Blanket

On a cold afternoon in Seoul earlier this year YoungDoo and I climbed into a friends car for a long ride out to a coffee shop shaped like a twin lens reflex camera. Two stories of charm and warmth on an otherwise chilly day in Korea. Our timing worked out quite well as we arrived in time for both a sunset over the surrounding farmland and a coincidental flurrry of snow which amplified the modest trip into one that still comes to mind as a highlight of our time there last year.

I managed to capture this shot through a window in the side of the cafe which, if I am remembering correctly was tinted and offered up a strangely magic photo of the landscape outside. This image takes me right back to the glowing masterpiece that was that moment and I hope that you find some comfort in it as well.

This image came to mind after day dreaming of a nice, light snowfall among the unusually warm December we have had. Enjoy.

Beginning To Look

Better late than never they say, so here is a little something for your desktop decorating needs for the holidays. While not as dramatic as my Blue Christmas image form a couple years back, this kind of kitschy decoration often comes to mind this time of year so why not highlight something simple. Heck, I even threw in a few bokeh holiday balls for good measure because, Christmas.

On a related note, I made a simple composition with my little OP-1 keyboard using a sample recorded from a holiday radio station. Without going to far into it, my history in making music still holds heavy inspirations from the heyday of late 1990’s/early 2000’s underground electronic music from labels like Warp, Reflex, NinjaTune, Tigerbeat6, Merck, and Schematic. I’ve long had a love affair with artists who create music with an inspired exploration of sound.

That said, heres my take on a holiday classic. May not be for everyone but I enjoyed making it. The tracks hypnotic repetition felt somehow natural to me when I first stumbled into it. In taking this iconic moment from an iconic holiday song and repeating it indefinitely I was sucked into its grip and surprisingly its feeling of warmth didn’t change as I heard it over and over again. I hope some of you enjoy it, let me know what you think, of course.

I have some great photos on the back burner to share with you guys and I will be choosing the winners of the cool little 50ft keychains soon! If you are among those fortunate enough to get a break this time of year I hope you enjoy it and to those that don’t, I wish you the best as well. See you again soon.

Fifty Foot Lifestyle

Update: I have mailed out messages to the winners of the tags at this point, thanks so much for your kind words and for the interest and support of Fifty Foot Shadows!

Time to reflect and then give something away! I know its been quiet around here this year. My creative side has been on hiatus as I switched tracks for a while to contemplate a life more dictated by priorities. As with the end of any year, I have been looking back as well wondering what the next year will bring. Life will only get bigger as more important decisions are put on the table. My hope is that I can find a happy medium between obligation and creativity because inspiration has been flat as of late but I am looking to renew trust in my abilities behind a camera and start shooting more again.

In the new year (or sooner if I get the pieces together) I plan on announcing a long considered and way overdue subscription service here on 50ft to bring a couple of new ideas to life and shake things up around here. There will be a couple of levels to the service that I will detail when I make the announcement. Among other things, this has been something I have been making notes on and hoping to get off the ground for over four years now. I really can’t wait to get it off the ground after so much needless planning and second guessing. It will provide a perfect launch point for a renewed focus and drive.

For now though I wanted to do something fun for the holidays and give something away to a few of you. I came across these cool custom made brass tags online and knew straightaway that I wanted to have some pressed to share. I love this sort of humble accessory and so I had five of them made to give away for the holidays (six total so I could have one too). I don’t plan on making any more of these in the future so they are a highly limited edition keepsake from the land of fifty foot shadows. They work as a handy keychain accessory, zipper pull, or anything at all you may want to hook them too. The letters are hand stamped into the brass tags so it should last for years as long as it’s not lost.

I think the best way to give these away is to simply use the comment section again, leave a note below and in a couple of weeks I will randomly grab a few names and contact you via email to let you know that you won! Simple enough right? I will mail them anywhere in the world so there are no limit to who can enter. I know it’s a modest gift but I wanted to show you guys that I appreciate you, even if in a small way. As always, thanks so much for your support and generosity. The future is bright!