it's the Kreddible Trout Photography blog!

MOVING!

2011-12-03T22:00:00.000-08:00

That's right folks. I'm giving up on blogger. I've whined about it long enough... the formatting here is crappy and I'm too damn lazy to learn HTLM so... hie-ho-hie-ho it's off to Tumblr I go.

MUCH more photo friendly.

Here's the link. Hope you all 'follow' me over there too

in case you missed it... THIS IS WHERE YOU CLICK TO GET MORE BLOG OUT'A ME!

(& in case blogger gets upset & someday my links stop working... http://kreddibletrout.tumblr.com)

NEW STUFF

2011-11-01T22:01:00.000-07:00

"I am in blood stepped in so far..."

Macbeth opens in a week but that hasn't stopped me from adding a whole buncha stuff to Ye Aulde Website.

Stuff like this:

and this:

and let's not forget this:

...and this pretty little number:

and this:

Seriously, you wouldn't even believe how much new stuff there is over there. I mean, there's entire new sections! Lunenburg Walls is a lot of fun. Very colourful. Really, don't just take my word for it, go over and have a look!

WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE?

checkitoutcheckitoutcheckitoutcheckitoutcheckitoutcheckitoutcheckitoutcheckitoutcheckitoutcheckitout!

Dusty blogs, the big move and some old scottish guy

2011-09-24T19:58:00.000-07:00

...pardon the dust... cough!
I uh... wow... this - cough!- this dust is...
should there even be dust in the internet? This blog is...

WHERE THE HELL IS THE MAID?

So... I left this place in a bit of a rush a few months back. Needed to pack up my life in Victoria, BC & move to Toronto, ON via Halifax, NS... yeah, that's how I do things. I'm complicated.

Nutshell: first and foremost, above all this picture taking business, I am an actor. Every now and then I fall out of it. Partially from circumstance, partially from a severe allergy to the 'business' side of it. I seem to break into furious, sweaty, trembling sneezing fits & emit a smell not entirely unlike tapioca when confronted with schmoozing or schmoozers. Sadly, many in 'the business' act as though this aspect is more important than actually being on stage (or in front of a camera). This is what I'm allergic to.

So, a few years back I fell out of it.When I tried to get back in I found the town I was in didn't have enough work to support the actors already established there and, as I had landed there not acting, I had to start from ground zero. I've re-booted my acting career several times in my almost 20 years at it and I really didn't want to build from the bottom again in a city with a very low ceiling. So... as much as I have resisted it these many years, I decided to move to the big shitty (Toronto) and make it happen here. I have many peers from over the years here which means more feet in more doors. There is a lot of work ahead and this huge move, which has uprooted not just me but my loving, supportive wife, will draw me away from photography for a while. Not altogether, because I feel almost as strongly for it as I do acting (and dislike the 'business' side of it as much) but this move must take the majority of my focus.
Which it has since my last post.
Spent the spring/summer in Halifax reprising one of my favorite roles, The Sheriff of Nottingham in Shakespeare by the Sea's The Adventures of Robin Hood. This was a re-mount, re-vamped production of our 2005 creation and was phenomenal.
I just landed in Toronto where my wife and I are settling in & I've landed the next role that will ensure I spend very little time with my camera or computer: MacBeth in Hart House Theatre's November production of Beverly Hills Cop II... oh, sorry, I mean, MacBeth.

...that was one big nut.

So... we're still around... we still have pretty pictures to look at on the Mothership Kreddible Trout Connection. Once things settle I do plan to bust out a tonne of new 'Uniquely Mounted' pieces and will be looking to do some large scale photo installations here in Toronto. I'm doing headshots fairly frequently & hope that all these things will be able to partially sustain me between acting gigs. That's the plan.

So...
...hello Toronto. I've come to act all over you.
...contact me for headshots or other photo work.
...here's me as the sheriff:

The Tao of Ego and the Tee of Me

2011-03-12T23:15:00.000-08:00

ok... so a while ago a friend of mine (who is clearly as unstable as me) saw a self portrait of yours truly on redbubble and said in the comment section that he wanted it on a t-shirt. So, as I aim to please and as I also like to entertain myself with delusions of egomaniacal grandeur I complied.
Months passed.
I began to think he was actually a mentally stable person and just joking about the tee. This, of course, made me worry that I, in fact, was as egomaniacal as I pretend to be having actually designed the shirt. I decided to leave it up if for anything to draw ridiculous attention to it from time to time. I won't waver on my ego-mockery until it stops being mockery.
Then... one day I got an email from redbubble telling me I had made a few sales. This always excites me and I went to see what had sold. Amongst a couple of other things, the tee of me sold! At the time I didn't know it was him so I immediately began plotting my world domination. Is there another lunatic out there? Maybe a complete stranger? Will I soon have an army of Troutians all wearing tees of me? Will the Tee of Trout soon outnumber the Mask of Fox at political rallies???
No. It was Stephen, the friend who demanded the shirt some months before. I was relieved. The pressure of world domination was off. (...for now.)
The other day on facebook he posted himself wearing the shirt. (There's really not many ways to say that someone is 'wearing you on their torso' without it sounding... funny.)

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you,

the first 5 star general in the Trout Army:

Stephen.

(you're a brave and mentally questionable man)

THE day THE was featured on THE redbubble homepage

2011-03-10T21:54:00.000-08:00

My shot 'THE' was featured today on the redbubble homepage. I didn't actually see it as sometimes they rotate the homepage more than once in 24 hours, but it WAS there... look, here's the proof! Proof that, you know... I could have photoshopped in less time than it takes to load the program wherein I'd be editing the photo... but I SWEAR it's real!

That's all for today... tune in again soon & read a funny story! And don't forget to check out this entry and give me your opinions to win an original Piece Of Trout! Contest ends soon.

Void to all employees of Kreddible Trout Photographic Industries and Subsidiaries

and all parent, sibling and little baby companies as well as anyone named Nephi.

(sorry Nephi)

Straving Artist Sale on NOW!

2011-03-02T22:45:00.000-08:00

That's right folks, down here at Krazee Kreddible's we're so Krazee that we're slashing our prices by HALF in our Downtown Victoria Showroom! Our showroom, cleverly disguised as a cafe/bakery called Demi Tasse (formerly Rising Star) at 1306 Broad Street is where you'll find three of Kreddible Trout's patented Uniquely Mounted pieces for your art viewing pleasure! Word has it Mr. Trout was seen there just today with his magical PRICE SLASHING PEN, magically slashing prices! With prices this low you'll say "Man, why don't you just get a real job?" to wit I'll probably try and reduce YOUR price Mr. Smarty-Pants!

Hu-HA!

(uh...we're Kuh-RAZEE?)

These are the three pieces, they're linked to the website which has a description of each but really, they need to be looked at with your own eyes in real life to be fully appreciated. Hurry down, folks. I've been told there's a lot of talk about these pieces and with prices dropped by half... they're sure to not last long.
This sale will only last until tourist season begins so if you're in the mood for some yummy, yummy local artist fare... now's your chance! We expect the sale to end in early May but we're krazee so... you never know!

... because EVERYONE should have a nice piece of Trout to nail to the wall!

this is NOT a trap

2011-02-28T00:30:00.000-08:00

Ok, this is not a trap, really, this is what I think I heard someone one time call 'market research'. (..shudder...)
I have a little field trip to take you on and at the end you'll be asked to give me your impressions, opinions and suggestions. This won't take too long and I promise, despite the direction we'll be going, not to try to sell you anything. If any of you forgot to get your parents to sign the paper, you have to stay here.

So, I've been searching to find an online service to use to do the back-end stuff (printing, mounting, shipping... etc.) and I think I've come across the site that I like. I like it because it offers the widest variety of options. From giclee prints on standard photo paper to cotton rag to stretched canvas, framed, unframed... the works. My only hesitation is it's functionality. It's layout. How easy it is for you, the art savvy consumer, to navigate and not get frustrated. It seems mildly convoluted to me, but then again the laptop from which I write this is really just an abacus with some wires taped to it.

So, this is the point of the field trip. Anyone who wants to click on this link will be directed to the page on my website that I'm using to test this new endeavor. You then need to click on the big white link & navigate around on the other end. Play around with all the different formats & frames & just have a ball. Then, if you'd like to be a help you can pop back here (leave a trail of breadcrumbs) & let me know what you think by leaving a comment below. I'm specifically looking to find out about ease of use. If you were looking to purchase some of my yummy yummy art, would you through this service. I know many of you know me & would just contact me direct to be all '...yeah, so I know the artist, I'll just call his personal line...' but just pretend you were a stranger.

And, as thanks, every response will be entered into a draw to win an 8x12 of the image in question (a shallow grand) or take a chance and ask Monty Trout for the 8x12 print behind door number 3! I'll do the draw on March 15th.

Now go on! (and don't go getting lost on the internet!)

Take The Trout Challenge!

2011-02-21T22:50:00.000-08:00

New stuff over at the Mothership Kreddible Trout Connection (my website) which includes this piece & the story that follows:

Cherry Tree & The Blue Bins

Very little of my work, as I often rant and rave about, is digitally augmented. Occasionally I use the photoshop, but I try not to. I feel that it's a lie.
The reason I'm so adamant about it is that I learned to see the world through the lens, not the photo-editing software. Before digital I'd line up the shot, sometimes giving myself a cramp doing so, shot it & hope that it turned out & wasn't slightly off center or just wrong.

There was magic.

Since I sold out and went digital I've lost some of that feeling. Like I said, I still try to do as little 'post' as possible but, with digital there is another cheat that we don't talk about...
When I first got a digital I visited one of my best friends, Pam, and was excited (if somewhat embarrassed) to show her my new toy. She had been around when I was first courting my K1000 & watched my passion grow. So, there we were sitting at a cafe on Main Street in Vancouver & I was showing her some shots off the back of my shiny new Rebel XT (x-tra trout, baby... oh yeah!) that I'd taken that day. I scrolled and scrolled and amidst her always encouraging 'oohs' and 'ahhs' she had to take a jab as we passed three or four almost identical shots.

'Wow' she said, 'so you can just keep shooting until you get it right then, huh?'
'oh shaa-aa-daap!' I said and kept scrolling as she punched my arm and cackled.

...but she was right.

I used to believe that 'if I get it I get it, if I don't I don't'. Sometimes I'd take two shots just to be sure I got it but, until it came back from the developer, I had no idea.

There was magic.

The immediacy of digital is definitely helpful but it is a cheat. To me anyway. Yesterday I was reminded of the purity and faith of just taking a shot and walking away. The above was the shot. I set it up (& let the two people [who always find their way into even the most deserted streets just to look at me like I'm a weirdo for taking pictures of walls] walk by.) like in the old days, taking my time, and shot it. I looked at it on the display & began, instinctively, to raise the camera to my eye again... then I stopped.
"Hey dummy, the shot is fine. It is what you wanted anyway. You don't need to take it again.
...Uuuuse the Force...

So I walked away and gave myself a new challenge: shoot like you used to. Not always. Not religiously. Just from time to time.

It's nostalgic.

It's magic.

If anyone out there can relate, I'd advice trying The Trout Challenge yourself. It'll bring that old spark back. Now get out there and take pictures of garbage! Cos someone's got to do it!

...or, like me, you can always take the ol K1000 out for a stroll from time to time... it'll appreciate it. So will you.

... a little something while you wait...

2011-02-15T00:12:00.000-08:00

I'm gonna just start just ploppin random stuff all over this blog. Spend too much time pontificating on what should go here that nothing actually goes here, so...

this is a shot I call

ANTICIPATION

To an actor, the feeling of walking onto a bare stage for the first time and looking out into an empty house is second only to performing to a full one. An empty house holds promise. The seats feel alive with anticipation and are not vacant at all. You can feel them yearn for the ride you’re about to take them on. Your best monologues clamor and lurch to the tip of your tongue only to be stifled by the reverence of the moment. This silence, this anticipation, you imagine placing in the palm of your hand with Iago’s slightest inflection. The silence of ‘I got you’. The silence all actor’s live for. An empty house promises it.

Beards, New photos, No photos & Looking to the Burrito Horizon...

2011-01-23T15:01:00.000-08:00

Well, the dopamine has worn off and I woke from my hibernation with a beard. The holiday season finds itself in the haze of recent history and I notice the blog is a little dusty. So, consider this a feather duster.

A few updates to share.

Firstly.
The Mothership Kreddible Trout Connection (my website) has been updated. Rearranged some things and added some new stuff in the new folder called The New Stuff (was that redundant?) which will house anything shot since January 1st. It's still just a fledgling folder so please stop by regularly as it needs your encouragement.

Secondly.
This isn't news just yet, but something that might become it. In relation to Firstly I'd have liked to have posted a few examples of the photos I wrote of, but I have just been so MASSIVELY FRUSTRATED by how MINDBOGGLINGLY IMPOSSIBLE it is to arrange photos in blogger that I gave up. Unless I want all the photos in one line down the page... it's almost impossible. To expect to try to put them on in a simple grid... wow. Some posts recently have taken me HOURS to get up & they still look shoddy. This is something that has been an issue for a while now and I have just had it. Why and how the cyber-geniuses over at google haven't come up with an easier way to manage photos within the posting is beyond me. It seems that with the last upgrade they decided to go back to 1999 technology or something. I've read forums, I've tried to manipulate them as is told in tutorials but they really seem to have a mind of their own. A lot of the writings about how to manage photos within blogger tell you it's easier to manage them within the HTML... if I knew HTML I wouldn't be using blogger now would I? Blogger is for laypeople like me.
SO... so I may be moving ship. Just the blog. Probably Wordpress or Tumblr. I toyed with Wordpress a couple of years ago and found it too convoluted & intricate for my needs so, I'm gonna see what Tumblr is all about. It looks pretty simple and I like what I've seen. We'll see. Any advice would be welcomed and if I've missed the glaringly obvious here in blogger & someone knows 'the trick' please feel free to let me know. Jeebus knows the good folks at blogger ain't answering my calls.

Thirdly. Have Trout Will Travel again!
Headin' down to San Diego again for a quick photographic jaunt. Seems Col. J needs some new big art for his new regional office & has commissioned yours truly to do it all up for him. Flying down on Thursday after work work to run amok in the land of sand and burritos for three days and returning on Monday. I'll be documenting the city which is something I really didn't get a chance to do when I was down last spring as I was too busy preparing for Artwalk. For those of you who don't know who Col. J. is or what Artwalk is about you'll have to get in the 'it's the Kreddible Trout Photography blog Time Machine' and start waaaay back here. The linked entry was the first announcement of my incredible trip last spring called the Kreddible Trout (part of the) World Tour 2010.
Wow. Almost a year ago. There are many adventures to read following that. Feel free.

Fourthly.
There is no fourthly.

Finally.
We here at Kreddible Trout Photographic Enterprises want to wish you the very best this Valentine's Day Season and remind you that there are only 21 shopping days left til this joyous day. So remember...

...nothing says 'I Love You' like

a nice piece of Trout.

If this blog were a turkey...

2010-12-28T19:01:00.000-08:00

Man.. there's so much news in this here blog post, you'll be making blog news sandwiches for a week! Maybe even a pot of blog news soup! When you're done reading, you'll want to sit back on the couch (or sofa), unbuckle your belt, shake the pictures on the wall with one of them half-belch-half-sighs and pass out for 5 hours!

Makes you wanna keep readin, don't it?

Ok, so where to begin?

A few weeks ago I mentioned that someone from Winnipeg had ordered a print from me. There's a nifty story behind this sale. I get a message on my telephone answering service from a lady who asks me about a piece I have hanging up in a cafe here in Victoria. (Demi-Tasse, formerly Rising Star on Broad St.) The piece is one of my uniquely mounted pieces with the shot 'brownie as monolith' in it.
It's a 22x24 inch print, mounted behind an antique window. It looks a little something like exactly this:

The woman who called was asking about it and, after some phone tag it was determined that the one of a kind unique piece wasn't exactly in her ballpark but a print of 'brownie as monolith' would be. She was heading back home to Winnipeg the next day and it was decided that I'd get a print done & ship it to her. It was to be an x-mas gift and this is where it gets neat. The gift was for her father who's in his 80s who used to be a photographer, used to use a Kodak Brownie and... get this... who's name is Brownie. The photograph immediately set off the 'perfect gift' bells and the rush was on. This was sometime in late November and they wanted to get it framed & wrapped for x-mas. The busy season was on at Canada Post & there was a bit of worry as things seemed to take slightly longer than hoped, but in the end, it got there on time, was framed and apparently Brownie loved his Brownie photograph!

I've sold many prints & am always eager to get feedback, but I was quite excited to get news of this. Quite happy indeed. I'm smiling now, actually.

So, what's next?

It was a quiet x-mas this year & I decided to turn the downtime into uptime funtime cameratime! I had neglected my camera for quite a while. Hadn't really spent any real quality time with it in about a month and a half so, with all the nothing going on I figured it was time to make amends. Pulled out the camera, slapped on the makeshift macro (I won't tell you how to make one, but I will say that there is much fun to be had in disassembling lenses or looking backwards through them... electrical tape can help.) set up my lighting equipment (an old desk lamp that may have belonged to Mickey Spillane at one time) in my studio (the closet that I call an office a.k.a. The Troutcave) set up the tripod (um... it's an actual tripod) and started getting up close and personal with my camera collection:

So, needless to say I had a fun time. They say you can get lost in macro work and it's true. Imagine suddenly having to navigate your surroundings as though you were a flea. A millimeter can be vast. You can trip over an eyelash. I actually got so into it that I used my 'live view' function on my camera for the very first time. I've had the 40D for 2.5 years and have never even looked at the silly thing. I hate live view. Photography is an intimate process. My eye through the camera is how I want to see the world. Everything else doesn't exist. But, a lot of these shots would have been impossible or else terribly painful to line up any other way so... I scrounged around for my manual and figured out how to employ the mechanism. I tell you, my camera has so many bells and whistles that I have no idea are even there... it makes me giggle. Next year's DSLRs will be coming out with 'post to facebook' functions and internal editing software. You wait. It'll happen.
What...? Oh, it already happened...? Oh.
(shudder).
So that's how I spent my x-mas vacation! Photographically speaking, that is. The wife and I cooked a bird and ate it too. Yum yum.
A bunch of the shots from the series are on ye aulde website-a-reno (click: portfolio - studies - cameras.) and I posted them on redbubble where I then made a truly swank lookin' calendar. Check ca:

Well... that wasn't really that much news after all... just a lot of me rambling... funny that...

It's kinda like I promised you a big ol turkey with all the fixins and I came home with a half-eaten happy meal and a pack of Certs.
Oh well.
How's about I make it up to you all on the next exciting episode of it's the Kreddible Trout Photography blog! where I will do up one of them 'Year In Review' things that seem so popular amongst people in the media who can afford a vacation.

Or maybe I won't. I'm not yet quite sure if I'm lying about that or not.

...anyway.

So...

Tune in next time to find out if he's serious about Kreddible Trout Photography's Year In Review and if he is just how in the hell he'll be consise about it without it taking the whole of 2011 to read!

(It's a nutshell, Trout! Not a novel!)

Say 'goodnight', Troutie.
'Hi Trevor!'
... oh sweet jeebus...

Last Big Marketing Drive of 2010!!!

2010-12-18T11:40:00.000-08:00

(...oh, er... I mean...)

Seasons Greetings And Best Wishes To All My Loyal Followers!!!

As it is the time of year for businesses everywhere to foist out the final desperate plea for sales, we here at Kreddible Trout Photographic Industries are no different. Firstly we want to thank all 22 of you for following this silly little blog, wish you a festive and yule-tastic holiday season and remind you that Original Kreddible Trout Photographic Artworks can be purchased from my redbubble portfolio as well as through my website. Heck, you can even call me on the telephone & say 'hey Troutie, I'm an art savvy consumer and I want to purchase some of your yummy yummy art. Hook me up, yo!'
And I will hook you up. Yo.

So, to those few of you who don't have to work through it, have a great holiday season! To those of you who do have to work through it... well, y'know, double time is pretty sweet & try and enjoy it none the less!

Peace Out!
-Kreddible Trout

Arts, Crafts and the Cycle of Life

2010-12-12T12:34:00.000-08:00

(I wrote this piece a few years ago to post on JPGmag. A conversation I had last week reminded me of it so I decided to share it here. These are the kind of blog entries that I enjoy sharing. I hope you get a kick out of it.)

Arts, Crafts and the Cycle of Life

I went to the Salmon Run the other day and have to admit I was a little disappointed to see not one single salmon do anything but swim or just lay there being eaten by birds. There was no running involved. I thought I was going to see salmon doin The Darwin.

Anyway.

Seems every year for as long as there've been salmon, they've been swimming upstream, spawning and dying. To the population of Victoria BC and some late-season tourists it's apparently quite a site to witness. The vibrant struggle of salmon fighting fierce opposing currents & predators has got to be one of the more impassioned displays of survival of the species nature has to offer. Really something to be seen. Unfortunately we had arrived at the tail end of the season and were left with a river teeming with dead salmon carcasses and scavanger birds. Lots of interesting photo ops but the majesty of nature had been replaced by nature's version of dumpster diving behind McDonald's.

The area, Goldstream Provincial Park has nature trails along the stream with information posts as you'd expect. 'The Life Cycle of Moss'... 'Dew: Nature's Perspiration'... things like that. We walked along the paths which wound creekside through the woods and soon came upon a little visitor's centre. An information lodge stuffed with stuffed birds to look at, t-shirts to buy & people with beards to explain it all to the city folks. After pushing a few buttons to hear stuffed birds making sounds that the live ones were making outside I wandered out the back where I discovered something quite disturbing indeed. It seems a macabre tradition to allow (and even encourage) children to cover dead salmons in paint and make prints on large sheets of white paper with them. Really, tables full of dead fish and paint lined the outside wall of the information centre. It looked like kindergarten of the disturbed. I was confused. I'm not a parent but I do seem to recall that when I was a child the grown ups telling me not to play with dead animals. Even if I really really wanted to. I asked someone if they do the same thing with squirrels to which the response was mild disgust. A dead fish is ok though...

A fitting homage to the majesty of nature, don't you think? These solemn creatures fight all odds to procreate, battling current, predator and time, and end up being groped by a five year old covered in paint. I heard one kid remark "This is SUCH a good idea!"

Indeed.

I've decided that this is how I want to be remembered. Burial is so passe, cremation is kinda cool but who's ashes are they really? George Carlin once said he wanted to be stuffed full of dynamite and blown up. I was favouring that idea until now. Thanks to the salmon run I have a new idea. When I die I want people to make artsy-craftsy prints of me! At my service, I want to be lain naked on a table so everyone can cover me in paint, slap a big sheet of paper on me and make themselves a print. I can be wiped down and redone until everybody has their own, artistic interpretive print of me to do whatever they want with. Hang me over your mantle. In your office to inspire productivity. You name it!

Just like the salmon.

A fitting tribute to the cycle of life and not in the least degrading.

Just call me Mr. June.

2010-12-08T14:40:00.000-08:00

Last week was pretty eventful. Here's the rundown:

So, as I've mentioned my shot comin t'getcha has been featured in the David Suzuki Foundation's 2011 calendar and last week, in a 100% post consumer cardboard envelope, it arrived at my door.
So... yeah, like, I get mail from David Suzuki... I'm kinda a big deal y'know... oh, did you get that?... David Suzuki is what I said... yeah... I'm fantastic.
...Oh... it was sent by... oh. A person in the mail room? Hmm...
Yeah, so I know a guy who works in the mail room at the David Suzuki Foundation... yeah, I'm a pretty big deal.

Needless to say I'm pretty thrilled about it. Mr Suzuki himself signed it. Pretty cool.

...you can call me Mr. June....

I'm pretty thrilled to be in the calendar and hope that some of you out there go over to the David Suzuki Foundation website and buy one. I'm pretty certain it's going to a good cause.

On that very same day (wow it was like x-mas in my mailbox!) I also received a bunch of stickers I ordered from redbubble. A few of my own designs and some others I really like. Here they are displayed around the calendar:

Close-up of my 'nothing is real anymore' design in sticker form (though you'd be much cooler wearing the t-shirt)

I was also asked by the good people at Toast Cafe in Sidney BC to fill their walls with art! I frequent the shop in my 'day job' as a landscaper to get the best coffee on the peninsula. (for those of you who don't know what 'the peninsula' is, it refers to the greater Saanich area of Vancouver Island. Here you go!) They asked me Monday & I had stuff hung by Saturday. If you're in the Sidney area & want a great coffee & a dang good sandwich you should stop in. (I hear they have some nice art on the walls too!)

And finally... I sold a print to some folks from Winnipeg. Someone contacted me after having seen my uniquely mounted 'brownie as monolith' hanging in Demi-Tasse (Formerly Rising Star) Cafe on Broad Street in Victoria & asked if they could buy a print of it. It's to be a gift. There's a cute little story behind it that I'm excited to blog about when it's opened at x-mas.

And I think that about does it for the life and times of Kreddible Trout for the beginning of December. Good things. Not terribly lucrative things, but good things. I like good things.

...and remember our x-mas slogan kids:

Nothin says 'Happy Holidays' like

a nice piece of Trout!

The Hostile Takover of Art (pt.1)

2010-11-26T17:23:00.000-08:00

Happy Buy Nothing Day Everyone!

This has been brewing in me for some time now, the fact that art is almost surely dead. If not 'dead' it's been buried alive and there are few of us left who seem to care & we can't find any shovels. Buried, bought and buggered by business. What better day than Buy Nothing Day to expel this little demon, eh?

That's right kids, sit back and get ready for a rant!

(this is how we do business here at KTP!)

Many things over the past few decades have exemplified business & marketing's hostile takeover of art but I think we can all agree that their true September Campaign was when a certain shoe company bought a song called 'Revolution' that should never have been able to be sold by someone who had nothing to do with it's creation in the first place. In 1987 Nike bought the Beatles' song Revolution from Michael Jackson and put it in a commercial to sell shoes made by child sweatshop labourers.

Profits soared.

Now, I know there had been many hugely successful marketing campaigns before that (I mean, Max Headroom selling Pepsi was just brilliant!) but this was really the first, blatant, open handed slap in art's face. Marketing stood there with that smug little smirk on it's face, 'What're y'gonna do cry about it?'
This was marketers' big risk... this was the test. As tests go it was a pretty safe bet on their part. For years they'd been preening us for the moment when they'd ram that final nail in the hippies' coffin (the previous ones nailed by the hippies themselves in the form of Pathfinders and the starting of marketing firms) & get on with business.
The test was this: if we can take a song, a piece of art, written by a group of artists who are revered to the point of sainthood, a song that was clearly pondering revolution and now has the hindsight of it's lyricist's rebellious path since it's release, a song that emulates the population's (albeit distant and homogenized) understanding of 'revolution' and use it to sell them sneakers... we've got them in the palm of our hands.

And they did.
And they do.
They needed to see just how far they could push before we'd actually rebel. They're still pushing. Because we let them. Because alongside art, they bought our morals and integrity as well.

Seems really sinister doesn't it? It's not. It's just business.

Since then we've seen Fred Estaire dancing for soda pop and revolutionary figures being reduced to t-shirts who's wearers have only
ever rebelled by going to the Rage Against The Machine concert against their parent's will. (actual quote I overheard 10 years ago: "Man, I love Rage, I just wish they weren't so political!")

It has become so ingrained in our ideals that anyone who questions the tried and true methods of business is written off as 'an idealist'. Those who question the pervasiveness of marketing get heavily patronized in that oh so charming way business people love to. It's simply a fact. It's reality. If you dont' play along you're simply missing the point. Anything but the pursuit of money is considered a charming little idea that is nice to visit in the movies but has no viable place in 'the real world'.

The idea of creating art, simply for it's own sake, for all the reasons artists have ever created, for it's true purpose: to vent, to nourish, to beautify, to rebel, to stave off 'demons', to invite & rejoice in epiphany, to mirror-hold, to provoke change, to sway lovers, to criticize, to entertain, TO EVOKE... all these things really only hold merit if you've got a good way to sell it. If you follow the rules on how to 'get it out there'. If you don't, if you're not interested in 'the business' side of it, you're patronized.

Everything is business.

I've not been in business long (or arguably at all) though people have been buying my art for a few years now. I simply do not have the knack for it. I've tried. I've done research, taken courses, but everything about it just pets me the wrong way. The goal is wrong. The goal is money. I never want to sell someone a piece of my art. I want people to want to buy it. If they don't want to, I'm fine with that. The error in my business thinking (a source of pride for me) is that I don't ever want to cater my art to someone else. I'm not a service, I'm an artist. I don't want to keep abreast of the latest market trends because that's what I'm supposed to do to be a successful businessman. I want to create my art. Period. I would rather work odd jobs the rest of my life & have folks who truly appreciate my art occasionally buy it than do what I allegedly need to in order to 'be successful' in the eyes of money.

I'm such a REBEL!

In my peripheral experience in 'the photography business' I've noted one thing, this industry has admittedly and shamelessly become almost entirely about marketing. A little over a year ago I attended an intensive, five day, photography workshop. I rarely mention it and don't really put it down on my resume as the only thing I truly took away from it was that I'd rather remain an artist than become a business person. Of the... we'll say there were 250 people there, I saw maybe... MAYBE 20 people who I thought might be artists. The rest were, at best, business people with expensive cameras. At worst, marketers with even more expensive cameras. From the instructors to the students it was all about how to 'get yourself out there' and 'be seen' while the thought of art took a back seat or was left entirely out of the equasion. The question of whether or not the person's product provoked any real need to 'be seen' was never posed. My understanding of the mantra is this: you can create stunningly uninspired shit all you like, you just need to know how to 'get it out there' and you can be 'successful'. People are jumping through hoops & knocking over old ladies in order to get to the front of this shameful line. For whatever brief minute they'll be there before someone else comes along with a bigger shinier hat and a brighter, better crafted smile. The idea I heard repeatedly was that, despite the 'economic downturn' we were (are) in, some people were making a killing! More successful then they've ever been! How? Please tell us HOW? By 'marketing like they've never marketed before' was the answer. Many of them claimed that 75% of their time was spent marketing. That's 75% of their time not taking pictures. My heart ached.
The presentation that opened the entire seminar had some pointy-haired guy (who was braving this recession splendidly) go on at great lengths about how he's started wearing mismatched socks because he thinks it makes him more unique... because he saw someone else doing it. In my world, that makes you desperate, not cool. He doesn't do it because he is more unique, but because he thinks it'll make him so. So... he's a poser. His wedding photos were good, don't get me wrong, he obviously knew what he was doing with a camera & photo editing software but what made him truly successful was his marketing.

And his socks. Let's not forget his clever socks.

(... I stopped wearing mis-matched socks a few years ago.)

I could go on about this all night, but there's a reason I called this 'part 1'... I have a lot to say on the issue.

In closing, there is still a faint knowledge that we're not only allowing this to happen to our good friend art, that we've accepted it and have almost entirely lost the ability to recognize that there is anything wrong with art's direction is being diverted by greed. The knowledge is faint, but it is there. Isn't it?

All that said, you must think I'm a miserable no-fun-nick. Far from it. As you can probably figure out from my marketing campaigns of the past year, I have a great deal of fun not taking any of this seriously at all.
(Besides, most of you know me anyway as really, I've done a horrible job with my social network marketing strategies and have done little to get this blog 'out there' beyond ... hi mom... beyond a smallish circle of people whom I know personally... there's a marketing term for that that illudes me at the moment)

Again, Happy Buy Nothing Day Everyone!!!

(If anyone buys something from me today... I'll be SO MAD at you!)

-Kreddible Trout

Kreddible Trout Design??? You Betcha!

2010-11-24T00:12:00.000-08:00

The other day it donned on me: I do design too! Ive been designing my own business cards for ages, have done posters for various types of events (mostly ones I've been involved in...art shows etc) & small businesses. I've done layouts & designs for this very blog!
So the heavy business side of my brain got to thinking...
'hmmm... how can I use this ability to my financial benefit? There's got to be a way...'

A couple of weeks later I stumbled upon this revolutionary idea to advertise it and start charging for my services!
(I do feel bad about having to lay a firm NO down and start charging the bake sale ladies. To be honest though, I think they've been taking advantage of my posters for cookies fees. Last time they gave me a cracker with a raisin on it... that's not a cookie ladies! Besides, they're all driving fancy sports cars now... I'm getting a bit suspicious. All that new bling... Ethyl got some gold teeth put in. I think they can afford to throw some my way.)

So please check out the new DESIGN section of the website-a-go-go!

And if anyone needs posters, business cards, layouts for your manifestos, please feel free to email me. My rates are (as always) reasonable and I guarantee service with a smile (possibly a sly grin)!

Also, I just posted a few shots from a recent promo session. As odd as it sounds, it was for another classical musician. The gentleman Joey Pietraroia (a fellow ex-pat Montrealler) is a real deal classical music conductor!

Here are a couple of examples, more can be seen on ye aulde website

So that's all for this installment of What's New On The Website!

Next episode... something COMPLETELY UN-SALES/PROMOTIONS RELATED. I GAR-ON-TEE!

(oh thank jeebus!)

another satisfied KTP customer and his cat!

2010-11-07T21:35:00.000-08:00

My old buddy Nick (a rapidly budding new photojournalist) standing in front of his recently delivered Authentic Kreddible Trout Custom Designed Calendar titled ‘Intricate Nick’s Cavalcade of Days and Pictures’.
Of course, Nick is a kidder and, knowing my pure, unbridled, almost satanic disdain of cat pictures, decided to take a stab at my not-so-funny-bone.

HAR-DE-HAR-HAR, Mr. Nick! HAR-DE-HAR-HAAR!

15% off Kreddible Trout until Nov. 14th!

2010-11-04T22:58:00.000-07:00

Greetings one and everyone!

To celebrate the

post-halloween-pre-pre-X-mas-consuming-season

Kreddible Trout is offering

15% off

everything at the redbubble branch of KTP Enterprises!

All you have to do is enter the

SUPER SPECIAL FAN CLUB CODE

(located at the bottom of this blog entry)

when filling out your order at redbubble

and presto-blammo

you get 15% off!

But only til Nov. 14th!

...because with deals this crazy the bank will never give me that business loan I need!

(the banks only give money to lunatics who already have money)

WE GOT T-SHIRTS!

AND WE GOT ART WORKS!

... and if you look hard enough

you can find calendars and stickers too!

So please head on over & buy some yummy yummy art!

Hey!

Don't forget your

SUPER SPECIAL FAN CLUB CODE:

KreddibleTrout_is_on_sale_0604

...offer ends November 14th 2010.

...and if you want to know a little secret...

...I have another profile on redbubble...

...it's for all the la-de-da nature & pretty flower stuff...

...but sssshhhhhh... don't tell anybody... it'll ruin my credibility as a jaded-edgy artist...

this code will get you 15% off there:

WilliamJoseph_is_on_sale_0951

...for those of you who like flowers and crap like that.

21 Days, 2 Calendars and 1 Birthday later...

2010-10-23T19:38:00.000-07:00

Hello Folks, I know, it's been a while. I thought I'd send out an update on what the dilli-o has been going on over here at KTP Enterprises.

Firstly, the Customize Your Whole Year Calendar Extravaganza got off to a roaring start and then put-putted to a quiet halt. Two orders flew off the shelves shortly after my announcement & then the chorus of crickets & tumbleweed began chiming again. I stormed in to the marketing department demanding to know what happened to the new BMW they promised me. After my ten minute tirade the entire marketing department (my desk plant Mertyl) sat in stunned terror until it finally piped up with 'Well sir... seems that sliced bread was actually a pretty remarkable invention... we were a bit presumptuous on that... but... well, I do think that the sliced bread people may have put a little more time and effort into advertising it... you know, more than just one blog entry at least.'

The entire office was silent. The vein in my head throbbed in that way it does when it wants to pretend it's Donald Trump. Mertyl sat motionless.

'So....' piecing it together 'what you're saying is..' almost got it now '...one roadsign on the information superhighway is probably insufficient?'

'No.'
'What?'

'It isn't probably insufficient, it is definitely, tremendously and almost embarrassingly insufficient'

'Don't get cocky Mertyl'
'Sorry sir.'

And thus it went on. Mertyl and I spent the better part of last week trying to see eye to leaf & eventually came to the agreement that I was spending far too much time talking to houseplants and need to get out more. (Though the more I think about this the more I realize Mertyl may be trying for a power grab... I have to keep my eye on that one, Peace Lilies are known for their cunning)

So! Where was I?

Oh yes, the Customize Your Whole Year Calendar Extravaganza is very much alive and kicking and two happy customers are in possession of a whole year's worth of Kreddible Trout Photography!

The first, entitled Intricate Nick's Cavalcade of Days and Pictures and looks a little like...

Followed by "Yay! The Whole Whole Year!" Screamed Keny McPuaid. For my old friend Keny.

So, to be sure you're not the last kid on your block to get an Original, Custom Designed Kreddible Trout Wall Calendar get your orders in today and remember, any of my shots (excluding portraits, weddings and nudes) from any of my online haunts can be used! So... it's kinda like a scavenger hunt! Find your favorite shot! PLUS (as if that weren't enough) yours truly will come up with some ridiculous title for the whole shebang that will be as unique and original as the calendar itself!!! It's win-win-win all around!

Email your picks to trout@kreddibletrout.com today!

Oh... and I had a birthday. Mid month I turned almost 40... and there was much rejoicing... yay!

4 Years In The Making... Published in JPGmag!

2010-10-02T09:55:00.000-07:00

I just found out that I've been published in JPGmag! (I've been trying for this for a long time.)
Even though some of the 'older crew' know it's not quite the thing it used to be, I have a special place in my heart for JPG as it was the very first photo-sharing site I ever joined lo those many years ago!(2006)
I've made a lot of eFriends and connected with a wonderful network of photo-peers (a handful of whom I've met in real time) through the site and, despite several, shall we say... 'glitches' over the years it's still a pretty decent site. (those who know about the glitches know about the glitches, those who don't... what's past is past.)

Wow... four years, in eTerms that's a long time. Seems like several generations. (Remember the gulf spill? How many years ago was that? Thank goodness that's all over!)

Thanks JPG!

Breaking news!

2010-10-01T20:24:00.000-07:00

This is Kreddible Trout coming to you live from the Fundraiser for the Bwera Vocational School and Cultural Center Project in Western Uganda.
reports are scetchy but mr. Trout's 'standing next to his piece with puppy dog eyes' scene has paid off with a couple of compliments.
More news to follow.

***several hours pass***

The night seemed to be a great success & my piece found a new home. Please stay tuned to their website for updates on how successful the night really was.

Customize Your Whole Year! With Kreddible Trout Photography!

2010-09-21T21:59:00.000-07:00

The marketing gurus here at Kreddible Trout Photographic Enterprises have informed me that these days people desire a uniquely personalized consumer experience. They tell me that in order to actualize positive monetary stimulation here at KTP I need to engage my PCB (potential client base) with a genuinely dynamic marketing enticement.

After a short thrashing with my belt they begun speaking human again and it boiled down to this:

CUSTOMIZED 2011 CALENDARS!

Some die hard fans may remember this scheme from last year but this year it's been revamped enough for me to call it BETA. How does it work? What the heck is it? Well, simple: you get to pick any 12 of your most favoritest Kreddible Trout Photographs and I compile them into a calendar which will be individually titled to you!

Say for example your name is... oh I dunno... Wayne Gretzki and you order a calendar from me. I might title the calendar: Wayne Gretzki's 2011 Calendar! (wow, am I asking to be sued by a childhood hero?)
Ok, well try this: your name is Francis Corbo LeNoy, I might call the calendar:

The Year 2011 According to Francis Corbo LeNoy.

Now, what makes this really fun for you kids playing at home is that you not only get to choose images from my website, but from any of the other photo sharing sites I frequent. Like something of mine you see on redbubble? How's about JPGmag? Do I even have a Flickr account? If you can find a page from my very first geocities site and see something on there that you like... well, you'd need a time machine to do that because geocities closed down last year. (If you have a time machine... please let me know. I have some time/space theories I'm curious to try out.) And if you want you can even choose the month each picture goes with! Or just leave it to my artistic discretion. Whatever you want. 1000% customizable! Just email me a list of your choices and lemme at it! *The only limitation is that I can not include portraits, nudes or wedding shots for obvious reasons.

These swank, stylin calendars are produced and shipped through redbubble right to your door! Printed on high quality satin art paper (heavier paper for the cover) with a hanger & white coil wire binding. Think of it as a time management app for your iWall! (Or, like me, you can think of it as a pretty calendar.)

$35 (CAD) plus S&H gets you your very own, personalized calendar! Just like Hypothetical Gretzki!

Fundraiser for the Bwera Vocational School and Cultural Center Project in Western Uganda.

2010-09-15T22:18:00.000-07:00

Feeling philanthropic?
Always wanted to own an Original Piece of Trout (TM)?
Well now's your chance to do BOTH!

(Tell us more oh elusive one!)

I will!

Kreddible Trout Photographic Enterprises has donated an original, Uniquely Mounted piece of photographic art to the Partnership for Opportunity Development Association's (PODA for those who insist on acronyms) upcoming fundraiser for their Bwera Vocational School and Cultural Center Project in Western Uganda.

About the project:
(from PODA's website)
The proposed Bwera Vocational Secondary School and Community Cultural Centre Project has been designed to address the need for education in a severely impoverished rural community in Western Uganda. This particular project was identified as essential by community members through a collaborative consultation process. The School and Community Centre will provide free secondary school enrollment and vocational training for HIV orphans and other disadvantaged youth, providing new opportunities, support, and a greater sense of stability in the region. The project builds on an existing vocational and secondary school project, in which Partnerships for Opportunity has been involved since 2005, in collaboration with Cobra Association for Life Improvement, a local Ugandan non-profit.

About the Fundraiser:
When:
October 1st, 2010 - 6pm
Where:
DaVinci Centre, 195 Bay Street, Victoria BC (Vic West)
What & How:
It's a lottery. There will be 100 pieces of art donated by 100 artists. Doors open & viewing begins at 6pm. Throughout the evening there will be music, a locally sourced cash bar and complimentary light canapes (I'm curious to find out what one of those are). At 7pm is the main event. Lottery numbers will be drawn, at random. When your number is picked, you get to choose your preferred piece from those that remain. There will be one piece of art for every ticket so... unlike the regular lottery, everyone goes home a winner. (I envision the last guy getting stuck with one of them black velor clown paintings but the joke's on the other 99 'cos those things rock!)

How much:
$200 per lottery ticket (which guarantees a piece of art)
$20 per spectator (like me)

About the Piece of Trout:
I'm gonna keep that as kind of a secret. The kind of secret that's... secret. I'll just say that it is one of my favourite pieces. It used to hang over my desk. When I decided to move it to a place where more people might see it, the pricetag was $385. Because I believe in this cause and with some luck on your side you can drive it home for $200!

I will be there. I would love to have 200 bucks to throw in the hat in hopes of walking home with a new piece of art. Unfortunately, this functionally starving artist can only afford to be a spectator. When I sat down and spoke with Colleen from PODA about the donation, she explained the project to me. I asked if they needed any photographers with a rudimentary understanding of hammers to join the team.

It seems to be a really good cause & I'm very proud to be involved even in this indirect way.
Please come out if you can. Even if you're just a spectator like me.

Kreddible Trout Published on 1x.com

2010-09-03T22:59:00.000-07:00

There's a really swank website out there called 1x.com that has some actual criteria involved in being published there. And I quote from their website:
"1x is a photo community with a difference. Take the work of the most talented photobloggers, various famous photographers, and many serious amateurs, select their best work and collect it all in one place - that is 1x. Everyone is welcome to contribute, but every photo is screened, which means it has to be approved by an editor (screener) before being published. 1x is a photo gallery with a constantly evolving exhibition. We publish dozens of new images every day."

I just got word that one of KTP's most popular images 'montreal die-in' was published there today.

In the world of online photo communities it feels good to be one of 'dozens' rather than one of 'every bloody thing submitted'.

Thanks 1x!

Submitting image from iFuture Mach II

2010-09-03T13:25:00.001-07:00

This is purely a test of my ability to post correspondences from 'the future' including digital images taken with, and edited in my 'portable device'. (remember when 'portable device' was a naughty euphemism?)
This is the same couch as yesterday. Just all messed around with.

iNews! (that's what they'll call news in the future...)

2010-09-02T21:06:00.000-07:00

Greetings to you, people of the past. I, Kreddible Trout, am communicating with you from the future. Please do not be alarmed. I have discovered a device that will make your fascination with sliced bread seem trite. (though I have doubts that this device would taste good toasted with peanut butter)
It is a telephone with which I can not only surf the world wide web and make blog posts from the bathroom but a device which also has a camera and a compass. Apparently there are a few other things in it too. I'm excited for the next rainfall to see if an umbrella will pop out. I am also under the assumption that, in the case of a disaster (knock on iWood) it will inflate into a raft of some sort.
For now... I'll spend my time making sure North is staying where it's supposed to and taking a few 5MP pictures with it.
It is called iPhone and this is the first picture taken with it that wasn't of my goofy face looking like it's trying to figure out advanced trigonometry while worrying about a recent burrito experience.

(shut up and show us the stupid picture already!)

oh. yay. another stupid roadside couch...

Audacious Kreddible Trout Updates Nature! (wasn't it about time?)

2010-08-29T23:34:00.000-07:00

That's right folks, I've had it up to here (imagine height demonstrated) with how stagnant nature has been lately so I decided to go on in there and spruce it up a bit! I pine, ceder and fir'd it up too, dang it!

Wha'choo talkin' 'bout, Trout? (...too soon?)

What I'm talking about is I've added some new stuff to the Nature section ye aulde website. That's what!

Nature? You shoot nature, Trout?

Hecks yeah! ...sometimes. To be honest it's not really my photographic cup of tea all that 'nature stuff'. I love to be in nature. Specifically naked and swimming in nature. But photographing it...? A tree's a tree. A creek's a creek. Pictures of it just don't cut it for me. Nothing compares to being in nature. No photograph can fill your lungs with pure oxygen or your soul with calm the way standing in a forest does. Sorry Ansel. It's pretty and all, but it's just a feeble copy.
I suppose it's my approach to art that makes nature difficult for me. I seem to photograph flaws. I try to photograph the human condition. I end up photographing the human condition and it's flaws. I take jabs at our silly ways. I'm petty like that. But nature is flawless. Until we enter the picture (pun intended). I think the only flaw in nature is that we've tried to separate ourselves from it. Which seems to be in our nature. Which is messed up. So there's nothing to 'jab' at with nature. 'My art' there has no purpose. Which is why I'm usually swimming naked and not taking pictures of it.

But sometimes I do. And they can be found in the Nature section of The Mothership Kreddible Trout Connection.

These are a couple of new ones taken at Lizard Lake a while back. Enjoy.

...ok... I like it sometimes. Please go on over and check out the rest. There'll be more to come soon.

Kreddible Trout Industries Activewear Division

2010-08-23T23:01:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, Kreddible Trout Industries has an Activewear Division dedicated to bringing quality upper-body garments to the torsos of the world. Some people call these garments 't-shirts'.
T-shirts are vitally important to my generation. No one thought it would happen, but it seems that somewhere between the late 70s and the early 80s the bumpersticker fell out of fashion as the vessel for all things immensely profound and was replaced by the t-shirt. (The early 80s was just that kind of fearless time) From my first favorite tee 'homework rots my brain' in grade 3 I knew they were powerful. This t-shirt with a cartoon of a depressed looking ogre fellow with a pencil sticking out of his ear sitting above a pile of papers (presumably homework) seemed to make my teacher really really uptight. Anything that rocked my 8-year-old socio-political situation that strongly was bound to be more than just a garment! It was a statement. It was a revolution!

Needless to say, with the potential of evoking that kind of response... I had to start designing t-shirts. And now, lo these many years (and words in this blog... will he get on with it already??) later, Kreddible Trout Industries Activewear Division has made yet another sale of it's most popular, and hopefully controversial items! One of my favourite t-shirt designs 'nothing is real anymore' has sold for the 5th time, making it the most popular seller in the activewear catalog and darn near the most popular item in all Kreddible Trout Industries!

Here is the design of the t-shirt:

note the painstaking attention to detail:

this lovely (and mildly bitter) tee and many others of mine can be bought through the good people at redbubble. I'm actually wearing a redbubble tee right now... it's COMFY! Doesn't YOUR torso deserve a Kreddible Trout Tee?

Kreddible Trout Activewear... cos everyone should have a nice piece of Trout to slap on their torso!

Kreddible Trout in David Suzuki Foundation's 20th Anniversary Calendar for 2011!

2010-08-18T23:11:00.000-07:00

As we all know, it's hard to kickstart into full-on production mode after a long holiday and here at Kreddible Trout International Headquarters it's no different. Since returning from the the break for the big wedding to-do things have been pretty slow to start...
High atop the glistening, corporate headquarters of KTP Enterprises and Subsidiaries there are still a few cardboard & couch-cushion forts lingering like the ruins of some kindergarten civilization long forgot. The offices are strewn with pizza boxes, jelly beans, crushed root beer cans, the odd clown nose & some sort of frankenstein-esque creation taped to the boardroom door consisting of photocopies of various parts of the board of directors unclothed (and now quite libel) bodies. My head is the crowning glory of the horrific masterpiece and I don't know whose 'hey now' that is but whoever owns up is in line for a promotion!

So, as the confetti settles and the remnants of wedding wine gets 'stored away', the memo I got in my electronic mailbox today was quite a nice hang-over remedy...

Yours truly, Kreddible Trout has been honoured by having his photo comin' t'getcha included in the David Suzuki Foundation's 20th Anniversary Calendar for 2011! This is quite an honour indeed as Mr. Suzuki is someone I very much admire.

As some of you know, my artistic ideals tend to veer towards the progressive. Or they try to at least. They strive to somehow evoke some change. I've often said that I'm a mirror holder/finger pointer and one who's just vain/self-conscious enough to point the mirror/finger at himself as frequently as I do outward. We're an amazing, messed up and beautifully flawed species. This amuses me. Saddens me. Enlightens me. Fills me with joy. And fear. Photos such as comin t'getcha and others like it are where my heart truly is. The humour involved is always of a satirical nature and hopes to spawn thought. To have my work associated with a cause such The David Suzuki Foundation this is where I feel I belong artistically and I hope I continue to find similar venues for my work.

...and now... back to the office clean-up. If I had a shop vac, a hose and a new computer I'd be in fine form... guess I'll use this laptop to shovel garbage into the corner and sort it out after the new years party...

Kreddible Trout is Hitched!

2010-08-04T22:13:00.000-07:00

Ladies, gentlemen, children of all ages! Announcing Mr. and Mrs. Trout!

This past weekend (July 31st 2010) was Billy and Michelle's Carnival of Love where my stunning bride and I tied the knot amongst family and friends on beautiful Gabriola Island, BC. There was a barker, a tight rope walker, a bearded lady, a fortune teller, several gypsie-types, a stilt-walker, hoola-hooping queens, a strong man, tattooed ladies, a clown and, of course, the bride and groom... the mermaid and the ring master.
There was pop corn, lolly-pops, salt-water taffy, enough jelly beans to choke 20 clowns and a chocolate drooped, sponge taffy wedding cake.
The entire weekend was spectacular. We couldn't have asked for it to have gone off any better.

Below is a scan of a real-deal Polaroid of the Ringmaster and the Mermaid taken by our photographer and friend, Vivienne McMaster.

Many more photos are to follow but this one has a special place on this blog for it's photographic allure.

I'm still reeling from the ludicrous amounts of sugar and wall-to-wall family visits so the blog is still on mini-hiatus. Once the dust settles... Kreddible Trout Photographic Enterprises will be back in full swing. Or... swim.

reports from hiatus & the redbubble homepage

2010-07-12T12:46:00.000-07:00

Where the hell have I been? Oh yeah. Busy.
Just a quick update for the throngs of you out there in Trout Fanclub land as to where I've been and will be for the next month.
After arriving home from the big adventure down south I have been full marriage preparation mode. The future missus Trout and I are due to get hitched on July 31st and have been tremendously busy preparing. Truth be told, she's been busy with it all for much longer and has been working very hard indeed. Since I basically took off 2 months to do the big trip, I needed to pick up my end of things upon my return. So, that's where I've been.
I don't expect to have much time for anything until mid august. Until I can return to semi-regular posts I hope you can all stay busy with the Cut Out, Dress Me Up Trout Kit you received with your Trout Fanclub membership package.

One more thing, my shot montreal die in was featured on the redbubble homepage. It's gone now as there is a daily turnover on that page. Here is my profile for those curious and this is what the homepage looked like sometime this past weekend:

and here's the other view:

We will return you to your regularly scheduled Trout updates when the marital dust has settled. We thank you for your patience.

Pat's Hands

2010-06-12T01:10:00.000-07:00

When I was in San Diego preparing for Artwalk I frequented a thrift store called Pat's Corner in the North Park area. I struck junk gold there. A lot of the pieces I made for the festival used stuff found at Pat's.
The place was a maze, part of it was organized and somewhat presentable and other parts looked like modern history upchucked and no one bothered to clean it up. The yard out back had the larger bits of broken antiquity that had been pulled gracelessly off the sides of houses & somehow ended up in Pat's corral.
Overseeing it all, Pat sat in the middle of the store like a glorious queen of tarnished dents. The several times I was there, I never saw her out of her throne.
Her throne.
A humble chair slightly raised and surrounded by a world of junk unimaginable. I would not be at all surprised to find Jimmy Hoffa's dentures under an old Mad Magazine on the floor next to a cookie tin full of forks. From atop this post she'd size up your finds and, with the arbitrary mathematics of thrift store pricing, would arrive at a dollar amount you could never argue with. This price wasn't made up, it was pronounced with sage-like certainty and was usually rounded off to a fiver.

My last time in there I talked to her for a bit. She seemed to approve of the artistic madmanship I planned for the items I bought. She would only let me take a picture of her hands which I admire. They do better job at describing the place than my feeble words ever could.

Sleek new designs! (same ol lunatic at the helm.)

2010-06-11T17:32:00.000-07:00

Despite the redundancy of this announcement I still feel I must announce this new news:
the blog has had a face-lift!

Check out the sleek new designs! Scroll down, the blogs been on the treadmill and drinking smoothies!
Ergonomic features include:
- a wider blog format!
- eye friendly sleekness!
- colours similar but slightly different from the old ones!
- and a BRAND NEW BANNER at the top of the page!

SOMEONE'S getting a raise! Not me. But... well, someone at 'blogger' maybe. I might get myself a goldfish for the office...

Soon to follow will be new stuff over on The Mothership Kreddible Trout Connection! Don't go there now. Wait until tomorrow. Seriously, if I see all sorts of hits on the website before I make the new additions the goldfish gets it!

... ok... I'd never harm a goldfish.

Sayin' Hello Yellow.

2010-05-29T20:01:00.000-07:00

Quick note.
Checked out my analytics today and saw that someone up in Yellowknife had checked out ye ol blogue. Nicely done Yellowknife. Obviously there's someone up there who knows where it's at!
(It's here. As they now know.)
I'm thinking it may be my northern-most hit to date.

Side note.
I do wonder what happened to all the hits I used to get from China. I mean, they were all over the website last year. I think I scared off the sleeping giant with my brazen capitalist marketing skills.

Anyway, come back to me China and thanks for stopping by Yellowknife. If you have any questions please feel free to ask one of our customer service specialists.

To 'wax poetic' is lofty and fine, but to 'grind poetic' is simply devine.

2010-05-27T21:45:00.000-07:00

Over at the mothership there is a message board. A day or so after I left the Casa del J. to schlep back home last month I found this lovely poem writ to me by the lovely Mrs. Col. J. on that message board.

I'm deeply flattered by the piece and mildly worried that my coffee addiction is so powerful that it moves people to poetics.
Love. Death. Justice. Coffee. Truly the 4 essential themes in poetry.

Here is the piece:

Mr. Coffee's Lament
by Mrs. Col. J.

Oh where oh where is my Kreddible Trout
Oh where oh where can he be?
With his 3 cups of water and 12 scoops of grind,
Oh where oh where can he be?

For 4 weeks in a row I gave him my brew,
Because he was looking so tired.
When he left for his workshop, I thought to myself
His art is part talent and part being wired.

And now he’s gone home, and I’m stuck here with decaf,
and what oh what do I see?
Across the counter where I always sit,
The Sumatran Roast taunting me!

Thank you very much Mrs. Col. J.
... & say 'HI' to Perky The Coffee Machine for me, would you? Tell her I hope decaf is treatin' her right.

the KREDDIBLE TROUT (part of the) WORLD TOUR 2010 SOUNDTRACK

2010-05-21T23:13:00.001-07:00

"The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night
And his affections dark as Erebus:
Let no such man be trusted."
- Lorenzo, Merchant Of Venice Act 5 Scene 1. By Willy Shakes.
(one of my favorite quotes)

Now, I'm sure Ol' Willy mightn't have been referring to The MC5 when he wrote those lines, but he was never graced by the concords of sweet powerchords and Marshall stacks. I have been.

I'm going to digress a little before I even begin here. Please bear with me.

In the last few years this whole digital music thing has begun to wear hard on my soul. I'm not pining for those nostalgic pops & grooves of vinyl. (Though they do have a depth to them that can never be matched. Much like film vs. digital) Nor is it the opening beeps of a cassette I miss.
It's albums that I miss.

Albums.

Be they on cassette, vinyl or even CD, an album - the collection and arrangement of songs - used to be as much a part of the art as the actual songs. They moved, they flowed, they had cadence and reason. Slap on the cover art and the album was the piece of art.
This whole MP3 thing destroys that. Having a million songs on shuffle mixed with the millisecond attention span of the children of the MTV generation has turned the once glorious feast that was a solid album to a microwaved noodle bowl downed with a Red Bull.
It's grotesque.
As a passenger in cars over the past few years I've sat in (sometimes-not-so) quiet rage while the driver skips from 'oh my god I love this song!' to 'oh this song totally rocks!' without ever listening to either one in entirety! Entire car rides go by and I hear two thirds of a dozen songs and maybe one all the way through.

CDs made it bad with the ease of skipping and the lack of 'sides', but the shuffle of MP3s is ruining music for me.

So, for the KREDDIBLE TROUT (part of the) WORLD TOUR 2010 I decided to slap a bunch of full albums on CD. No mixes. No 'mellow countryside mix'. No 'hard rockin city' mix. ALBUMS. Most of them were doubled up (you can almost fit 3 Ramones albums on a CD, Misfits too.) on one CD, and there was one or two with some mixed filler at the end (though I shudder to call Roger Miller, Devo or The Zombies 'filler') but mostly, 100% albums. A bunch of them were the actual CDs too, but I didn't bring many as car rides tend to scratch the hell out of them.

So, as another little glimpse into Trout... here's my soundtrack. They're in no order except that the first 10 or so were in heavy rotation.(If any of you are going on a roadtrip, I'd advise all of them.)

- The Rushmore Soundtrack.
- Alice Cooper - Easy Action.
- The Ramones - Rocket To Russia.
- The MC5 - High Times.
- Gord Downie - Coke Machine Glow.
- Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks.
- Jane's Addiction - Jane's Addiction.
- Van Halen - Fair Warning
- The King Kahn & BBQ Show - Invisible Girl
- The Black Keys - Thickfreakness.
- Judas Priest - Hell Bent For Leather.
- Mark Sultan - The Sultanic Verses.
- Bob Dylan - Desire.
- The Stooges - The Stooges.
- Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada
- The Ramones - Animal Boy.
- The Beatles - The White Album.
- The Ramones - Mondo Bizarro.
- The Misfits - Legacy of Brutality.
- PJ Harvey - Dry.
- Nomeansno - Sex Mad/You Kill Me.
- Richie Havens - Collection
- The Cramps - Psychedelic Jungle.
- Talking Heads - Little Creatures.
- Judas Priest - Sad Wings Of Destiny.
- Pink Floyd - Animals.
- TV On The Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes.
- The MC5 - Back In The U.S.A.
- The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Now I Got Worry.
- The Almighty Defenders - The Almighty Defenders.
- Boss Hog - Boss Hog.
- Frank Zappa - Chunga's Revenge.
- The Beastie Boys - The In Sound From Way Out.
- Primus - The Brown Album.
- The C.P.C. Gangbangs - Mutilation Nation. (second half of trip - thanks Tommy.)
- The Dicks - These People.
- The Ramones - The Ramones.
- Ween - Chocolate & Cheese.
- Van Halen - Women And Children First.
- The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed.
- The Tragically Hip - Phantom Power.
- fIREHOSE - Flyin The Flannel.
- Radiohead - OK Computer.
- Tom Waits - Big Time.
- The Dicks - Kill From The Heart.
- Pete Seeger & Brother Kirk Visit Sesame Street.
- Nomeansno - Mr. Right & Mr. Wrong.
- The Sonics - Boom.
- Sufjan Stevens - Come On Feel The Illinoise.
- Patti Smith - Horses.
- Black Sabbath - Master of Reality.
- Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All.
- Do Make Say Think - & Yet & Yet.
- The White Stripes - The White Stripes.
- Ween - The White Pepper.
- Metallica - Master of Puppets.
- Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones

... there were probably a few that I missed but I think I got them all.

Brazen New Initiatives @ kreddibletrout.com!

2010-05-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

That's right folks there is something brand-spankin' new a-brewin' over at the ol' Mothership Kreddible Trout Connection!

Reports are sketchy at this point but it seems that the self-proclaimed 'Gurus of Gigantic Ideas Department' believe they have sunk a hole in one recently with their LARGE SCALE PHOTOGRAPHIC INSTALLATIONS idea. They're just so sure about it they convinced our team of web developers (me, sitting on my living room floor drinking too much coffee) to put some gaudy, repetitive and criminally 80s coloured links on the website to draw attention to it. They all lead to the same thing, which is annoying, but in marketing annoying works! Annoying works! Annoying works!

They think it just may be the key to unlocking the gateway to riches I promised them that night after too many virgin margaritas. (Ow. the headache still haunts me)

The nutshell is this:
- Big Walls.
- Big, custom tailored photographic art.

We're thinking:
- condos. - restaurants.
- bars. - offices.
- lobbies. - foyers.
- other places like lobbies and foyers.

Clincher #1 - It's absolutely one-of-a-kind. TIER 1 CUSTOMERS get photographs no one else will ever have. Period.

I know! Crazy! Just crazy!

The other clincher is that the first couple of art savvy consumers who hire me for this fantastically one-of-a-kind initiative are going to get a really, really sweet deal. As I need to build my portfolio for this new concept, I'll be charging just slightly above cost for the first couple of commissions. Really though, it's for a limited time only!

Are you still reading this? Would you go over and look at the thing already?!?

Settled Dust - Musings on Artwalk and The Sushi Gallery Show & some stuff I learned.

2010-05-11T13:32:00.001-07:00

Well, I just deleted an hour's worth of writing on the Artwalk/Sushi subject.

Normally I'd be cussing a heavy blue lash at the computer and using every ounce of will power to not pick it up and throw it out the window, go out to where it's landed and set fire to it, dance around the fire and put it out with an angry stream of urine.

But I deleted it intentionally.

As I'd re-read it I realized I'd just been reiterating things I've already posted and I don't like being redundant about things I've already posted after realizing I'd already posted them. I've blogged about the shop & display units & earthquakes & mad science & turning left out of the shop that one time & even Artwalk itself...

I'd written all that. So, what's left? I guess what's left is my opinions on it all. My feelings. (ew! feelings?) Yes, feelings. So, what did I take from this experience? What impressions were left? Did I like it or hate it? Was the coffee good? Important stuff like that.

So here goes.

The entire experience was fantastic. It was stressful. It was amusing. It was hard work. It was epiphany. It was frustration. It was culture-shocking. It was creation, my favorite thing.

It was fantastic.

Col J's generosity, coupled with his moderate insanity (the good kind that maintains wonderment as a driving force) gave me an experience I'll never fully be able to pay back. Financially, sure. Our dividends will settle over time and the books will be balanced, but he offered me an experience that I'd not have been able to pull off on my own. Not now anyway. It was every struggling artist's dream; to have some nutbag with a few bucks throw some of them at you and allow you to create your art full time. This nutbag was much more than just 'the money' though, The Colonel's drive (though sometimes of the out-of-control freight-train variety) was crucial in this thing going off at all. As I was working 12+ hours a day he was as well, working his regular day job and spending every other moment (save basketball time on Sunday) devoted to the project. I can't even begin to go into all the things he was up to in the same way that I can't go into all the stuff I was doing. Lists are boring & my artistic process is something I don't even understand so to explain it would be near impossible.

Suffice it to say by the end of Artwalk we both looked like we'd spent 2 months in the desert doing peyote and screaming at the stars.
'DAMN YOU BRAD PITT!'
... no, not like that.
'SORRY'
pipe it down peyote man.
'SORRY'
when you yell 'sorry' it doesn't feel like you really are.
'S-'
ah-ah-ah!

...Anyway.

Artwalk, as I've written, was a success in every way except in the way that people gauge success: financially. We worked our butts off all weekend and took several days to recover. I handed out over a thousand business cards and almost everyone who went through the tent had something good to say. There were some sales and I hope some commissions will come in too. It was awesome though I wish I could have gotten out to see some of the other tents.

I've not written about The Sushi Gallery yet. At the end of Artwalk (4pm Sunday) we began to tear down the entire exhibit and haul it all the way across town for a scheduled display at the Sushi Performance & Visual Arts Gallery. Mr. Patrick Stewart who runs it was wonderfully helpful and accommodating to us and our carnival/commando styled art escapade. It was really a commando mission: in & out quickly, leaving little evidence of our ever being there.
We were there for 4 hours. The show happened between 6 and 9pm. I was to be doing a few small performance vignettes but only really managed to pull of one. A sort of introductory piece & a poetic recital of Elton John's Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting (reading the word 'Saturday' as many times as is said in that song can lead to serious side effects.) The night began and I was chatting up (or being chatted up my a lot of people) and before I was able to even notice, the crowd has begun to disperse so it was the only performance. I wasn't too disappointed as it meant I was doing a lot of what artists in galleries are supposed to do: talk to people. BY that point, I was running on the fumes of fumes and Col. J looked like he was about to collapse. But, as soon as the audience dwindled, it was time to slap everything back into several vehicles and schlep it across town one last time to return it to the studio. The night ended at about 11:30pm (incredibly efficient considering everything we had to accomplish) though it felt like 4am several days in the future.
Again, I think it was a success but I really don't know too much about those things. I will hopefully know more as time goes by. Like, for example, if making money at events like this is expected. Important things like that.

Six nights later I was back in Victoria with some fantastic new ideas and am in the process of taking them from exciting things that bump around in my head to green things that bump around in my bank account. This is the crux as the dust & tumbleweed that presently reside in my bank account make it difficult to make ideas of this magnitude possible. Crux, crux, crux. I will probably need to shave before going into the bank, but I think there's a business loan or something in my future. A business loan??? I have no idea where to begin with all that and it is daunting...

[camera close up of Trout's forehead. A bead of sweat appears on it. Pull out to reveal polite haircut and pleading nervous smile. Sweat builds. Pull out to fisheye view of hundreds of bankers gathered around, all pointing and laughing hysterically. Various close ups of bankers sweating with laughter, fingers pointed like spears.]

...one of the the endings of that scene has me leaping, with heroic defiance on the banker's desk and pulling out a piece of Kreddible Trout Photographic Artwork. The bankers jeers into accolades while they pelt me with flowers and hand me dark roast coffees. Birds sing. Hippies and red necks in the bank shake hands and hug. Coffee brews. The pen on the desk turns to chocolate and I eat it...

It'll all hopefully nestle somewhere snug in the middle of all that. The ball has begun to roll. Hopefully it doesn't encounter a toll bridge.

SO!!!

All told, my experience is what platitude will call investment. The time and lost opportunity cost for me was pretty substantial (I basically took 2 months off regular income) and Col. J set himself back a few months paying for this insanity. We'll reel back for a while in the bank accounts, but what we gained was, I think, immeasurable. I can't speak for him, but I think we both learned something from each other.

My feelings (remember, you said you'd talk about them?) on the whole thing can be summed up by saying I'm still stunned. I really didn't have much time to have any feelings about it. Positivity had to make way for the stuff that needed doing. As did negativity. And really, now I'm still stunned. I had a world of fun. It was worth every second. There was very little, if any, negativity involved at all. (Well, some in regards to driving in Southern California... but that's another blog entry.) I made some wonderful friends in The J's and spent some time in and driving though some beautiful parts of the world. I would have liked to have seen more of San Diego while I was there but I know that I'll have the chance again.

I loved the whole experience and I think that is all.

For now.

ok... i lied.

2010-05-10T23:11:00.000-07:00

two things:

first. Yay Habs. Keep it up.

second. I just invented the term 'phonetography' which refers to the silly (yet increasingly impressive) world of iphone pictures & the 'apps' that vintage-ify them. they're getting very artsy and make me wonder why I carry around all this tonnage of 40D with me.

That's right, PHONETOGRAPHY. It's mine. Anyone uses it and they owe me royalties. Or... chocolate & coffee. (I may own 'vintage-ify' too... be careful)

next:
Artwalk/Sushi Gallery
San Diego/The Col Js
Driving in Southern California.

then we'll be back on track.

additions to the family

2010-05-09T01:21:00.000-07:00

Well folks, over at the MOTHERSHIP KREDDIBLE TROUT CONNECTION we've been doing some renovating and are considering adding a new wing to accommodate all the yummy yummy art we're stocking up on.
We've added some new bits to the Observations section but the bulk of the work has been done in the UNIQUELY MOUNTED section where we're trying to show off some of the artistic remnants of the Artwalk escapade.

Next post: Musings on Artwalk.

I promise.

the trip home part 3: day 3, the final end chapter. The official END of the KREDDIBLE TROUT (part of the) WORLD TOUR 2010... sorta.

2010-05-03T22:53:00.000-07:00

I do need to tidy some things up around here and get those posts up about San Diego, Artwalk/Sushi Gallery and Driving in Southern California, but this post marks END of the KREDDIBLE TROUT (part of the) WORLD TOUR 2010. Day three of the journey home was when I returned home.

So here goes.

Saturday. 10:45am. Car won't start.

No joke.

Turn the key and nothing. Now, the calmer of y'all might have just got a jump-start and have had done with it but let's let the shock and irony sink in a bit.

Lets let the voice of the mechanic who checked out the Troutmobile before leaving Victoria repeat in your head "the starter motor needs attention... the blardy-blardo hose is corroded like I've never seen... it may last another 50 thousand K... it may pop tomorrow... once it goes you need a new starter... the blardy-blardo hose.... the blardy-blardo hose...."
(...I know very little about cars and in my memory it was the blardy-blardo hose, ok?)

A little more irony rubbed in the wound.

Now, I'm not the 'woe is me' sort and can usually find a pretty cheery outlook on things, but when the car won't start and your ONE DAY'S DRIVE from home after being on the road for 6 WEEKS even Spock would say 'Well isn't that just my luck?!'

So... in a state of shock (hadn't had coffee yet either so... you just can't even imagine) I wandered into the motel lobby...
'um... um... do... you... do you know of... a... mechanic in the... in the area?'
'Not around here sir. here's one about a 15 minute walk away...'
'So... my car won't start and... and it's almost 11, can I leave my stuff in the room a little longer?'
'Of course, check out isn't til noon.'
'oh. that's good news. So... maybe I'll go across to the gas station... maybe they'll have an idea about a garage...'
What little money I had left felt at that point like it was lodged in the left ventricle of my heart and it would take crude surgery to get it out. But it'd have to come out and I might need to see what I could scrape up off the pit of my stomach too...
I called my support staff. Michelle's cheery voice turned very cautious as she heard the news. The caution was probably one part concern for my state and one part shock of her own. (She's the guilt riddled one... she probably started blaming herself.) I told her I was on my way to a Kia dealership up the street at the suggestion of the gas station guy. She asked if I'd tried to get a jump for it.
It honestly hadn't occurred to me. Or maybe it did. I can't remember. The way the car sounded.. it was like nothing was happening. I've heard cars try to start before... it didn't sound like it was trying. To be honest, my immediate thought was the blardy-blardo hose and the starter being shot. My immediate thought was upwards of seven hundred dollars as a complete guess.
A jump?
I decided to stop being in shock, realized I was highly under-caffinated, and began thinking slightly rationally.
'I think I should try that first. You're right. I should get a jump. No sense assuming it's the worst just because the irony is so perfect. I'll get a jump. Thank you, my love.'
'Call me as soon as you-'
'of course. as soon as I... I'll call you. I love you.'
'I love you too'
I never heard her say that with such concern before. Maybe once a couple of summers ago. But I don't think so.
So, back to the motel I went and asked around. Someone else was getting a push start. Apparently her and her husband just broke up and he found out where she was staying and messed up her car. Why he'd opt to drain the battery I have no idea. Seems a bit passive to come all that way just to turn the lights on and snicker. I guess it's better than the alternative but I think she just forgot to turn them off herself.
Anyway.
I ended up stopping this couple, the lady looked like she'd been working in a roadhouse for 10 years and the guy was a friendly, docile little Mexican guy who didn't speak English. She translated and I told them I could parlez francais if that would help. They laughed because it didn't.
A couple of minutes later the Troutmobile was running and I was jamming money back into my heart minus the fin I gave the guy for the jump. He told me to clean the connectors with steel wool and a lemon. Haven't done that yet.

FOR THE LOVE OF JEEBUS I NEEDED A COFFEE!

Spun the Troutmobile round to my room, loaded it up without shutting it off and was out of there in 5 minutes. Being in Oregon I knew there would be little drive through espresso huts all over the place and within about 5 minutes I found one. Stocked up, two double americanos to go, drove through Carl's Jr to spend one of my coupons on a breakfast burrito and...

... I WAS OFF!

Boogieing up the 5 with a new lease on life and a belly fulla coffee & burrito (which was actually pretty good) I was in a happier place. (and yes, I called Michelle as soon as I got the car running)

Portland... I'll have to take a rain cheque on visiting again. I will miss you and it felt crappy to drive right past the bridge that led to the Saturday Market, but I was on a mission & didn't want to tempt fate.

I did, however, make one stop in Portland.

See, I'd been trying to get a Hooters t-shirt for my lovely fiancee for a while and hadn't had any luck in the two others I spotted along the way. They were both out of the kind I wanted. I had given up (or forgotten about it) by this point until, on my way north through Portland I was confronted with a huge Hooters sign. I took it as a sign as I'd been thinking at the very moment I saw it that I needed to stop for one of my many, coffee induced pit stops. The boobies - er, I mean the ladies who are more than just boobies but allow themselves to be objectified to sell buffalo wings look at you funny when you make more than the usual amount of eye contact and don't want to stay to eat buffalo wings. I think it's almost a personal affront to them. I got a t-shirt and asked where the bathrooms were. As I wandered through I noticed several men with their young boys with them. One of the kids was about five. I assume the kid tried to play with a doll once and that was it for him.
'Honey, I'm takin' the boy to Hooters before he goes all gay on us! I might have to get him drunk too! You just keep watchin' Martha Stewart with Sally, everything will be alright!'

So... long story short: the Hooters t-shirt fits. ahem.

And I was off!

Every largish city after Portland had traffic to contend with. I thought it couldn't be too bad in the Northwest-ist of the northwest. But even Lakewood was slow. Tacoma too. Seattle was the worst traffic I'd seen since LA. (then I realized I missed the express route! I could see others, speeding along, almost completely devoid of cars but I just could not get to them.) After Seattle I stopped in who knows where for my last Jack In The Box meal. This time it was out of necessity and frustration. Not like the many weeks before when the thought was a novel one. It didn't even occur to me at the time that I'd come full fast-food circle. I was just cranky about the lack of option.

Then, the sky began to break and the sun began to shine. Was that Canada on the horizon? Did I smell maple syrup? Indeed I was approaching the border.

I thought for sure I'd be stopped this time. Not that it's more difficult to get into Canada, but because it is a much larger border crossing where I figured they had enough staff to warrant pulling me over to inspect my car full of unsold art. I looked in the rearview mirror... my eyes were glossy from 3 days of coffee, fast food and driving. I looked stoned. Surely they'd stop the stoned-looking-guy with the back seat full of large bubble-wrapped art pieces that I'd taken to referring to as my fat artistic son, Horace. (I made a point of not answering him when we were in the line at the border though he wouldn't shut the hell up about wanting more Jack In The Box. The kid drives me nuts.)

BUT...

I breezed through as easily as when I came down. Without incident and with a great amount of relief.

Surrey smelled like the ass of a cow. Welcome home, eh!

Got past that, into Tsawwassen and the tiny line up for the ferry HOME! The thought of the car not starting in the line when we were to load onto the ferry had crossed my mind but I put it out quickly. Got on the ferry and took the only picture of the day with the camera on my phone.

Damn BC Ferries... the ice cream machine was out of order!

I arrived to the eager arms of my love and, after unloading the Troutmobile, was able to finally get some rest.

And thus, ladies, gentlemen and those undecided... we've come to the end of the KREDDIBLE TROUT (part of the) WORLD TOUR 2010!

If anyone is interested in any tour merchandise we have some tid bits at marked down prices. I'll sell you the pen Hurricane Terra gave me... got lots of art... which I'll be hocking at various markets in the Victoria Area.

I'd like to thank Col J for making all this happen (even if sometimes there was too much lumber involved), Mrs. Col. J, Mrs. Trout, all our art lackeys and the tour hosts who helped me along the way. Patrick at Sushi Gallery. Thank you to all who purchased art off me. Thank you adventure and random meetings. Thank you weirdos. Thank you normal folks. Thank you Troutmobile for being the best frikken little mobile I could ask for (that little thing was 6 years old when I got it 4 years ago, has been across Canada 3 times & is still kicking! Some applause please!)
Very soon I will blog the San Diego, Artwalk, Sushi experiences before they become more fiction than fact. Until then, I have to make some dinner.

Trout Out!

madeinvic.ca - 100 Cameras Project: Camera 021

2010-05-03T17:59:00.000-07:00

As though I didn't have enough to do, in February I did a project which involved 100 disposable cameras, one month and the question 'what does made in victoria mean to you?'. So I went out with a more succinct (i know... me? succinct? really though) preface rather than a question which was 'Victoria is...' and had people fill in the blank. Saved me a hell of a lot of work! Just had other people do it.
some time last week the project was put up online and last night I finished the story for it but here, finally is my assignment.
madeinvic.ca - 100 Cameras Project - Camera 021 - Kreddible Trout 'Takin it to the streets'

I'm very happy with how it turned out. Please take some time and have a peek. I've always thought Victoria was pretty swell, but after being away for so long I have a new found respect for it.

the trip home part deux: the second part of day deux. The Hurricane's Wake, Dusting off the Thai & A Little Brown Trout Affair.

2010-05-03T15:53:00.000-07:00

The rest of day two was not to be outdone by the beginning and, with bullheaded persistence it left the Hurricane to munch on the Troutmobile's dust.

The boogie along the 99 was at a leisurely pace as secondary highway driving tends to be, but me & the Troutmobile relished in the scenery and ease of it all. The roadside blossomed with fresh fruit stands. A pleasant change from the skipping record repetition of malls and Crapbucks' & McDs & the plethora of other vacuous attractions along the 5. (did I mention that I don't like the 5?)
Soon enough though, I was back on it and boogieing to a much faster beat. I decided that Redding would be the place for the brunchy-type meal I needed as all's I had til now was a smoothie, several coffees and an interaction with a hurricane. Redding it was. I had been wanting to stop at Panda Express. I was quite done with burgers & PEx is pretty much the best fast food you can get. It's always pretty decent and you can order vegetables. Well, I couldn't find one. Actually, I didn't look too long as I bumped into a little Thai place early on in my Redding venture & opted for it. I brushed off the few Thai phrases I could remember from my trip to Thailand a couple of years ago and was able to garner a couple of patronizing giggles. 'Oh, that silly caucasian!' The food was pretty good and the green tea was perfect. I felt the electrolytes flicking some neglected switches in my immune system and illuminating the hell out of it. Brief as it was.

Then I went our back to look at their bird sanctuary. It seemed to be as much a sanctuary as solitary confinement would be in Alcatraz.

Then it was back into the Troutmobile and I was off! (after finding a coffee shop)

Boogie boogie boogie.

I had some interesting conversations with some cars on the highway. Some relationships were formed while doing the automobile leap frog routine with several cars over several hundred miles. Read some bumper-stickers that made me want to get home quicker. Read some bumper-stickers that made me feel a bit better about it all.
Coffee ran out and I was in the process of deciding between Dunsmuir CA & Weed CA when a sign caught my eye: The Brown Trout Cafe.
Dunsmuir it was.
Somewhere high in the California section of the Cascades Mountain Range is a fantastic looking little town called Dunsmuir. Now, I know, you're all thinking that I favor it for the name of the cafe. Well, that's partially true, but it really was a cool place. The old buildings were built over running streams (they claim it to be the best water in the world) and the cafe had a hole in the floor to see it flow by. If the coffee was any indication of the water quality, it's a pretty spot on claim. Wandered around town and took some shots.

look closely... there's a truck in there.

Then it was back in the Troutmobile and I was off!
Boogieing to see if I could hit Portland there was no more time for lallygaggin. Dinner consisted of me pulling off the highway in some military town (easily distinguished by the even greater saturation of patriotism. if that's possible.) driving in circles (as seems to be my habit) until frustration led me to a KFC/A&W. The best part of the meal happened several hours later and I'll leave it at that. No, wait, the root beer was good.
Hopped back in the Troutmobile and after a sharp salute, I was off!
As though cliche were my co-pilot, the further into the north-west I got, the cloudier it became. Soon, it was raining and dark. The conspiracy between rain and my windshield wipers turned the bug guts on the windshield from individual monuments to the fallen into a brown-gray film that told me Salem was the stop for the night. (with a 'note to self' to clean the windshield in the morning).
Hunted around once again for the cheapest digs which ended up being another Motel 6. David, the deskman, was very helpful and knew more about Bozo than me despite the fact that I was wearing the Bozo shirt. It was a sketchy motel with a surly looking bald security guard and a lot of motorcycles in the parking lot. A lot of speed bikes and not many harleys so I figured it couldn't be all that bad. David let me park the Troutmobile directly infront of the lobby where he said the night guy stares, chin in hands, elbows on desk, all night long. My anti-theft device was working pretty good up until then, but the extra security was nice. (My anti-theft device was sheets of paper with 'Dear Criminals: Not worth the effort. The car is full of art that the artist himself has a hard time selling.' written in black felt marker.)
Packed it in for the night, turned on all the fans in the room to white-noise out the rowdies outside & fell the heck asleep...

the ballad of hurricane terra

2010-05-01T02:11:00.000-07:00

Day two was day two and it started with something that needs it own post. It is called:

The Ballad of Hurricane Terra.

Woke up this morning and decided not to start my day the way it ended, with a Denny's meal, and opted instead to go into Chico proper to see what was up. What was up was Hurricane Terra.

Got a coffee, found a smoothie place to get my daily F&V fix & wandered around taking a few pics. Was about to leave when I realized my coffee was out and I should probably get another for the road. Zigged instead of zagged to take a different route to the local cafe & happened upon a woman who appeared to be orating for some reason. She had a shirt that said VOTE for someone or other. I wasn't really interested until she asked me over.
I can't remember how, but I assume she said 'hey you come and take my picture!'
I said ok.
She said 'hey, come and take a picture with me & my friends.'
'Look, I'm in a hurry.'
'Where you going?'
'Home.' ( I could have said 'applesauce' for all the difference it made) 'I just gotta get a coffee and I'll...'
'Ok, hey come with me I know the best coffee shop!'
'I thought the best one was over there'
'No no! Has Beans is the best. I only do organic brother! From the earth. From the earth.'
'I'm sold. Where is it?'

And thus I was then swept up in Hurricane Terra. I was already in it's grasp, but hadn't realized it yet. Once I began to follow, there was no getting away. We first went to her group of friends who she told 'Hey, homeless people! Watch my stuff!' She decided that she wanted a picture of her and her friends. I asked if her friends wanted that. They hummed & hawed and didn't seem to care either way. She would have had it done regardless.
'C'mon you homeless people, it's for mother fuckin high times magazine!'
(I told them that 'mother fuckin high times magazine' was a new magazine by the good people at High Times Magazine but they were all just too baked to come up with a better title. No one laughed.)

Her stuff...

After the picture she picked up her stuff which consisted of a milk crate full of things (she claimed there to be eight thousand dollars in it), a square headed garden shovel and her guitar. I got to carry the shovel. Then it was of to Has Beans.

I describe her as a hurricane because being in her prescience is exactly how I imagine it to feel to be in one. She was an absolute force of nature. (She'd make some pot reference here in relation to the word nature.) We spun into Has Beans and she whirled about interacting with everyone & everything she saw. The manic way in which she engaged everything in her path indicated to me that she might have what some folks call 'a condition'. Not good or bad in my book as we all have varying degrees of 'condition', just some of us aren't able to carry it around with such magnetic wonderment. I wouldn't call it a childlike wonderment, but it had elements of it. Everything was so vital and vivid and exciting for her. It was like showing someone the stuff in your room for the first time. "oh and there's this, and there's this! and over here I have this...'

She claimed things to be hers.

I thought the coffee shop was hers the way she spun in and demanded a coffee for me. I said I'd pay for the both of us and the cashier gave me a friendly 'yes, you're going to have to' nod. Seems Terra was a regular. She brought me over to look at her art which hung on the wall. I thought it was fantastic but soon began to realize that there were a lot of things that were 'hers'. She gave me her business card. Several times. Each time it was something different.
A guitar pick.
A pen.
An un-inflated balloon.
A pencil (with different inscription from the pen).
A safe-sex package (one of those baggies with a condom and some info about STDs that they give to teens.)
A scrap of torn paper.

Maybe there were other things, it all happened so fast.

'Take my picture! Ok, and here! Here too! Ok the-this it my art. Hows about, wait a minute. ok now! take my picture.'

We were pulled into the street. I was genuinely behind schedule and kept trying to pull myself away. Y'ever try and pull yourself away from a hurricane? Yeah. Like that. We got going back into the park with snap after snap of my buzzing hyper model posing infront of buildings her grandfather built & other historical places. True or not, the history she spun was an interesting one.
'...and here's where I got married last week! And this is where I sing. and here is...'
I was getting closer to the car.
'Hey, HEY! Terra, ok, ok, look I really have to get - ok, one more, ok... now really-'

She wanted me to photograph her with trucks & buses that were driving by. She popped into a shop & pulled out the owner for a picture. She then ran into his store. He, like a lot of people we met, had a kind of sympathetic patience with Terra. Like everyone knew that she would twirl chaos occasionally but was harmless and so positive that there was no holding it against her. Can you really get mad at nature? Can you lay blame on a tidal wave? Can you guilt thunder?
When confronted with Hurricane Terra you just have to hold onto your socks & wait to be released.
I started to edge toward the car when she went into the shop. She came running out saying 'here is my card, hey billy, trout, here is my card!'
'I got it already Terra!' I held out a pencil.
'No here.'
She handed me a poster for the upcoming art festival in town. I thought 'oh yeah.' & noticed she has scrawled her info on the back. She has a website and everything. I got in the car and assessed the damage. Wonderful, wonderful damage and time well taken.

here are some of the many pictures.

hey homeless people!

'her' art.

'ok, now this one!'

a shot together.

scars and henna

senator terra

where she got married.

'one with the bus! ok go!'

shop owner

me in the wake.

great GREAT way to start day two.

the trip home part one: HWY 5, Trout vs. Yuba City & the Chinese Cowboy at dinner

2010-05-01T02:09:00.001-07:00

I know this blog is getting a little disjointed but please bare with me (...hehehe... 'bare') When I get home and get rested I will do the BIG SAN DIEGO/ARTWALK entry which will probably need to involve chapters. Be patient.

So.

I was up and out of Casa del Col. J surprisingly early. (will leave the goodbyes and all the other sappy stuff for the aforementioned BIG SAN DIEGO/ARTWALK entry)
I had wanted to be out early but it is always a surprise to me when I actually am. After an oil change and a breakfast burrito I was on my way out of town on HWY 5.

Two words for HWY 5: BO RING. I still have to write my treatise on driving in SoCal, again... patience.

where was I? Oh yes! driving in a straight frikken line with thousands of other cars, that's where I was. I opted not to go through the no-mans-land route up the 395 as ARTWALK wasn't lucrative enough to warrant such wayward adventure. Couldn't be justified. I have to get home, get a haircut and get a real job.

So, up the 5 it was. There really is nothing more to say about it. There are too many people driving too many cars. Oh, and trucks. Lets not forget all the massively and unnecessarily huge pick-ups that are driving around with apparently nothing to 'pick up'. (The handbasket in which we're traveling has the words 'heavy duty' written in big, carnivorous letters on it) ... but I digress again...

There was one little side track I was going to allow myself. At some point during the planning, re-planning, re-re-planning, updating and re-updating of the planning I thought 'Yuba City' would be a good stop. Simply for it's name. Yuba City. So, on my way up the 5 I realized that it wasn't a huge sidetrack to scoot up the 99 (he shoots he scores!) & visit the city of yuba. I missed the turnoff but was able to take the next one and was thrilled by the change in scenery. It was a spectacular drive. Sun was setting. Birds were chirping. It was great. (There may be a video to follow, we'll have to see about uploading it later. but here's a tree I took just as it was getting too dark)

Then I hit Yuba City. Now, I think I may have really liked Yuba City if I wasn't frazzled to the point of rage by the time I got there. All I wanted was a dirtbag motel with wireless. Cheap-cheap. So I started driving around Yuba City. Circles and u-turns and... 'now where the hell am I?'s...

I'm really no good when I get into a town late and hungry. I'm occasionally a monster. I was a monster to Yuba City. I cussed it a blue streak like nobody's business. I'm sorry Yuba City.
At one point I had gone to a chain motel joint and wasn't fond of the price so I went to look for another and, eventually thought I might as well settle for it... then I couldn't find it again. I drove about an eight of a tank of gas in that town looking for it. I was a monster. So the decision was made: whatever I find first the motel or HWY 99 out of town. I found the highway first. I ended up in Chico. (didn't see 'the man' but was just too tired to look)

Ended the night at a Motel 6 and a meal at Denny's.

...shudder...

I asked the receptionist at the motel if there was anything in the area at that time that might have something even mildly healthy to eat. She said Denny's next door was the only thing around and it had salads.
I went there.
I ordered the asian chicken salad.
It was deep fried chicken strips in sweet chili sauce on a heap of iceberg lettuce with some samplings of red cabbage in it. surrounded, sort of like a crown, with 8 slices of cucumber. I thought that an asian salad coming with garlic bread was weird, but then the issue of salad dressing came up. I was seated at the counter and when she brought me my asian chicken salad she said 'oh! there's supposed to be dressing.' she turned to the kitchen and told the obviously new cook that it came with dressing. She said it was 'that ranch dressing'.
I said, 'um... excuse me?'
'yes?'
'are there any other dressings?'
'well it comes with the ranch.'
'um... ok. but do you have any others?'
'well, there's thousand islands and italian... but they don't go with it.'
'and ranch does?'
'Oh, don't worry' she said 'it's asian ranch.'

I turned to the imaginary person next to me and mouthed 'asian ranch?' The imaginary person next to me turned into a small asian man wearing a large cowboy hat. He tipped his hat and nodded with a hearty, cowboy assurance.

'Ok.' I said 'Bring it.'

The asian ranch is ranch with sweet chili sauce in it.

follow the bouncing ball, kids:

YUM YUM.

I then ended up wrestling with the internet connection and falling asleep to a really bad Kiefer Sutherland movie where he was mad at mirrors.

sleep was good.

Tommy Lick-a-Trout.

2010-04-29T00:28:00.000-07:00

One of my old friends from high school (Chateauguay, Quebec) lives in San Diego. His name is Tommy Kitsos. He is a rock and roller. But for real. I'm a rocker, but he makes the rock and roll for folks like me to rock too.
Rock.
His band is called The Night Marchers. Rock.
Tommy and I have known each other for over twenty years. We worked at the same restaurant back home. He kicked me out of the second (and last) rock & roll band I was in, Grime. He's such a bad ass. I mean, he smokes cigarettes and everything. STILL.
It was Tom's birthday yesterday and I'm leaving San Diego tomorrow so we decided to hook up for a coffee & so's I could give him a birthday gift. The gift of photographic art. The gift that keeps on giving.
Even though he kicked me out of that band that time... I still wish I could have spent more time hanging out with Tommy. He's a good guy for a bad ass.

I took a picture of us in our aging glory. This is that picture:

It's obvious why his nickname in college was 'Tommy The Tongue'. Mine was just 'Nostrils'.

More tour info later on folks... calm down... have some dip.

Say 'goodnight' Troutie.
'Goodnight Troutie'.

quick bit

2010-04-28T00:33:00.000-07:00

"still life of the artists worktable from above in rare tidy form with sneakers and screwdriver"

...or "the artist should be asleep right now and not mucking around on the blog"

taken 2 days before artwalk.

NEWS - DUST BEGINS TO SETTLE

2010-04-27T00:12:00.000-07:00

Artwalk ended for me about 24 hours ago. Well, Artwalk itself about 30, but the whole weekend shebang... 24.
It's been madness.
I thought it was madness leading up to the weekend... I was wrong. As I'm still pretty wrung the hell out from it all I'll leave the elaborations for another entry and try to be as succinct as I can (haha).
I had a fantastic time. Although it was not as financially successful as we needed it to be I still felt it was worth every second. That may sound like ten pounds of platitudes in a five pound bag, but its true. Col J and I really (really) pulled out all the stops and when there were more stops to be pulled, and there were many, our incredible support team (Mrs. Col. J and the future Mrs Trout [& Derrick & Cody & Leah & Rachel & Katie & Spencer & Leutenent Jost & Megan & ...]) were there to pick up the chaos. (thank you all)
To me, the 'success' comes from the many times over the weekend people told me that our tent was the busiest, most interesting and original tent they'd seen all day. (what surprised us was that more than half of them were people we didn't pay to say that.)
So, yes, we'd have liked to have sold (a lot) more, but I handed out hundreds of business cards and talked to hundreds and hundreds of people. The living history exhibit was a huge draw and people had so many good things to say about it. I think I need to let some pictures my lovely assistant (the future Mrs. Trout) took of the weekend do the talking.
[Oh, yes she was there, by the way... there was a several-week-long conspiracy going on between her and the Colonel to bring her down to surprise me and, despite being concerned about how good a liar she is, I was thrilled to have her here. She is always a part of everything I do and am but her help this weekend was a vital part of it's success.]

Ok... I'm fading... here are some pictures...

Trout and the Colonel discussing the game plan thursday night:

setting up friday night:

my fiancee, the artist took this (really nice):

busy tent:

one end:

contemplating a big ticket item:

another end:

Trout takes a breather (fills gills with coffee) in front of the living history art museum:

I will have to write about the end of the night Sunday, the Sushi Gallery OFFICIAL END of the Kreddible Trout (part of the) World Tour 2010 another time as I very badly need to go and give the sandman a piece of my mind.

Other things too... other things I have to tell you... in time... in time.

Say goodnight Troutie.
'goodnight Troutie.'

KREDDIBLE TROUT @ MISSION FEDERAL ARTWALK IN SAN DIEGO!

2010-04-21T00:44:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you guys got the memo, but this whole blog thing has been about this weekend.
That's right, Kreddible Trout, the man, the myth, the discontinued brand of applesauce will be at the Mission Federal Artwalk in the Little Italy area of San Diego this coming weekend. The corner of Columbia & Fir in tent #s 794 & 795.
Tell all your friends! Tell the whole bunch!

KT will have a variety of yummy yummy art for sale! Some at prices even KT could afford! KT will have a museum for you to gander through (think this blog... nailed to a bunch of thriftstore frames and other oddities... curious?). KT will have a long nap after this is all over!

Also... (also... as if it all weren't enough...) KT will be schlepping this craziness across town to the Sushi Center for the Urban Arts to show it off there & maybe do a little performance or two!

KT will now stop talking about himself in the third person and go to bed.

NEWS - ARTIST DENIES SELF MUCH NEEDED SLEEP IN ORDER TO BLOG. AND A PELICAN.

2010-04-20T00:57:00.000-07:00

That's right folks, yours truly Mr. Kreddible Trout esq. has opted to forgo yet more sleep to update y'ez all on the progress. It's been many long days (really, I think I've taken one full day off from the shop since arriving in San Diego & I probably spent some of that day off working on the computer.) Progress has been... well, it's been pretty good I think. 12 hour days have a way of paying off. (10+ hours is about the amount of time I spend at the shop per day. A lot of the time it may appear as though I'm just standing there rubbing my head and tapping my foot... but that's me thinking and contemplating artistic-type things... or thinking about coffee)

It really hit me tonight just how busy I've been. Col. J and I went out to grab some Mexican (no... some food... we didn't get slapped) up the street and I realized that I hadn't ever walked north on my street before. I'd never taken a left out of the studio. This is completely not my nature as I live to wander every nook & cranny. I love variation. I love getting new perspectives on things even if that simply means taking ten paces to the left. Or zigging when I was intending on shimmying.
My world has been the highway between Col Js and the studio.
The Studio.
The path I've worn in the sidewalk between the studio and the coffee shop.
The occasional sidetrack on a different street to hit a thrift store is just another point between Col J's and the studio.

I'm not complaining. I'm just in a bit of shock.

Michelle also mentioned to me tonight that there's a big curvy bridge in pictures she's seen of San Diego when she googles it. 'Bridge? What bridge?' I said. I googled it. Sho 'nuff there's a big dang curvy bridge! It looks pretty cool and might lead somewhere neat. I wouldn't know though because I've been cranking out a bushel of yummy-yummy art that I am very proud of.

Again. Not complaining. The pieces I've been able to accomplish are well worth it. I'm thrilled about them. Again, just a bit of a shock.

So... here are some pics of some stuff. I took a few hours last saturday to go to the beach.

Here is a pelican.
here's the shop a few nights ago.

here's a self-pic of me & one of my new favorite pieces (it's much huger that it looks behind my big noggin)

here's something that I spent too much time getting it to the perfect blue-blackness for it to now be white.

here's where some burgers are:

and here is (...I almost don't want to show it but it's hanging in the front window of the shop now so... I guess it's not a secret...) the first completed part of the Living History Art/Museum Piece (a.k.a this blog in real life). It's still untitled and focused on my beach experiences in LA (Santa Monica Pier & Venice Beach). That little guy behind it is me. I am 5'10" and weigh about 185... for reference.

so... now I'm going to have some serious words with my pillow. Usually if I provoke it, it'll haul off and knock me out.

Say 'Goodnight', Troutie.
'Goodnight Troutie'.

as it turns out...

2010-04-16T23:16:00.000-07:00

... he was a Scandinavian interior designer named Lars. He came back and bought a $20 piece off me and was quite good-natured about the whole 'Kevin Bacon' thing. He says he gets it all the time.

One Degree of Kevin Bacon's Doppelganger

2010-04-15T00:32:00.000-07:00

So... I'm in the shop today building art and get a window gawker. This happens a few times a day and is the reason I'm set up in the glassy corner of an old car dealership (lots of windows = lots of things to be seen = more publicity). I'm about 40% successful at waving people in who seem interested. I tell them the story about who and why and what and all that jazz, try for a chuckle or two and hope to see them at Artwalk. It's fun.
So... the gawker today is peering in the window, trying to make out some of the writing on one of the shots and I motion him in. He politely waves me off & keeps squinting through the glass. I go on about my work and he starts to wander off. Then I notice him checking out another, larger piece hanging in the window. He gives me the 'thumbs up' motioning to the whole shop sort of saying 'nice stuff' and as he turns away I clue in that he looks just like Kevin Bacon.
Now, I'm thinking that it wasn't Kevin Bacon but a Kevin Bacon impostor, coincidental lookalike or... his doppelganger. I say this because if it was really Kevin Bacon and I didn't get a chance to lure Kevin Bacon in and hit him with a chuckle or two I missed out on an opportunity to sell art to Kevin Bacon. Which would suck because of all the celebrities he's one who I'd be proud to have one of my pieces. He's pretty cool that Kevin Bacon.
So, whoever you are walking around San Diego looking like Kevin Bacon, be a little more careful with that resemblance would you? Some over-caffeinated, under-rested, mildly stressed artist might go off on late night tangents like this instead of sleeping! Have some respect, would you?

Oh, and I got featured on the redbubble homepage again today. with my shot "it's what they call 'protective coloring'"
.

NEWS - TWO WEEKS IN SAN DIEGO

2010-04-11T11:43:00.000-07:00

Oh, hello again friends! So nice of you to drop by.
Now I know you all think I've been slacking off a bit and, if the measure of one's work were measured in blog posts you'd be right. But you're wrong. Very very wrong. At the end of my second week in San Diego I've had one day off and have filled the others with the creation, construction, organization, arrangement and reconfigurment of the Kreddible Trout Mad Science Studio, San Diego Branch and the works displayed therein. It's been a busy two weeks. From the purchasing and assembling of pvc piping & chickenwire (??) to the gathering yet more art materials, to deciding on and printing shots, to nailing and bashing and hammering and screwing and painting and gluing and twisting and matting and framing and hanging and fretting... to working on promo material & the organization of the closing night shin-dig at the Sushi Gallery... it's been pretty non stop.
Oh yeah, and on my day off there was an earthquake. Colonel J and I were on a roadtrip and happened to be pretty close to the epicenter. That was pretty frikken cool.

So, the studio.
John managed to finagle us a sweet shopfront to work out of. It's right around the corner from where the tent will be at Artwalk. It's an old car dealership and has got more windows than a man like myself (who likes to work with no pants on) might be comfortable with but this affords us some pretty decent display potential. Despite my dubious-ity concerning Col. J's scheme of concocting display units involving chickenwire and pvc piping, I think they turned out pretty nice after all. Half of them now form the 'back wall' of the studio. The signage has gone from meager to ridiculous as is perfectly fitting for this endeavor.

these shots was taken last night and might give you an idea as to why I've been slacking on the blog-front:

In the top photo, the three pieces hanging in the upper windows are much larger than they appear. The middle one is a 20x30 print secured inside an antique-ish window and weighs a ton. If anyone recognizes the one on the right ('their chickens for eggs' that was hanging in my office at home) & remembers it's size, it'll give you a good reference point. Those of you who don't... imagine: BIG.

And here is a peek inside the madhouse:

Any of you all who are in the San Diego area, please feel free to come down and visit me. I'm on the west side of Kettner between Grape and Fir. I try to get in for around 11am. Well... I try to get in for 10, but in actuality I get in at 11.

Here is a shot from sometime during week one:

and here is our first of many trips to the hardware store:

... that's right... we jammed a bunch of 10 foot pvc piping and several rolls of chickenwire into Col J's Porche.

The man is nuts. Did I mention that?

So... now I'm off again to do... um... more stuff. I'll upload some shots from my desert trip and others from the San Diego leg of The Kreddible Trout (part of the) World Tour 2010 a little bit later (maybe next week?) We'll see.

NEWS - DAY NINE. VENICE BEACH, DRIVING IN LA, THE OLD IN OUT IN OUT, SEEING A HERO & THE ARRIVAL

2010-03-31T21:38:00.000-07:00

First thing on Saturday morning I hopped in the Troutmobile and headed down to Venice Beach to see what the freaks do in the morning.
I was happy to find some good parking on Washington Blvd. I was happier still to find a really good coffee house (just past the Crapbucks) called the Cow's End. Filled up the travel mug, stopped into a greasy spoon for a great bacon & egg sandwich, back to the coffee house and then... to the beach.
One of the first things I saw was this guy. I think he's why I pulled out my camera in the first place. I hadn't decided which direction to walk. Usually I will stand and take an area in and wait for something to catch my eye to lead me in one direction or another... this guy was just, bang. Right there. It's like my version of getting to work on Monday morning and finding a pile of work sitting on your desk. I barely had time to digest the bacon & eggs, for crying out loud!

he was just wailin away on his electric guitar. His electric guitar which was not plugged into anything. At least not in this universe. I took a handful of shots of him, my favorite of which is here on the old Mothership Kreddible Trout Connection
then it was on to other sights... though not entirely dissimilar.

There's a Welcome Back Kotter joke somewhere here but I can't seem to find it and very few of you would even get it if I could find it. Bet those of you who would get the non-existant joke now have the theme song in your head though. You're welcome.

I was then caught by beauty on the beach. My fiancee wasn't too keen to hear this when I told her about it, but I hope the photo will clarify things a bit. She knows I'm moved by beauty (it's why I'm engaged to her) and I do find it everywhere I go. It's mostly all I shoot. But I think she'd rather me continue to find it in roadside rubbish and the sides of falling apart buildings. I'd just say that amongst all the almost naked people on the beach that day, this person stood out. ...do you blame me?

It's funny that my fiancee doesn't have any issue when I photograph wet men in tight rubber clothes...

...or does she?

...and speaking of marital bliss...
"Honey, we used to fish so much together, now we fish so far apart."

It's sad, but on the beach, there's no species of female that gets any peace...
"hey baby! nice tail feather!"
"quack off!"

Above the beach, in this land where nothing ever stops, the planes went on in a never ending parade. Really, it was constant. I was able to take this same shot half a dozen times in several minutes. Same framing. Constant.

Then it was back to Hollywood Blvd to see it in the daytime. Or so I thought. I hopped into the Troutmobile, consulted the map and headed, via Santa Monica Blvd toward Tinseltown. It really doesn't look that far on the map. It wouldn't have been if LA wasn't a perpetual state of traffic. I had planned to spend a couple of hours down there wandering around. By the time I got down there I had just enough time to have an In & Out Burger (my first... it was pretty good), snap a handfull of shots, get back in the car and head back.

I really do think I'll save my rants about driving in Southern California for a special blog entry devoted entirely to it.

I was able to spend about half an hour on the Blvd and I'm very glad I did. After munchin down on an In & Out combo meal. The people down here are religiously devoted to this place. It's like a cult or something. I fear telling people that it's merely alright as it might provoke a fisticuffs. It's kinda like the devotion to Tim Hortons in Canada but at In & Out they at least serve stuff that tastes good. I'm still pretty happy that my first In & Out Burger was in Hollywood.
Then... oh my god... then I saw one of my all time TV personality heroes: Dr. Geek from the Blueblocker infomercials of the early 90s. I was very upset that there was a huge line up to have him rap to people's names and I had no time to ask him to rap a Kreddible Trout Rhyme. Really. If I hadn't been on a tight schedule I would have paid the man to have him say "uh-huh, yeah, listen to me, this here man is kreddible t. I know you all question it I know you all doubt, but this is the man, Kreddible Trout." or something like that. Shit... I wanna go back to LA right now & try to find him. Maybe on my way home...

...even in this land of dreams and excess, we can still find the daily grind. The hustle and bustle. The morning commute...

I don't know if any of you remember The Electric Company or it's version of Spiderman.... but I saw one of them thought bubbles pop above his head once or twice with the words '...grumble...grumble...' in it.

I had left my stuff at Robert's as the thought of the majority of my worldly possessions in a car parked in LA sounded like a bad idea to me. So, it was back to the Pacific Palisades to gather my crap, say my thank you's and get back on the road. I was destined to arrive at Colonel J's around dinner. It was 5:45 before I was pulling out of Robert's driveway (I envisioned the neighbours peeking out from behind their well manicured hedges sighing in relief).

Traffic was... wait for it... it was tiring and stressful is all I'll say for now. And long. After several hours of driving I arrived in San Diego at Colonel J's and finally met the other madman in this operation and his generous and patient family. What's weird is, as much as there was a world of anticipation, I didn't take a single picture of the big meeting. See, this is why I'm not so good in the photojournalism realm. Moments like this pass me by. It possibly had something to do with the fact that I already knew him before we physically met. As soon as he opened his mouth it was like I was talking to a crazy old friend.

And now, almost five days beyond that moment, I will take a bit of a hiatus from the blog thing. I am in San Diego and getting my head around all the art I have to create in the next 23 days. And the amount of promotional things I have to make up. And the display units that have to be made. And the occasional sleeping and eating that may need to be accomplished. I have an awesome little storefront that I'm working out of right around the corner from where I'll be set up at The Mission Federal Artwalk. It already resembles a mad scientist's lair. If anyone in the San Diego area wants to stop by, I'm on Kettner street between Fir & Grape. I will be there almost constantly from tomorrow on. Wish me luck folks.

NEWS - NIGHT EIGHT. THE FREAKS COME OUT AT NIGHT

2010-03-30T23:24:00.000-07:00

Later on that night, after the sushi, Robert and I hopped in his Camero and drove (top down) to Hollywood to pay $20 for parking and watch the weirdos. Robert almost got into a fistfight with Batman who for some reason didn't want his picture taken (you dress up like Batman and hang around downtown, pal. You and Jesus and Elvis are prime targets.) Speaking of The Christ I saw the light er, the neon...

I stayed a little more incognito and shot this poor Stormtrooper who was having a little moment of agoraphobia. Or maybe it was a hissy fit because he got lost on his way to the Death Star. I didn't ask.

poor guy... I hope he made it back ok.

I also discovered that the privileged people in Hollywood get to choose between hot or cold sandwiches!

I avoided doing the tourist thing and walk around looking for stars with my favorite celebrities (though I would love to have found Vincent Price's). Besides getting a shot of Dr. Seuss' star for my lady, this is the only star shot I got... good ol Jimmie Dodd! You are missed, sir... whoever you are.

Here's the man who pisses off superheroes

and here's his shot of me

and that's all she wrote for Hollywood on a Friday night for me. Day nine would find me on Venice beach... eating my first In & Out Burger... getting a glimpse of a hero... and finally... finally reaching my destination: La Casa Del Colonel John in San Diego...

NEWS - DAY EIGHT. THE CONTINENT OF LA, PARKING IN THE CONTINENT OF LA, SANTA MONICA PIER AND 'THERE GOES THE NEIGHBOURHOOD'

2010-03-29T21:58:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe but, after a week of practice I finally managed to pull out of town at exactly the time I said I was going to. Hoorah! After a yummy breakfast with Derrick at... some place... and a shady, parking lot art deal, I hit the road spot on... whatever time I had decided to. (It's been a few days so details are sketchy) Mind you, the trip was only about an hour to The Continent of Los Angeles, but I was still pretty proud of it.

...sometimes I really do feel blessed by the universe. I couldn't resist pulling a very convoluted U-ey to get this shot. (look carefully)

Why that isn't the title of my blog I just don't know. What was I thinking?

Then it was off to my next victim's house in some pretty swank neighbourhood in Santa Monica (I don't know that there's an un-swank neighbourhood there). Robert Larsen is a gifted photojournalistic-y-type-photographer who I met on JPGmag (man... I should have asked JPGmag to sponsor my trip. This blog is a never ending cavalcade of plugs to them.) some years ago and was also a part of the illustrious if somewhat dysfunctional (and now defunct) 15x100 group.
Robert had some things to do in the afternoon and I wanted to go out and play. So I dropped off my stuff at his place and went to the Santa Monica Pier.
Holy crap batman. Six dollars bought me an hour and twenty minutes of parking. Nine dollars bought me a skinny burger, eleven-and-a-half french fries and a pop. It was all worht it though. I know this stuff is par for the course for some of y'all, but to have a roller coaster on a pier is a pretty impressive thing to me. This place was... well, see for yourself:

surf's up dude! ... dude?

It was a crash course as the time constraints and fear of American parking tickets loomed. The following day's beach outing would prove more fruitful.

On the subject of parking and the means to that end:
I've referred to LA as a 'continent' as it is so ridiculously huge that it should be called one. Day nine would prove to be more of an eye opener for me in that aspect, but holy crap again batman! Just dinking around in the Santa Monica area was a harrowing experience. There should never have to be this amount of driving. Ever. (I will expand on that later as I'm writing this after my fifth day in Southern California and have much more fodder for that rant.)Driving around I got a lot of down-nose looks at The Troutmobile as we puttered along. Especially in the swank neighbourhood. Returning to Robert's place I parked the car and walked around the house as some neighbours were pulling out of their driveway. They very literally drove slowly around the block in the same direction I was walking. I guess this time of day all the 'help' had gone home so they were wondering what someone who dresses like me & drives an old Hyundai was up to in the neighbourhood. I loved every second of it.
Robert's mum then took us out for Sushi. Mums are cool like that. The sushi was a welcome meal as the fast-food-burger-to-sushi-ratio was way off balance by this point in the trip.

Then came Hollywood Boulevard on a Friday Night...

NEWS - DAY SEVEN. THRIFTAPALOOZA 2010, MINT OLYMPUS AND THE FIRST SALE.

2010-03-29T01:47:00.000-07:00

I got a late start on the day as I was able to sleep in for the first time in a while. I needed that. The promise of some good thrift store action pulled me out of the house and into Ventura.
By the time I got down there I was starved and in dire need of coffee. Within about 30 minutes on E Main Street I had 2 shot-in-the-darks ('red eye', 'canadianno'... etc.) and was sitting down in a fifties style diner called... something to do with a 'Bee'... ordering the best club sandwich I've had in a long time. (asking for vinegar to no avail). Fifties diners are so much better when the waitresses wear cheerleader uniforms and the tables have mini-jukes on them.

Then, fed and fully caffeinated, I went in search of thrift stores. I noticed one, a pretty big one, and went in. It was the Child Abuse Thrift Store (they really need to come up with a better name... I understand it's purpose, but it just doesn't sound right.) I found a handfull of frames that the lovely Sommer (left) rung through for me and walked out to find that there was another thrift store right next door. Dropped off my finds in the Troutmobile and returned to store two where Casey (not left) sold me a couple more. (if either of you are reading this please and your name is mis-spelled, please let me know)

...then it was back up the street to the Troutmobile to throw my booty in the back seat (for you kids out there... 'booty' used to mean 'treasure'... not 'ass'... my ass goes in the driver's seat). Then I realized that I was parked right in the middle of thrift store heaven with several on either side of the street. By this point, I figured that I had enough frames but needed to check the places out anyway. Each one was better than the last. It was crazy. I could have spent a thrifty fortune in that town. But I was good.
In the very last one I went into (parking had long past expired and I was risking tickets) I found this little doosie for 8 bucks and couldn't say no. It's in pretty good (maybe not 'mint') condition.

I had only just found out about these recently as I read an article that said Olympus just re-issued these cameras in digital format. The article explained a bit of the history of the PEN series. The unique (I think it was unique... I didn't look too much into it) thing about these is that they shot half-frames on 35mm film. So, instead of 24 exposures you'd get 48 pretty interestingly formatted little pictures. Now, I'm a little dubious of this re-issue in digital format as with digital you can:
a) crop it to any dang size you want anyway. You can crop them into a frikken rhombus if you want to.
and
b) shoot how ever dang many shot you want in digital.

...can you say 'money grab'?

Anyway... I love my new little toy. It took me a while to figure out how to load and have taken a bunch of shots with it since. I will update you all on that when I get it developed.

Then it was back to Camarillo where Leah and Derrick's friend Jeff joined us for dinner with yours truly whipping up another seafood pasta which went over fairly well I think. Leah and Derrick were wonderful hosts and, when I was leaving the next morning, purchased a framed print out of the trunk of the Troutmobile. Officially marking my first sale of the trip. Thank you both very much. Derrick also loaned me a pair of running shoes as I'd left mine at home and gave me a Jamba Juice (is that what it's called?) gift card. He's just that kind of nice.

The next morning I was off to LA...

NEWS - DAY SIX, SPEEDOMETER BLUES, CAMARILLO BRILLO AND THE QUEST FOR WHITE VINEGAR

2010-03-29T01:09:00.000-07:00

I have to get this off my chest. The one thing that's really bothered me about this whole 'America' thing is it's lack of white vinegar packets in restaurants. I want vinegar for my fries. When I mention it down here people look at me as though I had 4 heads one of which was their own. It's not too difficult. They're like ketchup packets, but instead of ketchup inside it's white vinegar and it goes on french fries with some salt. It's how it's done America. Get a mitt and get in the damn game already!
That's all. Vinegar. Nuff said.

Next on the old agenda is the post-San Fran drive. It's a long way from San Fransisco to the Continent of Greater LA. So, it was a long day. There wasn't much stopping on the way except to eat in a town called Soledad. I was aiming to find an In & Out Burger joint (if you've never been to an In & Out burger joint, after people shake off the stunned look, they're so happy to tell you about how incredible In & Out Burger is... you'll have to wait for my review because...) but desperation led me to a Carl's Jr. (kinda confused as to why it's not Carl Jr's... I guess the burger is junior...? I dunno.) where, as is par for the course everywhere now, the entire team of customer service specialists were very eager to serve the drive through clientele and leave the sole human standing right in front of them to wait until they had a second. The burger was slightly better than the service. Fast food is fast food. All a variation on the same thing. To be honest, I dunno why I'm still talking about it.
Back on the road. At some point during the day I made an interesting discovery. It seems my speedometer is reading about 7mph faster than I'm actually going so, when I thought I was going 5 - 10 above the speed limit (the real speed limit) I was actually going the posted speed limit. This helped explain why I was always late on my days. That and the frequent coffee stops. And the lallygaggin.
I did not want to be pulling into the Greater LA area at night. I like being able to see when I don't know where the hell I am. approaching the Ventura/Camarillo area the highways began to get wider and the cars denser. The traffic wasn't too bad, there was just a lot of it. Eventually I arrived at my next victims' place (Colonel J's daughter Leah and her fiancee Derrick) and spent the evening chatting with them. They informed me that Ventura might be a good place for thrift stores...

...thrift stores eh...?

NEWS - DAY SIX. THE TROUT THAT ATE SAN FRANSISCO

2010-03-25T01:22:00.000-07:00

WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG WITH AN IMPORTANT NEWS FLASH! SAN FRANSISCO RESIDENTS WERE LEFT REELING TODAY WHEN AN ENORMOUS GOOF WITH A HAT ON ATTEMPTED TO EAT THEIR FAIR CITY. REPORTS ARE SKETCHY BUT IT APPEARS THAT THIS GIANT MAN (SOME EYE WITNESSES CLAIM IT TO HAVE BEEN A LARGE TROUT-LIKE CREATURE) ATTEMPTED TO EAT THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE.

SCIENTISTS ON THE SCENE (THERE ARE ALWAYS A FEW HANGING AROUND) CLAIM TO HAVE DECIPHERED IT'S BELLOWING CRIES. THEY SAY THAT IT WAS CALLING OUT FOR COFFEE. THAT IT IS NOT NECESSARILY A BAD MONSTER, JUST SLIGHTLY MISUNDERSTOOD AND IN NEED OF IT'S LIFE FORCE: DARK ROAST COFFEE. MORE NEWS AS IT COMES IN BUT IT WAS LAST SEEN HEADING TOWARDS THE LOS ANGELES AREA. SOME SCIENTISTS SUGGEST THAT THE ONLY HOPE THAT CITY HAS IS FOR CELEBRITIES TO ROUND UP AS MUCH FAIR-TRADE, ORGANIC DARK ROAST COFFEE THEY CAN & CATAPULT IT TOWARDS THE MONSTER WHEN IT APPROACHES THE CITY. AS HAS BEEN MADE ABUNDANTLY CLEAR THROUGH THEIR HIGHLY PAID PR TEAMS CELEBRITIES ARE THE BEST CHANCE WE HAVE TO SAVE THE WORLD (SO LONG AS THEY CAN STILL GET TO PILATES BEFORE 5). IT HAS ALSO BEEN SUGGESTED (BY SOME EXTREMELY EXHAUSTED LUNATIC) THAT IN LIEU OF THE CELEBRITY COFFEE CATAPULT IT MAY SETTLE FOR ONE OF MADONNA'S BRASSIERE'S, AN ICE CREAM CONE DATE WITH PEE-WEE HERMAN AND BEING CALLED 'HOCKEY PUCK' BY DON RICKLES. BUT THIS REPORTER WOULD WARN THAT ONLY A LUNATIC WOULD BELIEVE SUCH A LUNATIC.

...and here's a nice picture in b&w for people who like that sort of thing.

NEWS - DAY FIVE. MY BREAKFAST WITH BRYAN, BURGERTIME vs WILLPOWER & MY DINNER WITH RUSKYS

2010-03-24T23:59:00.000-07:00

Day four was a write-off. No reason other than the fact that I needed a day to be sour. Car and internet troubles. Perhaps it's age that allows me to (eventually) realize that being sour does me no real good & that I have the ability to add sugar to life's lemonade & make it alright. Hence the photos for day four's entry.

Moving on.

Colonel John was vehement about me eating breakfast at the Samoa Cookhouse. Bryan, my host for my stay in Arcata, seemed slightly dubious (saying there were better places to eat in town) but with some gentle coaxing we went on my way out of town. The Samoan Cookhouse is the cookhouse from the logging company that pretty much founded the area. It is done up (or perhaps was never undone to begin with) to be what it was 150 years ago: a place to grab some grub. You get what they give you. It's one choice for breakfast, one for lunch and one for dinner. You get to decide if you'll have cream and sugar in your coffee, but the rest is set. The breakfast was great. Scrambled eggs, pancakes and sausages. Yum yum.
The decisive moment when the last sausage is up for grabs. '...he better get his eye off that sausage...'

Bryan and I had some interesting conversations regarding the politics & history of the area. And too many like it. It was a great conversation, but, as these things do, it led breakfast toward a mildly bitter-sweet direction. All the spoonfulls of sugar in the world can't wash down clear cutting and genocide. We can't dwell there, but we must acknowledge these things if we're ever to evolve away from them. Don't dwell. Nuff said.

The drive to my next refuge was a long one with just a couple of stops. I stopped for ice cream n a town called Gaberville and was terrified to find a Burgertime game in the shop. NEXT TO a pinball machine. There are a few moments of strength in my life that I'm very proud of. I have some will power that surprises me sometimes. This was one of those times. The temptation to drop a few coins and a lot of precious time was so overwhelming. But I resisted. The pinball nearly won me over... but, like seeing Hulk Hogan's shaking hand rise out of a pummeling, my will power pulled me back into the street to take a few photographs and get back on the road. It hurt like hell though.

I then arrived in the San Fransisco suburb of Mill Valley (which seemed to be on a hill... weird) and was very honored to meet the Ruskys who were putting me up for the night. Colonel John's friend Ed, his wife Eileen and their son Devin made for a wonderful evening. As is part of my deal, in exchange for accommodations in some places I whip up a 'gourmet' meal from le Menu chez Trout. The Ruskys ordered the Seafood Pasta (Eileen the Veggie Pasta) and gave compliments to the 'chef'. I give compliments right back to them as they were wonderful, gracious hosts. I am a very lucky person to have met as many wonderful people as I have thus far on the trip. Really. The derby girls aside, everyone has been great and the only thing I wish is that I had more time to spend with folks. Not enough to wear out my welcome, but just a little bit more time to enjoy good company. In the whirlwind I am sad to have realized that I didn't take a photo of them for this blog-thing. I have no idea where my head was. Oh yes... on a comfortable pillow.

NEWS - FEATURED ON REDBUBBLE

2010-03-24T23:33:00.000-07:00

Quick news! My shot 1710.5 was featured on the redbubble homepage!

stay tuned to 'it's the Kreddible Trout Photograhy blog' for more news very soon!

NEWS - DAY FOUR. ARCATA... A TIME FOR PAUSE

2010-03-23T01:08:00.000-07:00

... man, where my bitches at?

NEWS - DAY THREE. BEACHSIDE BACON & EGGS, EAGER BEAVERS, MEETING SAM, MEAL MEDDLING MURPHY AND ARRIVING IN SCHWARTZENSTATE.

2010-03-22T09:17:00.000-07:00

Packed up and ditched Motel la Rutt and went in search of breakfast.
The night before, when I checked in, the manager of the motel told me The Shilo Resort had a good breakfast. The whole thing was kind of weird actually. I had asked him of a good, reasonably priced restaurant. He kept pointing at the skylight and saying 'The Shilo is good'. He was Japanese and his English was a bit choppy but I could understand him easily enough. What I couldn't understand was why he kept pointing at the ceiling and talking about a restaurant that was clearly not up there. After the long drive that day, this added to my confusion.
Anyway.
Check in night the Shilo had closed ten minutes before I got to it (forcing me to settle for the aforementioned Colonel Tsao) so I was eager to try it for breakfast. Hopped in the car and headed around the corner. As I was pulling out of the parking lot I saw that, above the Motel la Rutt there was a sign, larger and more noticeable that their own, for the Shilo Resort with an arrow pointing towards the water. Then I pieced together that the manager said something about 'we advertise for them' and it was not actually the skylight he was pointing at, but what shone above it: the Shilo Resort sign.
This discovery allowed me to eat my bacon and eggs with a settled mind.
Breakfast had a great view looking out on the ocean and people flying kites next to it.

On my way out of town and with the reminder that part of the trip's purpose is to lallygag, I saw another thrift store. The Eager Beaver. The name alone drew me in.

The gentleman behind the counter allowed me to take his photo despite his claim of being 'on the lamb' and in the witness protection program. He goes by the alias 'Stephen'. I told him that it might be wise to stop telling people about being in the witness protection program. He somewhat dubiously agreed.

Then it was on to Florence where I was scheduled the day before to meet up with redbubbler Sam Dantone. Due to lallygaggin I had to move the meeting from day two to day three and told him I'd call him him when I arrived in town.
***We interrupt this blog entry to bring you A Tale of Murphy's Law. When traveling through small towns you sometimes see restaurants that you think about stopping at, decide to see what else there is in town and before you know it the town is finished and you've missed your opportunity to eat. The knowledge that there is another town down the road encourages you to not pull a u-turn as there will likely be food there. Sometimes, after this happens several times in a row, desperation kicks in and you end up eating at Dairy Queen. Then when you contact a friend in a still further town, that friend says he'll meet you at a restaurant that turns out to be the healthiest restaurant you've seen since beginning your roadtrip. Cous Cous, quinoa, organic this-and-that, soups, fresh local produce served by people who look happy and healthy. And your belly is still full of THE FLAMETHROWER (tm). In these situations the only way you can even mildly spite Murphy is to order the biggest carrot/ginger/apple juice you can.
We interrupt this interruption to bring you a tale of Roller-Girl Condescension. At the above mentioned Dairy Queen, as I munched away on my THE FLAMETHROWER (tm) some truly cool cats walked in. They had on black satin jackets and tattoos and were way too cool for school. It was as though a reform school production of Grease just walked in. I read the back of one of the jackets and it indicated to me that these ladies (& their gentleman chaperon) might be a Roller Derby Team. I asked them, 'Hey, are you guys a roller derby team?' They said they were and I told them that I had something to show them. I went out to the car and pulled out the print of 'derby girls' and held it up to the window for them to see. They read it and seemed to mildly enjoy it. I put it back and went in to order a desert and maybe strike up a conversation with them. I'm doing my best to be social and encouraging all sorts of people to check out the blog and my website and just generally be a friendly guy. I didn't want anything from them & I honestly don't care if someone doesn't like my art as it's all just relative anyway, I was just amused by the idea that I could pull something so relevant out of the back seat of my car on such short notice. They didn't seem as impressed by the coincidence. I think one of them may have liked it, but she might have felt like the rocker who's got a dirty little Abba secret. I tried to instigate conversation and quickly began to feel like the kid in school who goes around asking people 'do you want to be my friend?'. I just genuinely thought it was a neat bit of coincidence. One of them asked how much I was charging for it. I told them 'three-fifty' the response of 'oh, three dollars and fifty cents? yeah, I'll take it for that.' as she brushed by me to get a really cool straw for her drink. That was when I decided to just order my dipped cone and leave these kids to the cool plane of existence they seemed to think they were on. 'We're the Hobbs Bay roller girls man! You can't even talk to us!'

And now... back to the blog!

So, after all that was when I met Sam at Nature's Corner Cafe. It was a much nicer meeting. Sam is an incredibly talented painter who I connected with on redbubble. His work has a harsh edge to it which I really like and is in real contrast to him as a person. From his work I was expecting a more jaded angry person and discovered a very generous, soft-spoken guy. It's like, expecting Johnny Rotten and getting Angella Landsbury. (Sorry Sam... you're nothing like Angella Landsbury... I just got a real kick out of the allusion.) He showed me his sign shop (Treehouse Signs and Decorative Arts), his showroom (the entire town displays his signs so he calls the town his showroom.) and... and gave me a hand drawn ink piece. This was the coup de grace for his kindness. Really awesome guy. Here is a picture of him in his shop standing next to some of his awesome (yet sideways) art:

Then it started pouring rain again so I took that as my cue that I should start driving again.

Wait a minute... everything is all mixed up. Dairy Queen and the Roller Girls happened AFTER I met with Sam! I was too full from breakfast at The Shilo in Newport to eat healthy... then Sam... then Dairy Queen,Murphy's Law and Roller Girls...
Well... the story sound better the first way and I'm too far along to go and edit it all now so... y'all know I've been on the road for days, right? Cut a guy some slack would ya? Besides, embellishment is the cornerstone to good story telling and I could have just not told you at all! So... should I edit it? Nah, I stand by my laziness. It stays as is. What, like Shakespeare never fibbed! C'MON!

The drive, when the rain breaks, is spectacular. Here's the Troutmobile showin us some fine lallygaggin form somewhere in Southern Oregon:

8:30-ish PM we arrive at the California border. There is a checkpoint there for produce and foodstuffs. There was an old-ish guy guarding it.
'All the way from downtown British Columbia, huh?'
'Yes sir, all the way from Downtown Victoria British Columbia!'
'Well well! You've come a long way. You have any fruits or vegetables in the car with you?'
'I have a chocolate bar.'
'Well then you can be on your way. You have a pleasant life, alright?'
'I will. And you too.'
'Thank you I will.'

All boarders should be that pleasant. It made me smile a wide one on California. Arrived in Arcata at 10pm. Met my billeter Bryan Osper, blogged a little blog and passed the hell out in my sleeping bag on his couch.

NEWS - DAY TWO. NOT WANTING TO LEAVE PORTLAND, LEAVING PORTLAND, THRIFTY SIDETRACKS, ROCKAWAY BEACH CLOSURE, CHINESE FOOD AND DIRTY MOTEL ROOMS.

2010-03-22T00:04:00.000-07:00

[log date: late on March 21 about March 20th]
In the morning Matt took me to the Portland Artist's Market (I think that's what it was called) where I discovered even more of this awesome city. As if I needed more reason to not want to leave. I was thrilled to meet another old JPGmag contact Maria Tizon whom I've been e-friends with for several years now I think. Probably as long as Matt and I have been contacts. As well as Michelle Spokely-Lane (thanks again for the cookie) and Dan (possibly Dan The Man..?). Again we talked shop and I did the best I could to keep up with conversations being as distracted as I was. Apparently I was also distracted enough to pull the most amusing novice error in the photo I took of the market gang. Note the antlers. left to right: (name to be disclosed later), Maria Tizon, Michelle Spokely-Lane (thanks again for the cookie) and Matt Adamik.

Then, with a belly full of cookie, coffee and breakfast shawarma (no such thing in real life, it's just what you call a shawarma that is eaten in lieu of bacon & eggs. It is not advisable.) I was off! I had a date with the coast and I was late. So, onto highway 26 with my sights set for Rockaway Beach. Nothing was going to stop me! I was already behind but was determined to make up time! About 30 minutes towards the 101 I saw this place... need I say more?

I could have spent hours in there. I opted for just 45 minutes and walked away with a few frames for my project (one of which is seen with Patty the nice lady who let me wander around taking pictures in the store) and a $12 Brownie Camera.

(I could have photoshopped that wire out of there... but it's 1am and I need to finish this.)
A motorcyclist who was in the shop was telling us that there was all sorts of traffic on the 101 as it was Spring Break, a fantastic day and there was some motorbike show out there. He said the beaches were very busy and that I'd have a lot of photo ops. I hopped in the Troutmobile and was off!

... About a half hour from the 101 the weather shifted with blatant spite from fantastically sunny to dismally rainy and the traffic the motorcyclist told me about turned out to be a parade of gloomy vehicles flowing back towards the city.
I didn't care. I wasn't in it for the beach volleyball, the tan lines or the drinking contests... I was on a serious mission. Destination: Rockaway Beach.
As some of you may have known, one of the main purposes of this trip for me was to go to Rockaway Beach and listen to Rockaway Beach by the Ramones. I am happy to report that mission accomplished. Please see video log:

The drive along the coast, despite the really messy weather was really pretty fantastic. If I was able to I would stop in each and every one of those towns for at least a day. They all fascinate me. The goal was to get to North Bend but I only made it as far as Newport as it was late and the driving was pretty horrid. 8:30pm I checked into a $36-a-night dive Motel (I'm a sucker for stained carpets & leaky faucets) where I ate bad Chinese food (General Tao tasted more like a Colonel to me... Colonel Saunders with red sauce on it to be precise), wrote the post just below this one and passed the hell out. The latter, at the end of this third day I am about to repeat on a couch here in Arcata CA.
Tomorrow I will catch up to where I am now as I will be here tomorrow night as well.
Wow... am I making any sense?

TROUT OUT!

NEWS - DAY ONE Victoria BC to Portland OR.

2010-03-20T22:18:00.000-07:00

7am - Trout's alarm goes off.
7:02am - Coffee goes on.
7:03am - Wonders why he's in the kitchen.
7:04am - Smells coffee brewing and begins his day.

8:34 am - Much to his surprise, The Troutmobile is packed and ready to roll only 4 minutes behind schedule.

At this time I'd like to mention that this would not have been possible without the help of the incredible support staff here at Kreddible Trout Industries (my wonderful fiancee Michelle)

and we're ready to roll!

... after KTPI's support staff mentions that he's pointing East, the car is pointed west and Trout is actually headed south, things become more clear and it's off to the ferry.

After some sad but excited goodbyes, my support staff leaves me to deal with US Customs on my own and goes in search of the rest of her sleep. Customs was as uninteresting as you could hope. No latex gloves. No threat of latex gloves. And, about 45 minutes late... the ferry leaves.

Next stop: Ferry food. I was hoping for something good-ish. I wasn't expecting this:

...it was chewy.

The ferry ride was pretty nice and I got to see a side of Victoria that I'd never seen before. We both blushed but were ok with it. The picture of which is pretty boring, so I won't share it.

This one is not much better, but it's the opposite of the view I have from Victoria so... I like it. Mount Doug is on the left there. Taken from Port Angeles.

And then I hit the road. Finding roadside burgers and out-to-pasture photo booths as is my wont.

This trip holds many firsts for me. My first solo road trip. The first time I've been this far south. I think, of all the firsts on this trip, one is very important to me: my first Jack in the Box meal. They do things differently down here but I wasn't quite ready to use the Jack in the Box self-serve machine. I'm old fashioned, I like to be totally disregarded as a customer by an actual person. Not a machine.

The meal was... it was fast food. I was hungry and ordered the large meal... they fries were a decent size and they gave me a large plastic barrel to put my pop in. Had I had filled it, I would have needed help getting it to the table.

next stop: Portland.

I must return to Portland. I was there for only about 18 hours all told, but I think I may have fallen in love. It's a very interesting city. And I met some interesting people. An online photo-friend from way back in the teen years of JPGmag named Matt Adamik put me up on his inflatable mattress in his living room and was a great host. We swapped stories of other online peers talked a little shop. Then we went out to meet up with some friends of his and had a good time at a tremendously boring bar. If it wasn't for the awesome company... well, I'd still have found a way to amuse myself, but I would have looked a bit more nuts than usual. the folks in the picture below are Photographer and Flophouse Owner Matt Adamik, Pin-up model extraordinaire Dottie Diamond, Pin-up Photographer extraordinaire Emily Rinard, Photographer & Sporter of the Fonzie Jacket Jason Allen.

We spent the entire night twittering on our smartphones! It was, like, SO much fun!

Then the DJ decided to clear the place out so we said our goodbyes, exchanged business cards and all went home. If I come back, I'd love to be able to work with these folks. They seem to be some of the rare exceptions to the rule that photographers have to be pretentious tits who compare 'gear' like it was a measure of talent or sexual virility. They were cucumber cool and not at all full of themselves. More reason to like Portland.

Now, at the end of day two, in Newport, I must get some sleep. We'll catch up to here tomorrow night.

TROUT OUT!

TROUT UNLEASHED!

2010-03-20T21:41:00.000-07:00

NEWS - THE INCONTROVERTIBLE COUNTDOWN!

2010-03-18T21:37:00.000-07:00

Ok... no really this time. This is the most finalist of countdowns that you could get. Serious. In 12 hours I'll be in a line up for the ferry to Seattle. I don't know where the Customs aspect of it all is, if it's on the other side or if they get that business out of the way before you get on the boat so... 12 hours from now I'll either be in customs trying really hard not to make any jokes or waiting in a line of cars thinking really hard about all the jokes I won't be telling customs officials. (Oscar Wilde wouldn't last one week in this day and age without being arrested.)
At 8am The Troutmobile will be loaded to the gills with art and clothes and the occasional clown nose and rubber chicken and I'll be ingesting my seventh coffee of the morning. (I've already had people expressing interest in a few pieces... things'r lookin good already!)
Look out USA! Kreddible Trout is coming to play! (wow... that was even too cheesy for me. Maybe I'll get a job in Hollywood writing one liners for Bruce Willis...)

NEWS - SAVE YOUR ALLOWANCE!

2010-03-16T19:51:00.000-07:00

Here is an example of a new experiment that I plan to be doing a lot more of. People tell me that my words are an important extension of my work so I've been trying to come up with ways of incorporating them. The words, not the people. As many of you know sometimes I tend to go on so this method may not work for all pieces but I'm liking it so far.

Any of you art savvy consumers down the coast who have been dying to purchase an Original Kreddible Trout Photographic Artwork (from the Kreddible Trout Aesthetic Solutions Division) as I breeze on through your town, please save up your allowances. On the trip I plan to be selling pieces at bargain basement prices to make room for the new stock so Artwork will be flying out the trunk of the Troutmobile at unprecedented rates! (I should probably look into getting that trunk fixed before I go...)
Here are examples of other stuff that is coming your way... these ones are one of a kind... each of them... individually are one of a kind... as a group they're... nevermind...
have a look!
this piece
and this piece
this piece too
let's not forget this piece

I'm hoping to have music playing loudly as I approach. Kinda like the ice cream truck used to (anyone remember those?) but with me it'll sound more like very loud Ozzy Osbourne through bad car speakers.

NEWS - OVER THE MOUNTAIN

2010-03-16T19:12:00.000-07:00

This struck me last week and then got filed in the 'no time to think about that now' pile and forgotten about. Sometimes my head & life get so busy that I forget about the things that drive me. The important things.

On January 1st my fiancee and I moved back to the city. We found a beautiful little apartment with big windows. These big windows look out (over the shell station) towards the Olympic Mountains in Washington State. It's quite a nice view (ignoring the shell station) and that poor, disregarded thought last week was 'I'm going to be in them mountains soon!' and I love that feeling. It's presents under a christmas tree, that feeling. The anticipation is like the day after a good first date.

In three days I'll be well over those mountains.

I'd be mad at myself for forgetting about that thought, but I don't have the time. I'll put that in the 'forget about it entirely' file.

NEWS - THE 'FINAL' FINAL COUNTDOWN

2010-03-13T08:24:00.000-08:00

As last weeks countdown was a little premature to be truly considered 'final' I've decided that now, with less than a week before liftoff would be a little more appropriate. KT of the future is waking up in Portland right about a week from now and starting to think about coffee having begun his journey a week and a day ago... wow, this is more complicated than Quantum Leap.
Anyway.
Some news. Yesterday I had my first conversation with our contact at the aforementioned gallery (I think I mentioned it somewhere below...) and the Closing Night Gala is pretty much confirmed. The Gala is set to happen on the last night of Artwalk at the Sushi Performance and Visual Art Gallery in San Diego and will involve both visual and performance from yours truly. As I have tinkered with the idea of doing some pass-the-hat fundraising events on the way down to San Diego with me doing a bit of one-man-show-performance-type-stuff I thought I'd add a bit of that to the closing night. Details still need to be worked out, but it should be an interesting night. It'll be a wine and cheese and chocolate and rootbeer event, so... wear a tie and a clown nose.
Other news. I'm about to do my last 12 hour day of working two jobs and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy about that. Now I can devote all my time to making sure everything is secured here on the homefront, in the Troutmobile, in San Diego and that my accommodations down the coast are confirmed.

Now's the time when I'm going to be triple checking everything I need before I go. If anyone has and suggestions or advice as to things I may be forgetting on my trip or information I may need to look into before I go, please lemme know. (Trout, don't forget to wear pants.)

off to work! peace out y'all!

Kreddible Trout Idol!!!

2010-03-08T09:55:00.000-08:00

That's right home fans, now's your chance to have your voice heard! We here at Kreddible Trout Industries understand that a lot of you like to believe that you have some sort of say somewhere. That democracy is important to you. Well, now you get to flex your opinions and tell me what shots are your favorites and deserve to be spotlighted on the website! As in the real world, your opinions may be considered and either patronized until you give up on them or used to further our personal goals here at KTPindustries.
Confused? Here, lemme help you.
To facilitate showcasing 'the best' of KTP, Col. J and I have been going through my photos and picking out our favorite favorites and realized that we're both a little nuts so we should maybe ask the perfectly sane general public (or the segment of the general public that comes by here) what they think. Have a favorite shot on the website? Comment below & it'll go up in the special folder. Know of a shot of mine at JPGmag or redbubble that isn't in the collection? Comment below. Are you one of the handfull of people who know of a photo I have stuffed in a box somewhere that you're actually mad at me for not having put up yet? Comment below.

Now's your chance to be heard! Now's your chance to show the world you care! Now's your chance to be done reading this post!

NEWS - THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

2010-03-04T23:54:00.000-08:00

I guess two weeks makes it an unnecessarily long final countdown... but I couldn't resist sticking that song in your heads. You'll thank me for it once you stop being annoyed by it and start giggling about it. Should be riiiight aboooooouuuut...... now.

ok... so now back to the NEWS part of things. As mentioned above, in exactly two weeks from now the KREDDIBLE TROUT (part of the) WORLD TOUR 2010 officially begins. Planning is going swimmingly on both my and Col. J's end.

to fill in some gaps:

1) Col. John has been working on procuring a shopfront for me to work out of when I'm down there. This will act as both a workshop/studio and the promotional epicenter for Kreddible Trout Industries, Southern California Division. The intent is to evoke curiosity from passersby who would be forced to ask themselves, 'what's that lunatic with the weird hat doing with all those photos and old closet doors? Is he impersonating Elvis all alone in there now? Someone should do something!'
This shopfront is still in the works but we're hoping with Col J's pull and some massive generosity from some folks in California, something will happen soon on that front.

2) REALLY BIG NEWS just texted this evening... Col. J and his magical mystery networking skills have booked Kreddible Trout in a certain still-too-soon-to-mention-officially-but-apparently-pretty-swank performance/visual arts gallery for one night! The term 'cocktail party' has been mentioned and (as I don't know that i've ever really been to one... I like corn chips and root beer) being the focus of one is sure to be a surreal experience. One of my favorite kinds!
"Hey Fancypants! Get your crudités off'a there! That's art, y'know! Oh, no wait, that is a table... my bad. Carry on!"

3) Is there a three? There must be. Oh yes! The TOUR part of the tour is shaping up nicely with several meetings in the works. One being in Portland where I'm trying to hook up with some old e-friends form the JPGmag early days (lo... those many years ago! four years seems like an eternity in the internet) and some members of the now defunct 15x100 group. These are some photo-peers who I really respect and really look forward to meeting up with. I hope it turns out.

Speaking of turning out... I have to do that to the lights now and get some shut-eye.

Please keep coming by and checking things out here. The afforementioned Gallery will be announced very soon. With links and everything! I love my links! Yes I do.

NEWS - TOUR DATES

2010-02-26T12:10:00.000-08:00

Ok, so... as I'm trying to connect e-friends I've made on the information super-highway and meet up with them on the real life highway (Victoria to Portland via the 5 and Route 101 the rest of the way) to see if they really exist, I need to let them know when and where I'll be. As well, I'll be selling art out of my trunk to help support the trip so I hope to see streams of welcome wagons flashing fist-fulls of cash all along the way. (...if the real world is half as entertaining as the one in my head, I'll have a great time.)
So here's the itinerary which is not-as-subject-to-change as you'd expect with me because some very generous friends of Col. John (& supporters of the Tour du Trout) are to be putting me up for nights in various places. There may be some variation especially after the first San Fran night, but as of now it's as follows:

March 19th - Leave Victoria via ferry to Seattle. End the day in Portland.
March 20th - Portland to Rockaway Beach (so I can sit there and listen to Rockaway Beach by the Ramones) & then on down Route 101 to somewhere around North Bend OR.
March 21 - North Bend-ish to Arcata CA. Staying 2 nights.
March 22 - Some form of Art Show/Performance Deal in Arcata. Spend the night.
March 23 - Arcata CA - San Fransisco. (potential for 2 nights there. If so, it'll be changed here)
March 24 - San Fransisco CA - Camarillo CA. (if no 2 nights in San Fran, maybe 2 nights here. I mean... it's LA!)
March 25 (or whatever) - Camarillo/LA area - San Diego. Arrive at Col. J's. Take a nap.

I've begun contacting my e-friends and e-peers but if you see this and want to be part of the fiasco or have some advice about where I can sell my 'tawdry wares' and/or do some performances (monologue/performance stuff) please feel free to email me at trout@kreddibletrout.com

Still working on the satin tour jackets. We'll let you know as soon as the 70s call us back.

NEWS - Have Art. Will Travel.

2010-02-21T11:12:00.000-08:00

Have Art. Will Travel

Thus begins another chapter in the odd little saga of Kreddible Trout. Yes folks in a month's time yours truly will be stuffing a bunch of art in the trunk of The Troutmobile, setting the compass to wobble southward and heading off next to the sunset. A little like the gunslinger alluded to in the title of this piece but with art and a camera instead of a deck of cards and a pistol.

Departing from: Victoria BC.

Destination: San Diego CA.

Specifically the Mission Federal Artwalk in San Diego California

At the encouragement of the art connoisseur and marginal maniac Colonel John (no real rank, it's an Elvis reference) who commissioned and contrived on this piece, I am embarking on something that we hope will end in my buying him a pink Cadillac to justify the title I just gave him.

The story goes:

Col. J. - Hey Trout, thanks for the yummy-yummy art! I really love it!

Trout – No problemmo crazy man! It was a lot of fun.

Col. J. - Bye for now.

Trout – Bye for now.

--- a day passes ---

Col. J. - Hey Trout. I have an idea.

Trout – Uh-oh.

Col. J. - Yeah, I know. So, your stuff is the King's knickers y'know?

Trout – um... I'm not sure...

Col. J. - It's great. It's cooler than Fonzie on ice and I know art savvy people will buy it up like hotcakes.

Trout – Hotcakes eh...?

Col. J. - Hotcakes. Stay with me Troutie.

Trout – Right. So what's the idea?

Col. J. - There's this huge, two day art spectacle here where I live in sunny San Diego called Artwalk where 130 000 hungry art consumers go every year looking to sink their teeth into yummy-yummy art! Kinda like yours! They buy stuff there. I've bought stuff there. You need to be there and sell your art because I think it's good enough to be there. What do you say?

Trout – Where do we begin?

...and the plan was hatched. Ideas flowed like rambling metaphors though a bad writer's keyboard and the plan (thus far) is this:

Get in the Troutmobile on March 19th & travel down the coast over 7 days to take in the experience and gather supplies, meeting friends along the way. The 'supplies' are the things I use to build my 'uniquely mounted' pieces ( like old trap doors, frames, tennis racket presses and old utensil drawers... you name it, I use it) . I'll be interacting with shop owners and get some stories to incorporate into the trophy piece of this extravaganza which Col. J. is calling a 'living history art piece' (which I love the sound of). When I get there I stay with The J's and, over the next 4 weeks, create the pieces for the Artwalk Festival in his garage. (alternately we may find a shopfront in San Diego for me to use as a studio before the show, we're still looking into it) For the show I'll have a mix of pieces, some 'uniquely mounted', some large limited edition prints, and hopefully the centerpiece will be the living history deal. I will be documenting the journey as I go right here on the old blog for those following at home.

The plan is to sell a crap-load of art and create a one-of-a-kind experience. In an ideal world, we sell a world of art and Kreddible Trout Photography gets rocketed into super-stardom (that kinda thing happens all the time in SoCal.) and I get a full page layout in Cigar Aficionado and become photographer to the stars and Col. J. gets a pink Cadillac. In a more optimistically realist world, we make back our investment, have an awesome time and I get some awesome publicity. In a horrible world I wander into a rumble between ninjas, pirates, The Crips and The Bloods and get shredded into coleslaw on which they all feast.

So, that's the big news. We here at Kreddible Trout Photographic Industries are very excited about this new scheme. It seems just crazy enough to fit us perfectly. ('crazy enough' meaning the 'we' we speak of all the time is me, alone in my tiny office with my toy collection) I hope to be doing some impromptu fundraising events on the way involving selling photos and maybe doing a performance or two (we may see if this William Foley character will come along to do some acting). If any of y'all down the coast have any ideas or want to lend a hand to an impoverished traveling artist... please email me.

Please everyone check back here often as this will be Kreddible Trout International Headquarters for the next little while. Tell your friends, family and even enemies as I'm hoping for as large a network as I can manage to get as many people to the show as possible. If you blog, link to me. Let's get this puppy rolling!

Southern California... here I come. (hahahaha! This is crazy!)

NEWS - Published!

2010-02-19T01:48:00.000-08:00

In early December 2009 Employee of the month William Foley brought international renown to the offices of Kreddible Trout Photographic Industries by coming in 3rd place in Digital Camera Magazine's 2009 Photographer of the Year Competition in the Destination Everywhere category with his shot 'the s.s. perception'. Normally we're pretty button-down around the office, but we allowed him to wear dungarees for a week. He also insisted on wearing a tiara with jube-jubes stuck to it. We resisted at first but he persisted. Soon the new year came, excitement waned, the jube-jubes were eaten and his ego had finally fluttered down & joined the rest of us in the cubicles. So, as fate would have it, this week his prize of 100 Great Britain Pounds came in the mail followed the very next day by a copy of the issue of Digital Camera Magazine that he was published in.

We thought the tiara was bad... we're worried that he's going to come in naked on 'biz-cas-fri'.

the magazine:
the winner:
the details:

...we're probably going to have to lay this guy off. He doesn't even share his jube-jubes.

(biz-cas-fri)

t-shirts on the website

2010-02-17T14:12:00.000-08:00

New addition to The Mothership Kreddible Trout Connection in the way of t-shirts.

We here at Kreddible Trout Industries Activewear Division know that dynamic, art savvy consumers like yourselves sometimes need to cover your torso. Strange, I know, but it's true. For example, you can't go to a business meeting with a bare torso, so we have designed a full line of torso-shirts (or t-shirts if you'd prefer) for just such a market need.

They come in all shapes and sizes and are 100% Omega 3 free!

a little something while you wait

2010-02-14T00:17:00.000-08:00

Hi friends. Come on in. Have a sit-down, won't you?

2010-02-12T02:38:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are again. Another blog. I've begun several over the years for various reasons but they never really went very far. As a matter of fact kreddibletrout.com MachII was a blog. It was weird looking and had unpleasant social skills so, as these things go, we drifted apart.

This time it will be different.
This time, I mean it.
This time, I am committed! (Or perhaps I should be committed as you'll probably soon learn)

The difference between this and the other blogs that lay in my wake is that this is dedicated solely to my photographic endeavors. As things with Kreddible Trout Photography have begun moving in more serious directions (as serious as I can go with a clown nose) I feel the need to organize news and updates in one place.
This is that place and blog... you are the one.

I may go off on tangents, I may zig when you expect me to shimmy, but I'll do my best to keep updates and news as succinct as possible. I'll post news with a title that begins with 'NEWS' (how's that for clever?) and I'll leave the rambling for separate posts and intros... kinda like this one.

Now, at this late hour here at Kreddible Trout Industries with the fire almost out, the hot chocolate all gone and the cat securely taped to the ceiling... we bid you goodnight.
Say goodnight Troutie.
'Goodnight Troutie.'