Sound Bites - Issue #2 / October 2013

Featured Guest: Franklin Londin

Oscar-Winning Artist Inspired by Community Ed Tour

SMC Community Education instructors are an impressive and interesting group of people. And so are our students.

Take, for instance, Franklin Londin, an Oscar-winning visual effects artist who has worked on a range of films, most recently “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2” (in theaters now).

He is also a 3D artist and photographer whose “breathtaking stereoscopic” works have been shown at galleries such as The Loft at Liz's, The Whole 9 Gallery, JNA Gallery, Create Fixate, Cannibal Flower Art Show, The Chinese American Museum, The Getty Museum, and National Buildings Museum. One of those images was inspired by a Community Ed tour he took of the art in L.A. subway stations.

“3D photography has the magical ability to draw you into a space,” the Santa Monica resident says. “More than remembering the event from a flat image, you are reliving the moment by the active engagement of your eyes and brain. In essence, you’re time traveling.”

Last year you took Gayle Gale’s “L.A. Underground Art Museum” tour that focused on the public art in L.A. subway stations. What was that experience like?

Gayle led a tour through some fabulous train stations on the red line starting up in Hollywood. We gathered around her and she told us stories about the artist, architecture, and the history of the stop, and then we got on a train and traveled to another where she shared more fascinating art and history. 

How did it inspire you as an artist?

I had a super amazing day exploring my backyard by train and was stunned how beautiful underground art can be. As a 3D artist and photographer it was truly inspiring to see how an artist and an architect worked together to blend their visions of a public art space. One of the 3D photos I snapped was incorporated into a 3D viewer frame that I subsequently showed at an art gallery.

You were on the teams that won Best Visual Effects Oscars for “Titanic” and “Spiderman 2.” Tell us briefly how you got into animation work.

I attended NYU Film School, and after getting a degree became enthralled with computers controlling cameras, so I got into computer graphics. I did business graphics, and then medical animations, then broadcast animation, and then came to L.A. to work on Hollywood feature films.

You’ve worked on several visually stunning movies. What has that been like?

It's hard work and long hours to create my FX animations that get integrated with hundreds of other people’s work into a finished feature film. It’s very rewarding to see your craft projected on a huge screen for millions of people to enjoy

Your career is in 3D animation and your passion is shooting stereo (3D) photography. Tell us briefly what stereo photography is and why you love it so much.

Stereo (3D) photography is simply capturing two images at a time instead of one. They are usually taken at the same distance as our eyes - 2.5 inches apart, but the two images can be farther apart for macro stereography or closer for micro stereography. Our brains then fuse the two images and we see 3D. I'm fascinated with the physical experience of seeing depth. Single lens photography shows us a picture, while 3D photography puts us in the space of the shot. It’s like time travel.

You also do 3D sculpture. Tell us a little about that.

I've been building 3D sculptures to show people my 3D photography for about 10 years. I used to carry around a viewer and a bunch of 3D slides and swap them out one by one to show people my work. I did that for years before I decided to create sculptures. They have multiple viewers arrayed around a central base. Sort of like the old View-Master, and instead of pressing the lever you move to another view. You can visit www.3Deee.com to see examples of my work.

Would you consider taking another of Gayle Gale’s tours or signing up for a class at SMC Community Education?

Most definitely.

Gayle Gale will be leading two unique tours in the next few weeks, both of which include some subway station art. “Downtown’s Hidden Art Treasures” will be Oct. 27 and “Holiday Shopping in Historic South Pasadena” will be Dec. 1.

 

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