Michelangelo's recent photos http://rez.smugmug.com/ Even though my birth certificate says "Michelangelo Flores," I am content to be called "Michael". If only I had a dime for every time someone asked me if that was my real name. The decision to name me Michelangelo was made during a broadcast of the Charleton Heston film in which he portrayed the Renaissance artist Michelangelo Buonarroti. My dad made that decision, being reluctant to accept the names that my mother's family wanted for me. My background in media began at an early age. My first grade teacher tired of sending home notes to complain about my constant scribbling during class. When I was eleven years old, my father admonished me to never tamper with two items in the home: his 35mm Nikon camera and the Betamax. One day, I overheard my father grumbling over the blurry photos that came back from the corner photo lab. Curious to discover what the problem could be, I covertly reviewed the camera's instruction manual. Within a few hours of consulting the manual, I was able to operate the professional-grade Nikon F3 camera and program the VCR. So much for parental warnings. When I am asked about when the foundation for my passion for visual art was laid, I recall a lyric by multimedia artist David Byrne: "I was born in a house with the television always on." I go on to recall seeing someone on television operating an early digitizing tablet and stylus. I was fascinated by the idea of being able to draw into a machine that would display the results of the stylus action onto a screen. It became central to my thinking. I was still in elementary school. All of those childhood activities come together here at my desk -- the drawing, the hijacked Nikon, the Betamax. I would look at photographic effects in magazines and would wonder if Dad's Nikon could make photos similar to the ones that I was seeing in print. I was delighted to learn that the F3 could take multiple exposures. I spent a lot of time that summer running back and forth to the corner photo lab. My romance with the camera went on hold during most of junior high and high school, during which time I focused on developing my public speaking skills. I'd had a terrible stammer from childhood that I was intent on overcoming. Seventh grade speech class helped me put the stammer to rest. While speaking for the Optimist Club, I met the manager of a local radio station who told me that I could deejay for him when I was old enough. My high school guidance counselor found out that I was working a graveyard shift at a radio station, and put me on track for the Radio-TV-Film program at the University of Texas at Austin. After that, I worked for a newspaper, a public television affiliate and a network or two. These days, I divide my time among family, freelance commercial advertising jobs, television production, and digital photography. My childhood ambition is realized each day as I sit down at my Mac and use my Wacom Graphics Tablet to draw, manipulate and retouch photos. Today, my work time is divided among a number of activities, including graphic design (logo art, page layout), photography (many sorts – baby pics, portraits, product), video production (corporate vid, reality TV, commercial spots as PA, AC, and camera op), and drawing with my Painter IX program. My plan at the moment is to phase out everything except the occasional video job and the drawing over the next 18-24 months. I find it more rewarding to work on my digital drawings than strictly on the photos from which I create them. http://www.smugmug.com/img/feed-icon.png Wed, 26 Apr 2006 08:44:01 -0700 Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:10:54 -0700 http://www.smugmug.com/ Copyright 2009, the copyright holder of each photograph. Some portions copyright SmugMug. All rights reserved. http://rez.smugmug.com/Portraits/Faces/rez2045/66430742_kJcCs-Ti.jpg Michelangelo's recent photos http://rez.smugmug.com/