Mike waiting for me to finish this post..the boy wants to hit the road!!!!!!
i must check out of my Iowa motel right now….heading for Chicago or somewhere near Chicago…i was reading comments, looking at links and made the comment below….i decided this might make a good post , so here it is: HELLO ALL….VERY IMPORTANT!!! do any of you ever go look at the links posted by forum readers under "student work/workshops"??? there are a lot of photographers here who never write, but who do for those of you who have posted links, please be assured that I DO my only problem with some of your links posted is that there is no maybe what i should do is look at all links and then post the names yes, yes, i am very busy shooting…and i hope all of you are as only a very small percentage of what is going on in my head ends up I KNOW WHO IS DOING WHAT…but, if you think i have missed something of yours , please tell me so…. i cannot review every link nor edit all of you…but, i will see in the next month or so i want to have a very clear head about all right now, i am waiting for assignments to be finished from i will clear a space under Emerging Photographers on this site to it is basically from these assignments that the EPF jury will choose please do not think of this EPF as a contest….a contest is a one time award for a good picture or essay..goodbye… do you not think i am still tracking very carefully the China essay of Sean Gallagher, last year’s recipient of the EPF??? our forum and EPF is about LONG TERM development and yes, we are traveling together into totally new territory…the "old your ideas, thoughts and most importantly YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS have a peace, david p.s. i am still reading and responding to comments under the previous post "how the west was won"
have some very interesting work…right now there are about 175
links…please check them out…
LOOK….it is from this "pool" of work, as well as photographers on
assignment here, that i am looking for photographers to fund with the
Emerging Photographer Fund this fall….
contact information for some of you…i cannot review the work of all
of you, but when i see someone with very interesting work, i would like
to make contact…
of photographers with whom i would either like to see more or make
contact…make sense??? just as an example, i randomly clicked on the
link of Sofia Quintas and saw some Polaroids of hers that were very
very interesting and nothing like the work she had submitted for the
EPF last fall..but, i have no way to contact her…
well..but, i do pay attention to what is happening here … because i
am doing my own work it does mean there are "lapses" in my posting
here, but this forum has taken on a life of its own, and i do not
intend to let it slide away…..
in print on this forum, but do not for a nanosecond think that i am not
aware of your work…
your work and remember your work and "bookmark" your work.. i want to
make sure that all of the best will have a very fair and equal chance
at being considered for my jury this fall…
of the amazing work that is being produced by readers of this
forum…there is a lot going on and it is sometimes difficult for all
of us to keep up..but, i intend to keep up….and i will…
Bob,Cristina, Marcin, Erica, Jonathan, Kyunghee Lee, Audrey,Panos,
Sébastian, Eric, David M, and Patricia… as far as i know, i think
only James is finished…this is right off the top of my head, so
please correct me if i am wrong or have missed someone who is shooting
right now on assignment…
publish your essays when they are complete…and , of course, i am
ready to make new assignments when appropriate…
photographers for funding this fall….a photographer who posts a link
under "student work/workshops" will also be totally eligible, but
naturally photographers who are developing here before my "eyes" are
just going to have a better chance i think…
RELATIONSHIP…think of this more like a relationship with a
traditional print magazine where photographers present their work and
editors decide "who will do what" based on the work and the editor’s
judgment on who is capable of completing any particular
essay…subjective yes, but it will all happen right in front of you as
it has in the past..
territories" are either gone or going away….fast…so, what have we
got to lose??? nothing that i can see…
place right here…A HOME….there are no "bosses"…this is just me
driving down the highway, taking my own pictures , looking at yours,
and having a jolly good time doing both….
GOD DAMNED, that’s out of No Country for Old Men :)))))
at some point, i wanna do a road trip with Michael too :)))
ok, running….
let comments on last post..
hugs, drive carefully…
love from marina
running
bob
safe travels to chicago!
is there any opportunity to get a drink or a coffee or some such? would you be meeting up with other readers at some point?
figure it’s short notice and i haven’t fed into any discussions brought up here yet, but figured i’d ask since you were heading into my neck of the woods and it would be great to meet you.
Andres.
Have a nice trip David and Mike! Looking forward to your new photos!
David, it’s always nice to read your comments and enthusiasm on other projects! I’m also working on my own project now in South Africa facing different challenges and enjoying a new environment… let me tell you that all the different conversations on this site help significantly!
All the best
beatrix
DAH..
safe drives.
i clearly need to begin posting work i am currently shooting in the forum to be in with a chance of the EPF.. although the work i am currently shooting would not be the work i would like to be considered – since my on-going, long-term work is a little diffrent..
and so the question – before the fall selection, will there be a chance to propose our EPF project for consideration?
unsure of how it will work is all..
muchas thanks
david
once you mentioned the forum links it reminded me that it was one of the previous posts where i dicovered the work of Laura El Tantawy and obviouslty visited her site(you asked me about that in your reply to my comment on the self portraits project).
Should check some of those 175 links,i bet there some hidden treasure among them.
kudos to you for findind the time to look and review such amount of work.
Have a great trip!
Thank you all for your comments on the multimedia piece (DAVID McGOWAN, YOUNG TOM, BOB B, ERIC, HERVE, DAVID BOWEN, ERICA – cheers). I’m glad it’s connecting with swimmers and non-swimmers alike. My real hope is that it does connect emotionally beyond the world of competitive swimming.
BOB – I love that it resonated with you (I’m not sure I knew that you were a competitive swimmer). I LOVE/ ADORE/ can’t say enough about Narelle Autio’s work. It is almost hang-up-the camera-depressing because I feel that she’s captured it and I’m not sure I can do any more. I’d cover my walls with the underwaters from “Watercolours” if I could.
DAVID B – I still cringe at the cold water like a slap in the face. I have a real love-hate relationship with swimming (laps) to this day, but I have always loved being in the water.
Before I made any of my own comments, I wanted to put the piece up for feedback and hear other people’s impressions. I really put this out there as a draft and I think the piece and the project are still in development. I am not finished shooting, but I’ve hit a plateau and have been feeling stuck photographically and a feeling a little in limbo with the theme and where to take it. My thought was to set it aside for a while and then look with fresh eyes, but I wanted to produce something first.
This was my also my first attempt at full MM so I also put it out there as as a draft to get help. I was lucky enough to get some excellent feedback from Brian Storm which I’m going to incorporate soon. I’ll write a different comment on the production of the piece and the feedback I receive since a few people asked and it might be valuable to others here. Thanks again everyone for your comments.
DAVID – Enjoy the road and your families.
@Kelly: cool that somebody mentions Narelle Autio. Her stuff is very fresh and natural not only in colours but composition as well. The photographs she has in in-public are good.
@David: I’m sure that Audrey will give you a hard time (in a good way) with her photos. She gave me a (good) hard time with my French ;-)
ERICA – This was my first MM attempt and I didn’t have a lot of help. I have a brother that does music production that answered questions when I got stuck, but I mostly I relied on the “Help” in the software tools I was using and a lot of bumbling around. I used a sound editing program for the audio track and a video editing program to combine the stills and video clips. I don’t have/ wasn’t up for buying Final Cut Pro yet, so I used what Apple gave me (Garage Band and iMovie HD 6).
A few gems from Brian Storm’s feedback:
Positives – It’s nice, well done, has all the elements. Good natural sound. Nice first video.
Improve – Connect the voice with the person to make it more personal. This can be done with timing and with text introduction of people in some cases. Work on the audio mix; drop the music in some places. The font and speed makes the text hard to read. Cut the narrative as tight as possible – work off a transcript to edit and cut redundancies. Accentuate the apex of the piece at the word “failing” with the right image.
He had a lot more, but those I thought might be useful to other people. Also, we talked about music and usage rights. We should all try to only use music if we have permission/ right to do so. Moby actually allows use of some of his music for non-commercial and non-profit purposes. Check it out – http://www.mobygratis.com. So the message was either take audio, make your own music, or get the rights/ permission to use someone else’s. SORRY so long.
media storm.. nice one kelly.
sounds like you are well on top of how to move forward, ven if right now that might mean being still for a while.
looking at the perspectives which you have photographed from.. the interviews which you have made.. i guess you know in yourself the progression from here… a pause always does good i think.
what i found really refreshing was the subject.. swimming.. i love it.
interesting, fun, irreverent.. it had nothing to do with pensive, serious, tough living or soul-searching as many photographers choose to cut their teeth.
that is not intended as a disrespect of people who shoot more serious subjects.. in fact i have done a lot of serious work myself..
just to say that it was really refreshing to see work which is about a passion for something.. your passion (photography) explaining someone else’s passion (swimming).
thought provoking in a completely different way and including some really quality moments, with both moving and still images.
one thing.. i think your site, along with erica’s, is made using a template.. is that right?
i am wondering what program it is, since i have seen a number of sites formatted the same.. just ogt my head around slideshowpro, and i don’t think it’s that..
? hmm ?
My site (and Erica’s and quite a few others here) is a NeonSky site – http://www.neonsky.com/ They are good to work with, make it easy to edit your own site, and have many options. Livebooks is good also – they did David’s main EPF site.
ANDRES
welcome to my first iPhone post! maybe
we can meet…I will pick up film tmrrw Chicago thanks to David M…stay tuned…
cheers, david
DAH
What a great picture of the waiting! So real, but even more amusing that the waiting continued while you made the image..sorry Mike, I feel your pain, half of my childhood was spent waiting in a car for my mom (single mother with multiple businesses, always 1 last thing to finish up)..
iPhone, eh? the new one?
KELLY
I’ll email you..I have more questions.
DAVID B
Sorry, I think you may have asked this before and I forgot, yes, it’s neonsky, and they offer loads of support.
HERVE / ALL
RE: assignment challenges/working method..to answer Herve’s question in the last post..
Firstly, DAH and I agreed that some assignments take more time, and mine fell into that category. I knew I wouldn’t be able to begin until after LOOK, and I think I must have made the first images around June 24, after I organized everything, so I am now at around 5 weeks, maybe half way through?
Things I did to get ready..
researched and bought a 4×5 camera, learned to use it, figured out the what was the rest of the needed equipment (portable backdrop, clamps, tripod, folding seat, step stools, reflector, changing bad, granny cart for transport, log book, model releases) and bought it (this part was hard, trying to visualize without experience), put out the call for help and weeded through people to find amazing help, spent time talking with NYC film office and asked a lot of questions and established a friend/contact in the office so that my permit to set up ‘studio’ on the street would be approved, stood around a lot in my spot where I wanted to shoot and watched the quality of light in the area at different hours, talked the idea over with Brian Storm..
once shooting
realized I needed a sturdier backdrop, bought a different chair without a back, changed film type, found out my close-up adapter doesn’t adjust for parallax in the view finder as it does on the film (messed up images), dealt / dealing with with RAIN RAIN RAIN, and people too HOT to participate and parents with cute kids who want to be photographed and talkative curious on-lookers..
ongoing / upcoming
coordinating schedules with people available to help, scanning from here to oblivion, rationalizing the incurred credit card debt, and will have to get a handle on MM which is not my cup of tea at all..
okay, that’s enough for now!!
DAH
Hoping to show you stills for the end of August meet, but is there a cut off date for having something done to put on your site under Emerging Photographers? Do you have a preference to show just the stills or the MM piece?
I think those floor lamps are in every hotel room anywhere ever
ALL
I can’t write all that and not say
.. i am loving nearly every minute of of this, i have met some of the most fantastic people, including/ especially those who have volunteered to help, it is so rewarding to see something build and form and grow on it’s own, part of which was hoped for and part which never could be pre-visualized, and to have DAH and many of you waiting and caring about the result of something I am doing solely because it is ‘of me’, is more than expected..
DAH
if you are logged in you can send Sofia Q a PM thru LS through the link:
http://www.lightstalkers.org/sofia_quintas
HI David & all,
For the last two months or so i’ve been off line and out of touch.
I’ve been moving from a temporary ‘home’ to a more ‘fixed address’ which being in the ‘bush’ has meant getting internet has been a tad tricky. I’ve also been getting my kids settled into a new school and dealing with many other things. My photography has been forced a little into the background, although I always try and shoot diary stuff.
Anyway, i’m back on-line now and i’ve been reading over some of the previous posts here. Amazing stuff and so much of it…
Time does not stand still not here, nor outside my window. I think when I last wrote here it was late summer (Australia) now it’s mid winter, blue gray early morning light, yellow Wattles in bloom and damp red earth…
I promised last time to get some work on-line to show myself…
Well, reading this post i thought, okay, even though I’ve only a small sample on-line and there is certain work I’d love you to look at, i guess i should just jump in and get things rolling.
I’ll post on the ‘student work’ list too but (hope you don’t mind) i’m gonna put my links here also.
on my web-site i’ve put a Portfolio that has a mix of work from my personal project as well as commissions.
http://www.samharris.phanfare.com
and i’ve just started a blog with a handful of more recent images
http://samharrisphoto.blogspot.com
and a self portrait…
http://albums.phanfare.com/4955643/2187337#imageID=33503731
all the best
and thanks for a great inspiration in all your doing
sam
p.s. my e-mail is: samharris.photo@gmail.com
erica and kelly..
stars.. thanks for the tip off..
4 the love of jesu, sam..
that must be the only self portrait based around pain.
i felt that.
Thanks Erica for the follow up. Daunting prep work, especially the techie stuff….
The words EPF are starting to creep back…
How is it going to work this year David, will you set us all in the wilderness shooting our own whatever stuff like last year, or will you guide us towards a more specific topic, one where location matters little (since we all live on different continents)?
About the links, i did that once, but when someone finds one he likes, for whatever reason, share it with us, please. It would be cool if that section reverberates sometimes into the general road trip forum, here.
David, BTW, how do you remember who’s who and shooting what, with almost 200 links so far?
PANOS!
how are you doing, it’s been a while. let us know, please…
AKAKY
Oh, oh, my man, 50 big ones! Don’t know if congratulations or consolations are more in order. In my case, 50 really was the big, the crucial, the ineluctable Rubicon, the crashing end to my outrageously, probably unforgivably, prolonged and delightful and carefree youth. Here’s what happened to me within a month of my 50th birthday:
• I gave up a cushy and overpaid tenured college teaching position at a Japanese women’s college full of cute and generally well-behaved girls
• I gave up my reasonably cheap rented house, where I had lived for 12 years, in the center of one of the world’s most attractive and livable cities (and where housing is very hard to find)
• I left the country, the circle of friends, the nearby hiking trails, the language, and the culture I had been immersed in for nearly 20 years
• I moved to place that even though it was the land of my citizenship felt like a foreign country; where people had rude and uncivilized manners and dressed like bums and whores, where it rains every day for 7 to 8 months a year, where jobs are hard to come by, where there isn’t a decent restaurant within 30 miles, where they roll up the sidewalks at 8 PM on weekdays and all day Sunday
• I married a woman whose baggage included a delinquent teenage daughter and three totally undisciplined and spoiled lap dogs, and a house and an enormous yard that required constant and unrelenting physical drudgery to maintain
• I organized and paid for a lavish wedding party weekend that led to serious altercations and ruptures with respective family members on both sides
• Within weeks it was clear the marriage had been a terrible mistake that would end in acrimonious separation
• My savings were dried up saving her house from foreclosure
• There was an almost immediate deterioration in my previously robust physical condition (I had in the previous year been a mountain climber, sea kayaker, and paraglider)… I could literally feel my body shrinking and getting weaker
• I was overcome with a sense of failure, hopelessness, and depression that lasted for years and still recurs chronically
I could go on, but I think you catch the drift. My advice? Don’t ever turn 50! Or if you must, then resist any and all major changes in your life and surroundings!
Beseechingly,
Hi David,
You can contact me at sofia_quintas00@yahoo.com
Glad you look at my work! Looking forward for your feedback.
I’ve been really busy latelly with two projects that are stil being done/editing at the same time. The Flickr link is not updated as I like it to be and I hope I can do it in the next weeks. Stay tunned and tell me what you think about it. I followed your Perpignan’s advice and been doing bullfights for a year now ;)
I was in New York in June and sent you an e-mail so that we could meet there, but I guess you where out doing you’re project. I never got an answer from you. I don’t know if I have the correct mail.
Erica thanks for helping with my contact.
Sofia
KELLY :))))
yes, more to write you, but i’ll try to send an email during the week…im so happy you know/like Narelle’s work…when Tamara was here to visit, we chatted about her…everyone knows Trent’s brilliance and im so happy you (others) know her magisterial dreams too :))))…
ERICA: :))…i tried to post the same info on the last thread, only to get hammered, but, that’s all that matters, the process and the discovery…
running away, until august…
hugs
b
SIDNEY – commiserations mate ,I think that I managed to make a few of the same mistakes you made, but before I was 30.
So I guess this means I have something to look foreward to, I really really can’t wait to be a curmudgeon but I have to get throughmy 30′s and 40′s, a couple more decades…..Lucky You and Akaky can grumble gripe and groan with impunity.
DAH – i have been wanting/meaning to comment on your blog for some time – but feel like i am “crashing” a family reunion. i love and admire what you are doing here – creating this online photo family. i have no new work to post – my mexico project has been on the back burner since LOOK3 has taken over my life. however, i plan to use your site and EPF to review work for LOOK3 2009. i have seen a lot of amazing work on this site and will definitely be reaching out to photographers. i hope to be a regular on your site now. safe travels on the road…. hello to Mike… see you in perpignan. xo gina
ERICA,
I was anxious to know what your project was going to look like but the way you describe what you have had to setup with your “studio” on the street, makes me even more impatient to see it…
HERVE,
I also saw your question in the previous post…In my case, I also started my assignment late (sort of wave 2) and at about the same time as Erica 4 weeks ago so I allow myself a few more weeks (as long as David does not tell me enough is enough)…What’s more, I could have completed it if only YOU and a few others did not ask me to see more of the social setting etc :):):) Net, I blame you Herve (and David occasionaly) for making me carry on with this project for longer than anticipated….:):):) Joking aside, entering into an assignment is a journey really that I am discovering and I am enjoying every minute of it, even if there is also some frustration occasionaly for not being able to show exactly what I would like….You sort of feel sometimes that you have got it and then, after a few days you think NO, boring, conventional, repetitive and then you go back and try again…In my case, on top, I have started my boxing essay without really thinking at all about what I was going to say or show…Really, I just wanted to make a few good colorful images….but…this may not be sufficient as I have learned…so, it takes longer to work it out eventually….The most fun part for me is not whether the assignment will be completed or not, not whether David will actually show it or not but the great thing is that, first, this got me out to shoot even more than before and in doing so, lots of interesting stuff started to happen….I now have in mind several angles or ramifications for this work that I might do as part or even well after the “official” assignment is over…I met a bunch of great kids and boxers who live a life 180o opposed to mine… I have become more aware of the social/ life challenges these “inner city” kids face…Importantly, and this was the purpose of trying to get an assignment with david, I really feel that I am also growing with my photography…It may or may not show just yet but I can feel it…As I deepen the topic, look at books that David and others have recommended, see what some great photographers have managed to show previously on this same topic, this forces me to think harder about what I want to show, helps me see my shortcomings vs the “greats”… so, it is SO SO worth it… All I can say, is that, to the ones in the blog who may have been sitting on the fence, hesitating whether to propose something to David or not, I can just say, get in there, get going, it is so much fun!!! Painfully fun!!!!
Cheers,
Eric
Hey David,
small question about EPF…will it be like last time where you set a limit on when photos could be shot from and to? Or will it be more open, basically allowing us to submit pictures from anytime? Im going to be submitting Home Sweet Home which you know has been something Ive been shooting for a while now.
I got behind here a couple of weeks back, and it looks like I will never catch up….
DAVID
Good travels and happy shooting. Thanks very much for the Filson bag advice from a while back, I am now the proud owner of one of the “new style” bags (ebay!)… it is lighter than the medium field bag…. it is a nice bag indeed!
I posted another group of pictures… my fourth attempt at a mini-essay… it will all add up to something someday, I hope!!
Do you think it makes sense to go forward without preconceived notions… with the faith that at some point the work itself will tell you what it is about?
SIDNEY
Thanks very much for the link to the article regarding photographs of American dead in Iraq… I was surprised at first by the fact that the article was published at all, but as I read, it smelled a little fishy to me…. like a red herring. The military is actually controlling, through access, the the output of the journalists it “embeds”? Shocking.
I’m no fan of Susan Sontag, but I thought “Regarding the Pain of Others” was a cogent and thought-provoking book… it raised many questions about exactly this issue… how “we,” western, or Europeans, or Americans have and continue to use representations of suffering… in any case, the dearth of images depicting American death in this current war should come as no surprise. That we see so many more images of Iraqi dead should come as no surprise either.
The real question, to me, anyway, is to what extent the Times or any other corporate journalistic outlet is an organ of our current (and future) regime…
I guess the good news is that the power of a still image is still something that has to be reckoned with.
MARCIN
Thank you for the link to your wife’s paintings. Wspaniałe!
ALL
Okay… if someone out there is looking for a project, I have two words for you: “DEMOLITION DERBY!” I thought this genre of American destruction was a thing of the past, but no! It lives and is so, so ripe for exploitation by an intrepid documentarian. First of all, it attracts Interesting Characters, second, it has an exceptional Ironic Index, and, I may be wrong (please correct me) but as a subject, it has been Overlooked by Canonical Photographers! This is the photographer’s dream trifecta!!!
Someone please jump on this! Okay, it’s greasy, loud and destructive… un-reconstructed… I posted a few pictures in my usual ham-fisted (ham-eyed??) style from last weekend which should give you some idea of what I saw….
ANDREW B
the newest pictures I posted were edited while thinking about what I wrote earlier… about using the edges of the frame… not that these are fantastic pictures, but I want to show you examples of my trying to practice what I preach… periphery…
Also, I was thinking…. I’ve made some very specific choices… film, b&w, 35mm, 28mm lens, flash… all of these, in aggregate, are meant to totally mess with a viewer’s perception… I’m sure I am in the minority here, but I think any photograph is a work of fiction (all photographs are, in fact, lies), and the technical choices I have made, I hope… sledgehammer that point.
An old teacher of mine, Roswell Angier, recently wrote a book called “Train Your Gaze” which I think is really great… it has an academic approach, it’s an art-school textbook, but I haven’t seen anything else like it… it deals in equal measures with the theoretical, historical, ethical, and technical problems posed by taking pictures of humans. If the “edges” idea makes sense to you, there are about another hundred equally important ideas in it… just a tip.
AKAKY
Better a rolling start than calling the garage. Keep moving, though… I’m right behind you, in the ’59 Buick!!
hi david. yes i do look at that section. and i know people have been posting links there. but i hesitated to do so because i understood the posting to be only for actual students in your workshops and seminars. am i wrong? may i post a link too?
bj
MIKE – Demolition Derby is alive and well in the Northern Territory , I’ve been trying to get to the women only event in Tennant Creek for a couple of years now.
GLENNN!!!!!!!!!
THERE”S A WOMEN”S ONLY DEMOLITION DERBY EVENT!!!!!
HOW DO I SIGN UP???????????
Is the money good??????????
And how do I get my name back, I am sick of being only three dots..
GINA
It’s so great to know you are here..you most certainly aren’t crashing anything, we’ve been waiting for you!
We only met briefly at LOOK (after a splattering of emails) while you were finding names/tags, but I was deeply moved by the presence and grace with which you did that task on top of all that you did for LOOK…it was literally remarkable, and I discussed it with Juliana B., noting that you are a woman of extreme character.
What a boon for the participants of the blog here that your eyes are open to our doings; and one more testament to DAH’s ability to act like a wave machine, affecting things on the shores from where ever he may be..
ERIC
Your growth does show! And re: having a project reveal one’s shortcomings, esp. in light of other work done in the same vein by the ‘greats’ ..indeed. It REALLY makes me appreciate their successes all the more, knowing that though they might be extraordinary photographers, they too are/were human and faced many challenges, and managed to excel.
The experience for me is a bit like watching the Olympic athletes on the tele..if I try to perceive all the training, dreams, fears, hopes, tears they must have known, I can see these people as human, and their feats can be a source of inspiration to me instead of seeing these committed, dedicated, hardworking and gifted individuals as demi-gods with an advantage not bestowed on mere mortals.
When my shortcomings as a photographer are revealed to me through my own workings, I can look for the gaps and try to understand what must be done, on a practical level, keeping responsibility for my progress instead of seeing those gaps between what is, and what I would like to see, as insurmountable. (Unfortunately when my shortcomings are pointed out by someone outside myself, I just get frustrated and upset, a shortcoming!, because it is hard for me to see what I have not yet seen for myself..ah, growth!)
..
or are you Herve?
what does it say in the Name field of Post a comment? have you tried clearing it and retyping your name?
BTW, HERVE / ALL
Because of your initial question, I just looked back at my logbook..as of yesterday’s efforts I have been shooting for this exactly 4 weeks. I have photographed 73 people so far, taking an average of 3 frames a person..
I have lots of film to scan, so I don’t know how many keepers there are yet, but from what I have seen, I’d guess that an image of 1 in 5 people will make the cut. It would be great to have somewhere around 20 or 25 strong images in the end, which means I may need to shoot about 100 – 125 people. I’ve never figured these details out in advance before, but to be realistic about the trajectory of completion, I guess it is a helpful guidepost.
David and Michael,
Wow! That’s the same Jeep that was in my driveway only a few weeks ago. That’s what I call getting around.
Michael, I hope you’re getting paid by the mile as well.
Best to you both, and safe, fun travels.
Mike
GINA….
welcome, welcome!!! as a long time friend and as someone with whom i having been working on an “assignment” for several years, your voice here will be very special for all….
RAFAL…
maybe i have not been clear enough, so i am pleased you asked this question…
this time around, i am looking at the work of all of you for the whole year..what we are doing right now with assignments, links, critques etc. is to be your way of “applying” for the EPF….
i am trying to view this funding not so much as an annual award, but more of just being able to fund a worthy project whenever a worthy project is worthy!!!
again, THIS IS NOT A PROMISE…this is just something i am trying to do….and i am trying to do it and at the same time do my own work…if i stopped doing “my own thing” and just went out there and “fund raised”, i could do this in no time…the EPF is an “easy sell” to individuals and to industry corporations…it is just my time that is not “easy”..
i do have enough funding right now to made three stipends possible…i want to go for more, but we will just have to see..
surely, no photographer here would want me to give up my own “photographic life” even for the very altruistic and worthwhile and totally special nature of this forum..i would hope , in fact, quite the contrary…i have always said that the only thing i have to offer any of you here is the fact that i am right here in the dead center of the “mix” right along with all the rest of you…
ok, now i must run run…i almost out of film and only because of the good graces of David M and his friend Ken, will i be able to shoot pictures of Patrica and her husband by tomorrow afternoon so i can drive back to New York and meet Erica and pay my rent and then prepare my slide shows and to get on the plane Saturday and fly to Tuscany where the ubiquitous Lassal will be one of my students at my workshop where i am only going because of my loyalty to Carlos Roberti who has been a friend for so many years and then i must get back to the U.S. soonest so i do not lose momentum on my “off for a family drive” essay….
see what i mean??
hugs, david
Mike–
I’ve already jumped on the Demolition Derby thing. I found a website that lists Demolition Derbies across the country.
All–
Here’s a link to the photos I took at the Orange County Fair. The photos toward the end are from the Demolition Derby. Almost immediately after leaving the fair, I realized all of the shots the I should have taken at the Derby! Can’t wait to get to the next one.
I would really appreciate anyones and everyones input. Feel free to rip them apart!
http://www.spencerlloydphoto.com/ocfair.shtml
Thanks everyone!
sl
GINA….
welcome, welcome!!! as a long time friend and as someone with whom i having been working on an “assignment” for several years, your voice here will be very special for all….
RAFAL…
maybe i have not been clear enough, so i am pleased you asked this question…
this time around, i am looking at the work of all of you for the whole year..what we are doing right now with assignments, links, critques etc. is to be your way of “applying” for the EPF….
i am trying to view this funding not so much as an annual award, but more of just being able to fund a worthy project whenever a worthy project is worthy!!!
again, THIS IS NOT A PROMISE…this is just something i am trying to do….and i am trying to do it and at the same time do my own work…if i stopped doing “my own thing” and just went out there and “fund raised”, i could do this in no time…the EPF is an “easy sell” to individuals and to industry corporations…it is just my time that is not “easy”..
i do have enough funding right now to made three stipends possible…i want to go for more, but we will just have to see..
surely, no photographer here would want me to give up my own “photographic life” even for the very altruistic and worthwhile and totally special nature of this forum..i would hope , in fact, quite the contrary…i have always said that the only thing i have to offer any of you here is the fact that i am right here in the dead center of the “mix” right along with all the rest of you…
ok, now i must run run…i almost out of film and only because of the good graces of David M and his friend Ken, will i be able to shoot pictures of Patrica and her husband by tomorrow afternoon so i can drive back to New York and meet Erica and pay my rent and then prepare my slide shows and to get on the plane Saturday and fly to Tuscany where the ubiquitous Lassal will be one of my students at my workshop where i am only going because of my loyalty to Carlos Roberti who has been a friend for so many years and then i must get back to the U.S. soonest so i do not lose momentum on my “off for a family drive” essay….
see what i mean??
hugs, david
Spencer:
Looked through the work. I see the start of something that could be good with time.
I’m just wondering why you decided on black and white for the demo derby?
I might try color. To me the photos lose a lot of valuable flavor and information with the lack of color. It’s a great slice of Americana, one I shot earlier this fall, but to me a project like that just begs for color.
Just my two cents. The important thing is it looks like you found a subject you’re passionate about.
Keep shooting,
Tim
Best of luck in Chicago. Text me before you leave—you might be ready for a stop this evening at the Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo on your way to Detroit.
Erica & DAH – thank you, thank you for the warm welcome! yes, erica – i do remember meeting you. just not sure i remember having “grace” that weekend – more like crazed chaos. i look forward to joining the family…. DAH – have a wonderful workshop in Tuscany – i loved that class with you!! see you soon….
Mike, Spencer, Bob, Cathy, David Mc,
Thanks for your words about my wife’s paintings.
I am her bigest fan. She is a genius.
David and all,
Thanks to Anton, Nick, and W Robert Angell tomorrow I am going to my hometown. Next three-four days I be working on. Then I try process all stuff I done at one. The results should be visible during next week. So… end is very close.
I have to finish this essay. It pinch me.
We’ll see…
peace and thanks for all
Erica, 3 dots, not me… I never scream online (using capital letters) ;-)
bj,David did not answer, but anyone of us here can. The link is for anyone who cares to put their work up for all to see. Just specify in a few words if that is an ongoing or just finished specific project you want us to look at.
Rafal, I read Times and Newsweek off and on, OK they are not Nader’s official mouthpiece, but this whole idea that they are not highlighting pitfalls in the decisin making and conduting of the war, so that are being hidden the truth just doesn’t stick. It is just important to understand that most americans are not very progressive people, read little (that’s the problem, not the printed word itself) and in their global approach, think on the whole insularly, even bordering on isolationism, which allows at times, paradoxically, unilateralism….The plot always get thicker… :-)
The subject of not showing corpses and coffins is, IMO, pretty close to not showing any boobs or pubic hair on TV (and movies too), censoring prerogatives readily accepted (wrongly maybe) by people and the televisual culture of the country, stuff that will not change one iota if Obama is elected. Do not expect to see any coffins if he “surges” in Afghanistan, if/when elected.
SIDNEY,
thanks for the encouraging words, guy. Should I open an artery now or wait till the weather gets better? ;-)
ALL
I am learning SO much and David hasn’t even arrived yet! Isn’t expected to get here until Monday afternoon in fact. But just preparing for his visit, in particular for his review/edit of my Self Portrait/Daily Life project, is showing me things I never knew before.
He asked that I make 4″x6″ prints of all the images I wanted him to see. For me that added up to 60 images–24 from his first online edit, maybe 10 that hadn’t made the cut but that I wanted us to look at again, and the rest new images that no one has seen. Well, what I’m going to say next is something all you film photogs already know, but if there are other digital-only folks out there, this is for you…
PRINTS MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE! They make your work real, tangible, something that exists in the world. I’d seen this when I’d printed 38 B&W prints to submit to a magazine last spring, but somehow I’d forgotten.
And the larger the better.
As I’m preparing for DAH’s visit, I’m also preparing for Mary Ellen Mark’s August 2-3 workshop in Upper NY State. That means I’m in the midst of printing 10-20 photos from the same series, each of them in color at 11″x16.5″. What an eye-opener! Colors show up SO differently on paper from how they looked on my monitor. I’m having to adjust color balance and saturation many times over. Luckily I’m doing 4×6 tests before I print the monster sheets, but still. Some images that I’d liked a lot on my computer are much less successful in print, and others look stronger on paper. It’s good to learn that now. I think I’ll be doing some serious re-shooting when I get back home.
HERVE
To answer your question about when our assignments will be finished, I suspect mine will NEVER be finished. Or if it is, it will take at least a year. And that’s probably being optimistic. I guess at some point DAH will take what I have, edit it, and call it “finished,” at least as an assignment. But I’ll just keep on keepin’ on…
AKAKY
When you start moaning about being old at 50, I hope you’ll look at the example of our fearless mentor, DAH. It’s been awhile since he crossed that rubicon and yet. And yet. Does he seem OLD to anyone here??? Gawd, man, he and Mike are planning to arrive in Detroit Monday afternoon, spend time photographing Ed and me, work with me on my project, have some dinner, maybe a little walk by the lake, and then get back in the car and drive all night long, hoping to get back to Brooklyn for a few days before he takes off to give a workshop in Tuscany!
I ask you, does THAT sound like someone who’s cruisin’ down a steep hill in a Cadillac convertible, or someone who’s got his pedal to the metal as he crests yet another hill???
Patricia
Yep, Patricia, 50, that’s nothing (53 here). It’s the time when you are totally comfortable living in this world on your own terms, nothing to prove anymore, you’ve got your own blueprint figured out, others take it or leave it, it makes little difference.
Given a good health and a healthy recognition of all that life has to offer at any age, you are ready for a new type of very personal freedom that even life at 40 did not offer.
OK, maybe that’s 60 I’m talking about…So, if so point made: it only gets better…..
:-))))))))
David,
Did you actually take the plunge and buy an iPhone? That is a LOT of technology for you to hold in your hand! Or are you just playing with Mike’s?
Watch out… it can be addicting.
Hey, Pete! You’ve been missed. Welcome back ;=)
Patricia
David,
I can’t think that you’ll be just 300 km from here for a WorkShop and I haven’t holiday and during the week end I have to go to finish the photo-essay on the old people in a village in Taburno Park (near Naples)..
Do you think that there’ll be a final exhibition so that if I finish I can take a train also to be there for a couple of hours and have a look at the student work?
Who’s going? Only Lassal?
Patricia,
we’ll wait for a report about DAH visit.
All,
now I understand the one that you call lurker or someting like that, having not enought time also trying to read all the notes it’s not easy to keep an eye on everything and write something that has a sens (in english at least).
I found so interesting all the comment in the last post!
It was useful to have, as an answer to a David Mcgowan question, the simple number for presentation, exhibition, book etc.. I use to have a wide selection of 60-70 and a tight of 20 but it depends.
For me it will be really useful to have a Work in progress on the DAH assigment… like a link where we can have a look at the Z selection of Erica, Panos, Bob, etc.. that became C,B and then A with the choice of DAH.
I check the Patricia and Eric ones..
I’ve seen the Cristina one.
May be it needs to much time or may be it’s more personal for someone.
Akaky,
late but Happy B-day
P.S. I still can’t open the emerging photographer Presentation in C’ville… May be if I buy a new iPhone… better no.. I just broke my new Camera… that’s the reason why I only buy second hand and no professional stuff.
Erica and Kathy how long did you spend to make a new web site with that tool? I can’t update my old one easly so may be it’s time to build a new one.
LAURA
Months..but when it come to this stuff I am obsessive and I also had a lot of rescanning / converting files to do, as I was working with all film and a lot of BW. I am sure it wouldn’t take someone else all that long, if they were clear about what they wanted to use and had the files ready.
LAURA,
molto grazie :-)
PATRICIA,
thank you for the words of encouragement. I would take them to heart, but I won’t. Nothing personal. People used to ask my grandfather, who passed away in 1982 at the age of 96 (he thought; he wasnt entirely sure) just what it was like to be so old. He’d say he wasnt old at all, and then he’d point at me and say that if you wanted to know what it was like to be old, ask him, he’s a lot older now than I’ll ever be. And then I’d say, jeez, thanks Grampa, maybe I’ll do something nice for you some day.
In any case, I am continuing to annoy musicians by shoving my camera into their faces whenever I get the opportunity, and here is some of the pictures created during my last opportunity a couple of weeks ago. Opinions are welcome, and if Stoop is lurking here, yes, I have to work on the Zone thing.
http://www.lightstalkers.org/galleries/slideshow/14103