please check under the "Movies" section off of the "Home Page" here to see an upload of both the Emerging Photographers and Photographic Essay student workshop slide shows presented at the Look3 Festival last week….we sized this to play easily , but you will still have a significant download time since they are each about a 100mb file…they should both be up within the next two or three hours..
you will have to use your imagination a bit….this showing at Look3 was in a movie theater with the imagery pumped through a 250k projector…your pictures never looked better…..but, you will at least get some idea right here…next time, show up!!!
anyway, get yourself a cold beer and some popcorn…then sit back and enjoy!!
some contributors to this forum….a bit unruly when not at their keyboards!!
JAMES CHANCE…
damn, i looked at the line at the New York division of motor vehicles and came straight back home…i hate standing in line and i spend half my life standing in line!!!
of course i do not edit the posts!!! i have no idea what happened to your last post..you should always copy…of course, i never actually do that, but that is what you should do!!!
cheers, david
DAVID, thank you!! I understand … i do … it’s just … no excuses …. okay, thinking, working, being …
ERIC E., I have always been such a big fan of your work, cannot even begin to express how much, your work clicks with me so perfectly like few others perhaps because where you are now is where i have always wanted to go … i have always thought you are such a rarity, a true natural … your next level i cannot even imagine but i am in the stands with the big foam finger cheering you on!!!
ALL, can’t thank you enough for looking and comments, reading all carefully … Panos, you are right on :))) got it :)))
Hi David… I have a license renewal tip: Last time I went to the downtown dmv (way downtown… 11 Greenwich Street at Battery Park Place) at about 3:30 (half hour before they close…) and there was no line at all, in and out in 15 minutes. Maybe I was lucky, but my boss when I worked down there told me that’s the way it usually is there late afternoons… a Wall Street secret.
PATRICIA..
ok, i “bailed” on the DMV line and came back and looked at your site…
i am wrestling with the best way to go for you..you could go two ways…one, is to show “your world” , which is pretty much what you have done…the other, is to not let anyone know what “your world” really is…and you have some fine pictures in that category too…
what do you think?? i mean you have some strong self portraits or at least pictures featuring your life and environment…others are not so specific and could have been taken by any photographer…this should be a long personal conversation between us and we just cannot do that…for me, i could see it either way…
do you know the book by Bill Owens titled “Suburbia”?? check it out…in this book Bill photographs suburban California…all the way thru the book the viewer “assumes” that Bill is poking fun at the suburbanites in his photographs…and THEN, comes the last photo in the book…it is Bill in the mirror …in his living room…he is ONE OF THEM..surprise!!
you could do the same thing….have a book where we have no idea of your circumstances…then, at the very end is one of your strong self portraits….
i am not saying for you to take this route…it is just an option…
or, you could make every photograph a self portrait…this is actually where you are now, but i am wondering if this is really the best way…if you stay “inside” , then each picture should have a “reason” or a relationship to your environment…if you go “outside” then you need a whole different essay to do….if you go that way, what would that story be??? for example, you could have shot the essay that Kyunghee Lee did at the beach…alleged physical “limits” just would not be a factor..pure vision at work….and viewers would all be tweaked with surprise and irony at “your world” and vantage point….
when i saw your original dance pictures, i had no idea of “your world”..at that point , you had never mentioned it…so if i did not know, nobody would know…you could have been shooting away at “dance” and the irony at the end would have been powerful…
actually, there is a third way…NEVER reveal yourself….pick a “doable” subject (like dance) and just do it…you have fewer “restrictions” than someone using a large format camera for example…you can capture moments and expression much easier than a photographer who has to set up a tripod and then hood focus and then take one very deliberate picture at a time…so what if the pictures were from a particular vantage point??? if the pictures were strong, nobody would notice anything at all….when people see strong pictures , they just see strong pictures…
aside from some technical things you need to control and some serious editing you need to do, you can go either way…what is your inclination???
cheers, david
MIKE…
Wall Street secrets???? hmmmm, aren’t we in a recession??? just joking, but i was thinking maybe that would be the best way to go…or, very very early in the morning before they even open…
anyway, thanks for the “insider tip”….
cheers, david
Eric E:
Very impressive work! You’ve been one of my favorite photographers on the DAH blog since I first saw your workshop stuff. After David’s profound advice my own would seem trivial, but just FYI, here are my favorite shots from your Ghetto Boxing slide show: 1, 4, 5, 11, 12, 14, 15, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24
Looking forward expectantly to the evolution of this story!
Tom H:
You know I am familiar with your work and like it, but honestly, what is it with the tilted horizon? Since you are doing it consistently, from almost the same angle in each frame from the Pike Place Market shots, it must be deliberate, not something that comes from the demands of a particular shot or composition. Do you really think this adds drama, movement, or context that would otherwise be missing? I know lots of younger photographers do this… but somehow it doesn’t feel like you to me (?). Otherwise, I would echo David… there’s a lot going on at the market, but what is the story you’re trying to tell? (Incidentally, I have photographed the Pike Place Market several times, although not in a focused ‘photo-sessay’ kind of way.)
Cheers,
LISA, will this do? I hope it’s enough to keep the wolf from the door.
Dear Real Estate,
As I am sure you already know, my daughter Lisa’s rent is currently in Arrears for three weeks. I am not sure what it is doing there; Arrears has always struck me as a dreary sort of place, filled with accountants and life insurance salesmen determined to have a good time doing whatever it is accountants and life insurance salesmen do to have a good time. This, I think, is a subject best left to psychologists and other mental health professionals; if you look too long into the abyss, Nietzsche wrote, the abyss will look into you, and probably ask you for some spare change. If the rent was doing this sort of thing here in Upper NotOz, I’d say that this was proof positive that the rent was a Boston Red Sox fan, which is odd, now that I think of it, what with Boston’s large Irish-American community, most of whom are there in Boston because they couldn’t afford the rent in Ireland back in the day. In any case, I have just gotten a postcard from the rent, in which he describes the foul weather they’ve been having this season in Arrears, which gives him something to talk about, I guess, but frankly, I don’t give a rat’s ass one way or the other about the weather there. He does say, though, that he will be home to Lisa just as soon as he can.
Given this, I trust that you will give Lisa a brake until the rent shows up. If the weather is as bad in Arrears as he says it is, then I am sure he will come back to Lisa just as soon as he can. Between you and me, I never liked that moocher; he’s one of those guys that women can’t get enough of-why, I don’t know. Five will get you ten he’s not in Arrears by himself, if you follow my meaning. A two timing four-flushing swine is a two timing four-flushing swine no matter how much Lisa sings his praises, but what do I know? I’m just a dad. While you’re waiting for the rent to show himself, why don’t you just kick back and watch Lisa wandering around the countryside bashing little bunny rabbits over the head without her knickers on? You might want to join her as she does her lepicidal best for God, Queen, and Oz; certainly everyone needs a hobby in these stressful times, I think.
Sincerely yours,
Akaky Akakyevich Bashmachkin
YOUNG TOM, JAMES, PATRICIA, LANCE, RAFAL, AUDREY, LAURA, NASHA, MICHAEL, SYDNEY,
Thanks to all of you for your strong words of encouragement. This means a lot to me…There is nothing that is more inspiring than to have you all see the work, respond to it…This feels me with energy to take on the challenge of DAVID….
DAVID, the one thing I love about you is this constant healthy push to keep elevating our “game”…I understand what you are pushing me to do…and will go to school on Larry Fink etc. I was familiar with the work of Miguel Rio Branco but not of Larry so will go and check… I remember the first time I met you at the first workshop…I had brought you a portfolio with some images I had taken from Cuba…your reaction on a picture I had taken of someone exercising was a classic… You had told me at the time that I was too distant… You told me to get close, to see the pain, the sweat on this man’s face….In a way, I tried to get closer with this boxing work…you certainly see the sweat now :) :) but may be not enough emotion and I also see what you mean with the need to add ny own spin so that it looks more personal…. So, great push and I will have a go at this….can only get to a better stronger work if I succeed…Not much I can do over the next 10 days as these kids are away but will pick this up as soon as they are back.
Thanks to all for the great constructive feedback.
Cheers,
Eric
Thanks Sidney, I always greatly appreciate you and what you have to say and i’m glad to see you here again … and I am agreeing with you too, a bit embarrassed by too many tilts :)) I will continue with this … focus in, get closer, level out a bit, and loosen up just a little more. I’ll find my story, get IN. I don’t get to Seattle much and by way of explanation, not excuse, I had a few hours Friday night to kill when an editorial assignment got put on hold pending corporate approval and I fell in love with the market area, the light and the potential … i’ve never shot freeform street much and my young still-forming skills tend to go moldy in my little isolated rainforest hermitage out here in upper Satsop watershed (a little south of Matlock). But i now have a great place to stay in Seattle anytime with wonderful, generous new friends so … no excuses, more people, more work, more fun :)))
And hey, I would love to drive up, buy you lunch and see you in Bellingham this summer … we can talk about NG and your favorites … would sometime in August work?
tom
p.s. you really do look exactly like i imagined … :))
ALL
Just tried to shoot alone for the assignment, and I did manage to photograph 3 people using just the rollei, but it was pretty darn hard (approaching un-doable) to manage all the things of my outdoor studio alone. (I also had to bring 2 dogs with me to make things crazier) For one thing, it felt like I needed a megaphone so I could ask people if I can photograph them, as I couldn’t walk away from all the gear..but I was so frustrated sitting here not shooting. At least I tried, and will continue to try to do this alone, but I am very grateful for those who are helping when they can.
ERIC
really very nice work, and I especially love the ones that are ‘dirty’ in quality, something cinematic about them. I could give specifics, but seems as if you have a hold on this for the moment..
DAVID
I very much appreciate your taking the time to view and seriously consider my recent work. The options you present are clearly articulated and will take some serious thought on my part.
I keep trying to see this not as “my” work or what would be best for me & my “career” (funny to use such a word) but as part of a larger picture, that picture being what most needs to be said in this place and time.
Yes, I can see the potential power in saving any reference to my disability until the very end, hitting the viewer with it just when they think they’ve got a handle on who this photographer is and why she’s photographing what she does. That could well turn things on their head and show people that stereotypes are to be broken.
At the same time I can see value in letting the entire series be an eye into the day-to-day life of a woman who just happens to get around in a mobility scooter. I don’t know of any serious photographers who focus on their disability, do you? Except perhaps those who use photography in their work as disability activists. BTW that would not be my intent.
My intent, as I see it now, is to show rather than tell what life is like since I became disabled. Simple things like getting out of bed, getting dressed, driving a wheelchair accessible van, participating in outdoor festivals where I go eyeball-to-eyeball with children rather than their parents, having a waist-eye view of the world. It’s all about my world view.
I hope I don’t sound like an egomaniac when I say that I see this work as a serious responsibility. I mean, if I don’t do it, who will? And I believe it needs to be done and NOW. So I guess I’m leaning towards sticking with the self portrait nature of this work. But nothing’s set in stone. I still need to give it more thought. I would very much like to hear other viewpoints from the wise folks here on this blog.
So what do YOU feel would be most helpful? If you have a choice, what would you want to see?
BTW I’m also working on another series right now that features African-American elders. In conjunction with that project I’ll be digitally recording their stories. You can see a few of those pics by clicking on the following links. These were part of my daily photo blog so they also have text.
http://www.pbase.com/windchimewalker/image/99334580
http://www.pbase.com/windchimewalker/image/99259634
http://www.pbase.com/windchimewalker/image/98979255
Thanks to David and ALL of you for sharing your views with me.
Patricia
Erica, you know you’re one of my favs … and i know you will work it out, i can’t wait to see. I wish i was in New York, i’d be honored to just hold your dogs for you … can i bring my golden, too? ;-))
DAVID
Thanks for visiting my website. thanks for your time.
about e-mail exchange… I’m sorry I was busy, I missed some things. But I think everything is ok.
RAFAL
I missed your comment. I see there is some problems with my website. I thought it will be easy to navigatate.
Please tell me what browser you use?? Maybe I forgot about something…. I have to check it.
AND QUESTION FOR ALL;
I like this navigate in my website now, but if you think there is any problem please let me know.
Maybe this way of navigatation is too difficult?
Something to change?
cheers
MARCIN..
I think people are missing the fact that after you view the 4th image you get a new set of 4 thumbnails…if you have a forward or next or arrow there additionally, that would clear it up..
YOUNG Tom
that would be fun, 3 pups a playing, 2 shooters shooting..one brilliant day…
Just received an email from Katharina Hesse. In it she said “can only see the DAH site from China these days through a proxy server which doesn’t allow me to type in any comments ( most links I can even not see)”
If you’d like to be in contact with her, Katharina’s email is kathchina@yahoo.de
I know she’d like to hear from you!
Patricia
DAVID
Your feedback for Eric gave me chills.. I look forward to seeing where this goes!
MARCIN
I have a print for you ready to go.. but I still need your mail address. Please email me. Thanks!
ANYONE ELSE
Print Exchange?? (slight cringe, but I mean it)
HELLO ALL….
i am having the most amazing afternoon…the sun is setting over lower Manhattan…Mike and Marie are here and we are having a rollicking afternoon…i asked them to do a “screening” of the self portraits you submitted, none of which i had seen before….as you know i have been pretty busy since setting up this little fun judging..i always have more going than i can possibly do, but that leads me to get done more than i would do if i did not take on just a bit more than i can actually do….get it?? probably not…
anyway, what fun!!!! you guys really did it..each and every one is a treasure one way or the other…YOU ALL GET FIRST PRIZE!!!
but i promised a judging , so i guess i have to do it…but i want to publish a bunch…
so thanks to all of you for giving me so many good laughs this afternoon….ok, i gotta get back to it…Mike and Marie are laughing their heads off…i want to get back in the action….wow, the light is just spectacular right now!!!
cheers hugs et al…david
Yo Lance, I was just about to drop some prints in the mail for Panos. Must be in the air.
HELLO ALL….
i just posted my above comment as a new outside post..but, i will be hanging around this post too…i have more work to look at here for one thing..and i missed quite a few comments..
cheers, david
thank you DAVID McG !!!!!!!!!!!!