Dayseeker: What It Means To Be Defeated

I knew immediately after hearing Dayseeker's new single that the video had to be equally as vicious and attacking as the song itself sounded.

It was the fragile charm of the piano that had left me thinking of a broken home, held together only by the ones who chose to keep it living whether they dwell there or not, and our location could not have mirrored that vision more perfectly. 

It's always interesting that by combining two mediums of expression, one visual and the other audible, we're still able to maintain a common theme even if the intentions of both are slightly different. That's why I love music videos, because they have this ability to weave together two perspectives into one. 

Stylistically, it needed to be felt as strong in nature while seemingly on the brink of falling apart, like the environment surrounding: unstable and ready to collapse from the sheer energy that came from within. 

Even though simplicity is a driving force in this video, there still seems to be a plot keeping pace with the song. 

Entirely shot alone with no crew, one tripod, and the California sun 5 hours prior to setting. 

Part of my style, I think is the ability to take a situation I have no control over and make it look as high production as possible. There were no previous location scouts before the day we shot, and I had no idea the condition of the house since I'd last been there a year before. When we arrived at the location (besides the relief that it still stood) I started thinking of where to place each member. I had never been upstairs, and couldn't have been happier with what I found. A long hall, uneven and walls swaying apart from each other leading to a brightly lit room that overlooked the front yard, where the video begins, and ends. It was the perfect spot for Rory to record his vocals. I wanted this distance from the frontman, as if he were untouchable but still, have close up shots to emphasize the aggression and compassion in his words. 

As for the rest of the band we scattered them throughout, in all reality no more then 10 feet away from one another but shot separately. It gave a sense that they all filled the space during different times but we're participating in the same thing, in this case performing this song. 

Overall, it's an eerie video; painfully simple fundamentally but not without a sense of execution. I look forward to see where these boys take off too, because they are more than deserving of solid recognition and hope to work with them again in the future!

You can learn more about the band here at facebook.com/Dayseeker

Elinn_

One Chair to Rule Them All

I think there's something in human desire to want to recreate themselves. We see self portraits more than ever today with social media outlets such as Instagram, rooting back to Myspace etc. So with that, I've been interested in their nature most recently. This is actually more or less of an homage to a photograph of Heath Ledger that I stumbled across while researching for a class project last night. I'm tired, and to be frank I'm always tired, people and materials exhaust me. 

Self expression through self portrait. 

Elinn_

(Inspired by Bryce Duffy)

Widow Brothers

I work with a few different visual artists when it comes to video work, and most recently I've been teaming up with, all things gloom and doom, director/photographer Michael R. Garcia (DNR Media). 

We met up for talks and burger lounging last night and as all photographers should, both had our cameras. Naturally we began shooting portraits of one another. It only took an abnormally bright desk lamp and at most 10 snaps of the shutter to come up with what we hadn't been searching for at all. Two images that encompass a deeper slice into our character and that seem to peel back a curtain and explain the chemistry between us as artists. Sometimes a spur of the moment shoot can leave more impressive results than a carefully executed one; this being no exception.

Elinn_  

CREDIT: MICHAEL R. GARCIA

Photoscape

The adventure of conversation will nearly always supersede any type of work or business I undertake and most often turn up better products. These are a series of digital photographs shot when I met up with a good friend of mine a couple weeks back. The time in which we see each other is usually thin and stretched, which leaves us this advantage: the ability to catch up while on our own photo-excursions creating a unique freedom in each capture. 

Shot in a span of 20 minutes near dusk in San Diego, CA

Elinn_

Blood Red

Black pen, acrylic paint and a creative angst. This is the product of a couple relationships coming to an end all in, and around a one day period. I had bought these thank you notes at Michael's art wonderland a few weeks prior for the purpose of, well writing thank you notes at some point for my last birthday. They had yellow birds on them, and I couldn't escape their awkward allure. Anyways, as I sat at my desk lost in work from the previous weeks shoots (three full production music videos) I pulled open a drawer and began to draw. This wasn't a new concept piece for me, as I had sketched the same thing for, fittingly, a similar occasion although at that point the center was a different text. I work strictly from my heart, as terribly gooey as that sounds. If my work doesn't strike my own chest I can't expect it to even warm anyone else's, and if it doesn't then I still have it for myself to believe in. It's also become a habit of mine to create a piece on any surface most convenient at the moment of inception, like this card stock for example.

Title: blood red. 

Elinn_

Excess Paint

This image recently crawled into my mind (in a Trader Joe's parking lot..). Right now I call it Ambidextrous. I never considered myself a physical artist until my first drawing class last year, where I learned the basic principles but more importantly a technique called blind contour and it has consumed me ever since. Blind contour drawing is the act of looking at your subject and drawing from reality, whilst not looking at your paper (or at least too frequently). For myself I have always drawn inspiration through hands, as they're among my favorite physical attributes human beings possess. I had also imagined this piece representing a time for change, as we had created with our hands in the past, creating a binding code for the sketch.  

As for the medium, it is black ink and paint on paper; also two mid-sized paperclips on the back hand (pun intended) side. I've had a few drawings that I may not have liked when adding onto a particular section, so I would cut the unwanted out and draw what I intended originally on another piece of paper, cut it out, and assemble onto the original work. It may sound "improper" This process is actually important to me, because It breaks the traditional expectation of creating something seamless. 

Elinn_

South West Season

It's rare in Southern California to find any trace of season, as if we've been veiled with a cloth of consistency. It's not a bad thing at all, but I think of this: on a cloudy day I feel lost in time as there is no obvious change in shadow throughout the day. My visual clock becomes confused. It's a miracle that we get anywhere on time, really. 

Anyways, I traveled to Los Angeles this Veteran's Day weekend for a live performance with two friends and stumbled into Griffith Park. We drove up, passing the Observatory and masses of desperate rear lights to find parking back down to a small but warmly cheerful coffee house (loose leaf tea's for the calmer folk). It had just rained throughout the prior evening and the air was still damp, frozen over in the shade but our hands warm over coffee (seen in the prior post).

I noticed the colors that the leaves appeared; alive and breathing, vibrant. one day earlier and the streets would have been brown and bleak, leaves dry and broken. I suppose it's a wonder that I notice the extremities, from dead to alive being color and colorless. But still there's a simple magic to that idea.

Elinn_

New Man Old Thoughts

Shot in Griffith Park over coffee and hand warming this weekend. Good conversations and great music. 

There's nothing terribly better.

Elinn_

The Beginning

It's always difficult to find a beginning; that exact moment that led you here to now doing this. Our first words, first day of school; even my first beer seems a bit too far out of reach and I'm only 23 years old. I do, though, remember the first time I began to find myself. It's not that grand a feat to have remembered as it was only a year ago but I was riddled with a phrase that planted a seed in my head to which it grows every second I think of it's nature. It's not hard to pretend to understand something, but to let it sink into your skin and heal over, only to be cut back out and re-examined; that may be what's necessary to move forward. Those who fear the pain of reality become numb with the present. 

Below are a few digital photographs I shot having no great understanding of the workings inside a camera, and that's something this new wave of artists seem to be faced with. The beginning has been blurred; formal training isn't required and is in most cases rejected or patronized. Tradition is quickly becoming stale through the reflection of this retina display we view the world through. Though, what I always find most intriguing is the transition back to the start which few are consciously aware. Life seems cyclical in that way. 

Time is changing and moving quickly, but here, this; this is a deja vu and I recall why I felt so much; why I sank into my skin only to be dug back out. 

Elinn_

Michael Elinn. Born in August of 1989 to parents George and Nancy Sutliff, and raised an only child in San Diego, California. 

I used to believe in monsters, so I would sleep with a flashlight that changed colors. My favorite at the time was blue, but red was fantastic also. Much of my childhood was spent building various objects that served more of an annoyance than a purpose I'm sure. For example, a wooden couch for a dog I didn't have. I started cooking when I was 14, inspired by Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals and let me tell you, I whipped up a mean pork tenderloin. I even experimented with liquor infused desserts. Now, though I still cook and build daily non-cecites, I direct and create visual media for an evolving market, comfortable with the expectation to create something out of nothing. 

I believe that Art is infectious, that it speaks for things we may never fully grasp but are still able to feel shoveled under our skin.

Here I'm leaving my own sore open for you to examine and explore. Welcome to my infection. 

Elinn_