and the last one!

HARBOR Reframed (3/3) from F. Martin Morante on Vimeo.

2 out of 3

HARBOR Reframed (1/3) from F. Martin Morante on Vimeo.

and



HARBOR Reframed (2/3) from F. Martin Morante on Vimeo.

COMING SOON!

Getting Close.

HARBOR Reframed (2/3) from F. Martin Morante on Vimeo.

Getting close and finishing details. This is the second video I made as a promotional for the upcoming show. I am really excited about it. Hopefully comes as a good thing.

More to come.

Common Grounds

(click on the image to enlarge)

Fishing at the Wisconsin River near Stevens Point with my friend Thai. 

© Flavio Martín Morante_2014

Nikon Coolpix P7000

This past weekend my good friend Thai and I went up to Stevens Point for some fishing at the Wisconsin River. Nice place and a really nice time spent fishing (yes, we got some Bass and Walleye), talking and enjoying the silence at the same time. We were around four hours and a half in the water, so it gave me time to think a little and I could not avoid obviously to trace some parallel lines between fishing and photography. I personally was taught both from early on from my Dad, and both I enjoy tremendously despite that I do not go fishing as much as I would like. 

Also the similarities go to the fact that you have to know your tools in order to know your craft and vice versa... (when it comes to fishing Thai really knows his craft, reason why he got way more fish I could even possibly think to get)

(click on the image to enlarge)

Thai preparing the line before getting in the water._© Flavio Martín Morante_2014

Nikon Coolpix P7000

...have to apply a tremendous amount of patience, get your feet wet and cold sometimes to get there, have to know not only to wait but also to know when the "catch" is there and when is there to get it and celebrate it or loose it and try again. Also, you have to be aware that you are just a small part of the whole thing and sometimes, not matter how patient, how good you think you are, when is not there for you is not there, but if is there, you may go home with some fish.

(click on the image to enlarge)

Me with a bass caught at the Wisconsin River_© Flavio Martín Morante_2014

Nikon Coolpix P7000

Taking a Walk in the Wild Side (or something like that)

(click on the image to enlarge)

"Liberty"_ Schettl Sales, Oshkosh_Wisconsin, 2014.

© Flavio Martín Morante_2014 _IPhone 4S set on square format.

Yesterday on our way back from our fishing trip, Thai and I stopped at Schettl Sales in Oshkosh, a place he had pointed out previously, and which seemed like a big junkyard of interesting objects.

I was not disappointed as the place is a vast garden of statues, figures, signs and strange objects that spread through the property like a charming museum of cheap taste that can feed the imagination of who knows what to look for.

Because the place was closed at the time we got there we did not adventure beyond any gates, but still managed to walk around the front where I made these quick snaps, still an excellent place to spend some hours on a photo-walk or simply by the curiosity of seeing all those objects at once. I leave some images here, but if you are on the area, I will suggest you make your way there in order to see this piece of americana that will feed your eyes and imagination for a little.

Click HERE for satellite view or directions to it.

(click on the image to enlarge)

"Horses and some other creatures"_ Schettl Sales, Oshkosh_Wisconsin, 2014.

© Flavio Martín Morante_2014 _IPhone 4S set on square format.

(click on the image to enlarge)

"Overweight David"_ Schettl Sales, Oshkosh_Wisconsin, 2014.

© Flavio Martín Morante_2014 _IPhone 4S set on square format.

(click on the image to enlarge)

"The Beauty and the Beast"_ Schettl Sales, Oshkosh_Wisconsin, 2014.

© Flavio Martín Morante_2014 _IPhone 4S set on square format.

(click on the image to enlarge)

"The Death Always Present (and smily)"_ Schettl Sales, Oshkosh_Wisconsin, 2014.

© Flavio Martín Morante_2014 _IPhone 4S set on square format.

About Time! (Personal Website up and running)

Personal website home page screenshot.

Yes! finally "got it together" and finish building my website.

I am using Koken at http://koken.me/  and it has proven to be a great experience so if you are looking to make a nice and simple looking website that focus on your work, give it a try.

So that been said, take a pic at my own work and feel free to share it. Through the PORTFOLIO section you will be access 12 albums of very well selected work for you to see.

Go to http://www.fmartinmorante.com

If you like it, have any comments or suggestions, please I would like to hear it so send me an e-mail and I will certainly respond.

Thanks.

Oh Dear BAUHAUS!

This coming Wednesday I will be presenting the movie "The Face of the 20th Century: BAUHAUS" during the program PORTfolio at the W.J. Niederkorn Library of Port Washington, about one of the most influential schools of art and design from the past century.

Movie starts at 6PM and is free. Books on the subject will be available for viewing or to check out.

Hope you can make it. I will be an interesting one.

Finding Vivian (or still looking for her?)

(click on the image to enlarge)

Finding Vivian Maier at Downer Theatre in Milwaukee © Flavio Martín Morante_2014

Iphone.

Yesterday we went to see the movie "Finding Vivian Maier" at the Downer Theatre in Milwaukee. I was really looking forward to see this movie for the last almost 2 years since I first heard about the story of Vivian Maier (you can read some more HERE or HERE).

The film was to some point good, except that in our case it left us with many more questions than answers. Among those questions is what is recorded on those multiple tapes she made through her life? No sure either who she was or why, why someone will take so many photos like the ones she did without telling anybody.

I think her pictures are FANTASTIC but I really agree with what one of the interviewed said: We are missing a piece of the puzzle. I personally think we are missing more than one (not only her)..

I believe anybody that does not know about this story will find it fascinating for many reasons.

Take a peek, you may enjoy it.

Time Flies

(click on the image to enlarge)

"Arrivals"_ Chicago (looking North) 2014.

© Flavio Martín Morante_2014 _IPhone 4S set on square format.

I took the above photograph this past Monday as we were approaching for landing on O'Hare's airport in Chicago. This image or I better say this view reminded me of the view I saw 13 years ago to this exact date, when I was about to land on Chicago for my first visit to the United States. I was actually sitting on the left side of the plane, so my first view as soon as the plane passed the Lake Michigan's shore was of what I came to know as "the Loop". Sadly I lost that photograph, but the fresh memory of the city's magnitude as being the biggest city I ever saw at that time still stays with me. 13 years. Who knew...

Southern Chronicles

Dawn and I have just come back spending some time with friends in North Carolina, which provided a nice spring vacation break from the Wisconsin weather that does not leave any more room for comments.

It was a nice time and as usual, camera on hand I made my way through the place trying to capture some of its essence. This time I took my usual black and white film camera and to my own surprise I found myself taking way more photographs on color with the Iphone set on square format, which it gave some nice results that I would like to share here. Below some of my favorite photos with some notes on them.

(click on the image to enlarge)

"Capes and Fears"_ Cape Fear area, North Carolina.

© Flavio Martín Morante_2014 _IPhone 4S set on square format.

On Friday after driving 3 hours south from Raleigh, we took a nice detour towards Willmington to see about reaching the area of Cape Fear. We kind of did but to my disappointment the area is a highly touristic one with the only fear being the one of asking how much a house there will cost? Still, it was a nice drive and the finding on this photo despite the weather made the journey a great thing.

(click on the image to enlarge)

"The Lost General"_ New Bern, North Carolina.

© Flavio Martín Morante_2014 _IPhone 4S set on square format.

This was taken in some area of New Bern, an area that I was told after I should not have get out of my car. Anyway, I did and the result is that I found the "General" and the photograph was made. 

(click on the image to enlarge)

"Black Beard Winds"_ Beaufort, North Carolina.

© Flavio Martín Morante_2014 _IPhone 4S set on square format.

This one was made on Beaufort, little coastal town of North Carolina famous for many reasons, among them to have supposedly to have "Black Beard" as one of its infamous inhabitants.  With the maritime spirit breathed on it I snapped this one of water, sails and dreams.

(click on the image to enlarge)

"Resting Corners"_ Beaufort, North Carolina.

© Flavio Martín Morante_2014 _IPhone 4S set on square format.

Opened in 1731, the "Old Burying Ground" is one of the most oldest and famous cemeteries in the state. In it, there is people buried from the revolutionary world, the civil war and others. Its a place some how mysterious (depending on the light going through the trees) that invites to spent some nice time walking between its graves. I made the majority of photographs on the trip actually there. I will post more about it hopefully soon.

(click on the image to enlarge)

"Wild Horses"_ Shackleford Island, North Carolina.

© Flavio Martín Morante_2014 _IPhone 4S set on square format.

On Sunday, Dawn and I took a ferry to the Shackleford Island, one of the many that act as a natural barrier and which has a lot of wild horses and ponies. The story goes that from centuries back because of multiple shipwrecks of sailboats coming from europe with horses on its cargo, a lot of them ended on the beaches of this islands moving from one to another as the currents will allow. This has created a population of wild livestock that can be seen roaming the islands like this photograph shows.

(click on the image to enlarge)

"Southern Views"_ New Bern, North Carolina.

© Flavio Martín Morante_2014 _IPhone 4S set on square format.

I took this photograph around New Bern, which to our surprise is considered the birthplace of Pepsi Cola. The industrial past of the town is still visible despite some abandonment due to the passing of time.

(click on the image to enlarge)

"If Hopper Would See It"_ Beaufort, North Carolina.

© Flavio Martín Morante_2014 _IPhone 4S set on square format.

This view is one of the many views you will encounter walking on the narrow streets of Beaufort. No wonder it inspired the book "A Walk to Remember" by Nicholas Sparks.

(click on the image to enlarge)

"Neptune's Broken Trident"_ Morehead City, North Carolina.

© Flavio Martín Morante_2014 _IPhone 4S set on square format.

The maritime spirit of Neptune present on the coast of Morehead City, another coastal town with strong maritime heritage.