Tina Gionis Photography

Website Under Construction

2012-02-10T18:26:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Tina Gionis Photography! My website is under construction right now, and will be back up soon. In the meantime, please feel free to look through my blog. If you want to see more of my work, please visit my Facebook page.

Thanks for stopping by!

More Photos From The Works III

2012-02-10T08:11:00.000-08:00

The Works is a collaborative open studio that is taking place at Bozarts Gallery in Toledo, Ohio from January to March of 2012. Toledo artists work at the gallery on their projects, whether solo or collaborative. A show will take place in April that will exhibit these works.

Portrait Shoot of Jen

2012-02-08T13:13:00.000-08:00

We got lucky and had sun and temperate weather on what would normally be a cold February Saturday.

Shot in downtown Toledo.

Big Thanks!

2012-02-08T13:08:00.000-08:00

Big Thanks to Toledo and City Paper for voting me runner up for "Best Art Photographer."

Website Under Construction

2012-02-03T00:43:00.000-08:00

The Works III

2012-02-03T00:40:00.000-08:00

Quest for Fire Exhibit at the Toledo Museum of Art

2012-02-02T23:55:00.000-08:00

Quest for Fire Studios had an exhibit at the Toledo Museum of Art. Local artists showcased their work, The FreakJazz Ensemble played great music, and overall it was a great evening at the museum!

Travis and Sonia's Wedding

2012-01-04T19:16:00.000-08:00

Travis and Sonia got married on New Year's Eve, and what a wedding it was! The ceremony took place in the beautiful Rosary Cathedral. If you've been there, then you know how amazing of a wedding it was, how could it not be in a church as old and beautiful as that?

The reception commenced at the Ramada Inn and turned into a New Year's Eve Party, at least everyone will remember their wedding anniversary! Nonetheless, it ended up being a fantastic and fun wedding.

Photo shoot for City Paper's feature on local fashion designers

2011-11-23T17:20:00.000-08:00

Check out the pics that I took of some very talented local designers. My pictures were featured in an article about local fashion designers in the City Paper.

Cavallario-Roberts Family Portrait Session

2011-11-08T16:34:00.000-08:00

I had the best time taking pictures of this lovely family. It was a bright but warm Fall day, and the kids were adorable and full of energy. Adam was jumping around, it wasn't hard to get great, animated pictures of him. Little Sophia surprised me by looking straight at the camera. This was the youngest-1 month-baby I've ever shot and I must admit that I was a bit apprehensive about this photo shoot. But it ended up being breezy-easy and lots of fun!

Bethany's Senior Portrait Session

2011-10-20T20:45:00.000-07:00

The weather was pretty miserable this week but thankfully cleared up for Bethany's photo shoot.

With our props and camera equipment we went all over the beautiful Toledo Botanical Gardens. Her photo shoot was super fun!

Click on the title to see more of the shoot.

Artomatic 419

2011-10-15T14:42:00.000-07:00

Check out the pictures I took at this year's Artomatic 419, one of Ohio's biggest art events.

Mark Moffett's Tree

2011-10-13T10:30:00.000-07:00

Mark Moffett is a local artist that makes the most bizarre and fantastic sculptures out of ordinary, everyday things.

Here he made a sculpture out of shoes for the recent Artomatic 419 and hired me to document his work.

Derby party at the Museum

2011-10-13T07:31:00.000-07:00

Check out the pictures I took of the Derby party last spring at the Museum!

It was such a fantastic event; everybody was dressed up in their Derby best, and the excitement of the races took over the entire event!

I'm pretty sure the Museum will be hosting these parties every year to coincide with the Kentucky Derby. Make sure you go next year--I will!

Photo Shoot with Raq the Casbah

2011-10-08T12:11:00.001-07:00

Local bellydance and music troupe Raq the Casbah asked me to take some promotional shots of them. We had a fantastic shoot outside of the museum, one of my favorite places in town to have a photo shoot in Toledo!

These guys are super-talented and put on a fabulous show. Check out their facebook page for their next performance.

Tina Gionis Photography is now on Facebook

2011-10-07T11:59:00.000-07:00

Please check it out!

Tina Gionis Photography

MFA Show

2011-10-04T11:57:00.001-07:00

For those of you who weren't able to attend my Master of Fine Art Thesis Show, here are the images, video, and artist's statement.

Artist's Statement

Writer Susan Sontag once said, “All photographs are memento mori. To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time’s relentless melt.”

One of the things that has always fascinated me about photography is this “freezing of time,” if you will. It’s always amazed me that though life marches on in an unstoppable flux, moments can be frozen in the form of photographs and revisited.

The contact sheet format in this body of work is a reference to contact sheets that are used in film photography. When looking at a contact sheet, one expects to find a linear progression through time. However, when looking at the contact sheets that I digitally created, the viewer sees a movement of time that skips from past to present to past again. This nonlinear portrayal of time shows how the past influences the present when memories are recalled. It’s also shown in the video I am exhibiting, where old home movies are layered with recently shot footage. Both the video and digital images also express how much of an impact memory can have on the present, which in essence, is the basis of grieving.

I lost my mother two years ago to cancer. The day after she died, I learned that my family home that was in her name and that I was supposed to inherit was going to be seized by the government to pay outstanding medical bills. It is a huge loss for me on two levels: a loss of a loved one and a loss of a legacy.

My grandparents emigrated from Greece seventy years ago and were typical participants in the American Dream of the twentieth century. They initially lived in a one-room apartment in downtown Toledo, worked hard to make their business successful which eventually enabled them to buy a house where both my mother and I were raised. Being the only kin, it is up to me to clear this home of personal property before it gets turned over to the government. Going through three generations of personal possessions brings up a multitude of memories and intensifies the grieving process. My mother was a professional bellydancer, taking the art very seriously. She performed both internationally and nationwide, made her costumes by hand, and owned her own dance school where she taught bellydancing. As I pack up her things, I come across her costumes, sewing materials, instructional books, and other items that she used for performing and teaching. Her vocational devotion has been one way that I have been remembering her.

Consequently, I have been learning firsthand how the past affects the present in the form of memories, whether they are joyful reminiscences or longing to be with ones that are gone. I’ve also been learning that elation and loss are both integral facets of life. Existence is fleeting and years go by, but photographs can bring back memories that sometimes seem like the only things we can truly possess.

Video wins First Place at Salon des Refuses Show

2011-10-02T15:56:00.000-07:00

I was shooting event photos at the Toledo Area Artists Show when I happened to look at a brochure for the Salon des Refuses show that was simultaneously happening across the street. I saw my name in the awards section and realized that the video I had submitted had won first place! I rushed over in just in time for the awards ceremony. It's not too cool having your work turned down from a show, but I must say it's pretty fantastic winning an award for it from another!

Click here to watch the video.

MFA show this Friday!

2011-04-19T10:26:00.001-07:00

So after two years of blood, sweat, and tears I'm graduating with a Master of Fine Arts! It will be a Master in Digital Art with a focus on photography and video. I can't believe I'm almost there and that I'm almost done with graduate school.

I chose a really hard subject for my thesis show, and more than a few times wasn't sure if I was going to be able to finish the body of work because of its difficulty. The thesis of my show is about time; how the past affects the present in the form of memory and especially grieving. I used my own personal experience of just recently having lost my mom and our family home to pay for medical bills. It made sense to me, at the beginning of my program in grad school, to deal with this topic as that was what I was dealing with at the time. Little did I realize that perhaps some things can be too traumatic to make a body of work from or to deal with at that particular time. I realized this halfway through my grad program when it became too clear that all the work I was making was pretty unsuccessful.

I wanted to abandon the whole idea of making a body of work that deals with the loss of my mom because it was too painful, and because I was still trying to process it and accept it. But my graduate committee urged me to push on. I did and I ended up making a body of work that I am happy with. But, whew!-it sure wasn't easy getting there. I believe this body of work is the most challenging one I've ever made. And now that it's done and over with, I'm beginning to realize that pushing through and forcing myself to make this work has helped me process the loss anyways.

So if you want to see it, it will be up at the Dorothy Uber Bryan Gallery at the Fine Arts Center at Bowling Green State University.

The opening is this Friday April 22nd 7pm-9pm and will be up until May 3rd. If you can't make it to the opening, the gallery is open Tues through Sat 11-4 and Thurs 6-9. Also Sunday 1-4 but closed on Easter.

Art Walk tonight in Toledo

2010-08-26T09:52:00.000-07:00

The Arts Commission of Toledo- http://www.acgt.org/-hosts monthly art walks in the summer where galleries in downtown open their doors and patrons can stroll from gallery to gallery checking out the art for view.

I will be showing some of my work from the Toledo Project and some other pieces at Sur St. Clair Gallery.
http://www.sur-stclair.com/

If you can't make it down tonight, the show will be up for a month.

BGSU Arts Extravaganza 2009

2009-12-03T12:49:00.000-08:00

Bowling Green State University will be having their annual art festival suitably called-"Arts Extravaganza." An image that I made while living in New York will be exhibited on the second floor of the Fine Arts Center.

UberCollins Wedding

2009-12-01T20:08:00.000-08:00

I just recently shot this wedding and it was one of the most fun I've ever shot. The couple was very experimental in what they wanted for their shots which made the photo shoot a lot of fun. I love shooting weddings-everyone is so happy and I love getting pictures of people having a good time. I've shot weddings in Asia and New York but this is the first one I've shot in Toledo-so much fun doing it in my home town. I hope I get to shoot a lot more weddings here.

www.tinagionis.com

Toledo Project Additions

2009-11-06T13:00:00.000-08:00

Toledo

2009-11-05T13:08:00.001-08:00

This is where I live.

More Waawaa Buddha

2009-11-05T10:14:00.001-08:00

Waawaa Buddha

2009-11-03T20:18:00.001-08:00

This is an old pic that I just manipulated so I guess it's a new pic, or an old pic made into a new one-or..you get the idea. The original was taken when I was in Tibet a few years ago and the pattern I made in Photoshop.

Mazu Pilgrimage

2009-10-26T20:38:00.000-07:00

I started a photo project last spring documenting the Mazu Pilgrimage in Taiwan, which I’m hoping to finish on my next trip there. Mazu is a Taoist deity, goddess of the sea, a sort of patron saint of Taiwan. In honor of her birthday, tens of thousands of pilgrims walk hundreds of miles over a course of eight days visiting temples that have been erected in Mazu’s honor. Sometimes the pilgrimage will stop at a temple for only a few minutes, but if it’s a temple that is especially sacred to the Taoist faith, it will stop for the night. When this happens, the town becomes one big street party-dancing dragons, fireworks exploding in all directions, mysticism carried out in all its religious pomp.

Some followers of Taoism show their devotion to Mazu by performing the act of self-mutilation. Preparing for it in advance with fasting, meditation, and sometimes a bit of rice wine, the devotees impale rods through their flesh claiming that they feel no pain because the spirit of Mazu is protecting them. Such passionate devotees are few and far between, most people preferring to show their devotion by saying prayers and burning incense instead.

These photos were taken just outside of Chiayi in the south of Taiwan. I was able to make enough connections on this trip so that when I go back to Taiwan, I will be able to meet with some of the movers and shakers of this pilgrimage, which will allow me to do some more intimate portraits of the people and of the pilgrimage itself.

Face

2009-10-26T19:48:00.001-07:00

a picture I shot a long time ago in Taiwan but changed and rearranged just now

Scanning

2009-10-26T10:44:00.000-07:00

I recently scored access to some pretty good scanning equipment so have been busy scanning my film negatives which is turning into a massive project....I shot film for ten years so that's a whole lotta pictures.

It's been really great coming across some of my old images, some that I haven't seen for over a decade. It's kind of like hearing a song that you haven't heard in a long time. One second you're here, and then whoosh! the song takes you back to a time and place that you perhaps haven't thought about in ages. Kinda like a reference point, giving you a perspective on how you've changed and evolved, a different view of the chunk of time between then and now.

Toledo Project

2009-10-26T10:04:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos that are beginning of the Toledo project. I'm calling it the Toledo Project for now, but hopefully I can come up with a more appropriate and creative title. I've always been bad with titles so hopefully it will come to me as this body of work progresses. I chose Toledo for now because the images are of Toledo.

This body of work is about issues of loss and change and is really in its nascent form. We'll see where it goes from here.

Long time no see....

2009-10-20T13:12:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been a year since I posted on my blog. Actually, I can believe it. And I'm not feeling great about it, but what can you do. Life happens, and you go through the motions and all of a sudden you realize that you haven't done the things that you set out to do and blah blah blah. It happens.

Actually, I do have a good excuse for not posting for so long. I had to relocate from New York to Toledo to take care of my mom who-the day after I returned to Toledo- passed away quite quickly and unexpectedly from cancer. The day after she died I found out that the State of Ohio is taking her house-which essentially was supposed to be my house as it's been in my family for 70 years-because her insurance didn't cover everything. Needless to say, it was a bad week. I actually bailed to Southeast Asia for the winter to prevent the onset of a nervous breakdown that I felt was coming down on me, hard, fast, and with no mercy.

It's been a year now-almost a year to the day of my last blog entry, as a matter of fact-and I'm feeling more capable and together. I'm still in Toledo, a bit longer than I thought I would be, but it's good. I need to stay here to settle my mom's estate anyways and it just feels right to be here for a while. Because this is where I grew up, it's good to come to terms with the loss here. Besides some documentary work I did in Taiwan last winter, this year was pretty unproductive. It's recently been all coming back to me and I'm starting to focus on my work again-using recent events to fuel my image making which consequently is making me experience a catharsis of sorts, difficult though it may be.

Even though I always said I'd never live in Toledo again, I'm beginning to realize that no matter how much you try to plan, life is just full of surprises and it's best to let the wrenches turn as they may. Every cloud has a silver lining, right? One good thing about being in Toledo is that I'm free from the exorbitant cost of living that I experienced in New York City, which consequently gives me a lot more time to make work instead of slaving away at some dumb job to pay my $1000 rent.

Anyways, thanks for taking the time to read. This background information, I feel, is good to keep in mind when viewing my blog as it's what's fueling a lot of the images I'm presently making.

Salon Ciel Show

2008-10-18T05:03:00.000-07:00

Last night was the opening of my first show in New York. It was a group show for the staff of Salon Ciel, a monthly exhibition that showcases the work of up and coming artsits.They're great events-you can check them out here-http://saloncielnyc.org/ Last year I was the event photographer for these exhibits.

Having my first show in New York is quite exciting. The other artists' work was great and the show was a success overall.

Here are the pieces that I exhibited. They are different evolutions of the body of work I call "City." I started this body of work in Taiwan when accidently double-exposing a roll of film.

When I moved into the realm of digital photography, the work evolved into a more layered collaging.

When I relocated to New York, I still used the same idea of collaging, but used the environment of New York's subways and streets as this is what I saw everyday.

This is all still a work in progress; the New York stuff is definitely not ready for a show on its own so being in a group show and getting feedback was perfect for the stage the work is in right now.

Meet and Greet

2008-08-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

I've been back home in Toledo, Ohio for the past six weeks because of family issues and thought I'd make a crack at getting some photo work while here. The photography industry is much different in Toledo than in New York. It's smaller, but-probably because of this-it's much more accessible. Whereas in New York I can contact a hundred editors and not get a response from one, here in Toledo I've heard back from everyone that I've reached out to for work. That's very refreshing.

Since I got back into town, I've been freelancing for a weekly arts and entertainment mag called City Paper. (http://www.toledocitypaper.com) I've been doing their event photography, which is great, for going to all these events throws me back in the loop after being gone for so long.

Last night there was a great event called "Meet and Greet." Around ten galleries in town opened their doors in the evening. Art, music, soicalizing, and wine was there for the masses and there even was a trolley to take people around to different venues the city. It was a great time, and has made me appreciate being in Toledo for the summer.

Church Project

2008-06-23T21:09:00.000-07:00

I just took this great Documentary Photography class at the International Center of Photography-ICP- here in New York. Taught by the super-talented Andre Lambertson (http://www.alambertson.com)it got my photojournalism juices going again and got me started on-what I'm calling now-The Church Project.

Brooklyn-where I live-must be one of the most international places in the world. Along with this diversity comes a whole lot of religion and a whole lot of churches. My block alone has three of them, one being on the first floor of my apartment building. Every Sunday morning, drumming, chanting, and zealous praises are heard coming from the floor below me, but no one else in my building had a clue what was going on down there; just that it was some sort of Hispanic church.

So I decided to find out for myself what exactly was going on down there and kind of just walked in one Sunday. Everyone was quite welcoming and even gave me a pesonal translator as the service was in Spanish. Bongo drums in the corner solved the mystery of the thumping my roommates and I had heard upstairs. One of the members of the congregation started playing them as the others began singing and chanting and hallelujaing to He-zus. It all seemed pretty calm and churchlike in the beginning until people started chanting louder and faster and falling to the floor in relgious ecstasy.Apparentely, this church was of a Baptist faith and the yelling and collapsing and shaking were indications that the members had made a connection with Jesus.

I was quite intrigued as the Greek Orthodox masses that I went to as a kid never managed to get this interesting. The idea for The Church Project was born. Here are just the meagre beginnings, hopefully on future visits and to different churches that will allow me and my camera in, I'll be able to capture more action. This was my first visit to this church so didn't want to snap too much....and, I'm just warming up. More later.

A Photo

2008-04-12T11:09:00.001-07:00

Since this is a photography blog, I guess I should put up some photos.

I made this one today. I'm getting into creating tiled images, like the background of this one.

I never thought I'd be a blogger.

2008-04-12T09:28:00.000-07:00

But they say blogging is the thing to do these days. A blog, I've been told, is more dynamic than a website and gives viewers a better update of what you're doing. I always thought blogs were kinda creepy. Posting personal stuff on the web had always seemed weird and exhibitionist to me in an obnoxious sort of way. But here in the States-which I've just moved back to after a ten-year absence-blogging seems what folks are doing to connect and network. And they don't seem to be used just for spouting off emotional stuff like how I remember blogs to be. As a matter of fact, I'm thinking that blogs are pretty cool these days as people can share their news, professional pursuits, and musings.

So welcome to my blog.