TonyWardStudio.com

Posted on September 30th, 2010

It seemed like just the other day that I drove up to New York City to see my daughter graduate from college. Like most young students Racquel wasn’t absolutely certain what her calling would be. As a child she loved music, dance and acting. In college, at The New School University she majored in Music. Jazz was her primary focus.

In just eighteen months after finishing her undergraduate work at The New School, she is studying for her Masters degree in Education at Fordham University and teaching for America’s public school revitalization program at the same time. She recently received a request letter from Cristina Calderon, Teach For America Corps, to have a U.S. Senator visit her classroom because of the effectiveness of her teaching. Education is the key!

Hi Racquel,

My name is Cristina Calderon, and I work on the District and School Partnerships team with Teach For America. As part of my role, I manage school visits. I’m reaching out to you because I am looking into the possibility of scheduling a visit to your school by Senator Peralta, sometime between the 5th and the 8th of October. I’ve heard really exciting things about your role as a co-teacher, and some of the different classes you work with, and we are very excited about the idea of Senator Peralta coming to see your students in action!

I’ve reached out to your principal to request and hopefully schedule this visit, and I wanted to ask you for any context you think would be helpful on your school. What are your thoughts on having a Senator come and visit your school? What are particular things you think would be great for the Senator to see? Do you have any concerns?

I know that you co-teach in more than one classroom, so if this visit works out, I’ll reach out to you to see if there is a particular classroom you think would work best for the visit. Please know that sometimes these visits change or don’t work out last minute, because of the busy nature of the Senator’s schedule. I’ll keep you updated!

Thank you so much, and I’ll keep in touch with you as I move forward with this process.

Thanks,
Cristina

Cristina Calderon
Associate, District and School Partnerships
Teach For America · New York

Posted on September 29, 2010

Considering last week was only the second meeting of your Introduction to Photography class, you covered a lot of ground. To begin with, all of the students came prepared with their cameras, tripods, and grey cards as well as several rolls of film and a variety of questions. You gave a brief overview of a few topics that will be discussed in further as the class progresses; some of these issues included the bracketing of film, the variety of available light sources photographers tend to work with, and lens focal length and distortion. After this discussion, you gave a slide presentation of some of your more recent work, which seemed to spur a discussion amongst the class that I believe helped to bring some interesting ideas regarding their self-portrait project to the surface. After answering a few more technical questions regarding the equipment, you showed the class several of your own cameras and discussed proper workflow. You also gave tips on how to best maximize the use of their cameras.
After a short break, you gave a quick lighting demonstration that included three lights. The students had a lot of questions regarding the use of these lights and I think it was smart to set up the demonstration and let them participate in the process as much as possible. Shortly after the demonstration, the class was finished but a few students stayed behind again to discuss their projects with you and ask more about your lengthy career.

Personally, I thought the class went really well and that you were able to disseminate a lot of information in a short amount of time. Again, the only criticism I have speaks to the concern for the students being overwhelmed and unsure of how to execute. Having been taught as much as they have been so quickly may confuse some of them but I think the process will be evident once you are able to review their work. The only other suggestion I have, would be to begin showing the work of photographers they might be interested in. I guarantee it would be interesting for all of the students to get a taste of what is happening at the moment in the art world as a whole.

Posted on September 28th, 2010

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There are two kinds of people who run for political office. Those who feel they can do something for the office. And those who feel the office can do something for them.
If you look at the people either holding office or running for office, see if you can figure out which is which. I’ve wound up electing both kinds.
I’ve been asked about taking political science courses as a background for getting into politics. I wouldn’t advise it. Politics is about people. You can learn more about people by being a clerk in a shoe store.
I’m also asked what the key is to something I do on a daily basis—advertising.
Advertising is propaganda.
You come up with a message, you boil it down to the simplest terms so the average person can understand it, and you repeat, repeat, repeat.
Advertising isn’t a science. It’s an art.
Maybe I’ll elaborate on this at some point in the future.

Posted on September 23, 2010

After participating in the first class of the semester for your Introduction to Photography seminar, I believe that this will be a very meaningful course of study for every student enrolled. It was clear to me that you are very engaged with the study of photography and that you are eager to help your students find their own voice in a medium that you care about deeply. I thought the presentation of your own work was timely and that you made a wise choice by showing images that you created when you were roughly the same age as your students. Every person in the class (including me!) was paying complete attention to what you were describing and I think that says a lot about the way you carried yourself as an instructor.

The lecture was a good length; it was in depth but not overwhelming. I think the key to this class will be to disseminate the appropriate information for the assignment but to not overwhelm everyone with too much at once. As evident by the students who stayed after class to chat with you longer, I think the overall tone of the class was positive and that everyone seemed excited by the prospect of creating images.

With all of this said, the only concern I have relates to the delineation of information in the class. I know that you are a very technical photographer and that you know so much about the medium that it is easy to get wrapped up in over-describing the process to the students. They don’t need to know everything at once; I know that you want all of them to have as much information as possible in order to help them but they need to get comfortable with the basics first. My only advice would be to try and keep everything as simple as possible.

I honestly thought that you really did a wonderful job; especially considering it was your first time teaching ever! I am excited to be working with you this semester and I hope you will not hesitate to ask if there is anything I can do to be of help to you.

Dear Tony, I’ve sent you some pictures. I really want to be a fetish model. It is for me a lifestyle. My name in the fetish world is Cuddly_Toy. I also perform at shows and events. I hope that my pictures make you interested. If you want more information please send me an email. Thank you very much for the time,
Greetings, Toy (The Netherlands)

Paintings by Rebekah Boyer

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……..After years of torturous training and experimentation to create the MK-Ultra warrior, Duncan was sent off to Southeast Asia to perform black operations in an effort to overthrow the Khmer Rouge. In an interview with former Governor Jessie Ventura, Mr. Ventura asked him if he was forced to commit murderous acts. Mr. O’Finioan answered in the affirmative.

As a result of the impact from a car accident he endured 13 years ago, Mr. O’Finioan spontaneously started to get flashbacks of very long protracted lapses of childhood memories, that enabled him to unfold the truth about what happened to him through the horrific practice of inter governmental mind control. Over this period of time, Duncan has successfully taken steps to put all of the blank pieces of his life together, as part of rallying cry for the general public to become aware of such covert operations within our own government.

To be continued…….

Posted on September 21, 2010

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Paintings by Rebekah Boyer

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……….Just a few weeks ago like many Americans I had no clue of what MK-Ultra meant or was. Sure I remember the movie The Manchurian Candidate, but in no way did I think for minute that the movie was a portrayal of reality, as Duncan O’Finioan alleges. You see, Duncan claims that he was handed over by his parents as a child in the 1960′s, to a secret government program called Project Talent, a sub-project of the CIA directed MK-ULTRA program.

He also alleges that his father worked for the CIA for a period of time. After some digging, I was able to discover that former CIA Director Richard Helms ordered all MK-ULTRA files shredded in 1973. Duncan and I were introduced recently by contributing artist Rebekah Boyer, who sent me copies of her riveting paintings that tells a story about Duncan being indoctrinated through mind splitting torture, to become a Super Soldier known as Omega Unit 197, his military code name.

It was only after a car accident 13 years ago that Duncan’s story became more interesting. He claims that while at the hospital, an MRI was taken that shifted what would later be described as a mysterious man made implant in his brain. Further x-rays revealed additional implants in various parts of his body. How they get there and who put them there are a part of an ongoing investigation.

Duncan and I spoke over the phone a few days ago and informed me that he recently was interviewed by Jessie Ventura, former navy seal and Governor of the state of Minnesota, for his television show called, Conspiracy Theory. To learn more about Duncan O’Finioan and the MK-Ultra project log on to www.duncanofinioan.com.

The basic idea behind this collection of portraits was to create a series that reminded me of 17th century Dutch paintings. Artists such as Rembrandt were always an inspiration to me; however, I never thought of myself as much of a painter. I also didn’t want to simply make reenactments of his paintings with photographs.

Instead I used things such as similar lighting and composition, as well as the color and texture, to help get the look I was going for.

The items in each portrait were selected to either depict something about that person or tell a story that I made up about them.

I like to leave it up to the viewer to decide the story that goes with each portrait.

I feel that it allows for the viewers to bring their own personal views to each portrait.

To learn more about Victor Rodriguez Jrs. photographs log on to www.studio206id.com.