this house is for rent…..i need a place to live ….but, i will not rent this house….not because i wouldn’t like living here in the dunes by the sea on the "outer banks" of Carolina, but precisely because i would very much like living here…the sights and smells are the very ones of my youth on the nearby Virginia coast, just to the north…so i would feel at home….so much so that i fear i might let one day slide into the next and the next and the next….nothing wrong with that at all, but right now i have a lot on my mind….work to do…book ideas burning my poor brain alive…
we had a thread going not so long ago about talking about photo essays before they were done or even started…it seemed that most of us thought that it is better to at least get started on a project before letting the "volcano blow" at the end of the bar…such is the case with me now…i am jazzed about something, tempted to talk, but i will wait….probably because it will be one month before i can even start photographing ….a whole lot of wine could "git spilt" on the ground in that time…
so, instead of writing about projects themselves , i will ramble a bit about the "spaces" and "circumstances" from whence our ideas cometh….for example, both of my sons live in nearby beach towns…..both of them, as filmmakers, work much as i do…"leavin’ on a jetplane" to their "jobs"….there is one big difference: they come home to small town chit chat and i come back to new york hyperglide…
i fantasize their lifestyles….my sons tell me i could never "make it" in these towns by the sea…they both tell me i would be bored quickly…my friends tend to think the same ("city boy" one says)….can this be true??? if it is true, i hate to admit it, because right now with the winter sidelight filtering through the pines and the soft afternoon breeze and the cardinals chirping away, i feel quite at peace and loving every second of it…hmmmm, what would be the breaking point i wonder???
now, as a "homeless" man, i am also a free man….free to choose, once again, where to live….it seems ironic that the sense of "free choice" is a whole lot more exhilarating than the sense of "having no place to go" is potentially depressing!!….but, that is just me…..nomadic by nature…get me out of the rain and anyplace can be home…and when i am "down and out" i think like a wild animal…my senses are sharp….eyes keen…natural high……clear head….ideas flow…survival instinct adrenaline rush maxed out….too comfy and maybe the dreaded one day sliding into another into another another would manifest itself….but, i am not sure sure of this….i just imagine this…
what about you? do your best ideas come under stress and out of necessity or do you need to be in familiar comfortable space and without "worry" to roll out your "idea of the year" ???
Wineries? Temecula?
I LOVE TEMELCULA WINERIES! :)))))…spend many, many a long long afternoon amid those gentle hills and sunlicked vines…god, tha’ts killin’ me :))))…
Santa Ynez Region too!!!…shiiiiiit!…now im depressed ;))))
…
b
Next to the reservations!!! huge place…
PRESTON OR G.KHAN nailed it below:
“It will be easy to forget your vision and purpose once you have fine clothes, fast horses, and beautiful women. You will be no better than a slave, and you will surely lose everything.
–Genghis Khan
Posted by: Preston | February 07, 2008 at 10:39 AM…
How weird… i just got a phone call regarding an apartment near Abbot Kinney… back in Venice… it will be ready in two months…
Fuck the wineries… fuck the bank that hates my unstable job…
Back in the beach in two months….
I’ve had it… back on my bike my skateboard , my boardwalk…
I got too serious lately…
Preston thanks for your insight!
DAH, also thank you because your free lifestyle… opens the way for me…. like a “light” in the vast ocean…
Happy chinese, vietnamese new year…
fuck…im craving sushi right now… AND AN ASAHI…. not a pentax though…
just the beer…
Fuck wine.. back to the beach… bitchhhhh!
That was Genghis’ advice to one of his sons, who was to rule over the largest empire the world had ever known. Genghis never built a palace or lived in a city; he lived in a ger (a tent with felt walls) even though he was the most powerful man on earth. The son did not heed the advice.
New idea… Tomorrow night I will be posting LIVE- real time, the
Alex Webb, DAH west coast meeting…
people stay tuned…
live coverage… Interviews, photos… Etc..
No student left behind as my hero G.Bush once said…
and Saturday morning. …Please don’t miss,
Panos the Wrapup Show…
stay tuned!
Other than Alex I don’t think there’s going to be much that’s newsworthy…unless David pops in.
Bob likes Temecula! :)) Having only discovered you’re from San Diego a couple of days ago…the image of you there is making me smile…somehow I picture you as more of a Napa/Sonoma kind of guy. Not in the “wine snob” sense but Temecula is pretty small town and I think of you as a big city kind of guy…guess I’m wrong about that.
Is there any chance that I’m wrong about Panos too? That he turns out to be a sweet unassuming teddy bear? DOUBT IT!
CATHY, PANOS, ANNA…
do not think i can get to l.a…..sorry, but it is starting to look impossible….i totally forgot a meeting i have tomorrow morn in new york, MUST DO, and even with the time advantage in my favor, it is looking very grim…besides, i would have to turn right around and come back saturday…anyway, one more scramble to try it..will let you know tonight…
cheers, david
p.s. what happended to reverse order?? i guess nobody liked it…and , yes, you have to go to the bottom to post anyway…mike, mike where are you???? are you in l.a. with that crazy crowd??? come back, come back!!!
thanks for calling me “NOBODY”
David…
you see… I could skip the scrolling down half of the time… Because I usually read, get motivated, read again and then post…
Now back in misery… Scrolling down no matter what…. Even if I don’t post…
I give up.
I will stick with BOBB… Whatever is good for them is good for me
HI,
Wow, my birthday is on the Chinese New Year! What does that mean? I don’t know, but I’m hoping, planning on, assuming good luck at the very least.
DAVID- Can you make it to my opening? I’ll pick you up at the airport, give you a good place to sleep, even feed you.
Ciao,
Michael
Does anybody know anything (should I put the question mark here?)
about the growing artist community or real estate in Pawtucket Rhode Island? Would living in such a community be kind of trite, or would it actually be a positive thing? How far off the beaten path is that place? Access to NYC?
I just read about it in a magazine and with the incentives the city is offering, it sees worth considering.
???
Michael
Happy birthday, MA SHAPIRO
I wish you from the bottom of my greek heart….
to find , achieve ,complete or incomplete, develop …. yourself,
to the point of no “rebirth” as my friend Buddha would say…
peace
L.A, feels more peaceful to me today…
Hmmm i wonder why?
CATHY…
Me?… teddybear?… sounds “incomplete”… i love it….
I can’t believe i hated you in the first place….
I talked so much s**t about you!!!, but hey, at least in your face,
not behind your back…
Love for ALL, TODAY…
It was relatively a good day.
Peace
Oh by the way… when i said good day… i meant it..
…didn’t make any money, though!!!!
lol, peace
BOBB SAID:
I LOVE TEMELCULA WINERIES! :)))))…spend many, many a long long afternoon amid those gentle hills and sunlicked vines…god, tha’ts killin’ me :))))…
Santa Ynez Region too!!!…shiiiiiit!…now im depressed ;))))
…
b
Posted by: bobblack | February 07, 2008 at 05:35 PM
PANOS’S REPLY:
…Take your family and fly here…”… no worry about your room,
you will take DAH’s room , unless is there with us… Huge house…
take advantage…”
Only one thing i need from you… just read me a story before i fell asleep…”
but for real… do something crazy… im not rich but everything i have for this “specific” minute is yours too, or “OURS” to share…
Peace…
I always wanted to be a part of a “sweet” community…
Thank you MAESTRO
Thank you DavidAH.
CATHY … THIS IS A STRAIGHT AND “COMPLETE” QUESTION:
I know i can go anf find out in the website, and blah, blah…
ok, question…?: “How much did it cost for the A Webb seminar…
I mean dough… moneys…??? paper?
QUESTION FOR ALL?
SHOULD I SKIP MY GIRLFRIENDS BIRTHDAY ( already super angry),
party and the cake cut… and go to meet CATHY and ALEX… ,
( any other day, she would love to come with me or us, dont get me wrong… but its HER birthday… 29th birthday… beautiful , hot like lava, girl from PRAGUE… its her birthday.. up to 10 ten friends come from all over america… ).
People of this forum.. help?
What should i do?
As “THE CLASH”….. one of my favorite bands use to sing:
“SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO”!!?… now
desperately SEEKING ANSWER:
peace
ONE MORE THING….
I’m tired seeing my comments and the same names over and over…
people my english is terrible.. i shouldnt blame the car or the iphone for that…
I know many of you are from different countries( like me),
and you very worried about your english skills!
Please get involved..
WE need your fresh ideas.. we only talk about L.A,N.Y…
and all that bullshit full of glam and lies and silicon and bottox…
Do i love it… YES… but dont be me…be you…
thats why im asking everybody… fucking talk…
im tired hearing only the echo of my voice… im going crazy here..
mercy…. even if you live in the most little village in Greece…
dont be afraid speak up!
Look at my “speech” above… full of mistakes… i think faster than i write… my lazy fingers only “roll” fast, they dont type fast…
All that… get involved lazy asses!… I was working all day too…
I know!
Panos…
I also “connect” deeply with that song. Relatives used to tease me about not being able to make a decision by singing it.
Cathy says…STAY with the girlfriend. You will be sitting listening to Alex and thinking “This isn’t so great” or “I should be with her” and won’t be able to enjoy yourself.
Plus, then I won’t have to wear makeup :))
(that’s a joke)
Anna and I will tell you what you missed. Look at Alex Webb’s portfolio on the Magnum site and you will see his same slide show and not miss the party.
I will check my records but it cost $400-something for two and a half days…I paid over a year ago so don’t remember. I didn’t pay to take a workshop with Alex…I signed up for a workshop with JAMES NACHTWEY, the great.. but over the last year it was first postponed and eventually cancelled and since I had a credit I decided to go ahead and take another workshop. This will be far from a weekend with Nachtwey but I’m sure it will be inspirational and illuminating in some way…at least I hope so!
Panos: do not under any circumstances leave your woman on her birthday. You have every right to do so, but you will regret it in soooooo many ways for the rest of your relationship, that, by the way, may be shorter than you had planned.
PANOS – NO! SIT! STAY
Michael
Michael S.
Happy Birthday!
My sister in law lives in Pawtucket. Good pizza…suburb of Providence…somewhat depressing if you ask me but it’s been years since I’ve been there. Boston is an hour away. New York not so close. Real estate is reasonable.
Cathy, thanks.
Michael
Now i see the truth…
TRUTH is i messed up royally ….
I talked to much about promising coverage and photos…
almost “put” DAH on an airplane… really already purchased all the
“groceries” for the DAH after party in the wineries….
and now…
“SHE”… is “UPSTAIRS”….not even talking to me…
Literally, even if i stay… with her… im missing both of the events,…
you see what i mean? already emotionally cold… damage is done
already…
dont you think this is a good reason to go??? to see A Webb? …
and of course CATHY & ANNA???
“29th birthday… beautiful , hot like lava, girl from PRAGUE”
You would give that up for me, Anna and Alex???
Hmmm….
damage is done
already…
AT this point, the damage is temporary. Apologize for your carelessness, your insensitivity, your being born.
Who do you want to live with, your woman or Alex?
Michael
DAVID… just back from NOLA and I can’t even begin to catch up on the posts here. New Orleans was a wild ride and a very rich experience. Ready for DR now. Craving a warm beach and some fresh fruit.
I meet another of your homeless photog neighbors in New Orleans. Someone should document what each of you do for the next 6 months…
I would actually, i dont want to say more… but for photography…
I would let my mother bleed in the pavement…. i would run in the car… get the camera… or if not in the car… i would google the nearest camera store on my iphone… go there.. purchase one…
go back in the scene (bleeding mother), i would charge the battery in the car, pop the little flash and then click … without any “bracketing” necessary…
Then i would call 911 and the paramedics or something like that…
WHY????
“Well… its my mother you know…
ohhh, i think she is coming downstairs… peace for now….
let me restart this computer or someth
CALIFORNIA CROWD…
ok, i cannot make it to the Alex Webb lecture and the party Panos is planning ….and NOBODY (that is me!!) hates to miss a good party more that me ….NOBODY (me again) in their right mind would even consider such a flight for a spontaneous gathering, but surely i would if i could but i can’t so i won”t…homelessness does have it’s freedoms, but it also has it’s downside!! it is too complicated to explain, but i must go to washington on saturday to clear my books out of that apartment (lived there 15 yrs) which is now under contract for sale..if i do not do this, i cannot close the sale….so, that is why i cannot fly to california (i could have put off the meeting somehow)….will SOMEBODY (that is you) please give Julia Dean a hug for me….she was a student of mine in Maine a long long time ago…and , of course, i know that SOMEBODY (you again) will take pictures of the gathered tribe…
now, since i cannot make this one and it is killing me, i will come up with a plan so that many of us can meet….sort of a new version of the Burning Man fest…
ok, i need coffee…totally addicted..
back soonest…
cheers, david
p.s. NOBODY (not even me) would leave their girlfriend on her birthday for any reason!!!
DAVID
if you tell us a little in advance, maybe I could make it too?! I would so much love to meet everyone. But Germany is a little far off. Especially because I just remembered I do have to have my passport renewed. Probably now with all additional biometric information or whatever they are up to now. I would not wonder if it takes 12 weeks to get.
Crazy, crazy…
But I’d really try if I get a chance to come and meet the bunch :)
MICHAEL
Herzliche Glückwünsche zum Geburtstag from me too! And a virtual hug from this part of the world. Might your wildest dreams come true!
My coffee is cold. Little Hunter (the dog) sleeping soundly on my lap and I do not dare to get up to reach for my bowl of coffeine…
Best for all,
Lassal
PANOS
don’t leave your girlfriend at this day! If not for her, than for yourself.
:)
JOHN R. FULTON…
yes, amigo , yes…”Exiles” is one of the greatest photo books ever!! i am still trying to get the black dog cover shot out of Joseph for my wall….
ANON…
this is a good and fair question….how do i survive money-wise??? i ask myself this question every day!!!
however, this is what happened in 2007…every year is different…
yes, my archive does give me some income every month…this is why i tell emerging photogs to protect and prize their copyright and their archive the way they would protect any piece of property…it is your legacy for one thing, your income for another…
workshops do not provide substantial income, but they do keep me “on my toes” and i always photograph in the countries i visit and this feeds the archive…mostly, workshops are the best symbiotic relationship for me that i know…the perfect give and take relationship..everyone is happy…very fulfilling …workshops take up about a third of my time….oh yes, in this same genre, i do receive occassional speaking fees…
print sales are now becoming a larger part of my income…. …..exhibitions account for some income….this is the most rewarding way to earn money in photography…funding coming because someone likes your work..period..i am now putting more effort into this area that in the past was simply a “by-product” of assignments….
cultural projects, like the ones i did in Thailand and Korea last summer, add to the archive and are relatively lucrative….book and exhibits follow…these projects are terrific, but few and far between…
i usually do one to three advertising shoots each year…last year i did three…..they take up the least time and provide the best income…most of them are fun to do, but i do not plan my life around them at all..that would be a mistake..
magazine assignments account for the least income…there just are few magazines with substantial budgets anymore….i love magazines and i earned my living for many years with the best of all for long-term funding..National Geographic…i did one assignment for Natgeo last year on the Mexican cowboys…short but sweet…
like almost all Magnum photographers, my philosophy is this: work on personal heartfelt projects…avoid assignments when possible unless they fit in with a personal project..(Divided Soul came from a series of assignments with the goal of book in mind all along)..remember , your books and your exhibitions are at the top of the creative “food chain” so do those at all costs…once you “taste book”, the menu never looks the same again!!!
remember, it is archive archive and archive and legacy, legacy and legacy!!!!….this “attitude” usually means keeping your expenses and general overhead low….i need few material possession, i finance few material possessions…
earning a living as a freelance photographer is always a scramble…and, over the years, i have had to re-invent the way i earned my living many times…NOT RE-INVENT THE WAY I WORK, just re-invent the way i earn my living…
my main philosophy which applies to all of the above: no arrogance, shun hubris…
any day that i can wake up and not think i am “going to work” is a good day…i have my camera with me everyday all the time and photograph all the time…it is a pleasure…keeping photography a pleasure is a full time job!!!
in the past, no doubt i have been lucky, i have been blessed…. however, i have no clue about future funding….
however, i am so so excited about my next shooting project that will take me all year and take advantage of being homeless!!! since this is one that i will have to do “on my own”, i have no idea how i will earn a living while doing it….stay tuned!!
cheers, david
michael S: :))
I know PAWTUCKET D! :)))…i know the place well….:))
I lived in Providence for 4 years as I helped my little brother get through the art school RISD. I lived in Providence from 88-90 as a freshly minted starving artist helping my younger brother (little starving artist) get through that ridiculously expensive and famous school…actually, I LOVED RHODE ISLAND…it was a weird and odd state, but i loved the accent, the people, the towns, the water, the beaches…and the island…
Pawtucket is a weird town, but even then there was a strong arts community (mostly from Risd and NYC), as well as other places in ri..
It isnt off the beaten track at all and parts (by the Bay) are gorgeous, as is all of RI around the bay (both sides)…RI has changed alot and at the time i lived in RI, Providence was going through its “renaissance”..sort of ;)))…
RI is totally “small” and a bit provincial, but it’s got extraordinary character and charm and the people are real folk (what i loved) and it’s a great place to escape the pretense of boston or NYC…
if ur a big city boy, maybe it’ll be weird, but, well, i think there are other more interesting places in RI to live, but there is lots there…as for “artist colony” it isnt really like the LongIsland East of the 50′s/60′s…or the Providencetown of lore…its more like, ummmmm, well, someone who thinks “cool, gonna move to an artist colony” kind of place…
that said, i’d live in RI again, but it would have to be a beach town (part of pawtucket is that) and not …
instead, look at Bristol, Greenwich, Warwick, charlestown, even beloved Newport for more interesting place…
either way, RI is a much more interesting place than what most folk thing…
from providence (where pawtucket is across the river from) to boston: ~1.25 hr via trail (easy cool trip) and to nyc like 4 hrs (if memory is correct)..
good luck!
cheers
bob
.
yo david! :)))))))))))
CHRIS ANDERSON WAS A WORLD PRESS AWARD! :))…JUST RECEIVED THE ANNOUNCEMENT!
JUST SEND HIM AN EMAIL…
BIG PROPS TO THAT DOG! :))))
HUYGS
B
David,waking up to read your last post was a wonderful thing. It answered questions, disillusioned in a good way.
The archives- precisely how do they make you money? Images sold for advertising?
More as I scroll up and read.
Michael
BOBB “its more like, ummmmm, well, someone who thinks “cool, gonna move to an artist colony” kind of place”
Exactly what I suspected, though it was just a little voice.
Thanks.
Michael
David -
Many thank you’s for responding to my question above. Illuminating and inspiring… but as a 50-something, it’s kind of late for me to establish archives…
I’ve spent my career as a freelancer, mostly working on assignment, hustling, putting kids through college, keeping cars repaired, studio rent paid, and all of the other things that distract one from what might be their true vision. In the grand scheme of things I’d say I’ve had a successful career — so many fellow photographers and former assistants have moved on to other things, so I guess I must have some talent in my favor… however…
how long can one operate as a freelancer moving literally from day to day looking for that next client, doing the next promo, sending the next e-mail blast… You look around and there is so much young talent — and you sometimes take solace knowing that today’s celebrated hotshot is no longer heard from in a year or two… I don’t know…
there are a few reps who take fine art photographers and turn them into advertising photographers, alec soth is with one of those photogs… advertising money is insane, i wonder who you have done work for???… it’s like being an investment banker (for a day or two!!!) you might consider that, because 4 days of work can turn into a year’s income, it’s nuts…
selling prints as you said is the best… well almost the best… i think getting a call to send someone a jpeg for stock photo use is the best, it’s a simple ka-ching! … whereas a print you have to make to your satisfaction… can you imagine how great it would be to be alec soth? huge prints, good dough, an insatiable audience, a talent for making that art-speak which collectors love, and a pretty darn good photographer to boot…. kudos to that man for having the guts to follow his instincts…
i’m going to re-read your response — again!!! — and make a promise to myself to find the joy in photography — while i love it and can’t do anything else, when it’s your living it’s a complicated relationship…
but… i’m rambling now, like so many of the blog denizens here do so often, sorry folks!
looking forward to hearing what your next personal project is… and good luck moving those books! those by the way are probably worth more than you imagine.
“ANON.”
SHOULD I SKIP MY GIRLFRIENDS BIRTHDAY?
No. Trust me on this one, Panos, you do not want to do this. Forgetting your girl friend’s birthday is bad enough, but skipping it altogether to meet other people tells her that she is not the most important person in your life, and it seems that most girl friends want to believe that they are the most important person in their boy friends’ lives. So, to repeat, DO NOT DO THIS…EVER! You have been warned.
ALL – Anybody want to place bets on Panos’ choice later today?
NEED TO VENT – Shit-I discovered my 28mm lens that lives on my camera was loose, wobbly. I called Leica, sent it in overnight. They had promised to get right at it. They didn’t. Last I heard, it was sitting in their warehouse, untouched. For as expensive as that stuff is, you’d expect royal treatment, but NO))).
BUT- I really like my 35. Hmm, maybe it’s a sign.
Thanks for listening.
Michael
hmmmm…. advertisments… I think I mentioned it before so it is no harm talk a little about that.
I do not do just storyboards but a lot of layout-illustrations for international campaings. At the moment I do live from this work mainly and finace my photography projects and travels throught this. I have no photography background and do not know any serious photographers other than the people on this blog. Which for me now is a true blessing. Much changed in me since I found photography … and since I found this blog. But that now is besides the point.
Let’s talk about photography, layout, and commercials!
I started drawing for commercials to finance my studies (of architecture) and am a whitness of a process, that is making the life of commercial photographers more and more difficult.
Due to a lot of things, especially financial reasons, and due to the fact, that branding, marketing in general etc. is really taking over a world that is so full of competing products, the client (not the agency) is wanting more and more decision power. This is making a complex story a little flat, forgive me, but the point is … While a couple of years ago I had to do a simple scribble to illustrate the idea of a treatment (leaving the following up photographer plenty of room to be creative) now I practically (and more and more often) am asked to draw the photo on a more and more realistic way, thus narrowing in any possible photographic freedom.
They are paying me lot’s of money for that. And the only reason, why it is not done more often is, at least in my case, that it cannot usually be done in one night, because I need feedback in between. Very few agencies are so well organized to get their briefing in on time. But they are getting better at it. Why? Because the client wants so. The Client wants to see what he will get. And very often it is the top level that wants to decide the direction of the new campaing. Or at least they want to think they decided. AND… well, you will not give a Top Manager a black ‘n’ white scribble… So I have to really go realistic as much as time allows. And then … guess what happens? They make all kind of little changes (haircolors, mimic, clothing…) things, that do not really matter, as originally the whole reason for the meeting was to get an IDEA across. But the decision-people are often not the creative ones, and they think that all is a you-will-get-what-you-see thing. And at the end, when hair, mimic, clothing, clouds, etc. are ok, they want to have THAT picture. Not similar, no, they really want to have THAT picture.
I never envy the photographers…
Take one huge international company, which I work for, for example. Most of the people (at least in Germany) know the campaign with the great landscapes in the background that reflect somehow what the product (in the foreground) does or which emotions it should trigger…
I get the briefing: we want to see the product from the front, from the side, the buttons on the top are important, and acually we do have to be able to look inside, too.
?!?
Picasso and his cubism could do such. I have to trick around a lot … whilst thinking “it’s impossible” over and over and over.
So it is a lot of perspective tricksing. And then … the photographer gets it. And people from one of the agency, that I know very well, tell me about the agony… They want to have it JUST LIKE THE ILLUSTRATION! Which is not possible for the Photographer. And he has no freedom for being creative himself at all. He just has to deliver. And more than once I got a call and helped out in the background with the perspective.
At the end, I have to say that the “wrongness” of the perspective helps the image to stand out in a way. It becomes a little bit supenatural, which the company likes a lot…
But the photographer… no fun he had.
Now the new development: They asked me, if I could not do the whole thing from the start. Which means they want to ditch the photographer completely and I am suposed to do the “photography” by illustrating it.
That is what is happening. And this is just one example. I am just now asking if I could share the images with you, so you know what I am talking about. But as weekend is coming…
Of course this is just starting now. It will take a time. And it will never be JUST so. But I am observing this for a while now and not just I.
So the “little” commercial photographer with no big name of it’s own will MAYBE start to feel this soon. Although I do not think the big names will feel it. When you do have a name in the arts and do a commercial job for a huge amount of money, they’ll generally let you do more or less what you want. It is your name they want. And if you carry this name you probably will deliver a great set of pictures anyway.
And besides that… Even earning enough money with that, they did their maths and as an illustrator without studio, assistant, lights, make-up artist, casting etcetcetcetc, they would save a lot of money. They know that. They tell me that. It is crazy and a little scary too. Even for me.
And by the way, it is not much fun making this realistic stuff. I prefer to make 200 scribbles to 1 realistic illustration. It is just very boring.
So things are moving … And there are a lot of great illutrators working out there. And a lot of them are struggeling for work. Often because they do not know how to sell. But there are a lot of reps out there collecting them in…
The word is big. Changes start someplace and take a lot of time to establish themselves. But I think this would be interesting for you to know?
Michael,
My husband (who has spent a lot more time in RI than I have…since it’s his sister who lives there)…says if he were to pick one place in RI to live, it would be Bristol.
CATHY, thanks. I asked about only because I read an article about this town trying to attract artists. I actually never thought about moving there before I read it.
All I know right now, is that I want to sell this acreage in South Dakota and spend more time shooting.
Thanks again for relaying information.
Hammer [Groucho Marx]: … Now here is a little peninsula, and here is a viaduct leading over to the mainland.
Chico: Why a duck?
Hammer: I’m all right. How are you? I say here is a little peninsula, and here’s a viaduct leading over to the mainland.
Chico: All right. Why a duck?
Hammer: I’m not playing Ask-Me-Another. I say, that’s a viaduct.
Chico: All right. Why a duck? Why a— why a duck? Why-a-no-chicken?
Hammer: I don’t know why-a-no-chicken. I’m a stranger here myself. All I know is that it’s a viaduct. You try to cross over there a chicken, and you’ll find out why a duck. It’s deep water, that’s viaduct.
Lots of people argue about politics; in fact, arguing about politics is one of the great pleasures, if you can call it that, of American life and has been since the founding of the Republic. Very few people other than academics, though, actually argue about the political philosophies that underlie those arguments; most people prefer to concentrate instead on the day to day maneuvering and staged news events that constitute the foam on the surface of the political sea. I think more people would talk about political philosophy if someone kept the academics out of the discussion altogether, since most of them are fairly liberal, if not actual left wingers of one sort or another; professors are, as a rule, annoying the way your neighbor’s kids are annoying, which is too say all the damn time and never more so than when they let that damn dog of theirs wander around the neighborhood peeing on your mother’s azaleas, but that’s another story; and left wingers, like any other insecure religious believer, like to shout down anyone who disagrees with them. This makes them disagreeable to be with on the whole, especially if they are Marxists, since they may mistake you for an oppressed proletarian and try some brand new lines of agitprop on you to gauge their overall effectiveness, hoping to stir some good old fashioned revolutionary class struggle with a pernicious but otherwise fairly harmless kulak counter-revolutionary capitalist running dog like your local Korean fruit stand owner before they go home to the suburbs and eat some vegan quiche for supper.
I bring this up because one of my co-workers, a graduate student who wants to work with children after she gets her masters degree, for reasons that elude me at the moment (you can skip the next bit if you want and start up with and I; you won’t miss anything important); the concept of willingly working with children always reminds me of great souls like Father Damien or Albert Schweitzer or Mother Teresa, living saints who spend their lives working with lepers or condemned prisoners or advertising executives; you’re happy that someone works on behalf of these poor unfortunate wretches, and you’re equally happy, if not even more so, that the someone who works with them isn’t you; and I (welcome back to the main part of the sentence; the weather here is fine, sunny and high in the low 70’s with a chance of showers later tonight) found ourselves talking about Marxism for some reason. We discussed the great dogmas of that great secular faith: dialectical materialism, the surplus value of labor, the dictatorship of the proletariat, the class struggle and the inevitable triumph of the workers, religion as the opiate of the masses, and then she posed a question about the central tenet of the Marxist faith. She was skeptical of many Marxist claims, and one may say that in the light of recent history she has every right to be skeptical, and she wondered aloud if anyone had ever done a systematic and scientific examination of the factors involved in the Marxist conundrum of why a duck?
Indeed, one may well ask why a duck and not some other species of waterfowl? The question of why a duck is an old one, as I am sure you know, predating the existence of Marxism by at least a millennium. In the Middle Ages, schools of philosophy contended bitterly over the question, with angry mobs of students coming constantly to blows in the streets of Paris and Bologna and cheese with mustard, with many a university suspended from competition for years because of irregularities in recruiting star philosophers. The medieval nominalists held that only the individual duck existed, that ducks as a class merely reflected the individual duck down to the webbed feet, the quack, and the insatiable drive to sell supplemental health insurance. The medieval realists believed that ducks derived their inherent duckiness from their being part of the greater class of ducks and from owning a really cool motorcycle, which then, as now, was a babe magnet, and that the individuality of specific ducks was less important than the larger category of duck to which all ducks belonged…yeah, I know, this is all a bit much, but it was the Middle Ages, remember; there were no movies, no television, much less cable TV, no computer games or any computers to play them on. They had to do something to pass the time and arguing about whether ducks came by their identity through their individual characteristics or through their membership in the National Hockey League was a good way to kill a year or two. Remember how dumb you’re going to look to your descendants a thousand years from now and cut these people some slack, okay? Medieval peasants, to round out the argument, thought that both schools of thought had a good deal of merit, intellectually speaking, but most held to the opinion that no matter which school’s argument was the more valid, ducks still tasted pretty damn good when you could catch them, particularly if damp and moldy rye bread is all you’ve had to eat since you were a kid.
Marxists, as a rule, follow the realist approach to the question of why a duck. Such categories as class and duck, after all, are human constructs, after all, templates that are dishwasher safe and won’t break even if hurled at a wall by a happy Greek dancing to the theme music from Zorba the Greek at a wedding he’s not paying for; free food does that to people sometimes. In any case, this reduction of ducks to a mere category, one of many, suits the philosophical bent of most Marxists, who seem to despise most species involved in the insurance business, but this aversion has little or nothing to do with the larger question of why a duck. The most popular answer of the twentieth century was I don’t know, I’m a stranger here myself, but I feel that in our more modern age we can safely say, without fear of contradiction, why the hell not a duck, and to say so with great confidence. Now why Marxists loathe the insurance business so much is another question entirely, and one beyond the scope of this inquiry, but the dislike appears real enough, based on the historical evidence of the past century. I find it hard to think of a twentieth century Marxist state where I’d feel comfortable selling life and property insurance, given the usual Marxist prejudices about life and property.
Okay, you’re thinking, what the hell does any of the above have to do with how and where and how or even why someone comes up with good photgraphic ideas. The answer to this entirely sensible question is, of course, not a goddam thing. There’s a lot of this sort of thing going on these days, what with global warming and the rise of atheistic fundamentalism, and you shouldn’t be surprised if this situation, like that rash you’ve been scratching for the past week and a half, doesn’t go away any time soon.
Michael S
Providence, nifty little city, lots of renovation, bargains are fewer and further between these days, actually long gone, but lots of restaurants, brown univ and very famous RISD there, it’s the capital, they have a wonderful green market, it’s not far from the water, pawtucket is old mills, a funky, beat but on the rebound town, artists, yes, but are they making a living? dunno… you just gotta go and see it for yourself… boston folks are moving to prov, have been for awhile, cheaper… about an hour or so… is it way different than desolate SD? YES!
hey Panos, you idiot! (teasing):
“If you don’t take her out tonight
she’s going to change her mind
And I will take her out tonight
And I will treat her kind
You’re going to lose that girl
If you don’t treat her right, my friend
You’re going to find her gone
‘Cause I will treat her right and then
You’ll be the lonely one
I’ll make a point of taking her away from you
Yeah, the way you treat her, what else can I do
You’re going to lose that girl”
;-)
Hi David,
May I have question?
what you prefer,beautful perfect very very interesting picture but you don’t see photographer in this photo, or rather not perfect pictures but you see photographer, his character, mood,life, mind?
Martin
Akaky,
Atheistic fundamentalism? Rising?
UPDATE- Now Leica called and said that my lens is there (it was there yesterday) and they’ll look at it on Monday. I sent it overnight on Wednesday, thinking I’d have it back today.
Why aren’t they cooperating!!!
“Hi, we have your eyeball; we couldn’t look at the day it got here; we can’t look at it the day we find out we have it; now we’ll sit on it for three days, and tell you when we can give you back your eye.”
Isn’t there some kind of moral imperative that should be at work here?
Which came first, Leica or the individual duck? Obviously, the individual Leica duck, because if it had been Leica, no one would have bought their cameras.
Writers have it made. Hey, my pencil broke!
Thanks again.
Michael
Michael :))
as i said, i lived in Providence for 4 years and know lots of artists there (since my brother went ot RISD and most of my friends were RISD grads or instructors)…
Bristol is a great town, sam with Greenwich and anywhere really (read the novel SPARTINA, great book about RI and the Naragansett Bay)….
providence/ri is DEFINITELY NOT desolate, and i love that state…you dont need an “artist colony” to love the place…and damn, the clams are brilliant:
Quahog anyone? ;))))
ANON: :))..right on…its a great place…funny, i lived there before the Providence renewal…before there was a “canal” ;)))….
cheers
b
AKAKY
I always had you figured for a closet MARXIST anyway… the only real question is, are you a GROUCHO MARXIST or a CHICO MARXIST? Or do you try to synthesize this thesis and antithesis?
Also, if it LOOKS LIKE A DUCK, WALKS LIKE A DUCK, and QUACKS LIKE A DUCK… then it’s probably a native speaker of CANTONESE! I still haven’t to my own satisfaction figured out ‘Why a duck?’ but I know their are already more than 80 million of them and counting… and they will probably eventually rule the earth just on the merits of their culinary skills alone.
As you probably know, Canada is a bilingual country, and out here on the West Coast (also known as the ‘Left Coast’) Vancouver is now a completely ‘bi-lingual city’… Mandarin and Cantonese! How can a non-speaker of Chinese dialects tell the difference? It’s pretty easy , really… (Ducks quacking? Cantonese! Cats f**king? Mandarin!) To say ‘Happy New Year!’ (Lunar New Year, of course) in Cantonese, ‘Gung Hei Fat Choy!’ In Mandarin, ‘Gong Xi Fa Cai!’. And that ‘Xi’ sounds like ‘hhssshee’ and that ‘Cai’ sounds like ‘ttsssigh’, just like cats hissing, see? Xi? Hsi?
Incidentally, in my childhood and youth I was more of a GROUCHO MARXIST but as I got older and more mature, I discovered the more subtle depths of CHICO MARXISM. My favorite Chico Marx story is about how he used to practise the piano. Marx Brothers fans will know that Chico was a brilliant pianist. But he was also an inveterate womanizer. He would say to one of his buddies, ‘I need to practise the piano today’. Then he would soak his hands in a bowl of warm water for five minutes. After that, he’d say, ‘That’s enough practise for today! Let’s go find some tomatoes!’
Long Live the Revolution,
Sidney
Michael Kircher,
Incidentally, Akaky is right on about ‘atheistic fundamentalism rising.’ Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, etc. etc. A whole spate of books in the last year or two by well-known atheist ‘thinkers’. Just FYI.
Sidney
I’m off to LA…See you soon Anna.
PANOS????
Wish me luck everyone!