View allAll Photos Tagged Humidor
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The prolific author crafted psychological mysteries of the old school, not far from Agatha Christie in the way that the dialogue moved along swiftly, and in the efficient use of simple language. In my opinion, Simenon uses description in a very filmic way that also is old fashioned.
"L'Affaire Saint Fiacre" was my first Maigret novel. The way this novel is crafted, with sharp and brief details, allows me the latitude that I need to think to weave a very specific design in which Maigret is not too far from Weegee's 1929 Coupe, but for this Parisian Police vehicle, I'm thinking of it more as a touring car which is more for comfort.
My only upgrade to the Maigret's series is to his wardrobe (which was a heavy overcoat), providing a bespoke gentleman's suit with sleeves that could easily be rolled up.
The idea of a traditional picnic hamper for a touring car is modified to be enjoyed inside the vehicle, albeit in a symbolic manner befitting the character of its single occupant.
Therefore, the cab interior functions as a toilette and also as a simple bar room.
The features:
1. A tray set to serve Madame Maigret's plum liqueur.
2. A fruit knife, for the enjoyment of seasonal fruit, such as oranges. This is kept inside Maigret's suit which is stowed in the back as shown. The coat will be thoroughly warmed when Maigret leaves the car.
3. French press coffee, some country bread with a napkin
4. An oil lamp
5. A tiny coal furnace.
6. A toiletry set of a water jug, hot water supply, towel and shaving set.
7. A winding rack of smoking pipes with small bowls, chicken feather cleaners and a large tobacco humidor
8. Green curtains and a cheery Neapolitan ochre wallpaper line the interior.
9. Driver, with a silver calling card tray in the front.
Maigret comes in from the bitter cold and removes his coat, unbuttons and rolls up his sleeves to enjoy the warm French country house comforts of a simple yet leisurely shave. Thereafter he will breakfast with coffee and bread, or receive a visitor for a drink and a pipeful of French tobacco.
Design, concepts, text and drawing are copyright 2014 by David Lo.
atelier ying, nyc
Introducing one of two more designs dedicated to Sakata and the film, Goldfinger.
OddJob is one of those characters whom we are fascinated with, love, yet know little about. I believe that Ian Fleming had one of the best villains here, and the balance of power shifted downwards after this one. So this was a particularly fun little design for me to put together.
The vintage Partagas #1, a wonderful but now nearly extinct cuban double corona, is given a distinguished humidor.
The design even recalls Fleming's Moonraker (which was mentioned in the novel) with an ingenious device to preserve the value of the 125 vintage Partagas Lusitanias (40 x 19.40cm). The central core of the humidor is its humidification unit (of moisture beads) with space age extending walkways for luring out cigar beetles. The entire unit resembles a cat scratching post (a subtle reminder that Oddjob was fed cats).
Surrounding the core are 7 round disc trays labelled as levels (like in a space station) and each storing the cigars in a radial pattern (recalling the Renzo Piano-inspired glazed roof structure of its subsequent sister design for an underwater hat silo).
Both designs were actually conceived together, which is the reason for this drawing of notes.
Every seven days a battery-operated lift mechanism tilts the hat humidor from the bottom just enough to circulate the air and keep the cuban cigars slightly on the dry side. The hat box comes with a maroon red-and-white golf caddies' notepad to record the humidor maintenance schedule notes.
Design, text and drawing are copyright 2013 by David Lo.
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In this photo, find the following:
my great grandfather's binoculars
various national park maps
antique folding ruler
ebony and ivory antique elephant
2 magic eightballs
2 jars of matchbooks from travels
little league coach's trophy
apothecary jar full of antique toys that were my mom's
Tonka tractor I played with as a boy
cigar box
sticker from my buddy's ski shop
hula girl
paintbrushes
wooden toy flatbed truck
Breckenridge Octoberfest beer stein
patches that were sewn on my jean jacket in 5th grade
flask
one Coahuiltecan indian arrowhead
1 Lenni Lenape
nude reflection of photographer
2 oil paintings
hundreds of concert tickets
my grandfather's WWII Army Air Force badges
4 river rocks from Maui
2 granite cobbles that rolled along under a glacier until they were deposited in Maine
Vail bumpersticker
monkey I carved out od a peach pit in 10th grade
combined flask/cigar holder
bike chain/chainring bottle opener
Aztec pencil holder
6-year-old rock (pahoehoe basalt from Kilauea' Pu`u `Ō `ō vent - 2003 eruption)
1.1-billion-year-old rock (Old Rag granite, Virginia)
2 shot glasses
Ray Ban aviators
carved wooden wolf
cigar humidor (almost entirely obscured)
Triplane sculpture
2 classic baseball cards (GO PHILLIES!)
antique fan
my keys!
model 1957 Chevy Nomad (my dream car)
jar of raw opals
my grandfather's toy motorcycle
Super Walkman I got in 9th grade
iPod
3 tubes of oil paint that are about 40 years old and still good
ski resort trail maps
2 sets of darts
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strobist: ex430 w/ diffuser at camera left, about 3 feet above the subjects. +1/8 power
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This belongs to another age.
The British ministerial red box is refitted with the layout of a Japanese dressing-case (I was looking at a photo of one belonging to Elizabeth Branwell) to be a club box for the Mercantile Library, one of New York's best kept secrets. A club box brings aspects of an old fashioned gentlemen's club to a locale, in the style of a portable bar. Here the Mercantile Club box completes the experience for this fiction and mystery library of old New York.
It might be seen as a sort of indoor picnic basket except that it has a compartment for a very special commemorative red Leica Monochrom whose lens is a glass fragment from an old brownie. I chose a Monochrom as a b&w-only camera would subtly point to the past, imparting a nostalgic flavor as a homage to Hawthorne. As the Monochrom has no iconic Leica red dot, this one-of-a-kind Leica would be totally red, so it would leave us no doubt as to what brand it could be. As a kit, this camera outfit is in the style of the "Kodak Ensemble" (circa 1929). There would be little use of formal portraits, as it's more suited for antics at the Drones Club and attuned to the lighthearted fare of the Mercantile's book stacks. As conversation, food and piano playing are welcome at this library (how refreshingly distinct), the club box offers a generous cheese course for two with port, biscuits and a tray of vintage Romeo y Julieta cigars (small gauge, extra long). There are many dividers and aeration so one can serve washed rind cheeses for example, or even a salad course (like stuffed avocados). The real difficulty about this club box & humidor is simply having a driver to carry it around for you.
This design is dedicated to the actor Nigel Hawthorne. No doubt this prop would have come in handy for the numerous club scenes in his tv series "Yes, Minister".
Design, text and drawing are copyright 2013 by David Lo.
atelier ying, nyc.
Continuing in my series of Cigar Humidor designs.
As author of the bestselling book "Six Crises", Nixon recounted his most colorful and active era prior to his presidency.
This design proposes a replica of his leather briefcase from this era modified to become a personal kit through turbulent times.
The briefcase cannot be opened. It has instead two sliding compartments which open in the manner of a James Bond-styled attaché. On top is an office tray configuration containing a bottle of 1960's vintage single malt scotch, two crystal cut whiskey glasses and a private humidor tray of six large pyramides cigars with wide bottoms and narrow heads, handmade for diplomats and statesmen. The bottom portion of the case releases a drawer compartment (with a flick of the second lock next to the carry handle) containing a large tape recorder & radio with a matching leather strap. This machine is used to record in documentary style the personal stories of war victims in Vietnam. This design a step forward on a journey of reconciliation. In the manner of Western religious depictions, the symbol of the tape recorder is both the instrument of Nixon's downfall as well as his salvation in the afterlife. In the fantasy setting, he would write with eloquence and intelligence documentaries of war victims. The scotch is a remembrance to Nixon's sometimes spartan drinking of scotch on board Air Force One, and the cigars are a symbol of both spiritual relaxation and meditation.
For the record, I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat. Of Nixon's books, I think Six Crises and Leaders are well written record of this President.
Design, text and drawing are copyright 2013 by David Lo.
Polaroid Big Swinger Model 3000
Atelier Ying, Nyc.
The client is a director of a well-known Canadian fishing association who has traveled to Europe on fly fishing expeditions. He enjoys cigars and scotch during his frequent trips.
The main task was to try to understand both the character of the client and the camera subject so that I could invent an alter ego. The client's British background helped me to locate a suitable structure and detail for his camera. Being an avid fisherman as well as a film luddite added to the personality detail that I was looking for to settle the design. His camera, a Polaroid Swinger Model 3000 was an odd and attractive canvas, very well suited to modification. The featureless gray body made a good contrast to the rich appointments of the interior and was crucial for allowing the eye to simply rest after seeing the completely renovated interior. This is necessary and is an important design feature that I wish to point out; that of letting the eyes rest on something, like an empty wall or the side of a building. This feature isn't normally part of my other designs but I relished the chance to show it off.
This very green camera design takes its initial inspiration from London's Bath Club on Brook Street, there since 1959, and one of a dying breed of traditional British gentlemen's clubs of the past century. An unusual feature is that one of the Bath Club's many rooms is set aside for the venerable but much smaller Flyfisher's Club.
Aside from this Polaroid Land camera's offbeat name and dull grey exterior, its interior is made into an annex to that famous club room and is the world's tiniest member-supported gentlemen's club. It is grandfathered with a dual membership to its owner for the other two London clubs as well.
This club offers a constant supply of Cuban Cohiba mini cigars, box aged at least 8 months. Two of these are kept humidified at any single time inside the camera.
The faux-concrete lightwell in the style of one of Tadao Ando's museums allows the photographer the vicarious experience of descending a series of winding paths into the underbelly of the camera to view the club's collection of fishing equipment, mimicking a feature of the London club. However, the London counterpart never had such an ingenious front entrance. The cigars are each banded with a commemorative club label and are stored also under the same dark theme of an aging cellar.
The lightwell's winding paths are lined with site specific moss, garnering for the club many deductions for going green. This moss garden is hydroponic and a plastic cover (not shown in the photo) keeps a good humidity that extends down by small tubing to keep the cigars humidified. A maintenance set is provided to hydrate the garden by osmosis through a tube with a wick in it.
The club's equally prominent rear entrance is a flat arch. The Intrados is formed by the display cases which hold the client's personal collection of 20 antique fly fishing lures, each meticulously labelled in flowing red script.
Opening the camera back reveals the Impost of this quasi-arch, covered with a rich luxurious leather and embossed with the original Flyfisher Club's Latin motto.
This Polaroid would have to be digitized in order to provide the necessary extra space for the renovation. The digital modification is straightforward and is similar to my other camera modifications.
This design drawing and camera modification are copyright by David Lo, 2013
atelier ying, nyc.
In a large notebook I've been making a "running script" of a series of humidor designs, without any goal or format in mind.
Joseph Cornell's assemblage "Roses Des Vents" inspires a design humidor recalling
the collaboration of Kogo Noda the screenwriter and Yasujiro Ozu.
This is more a kit and what I call a "creation device" (I've made designs for quite a few of these in my notebooks over the years).
This film script writing kit is envisioned as a kind of supply crate for Ozu and Noda to use in Tateshina, the famous retreat Ozu used for creating his films.
It is three humidor-styled boxes dovetailed together and has the following:
1. a double neck bottle of whiskey and shot glasses
2. a small sheaf of recipes for hamburgers
3. 36 packs of old-styled Japanese brand cigarettes
4. a Director's viewfinder mounted on top of a "closed body" (see note) of a Ricoh GR which lens-less. Ricoh would have to machine make this to order. The body contains a notepad in place of the backplate and a tiny pencil.
5. the pack of large blank cardboard cards Ozu and Noda used to brainstorm their film scripts. A small set of pencils with a wooden strip pencil holder that attaches magnetically to the side of the humidor when removed.
For those wondering why I also make humidor designs, I like to imagine cigar smoking as an art theme representing meditation. It's more symbolic than anything else. I use the humidor as an art medium and intend these to be art objects and collectors items, like the Montblanc Pen you collect but never write with.
Design, text and drawing are copyright 2013 by David Lo.
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This humidor design forms an amalgam of ideas following the style of my camera design notes.
Both Douglas MacArthur & Shigeru Yoshida were complicated men and actually formed two halves of a shell, complementing each other in deliberate and unconscious ways during MacArthur's proconsulship in the aftermath of World War II. Both were powerful historic leaders.
Nixon's illuminating book, "Leaders" goes in depth with both men from his experiences with them.
I could make a humidor or memento for MacArthur and Truman but this version is more in-line with MacArther's style. The contrast of the flamboyant egotistic general and the traditional lofty proconsul and the gentlemanly retired politician are loosely melded in this memento's design.
Please remember that these are notes rather than a unified final drawing. I often do this when the subject is too big, or there is too much to stay say, or the design remains more full of potential left in this state of process. It follows the ways of constructing a biography which can also be left as a sketch rather than a completed book.
For me, this is different than the typical manner that I had designed in the past. Oddly what is important in this design is also what I did not include in it.
I had seriously considered MacArthur's PT-32 boat as well as the USS Missouri Warship. But I decided to use something that was not directly relevant historically. It seemed more organic visually and threw a monkey wrench into the design's gear but this then created more tension which leads to a fuller release, employing here a metaphor from music composition. This surprising turn also is in character with MacArthur's sometimes eccentric style.
With that explanation behind me, I employed the modern submarine USS Missouri as the center for this design of the cigar humidor.
Yoshida was a cigar lover. MacArther also smoked these but was chiefly known for his long corncob pipe.
This humidor is kept elegant yet plain with polished wood ; it is undecorated except that at the center is a replica of the submarine's tower left in unfinished wood to contrast with the rest of the humidor.
The tower lifts out (by pulling on the ladder) and forms a kind of tentative Peace Pipe for two.
One can attach the 30 individually boxed Partagas Culebras that comes with the humidor. These Culebras do not have to be unraveled. A pipe attachment also can be attached for a single smoke. The reverse side of this tower bowl is an exposed meerschaum.
An option to this design would be to have a small fold-down drawer at the front (there is no lock) of an extra-wide edition of this humidor which would holds MacArthur's sunglasses, corncob fitted to attach small robusto's for short smokes and a Hasselblad Xpan for very panoramic shots of decorative rooms where negotiations were held.
Design, text and drawing are copyright 2013 by David Lo.
atelier ying, nyc.
Connery's portrayal of Bond for the film Goldfinger is memorable, especially his golf match at the Royal St. Mark's course with Auric Goldfinger.
This is not a real Exakta. It's been gutted and redone to be camera that is also a golf clubhouse.
The camera is now digitized to open up more space for storage purposes.
A film winder has been attached to support a Caddy's lap notepad or a clubhouse betting book. You can use the main camera lens as a slide viewer for these slides, like a magic lantern or camera obscura except that the viewer's own eye is the projection surface.
Rolls of Slide film records of various golf courses are stored valuably below inside the film winder on a wall of gridded shelves in the style and manner of a cigar club and also very similar to the Gallery Ying camera. Instead of private individual humidors for members, each compartment holds notes for a single golf course in a roll of slide film and also one tiny cigar. One of tubes is a humi-tube to maintain proper humidity for this clubhouse humidor. The cigar of choice for this clubhouse would be the cuban Romeo y Julieta Petit Princess, a Perla size which would have to be trimmed a bit to accommodate the compartments.
An inner courtyard between the two volumes of the Exakta space gives a secondary view as both a viewfinder and a traditional expansive clubhouse vista of the last hole. When closed, the courtyard stores shot glasses.
The caddy book can be optionally contain notes for the World Golf Tour's virtual courses.
The camera's presentation case holds many items including: the digitized camera, a small bottle of St. Andrews Old Course Single Malt Whiskey honoring Connery a Scotsman (Drambuie is substituted for the atelier ying "commemorative" case), a golf caddy notebook and refill, a clubhouse betting book and a Telex rangefinder which would be a kind of pinseeker within 40 feet.
A Notice to all my Flickr friends: does anyone want to play some WGT Golf online? We could form a Flickr Country Club with St. Andrews as the home course and have some real fun together. No restrictions apply. Please email me, this might be more productive than a Flickr group! We can use this uploaded drawing as an update link.
Design, text and drawing are copyright 2013 by David Lo.
atelier ying, nyc.
Even though they lost, this design is proudly dedicated again to the NY Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist.
The red sycamore humidor enclosure is a hockey practice target game, much like a golf putting trainer.
Of course the resourceful Lundqvist will guard for any scoring which has to be earned the hard way with this former Vezina Trophy winner.
Each if the openings has a small custom humidor, each operates as a drawer with its own individual humidity control as well as UV smoked glass to preserve the precious contents. The different temperatures is necessary, much like a cheese cave which has to be regulated differently to hold different types of cheeses. Nothing but luxury brands, both Cubans and non-Cubans, and all collectible limited edition cigars for this humidor's private reserves. At the center is a semi-open air pavilion completely separated from the cigar drawers with its interior lined with insulation. This central cylindrical volume (lined in Royal blue velvet for the King) is designed to hold a custom-sized 30cm diameter personal pan pizza delivered straight from Lundqvist's restaurant Tiny's. An upholstered cushion adds a rustic handcrafted accent to this French-styled humidor.
Lundqvist will need pizza in overtime to refuel as hockey players' diets are scientifically regulated. This situation actually occurred years ago in the Stanley Cup finals when teams ordered pizza delivered directly to the player benches during a playoff game's 3rd overtime. The reason the pizza is 30cm in diameter is because 30 is Lundqvist's jersey number. The cigars are summertime consolation cigars to be shared with all of Lundqvist's teammates.
Design, concepts, text and drawing are copyright 2014 by David Lo.
atelier ying, nyc
At the close of this year (which has been some year), for reasons I can't explain my thoughts move to James Boswell. So we end the year with a camera idea of good cheer and hearty thoughts.
The Ensign Cupid with its black painted enamel steel body is of a very handy size (much like a Ricoh or an early vest pocket camera). Its unorthodox look, combined with its own personal pedigree of many patents, inspired my roving eye when choosing a camera whilst reading through some favorite passages in Boswell's "London Journal".
This is the type of simple portrait camera that a Boswell could take with him to the theater, and to his favorite beefsteak house for some plain simple fare of beef, bread, beer paid with only a shilling.
This would have been Boswell's most luxurious meal of the day as he often had breakfast with Samuel Johnson, which consisted of plain rolls and tea.
In Chinatown during the 60s and 70s, there were clubs where one could have a multi-course dinner for just about the same near-depression era price. There would be a large fish, soup, a few platters of meats and plenty of rice from a central station with the server on a stool and the diners on line.
My camera design comes in two configurations: one with a coin-box attachment that makes the camera into the shape of a cross. The second configuration is a pair of custom stitched burlap bags slung over the slim body of the camera, symbolic of the standard English Gentleman's suit which had cuffs that actually unbuttoned so that you could roll up your sleeves to eat and drink. In our day this would be a rather expensive bespoke feature. The configuration is also slightly reminiscent of the Leica M3 finder for a 35mm lens.
There would be some compartments in the camera to store such essential 18th century gentleman's items as a pocket watch, coins and perhaps a fruit knife. These compartments, housed in an ark-shaped ballast to be attached underneath the camera like a film winder, would be lined with a warm wood veneer contrasting the hard chipped outer surface of the camera.
Completing the outfit would be a leather strap from which to hang a brace of small pinhole cameras to shoot with on a whim.
Design, text and drawing are copyright 2013 by David Lo.
I don't typically collect tobacco related antiques, but this particular piece is such a great cross over piece for Halloween. I mean it's a devil in a melon!
atelier ying, nyc.
Hey Everyone, Please add to the fun by sending in your ideas to "The Inspired Eye" Magazine.
Winners with the best camera ideas get a Free subscription and a Feature on the mag's blog , now that's a sweet deal :)
I hope to be stepping up to the plate for this benefit to get on all three bases and hit a Grand Slam!
Here's the link: www.theinspiredeye.net/whats-your-dream-camera-contest/
Note: these Designs including their text and drawings will be copyright 2014 by David Lo.
atelier ying, nyc.
Not to outdo the proliferation of Bond gadgetry as the films progressed through Moonraker, this proposed design goes in the very opposite direction; to reconcile and ground the gadgets to the past, to the golden era when Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman were still together and an unbeatable team that really developed the Bond mystique on film. It tries to reconcile the radical departure from the Cold War's dark James Bond to a lighthearted hedonistic Bond portrayed by Roger Moore. To this end, the drawing is done in a bold, heady style to match the themes.
There Is no camera function for this watch (although there are camera motifs). Instead it is issued with a concealed chip holder, a Royal British postage stamp to mail a photograph the old-fashioned way, and a USB port connecting to a Polaroid printer (stored away neatly inside the slightly oversized Seiko presentation box).
Instead of the teletype printout from the watch (too much of a pure fantasy) I propose another connection linking the past, an
electric telegraph practice kit also concealed in the presentation box for the watch.
A separately issued porcelain cigar humidor jar from the 1970's holds a bundle of Partagas sticks and enough telegraph wire to connect James Bond with headquarters.
The watch face is the telegraph key feedback device which to the street photographer can only mean digital but with a return to fundamentals. In this design idea, Bond is ceremoniously brought back to the basics. The two teletype designs (Digital and analog) are united as a memento.
A strip of the original teletype tape that issued from the movie prop Seiko watch Roger Moore wore extends out of the presentation box as a relic.
A secondary heliograph function is spring-loaded to the left side of the watch and snaps open to be both a highly polished mirror for the heliograph which Bond could use wirelessly by pushing the spring action slide up and down to make morse code, as well as being an accurate cutter for smaller gauged Partagas cigars.
I incorporate the telegraph to a number of designs because I have found that it relates to various themes I follow. These would include Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Winston Churchill, Tintin and others.
The premiere of the film, "For Your Eyes Only" has its date 7-7-77 ceremoniously it's on the top watch face forever.
Design, text and drawing are copyright 2013 by David Lo.
atelier ying, nyc.
My late uncle's Mercury II Model CX and the early Leica A inspire this camera design, a homage to Churchill.
A facsimile of the 18th century seven-petal window above the front door of 10 Downing Street replaces the famous half moon motif of the Mercury. Instead of holding engraved reference charts with exposure times, this window is a religious relic case. However for the less religious Churchill the relic held is a tiny piece of the brownstone house in Brooklyn, New York where his beloved mother Jennie was born.
Churchill the passionate painter, particularly during his retirement, is matched with a pinhole camera which has the original Tricor lens from the Mercury II, but does not use the patented rotary shutter. The camera's functions are kept as simple as possible to capture landscape scenes impressionistically for Churchhill to paint. The film winding mechanism using roll film is wound with knobs only exposed at the back plate. This keeps the front as sleek as possible, in stark contrast to the Mercury II. The film winding knobs and the front façade recall the Leica A and especially the modern day Leica x1, I take the design of the knob from the focusing wheel of the Leica x1. A geometric base is attached to the bottom, like a Leica grip for the x1. This base has end caps that open out on the sides to store a gold Parker fountain pen and a perfectly humidified Romeo y Julieta cigar. Inside the housing is two tubes, side-by-side so there is room. However the cigar size would be a standard Corona Gorda, size 46 x 143mm, equivalent to that brand's Cuban Exhibicion No. 3.
Making this prototype into a digital pinhole is very possible and would have amused Churchill who could lose interest rapidly. The additional weight would not have mattered as he was never without a valet. But the pinhole and its moody vignetting reminds us of the meditative mind of a painter, as well as the dark rhythm of his late years as a near-clinical depressive. A digital would disrupt everything that we seek to build in this homage. The ability to paint impressionistically by camera would have cheered him. In this respect, an in-camera gallery would have also have been an intrigue. It's for a later design though.
I am not a fan of the Leica x1. However, it would be an adequate landscape camera.
A second base attachment with the curved design taken from antique ticker tape machines, makes this camera into a pochade 'sketch' box. The end caps are tabs now on either side and the user pulls out two long strips of round watercolor pans. This recalls the James Bond Attaché of "From Russia With Love" where the strips had gold bullion coins. This also links to my early Bach Goldberg Variations set (for the Sunpet Camera) recalling gold doubloons that J.S. Bach received for his composing work. Churchill would have been amused with these resonances. But the closer link of these strips coming out of the camera base is to the ticker tape machine, as is explained in the last section below.
The large viewfinder is worthy of note. It is a open air "haiku"- styled viewfinder derived from the one in my design for a "flange" viewfinder for my homage to a renown architect whom I admire greatly, Tadao Ando (see my design no. 41-42). The function is exactly the same here, A thin wire across the gap is but a guide for sighting. This simple yet spiritual viewfinder matches perfectly the ascetic function of a pinhole.
The faux shutter button on the right is also of note. It has nothing to do with the shutter, which is simply a slide that one flips over the lens, like most pinholes. The shutter button is a black and gold key from a typewriter. The presentation kit provides a few optional keys, but the prime choice is the letter C, reminding us that Churchill was a writer, (although his main tool was the fountain pen). The presentation case has an electric telegraph practice kit that connects to the camera on the right side under the shutter button. Churchill can practice Morse code, as he was very fond of the tickertape machine. Two of these kits can connect by wire to form a rudimentary communications device. This feature is also part of a James Bond kit I have done and also the recent Tintin Moon cake kit.
This prototype is dedicated to my uncle, a photographer who just passed away a few months ago. Both he and Churchill were born in the year of the dog.
Design, text and drawing are copyright 2013 by David Lo.
The spacious sunroom atop the old Kansas City hotel is what attracts artists and tourists from around the world. The fast check in / out is another feature that makes impressions on those who require simplicity. An elaborate caged elevator will steadily haul guests to the artists' suite atop the hotel to catch a view of whatever the transient artists are doing or painting.
Viewing hours are irregular and sometimes, depending on the personalities of the artists, cancelled without notice. But visitors need not fear, a lounge in the basement serves up pitchers of a local brew that raises spirits. Too, there is a shot bar where "surprise" shots or "Kansas City Depth Chargers" are specialties.
There are signs posted near the ashtrays that inform the customers that smoking is prohibited. An antique vending machine dispenses popular brands of smokes for $4.00. Another feature of the lounge is the surplus L & M Cigarettes still being sold at reduced prices. According to Marty Smart, bartender, there is no expiration date on the L & M cigarettes and they will continue to be sold for $2.00 per pack until they are gone. "We got enough to last through 2012," Marty told the TYME reporter covering the story.
atelier ying, nyc.
This design is not meant to give any political views at all It is notes for a design exploration of a Presidential Memorial Library. It's design concepts could be applied to any of the US presidents in history who have flown on Air Force one.
It was a fairly dramatic moment in 1991 when the senior President Bush boarded Air Force One for a weekend retreat to Camp David and then not long after the plane ascended announced a surprise air strike, in effect using the ruse of a vacation trip to disguise the beginning of a military campaign from onboard an airborne war room. At that moment it appeared that he had firmly cemented his position as Commander-in-Chief of the American Armed forces.
Whatever the politics, which is not my focus, this airplane was probably most suited to this particular president than any other in past history, looking at things now from an aesthetic distance. Bush used it as a war room and a retreat from the local politics of the White House. He did not alter it for lobbying purposes (Johnson) or underuse it (Nixon) or overuse it (Clinton) or had it cleaned of children's scrawlings (Carter). Again, the plane was most suited to Bush as he was a former Air Force officer. A personal fact is that he has celebrated almost every birthday after his military years with a parachute jump.
This set of notes for a design drawing also shows my process very well, beginning with remnants of a dream I had of a building with a parachute motif which sold research books on air currents and cloud formations. This dream immediately inspired ideas going simultaneously in three directions: for a humidor, for an enclosure for a camera and a gallery-retreat.
With possible features in my mind but no strong direction, what emerges is a homage that has multiple facets. Only the notes remain, not a final coherent design that falls within any specific category; and this is the way I like to keep it, full of potentiality. My drawing lifts off the page finally with a design for a gallery-retreat which has a small footprint but is very tall, almost like a monument.
A secondary design of a camera enclosure with a humidor (but not for cigars or any tobacco product) is also precipitated. It too is not a final design, but more like a dream of one. I believe the two designs together, one a homage the other a memento, have the best effect.
I will start with the smaller design, that of the enclosure for an Olympus Pen EE at the Piano Nobile level is amusingly reachable not by external staircase but by parachute.
A Rolleiflex was also in my thinking, although the piano nobile holds the only lens. The top area as well as the rest of the enclosure is a modified typical Air Force personnel rations kit which Bush may have been issued in his early days. The humidor stores an amuse-bouche, a pez-like stack of boxes of assorted gourmet licorice (which was issued with military rations back then) from Holland, Finland and Italy. A relic of a parachute is also contained in this memento box.
The gallery-retreat is constructed by segmenting apart three specific sections of the hull of Bush's original Air Force One plane (the Disney cruise ships Magic and Wonder were constructed in this eccentric manner). Actually it's easier to demolish and patch up a hull section than it is to build one, especially as much of its systems are not to be used (it won't fly). Only around 10 to 15 feet of each hull section is usable, the rest are converted to visitor's areas. As the entire building is very roughly 130 feet in height there are plenty of open areas. The footprint is roughly 40 x 55 feet. It is an interesting design for a fantasy version of a presidential library.
Visitors ascend stairs and escalators along a glazed curtain wall to three sectional cabins of AF1. The piano nobile is the AF1 Presidential Office, the next level is a tv screening room which is the gallery proper and finally the nose head sleeping quarters with shower room is on the quiet top penthouse level. Bush has a central private staircase and mechanized stair lifts to ascend right into the plane cabin in the style of today's private jets.
Two parachute-motif terraces serve as ranch-styled front porches with high aerial views. The building's corners have simple frictional elements (from my dream) that border the window openings of each end of the hull sections and simulate a very very mild air turbulence sound effect to link early airplane experiences of yesteryear with that of modern day air travel.
Any other accoutrements of the retreat are kept to a minimum and decorated with reserve. Tradition and the decorum are upheld, as is in keeping with a military facility which seems to have been the way in which Bush employed his presidential aircraft.
Design, text and drawing are copyright 2013 by David Lo.
atelier ying, nyc.
This commemorative cigar humidor was inspired by the painter and actor Martin Mull (a cigar smoker himself) whose painting process involves projecting images onto the cansas which becomes a dreamscape. In this respect, Mull's paintings are embedded with highly personal symbolism. Ozu artfully used objects as symbols in a significant way, as transitions and technical devices within his films. In my design the humidor would be like such a canvas decorated with those unforgettable objects for true Ozu film aficionados who would have a humidor made to order, depending on which films were one's favorite. In this respect these humidors would resemble modern musical instruments ordered with period decorations like angels, gargoyles or flowers.
A side compartment inside the humidor holds a Director's Viewfinder calibrated to film formats that Ozu used. Also in the side compartment are the usual items in a luxury humidor, a brass hygrometer and a very high-quality humidifying element.
The Churchill or Panatela sizes would be worthy candidates for this humidor, which more than any other advocates spending time to ruminate and meditate upon symbols as they relate to Ozu's eternal themes of family dissolution and the transitory nature of life.
Design, text and drawing are copyright 2013 by David Lo.
Today is the 100th anniversary of the premiere of Igor Stravinsky's 'Rite of Spring'.
I thought this would be the perfect moment to launch my article in Petapixel on Flickr.
The article was a few months back, and there was a fair amount of negative feedback from those who may have misunderstood the purpose of my camera modifications. The magazine printed my test roll but my vintage camera photography is almost always post-processed. For me the digital negatives from my modified cameras always worked extremely well in post processing to give me a certain otherworldly and sometimes nostalgic look that I search for.
Looking back, I think that those who viewed this article were comparing me directly with Lomography. And the two are entirely different things altogether, thus the disconnection.
Vintage cameras are not toy cameras although they can be made to mimic them at times.
As for my test roll, I could easily have taken razor-sharp photos. I had done this already with other vintages. However, there was some potential beauty arising from the overexposed negatives & blurry focus which purposely had not been adjusted for during shooting. Yet I was not interested so much in beauty as I was looking for any trace of entropy from the various components of the altered camera and lens (certainly some of my fantasy designs** have caused the traditional functional experience of the camera as a whole to be guided almost surreally by its parts, hence deconstructed. Shouldn't serious fantasy camera design be allowed an "atonal" phase perhaps leading into veritable atonality?). Anyway I very much appreciated the opportunity to be on Petapixel, I hope they'll publish my drawings one day which also are not easily categorizable. Like Igor Stravinsky, I should like to view all of my work on Petapixel to be seen one day as a Rite of Spring.
Here is the Link:
petapixel.com/2013/03/27/modding-a-vintage-camera-for-dig...
** Note: I have a future design coming up as a homage to the novelist Marcel Proust, which will employ a Lomography camera. It is a most perfect match to honor Proust with and will definitely be "atonal". I hope that it will also cause much well-documented rioting and controversy in the theatre of the web and vault it's designer closer to being part of the photography pantheon.
Please see my recent Leica A Truro 'cottages, camera for a special dedication to this day.
atelier ying, nyc.
A small park of 20 by 40 meters (about the size of a block) to hold a rotating exhibit of cameras. Initially, cameras ranging from very stationary such as Tadao Ando's Wall camera #44 to the Gundam Modeler's Hut (to be uploaded soon) at the central pond. Some "walking" cameras such as those for Neil Armstrong #120 and Santoka Taneda #27 and the newly uploaded KD Mapping camera #126 allow different photographic experiences for this first street photographer's park. The entrance to the park and exit are marked with shrine cameras all allowing for a delight of intimate viewfinder experiences. The Gallery Ying would be one of the stopping points in the park with its own street display stand. The Gundam Modelers hut includes shamisen music playing throughout opening hours and a nearby rest area, the Ultraman sushi restaurant design #106
Street photographers can feel the presence of these odd quirky cameras in a street environment
A humidor room with the Commemorative JFK Cuban missile crisis humidor sells La Piedra brand machine made Cubans, a subtle floral cigar that will thrive well when smoked outdoors on a stroll.
Design, text and drawing are copyright 2013 by David Lo.
Arcade Gatcha Items (September 2013)
Apple Fall - AF Boat Oars
Apple Fall - AF Harry's Boat
Apple Fall - AF Jute Natural Rug
[*Art Dummy!] slumber. (bed-blue)
Auxilliary - [AUX] Gacha_Purrrfect Headband - 14k Gold RARE
[ba] crock skin humidor - blue
[Commoner] Letterbox Frame / @
""D!va"" Hair "Giz" (Type B-4) RARE
floorplan. hot air balloon / cloud
floorplan. hot air balloon / pink floral RARE
Ingenue :: Paola Flats (Slink Add-On) :: Cerulean
[LeeZu!] Pearl Curtain (mesh) / blue
[LeeZu!] Pearl Curtain (mesh) / pink
Maxi Gossamer - MG- Necklace - Jazz Hands Frog - Turquoise - RARE
:pesca: canvas and leather backpack / stripe2
Schadenfreude Chibi Cat: Bubbles
Schadenfreude Chibi Cat: Fatman
Schadenfreude Chibi Cat: Felina
Schadenfreude Chibi Cat: Grumpy
Schadenfreude Chibi Cat: Lafeet
Schadenfreude Chibi Cat: Lissy
Schadenfreude Chibi Cat: Lucky Maneki neko RARE
Schadenfreude Chibi Cat: Pegacat
Schadenfreude Chibi Cat: Rosa RARE
Schadenfreude Chibi Cat: Scraps
~silentsparrow~ (Meadow) Pwnie Floppy
Sway's WallArt [quote] Ocean
Tee*fy Aurora Nightdress Black
Tee*fy Sleepy Wings Pink Sleeping Mask
Tres Blah:
-tb- Bon Voyage - Books
-tb- Bon Voyage - Clock Radio (Blue)
-tb- Bon Voyage - Memo Board (French)
-tb- Bon Voyage - Open Suitcase
-tb- Bon Voyage - Ready to Travel
-tb- Bon Voyage - Stacked Suitcases
-tb- Bon Voyage - Vintage Camera
Trompe Loeil - Wiggle Modern Light
Zigana . hanging beads south mix
Other Credits:
Del May Poses - DM - Wasting time
{what next} Medium Easel & Canvas (Arcade Photo by Skky)
The other set I only have one of. It's nice, but I wish it came with a humidor instead of a plain cigar box.
On Explore! #86 @ 470
Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. If you wish to use this image, please, contact me through flickrmail or at vicenc.feliu@gmail.com. © All rights reserved...
I've been going to this place since 1983 and I'm happy that it is still there.
John Crouch Tobacconist embodies the essence of Virginia. After all, tobacco is Virginia's oldest industry. Years ago, tobacco was believed to have medical properties and a tobacconist was consulted in much of the same way that a pharmacist is today. In those days, a tobacconist would create a blend of tobacco products to ease an ailment.
John Crouch Tobacconist has been home to the Washington areas' nicest and largest humidor for over 30 years. They carry virtually every fine, imported cigar including Opus X, Padron, Cohiba, and Ashton. They carry a fine selection of pipes, cigarettes, and smokers' articles. Several varieties of Fribourg and Treyer Snuffs are available. Fribourg and Treyer use original recipes that date to 1720.
Dan Geller has owned John Crouch Tobacconist for more than 25 years. His wife's father smoked a pipe and Dan started an import business. Dan moved the tobacco shop from across King Street years ago and found an opportunity to combine the business with The Scottish Merchant. He found that the two businesses complimented each other nicely and the rest is history.
View of the guest yurt from the cottage.
Photo made with a home-made wooden pinhole camera (from a recycled Humidor I bought at a thrift shop) using Ilford Multigrade paper. This was an exercise in controlling the paper's unwieldy contrast without the use of filters (achieved with a very dilute paper developer). The "negative" is about 7.5" X 9.25"
atelier ying, nyc.
I love golf and wanted to upload various designs for quite a while.
Although Ronald Reagan did not really smoke cigars, the Casa Blanca White House brand (or better yet some inexpensive Cubans with a floral herbal bouquet) would suffice for golf buddies as Reagan's style was always subtle, personal, based on flattery, and not easily apparent. Just as that of a well prepared film actor.
Reagan's sweet tooth is given a nostalgic moment with a gridded compartment of boxes of Penfold Hearts golf balls, a reference to 007's golf ball of choice in "From Russia with Love", which is an apt title for the Reagan administration. The Penfold boxes are filled with a selection of candies from Russia, commemorating Reagan's foreign policy accomplishments there.
The humidor also serves as a portable putting green for the President. The putter is aligned by miniature brass stands and a velvet roped walkway with a red carpet of simulated grass as the putting surface, recalling every President's traditional walk up to Marine One for restful getaways at Camp David.
The humidor enclosure resembles a kind of modern Camp David bungalow. It is veneered with actual wooden planks from the Reagan-era White House. A small detail of miniature trees surrounds the steeply angled rear of this bungalow. This is meant to attract the golfer's view, to simulate the traps of a fairway and to represent the edge of an imaginary forest, a usual golf course feature. Inside the humidor enclosure golf balls are guided and returned via a series of circular ramps. The mechanism (only very sketchy details, I'll admit) is battery powered due to the tiny space.
The metaphor of the Marine One transport for golf putting is particularly apt when one considers that both systems involve precision, accuracy and timing; something only modern US Presidents readily appreciate.
I'm a fan of the freehand sketch but in this instance the long lines of this structure really need the T-square and scale.
Lastly, I play "World Golf Tour" (WGT) on the web. If any Flickr friends would like to join me for a small stress-free tournament that would be wonderful just email me. We could chat cameras, and putt!
Design, text and drawing are copyright 2013 by David Lo.
atelier ying, nyc.
A prominent architect noted that the perfect acoustic for an auditorium is a shoebox, but that no architect (at the time of his statement) had the courage (and perhaps the financial backing) to build one.
These are initial notes for my design so there's more to come.
Meanwhile i wish to introduce it in a small box of Swiss Villigers (3" x 4.5"), Pavarotti's favorite cigar during summer months. This Swiss Villigers cigar box is itself an architectural scale model of a large humidor i want to make and dedicate to this great opera singer. But as I mentioned, a small Swiss Villigers box will actually contain a gallery of initial drawings for this opera stadium.
As Pavarotti was a soccer fan, The auditorium will amalgamate elements of a soccer stadium into an opera stadium.
Design, text and drawing are copyright 2013 by David Lo.
August 9th, 2008 - Saturday
Saturday's @ Bar 41
South Beach socialites all head to Glass at the Forge when the evening agenda calls for a night of upscale lounging. Glass is steeped in Hollywood history, starting off previously as a cigar lounge with private humidors for the likes of Oliver Stone and Bono. The venue was transformed when owner Shareef Malnik teamed up with Miami designer Allison Spear to create an upscale lounge space that packs in a star-studded crowd.
Published by Hitogram Media Inc - www.hitogram.com - All Rights
Reserved, Copyright 2008, www.eyesonmiami.com
August 9th, 2008 - Saturday
Saturday's @ Bar 41
South Beach socialites all head to Glass at the Forge when the evening agenda calls for a night of upscale lounging. Glass is steeped in Hollywood history, starting off previously as a cigar lounge with private humidors for the likes of Oliver Stone and Bono. The venue was transformed when owner Shareef Malnik teamed up with Miami designer Allison Spear to create an upscale lounge space that packs in a star-studded crowd.
Published by Hitogram Media Inc - www.hitogram.com - All Rights
Reserved, Copyright 2008, www.eyesonmiami.com
T H E - U L T I M A T E - G U I D E - T O - M I A M : City's
Premiere Night Life Source
Updated daily, visit our site to get the latest on Miami events and nightlife.
Download your pictures for free
August 9th, 2008 - Saturday
Saturday's @ Bar 41
South Beach socialites all head to Glass at the Forge when the evening agenda calls for a night of upscale lounging. Glass is steeped in Hollywood history, starting off previously as a cigar lounge with private humidors for the likes of Oliver Stone and Bono. The venue was transformed when owner Shareef Malnik teamed up with Miami designer Allison Spear to create an upscale lounge space that packs in a star-studded crowd.
Published by Hitogram Media Inc - www.hitogram.com - All Rights
Reserved, Copyright 2008, www.eyesonmiami.com
T H E - U L T I M A T E - G U I D E - T O - M I A M : City's
Premiere Night Life Source
Updated daily, visit our site to get the latest on Miami events and nightlife.
Download your pictures for free
August 9th, 2008 - Saturday
Saturday's @ Bar 41
South Beach socialites all head to Glass at the Forge when the evening agenda calls for a night of upscale lounging. Glass is steeped in Hollywood history, starting off previously as a cigar lounge with private humidors for the likes of Oliver Stone and Bono. The venue was transformed when owner Shareef Malnik teamed up with Miami designer Allison Spear to create an upscale lounge space that packs in a star-studded crowd.
Published by Hitogram Media Inc - www.hitogram.com - All Rights
Reserved, Copyright 2008, www.eyesonmiami.com
T H E - U L T I M A T E - G U I D E - T O - M I A M : City's
Premiere Night Life Source
Updated daily, visit our site to get the latest on Miami events and nightlife.
Download your pictures for free
A manly humidor cake with hand-painted burl wood finish and "hand-rolled" Cuban cigars. Everything is edible including the hygrometer, the humidifier, the labels and the black "satin"!
Cat Daddy Tower was built in 1912 and at the time was the tallest building outside of Chicago.
At one time, 75% of the cash in Birmingham was housed here. I can say with certainty that the amount is currently 0%.
atelier ying nyc
Odd that I am doing a few series on Flickr: of cameras, humidors and risotto but I suppose it just falls in line with my biorhythm.
I think sage, arborio rice and authentic stock are (slightly) overrated As essential to a good Rissotto.
The key ingredients in this one are: a splendid thick chewy country slab bacon from Sylvia's in Harlem (from a breakfast of slab bacon, grits, candied yams and eggs), Sweet peas, corn, cheese, chestnuts, gremolata and a good dose of freshly grated nutmeg. I do miss the splash of wine and a rich meat broth. And an extremely subtle grating kimchee would add the undetectable yet sour tang that this dish needs.
The second part of this photo is just my wandering notes: a copy of Francois de Menil's custom construction to adapt for a UFO camera I'm thinking about.
Design, text and drawing are copyright 2013 by David Lo.
Not sure if stocks are sufficient to last through the Christmas period.
These are all Havanas, including some interesting ones which had been imported to the 1970's Soviet Union (from my russophile father-in-law, an ex-cigar smoker). For example, the Partagas ones on the extreme left and right with some spots of bloom. These had been reasonably well stored for years in a larder, and have been gently re-humidifying here for the last year or so. They smoke pretty well.
atelier ying nyc
This spy camera by the Suzy Optical Company of the 1950s, Is a lighthearted proposed design for this famed director who has also sought to make a Bond film. The camera bag holds a small bundle of hopefully feisty petit coronas for long term aging. There will be always the temptation to dip some of the cigars into the liquor which is definitely some people's tastes. Two different types of cutters, a bullet punch, and a draw tool complete the smoker's paradise with a refreshing beverage poured out of the toe of the evening shoe. Who knows? this could be a good prop for his Bond movie.
atelier ying, nyc.
I do love following some occasional actors across tv sitcoms and films.
Among many other tv roles, Richard Vernon appeared as Colonel Smithers in the 007 film Goldfinger. In both roles he smokes cigars. But his role as the boring Chairman of the Bank of England, Sir Desmond Glazebrook, was the most memorable.
In the manner of Egyptian funerary objects, this humidor presents the idea of a spiritual bank or a safety deposit box for the afterlife but collected in the present.
The humidor is split into two levels, the top holds a private brand of coronas with no label, and the bottom half stores a prized collection of golf memorabilia (score card pencils and score cards from the many golf courses in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) archived in plastic envelopes in the size of bank notes. The dimensions of this humidor matches the size of a medium bank deposit box. The outer lining is a standard grey metal but the inner lining is a fragrant cedar.
As I've mentioned previously, I play "World Golf Tour" (WGT) on the web. If any Flickr friends would like to join me for a small fun tournament that would be wonderful, just email me. We could chat cameras, putt and enjoy a virtual cigar.
Design, text and drawing are copyright 2013 by David Lo.
Decoration
LouChara Store
Hudson Living Room -♥
Sofa: LouChara Hudson Sofa♥
Rug: LouChara Hudson Rug♥
Coffee Table:LouChara Hudson Coffe Table♥
End: LouChara Hudson End Table♥
Wall Art: LouChara Hudson Wall Art♥
Bonaire Store
Fireplace: BONAIRE - Cubic Fireplace Marble♥
Humidor: BONAIRE - Humidor FatPack ♥
Lamp: BONAIRE - Malibu Vertical Lamp♥
Boogers Store
Bear: <:*BoOgErS*:> Poor Abandoned Bear (GIFT)
Bueno Store
Pillows:BUENO-Pillows Pile-Night (gacha)