his own sense of style and taste in contrast to the polished marketed Hollywood world around him. It’s nice to see Black Flag get a shout out.

It’s the relationship between alienation and time that Coppola does best. Long drawn out uncomfortable scenes that highlight the boredom of loneliness. Johnny sits in hotel room smoking a cigarette from start to finish. You hear every drag and the quiet popping of the tobacco burning as he inhales. He picks up his beer and you hear every single sound, the beer bottle leaving the glass table the sound as the liquid as it goes down his throat, the elevator moving outside the hallway.

In another scene, a mask is cast for Johnny out of plaster and he keeps the plaster on his face for a half hour and Coppola spends what feels like an eternity focusing on Johnny as a solitary figure with two small nose holes cut in his mask for him to breath. Each inhale, each exhale, each swallow amplified in the emptiness of the rest of the scene and with the time that it drags on. We watch, in an almost uncomfortable sense of voyeurism and pity mixed with a touch of claustrophobia. The payoff in the end of that scene is seeing Johnny completely in mask as a 70 year old version of himself.

Somewhere as a whole is a beautiful story, put together one touching scene at a time — but really it’s strength is not the plot in totality which on its own is quite thin. Rather, like its predecessor Lost in Translation, Somewhere is best viewed as a series of lighter interconnected scenes — each almost a sort of short film in and of itself. It’s the strength of the individual scenes rather than the scenes sewn together as a whole that the ultimate success of the film rests on.

In fact so much of the film feels in so many ways very similar to Lost in Translation, and undoubtedly and inevitably begs comparison. There is the relationship between celebrity and the international’s quirky television media (Japan in LIT, Italy in Somewhere). This time Johnny and Cleo play Guitar hero Reminiscent of the karaoke scene between Bob and Charlotte in LIT.

At their deepest level both films deal with the alienation of their central characters and both offer companionship as some sort of redemption, never quite fulfilled in the end though as this thing we call life so often seems the insurmountable true barrier between real connectedness.

It would be remiss not to mention another successful element of the film, the music. For those of you who loved the soundtrack to LIT, you will love the soundtrack to Somewhere just as much. Scored by the band Phoenix, the music goes perfectly with the beautiful artistic cinematographic scenes Coppola has constructed. Music takes a central role with many of the scenes played almost as entire songs, less as background more as foreground. Dialog is minimized as Coppola more or less uses long strong scenes around the dominating music. Nowhere is this more prominent than in Stroke’s frontman Julian Casablanca’s stripped down gentle demo version of “I’ll Try Anything Once.” The song is played in it’s entirety in the film over scenes of a loving father daughter relationship.

All in all, Somewhere is a strong effort and result by Sophia Coppola. Lost in Translation fans will undoubtedly enjoy a very similar film. While the film in some ways feels less daring than you might like, Coppola has a unique voice as a filmmaker and it is nice seeing something that tries a little bit harder to achieve an artistic sensation than the average Hollywood blockbuster these days. If you love big budget Hollywood action films, you’ll probably hate Somewhere. But that’s ok. The world needs more films like this.

On the weekend of November 20-21, 2010, I was invited to photograph the new Cosmopolitan Las Vegas prior to their opening December 15, 2010 in Las Vegas NV.

This set of images represents my efforts that weekend to showcase this newest resort property opening up on the Las Vegas Strip. Thanks to David Scherer from The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas for showing me around, to Miiko Mentz at Katalyst Films for helping to arrange the shoot, and to my wife for modeling for me.

To learn more about The Cosmpolitan Las Vegas, check out their website here or their Facebook page here.

I’ll be adding many more photos to this set in the next few days and following up with a more detailed blog post on shooting this property as well.

From Adobe:

Adobe today announced the Lightroom 3.3 and Camera Raw 6.3 updates are available for immediate download on Adobe.com. Originally posted as release candidates on Adobe Labs, the final updates bring raw file support to 15 new popular camera models including Nikon D7000 and Canon Powershot S95, as well as lens profiles for over 60 new Nikon, Canon, Pentax and Sigma lenses. Available on Adobe Labs, the Lens Profile Downloader 1.0 – a free companion application to Lightroom 3, Photoshop CS5 and Camera Raw 6 – allows customers to search, download, rate and comment on over 300 lens correction profiles provided by the community. Photographers can create custom profiles for their own lenses and share them with the user community.

A full list of the newly added raw camera support and the new and improved lens profiles can be found on the Lightroom Journal.

Lightroom is the essential digital photography workflow solution, helping serious amateur and professional photographers quickly import, manage, enhance and showcase all their images within one application. The Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in provides fast and easy access to raw image formats produced by many leading digital cameras.

Pricing and Availability
The Lightroom 3.3 update is available as a free download for Lightroom 3 customers, and the Photoshop Camera Raw 6.3 plug-in is available as a free download for Photoshop CS5 customers. For more information and to download these updates please visit Adobe updates. To download the Adobe Lens Profile Downloader 1.0 and Lens Profile Creator visit Adobe Labs.

*Users can connect with the Lightroom team directly on Facebook and Twitter.

Newly Supported Camera Models:
Canon PowerShot G12
Canon PowerShot S95
Nikon D3100
Nikon D7000
Nikon Coolpix P7000
Olympus E-5
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2
Pentax K-5
Pentax K-r
Ricoh GXR, GR LENS A12 28mm F2.5
Samsung NX100
Samsung TL350 (WB2000)
Sony A560
Sony A580

Dear Thomas Hawk,

My name is xxxxxx xxxxxxx and I am an editor at xxxxxx. We are currently compiling a self-guided walking tour to Bakersfield, CA, USA that will be published on out site xxxxxxxx as well as in an iPhone application.

We hereby seek your permission to use one of your photos of Aldo’s on Flickr.com as part of the tour guide in question. The photo we need is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/4959547641/

Naturally, we intend to credit you fully for the authorship of this photograph.

I thank you in advance for your permission and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best regards,
xxxxxx xxxxxx
Editor
xxxxxxxxxxxxx

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Hello xxxxxxxx,

Would there be compensation associated with this request?

Best,

TH

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Dear Thomas Hawk,

If you give us your kind permission to use your photo we’ll provide a link back to your flickr page and credit you fully for the authorship of this photo.

Best regards,
xxxxxxxxx xxxxxx

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Dear XXXXXX,

This deal sounds very intriguing to me. So technically then I could tell people I was “published” then right? Do you also provide press passes for this sort of use? Would I officially become an employee of your organization?

TH

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Dear Thomas,

Unfortunately you can’t become an employee of our organization, but you will be able to tell people that you are published. When the tour is complete I will give you the link so you could see it in place. Will you give us your permission on these terms?

Best regards,
xxxxxx xxxxx

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XXXXXX

Would I be able to eat at Aldo’s for free or get some kind of free meal out of it?

TH

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Dear Thomas,

Unfortunately I don’t really know if they have such promotions for their visitors.

Best regards,
xxxxxxxx

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Dear xxxxxx

It would be cool to tell my friends that I’m now a published author.

Two additional quick questions.

1. How do I know this offer is for real? I know nothing about your company.

2. Would someone from Aldo’s be willing to actually sign the image in your book to authenticate it’s use? It could also make my own copy of the book more valuable if it was signed.

TH

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xxxxxxx,

Would you guys still like to use this image?

TH

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Dear Thomas,

Yes, we still need your kind permission to use your photo of Aldo’s. Sorry for a late reply. I would also like to make one thing clear, we don’t publish a book, we make applications for iPhones. Please visit our web-site so you could better understand how we’re going to use your photo. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any other questions and if you give us permission to use your photo of Aldo’s.

Thank you in advance.

Best regards,
xxxxx xxxxxx

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Dear xxxxxxxx,

ohhhh, I get so confused sometimes, I *totally* thought you were talking about a book.

I used to have an iPhone but I switched to Android after getting such crappy service from AT&T. So I’m not sure this would really apply to me. It’s iPhone only?

I can’t imagine a lot of people in Bakersfield have iPhones if you know what I mean.

Would I need to buy an iPhone prior to submitting a published photo?

Also are you also including Buck Owen’s Crystal Palace in your calendar app?

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Dear Thomas,

Please confirm whether you give us your permission to use your photo of Also’s or not. You shouldn’t have an iPhone to give us your permission.

Thank you in advance.

Best regards,
xxxxx xxxxxxxxxx

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I was just kidding about the iPhone. It’s close to Christmas though and so I just thought maybe if you wanted to get me something (hint, hint).

Would this permission need to be permanent, or could I just give permission for a period of time, like say 6 months or 1 year, or something?

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Dear Thomas,

This permission need to be permanent, but we’ll use your photo for our tour guide and iPhone application only. We use photos under Creative Commons license. You’ll remain the copyright owner.

Best regards,
xxxxxxx

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Dear XXXXXXX,

I hate asking this a second time, but my friend (who technically took the photo while I was driving — but don’t worry it was on my camera) wanted me to ask again if we could get paid for this.

He told me that Aldo’s is a very popular restaurant with lines down the block half the time and assured me that they’d be good for $50 at minimum.

He told me sometimes restaurants will do an all you can eat for 2 weeks only sort of thing as well. He told me to warn you though that he can eat like a Sumo Wrestler and was kicked out of the all you can eat sushi place down the street last July.

I don’t mean to ask twice but I promised him I’d try one more time.

He told me also that I need to be careful because sometimes if you give permission your photos will be used in video games. He said this happened to a friend of his once with a very popular skateboarding game. I’m not saying which one but it’s a very popular game (hint, hint, my last name).

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Dear Thomas,

Unfortunately we don’t pay for photos. We never steal them or use in video games as well. In general we need photos to help the travelers who have our applications to find the places they need and that’s all.

Best regards,
xxxxxxx

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Dear xxxxxxx,

If you used the photo would there be a possibility of putting one of those sort of “donate now” paypal button things (in red) next to it so that people could donate directly to my paypal account if they wanted to? I’m not saying I’d charge for the app or that they’d be required to donate or anything, I’m just saying maybe a donate now button might send a bit of coinage my way if you know what i mean. cha-ching.

If the app got popular this could be a win-win for both of us.

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Dear Thomas,

We can only provide a link back to your flickr page and credit you fully for the authorship of your photo.

xxxxxxxx.

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Dear xxxxx,

How do I know this isn’t “stock photography?”

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Dear Thomas,

Maybe you should visit our web-site to understand that we aren’t a stock photography agency?

Sorry, but I must leave now so I won’t be able to continue our discussion for a period of time.

Best regards,
xxxxxxxxx

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my existing license does allow for non-profits to use the image. Just a thought but is your organization non-profit? Just trying to think creatively out of the box so to speak here.

Would this be for all languages or just English?

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hello

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hello

it’s only too clear, by Extra Super Cutie

In 2008 I was approached by a reporter at the NY Times who was working on an article on the new art of Flickr. She asked me for the names of a few photographers who I thought best represented the emerging artistic talent that was coming out of the site. One of the names that I gave her and who was ultimately included in her article was Extra Super Cutie — a tremendously talented photographer who has over the past several years put out a strong consistent stream of emotionally fueled confessional imagery.

Earlier today I was informed by her best friend that Extra Super Cutie passed away while sleeping last night. This is such sad news. She was a young photographer who used color and focus to create so many different moods. She would take her work in so many different super creative directions, and always with such rich feeling. She had a love for music and cameras and the tangible things in life that you could touch and feel and taste. You could feel it in her photographs. Her photos always were personal and you’d feel her pour her heart and soul into each and every new image she’d create and publish.

Extra Super Cutie had a lot of online admirers. She was active on Flickr and Zooomr and especially most recently on FriendFeed. As much as she’d share her own work, she was also a wonderful curator who loved sharing not only her own life but the creative output of so many others she admired.

it’s so, so sad that she is gone. She was taken much too early. She was so young. She will be missed. I don’t know any other details about her passing but will post them here if/when I learn more.

Goodbye Carlotta Fancypants.

Update: Extra Super Cutie was very active on FriendFeed especially. Here is a thread started yesterday there by Michael May where many in that community are also expressing their condolences.