kosinedesign photography

right place, right time

2010-02-20T12:44:00.004-05:00

I am not one who chases weather or anything but... I experienced this a few days ago.

u n b e l i e v a b l e

Some experiences you just have to be there to fully appreciate what is right in front of you. I am thankful that I have chosen a profession/obsession that allows me to translate the world into a concrete object, a photograph.

recent work.

2010-02-14T12:52:00.003-05:00

Room With A New View

2010-02-10T02:35:00.004-05:00

Nearly a month ago Aura and I moved up 5 floors and across the hall so now we look out and have a view. Before we looked out into a lightwell... blah.

View from where I work...

I was hoping to clean up the apartment before taking a photo... and spending a little time lighting it but I didn't, and you can see where I combined a few photos to make one. Here's a view from our front door.

My dad is coming to visit on Friday. I'm stoked.

twenty-four

2010-02-05T05:02:00.005-05:00

I turned twenty-four today.
A few random photos that I thought were worthwhile or something.
Posted the new site tonight too. Images in the WORK section to come.

leonardo

winejill
long hair

tanner and aura and horses butts at the denver stadium last summer

aura, schwinn and helmet

2010-01-23T03:36:00.005-05:00

Many sunny days make rainy days seem dramatically solemn.
Many rainy days make sunny days seem extraordinarily clear.

PHOTOGRAPHY is essential to my life. Lessons from my childhood taught me to deal with constant shift and change. I find it hard to stay in one spot for any extended span of time. I hate to say goodbye to people. I feel the ongoing need to make sure that people know that I am thinking of them and that I care for them. I learned to cherish all relationships. To see the good in them and not linger on the bad. Photograph fulfills these adapted needs in my life. Allowing me to capture, savor and reflect on moments in time that I will never have the opportunity to revisit. My camera allows me to hold onto moments lost, fleeting moments as I like to think of them. In reality all moments are fleeting. However the specific fleeting moments that I observe and mechanically capture define my photographic vision. My understanding of art, life and photogarphy has shifted, relatively dramatically, over the past seven years. Thousands of photographs and hundreds of drawings, paintings and collages have educated me to observe the world as I do today. It is my hope that I have progressed and am now creating artwork that is far more substantial than even what my work was a year ago though. Critical to my vision is to make work tomorrow that I feel is more successful than my work was today. As life is, this is all relative and dependant on proper balance of elements in my life. A balance of sunshine and rain one might say.

endnote: My cousin Trenton (above) turned 21 the other day. This is overwhelming to me.

travel

2010-01-20T11:03:00.000-05:00

at the airport.

Back Where I Come From

2010-01-11T02:40:00.005-05:00

There is no place like home. Even if it is freezing there.

Bench Sitters.

2010-01-07T19:18:00.003-05:00

A life of watching and waiting.

American.

2009-12-15T16:59:00.004-05:00

Cliche.

Seriously though... AMERICAN MART.

There is so much going on in this image. The obvious and not so obvious. Like the fact that the 'American Mart' is open yet still has a For Lease sign on it. What does that mean? In my mind it reveals the American ideal that things are always for sale in hopes that a better option might come along. This idea is further emphasized by the fact that there were other words obviously painted over and replaced with the bold 'AMERICAN MART' lettering. And the stars.... what is with America and patriotic stars?

The small black figure in the background too seems to be yelling at the two heavy foreground figures. Her arms crossed with her almost childlike pout expression. To her left, the man looks up, his hands are held together, possibly the most optimistic aspect of the image. On the right side of the woman, the other man flicks his cigarette. As if it isn't upsetting enough that he is extremely overweight to be smoking just makes it worse.

Tiredness.

2009-12-09T17:50:00.002-05:00

to be tired.
to be free.
to be open.
to be challenged.

New thoughts.

I AM.

2009-11-16T03:00:00.005-05:00

Sometimes it is extremely hard to finish the sentence 'I am...'

One of my personal favorite observations about life is how my definition of who I think I am evolves and changes. Everyone changes and time has it's way of making us all wiser and more experienced. At times it is extremely painful and other times, when life is going smoothly, it can be quite enjoyable.

It seems odd to me, but I was actually out on the street the other day thinking about where I am geographically, chronologically, physically, emotionally, spiritually, etc. and I started to look for the words HERE I AM. I found HERE very easily but finding the words I AM, isolated out in the world, is a very hard task. If you don't believe me try it. So anyways a few days later I found it on an old theater sign in downtown LA. I lucked out that there was only one person down underneath the sign as it felt right to only have a single person under these challenging words.

I'm looking forward to another week of street shooting and making fun of myself through photography.

Go Mock Yourself.

2009-11-12T14:41:00.006-05:00

Sometimes the best therapy is to simply make fun of yourself.

I have been spending way too much time thinking and getting frustrated over my thesis work. Specifically trying to understand what I am trying to say with my work and all that emo stuff.
So yesterday I took the opportunity to do the opposite by making fun of my most cherished values. These are two of ten, some are even more degrading and rather inappropriate.

Plea of a City Tree

2009-11-10T18:15:00.001-05:00

Main Street Spirits

2009-11-06T01:29:00.006-05:00

They are everywhere.

The light in downtown as the sun begins to set is unlike any other I have experienced. I'm in luck since the weather is very consistent I can count on light being a certain way at certain points in the day.

As other previous posts have shown the light on the buildings reflecting off one another fascinates me, but when i shot this I couldn't help but focus on the shadows as people walked by.

LA where the sun shines... Columbus weather seems so far away.

Golden Go.

2009-11-04T17:27:00.002-05:00

Golden death?

I have found that people in downtown have subtle ways of decorating for Halloween/Day of the Dead.

I was slightly surprised to see a legless/armless hanging skeleton in front of the lovely word "Golden". Once that caught my attention I was thinking of what the best way would be to capture the peculiarity of the scene when these two men walked in the frame. The magic happened when I got the film back to find that the one guy has a skull-like expression.

Two Rancheros Reunite

2009-11-03T15:44:00.005-05:00

As seen on the street:

I have these moments when I am out photographing.

One minute I feel that where I am at is not inspiring me,
but then something magical happens like the above moment.

I am then left to dream about whether or not I actually recorded what I saw until I get the film processed...

This is what It is all about.

jes_s saves

2009-10-29T01:25:00.012-04:00

-
You know when you spend a lot of time and energy on something and then you mess it up right when you finish it. That is what happened to this roll of film. After 36 frames of carefully observed photos... I opened the camera back without rewinding the film. I noticed the film was visible and quickly shut the camera. After that trauma I had wait until the next day to get the film processed to see the damage. I can't really complain seeing how it only ruined a few frames and the others just have the crazy light leaks.

It is times like this when I am assured that shooting film again is important because of the bonus, unexpected, mishaps that give character to the images.

I have really been enjoying my time on the LA streets. The people, the light, the sounds... more to come soon.

Two more rolls to pick up tomorrow.

New realization:

film sculpts / digital chisels.

Along with branding, designing and developing Aura's school's look and website. We designed this exterior painting design.

new backyard

2009-10-19T15:30:00.011-04:00

It's been awhile since I have posted more than just a pic or two of random 'what I've been doing' kind of photos. Here are some from the past week or so. Since I have been living in downtown LA I have been trying to get out and photograph for a few hours several times a week.

^ my new 'back yard'
^ where tragedies are advertised on buses^ where churches advertise in big bold letters^ and mariyln is never too far away^ people here always communicating with higher powers^ nap time in the local park (pershing square)
^ comfort food all day if only the store was open^ light and buildings
^ what's in the box?

^ wildlife in the wild light

^ spirits are all around for those who pay attention

2009-10-01T02:24:00.004-04:00

::reflection::

watching a photographic composition [one that speaks] emerge is far better than wasting time clicking away and filling up cards*

*thoughts after photographing on the street in downtown LA for several hours

2009-09-25T21:42:00.001-04:00

Aura and I have been working non-stop it seems with her schools website, branding, etc. today we had to come up with concepts on what the outside of the building will be painted. Keep in mind we are doing this on a Friday after Aura has had a long week of school and I have been doing... well what I do. So the designing went down quick and dirty... and this is what we have come up with thus far... so draft #1. More to come.... as always.

2009-09-17T20:28:00.002-04:00

These past couple weeks have been crazy as I have had several big projects that all had tight deadlines. This week has been totally devoted to redesigning, photographing the students and developing the website for Aura's school that she teaches at. So definitely take the time to go to www.thedesignhighschool.org. Aura and I did all the designing, photos and web work all this week. We are so glad it's up and for the most part done... we still have a few bugs to work out.

2009-09-13T20:58:00.000-04:00

more to come.......

2009-08-21T23:16:00.000-04:00

in the process of getting settled in our new place.....

2009-08-15T20:23:00.002-04:00

On August 2nd Aura, her brother Tanner and I left PA packed in her Jetta headed westward. We drove to Ohio and hung out with my parents and Caleb and Brittany then headed straight to Denver the next morning. Arriving in Denver the morning after at sometime around 5 in the morning then we hung out for the day in Denver and Rocky Mountain National park then headed west towards Moab, Utah. After spending a few hours in Arches national park we drove straight to Las Vegas, passing through Bryce National Park. Just outside of LV we slept in the desert under 55 mph winds then headed to LA. We finally arrived in LA and moved into our new place in downtown LA. I had class the following two days and then we hoped on a plane and flew straight back east all the way to Emerald Isle, North Carolina. We spent the week there with Aura and Tanner's parents and just now returned in Manheim... Just a few pics from the trip...

2009-07-29T23:47:00.000-04:00