Welcome to the Bureau of Arts and Culture's New Monthly Interactive Magazine. We suggest you view the magazine as a two page layout as some articles have a centerfold photographic design. Many of the features are extended on line in audio, simply tap the links & logos to visit and view images related to the Article. We went door to door with a paper edition last year in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, since then we have added sites in New York City, San Francisco, San Diego and Santa Barbara plus the New National Literature site celebrating all things Literary. Last month, we were proud to have BOB MARLEY on The Cover with a featured Interview with Dennis Morris. This month, we have the Legendary Animator & Artist Jules Engel as our Official Guest Illustrator. Jules Engel transformed animation while working for Walt Disney on the ground breaking film: FANTASIA. Also, Exclusive Interviews with Photographers: Andrew Moore, Matt Schwartz and James Gabbard. We also bring you 10 questions with Filmmaker Tom Donahue, Book Store Owner Dennis Wills And Sculptor Colin Sherrell. We invite you backstage with Mark Murphy at REDCAT, Celebrate Miles Davis' 88Th Birthday, give an excerpt from The 'Chapter-A-Day' Novel: " They Call It The City Of Angels ". Plus a 24 Image Essay, Interviews with Tobey C. Moss & Tony Fitzpatrick, Jack Kerouac's Letters, John Coltrane's Influence at Impulse and Elmer Bernstein's Classic Music for: To Kill A Mockingbird. Tap The Images & Links To Visit Some Of The Institutes. Many of The Ads and Images Are Live Links, so you must be On Line. Send Us an E Mail and You May Win A Complimentary Film From One of Our Advertising Sponsors: FIRST RUN FEATURES. We are also proudly welcoming back INDIE Printing as an Official Advertising Sponsor for The Coming Season.
A Reminder: Every Ad / Logo in the magazine is a Live Link so tap & enjoy
- Joshua A. Triliegi Editor - in - Chief
THIS MONTHS BUREAU BEST OF SURFING CULTURE
BIRDS SURF SHED IN SAN DIEGO : BIRDS SURF SHED
SAN DIEGO SURF FILM FESTIVAL 2014 : S D S F F 2014
NEW YORK CITY LIGHTENING BOLT : LBSCUSA
HERMOSA BEACH'S EDDIE TALBOT : ETSURF
SANTA BARBARA SURFING MUSEUM : SBSM
SAN FRANCISCO WISE SURFBOARDS : WSSF
INTERNATIONAL SURF SHOP IRELAND : LAHINCH
Five Questions with Matt Schwartz
BUREAU Magazine finally caught up with Matt Schwartz recently after his busy schedule documenting several interesting projects in connection with both Surfing and Music. Matt is a photographer living in Brooklyn, New York. We admire his visual aesthetic and rapped out recently about his no nonsense approach to the Art and Craft of Fine Art Photography.
Bureau: What inspires you to create images ?
MS: I kind of have to. I come up with an idea or see someone or something beautiful and for some reason, I need to own that image forever. It is not enough for me to see something beautiful and just look at it without a camera. Everything is more vivid and alive through the lens. I am there with the person or object and become one with it. I used to lose myself by playing music, though for the past 10 years it's been photography. I once wrote in my journal "she hit pause" about a girl I met who stopped time in my life. This is what photography is to me, and where the name to my studio : She Hit Pause Studios, came from.
Bureau: You keep up an interesting catalog, but still find time to make them available and affordable. How important is it for you to be collected ?
MS: That is a great question. I have been asking myself that almost daily. I have been selling my work full time for about 10 years. I typically have been doing the selling myself, either in Brooklyn or on my site. I have never had an ego about my work, which I attribute to why it has worked. I like selling pics to people my age and younger. I like when people say, " This is the first piece of real art I am buying " or telling me how happy the work makes them. I think this keeps me going more than the $ aspect. I have recently started selling more expensive limited editions to collectors. It feels a little weird selling an image for more than my car cost. I think selling affordable pics to people in their 20's and the limited editions is a good balance for me. It keeps me humble. A few weeks ago,
I was selling my work and someone came up to me and said he was a big fan of my work and he wanted to meet me. I thanked him and asked him what he does. He said he played in a band. His name was Ben from Mumford and Sons. That was really rewarding.
Bureau: You have a keen ability to create another time & place with some of your process: The surfing images and the transfer prints. How much does nostalgia play into your work ? And tell us a little about that process.
MS: I definitely have a Fondness and attraction to life before computers and cell phones. Film over digital. The faster this world moves, the more I am yearning for its opposite. Lately, I've been buying vintage video games and musical instruments. There is a certain romance to a typewriter or even a notebook than writing on a computer. There is a weight to film over digital, where you cherish each image and make them count. I like rawness and messiness over polished and megapixels. Most of my work is done on polaroids and film. I use large format polaroids, pull apart the film and then rub the negatives onto watercolor paper. With all of the above said I have used digital on a few shoots for clients and see where it can be useful if a quick turnaround is needed.
Bureau: Did you go to school for Art and how important is education for Photographers.
MS: I did not go to school for art. I took one photograph class my last year. Before shooting professionally, I was setting up fashion shoots with girlfriends and just taking pics for the love of it. That is why it worked for me. I never pressed the shutter on the camera thinking that this will lead to money. It is all images that I want to exist. I am not into expensive cameras or the idea of education for photography. Everything can be learned from a book or by experimenting. The rawness and the "mistakes" are what make photography unique, not rules about composition and lighting. To me, photography is looking through the lens, finding something beautiful and pressing the button. There is no inner dialog or rules, just passion.
Bureau: What are you working on now ?
MS: I just photographed the band "Vacationer" last week, which was a lot of fun. I really like their music and the creative direction the label gave was "We don't want to give you any creative direction. We want you to do what you do" That was awesome to hear and led to a great shoot. I was hired to shoot The Wanderlust Festival in Hawaii 3 or 4 weeks ago. It was perfect for me. Surfing, yoga and music. I have three shoots from Puerto Rico that I am trying to release and then tackle the Hawaii photos. After the festival, I hung around for a week and shot some of my favorite surfing images ever taken. Today, my work was being sold at a market in the city and I met with my first photo rep and an architectural/design firm about doing the decor for a new boutique hotel they are opening. Lots of hustling. I am trying to differentiate between good stress and bad stress. I am told I am experiencing good stress right now. I am ready to jump some levels in my career. I have sold a lot of work and still have hundreds of unreleased images. I just want to concentrate on shooting and sleeping.
