When he walked into the Atlantic Ocean off Rockaway Beach in Queens, despondent over the suicide of his companion a week earlier, Mr. Blake was just three months away from an exhibition of his recent video art at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington and another show at the Manhattan gallery Kinz, Tillou & Feigen. Many wondered what would become of his unfinished work and whether it would shed any light on his life, and his death at 35.

His work in progress, В“Glitterbest,В” is a video portrait of the 1970s punk-music impresario Malcolm McLaren, with whom he collaborated on the piece. Having toiled on it for a year and a half, Mr. Blake left behind a completed audio track bursting with romping punk riffs, video-game blasts of intergalactic battles and clanging church bells and an impish 11-minute voice-over by Mr. McLaren.

But most of the visual presentation was unfinished. Embedded in his computer hard drive were numerous image files evoking an enchanted world populated by pirate ships, psychedelic phalluses and neon graffiti. The still frames were virtually a mere slide show, a far cry from the rich dimensionality of his previous animated, abstract work, featured in museums throughout the world and in the film В“Punch-Drunk Love.В”

Jonathan P. Binstock, the curator of the Corcoran exhibition, and Lance Kinz, a director of Kinz, Tillou & Feigen, decided to incorporate В“GlitterbestВ” into their exhibitions in its incomplete state out of deference to Mr. Blake, who had approved inclusion of some of the images in the Corcoran exhibition catalog and advance announcements for the New York show. They hoped the unfinished work would give viewers insight into his creative process and provide a glimmer of what the video might have become.

В“It was a way to remain true to the vision of the exhibition, and it furthers our efforts in exploring his theme of portraiture,В” Mr. Binstock said of В“Wild Choir,В” the Corcoran show. Reflecting Mr. BlakeВ’s most recent career focus, the exhibition presents lushly cinematic, deeply probing digital-video studies of three artists he admired.

In addition to his paean to Mr. McLaren, Mr. Blake produced homages to Ossie Clark, an influential Swinging London British fashion designer, and David Berman, an indie-rock musician and poet. In each case he used his artist-subject as a portal to explore seminal cultural moments, draping the viewer in a nonlinear fabric of color, film and sound.

В“Given the terrible situation we were faced with, we thought it would be an interesting way to approach this challenge and wanted to share it with the museum audience,В” said Mr. Binstock, who left the Corcoran this summer and is now senior vice president of CitigroupВ’s Art Advisory Service in New York. He continued to work on the exhibition after leaving the Corcoran.

But first they had to gain permission from Mr. BlakeВ’s grieving mother and then find the correct files on his many computers, an arduous process that took weeks. Thus it was only at the end of September, less than a month before the Corcoran exhibition was to open, that they tracked down all the files.

With a deadline looming, Mr. Binstock approached a friend, David Sigal, a documentary filmmaker and videographer, to help unlock Mr. BlakeВ’s intended arrangements. В“I was concerned about the material being treated with the greatest sensitivity and the need to preserve the integrity of the artistВ’s work in process,В” Mr. Binstock said, В“and I knew I could trust David to exhaustively examine the material and do that.В”

They discovered Mr. BlakeВ’s labeled folders in Adobe Photoshop, the graphics-editing software. Each folder contained sequential picture files with titles. But within each dense file were numerous layers of the artistВ’s В“moving paintingВ” imagery, their intended direction and flow indecipherable. They also realized that Mr. Blake had tackled only the first five minutes, less than half of the workВ’s final visual component.

Armed with a copy of Mr. BlakeВ’s hard drive and Mr. McLarenВ’s poetic though fairly incomprehensible narration, Mr. Sigal, 41, spent the next few weeks tinkering with the files on his laptop in his Greenwich Village apartment. He struggled to make sense of eerie scenes of World War II carnage shimmering with stars and bubbles; imperial imagery juxtaposed with psychedelic vegetables on the Moon; and mythical creatures that morphed into a swashbuckling Sid Vicious.

But the more he listened to the voice-over and scrutinized the layered images, В“there were little clues and abstract lines that I would wind up understanding,В” Mr. Sigal said.

]]> http://sirint.com/design/pentax-optio-z10-review-at-cnet.htm By Mary Wisniewski

New York—Men's jewelry, long relegated to a distant showcase and a small part of the average jeweler's inventory, is finally getting not only respect but retail real estate.

David Yurman, Chris Aire, Tiffany and Co., Gordon's Jewelers, John Hardy, Nick Blum and King Jewelers are among the many names that have sensed a developing niche and have started designing and selling men's luxury jewelry with greater fervor lately.

Designers and retailers are pushing the concept that jewelry makes a guy, a guy; and these days, a man doesn't have to channel Mr. T or RuPaul to wear it well. It doesn't hurt that current A-list actors such as Colin Farrell and Brad Pitt are wearing jewelry, either.

Amanda Gizzi, associate director for public relations at the Jewelry Information Center, says men seek luxury items such as jewelry simply as a way to look good.

"Men are more fashion-savvy and aren't afraid to express personality through accessories," Gizzi says.

She says she is surprised more designers aren't catering to the niche and adds that jewelry needs to be redefined to shed its feminine connotation.

"The biggest challenge for jewelers is to make [the word] 'jewelry' seem non-feminine," Gizzi says.

Men's jewelry designs tend to utilize alternative metals such as stainless steel or tungsten with the possible addition of diamond accents, Gizzi says, adding that she sees pendant necklaces and thicker bracelets selling briskly too.

In addition, the bridal jewelry category continues to gain great options that allow men to show an extension of their personality through wedding band choices, she says.

Allan Steinmetz, founder and chief executive officer of Inward Strategic Consulting, a management and consulting firm, says all luxury products are currently selling well, a trend he attributes to the times. In a stressful society filled with many choices, people reward themselves with purchases such as men's jewelry, he says. Steinmetz also says the acceleration of luxury-goods purchases came about as a result of consumers emulating pop icons.

Finding the fashionista within King Jewelers in Aventura, Fla., one of the jewelry stores catering to the fashion-savvy man, just opened a new "Luxury Men's Salon." King's Chief Financial Officer Jonathan King says the salon has been doing well, and in addition to typical male accessories such as watches and cuff links, bracelets and necklaces are selling well too. King credits this to fashion.

"I think that men overall have gotten more fashion-conscious and are always trying to better themselves," King says.

King, who always wears a watch and sometimes a necklace and bracelet too, sees men from all walks of life buying jewelry.

King Jewelers is not the only retailer capitalizing on men's newfound fetish for jewelry. Gordon's Jewelers, a division of Zale Corp., introduced "Urban Style: Jewelry for the Modern Man," a collection that includes stainless steel bracelets, gold railroad-link necklaces and titanium dog tags. Trendy new designs by Simmons Jewelry Co., a jewelry company co-owned by hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, are also featured online at Gordonjewelers.com.

David Sternblitz, vice president and treasurer of Zale Corp., says he sees men's bracelets and necklaces selling best along with the Simmons Jewelry designs.

"You always thought of men's jewelry as cuff links and watches, and now you see it involved into the mainstream," he says. "It is a form of expression."

Sternblitz credits this to celebrity culture, in part.

"You see more male icons wearing jewelry, which raises interest," he says. "It inspired this line of jewelry; [we wanted] to capitalize on the trend."

"Tiffany Lucida" diamond pendant, diamond ring and diamond cuff links are all in white gold and retail for $1,850, $1,500 and $2,750, respectively, at Tiffany and Co. stores. Detra Segar, general manager of Tiffany and Co.'s New York flagship store, says men's jewelry is not a passing trend. To meet the demand, the store offers collections for men in 18-karat gold, sterling silver, and now, titanium. Segar says wedding bands remain the category's top-selling item, and women are helping spur more men's jewelry sales.

"Many women encourage the men in their lives to wear jewelry as it is a form of personal expression, which women have long enjoyed, and why not men?" she says.

Segar adds that at Tiffany, self-purchasing men are encouraged to buy for their significant other too.

Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of Shopping: Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Customer Experience, says men have always been big purchasers of jewelry, but they have primarily bought for women.

"Now, they are starting to think about jewelry for themselves," Danziger says.

Men's jewelry is still a small part of the jewelry market, but it has increased over past years, helped along by the fact that men are accustomed to going into jewelry stores and, therefore, do not feel so intimidated, Danziger says. She also says the prevalence of casual dress at work—and the counter-trend of executives dressing up to set themselves apart—is another factor.

"Now, [executives can] really stand out in a sea of blue jeans and khakis," Danziger says. "A nice piece of jewelry like a ring is no longer perceived as gaudy."

Jewelry designer Nick Blum created BlumLux, a modern men's line that he characterizes as being ideal for the "urban elite." Hearing other men say they wanted jewelry and didn't want it to be the same old thing was the inspiration for the line. And BlumLux encourages men to buy jewelry for themselves.

"It's a new age," Blum says. "Men are feeling more comfortable in their skin and want to express their style."

]]> http://sirint.com/design/men-s-jewelry-no-longer-left-warming-the-bench.htm By Beth Braverman

Savvy clothing shoppers look for key pieces that complement the items already hanging in their closets.

Smart jewelry consumers should take the same approach to compiling a jewelry wardrobe, according to authors Cynthia Sliwa and Caroline Stanley. In their new book, Jewelry Savvy: What Every Jewelry Wearer Should Know, the jewelry industry experts offer consumers tips on finding jewels that flatter their faces and bodies, how to best wear the jewelry they own and how to add to their existing collection.

"The concept of jewelry wardrobing is that you have the perfect jewelry with pieces that work together for you for any occasion in your life," says image counselor Sliwa. "Good retailers know their customer and know where the holes are in his or her wardrobe."

Retailers can also use their display cases to show how various pieces of jewelry work together as a whole. Mixing pieces from different designers and various price ranges into one display can get customers thinking about ways to mix and match pieces they already own with new jewelry purchases, Sliwa says.

"Retail jewelers should also have a full-length mirror in the store," she adds. "That will allow a customer to see how one piece of jewelry relates to the whole person and the whole look."

The book also offers customers instructions on how to find jewelry that best complements the physical features of those wearing it.

For example, Sliwa and Stanley recommend that full-figured women avoid thin, linear earrings; while petite women should look for small, delicate earrings and necklaces that fall at the base of their throat; and tall women should select multistrand necklaces and wide cuff bracelets.

They point out that chunky rings make wide or long hands seem smaller and multiple bracelets shorten the appearance of arms.

"All people have noticeable features," Sliwa says. "We can use jewelry to highlight or distract from those features."

Beyond figure flattery, the book also discusses the role of personal style in jewelry selection.

Customers with a "sporty" personality might desire stud earrings; "traditional" personalities might prefer pearls; and "feminine" personalities might opt for vintage pieces, according to the book.

"There are many visual clues as to a person's personal style when the customer walks in," Stanley says. "Retailers can use those style clues to select pieces that will work with the customer's style."

Still, third-generation jeweler Stanley concedes that a customer's jewelry selection may differ from the choices recommended by the sales associate.

"In the end, whatever the customer wants is what they will buy, but some customers really want the expert advice," she says.

The book also encourages readers to work with jewelers to construct their jewelry collections, either through self-purchases or by creating wish lists for family members and significant others to use when buying gifts.

While Sliwa encourages readers to remain aware of current fashion trends, she reminds customers to make fine-jewelry purchases that also reflect their personal style to ensure that they will continue wearing the pieces after the trend has passed.

Sliwa and Stanley place earrings at the "top of the hierarchy of jewelry that every woman should own."

They recommend shorter earrings for those with square jawlines, shoulder-dusting earrings for those with long necks, and delicate wire earrings for those with smaller ears.

For more information, visit Jewelrysavvybook.com.

Tips on building a jewelry wardrobe from Jewelry Savvy
1. No two wardrobes are identical.
2. An item's price is irrelevant.
3. Consider having a signature piece of jewelry.
4. Have more than one outfit in your wardrobe.
5. You don't have to have just one of anything.
6. Any jewelry you wear every day should be something you love wearing.

]]> http://sirint.com/design/new-book-offers-jewelry-wardrobing-expertise.htm Nikon Solutions Expo : Throughout the year various events are organized on the field of photography. Recently the Zoom Experience was held in the Netherlands but unfortunately Nikon were not attending this event. The reason for their absence might be the Nikon Solutions Expo that took place on Friday 30th of November and Saturday 1st of December in Cologne, Germany and will soon take place in Utrecht, the Netherlands. During the Nikon Expo the recently introduced Nikon cameras were available for getting acquainted with and for shooting. Besides that various seminars took place about digital photography using Nikon digital cameras. Even the visitor not in possession of a Nikon camera was able to learn a lot from these seminars.

Nikonians booth at the Nikon Solutions Expo 2007

Nikon digital SLR cameras
The two recently introduced Nikon SLR cameras held the spotlight. Many visitors admired and tried out the Nikon D3 and D300. Both cameras are really special when you hold them for the first time. The possibilities that these cameras offer are so extensive that working with either one of them for one full day may only be considered a brief acquaintance. It was certainly the perfect moment to show the capabilities of the cameras to the consumer. There were model shoots with both the D3 and the D300. Besides that pictures captured at the event were immediately visible on a large screen.

Nikon DSLR camera's


Nikon Shooting range
Inside the Nikon Solutions Expo, besides many booths and seminars, a catwalk had been created. At the end of the catwalk the Nikon shooting range was set up. The shooting range was a stage, levelling up like stairs, with on top of these steps the Nikon D3 and D300 with various SLR lenses. This way, the possibility was created to take pictures from models with professional equipment and in perfect light circumstances. It was beautiful to see so many (semi) professional cameras with professional telephoto lenses lined up.

Nikon digital SLR


Nikon Coolpix cameras
The compact camera enthusiast also had a great time at the Nikon Solutions Expo. All current compact camera models were presented at the event and the consumer was allowed to try out every one of them. Even walking around the Nikon booth freely for a few metres belonged to the possibilities. This enabled taking pictures from other objects than just the Nikon booth. Still the attention of the consumer got drawn to the large DSLR cameras which left the digital compact camera segment somewhat empty at times. And since the DSLR is coming on strong this was not a surprise.

Nikon model shoot


Nikon Solutions Expo - Epson and HP
Besides Nikon cameras, also professional and semi-pro Epson and HP printers were there to be admired. Pictures in A4 size up to pictures larger that A0 size came out of these printers flawlessly. Also the small photo printers for daily use at home were presented. Compact photo printers are easy to carry around, offering the opportunity to enjoy captured pictures immediately after taking them wherever you are.

Nikon ProAlbum


Nikon Solutions Expo - ProAlbum
ProAlbum is the name of a photo book generator that produces very beautiful high quality photo albums. I was told that ProAlbum is specialized in making wedding albums. Unfortunately ProAlbum is a concept specifically designed for the photographer. The photographer can create a photo book in a few steps through a computer program. The photo albums are then printed in Israel and send to the country that ordered the book. The advantage is that costs stay low and the quality stays high.

Nikon art


Nikon Solutions Expo - Conclusion
On the whole the Nikon Solutions Expo event was successful. The enthusiast photographer and the professional alike got served equally well with the showcased products and the seminars. Nikon offered sufficient information about the capacities of the new cameras. The Nikon Solutions Expo had many options to experience photography to the fullest, from taking pictures to taking home the printed version. The photo exhibition was also a very interesting part of the event. The seminars were extremely motivating for the Nikon photographer and for every other person looking for useful photographic tips. On Friday and Saturday 14th and 15th of December the Nikon Solutions Expo will take place in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and naturally LetsGoDigital will bring you an extensive report on this event as well.

Nikon Solutions Expo - Cologne, Germany


Updated : Nikon D3 Sample Photos.
]]> http://sirint.com/design/nikon-solutions-expo.htm

But no. These are pictures by Muybridge, Stieglitz and White. Keep walking; the annual showcase of emerging photographers is in the next room. After that accidental spark of excitement, though, the show itself is something of a letdown.

В“New PhotographyВ” is generally limited to three or four artists, which puts pressure on the chosen few to deliver something fresh. None of this yearВ’s photographers accomplish that. The one who comes the closest is Tanyth Berkeley, who lives in New York, has shown in Chelsea and was included in the 2005 edition of P.S. 1В’s В“Greater New York.В”

Ms. Berkeley is from the Diane Arbus school: Her work involves a lot of social engineering. She identifies people on the street or subway, and over a period of time coaxes them into posing. (Arbus used urban parks as her hunting grounds.) Ms. BerkeleyВ’s art is often described as showcasing odd beauty or challenging stereotypes of female beauty.

В“Grace in WindowВ” features one of her favorite subjects, a woman who is either an albino or close to it. Posed with her eyes closed before a light-filled window, her eyelashes barely register. She looks like an ethereal alien.

Ms. BerkeleyВ’s full-length portraits are more complicated. Here the approach that got Arbus in trouble В— exposing differences, which led to accusations of exploitation В— raises the same issues. Her photographs of transgendered people completely abandon ArbusВ’s carefully constructed empathy for the subject. Gazing becomes staring, possibly at pathology, given the peopleВ’s extreme thinness and their evident fondness for surgical procedures.

Scott McFarland, who lives in Vancouver, uses digital techniques to create crystalline color photographs that depict unsettling tableaus and suggest uncanny narratives. Sound familiar?

Earlier this year MoMA mounted a retrospective of Jeff Wall, the master of the digitally enhanced (or fabricated) faux-narrative photograph and one of VancouverВ’s most famous artists. Mr. McFarlandВ’s picture of a young family watching a keeper feed porcupines at the Berlin Zoo could be a Wall from around 1989 or a student facsimile. (ItВ’s no surprise, then, to discover that Mr. McFarland once worked as Mr. WallВ’s assistant.)

Mr. McFarlandВ’s photographs of nature controlled by human beings В— an orchard digitally manipulated to present all four seasons at once or a series merging different areas in a botanical garden В— recall Thomas Struth. Mr. McFarlandВ’s aesthetic and techniques feel overly familiar and dated.

Serialization, a hallmark of late-20th-century art, is Berni SearleВ’s focus. Ms. Searle, who lives in Cape Town, has photographed herself climbing up and down giant mounds of grape skins discarded after a vineyard harvest, and then joined the images in a long horizontal frieze. Another series uses crepe-paper silhouettes traced from family photographs and immersed in water as repeating motifs.

Ms. Searle is good at creating visual effects: the rhythm of the rising and falling grape-skin mounds; the sandstorm look of the crepe-paper silhouettes in water. But her conceptual basis feels weak, particularly when it is spelled out in hackneyed wall texts.

A consistently strong point of the В“New PhotographyВ” series, including this edition, has been the international array of artists. But so far it has been weak in showcasing new developments and contextualizing contemporary photography within the collection, which helps explain the jarring transition from Stieglitz & Company to the current crop. You hate to be the spoiler, the insatiable art viewer constantly demanding that rush of something new. But when a show is called В“New Photography 2007,В” you feel within your rights.

В“New Photography 2007: Tanyth Berkeley, Scott McFarland, Berni SearleВ” is on view through Jan. 1 at the Museum of Modern Art; (212) 708-9400, moma.org.

]]> http://sirint.com/design/fujifilm-finepix-z100fd-review-at-photographyblog.htm My first day on site. One of the two bridges over Niger river in Bamako. The laundry is on.

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