Lately I’ve been looking at a a lot of fantastic photo sites as well as individual photographer’s blogs. Let me just say, you can waste way too much time in front of the screen looking a great work.
This morning on Facebook one of Greg Miller posted this link to a post on 500 photographers which urges photographers to step away from the computer and go make some art. Great post. I then proceeded to spend an hour looking at pictures on 500 Photographers.
A new group exhibit opened at Newspace Center for Photography in Portland this past Friday. Was pleased to see my friend Jan Sonnenmair’s lovely closeup of her son gently cradling a salamander used as the opening invitation. This very strong show, curated by Newspace Program Director Laura Valenti features work by 25 artists.
Walking in the front door you first encounter two stunning stark landscapes of incredible sharpness and detail by Dave Jordano.
On the back wall facing, the front are two more evocative, softer warm toned toy camera images printed on tracing paper, Robert Holmgren. I stood and wondered how the hell you can run tracing paper through a printer without destroying it.
One more thing of note, I only recall one image that was printed the old fashioned way, using chemicals in a darkroom. All the other prints were archival pigment prints, ie, inkjet. I guess this new digital thing is not simply a passing fad.
Also included were my friend Jim Leisy. Get by and take in this excellent show.
As I mentioned in my previous post I recently took a batch of random rolls of film in for processing. This image was on a roll of 620 Kodacolor II. I have no idea who this man is, if I took the picture, which camera it may have been taken with or how old it is.
This oil spill in the Gulf scares me. While the slick hovers just off shore we can continue to focus our collective attention on more important matters, such as celebrity affairs. But soon, when it smothers the Louisiana estuaries, covers the powder white beaches of the Florida Gulf coast, cycles into the Gulf stream and moves across the Atlantic the scale of this environmental disaster will demand we take notice.
Apart from destroying the culture and cuisine of southern Louisiana and ruining the tourist trade in Florida we’re witnessing something of a biblical scale. The damage (we can’t even see now) from underwater slicks created by chemical dispersants, that are settling to the sea floor, will take centuries to repair.
In my work I’ve photographed many oil production facilities and seen the damage done. Our thirst for oil leads us into wars and incalculable environmental impacts. But I’m also an oil consumer. I drive too much, prefer my motorcycle to a bicycle and reap the benefits of living in an oil driven economy.
Perhaps continuing to develop and produce oil in sensitive habitats and the subsequent destruction of those same habitats, is just another price we pay. A cynic might even suggest the people of southern Louisiana who have benefited from the petroleum industry for decades are just getting a little payback. Live by the sword……If there was any real justice some kind of water spout would pick up the slick and deposit it on the skyscrapers in Dallas.
Suncor Millenium tar sand extraction plant site & tailing pond w/ earthen dam adjacent to the Athabasca River near Ft McMurray Alberta, November 2008
Syncrude tar sand extraction and upgrade plant near Ft McMurray Alberta, November 2008
Oil well outside Canyonlands National Park, Utah 2002
Oil sludge containment pond outside Canyonlands National Park, Utah 2002
Oil spilled from the Exxon Valdez in the Bay of Isles in Prince William Sound, Alaska – November, 1990
Oil spilled from the Exxon Valdez on a beach in Prince William Sound, November 1990
I’ve been haunted since watching this fantastic documentary on Townes Van Zandt the other night. Reflecting back on when he first began playing and writing music he said:
“There was one point when I realized, Man, I could really do this. But it takes blowing everything off. It would take blowing off family, money, security….happiness. Get a guitar and go”.
He did. But could I do it, blow everything off? Could you? It strikes me as an act of ultimate courage to walk away from everything in order to single-mindedly pursue perfection in your art. A argument could be made that it’s ultimate selfishness. Or cowardice.
The film’s poster asks, “What would you sacrifice to follow your dream”?
It’s easy to romanticize the idea of no attachments, no distractions, nothing holding you back. But I love my life, my family, my motorcycles and my work. Would it be worth living without all of that to make art without compromise. I’m sure I don’t have it in me.
So the reverse question might be asked, “how has your work been sacrificed so you can lead a semi-normal life”?
Life only gives you one chance to get it right. I guess it helps to start out being a genius.
Mike Floyd just sent me the link this morning to something called Pilfered Magazine, a photo blogozine exclusively featuring images stolen from various sources on the web and submitted by viewers. This month’s cover features an Irving Penn image. But beyond that individual pages don’t even credit the stolen photo to the original creator.
Their about page says:
“Its founders, artist Patrick Hoelck and creative director RUDJ, together with their team (Nate “Res” Harvey & Mia Van Valkenburg), have in the past spent hours surfing the web to put together presentations for various commercial ad and editorial jobs…and noticed the hours it took to gather images and felt it was time to have a massive image collective shared by the people, for the people.”
What a load of crap. Theft is theft whatever you want to call it and however fancy you want to design it.
