Yet another of the Bedouins crew. I guess I should get these to them, eh?

Man is it ever spring!

Ate a special Holi meal at Taj tonight. It was a double date with Kevin! Us and our moms.

heres alan.

So...it is friday night...what did you do tonight? I ate chinese, cleaned my studio, and hung out in the darkroom developing sheets of 4x5 black and white film. No need to get into the grizzlies of what film and what chemicals....I can say we had a good time*. Anyway, it occurred to me that the way I develop stuff may not be exactly orthodox. Or it could be totally common. I don't actually know. Thats not really the point I am wanting to make anyway. The point is I use a tracklist of music on my phone and I fully stole the idea of music mixes as chemical times from by buddy Jonathan Purvis. I'm sure he listens to obscure amazing musics while he develops...I just searched my iTunes for songs that matched the lengths of time I needed. 
 
I present to you that playlist...list now: 
 

• The Sesame Street Theme Song
• Weather Systems - Andrew Bird (this is the developer...six minutes)
• If Before We Are Coughing - Half-Handed Cloud
• Bourbon Balls & Whoopie Pies - Cecil Church
• Boa Constrictor - Magnetic Fields
• Kids In The Hall Theme Song
• David the Gnome Theme Song
• Title Track from the Phish album The Sicket Disk
• Note To Self - David Karsten Daniels
• Waok (Ay) Rollcall - The Roots
• some song called 60seconds1 that has been in my iTunes Library since early 2005
• Row - Jon Brion (Eternal Sunshine Soundtrack)

 
I thought the list was bizarre enough to share. So there you go. Most of those songs are exactly one minute long.
 
 
*this is a decently obscure reference to the linked film. brilliant.
 
 
On an entirely unrelated note, here is a video that brings together two things I love immensely. The musics, quicks, looks, faces, ticks, and voice of the lovely Nellie McKay, and TED Talks. If you do not know either of these, do yourself a favor.
 

All I will say is that I shot 4x5 today.

I don't have words to say right now [and chances are you'll see this on a blog reader and if i update with words later it won't inform you. we'll see if i add anything later]

Jason Wallis in his studio office.

(nerdout note: 1/8th second handheld speed graphic polaroid)

Shot more 4x5 today. This is Alan from a few days ago. Tomorrow I think will be Jason from today. I took a couple of sheets of film today that I'll hold for a while before processing.

I've got Africa ideas...working on it.

Winslow in the middle of his street in Crestwood. Another photo from yesterday's day-o-science.

So today was pretty awesome. I woke up whenever (which means I slept late, which, in my old age means 9:30 am), burned some images for a client, pounded serious-style lunch with Alan Barton. Thats step one to a good day right there.

Then the magic happened.

You know that feeling when you have a day full of things you wanted to do? Like you had ideas, thought about executing them, did them, then found yourself pleased with the result? Well that was the remainder of the day as well.

1) I decided recently that I wanted to start a new weekend tradition. I went with Science Sunday. I really love the idea of having set things that happen consistently, and given that I make my own schedule 99.9% of the time, I think it is high time I start doing something weekly. Shit...I can take a photo every DAY for a year (this is proof!)...surely I can do one other thing once a week. (Now the question here is can I make myself go to the blasted gym once a week. Then twice. Then thrice. Then have lats the size of cobra hoods. BOOM!). I digress. So my point is that today was the first Science Sunday and it went off in style! My two science things today were to watch a video of Carl Sagan (swoon) talking about the Cosmos. (find part one of this video HERE). Part two was to utilize SCIENCE by going through ALL the processes of photography.

2) All the processes of photography:

• Load 4x5 sheet film into awesome film holders (designed by science!)
• Find appropriate subjects to photograph
• Use a meter to determine an exposure for the photograph in relation to the sensitivity of my film(s)
• Use awesome old camera (science!) to expose light upon not only said 4x5 film, but also Polaroid instant film (SUPER SCIENCE!)
• Come home and use awesome chemicals to make the film into a negative thing!
• Scan said negative thing onto the computer (SUUUUUPER SCIENCE HOW THEY DO THAT HOLY SHIT)
• Use "Internet" to present final image to all of the entire world

3) Step three overlaps a bit with step two (I have a venn diagram in my head), but it is this: Be happy hanging out with Alan, Caleb, Bob, and Winslow. Nods go to Purvis and Braxton. Purvis for being dirty, for us running into him. Braxton for letting us devour 20 mins of his time to photograph him. And I mean all of us. So that was fun..but the fun rolled over into when I was developing the negatives, Caleb and Alan started watching my dvd of This American Life (Series 2) and man..that mess makes me happy every time. Even when it makes me mad. (note to self: google phrase "even when it makes me mad" to see what shows up). Ira Glass is science. Try to argue with me on that one. I'll kneecap you.

So yeah. Great day. (there is always room for improvement, but it'll work!)

Above is Braxton, being awesome with his bike.

This is an out-of-order post that contains no photos. What it DOES contain is this video. This is super rough edit of 100+ images I threw together to show Terry over at Simon Cyrene. The background music and interviews are from the trip. There is no real narrative yet..there will eventually be another video that tells a story..this one was just to show a lot of images quickly (to someone who knows the story and who is already emotionally invested in the project).

That was part introduction and part disclaimer. Shocker. Anyway...

Oh and if you want to see it in HD, click on the thingy.

Development in Gardening - Photographs from Uganda from cary norton on Vimeo.

So....you are in the right place. This IS electric lion. You are not seeing things. The above image is of a newborn. It is true.

Don't worry, it's weird for me too.

I got a call from my buddy Jon today to ask me to come grab some shots of him and Becca with their now-one-day-old child person. This is a service I don't mind providing for them at all. Our relationship goes back a few years when they asked me to shoot their wedding have no CLUE if i shot them or not. They just liked my work and wanted me to do whatever I wanted at their wedding. That is pretty much the dream scenario when it comes to me + weddings. I shoot them here and there and actually do get a lot out of them*, but I don't love them. So to be hired basically to just shoot..and then it happens to be a wedding...well thats alright.

ANYWAY..

So I get this call, head over to their hospital place later in the day, and I sit here now really satisfied. It is no secret that I also don't love kids (nor slobbery dogs nor bad drivers nor gimmicky photography). The very fact I am posting a tiny-child stems from just how in love with this kid they were. They weren't OHMYGODTHISISTHESMARTESTEVERCHILD ITWASBORNWITHANIVYLEAGUEDEGREE SERIOUSLYITSRIGHTHEREANDDIDWEMENTIONHOWFUCKINGCUTEITIS OHMYGOOOOODDDDDD. They were just happy. You could see it all over them. It was internal, which is where I like it. It seemed real. They weren't having a joygasm over telling everyone about their kid. They just...were happy.

So that's why you saw a baby on electric lion. Jon, kissing Stella, with Becca in the background**.

*"get a lot out of them" means here the following: i use them as a means of learning more technical skills, dealing with pressure, etc, but mostly dealing with high stress situations in a manner that FEELS relaxed. that and executing my craft in a situation that will not be repeated. you get one shot and you've gotta be ready. its good training for photography in general.

**i debated what to do with beccas eyes. they look a little racoony but its in a hospital room with less-than-optimal light. if i blow them out it doesnt make any sense, if i dodge them a little she looks sort of like an alien. hopefully this note is moot because you, dear reader, didn't even notice. though of course now you may go look again and be bugged by it too.

oh and post script, I thought I'd mention that, yes, Stella has a cleft lip/palette. in case you saw it and wondered.

Development in Gardening - Photographs from Uganda from cary norton on Vimeo.

 
This is just a quick, rough way to show some of the photographs I took while in and around Jinja, Uganda for an organization called DIG (Development in Gardening). I was sent over by a local design firm called Simon Cyrene who works with charitable organizations, generally at no cost to them, to document the work they are doing.  
 
DIG exists to improve the health and well-being of HIV-positive and other at-risk individuals in developing nations. They began in Senegal and have moved to Uganda. The really cool part is they way to do their work. They help groups and individuals set up gardens in such a way that those they are helping gain the knowledge of how to sustain these gardens. Further, they can create new ones by themselves and teach others to do the same.  
 
So these are my photographs set to some music and interviews I recorded while on site. I hope to have an updated version in the future, but for now, I just want to post something. Look for an Africa edit to be added to my site in the future as well.

So I thought it appropriate to post this image today of Will Pearson, publisher and co-founder of mental_floss. It has been sort of a flossy day, plus I ran some ideas off Winslow, their designer, earlier as well. There is another reason, but I can't really go into that here.

But speaking of said ideas, I thought I'd mention that I added a revised series to my main website. I made a concise edit of the first year of Electric Lion, complete with notes about the year. A sort of year-in-review-but-posted-in-March-of-the-following-year kind of thing. Plus, having a gallery of over 300 images doesn't work great.

Check it out

On a day like today! Not long ago!

I took photographs of Caleb + Vandal to celebrate them being all engaged and what not.

ALL AT ONCE WE WERE ATTACKED BY A RABID ALAN BARTON, infected with the T4 virus.

I took this photo as I fled the scene.

I wish I simultaneously be driving my scooter and blasting the music of The Great Book of John. Feel warm wind move around me and hear things that make me happy. I guess I'm saying I want to physically exist inside a movie I have made in my mind.

I've started a new set on flickr called People Sleeping. I found I take a lot of photographs of people sleeping, very often in public.

Who is bored by Electric Lion? What do you want to see? I know this is my blog and about what I do, or whatever, but I'm down for suggestions.

I still need to find Goals to execute.

I'm still wanting to be more transparent about what I'm shooting and thinking.

I'm trying to be a better person. That is a very hard goal.

Feel free to give me feedback. I am open to it.

Here are Caleb and Vandal.

Shot random things today, mostly just hanging out with steph. Really good day. Really good.