Happy Earth Day.

Seventeen photographers from Ann Arbor’s Krappy Camera Club are staging a show of really interesting work created with cheap cameras.

Their Lo-fi manifesto is as refreshing as their work:

At this moment in history, the technical aspects of photography are receiving unprecedented attention. New cameras of amazing sophistication are breathlessly analyzed by photo magazines and websites. Photographers are draining their bank accounts attempting to keep up with equipment purchases.

But a few photographers are reacting against this conspicuous consumption and rampant technophillia.

The essence of photography - to place a particular frame around the world at a particular moment - remains unchanged. So some choose to pursue this act in the rawest possible way: By using the most obsolete, flawed, and lo-tech cameras available. Most were created as economy snapshot cameras, some even as toys. Many are decades old. All share very limited controls, and optics of questionable quality.

The toy camera aesthetic turns its back on sterile technical perfection. Instead it celebrates the messy unpredictability and dreamlike imagery that only a truly rotten camera can provide.

The analog between these art photographers and winemakers is intriguing. By turning their attention back to earlier means of making pictures, these artists seem to be making room for the pictures to answer some interesting questions: Is the technology an enabler or an obstacle to expression? Can the world express itself more artistically when we move the technology to the margins? Do the flaws have voices? Do the limitations make the world more interesting?

Jack Pine shares via twitter:

Elated that this week’s New Yorker has a piece by John McPhee. Wine industry types should note that it’s about Champagne.

unfortunately the full article’s not online. blasted atoms to bits conversion.

Wine-tasting takes time, and what better time to re-devote toward pleasure but your boring airport wait?

Thanks to Tina for the link:

At Vino Volo, customers can sample wines either by the glass or in tasting flights. Plates of cheese, cured meats, salmon rolls and other gourmet fare complement the flavours of the wine in a relaxed, upscale atmosphere. The experience doesn’t have to end when a flight begins boarding: wines are available for purchase by the bottle and can be shipped to a customer’s home (subject to state law).

Read the rest at Springwise…

from: epicurious.com/bonappetit/features/biodynamic_wines:

Think of it as organic farming taken one step further. In addition to banning the use of pesticides and artificial additives, biodynamics works to create a self-contained, sustainable farming system in which everything on the property, including water and organic materials, is recycled and reused to regenerate the land. Chemicals are verboten because they deplete the soil, which is considered a living organism. And these practices aren’t limited to wine. These days, everything from milk and cheese to produce, spices, cosmetics, and olive oil is produced using biodynamics.

Intuitively we sense these wines must be better — if not better for us, better for the land — but are they? And why? “Each year that you practice biodynamic farming, you increase the biodiversity of the land and the health of the plants. You can grow better vegetables, olives, and grapes — if your definition of better is based on authenticity,” Benziger says. The goal, he says, of a biodynamic winemaker is not to make a perfect wine, but to express the authenticity of the vineyard, or what the French call terroir. He adds, “Sometimes that means a bit of a chipped tooth, but if done the right way, those are things that hold people’s interest, like the Mona Lisa. Her imperfections, her individuality, hold your attention.”

Read the rest…

via pheezy: Today is International Slow Day in Italy.

Take a breath with us. There’s time enough to hurry later.

N’allez pas trop vite.
An advantage is that the world has a chance of becoming more interesting…

Shots from the conference in LA. It was inspiring to speak with Nicholas Joly and Paul Dolan. Definitely in with some heavy hitters.

the 1821 team will be convening at Nicolas Joly’s Return to Terroir in LA on february 12th and 13th. we’d love to connect with you (over a great organic glass of wine, of course). come find us, and learn more about organic and biodynamic growing processes.
sign up at upcoming.org: http://upcoming.org/event/140347/ and we’ll see you there!

Please pardon our dust as we get started online.

This is our first-ever historic blog post. Savor it!