Christina Grenard

LOMOGRAPHY :: THE ANTI-INSTAGRAM

These days anyone and everyone can produce artistic looking photos using their smart phone. But what happens when you take away the smartphone, the apps and the instant gratification?

LOMOGRAPHY.

What the hell is Lomography? Click here later for a more robust answer. Lomography is a creative company that designs and manufactures analog photo technology inspired by a camera two Austrian students stumbled upon in the 90s. That camera was the Russian made Lomo Kompakt Automat. After taking some photos with it, they fell in love with the images it produced and set out to recreate the “small, enigmatic Russian camera.”

LOMO L CA Camera

Today, Lomography has become a creative movement with an incredibly active community worldwide. So, why is Lomography the anti-Instagram? For one, it’s not an app, which means it’s not digital, which means it’s not fast and not as easy to create awe-inspiring photos of last night’s dessert or yet another hipster self-potrait. Lomography is the Anti-Instagram. Instead of a smartphone, you must use one of the many plastic analog lomo cameras, obtain old school film and then manually load it into the camera. The cheap click of the shutter is amusing and when you want to advance the film, yes, you have to *wind* the film manually. As far as a viewfinder, I guess you could get the same experience with a disposable camera. What picture are you on? Look into the tiny plastic circle to see approximately how many photos you’ve snapped. Ready to view the photos? Great. Just rewind the film back into its roll and hope for the best when you open the camera body. No USB here folks. Take your newly shot roll down to Walmart or send it to lomography.com and impatiently wait to see what analog images you captured analog style. They can provide a CD as well which is nice, because you still need to import your new photos into your computer.

My Lomo Fisheye 2 camera with ringflash, photo courtesy of Instagram

While I am a fan of Instagram, sometimes it’s fun to go back to analog every now and then. Here are some of my favorite photos taken with the Fisheye 2 camera. I was playing around with my ringflash and color gels. I never had so much fun with inexpensive plastic. Oh…and totally worth the wait.

: LOMO L CA Camera

2012 – The Year of the Dragon

I painted a Splash! Chinese dragon for the shows in China. 2012 is the year of the dragon which symbolizes power and luck!

Splash! in Hong Kong

This is a one sheet for our shows in China. We are performing in Hong Kong at the Tai Po Mega Mall as the headlining Christmas entertainment. More to come…

Splash! Hong Kong Poster

Splash! Halloween

Happy Halloween.

Raising Funds for Cheetahs

I recently attended a fundraiser for the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) on behalf of my show Splash! Animals. CCF is a conservation organization based in Namibia, Africa with chapters worldwide led by the world’s foremost authority on the cheetah and conservation visionary Dr. Laurie Marker. I painted a Splash! portrait of Chewbaaka, a cheetah ambassador for 16 years who passed away last April. The painting was auctioned at the Oct. 8 fundraising gala with all proceeds going to the Cheetah Conservation Fund. The event was hosted by Emanuele and Alison Ravano at their home in Laguna Beach. CCF Board members, trustees and staff were in attendance working together for an amazing event that will make a difference for cheetahs in the wild.

Dr. Laurie Marker and Christina Grenard with Portrait of Chewbaaka the Cheetah

Introducing “The Splashes!”

Exciting news for my Splash! Shows.

Christina and James with "The Splashes!"

We have expanded the Splash! world to include new characters and a new show…Splash! Movies. More to come….but here is a sneak peek for our loyal fans.

Every Canvas Has a Story to Tell

My latest creative venture (with production partner James, of course)…Splash! Movies! Want to see more? Go to Splash.cm after you watch and please “like” us while you’re there. PS. I love Muppets!

Every canvas has a story to tell.

Guess the Muppet!

Green Sea Turtle

I have been doing a lot of designing and painting for Splash! Animals – a conservation focused live art experience that I created with my production partner James G. Williams. Here is a Green Sea Turtle in honor of the new SeaWorld Pictures release: Turtle – The Incredible Journey. I still have many friends and colleagues that work at the SeaWorld Parks – so this one’s for you!

Christina

The Splash! Green Sea Turtle by CGrenard for Splash! Animals

Fisheye Fun

Sam 2010

Shot with the Fisheye 2. I just can’t get enough Fisheye at the moment! Watch out, you might be next.

Dad’s Christmas Gift – Twenty Questions

Dad Ocean Beach Pier 2010

I wanted to share the Christmas present I gave to my Dad this year, but first, a little background. In late November, I received an email from my Dad that read: “In the spirit of avoiding the build-up of ‘more stuff,’ here is what I think I would like for Christmas. From each of you, I’d like 20 interesting questions.” Dad had recently finished reading a book by Padgett Powell, called “The Interogative Mood.” The book consisted entirely of questions. Dad attached an excerpt in his email request so we would have an example. As I read the excerpt, I was surprised at how engrossing it was to read one question after another. I found that my mind raced to consider the answers to the questions in the nano seconds between reading each question. The questions were not themed or ordered in any way, they were literally just questions. Some random, some silly, some provocative, long, short, uncomfortable, humorous - I could go on but you get the idea. Reading a sample from Powell’s book was a unique experience and one I recommend. At some point, I would like to read the entire book. Over the next month, we all worked on our list of questions. The only rule was that there weren’t any rules. Just 20 questions. At Christmas, after opening presents, we each read our questions to my Dad’s delight. I thought I would share my questions (more than twenty, I think). I wrote them in paragraph form as Powell did in his book. And as you will see, they are random. I appreciate my Dad for coming up with such a unique idea for a gift. And he successfully avoided the build up of more stuff this holiday!

Here are my questions:

When facing a night in a hotel with thin walls, would you rather have a room next to a young couple with an infant and two toddlers, a couple on their wedding night or a hearing impaired insomniac? Have you ever thought about whether you would rather be blind or deaf? Do you consider yourself an eternal optimist, a situational optimist, a realist or a pessimist? In the event that an asteroid large enough to cause an extinction level event on Earth is within days of impact, do you think that the eternal optimists of the world would finally admit that maybe things AREN’T going to be okay? Or do you think they would maintain their optimism right up to the impact? If you see a beautiful flower and you are close enough to take a moment and smell it’s fragrance, do you stop and smell the flower, or do you walk by thinking to yourself that you really should stop and smell the flower but don’t have the time? Dateline or America’s Funniest Home Videos? Do you like movies that have scenes that take place in diners? Do you walk out of bad movies or stay to the end? Would you rather be well traveled or well heeled? If avocados became extinct, how drastically would that impact your culinary quality of life? Would you rather live in a world where wires were no longer needed or where avocados were extinct? No wires, or no coffee? Which do you like best, funny cat videos, wedding videos where someone catches on fire, videos where morbidly obese people attempt to parasail but end up face down in dirty lake water, drooling vomiting babies, or red neck jack-asses doing stunts? Do you like to hear the actual decision first, or the reasons for the decision first? What kind of a dog do you think a cat person would get? What is your favorite Christmas ornament? Have you ever tried to skip a stone on water? Which do you consider worse, indecision or confrontation? If you had a robot voice, what would it sound like? Which limb do you think you could do without? Would you rather travel somewhere with medieval castles or high tech skyscrapers? What is your prize possession? You can travel through time: do you choose the past or the future? Who would be your time travel companion? If you could have one toy that you no longer have back, which one would it be?

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great holiday.