Upcoming Film Screenings & Announcements!

I'M BACK!

I know it's been a while since you've heard from me, but there have been a lot of exciting things happening this year, and even more to come in the next few weeks! 

In case you may have missed it, check out my interview on The Black List about my recent spec sale to 1inMM Productions of the upcoming home invasion thriller screenplay known as Hell is Where the Home Is. The film finished shooting last month and is currently in post-production for an anticipated release next year.

The next bit of news involves what was actually the very first paid writing job I was hired for here in Los Angeles, back in 2014. It was for a re-write of a little indie film called Shine about the gentrification of Spanish Harlem.

"Two brothers once East Harlem's best Salsa dancers are separated after the death of their father only to be reunited years later on opposing ends of gentrification."

Well, thanks to the perseverance of the film's director, Shine is finally complete and held it's World Premiere on September 22nd at the Urbanworld Film Festival in New York!

Read more about the project here and check it out if you're in the area!

This has also been an exciting year in the world of short films...

Next, I'm proud to announce that my award-winning 2015 short film To Police will have its International Premiere NEXT WEEK in Spain at the Madrid Art Film Festival on Saturday, September 30th!

To Police chronicles the story of a young police officer facing racially-charged fallout after the pursuit of a violent criminal ends in the shooting of an innocent teenager.

This marks the first time a film of mine will play overseas, and if this year has been any indication, it certainly won't be the last!

For those who might not be familiar with the project, check out the trailer below!

But that's not all, this year also saw the production of a brand new short!

I'm equally proud to announce that my second short film, entitled Voice, is now complete and will be premiering right here in Los Angeles at the LA Live Regal Theater for the 13th Annual LA Femme International Film Festival! 

"A young Muslim woman balances her duties as a wife and mother while searching for a voice of her own."

This is a festival dedicated to bringing forward stories by and about women, so what better place to debut a collaboration with two talented female filmmakers about a woman's search for her creative outlet.

Check out the trailer below:

Tickets to the Voice premiere at 6pm on Friday, October 20th can be found online here.

To those who might be interested in getting involved in my next film project, my feature film directorial debut Standing Up, I'm currently seeking managing partners and investors. We're going big this time. Send me a message if you'd like to know more about how you can get involved!

Now, last but not least, if it doesn't seem like I've been making efficient use of my free time this year, I'm also proud to announce the Opening Night Reception of my very first gallery exhibit as an art curator, Art From The Other Side!

So if you're in the Los Angeles area on Thursday, October 26th, come downtown to Angel City Brewery and check out the showcase, because what better place to look at art than a brewery? And it just so happens that October 26th is my birthday, so come kill two birds with one stone and buy me a beer or six.

That's all for now folks, look out for some more announcements to come in the not too distant future, and if you're not already doing so, follow me on Instagram @CoreyDeshon for updates from Madrid, LA Femme, and Angel City.

Sincerely,

Corey Deshon

#MAYDAY

PUERTO RICO, MAY 1ST, 2017

For those who may not have heard, Puerto Rico has been facing a debt crisis for the past several years.  This has lead to rising tensions on the island as the United States has turned control of Puerto Rico's finances to a Federal Oversight Board, who arguably may not have the best interests of the island's suffering people in mind.  I'll leave my opinions out of this for now...

I visited Puerto Rico last week to complete some research on a screenwriting assignment and happened to catch one of the largest protests the island has seen, as people took to the streets to demand a citizen's audit of the proposed "solution" to the debt crisis, one that threatens to privatize many of the island's public services, potentially leaving many people deprived of their jobs, pensions, and wages.

Here are just a few snapshots from the beginning of the protest, taken just before I had to board my plane home, and just before the teargas canisters began to fly.

If you'd like to learn more about the history of Puerto Rico's economic crisis, might I recommend John Oliver's take on the scenario. 

New Year Updates

I meant to get this post out sooner, but with the start of the new year and some new projects I've already been grabbed by the snowball of momentum that is 2017!

First, let's recap... 

2016 was a big year for me in photography, beginning with the launch of this website and my first ever gallery exhibit at RAW:Hollywood Presents FUTURES. This gallery appearance marked what would turn out to be the first of many, and I was soon introduced to UCLA's Exchange Room Gallery with the "I AM" Group Art Show later that year. The year also brought a few meaningful collaborations with models I had worked with in the past, including the beautiful and talented Brianna and the soon to be muse for my Basquiat series, Renae.  

It was that very collaboration with Renae that lead to my first ever solo photography exhibit, Obnoxious Liberals: A Bodypaint Tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat which opened at the Exchange Room Gallery in LA to a packed audience.  And as if the year couldn't get any better, during the development of this Basquiat series I was contacted by TXTURE Magazine and invited to showcase selections from the series at their annual Miami Art Basel exhibit!  This was my first time ever even going to Art Basel, let alone exhibiting there, so to think all of this could happen within a year of printing my work for the first time was just incredible, and it left me very excited for what the future may hold.

In front of my Art Basel showcase with TXTURE Magazine founder Monifa Coffee

Things to look forward to...

My solo exhibit at the Exchange Room Gallery will be closing soon, so if you haven't seen it yet now is the time! (Click Here for instructions on how to get there, and how to find it on UCLA's campus).  So what next?  Things continue to get better, as the next stop for a few of these pieces will be at the headquarters of Arsenic Magazine and at the Los Angeles Chocolate and Art Show! More details about those will be coming in the near future.

I'll have some more announcements coming very soon, including a new long-delayed music project that I'll be releasing within the next few weeks.  For those that don't know, though I don't highlight it on this site much I do from time to time produce music as well, for no reason other than "why not?"  You can check out some of my past instrumental albums on Bandcamp or stream the more recent stuff on Soundcloud. I've had a new project in development since early 2014 that I'll finally be pushing out, so be on the lookout for that.

I should also have some big film-related announcements in the near future as well. This is definitely looking like a good year, so keep your heads up and don't let any bright orange man-children ruin it for you!

So I've Decided To Take Scanning Into My Own Hands

Luckily for me I routinely shop for things I can't afford in my fleeting spare time, as a way of keeping an ear to the ground for the general trend of fluctuating prices.  So like with the printer rebate, when I see a good deal, I know a good deal.  

A few weeks back I happened to come across a Plustek OpticFilm 7200i film scanner for $8. Yes, $8.  Eight dollars.  Gotta love Goodwill.  Now, this scanner is by no means the latest and greatest technology, in fact it's pretty outdated as far as film scanners go.  I think it may have actually been the first scanner in the Plustek OpticFilm line, and the first to be able to scan at 7200dpi, hence the name.  That would put it over ten years old.  But for that matter, that would make it about 30 years newer than the $65 worth of 1970s camera equipment I shoot 90% of my work on, so who gives a shit. Works don't it? 

When the 7200i was new, it only ran for about $250, which is still the very bottom of the food chain as far as film scanners go.  But when it comes to film scanning, considering how costly it gets to scan in print-worthy resolution, this was yet another no-brainer.  Photographers these days seem to have a habit of thinking more expensive = better.  The ability to self scan every 35mm negative I want to print cost me less than scanning one negative at a lab.  Yeah, I'll take it.  With this new (read: old) scanner at my side, I'll be able to offer a much wider range of prints in the store now, so look out for future updates there.

On a final note about the film scanners, I should point out that nothing in the roughly affordable price range for the average starving artist will be capable of scanning anything beyond 35mm.  A lot of people do have varying results with flatbed scanners however, and some even recommend them, but the size and workflow of those didn't exactly fit my (ridiculously busy and ridiculously cramped) lifestyle.  And even cheaper dedicated film scanners like the Plusteks are able to scan better quality high resolution negatives that the most expensive of flatbed scanners.  I knew a dedicated film scanner would be the right choice for me, and I'd just need to continue getting lab scans of my medium format work for the time being.  Any dedicated film scanners capable of medium format seem to run in the $1,200+ range.  And uh... That's rent.

To Police: A Year Later

Time certainly flies.  As Memorial Day Weekend has once again come and gone, I've just realized that it's also been exactly one year since the production of To Police, the short film I wrote and directed that went on to win awards at three different film festivals.

In honor of the one year anniversary, I'm going to be allowing online viewing of the film for the first time ever, and only to subscribers of CoreyDeshon.com!  (Signup here if you are not yet a subscriber!)

On the set of To Police!

Given the subject matter of the film, and the current trend of discourse among online videos, I decided at the time of premiere that I would never publicly release To Police in full online.  I didn't want something that I'd created to be an introspective discussion piece on modern society to just become more fuel for the fire of racial prejudice in this country.  I decided the public was better off without it, and only those within the environment of a film festival would have the opportunity to view it, as an in-depth discussion of the film and its message would always follow.

However, since I am no longer entering the film into festivals, I thought it would be nice to share it with those of you who have truly supported my creative endeavors from day one, yet have not had the opportunity to view the film yourselves.  So at the end of this week, I will be sending all subscribers a private link and password to view the film in the comfort of your own homes.  I hope you all truly enjoy it, and would love to hear your feedback either way.

For those who may not be familiar with the film, check out the preview below and remember to Subscribe before Sunday, June 5th in order to get the link.  Thank you all for your support, and happy Memorial Day!

$100 Photo Sessions

One Roll, One Look, One Hour

In keeping with this year's theme of simplicity and affordability, I'm once again offering $100 photo sessions for those looking for a quick and easy shoot with great results.  For $100, I'll shoot one look on one roll, Color or Black & White, on location or in studio. You'll receive at least 10 portfolio-worthy pictures in low-resolution scans (optimized for use on the web) at the completion of the shoot, once film is developed.  One additional look/roll/hour can be added for just $50.

Here are some of my past clients who've taken advantage of this offer:

Book your photo sessions now by signing up here!

So Now What?

Finding New Motivation

If you haven't noticed, I really haven't been shooting much this year.  Even everything I've posted on Instagram so far was work I completed last year, save for a few previews and tests.  Call it a lack of inspiration, lack of funds, lack of motivation, or all of the above.  On Instagram, I like to switch back and forth between posting street and portraiture, colour and black & white, 35mm and medium format, etc. as a way of keeping the curated gallery aesthetic of the page intact.  So after finishing my medium format color portrait series, the next logical step in the progression was to go back to black & white street.  Only I didn't have any black & white street left to post, meaning I'd need to go out and shoot some more.  Yet for whatever reason, I just didn't.  In retrospect, I guess I don't find Los Angeles to be that inspiring of a place for street photography, but it was more than just that.

At the beginning of the year I knew I wanted to get something different out of my work in 2016.  Shooting is a lot of fun, but is that it?  I've been dreading the day I actually sit down to add up all of film-photography related expenses from 2014 and 2015 only to come to find I'm several thousand dollars invested in a hobby that at the end of the day is just that, a hobby. (Hopefully it's not that bad, but I ain't lying when I say #StayBrokeShootFilm).  At the end of the day, I do go through an unnecessarily large amount of trouble and expense to manually expose film, lab develop and scan negatives, transfer everything to a computer, color-correct often mediocre lab scans (a result of unsupervised batch-scanning), sort them, and finally transfer them to my phone, all so that my photos can find their final resting place on Instagram amongst memes, selfies, what people are eating for breakfast, and the small and dedicated niche of other film photographers who typically reside in Europe and Asia.  Don't get me wrong, I appreciate Instagram for being the sole reason for my gallery debut in January, but I just don't think it's truly the best place for the kind of work I want to make (ridiculous censorship included).  And I do love displaying my work at these gallery shows, but let's be honest, people go to group art shows to support their friends and have fun, not to buy art.  I get the feeling this isn't a sustainable business model.

So this year I decided, you know what, I'm gonna scale back.  I don't want to have ten rolls of film to develop at the end of every month, and I don't want to crowd-fund anytime I need to print anything because I'd have no money left to create display pieces otherwise.  I was going to simplify, shoot exclusively black & film street photography using a single camera and lens combo for the rest of the year, and continue working to build my audience of fellow film photographers on Instagram by providing quality content of my own and engaging with theirs.  Meanwhile, as if on cue, the Facebook-owned Instagram adopted the Facebook model of aggregated news feed posts, meaning people would no longer be able to log into Instagram and see all the photos I posted in chronological order by just scrolling down their timelines.  Instead, now some mysterious Facebook-esque "news feed optimization algorithm" will determine which of my updates my followers get to see and when.  What that meant for me was, now a significantly smaller percentage of my followers would ever even see my work, and if they did, they'd see it in the manner, time, and order (if at all) that Instagram dictated.  And that's, for lack of better terms, fckin stupid.

If you know anything about me as a filmmaker, you'll know the Kubrick in me has a real problem giving up control over the presentation and viewing conditions and of my work.  It's for this exact reason that my short film To Police probably won't ever be released in full online.  If you wanted to see it, you needed to come to the theater to see it.  The second I put it on Youtube, the second people are watching it on their iPhones from the toilet, and I just don't think that's how a film about the shooting of a teenager by a police officer should be viewed.  But I digress...

So now what?  I even tested this new Instagram algorithm, and found that if I posted the exact same (crowd favorite) photograph now that I did a year ago I should expect about 200 less Likes.  Which doesn't sound like much, until you consider that a year ago I had roughly 5,000 less followers that I do now.  I had to more than double my follower count just to be able to reach only 200 less people.  And for me, Likes aren't so much about social validation as they are about engaging with a core audience of fellow photographers, filmmakers, and enthusiasts who actually do appreciate my work, so I do find visibility to be very important.  Particularly when this is the very same audience I intended to reach with the launch of this website in order to convert Instagram followers to Subscribers and Subscribers to Print Owners.  Because at the end of the day, the only way I was going to be able to keep shooting at the rate that I was would be if print sales could cover my expenses.  Now, with a significantly smaller percentage of people even aware that I have a website where I sell prints, I get the feeling this isn't a sustainable business model.  

(I also found that charging darkroom prices might not be the best way to start out, so you'll be happy to know I am currently researching alternative, affordable print methods without compromising quality.  More on that next week).

Which brings me to today.  I'm now two group art exhibits in when it dawns on me that, like everything else in life, skill and merit are absolutely trumped by proximity and relationships.  Whether or not my photography is good enough to be hanging on the walls of true art galleries actually has absolutely nothing to do with who I know that could actually get my work into true art galleries.  And this is an important distinction for any up and coming photographer to make nowadays.  Sometimes your success as a photographer has absolutely nothing to do with what your photos look like.  So, let's just say I've found my next door, and have given my foot its next target.  I may not be shooting much at the moment, but what I am doing is laying the foundation for my first ever solo photography exhibit.  I've found some interested parties as a direct result of networking at the I AM Group Show, so hopefully I'll be able to make a fortuitous announcement in the very near future.  From there, it'll be time to move into permanent galleries.  

All in due time, all in due time...

First Test of the Nimslo 3D Camera

Do These Count As Motion Pictures?

At last week's I AM Group Art Show, I got a chance to test out my new-to-me Nimslo camera.  This was a "3D" camera introduced in 1980 as a way of shooting 3D images that could be viewed without glasses through a technology called Lenticular printing.  Think of old school trading cards that have moving images on them if you moved the card back and forth to view it from different angels.  Lenticular printing isn't around anymore, but these cameras were built to use traditional 35mm film, meaning they're still perfectly good cameras.  They work but firing the shutters of 4 lenses at the same time, to capture four of the same image across the span of two 35mm negatives.  These days, you can scan those negatives into Photoshop and create mini "3D" moving pictures by layering them all on top of each other and creating animations that alternate between the visible layers.

I tested it out at the gallery opening during David Vines' performance and got some pretty cool results...

The trick here is to find the right subjects to shoot in the right way, in order to really emphasize the separation between the foreground and background, and the subject's position in relation to both.  It'll certainly be fun to play around with, that's for sure.

RAW:Hollywood Presents Futures

My First Photography Exhibit

"Instagram?  You mean the place where people take pictures of their food and put dramatic filters on their bathroom selfies?  Yeah, no thanks." - Corey Deshon, circa 2010

Okay, I'll admit it, I was never an early pioneer of the emerging social networking trends, despite studying Information Technology for nine years.  Even as of today, I don't have a Snapchat, I don't have a Vine, I'm still not really sure what Periscope is, I've retired from Facebook, and literally the only reason why my Twitter account exists is because I figured I might as well claim the name @CoreyDeshon, because who knows what I might need it for one day.  (I will say I am actively trying to use it now.  We'll see how that goes).

But Instagram, I must say,  has certainly pulled its weight.  I finally joined in 2014 after my shoot with Ama, who convinced me that it would be well worth it to promote my work.  After all, I was really only shooting because I loved it, so why market?  Well, this is why...

After a year and a half working up a pretty decent following (hoping to cross the 9k followers mark next month), my photos began getting some attention in places I'd never think to find them.  One of those such places was an event in San Diego, that if I remember correctly had something to do with women's empowerment.  I really have no idea what the event actually was, because they didn't exactly ask if they could use my photos.  But no harm done, as they did their due diligence by ensuring to credit my name as the photographer and link back to my Instagram.  And to be honest, I'm actually quite proud of this, since I do try to ensure that when photographing women, I do so in a way that is respectful, empowering, and unexploitative.  So for this event to receive my photos that way must mean I'm doing something right haha.  But anyway...

A few weeks after this event I get a call from one of the Showcase Directors of RAW Artists, inviting me to come display my work their upcoming showcase in Hollywood.  It turns out, someone saw my work at this event, traced the photo back to Instagram and eventually my old website, found my contact information, and asked if I'd want to exhibit.  And that, my friends, is why every photographer should have an Instagram.

Well, the RAW Showcase was tonight, and it was one of the best experiences I've had in my photographic journey to date.  Check out some photos below:

(RAW Showcase photos courtesy of Jeffrey Smallwood, Flip Cassidy, and Gil Riego).

Not only was this my first time ever exhibiting my work in print, but it was my first time ever printing photos as well.  (Read more about the series I chose to print in my interview with Pixel Magazine here).  Naturally, I chose to go with all darkroom printing methods, to ensure the heart of analogue still remained a key factor of my exhibit.  I can't wait to showcase again with RAW, and to continue printing my photos for display.  Making prints has been a long time coming for me, and this was certainly the jump start I needed to begin the new year strong.

Prints from the showcase and more are available for purchase now in the store!

Summer Travels, pt. II

Barcelona

I need to live here.  Plain and simple, I need to live here.  The climate, the culture, the quality of life, Barcelona is my kind of city.  After the first day I was convinced that I was no longer looking at this place as a travel destination, but as a future place of residence.

I mean hey, Kubrick moved to London right?  Barcelona it is...

One of my -and likely anyone else who visits- favorite places to shoot was definitely the Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria, or simply...

La Boqueria

And it's easy to see why.

I don't know how yet, but I need to make Barcelona an annual trip.  Hmm, I hear they have a pretty nice film festival...