Living Art, at it’s core, is an image that moves. Think- print in motion. Creating Living Art is about making a strong image, and then making that image move. Remember, we’re not making motion pictures: that’s what movies do. We’re making pictures that move.

So now, we would love to see what you all can do! We are hosting a little contest and calling it “Move Us With Your Image!” It might be helpful when designing your work to think in terms of 3 components: the start image, the movement, and the resolve. Then use the same artistic mojo that you use to creating a powerful still image, and make it move. For some examples of how we have been making Living Art, check out our Living Movie Poster and Living Magazine.

Keep in mind that this is a developing art, and we don’t want to limit you with rules. We will be judging on your creativity and how you use this medium to connect with the viewer.

A big thanks to Really Right Stuff for sponsoring this. The grand prize will be a L Bracket / quick release clamp combo of your choice to help you turn your camera on its side, and shoot vertical.

Deadline for submissions is November 30th and winners will be announced in December.

Here’s some guidelines:

1. Landscape or portrait mode, it’s your choice. Just make sure you make the choice and it’s a conscious one that fits the shot.
2. Audio is fine, but certainly not necessary, and may be distraction. Use with discretion.
3. It doesn’t have to be shot on an amazing video camera like the 5dMII. It doesn’t even have to be shot with a video camera at all. A series of images shot in rapid fire, for example, is fair game.

We will be judging mostly on creativity and how you use the medium to convey your ideas. Technical merit is cool, but whatever makes the image work conceptually will be valued over high production images that don’t connect as well.

Can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Here’s how to submit:

1. Go to Vimeo.com (they allow both horizontal and vertical videos)
2. Sign Up for an account
3. Upload your video
4. Email Andrew the link to your video (andrew at alexxhenry dot com)

Resources:

Canon 5d Mark II Users: For those of you that are going to use the 5D Mark II or if you’re a lucky individual that somehow has their hands on 7D you can find just about anything you need to know about the camera at Planet 5D’s Wiki. Whether its exporting or shooting issues, starting there should be very informative.

Exporting with Vimeo: When we first started posting to Vimeo we wanted to make sure we were exporting the best way possible so it looks crisp in clean on the web. This article is extremely helpful.

Now go out there and create! Any questions? Post them in the comments section and we will be sure to respond.

Don’t forget to subscribe to this blog via email or RSS and/or follow us on twitter for any updates or announcements.

Best of luck!
-Alexx & Andrew

Photo courtesy of: Nate “this-lens-is-worth-more-than-my-car” Kalushner

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To further reassure our vision of an OLED future presented at the Collision Conference on Saturday, scientist from the RIKEN center in Japan have made some wonderful new discoveries. According to Yutaka Yamagata of the RIKEN Center,

“We have discovered a range of conditions using a two-solvent method that can make extremely smooth thin films using electrospray deposition. Using this technology, these devices could be manufactured as inexpensively as printing newspapers.”

To dive into the specifics and technology of this discovery, head over to OLED-Info.
-Andrew

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Thanks to everyone who made it to the Collision Conference today! As I mentioned in my talk, I’m offering a challenge to those of you who what to try your hand at making Living Art, and I’d love to see what you come up with. Check back Tuesday for all the contest deets to be announced.

-Alexx

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This has been out for awhile but just in case you havn’t seen it, Jon Rawlinson captures the 2nd largest aquarium in the world and displays it beautifully as living art.

Truly stunning…
-Andrew

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Thanks to everyone for all the terrific feedback and comments on this and all the other blogs that carried the Living One Sheet Video! It’s great to be part of this discussion. This is such an incredibly exciting time to be an image maker. We are at the dawn of something new.

It won’t be long before the Harry Potter vision of the future is realized with moving portraits adorning newspapers and adverts. I am so excited about all the possibilities with converging photography with motion and thrilled to be on the front lines.

I’ve been getting some feedback about how these changes are exciting but scary, and some fear about the barrier to entry (cost of Red etc…) and I’d just like to state the obvious and say that yeah, change can be scary, but as Heraclitus pointed out 2500 years ago, the only constant is change. So as artists, we wind up facing the fundamental Darwinian axiom- evolve or dissolve.

Sure the Red One is expensive, but you can rent. And even still, the video image quality from the 5DMII is breathtaking, and that is certainly affordable.

So I challenge you to go out and try something. Take your aesthetic and vision as an image maker and try something new. I’d love to see what you can come up with. As an added incentive, there’s even a contest in the works. Stay tuned for the deets.

Best,

Alexx

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This is Keith’s ninth video. Combining the techniques of tilt-shift and timelapse, Keith’s goal “is to present Sydney as the Model City, and help people take a second look at places that are very familiar to them.” Taking a second look is a great way to describe these works of living art. Each video has it’s own song that molds into the videos style and mood, creating a whole other world. With each new release, I see new elements being added that bring a whole new perspective to everyday life.

Check out more of his videos here.
-Andrew

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Youtube Version Alternate Link

As promised, here is our experience with using the Red One Camera, chronicling our voyage beyond the still image.  Looking forward to our next project featuring living art portraits. Stay tuned… After the video, take a peek at the links to see the final results.

We’re very excited about all the possibilities with converging photography and motion. Big thanks to everyone who helped make this happen. Especially Pam, DJ and Chad over at Hallmark who championed the idea. It’s not every client who is willing to take a risk with something new and they deserve recognition for this.

Living One Sheets: Final Versions after the jump:

(more…)

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We’re big fans of Obscura Digital here. Kudos to them for consistently pushing to create unique content with a big ol’ cool factor. Great job of using the projection plane (the building) to create living art.

-Alexx

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