Why I Love Mad Men

Dear Matthew Weiner,

Your show entitled Mad Men has captured my interest like no other show in existence. I appreciate the heightened degree of light and detail that you shed on the little things that permeate the character's day to day life, from Don Draper's top hat, to Roger Sterling's Lucky Strike cigarettes. Despite being in New York City, the show really seems to move along at a comfortable pace.

Regarding fashion, there is not a single character yet that I have spotted that is not dressed in a dapperly manner. From anonymous elevator operators, to random people strutting about downtown, each and every person that fills the frame flaunts an impressive amount of style. One truly feels the zeitgeist of the 1950's New York ad agency environment while watching this show. Additionally, this recurring theme of fashionable people would not be nearly as sacred if it weren't for the exquisite use of light and shadows. Despite the majority of the show taking place in an office setting, one does not get that feeling of a corporate environment with unappealing lights and hues. Quite on the contrary, most of the time the cinematographers make use of what appears to be window light. As a photographer, I can say this show really spurs on my creativity and encourages me to be creative with how I use my light, and it also keeps me in check to make sure that I am being intentional with the way I craft the light within my images. Lastly, I really enjoy the vintage songs that play at the end of each episode while the credits come up. Often times I will close my eyes and enjoy the waves of pleasure that fill my mind as I think of all the quaint pleasantries that took place in the episode.

So thank you to Mr. Weiner and the entire Mad Men crew/cast for sharing with us your creative talents.

Regards,

David Dobreski

The Nature of Silence

As I've grown older, my view of silence and the idea of it has changed from thinkin of it as a harbinger of awkwardness that must be avoided at all costs, to now realizing that it is a multifaceted entity. Silence takes many forms and fits a number of unique situations. There is a serene side to silence that is most often experienced in the woods or whilst sitting at the edge of a lake. There is an uncomfortable, slightly agitating type of silence as well. The type that you may find looming at the center of a group of people at a party. There is also a silence that bursts at the seams with tension and echoes with the harsh words exchanged several moments prior. Perhaps the most luxurious and sought-after form of silence is that which resides between an elderly couple who have loved each other for a lifetime and know one another so very well that they don't even need to exchange sentences to know what the other is thinking.