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JMC’s Portfolio/Work

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Apr 11, 2011

I used to be a scientist. I don’t do that any longer. I never felt like talking about it much, because I never thought it was a particularly interesting topic to talk about. Just like every “cool” job, being an astrophysicist (astronomer) sounds much better if you’re not in the middle of it. I specialized in computational cosmology, aka running very large computer simulations of the evolution of model universes. You don’t actually get real universes inside your computer. The models are all rather simple, and at least in the ones I was involved in there are no stars whatsoever. There weren’t even any galaxies (the visible matter is only a small fraction of all matter in the Universe, so you an run things without it and it still comes out fine). One of the challenges for the simulations was always how to visualize what you got, and that was something I tremendously enjoyed doing. (more)
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Dec 10, 2008

I’m extremely happy to be able to announce Bare [link absolutely nsfw!], a group exhibition of photography that I curated, to open at Michael Mazzeo Gallery on 11 Dec, 2008 (a reception for the artists will be held at the gallery on Thursday, December 11, from 6PM to 8PM).
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Sep 26, 2008

—> I’m happy to be able to announce the second Towards a Personal Vision photography workshop, for practicing photographers and advanced students in photography, to be held in Northampton (Massachusetts) from November 7, 2008 until (and incl.) November 9, 2008 by Robert Lyons and myself. Find my interview with Robert here. Further information about the scope of the workshop and about how to sign up etc. can be found on this page or in this (pdf) brochure.
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Aug 11, 2008

This past weekend saw the Towards a Personal Vision workshop happening, organized and led by my friend Robert Lyons, an accomplished photographer and teacher, and me.
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Oct 29, 2007

While I had decided earlier that I was done with Higher Education, after having started at the new job I found too much to just walk past, so I gave myself another roll of film to shoot. When I got my camera set up for this photo, one of the Chinese graduate students walked by. He stopped, looked at me and then at what I wanted to take a photo of, to finally ask me what it was. This it was, and it came out exactly the way I had seen it.
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Aug 7, 2007

Part of the reason why moving hosting took a bit longer was that I also wanted to have my own photography updated. I have been working on a couple of new series, and since one is now at a stage where I feel comfortable showing it, my last excuse for not finalizing the hosting switch evaporated. So apart from the new look of the blog (one of the templates that came with MT actually; so for those who emailed me or commented on how good it looks: Thank you for completely overestimating my abilities to make things look good online) there now is Higher Education online - I re-shot the first version of this series (now using film!). Seeing the 20x20 (inches) prints of the photos made me realize that I’ve come a long way from when I started with photography. In any case, the statement for the series is still missing, as is the general “about/bio” stuff - I’ll add that after my move to Northampton, Massachusetts next week (I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to be able to get out of Pittsburgh!).
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Oct 22, 2006

I can’t hope to seriously compete with Brian Ulrich’s wonderful thrift store work, but I just could not walk past this scene, spotted at a local store.
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Sep 22, 2006

from my new “No Place Like The Cape” series
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Jun 22, 2006

1. Buying 500 paper clips does result in weird looks/comments when trying to pay for them. 2. 500 paper clips also is quite the overestimate as far as needed quantities are concered (see 3.). 3. Doing the art work letter-size is way too small (see above) 4. Listening to a rousing Shostakovich symphony while placing needles on top of other needles is not necessarily the best idea (even if it’s a lame and overrated interpretation; it’s good I avoided the probably best version). 5. Using a work surface that is too low results in severe back pain. 6. Being very casual about taking the photos is very stupid. 7. Dismantling the piece at the end is quite satisfying. 8. Significant fun can be had with a collection of paper clips, needles, and thumb tags. (actual photo link posting will of course continue tomorrow…)
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Feb 24, 2006

I decided to occasionally post one or the other of my own photos again. Don’t worry, it won’t be all that often - since you don’t come here for my stuff. In any case, this is a new one from my “Higher Education” series.
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Mar 18, 2005

Samples of my Carnegie Library Pittsburgh series are now online.
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Jan 24, 2005

(very recent, new work, as part of the ongoing “Pittsburgh” series)
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