Speaking of novels...

I couldn't resist:

Some Quotes

I don't know why but I'm totally fascinated by Russia and the Baltic States. There's a certain dark genius, a coldness that's trying to warm up. Chess masters, ballerinas, war, espionage, hardened heavy drinking men - that kind of thing.

Anyway, one of my old Pastors (Earl Palmer - I want to be this guy when i'm old) used to frequently quote Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. I decided to dive into it during a little Christmas break up here in Seattle and frankly it's blowing my mind. It has everything - love, hate, brotherhood, family, philosophy, religion, psychology, and on and on. Here's some quotes from my reading so far:

The awful thing is that beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and the devil are fighting there and the battlefield is the heart of man.

I looked at her for three seconds, or five perhaps, with fearful hatred - that hate which is only a hair's-breath from love, from the maddest love!

"Remember, young man, unceasingly," Father Paissy began, without preface, "that the science of this world, which has become a great power, has, especially in the last century, analysed everything devine handed down to us in the holy books. After this cruel analysis the learned of this world have nothing left of all that was sacred of old. But they have only analysed the parts and overlooked the whole, and indeed their blindness is marvelous. Yet the whole still stands steadfast before their eyes, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Has it not lasted nineteen centuries, is it not still a living, a moving power in the individual soul and in the masses of people? Is it still as strong and living even in the souls of athiests, who have destroyed everything! For even those who have renounced Christianity and attack it, in their inmost being still follow the Christian ideal, for hitherto neither their subtlety nor the ardour of their hearts has been able to create a higher ideal of man and of virtue than the ideal given by Christ of old. When it has been attempted, the result has been only grotesque. Remember this especially, young man, since you are being sent into the world by your departing elder. Maybe, remembering this great day, you will not forget my words, uttered from the heart for your guidance, seeing you are young, and the temptations of the world are great and beyond your strength to endure. Well, now, go my orphan."

I am going now; but believe me, Katerina Ivanova, you really love him. And the more he insults you, the more you love him - that's your laceration. You love him just as he is; you love him for insulting you. If he reformed, you'd give him up at once and cease to love him. But you need him so as to contemplate continually your heroic fidelity and to reproach him for infidelity. and it all comes from your pride. Oh, there's a great deal of humiliation and self-abasement about it, but it all comes from pride...I am too young and i've loved you too much. I know that I ought not to say this, that it would be more dignified on my part just to leave you, and it would be less offensive for you. But I am going far away and shall never come back...It is forever. I don't want to sit beside a laceration...But i don't know how to speak now. I've said everything...Goodbye Katerina Ivanova; you can't be angry with me, for i am a hundred time more severely punished than you, if only by the fact that i shall never see you again. goodbye!

All we Karamazovs are such insects, and, angel as you are, that insect lives in you, too, and will stir up a tempest in your blood.

Kit Pistol: "Life's Too Short"

My good friend Christina ("Kit")is an awesome fashion designer. One of the things I love about Kit is that she takes fashion seriously as an art and means of expression, but she doesn't get lost in the materialism of the industry. In other words, she's very well grounded.

I'm really proud of her because she made it onto the show Project Runway as a contestant. So watch and root for Kit Wednesday nights on Bravo!

You can visit her website to see some of her work here: www.kitpistol.com She has some items for sale on the site. All the ladies reading my blog should definitely get a Kit Pistol bow!

This is a photo series i did with her titled "Life's Too short," Which we've decided could be an ongoing project. Here are the first three:

Flying

I just got to try my hand at doing some aerial photography. I was able to mount my camera on the wing for some fun shots. Here's some snapshots, and i'll post the images after they're published.

On the ground with the camera mounted under the wing:


taking a picture of my camera taking a picture of me!

Final Album Packaging

Charlotte Martin's new album called Reproductions, an all covers album. You can click on the pictures to see them bigger. The album is available on itunes.
Design by Strange//Attraktor.

Reel

Just wanted to post that i've started an online reel to show my work as a director. So far there are only the two music videos, but i'll let you know next time i add anything. The quality is way better than watching on youtube. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

www.peterdawson.net/reel

sigur-ros

Sigur-Ros playing a tiny concert in their native iceland. visit the homepage for their project Heima ("homeland"), a tour around iceland promoted only by word-of-mouth. You can also download an HD trailer of a movie they made about the tour mixing concert footage with beautiful images of Iceland.

Heima Homepage

More Fun in the Element

Just doing a little motion test. The answer to your question is about 80. And i was listening to this nirvana song when i was driving so i put it in the clip.

snapshot from the video shoot

Just look at those faces. Trouble i tell you...

my roommate is cool

My roommate Laura does wardrobe/costume stuff for TV and film. I found out that she was working on a commercial for Honda that had Chuck Norris in it and i flipped out. If you watch the spot below, you'll see that when Chuck enters the room he has a super badass black leather band around his left bicep....a black leather band that is now in my possession. I'm also currently in possession of a cheap black watch that Chuck wore around but apparently didn't make it into the spot.

Charlotte Martin Music Video

This is the music video i directed for Charlotte Martin. The song is a Pearl Jam cover called Elderley Woman Behind The Counter in a Small Town.

i'm not in my element but my element is in its element in the elements

i found a road and it kept on going - 12,000 ft. elevation in the white mountains.

Fall Pretty Pictures

I went out to June Lake a few weeks ago and took some pictures. I sort of decided that i'm not really into shooting landscapes anymore - i'd rather just go hiking or biking or snowboarding. But it's probably just a phase.

Dave, this is that F-16 video i was telling you about. Everyone else, this is the F-16 video i was telling Dave about.

2:15 - 2:05 is really sweet.
I was actually at this air force base in Norway for the Bergen Air Show in 2005, but they didn't do this! The Norwegian Air Force's main fighter is the American F-16. Enjoy.

check out these donkeys i found

These two guys were just hanging out in the middle of the road out in the desert.










They Love the Element:

In Memoriam

I Like The Germans

I found out that my photography is on a German design site right now. I had no idea what they said about it, but luckily my good friend Scuba Steve's girlfriend is German so i had her translate. Thanks Anneke! They probably made the most insightful compliment i've heard about my photography:

Dawson also has another side - mystic pictures that look like still lifes that raise more questions than answers.

I'm moving to Germany. They get it.

Here's the site: http://createordie.de/

Name This Horse

In Print: Motorcycle Roadtrip For Outside's Go Magazine

A little on-road/off-road exploration of the Owens Valley in California. You can read the article online here, or check it out next time you're at Borders and Noble.

Fashion Show

My friend Christina ("Tina") is an amazing fashion designer and rare gem of a friend here in Hollywood. She recently had a piece in a benefit fashion show* where the theme was "Beautiful Fighter." So we decided what the hell, lets get a model and make a picture. We made a huge print of it and hung it in the gallery spot with her design. So there you go.

*aka "we need an excuse to be totally vain but not feel too guilty about it."

CAUTION: The following is a total tangent that fashion benefit shows got me thinking about. It is completely random and i had no idea this subject was going to get me going:

I'm not really sure how to explain this phenomenon that i'm noticing, but maybe some other people are noticing it too? It's a trend among twenty-somthings to make sure that every sort of social, and especially art-oriented event, has to be for something (other than just enjoying art). Does anyone else know where i'm coming from on this one? There's something that bothers me about this. I need help explaining this one because I don't want to come off as being too cynical.

I guess its similar to what i'm noticing about restaurants here in LA. I can go to Tere's mexican joint and get a really good chicken burrito for seven bucks, and they give it to me with a huge smile and know i'll be back again and they know my name. Then i can go to a really trendy restaurant (they always have one-word verb names like "crave" or "grub"), and get horribly rude service from condescending people, not to mention an over-priced bad meal, but dang it I should praise them for it because the cow that my steak came from was fed organically grown grain, and its poop was used to fertilize crops that are given to kids in Africa and it was given cow back massages.

Does anyone get what i mean? Can someone throw me a bone and put it into better words?

t-shirts i wish i thought of

And Yes, I did like The Notebook:

Animal Vs. Buddy Rich

In Print: Charlotte's Album Cover

This is the cover of Charlotte Martin's new album Reproductions. Music video coming soon!

Future of Forestry Music Video

Here you go. sorry for the somewhat poor youtube quality.

i did not set this up

Every Artist Needs A Muse

These are a few photos i did with Charlotte Martin for her upcoming album and tour promotion. There are lots more but they're going to be on the actual album so i can't show 'em yet. Check out Charlotte's Myspace Page for a pre-released song from that album and her tour dates. There are a few little behind the scenes snapshots from our shoot as well.

swimming bulldog - turn up the volume

Future of Forestry Music Video

The music video i directed for Future of Forestry is currently the featured video on Relevant Magazine's website. Check it out here!
Not sure how long it stays up there...

Roommate Road Trip

Laura and I decided we'd had enough of LA for a day so we took a little trip out to the Colorado River. We packed up the element with some good snacking items, fishing poles, floaty stuff, and your basic swimming necessities.

A few weeks ago i was storm chasing out there to shoot skies for a project i'm working on, and i found this awesome spot on the river called El Dorado Canyon. Its perfect. It was about 100 degrees and the water felt so good! I'd take fresh water over swimming in the ocean any day.

Another highlight of the trip was Laura's mixed CD of 80's power ballads like THIS ONE. Oh yeah, we rocked out desert rat style.

Welcome to El Dorado Canyon


Outside the Hotel Nipton



"Hold on, I need a photo for Myspace"


Jumpin'. And don't even mess with Lo's nose plug style.



Fishin'. By the way, that's not bait, that's the only fish i caught. We named him Timmy and tossed him back.

Future of Forestry Music Video Update

Hey everybody,
So i keep hearing from people who are wondering when the music video is going to be released, and I've been wondering the same thing, but have been met by frustrating silence from the record label. Finally i found out that a few months ago two of the band members decided to leave the band (which is now public knowledge), so everyone, including the label, had to keep quiet while they were on tour. Unfortunately, this also put a halt to the video release. I spoke with the record label and the band, and they both love the video and want to get it up soon, but it's just a crazy time for them now.

Unfortunately, I do not own the rights to video, and it would be a violation of my contract to post it on the internet, so the waiting game will have to continue.

There were many people who worked really hard to make the video happen, and some of them probably check in to my blog, so if you're one of those people thank you so much for your help and sorry you haven't been able to see the fruits of your labor yet.

On a more positive note, showing the video to a few agencies in LA landed me a commercial directing job and another music video. The next music video is with Charlotte Martin and should be ready in early september, so maybe you'll see the second before the first. I'll post as soon as they're out so check in every now and then.

A Quote

Perhaps your own reiterated cries deafen you to the voice you hoped to hear.

- C.S. Lewis

Peter Dawson's Son Beats Peter Dawson At Ping Pong - AKA "This Actually Happened Part 2"

I recently had the awesome experience of hanging out with some musician friends in a recording studio while they were recording an album. It was pretty much the coolest thing i've ever done and i so wish i was a musician! It's everything you think it is and more. Drinks (yes please), cigarettes(no thanks), people talking about the Beatles, etc...More on that later - but - something totally crazy happened.

After being introduced to the other musicians who were contributing to the album, one of them, a really cool guy named Jordan, says to me "wait a minute, are you Peter Dawson the photographer?" So i told him that i was in fact a photographer. So he says "No way! My dad is Peter Dawson the Violinist!"

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Yeah, so there are basically four other Peter Dawsons on Google:
1)Peter Dawson the Dentist/Dental institute in Florida, whom i despise because he has the domain www.peterdawson.com. If you're interested, it looks like their doing a "head and neck dissection" on August 9th.

2)Peter Dawson Band, an Austin Texas based musician. I don't really care for the music, but my friend from Texas went to his show once and mailed me a pair of pink American Apparel women's underwear that have "I LOVE PETER DAWSON" printed on the butt, which i guess this guy sells as merchandise at his shows. I'm saving them for the future Mrs. Dawson.

3)Peter Dawson the Australian Wedding Photographer. Sometimes i get email requests for my "wedding packages." Enough said.

4)Peter Dawson the Violinist Check it out! There's a little audio sample on the site and here's his storefront in Ottowa, Canada. He sells violins too.


So Jordan told me all about his dad - how he was a Russian Immigrant named Peter Zadorozny, and how that name wasn't memorable or whatever for a musician, so he changed his name to Peter Dawson. Jordan's an amazing musician too - check out some music on his myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/abbeyband

And yes, he beat me at ping pong, which is pretty good because i was my dorm champion in college, but i haven't played since then.

Small world indeed....

The Coolest Thing Ever

click here !!!!!!!!!

Oldies But Goodies

I recently received an inquiry from a design firm as to whether I had any pictures of the Tetons. I had to go back like five years, but i did shoot there for a day. I love going over old pictures and finding gems i didn't see (or didn't have time to fully realize). So here's a few from the Tetons circa 2003-ish.

road trip find

count me in.