alchemistrecords.com » photos

this ideal mediterranean (two)

Eric — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 20:34:49 +0000

a strange and inexplicable si(gh)te: a building in central Rome, literally sliced all the way through at a diagonal.

Alchemist Photos 12/18/10 Part 2

One In A Googolplex — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 16:24:36 +0000

My photo shows a scenery not quite as peaceful as Adam’s:
People looking for Christmas gifts at Cologne’s Hohe Straße, one of the highest attended shopping miles of Germany.
The Saturday before Christmas Eve (12/18/10) is the day with the highest sales in the year.
Looking forward to the next photo.

- Sebastian, One in a Googolplex
Cologne, Germany

Alchemist Photos 12/18/10

I and I — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 00:16:03 +0000

One definite boon of the internet age is the ability to reach out and connect with people all over the world. As the Alchemist Collective has developed we’ve placed an emphasis on creating a global community of artists and making the most of this ever more connected world. We’ve been searching for ways to highlight the diversity of places and perspectives that all of our artists inhabit and share them with you. So in the spirit of much of how we roll (improvisation), we’re going to be conducting some collective experiments and posting the results for you here. This week we’ll be debuting the first of these features. The idea was for everyone to take a photo on Saturday December 18th and throughout the following week to post the results.
I’m kicking off the proceedings with a photo I took yesterday. The winter time here in the central U.S. often creates some amazing sunsets. Yesterday I had a feeling it would be a good one and I planned on spending some time finding a great spot to photograph it. Unfortunately I got wrapped up in other things and it was only just as the sun was already going down that I got to go ahead and start shooting. Fortunately I still got some interesting shots and the one I’ve chosen to post was actually taken right outside my home and was the second shot I took. It was hard to choose just one so I’ll be putting up some of the other photos on my I and I site here.
I’m looking forward to what the other Alchemists come up with throughout the week!
- Adam Sarmiento/I and I
Norman, OK USA
ps. click on the photo to see it larger.

I and I Norway 09

the alchemist — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:44:40 +0000

Well, the I and I Norway 09 tour has come to an end and I must say that all in all it was an amazing adventure! The shows went pretty well and for the most part Norwegians are very attentive listeners and appreciators of music. The shows in Kristiansand and Bergen were particularly good due to the nice community feeling made by the promoter, venue and audience.
Through the process it occurred to me that a good show is sort of an alchemical process. You need all of the right ingredients to come together in a particular space and time for it to be something really memorable. It requires a part on the audience of moving beyond their normal ways of receiving information/communicating and opening up to a transmission from the performer. It also requires the performer to read the room and try to grab the attention of it. If there is too many people of a certain kind or too few it won’t work. The weather, the seasons, and even the health of the participants can all be crucial to creating the special mood necessary for a good time. It’s especially important for all of the pieces to be in the right place if some or most of the audience has never heard the music before (as was somewhat the case with this tour). I guess it makes it all the more special when everyone does connect and something magical happens. As musicians and artists we spend much of our time chasing that next fleeting moment of the unexpected and exhilarating. When your traveling I suppose you become more aware of how much of life is an alchemical process. From eating, sleeping, relationships, creativity, on up to governance and cooperation there are intricate balances of ingredients that need to be transmuted into something else to achieve the balance that makes it all go round.
Here are some photos from the trip (make sure to click the full screen option for best effect) and good luck with the alchemy in your life.

- Adam/I and I 10/09