Fine arts photographer Patrice Elmi refused to go digital for years. She held onto her 35 mm camera and scanned the negatives into her computer.
“It’s like taking a paint brush away from an artist and giving her Photoshop,” Elmi said.
For her, it was more like a cell phone.
Elmi’s first solo installation show features 100 abstract photographs of Los Angeles alleyways and storefronts taken with her 1.3 mega pixel camera on a cell phone.
“Views From a Cell” runs until May 19 at drkrm. Gallery in Glassell Park and organizers say about 300 people have come through the exhibition since it opened on April 21.
Elmi uses rich colors and a playful mix of shapes and shadows in her photographs cut in 6-inch squares.
It all began one sunny afternoon last year when she spotted a green staircase on a walk to dinner. She had left her camera at home, but remembered a digital camera on her cell phone that she never used. Since then, she has captured about 1,000 images with her LG ZX8100 cell phone, Elmi said.
When it came time for an exhibition, Elmi needed a sponsor. “It dawned on me, ‘Oh my god, I took the photos with an LG cell phone’,” she said.
LG jumped on board and now Elmi’s work can be seen on LifewithLG.com along with tips on how to be a better “mobile artist,” such as setting the camera’s white balance to “automatic” before taking pictures indoors or keeping an eye out for vibrant colors, textures and shadows.
“Views From a Cell is about empowering consumers to utilize the camera function on their phone to capture life’s good moments whether they are urban abstracts like Patrice’s work or images of friends and family,” said Melissa Elkins, spokeswoman for LG Electronics Mobile Communications Co. “It can all happen on an LG phone.”
Since then, the company has given Elmi a new phone with a 2.0 mega pixel camera phone and with it, she has taken 800 additional shots.
“I am constantly taking pictures. I can’t stop seeing these things. I see visual urban abstracts wherever I go,” Elmi said.
For more information, go to www.drkrm.com.
Name Game
Demand Media headed by ex-MySpace chairman Richard Rosenblatt last week began retailing .tv domain names to anyone who wants to create video-centric Web sites.
Called www.me.tv, individuals can buy a domain name for a yearly subscription of $24.99 to grab videos from top video sites, create blogs and host social networking features.
“People want to have their own place online, their own space, not someone else’s domain,” said Quinn Daly, company spokeswoman.
Santa Monica-based Demand Media, which launched last May, owns a host of media Web sites and hopes to become a user-generated content powerhouse. Last year, it acquired Seattle-based eNom, the world’s third largest domain name registrar, making Demand Media second largest behind Go Daddy.com Inc. in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Venture capitalists have pumped $220 million into the company, already 250 employees strong.
New CFO
Westinghouse Digital Electronics LLC welcomed new chief financial officer John McAlpine, previously the chief financial officer and director at Targus Group International Inc., a $500 million manufacturer of computer cases.
Before joining Targus, McAlpine was the vice president and chief financial officer of AmerisourceBergen Drug Co., a $36 billion pharmaceutical distributor, according to a news release from Westinghouse. McAlpine brings more than 20 years of finance, operations and administration experience.
Staff reporter Booyeon Lee can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 230, or at
[email protected]
