HE WAS THE VOICE OF A GENERATION

Where would we be without John Hughes?  Frankly, I just don't know.  Ill admit, I'm a product of growing up in the 80s.  I watched my MTV, rolled my jeans, wore flannel shirts to school, had a ton of hair, made my mom buy me the Thriller album on vinyl...the list goes on-and-on.  Though I will tell you this.  Without a doubt, I wouldn't be working in Hollywood today, if I hadn't watched all the John Hughes film growing up. 

My friends and I used to have, what wed call these 'movie fests' each week.  Usually at my friend Blake's house, we'd stay up all night watching Weird Science or The Breakfast Club, and then go on our paper route, laughing and giggling about the movies we just watched.  It was the time of our lives, not a care in the world.  Something so special about being a teen.  I quite often miss it.

Hughes knew what he was doing.  He tapped into the teenage zeitgeist better than anyone.  He just understood young people.  I wonder what he'd say now about young people movies that come out each year or lack there of.  Amanda Jones, where are you when we need you?  Wyatt, "maybe if we put our nose to the door, we can smell the food?"

So many great movies:

Sixteen Candles

The Breakfast Club

Weird Science

Pretty In Pink

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Some Kind of Wonderful

Just to name a few...

We hold these dear to our heart, not just because they are great, but because of the memories we associate with these films.  They are absolutely timeless pieces of art that I hope are never forgotten.  Some day my wife and I will have a child and I cant even tell you how excited I will be when we sit down and watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off for the first time.  I cant wait.  Mark your calendar for 2018!

On a side note, even just today, one of those classic lines found its way into a conversation that a friend, Bobby and I had after our tennis game.  I was sitting on the court, so exhausted, my heart was beating through my chest and I just happened to spit it out...

"I'm dying."

Without a moments hesitation Bobby says...

"You're not dying, you just cant think of anything good to do."

So on that note, just remember..."Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Love you John Hughes.

TENNIS ANYONE?

Lets talk tennis people. Wimbledon started Monday and Roger Federer is hoping to capture his record-breaking 15th grand slam title. Oh Snap! The kicker, no Rafael Nadal in the draw. He announced early last week he'd be pulling out because of tendonitis in his knees. Will Pete Sampras book his ticket today, I just don't know, but the draw is wide open for Roger.

Who will actually challenge Roger on grass? My guess is nobody, nada, zilch, but, and a big one, both Djokovic and Tsonga are floating on Federer's side of the draw. Most notably though is the gun slinging French Open Runner-Up Robin Soderling, who could face Roger in the fourth round. Murray, Del Potro, and Rodick are all on the other side of the draw, hoping to get a crack at Federer in the finals. I'll tell you one thing, it doesn't look like the finals will be anything as great as last years between Rafa and Rog, maybe the best match in tennis history.

I guess well find out come July 5th. Pete, if I were you, I'd charter that jet today.

LIFE

If there was one photography magazine that started it all, that was LIFE. It literally changed the way people saw the world in the early 20th Century.

Once a weekly-published magazine up until 1972, LIFE became victim of television and the economics of mass publication. Between 1978 and 2000, the magazine was published only monthly. Its archive languished over the years, but in 2006, some seven million of the images taken for the magazine have been digitized, taking us to the next chapter in LIFE.

In a partnership with Getty Images, LIFE.com launched back on March 31 and its the perfect resource for both historians and photographers. More importantly, the site should serve as an inspiration to the next generation of photographers. Its simple layout is easy to navigate, dividing up its categories into news, celebrity, travel, animals and sports. The amount of images is astounding.

LIFE.com

OHH MR. JULIUS

For those of you who don't know who Julius Shulman is, you need to wake up and look out your window. As my friends have heard me say, I like to call him, "the godfather of architectural photography." His images of California modern architecture defined the 20th Century. One of his most famous photographs is one called Case Study House #22 taken in Los Angeles, 1960. The photograph is breathtaking. Lets just say, if you decided to strike up a conversation about the modern architecture movement and not mention Julius name, well, that would be like talking about Back to the Future and leaving out the time machine part...big mistake.

For the last couple weeks I have literally been counting the days to see Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman, a documentary chronicling the monumental photographers career. The film recently won the audience award for best documentary feature at the 2009 Palm Springs Film Festival. It's absolutely amazing, sweet to the core, and funny in its own right (guess you gotta know Julius!). Dustin Hoffman does a fantastic job narrating the film, with great direction from Eric Bricker. The doc roughly follows chronological form from Shulman's family moving to Southern California in the early 20s, his early commissions with architects Richard Neutra and Rudolph Schindler, a generous section devoted to Pierre Koenig's Case Study House #22, his collaboration with Mexican architect Abraham Zabludovsky, to a wonderfully emotional section documenting the transportation of Julius' massive archive to the Getty Museum, and finally a little commentary from Julius about post modernism that he basically holds in contempt.

The man himself was to make an appearance, but pulled out last minute. No harm though, he was kind enough to leave 30 or so signed copies of his book, Julius Shulman: Modernism Rediscovered at the LACMA bookstore. As soon as the lights went up after the screening, I quickly ran to the store and snagged a copy. It's a beautiful book, representing the spirit of the 50s and 60s architectural design that pays tribute to the lesser-known yet outstanding contributions to the modern movement. A must have for any fan.

Later that night I was struck with some inspiration.

Amanda thought I was a little crazy, but I staged our living and dinning room area, snapped a couple dozen frames with my D200 using an SB-900 as an off camera flash. I wanted to go for a deep depth of field so I set the aperture to f/16 and held the shutter open for around two seconds. All and all the shot turned out pretty well, no Julius yet, but getting there.

ANDREWCALOF.COM HAS LAUNCHED!

And we are officially a go! After a year or so of friends and family telling me to do so, I have finally launched www.andrewcalof.com as my photography website and I have to say, I'm quite happy with it...well, so far! As you might imagine, it didn't happen over night. I've been working hard for the past couple weeks getting the site off the ground. Want to thank showitsites.com for their wonderful templates and troubleshooting. Their company truly makes it easy for anyone who might be thinking of launching their own website. The site may change a little here-and-there, but as for layout, I think I'll stick with the current look. Hope you dig.

So you are probably asking yourself, what will I be blogging about? That's a good question and I'm fairly new to this whole blog thing so bare with me. Well, the blog will primarily focus on things that are interesting to me both personally and professionally -- photography, movies, music, art, architecture, tennis, etc. I'll write when I can and hopefully it will add a little value to your day.

So those of you that are reading now, please visit often and tell your friends and family to come check me out.

-Andrew