Summertime

I love these guys.

Living Rich on the Road

                                                           

 It is all about the light.

Southern Route

Summer wanderings have taken me across the south.  This past week I ended up in Clarksdale, MS.  Like other southern towns there is evidence of the Old South "hanging on".  Isn't nostalgia the slow summer days in a small southern town? One might find it on the back streets.  

  

And Another Good Traveler

Matt Mahurin and Kenny Shopsin

"I Like Killing Flies" by Matt Mahurin

"The first duty of everybody in life is to realize that they're a piece of shit. Selfish and self-centered and not very good. You're willing to sacrifice 20 thousand people in another country just so you can go to a Wings concert. You sacrifice the lives of a hundred thousand Chinese female babies just so you can rent this f'ing camera and do your stupid art project. No problem! You're a piece of shit. Once you realize you're a piece of shit it's not so hard to take. Because then you don't have this feeling that you're a good person all the time. And let me tell you something, feeling that you're a good person all the time is like having a brand new car with no scratches on it. It's a real responsibility which is almost impossible to live up to. Being a piece of shit and then occasionally doing something that's good and true is a much easier place to be. I think that's really important and I always try to raise my kids to understand that they're not that terrific. And that not being that terrific, that's okay 'cause most people who say that they're terrific, Bill Clinton, Cardinal Egan, anybody you want to talk about, they're not so terrific. Martha Stewart, they're not so beeping terrific either. And there's nothing wrong with being not-so-terrific. In fact, it's what the whole ballgame is about, being not-so-terrific... and accepting it."

Thank you Emilie for taking the time to type this out.  It is words to live by.  
One day I will meet this man or rather both men.  

Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman Retrospective is at the MoMA and to see the work as a whole was powerful to say the least. She is incredibly prolific. The growth of her work and the consistency of the message was humbling and enlightening. Never have I seen such a big voice, a big message said with such fun and with such power. I embarrassed myself laughing loudly as the other museum goers shuffled by. Her sense of humor floors me. Her ability to conjure such emotion in each portrait left me wanting to know her. Never have I felt that so acutely.

I came to photography just as she had come in to the art world. I even toyed with the idea of using myself as a subject of expression. One semester I tried. But I didn't have the stamina nor the ability to think up such topics to explore. The questions she has put to us in the psychological, emotional and ethical realms is exciting, titillating, unnerving and uncomfortable. She is an actor, a painter, a stylist, a magician, a comedian. She is a photographer only to record her make believe world, our make believe world.

I came away looking forward to how she will deal with her old age, our old age. And I came away wanting to know who this woman really is.

Who is the Real Cindy Sherman. The Real Cindy Sherman.

St. Patty's Day Parade-NYC

"We all are Irish, b' gosh and begorrah."

Leap Day

What is it all for if I don't do what I desire?

Oh yeah, building character.

Childhood is so very important. It is where foundation of character is begun.

Momma

Peacefully sleeping.

You are so beautiful to me.

Summer Boredom

Why is it that the grass is greener, the sky is bluer, the sun is brighter when I get a job? Summer is tough every year and every year I think this is it. They have found me out. I will never get another job.

I prepared this year and enrolled in a class at Watkins in Final Cut Pro (which is all too late according to this). It was an Intro class so I can't say I learned a lot of things but it served it's purpose for me in some ways. It got me out of the house for one, but not away from this "life suck" computer. I met people, learned the proper way to save projects, and saw that I have a fun time even in a FCP class. In all it was a success. I did not have Wednesdays to obsess. I was busy in my new venture of being a student.

Over at a private group of women photographers blog I got busy submitting imagery for an exhibit and much needed connection. We met or rather they met and included me at Foto Fest in Houston. To round this post back to photography, here are images I sent in to them for a meeting we had in Chicago this past weekend. Hopefully I will be seeing them again or rather for the first time in some cases at 2012 Foto Fest Session 3.

Featured on PDN

I am featured on PDN this month. Here is the link and another look at Stinkbug Project.

http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/photoserve/The-Power-of-One-Tra-2115.shtml

For more on Stinkbug Project please go here and maybe buy a dog biscuit

Readers Digest - Power of One - The Stinkbug Project

Happy New Year and Hoping for Non - Extinction

Started my year off silently and effortlessly. No resolutions for me. Let's just all live life lightly. Who knows we may all be extinct shortly.

According to the scientist at Antarctica, man is surely not long for this earth. I really am not being a pessimist today. I only finished watching Werner Herzog's documentary Encounter at the End of the World. Go deeper and explore here.

The documentary put me in mind of a one I watched a while back by Philip Groning called Into Great Silence.

Some beautifully arranged words said early on by one of the characters interviewed that I'd like to use for myself sometime was "dreams......land of our mind; a world of ideas...."

The documentary is listed in the adventure, travel documentary section, but I'd say it was more than that. It is a film on human study with a little antarctic history lesson. All of it shot with a tone of science fiction and a touch of spiritual influences.

A thought provoking way to end the first day of the first year of a new decade.

Finding Vivian Maier

1979- 1982 Imagery

These images are from college. 2 of the images are from my final senior show.

No spot toning. These are straight from the scanner. It was good to see the hair and dust again. Reminded me of the snap, crackling and pop of an old LP. Why I chose to post these was to see how little my approach to my subject have changed. I'd love to revisit this series to see what more it could tell me. I remember Jim Norton, my college professor, asking what I had learned from the work/series I spent doing for over a year and i was nearly clueless. When I have time maybe I'll post the whole show. I'd love to see what has come through after all these years.

Bragging Time

I have received recognition. Yeah!

The Lucie Awards are part of The Lucie Foundation. Go here to learn more.

These images above were given a Honorable Mention in the Portrait Category of the IPA 2010.

And these images have been selected for 2nd and 3rd prize in the Children Category.

Roberts Western World is hoppin' in Nashville tonite

Don't Wake the Baby

Here is the film a friend asked me to DP. After the film I now can consider him dear. Thank you Elvis for the incredible vote of confidence and the opportunity to seeing a dream come to fruition.

The Good Travelers

The world that takes place in a car attracts me in a voyeuristic way. I am drawn to watch but guiltily. These windows are an invitation. I am frustrated beyond normal to see cars with their tinted windows or Semis too high to see in. I struggle, bobbing my head, squinting my eyes, speeding up to catch a glimpse through the windshield to see what is hidden from me.

Other things that happen on the road that drives me to distraction is traveling at the same speed of a person passing on the sidewalk while their face remains blocked by a telephone pole or a parked car. I've nearly rear ended cars trying to change the sync we are in.

The recent inspirations that have brought this obsession into awareness have been the movie by Abbas Kiarostami about a woman's life in her cab, called Ten. The other was the photography-transvoid. In Abbas Kiarostami movie I have been made a passenger. And Roderik Henderson has given me the liberty to look into the car without shying away. I do not have that uncomfortable feeling as if I have been caught in the midst of spying. In transvoid, the subjects have engaged me. It is like they are waiting for an answer from me. In Ten, I am in the front seat right along with the driver waiting for the answers, asking the questions, driving in anxious silence.

As an adult traveling with my companions I have spent productive hours deep in meaningful and honest conversations, worked out difficult issues, read inspirational books aloud, listened to educational radio shows and explored areas of the country lost to most in the world. As a child I was trapped. Car sickness, boredom. My imagination was honed in a car. And I became the good little traveler.

Memphis Revisited

There is an urgent need in me to record areas of Tennessee that are rapidly disappearing. Each city in the US seems to be whitewashed and gentrified. Memphis is holding on to it's own, maybe.

Andrew Moore and Requiem for Detroit

Thursday I returned to Memphis to record some dying places in the city and this morning I discovered the Flak Photo (very late, I might add) of Andrew Moore's work. His work on Detroit is absolutely beautiful and haunting. I am compelled to record the areas of Memphis that are neglected with the same love and respect. "Detroit Disassembled" Andrew Moore's motivation I would imagine is recording a dying city but to bring awareness to what is happening right here in our country. Many artist are heading to Detroit. It is a "man-made Katrina" happening right under our noses. Blocks of Detroit are vacant as if it is a war zone. I had been wanting to go to Haiti and after seeing a special on Detroit's economic straits I was thinking that my help could be used north of me instead. Here is "Requiem for Detroit" at The Green Changemakers.

American Natural History Museum-Dioramas

A visit to the American Natural History Museum brought me these little jewels. Just today I was perusing the blog sphere and found this at Mrs. Deane. More of Richard Ross's work here if you'd like to peek into the world of museums and dioramas.

Yard Sale

Summer Mornin' Cartoons

Remnants of the Flood

As I was biking to my mothers I sometimes go through a subdivision known to Catholic Nashvillians as Little Vatican. It is a neighborhood built in the 60's right under the shadow of St. Henry's. It is a quaint little neighborhood. The lots are smaller, the homes are smaller. When it was first built the demographics was youthful and, of course, Catholic. So there were lots of children. This was a destination for me and crews of kids from across the highway on a few Halloweens. A lot of ground could be covered in a little bit of time. We'd be dragging our candy laden pillow cases by the end of the night.

Anyway I go through the hood sometimes on my bike because the streets are quiet, and curvy and gentle. Something always seems to grab me.

This little neighborhood is potential photographic series I'd like to investigate. How many does that make now for me? Twenty? But for now I couldn't help but stop here and shoot this den on the road. It might actually have nothing to do with the flood; maybe just a group of teenage kids' project for the summer.

Summer Testing

Dennis Hopper - Photographer

It was not until I bought the CD of Maria McKee's "You Gotten Sin To Be Saved" that I learned that Dennis Hopper was a photographer and only with his death have I learned he also directed "Easy Rider" while listening to an archive with Terry Gross at Fresh Air aired again a couple of days ago here.

If the interest is there to see more of his images at artnet go here.

Soon stay tuned of Flood Recovery for Nashville Musicians @retunenashville.com

Stone Mountain

Stone Mountain is such a strange place. White, barren and blistering on top of the rock. We had a beautiful day though. If you really lost yourself up there you'd think you were on the beach. At just the right angle, you'd swear it. Whenever I see Stone Mountain I think of Ayers Rock in Australia. Weird, just weird. All of Australia seems weird to me. Everything is just a bit off down there.

Best cup at http://ping.fm/RzLzF http://ping.fm/Ykw3A

"Home Improvement" for flood victims-Interested? http://ping.fm/rDg5I

Images from week one in flooded west Nashville http://ping.fm/hpzij

Nashville Flood Week One

The flooding of middle Tennessee hadn't personally effected me since I live on high ground. All around me, though, is the Harpeth River and the Cumberland is less than 2 miles away. I see the devastation up-close and daily. I spent Thursday walking one street of a severely hit area just soaking the experience all in. There is nothing that can really bring the enormity or reality of the situation into focus as to being there personally. Friday I returned to the same street to sling a stick - doing my part in demolition. I can't just take pictures I have to give something back.

Walking down the streets of the flood destroyed areas of Nashville is like going into some weird world. Above are a few things I've seen this past week.

Fotofest Recap (Sort Of) and Rosalind Solomon

Last month and the beginning of this month I was in Houston for Fotofest. Wait a minute...

Let's see, how do I want to continue? I have had a hard time coming back to this blog b/c it just seems my time is being eaten up and this is just more food on my plate. It seems to be feeding my ongoing fear of not getting enough. How can it be a true benefit to me? What good is it doing for me? So rather than waste my time explaining what went on at Fotofest, which was a lot even though I had only one day at The Meeting Place, I think I will make this a journal entry of sorts or I will make a list of more things I need to do to stay relevant in this world of photography. That was the big word for me at Fotofest, btw. Relevancy.

1.) Shoot more

2.) Shoot more

3.) Shoot more

To keep my head on straight and not get too deep in the muck of negativity I have to remind myself that I must shoot what I know, what intrigues me, what is my world. I have to stop chasing the world and be in it.

While there at Fotofest I found myself comparing my work with all the wonderful work I saw the other participants showing. While seeing so much work can be daunting I did learn much.

1.) Be concise

2.) Be consistent

3.) Be considerate of the viewers interest.

Reading all the blogs and looking at countless sites of other photographers can be discouraging for me. Much of what I am doing seems to be done already and who needs another viewpoint. I see so much redundancy out there already.

So why go out and shoot more? Why add work to my life? Maybe that is my answer? It shouldn't be work; it should be my passion. What is my passion then?

A link was sent to me by a photo friend of mine and it is as if he knew where my mind was. It gave me an answer to the above question. It is a validating and comforting interview and if you are not familiar with Rosiland Solomon's work I think the interview at AmericanSuburbX might be a good introduction.

In the interview she states, and I am not quoting exactly here, that looking at other photographer's work is not good for her. She found inspiration in the other arts.

I went to the opera last week and I was so happily inspired. There was no pressure I put on myself. I simply let go and enjoyed it. Maybe I will plant a tree today.

FotoFest highlight for Sunday the 28th "curatorial symposium- curating contemporary photography". Much history and an interesting debate

Addition/Addiction

I am experimenting with adding imagery on my site that reflects my desire to be an "Artist". I shoot so many things that are more an experience than anything. The images seem to serve no other reason than to give me something to do while doing it and an incredible addiction to collecting things. (I think collecting things is a tendency of people born under the sign of the Moon). So I have put these images together to get them out of the filing cabinet and into the light of day. These were actually shot with film. Finding them again has inspired me to bring out the Fuji 680. I'm glad I didn't sell my film cameras. I'd use them as a doorstop before selling them for the price people where willing to give. I guess this mentality goes along with my collection addiction or as I like to think about myself-incredibly loyal.

Henry Horenstein - New Book - Show

Looking at Henry Horenstein's work makes me love black and white photography. There is something so nostalgic or classic or just plain direct about his work. It is refreshing. "Show" is his new book published by Pond Press.