nothing happens until it happens , but things are happening…cracking, buzzing, and yes burning bright…we will launch soonest a working model of BURN magazine (or journal or??)….the house will not be finished…we still need to get in the wiring and plumbing and it will be a long time before all the furniture is chosen and the interior is decorated and we all feel "at home"…but, at least you will have a sense of it….and you will have a "place at the table"….
i must right now thank Anton Kusters for his tireless efforts working on design and function…the boy flew all the way from Brussels to spend four days here sleeping on my floor…..in the next sleeping bag was Tom Hyde and tossing and turning on the sofa was Chris Bickford…my place looked like a homeless shelter rather than a home for a wellspring of ideas…reminiscent of my grad school days or some version of a camping out road trip….
all i can say is that i was totally humbled by all of the hard work from Tom Hyde(flew from Seattle), Eric Espinosa (flew from Cincinnati), Erica McDonald, Andrew Sullivan, David McGowan, and Andrew Owen from Look3..and i will never forget Kelly Lynn James who gets total credit for suggesting BURN as a title…many thanks to all of you who wrote, phoned in, and sent constructive emails..but, it ain't over yet….
today and tomorrow i must attend our Magnum board meeting…our winter interim gathering of the tribe…who would have ever thought i would be on any "board", but well life has its twists…i might be able to get an interesting post out of it , but in the meantime all of you will have time to chew on this…..
oh yes, if you are in New York, we have our annual Magnum book signing at Aperture tonight…please join us…
back soonest…..
PAUL
fantastic!!! Love it (even with volume down)!!
The dynamic you generate with this kind of sequence with the camera “jumping” around like it is, is much more impressive and captivating than it would be with an “ordingary” video.
Have you done more of these kind of movies we could have a look at?
BTW, these little ones have your face. Your kids, I suppose? Very, very sweet …
PAUL
just sneaked onto your website and found what I was looking for :)))
Thank you, Lassal. You know, I’ve been struggling since I got back to London and really have been unsure as to what the hell to do with myself. Stills doesn’t really cut it anymore in terms of supporting a family. For me at least. I really don’t want to go back to shooting news and I’m hugely excited by video and multimedia. So I’m trying to figure out a route back to regular employment and increasingly video seems to really engage me but I have NO training nor do I have any gear. But my skills level is improving very quickly as I dabble.
But as soon as Christmas is gone I need to make money. I need kit. And I need confidence which can so easily evaporate when you’ve been out of the loop for as long as I have. Fearless youngsters scare the hell out of me. They don’t need much money, nor do they have much responsibility. So what to do?
I’ve been uploading my archive in hopes of getting some money flowing that way and while out and about I snap and snap and just play with the pictures. Somethings really going on but I’m not entirely sure what it is but I LIKE IT. What spurred me to make these little films is a competition that the Guardian and Canon are running called FREECORDING and I’ve been playing with that word. FREECORDING. It’s great. It’s an exciting word. And it’s my future. I know it. I’m not sure how or why but it is.
I really want to feature well in this contest ’cause it would provide me with a video camera. So that’s why I’m doing these little films. And to loosen up too.
In January I’ll put up a PHOTOHUMOURIST IN MOTION website to show my experiments.
Sorry. I’ve had way too much coffee.
And I’m about to have some more.
Pauly.
http://vimeo.com/2551141
LASSAL thanks :-) i just lost a couple of hours over on your site. i’m still undecided if i envy more your images or your fresco experiences! what a photogenic crowd!
Hey David,
Im changing jobs so from now on I will have much less time for the computer…my old job had a lot of office time for this, not anymore. But I did want to take the chance now to say that this thing looks awesome. Magnificent. Im sure you know my enthusiasm for this project. Im sure it will be a success.
Talking of jobs, I’m about to re-train as a swimming teacher to keep me busy as I figure this stills v video situation out. I was a lifeguard / swim teacher almost 20 years ago. Looking forward to doing it again.
Lassal, I love looking at your site. There’s so much there. So much exploring to do.
Pauly.
Joe, how did you manage to create the impression of moving slides around a light table on your site? Love it. Very effective. Brought back memories. Yours is a very full site too.
DAH /ALL
been thinking of the possible importance of having a launch party for burn (at the loft?), which could also be a fundraising event where our donated prints were sold/auctioned/as well as having online bids..
DAH do you remember in 2005 when Jen MacFarlane coordinated Spice? http://www.hustlerofculture.com/me_we/2005/01/nyc_spice_openi.html
Obviously burn is not a humanitarian crisis, but possibly your peers at Magnum would see the relevance of burn and be willing to contribute a signed book or such to auction off at the party/online?
PAUL
I understand … And I really admire you! Yes, not having children or people dependent on you is an advantage! Not only because of insurances … If the economical situation becomes critical, and you have to care for more than for yourself, it is tough and surely it makes us think twice before bold and risky steps are taken.
If you allow me a story …
A friend of mine was in a similar situation not long ago. He had some experiences as a camera man but they gave him mixed feelings and he had not found either his “voice” nor his “message”. I met him while he was doing animatics for agencies (I was doing the illustrations and he was the After Effects hero) He was earning ok, but it was not meaning anything to him … and then again … animatics come and go and sometimes you simply do not get any. So it was not the best situation for him, even though he was a gifted person to create acceptable short term results, which is very important when you deal with agencies.
Ok. First thing that happened is that he found something that mattered to him. Something way off, actually he found other people who were trying to live their dreams and got infected by this. The room is called “Gastraum” and the people he met were … cooks. Well trained cooks who left their working spaces to create somethin unique, something where they would respect whatever mother nature provided for the kitchen. For example: they only used goats cheese when goats cheese is naturally available (thus not during wintertime), or, if they had an animal slaughtered, then they would try to use most of it, and not just the filets. They were really good and really creative with that but … nobody knew about it!!! So they were not making a difference.
They wrote a concept that got accepted in tv right away but would have transformed them into some kind of robotesc show cooks. And they wanted genuinity. They wanted it to be credible. They had left the comfort zone to do what they thought was right and did not want to put this ideal down for a silly tv-show. Even if it would have made them rich.
That was when this friend of mine sad: let us do it ourselves! And he came up with an idea of how to film it. And they would make reportages with the people who provided the products etc… All for the net. All for free.
To make a long story short: it got so damn good! And so incredible famous that they were invited to all kind of places, even the US – despite the fact that the site is just in German.
Yes … and a few months after this little project started, my friend got the first assignments for commercials. BIG HUGHE things!
Absolutely amazing! We have not managed to talk for weeks because he is constantly shooting. And … because he had found his style and companies were asking for THAT, he is happy. Very much so.
Paul, I hope this does stimulate you … I really do. At least you are finding something special there. Ever thought of MTV?
Something else: I know it has been mentioned here somewhere, when the Nikon D90 came out and some people were disappointed with quality or so of the videos … I was wondering, because this friend of mine did some absolutely amazing things with it. As you can use the different lenses, you get results you will not get by a normal video camera … He did 3 or 4 home videos with the D90, simple things including his daughter, lover and dog, but using different looks by experimenting with the lenses. He said, he was merely playing around enjoying the new parameters …
Well, needless to say … he got some more amazing jobs because of that.
When he tells me the stories now it seems so easy …. But I know how down he was not even two years ago, so I can put it into context. And at the end it is once again about something that David keeps talking about: find yourself, find your voice, find what is important for you, and it will all fall into place because you will not be against something, you will be going with it, and you will be running ahead!
Paul, I really wish you a lot of luck, a strong inner voice and good ears to listen.
And sorry if this post got so long and I just managed to get back to one of DAH’s core messages right at the end …
Oops it was a really long post, the last one. Apologies.
JOE / ALL
:) thanks so much :)
I am sure the “fresco-experience” is it!!!! Belive me! And the great thing about it is, that TPW just came out with the new workshop calendar for 2009 … it might be worthy for some of you to have a look and considder ….
http://tpw.it/english/calendar2009.htm
DAH will be there from the 19-25.July (he changed shedules as it seems) together with Stanley Greene, Kadir von Lohuizen and others …
I can more than recommend it!
ERICA,
a launch party would be nice …
Let’s plan early in advance… I am sure a lot of people would love to make it possible to come over…
PAUL
thanks for the comment about my site … “There’s so much there”, you wrote and you are right. I keep recalling DAH warning us about having too much stuff on our sites.
I know I have too much on it – but somehow I cannot help it. At least not yet. So I have mixed feelings about it … while I keep uploading projects and images and stupid comments.
Burger King just came out with a fragrance called “Flame”. I sense some sponsorship coming on:
http://www.firemeetsdesire.com/
LASSAL
I enjoyed reading the comment to Paul…its so easy to get spread thin trying to make money while losing your own voice in your images…anyway its nice to be read stories from time to time of why you need to keep coming back to yourself
also I like your selection of books on your website…I’ve been thinking about the self-publishing concept in limited editions and it just seems way more personal (and valuable) in my opinion…of course a book published by a publishing house and on the shelves in major book stores is obviously great but I like the idea of the limited edition “art” books that we are now able to create in short runs or on-demand due to printing technology
~ chris h
Lassal
The video quality of the d90 really depends on what your definition of quality is… as always things are relative.
The video is good, however there are some issues when it comes to compression and certain weird ‘jellie’ video effects during certain situations.
Would anyone notice it if you had an amazing subject, composition and lighting… NO!!! but it doesn’t excuse the fact that nikon could do a little better.
I personally can’t wait to experiment with this video idea, so I’ll report back when the funds are a little better to have one in my hands and produce some work with it.
Peace and Love, Peace and Love!! – Ringo Starr
I have my eye on one of the new Canon cameras, such as the HF10. A good shot gun mic and I could do magic. It’ll happen. Somehow.
http://vimeo.com/2551141
KARIM
yeah, I remember that my friend was extremely bothered by the jelly-effect you mentioned. Certain things, so he said, you have to avoid doing.
But then, which I maybe should not say, or maybe should – I left my friend anonymous anyway: He is NOT the world’s best camera man!
In fact I was wondering sometimes why he would not notice this or that (which annoyed me extremely). Nonetheless he was being credible because it was absolutely clear that he was doing something special.
What I want to say with this is: he got the Über-Clients anyway! And they came to him, because he is absolutely not a good marketing man.
So … you do not have to be perfect. Just be unique! Just be yourself.
And this one is something I should write on my own mirror to, so I see it every morning. I am much too perfectionistic and hold back things forever, or hide behind names. I have (had) two artist’s names where I was trying out things. One I eliminated already, and the other one is till active somewhere out there in the waste universe of creativity.
CHRIS
thanks :) Man I wish I had YOUR BACKYARD!!! Awesome …!!! And I usually have a hard time with most landscapes …
As to self publishing. It has two sides for me. The positive: you can do everything yourself. The negative: you have to do everything yourself. I usually like it for experiment. Or if I really want to have something a specific way. Or if I … want something in a reasonable amount of time.
There are two books in the making (forever now) which will really be published (not by me). And actually I am constantly waiting for something or someone to deliver their parts. Now for example I am waiting for the text from a curator/art historian. I have been waiting for months and will have to wait some more, if I got his last email right. He is successfull and much too busy. Good for him and bad for my book. Next thing I will have to do is to change the layout and to calm the publisher, who is waiting like me. And he is paying, so this is absolutely wrong. Regarding the other project, well … they are discussing the paper right now. Too many people involved there who want to leave their mark. The whole thing is going to be a piece of art. And I think it is going to take years until I have it onto my table.
That is why I do the self-publishing experiments once in a while. I think I might expand it even more, and make little editions of handmade dummies, like pieces of art, myself. I just really like to hold something in my hand … Especially because work has become very virtual … and much more so if what I hold in my hand has a precious character…
PAUL – thanks :-) that is a postcard widget and is a bit of a flash-hack, but you can now have something like this more easily:
http://www.RealReportage.com/Portrait/
…using the flash widget available from airtight interactive, it actually comes free with lightroom ;-) I actually prefer the gallery viewer that Panos uses, i’m considering reconsidering my galleries widget since i saw his.
LASSAL, i’ll be taken out my italian refresher cd’s for a trip to tuscany in 2009 now ;-) Cheers.
..
JOE,
:))) see you there!
hmmm…
where is everybody?
Just checked if there is a new post and I kinda missed it again … But no.
Ok.
Coming back to my reluctancy in showing material which I am not completely secure off, I left a post at the end of the last thread – very fittingly but completely unaware of that everyone had already left for the new thread.
So as I do not want to look like a coward, here it goes (and with link!!!)
***
By the way, I just dropped out of EPF, I fear. I pushed the reset-button on my project and will start more or less over. Just wrote David an email about it. I might still have enough images, but I am not sure about it.
I had just finished programming the flash-parts and it kind of fell apart as I saw it together for the first time. So I’ll do it over. No problem.
Guess I’ll have a lot of free time in 2009 :)
http://www.astrangerswish.com
***
NEIL
thanks for your kind words, they are really helpful as I sometimes fear, I am working for myself too much. Without feedback, I mean.
The reset happened already. Eric kind of got a glimpse of it before I switched the site off in the middle of the night to get some of the portraits off it (those where you have no link to an image anymore).
It is just that I found out that some kind of portraits – especially because they just come tiny on the website – simply will not work in this group. So it kind of clarified the way I will proceed from now on.
Kind of …
I am still waiting for a quiet moment to sit down with DAH and to go over it. Just to make sure I do not have a twist in my sight right now.
As soon as I have more material – and I have quite some “applications” now – I might take some more of the “old” ones out. Not sure. It will have to be a good final result. What you see now is “work in progress” and it will stay this way for many more years to come. During this time I might take things off or put old stuff in once more. It will be like an organism trying to find a balance … It is one of these long-term projects I was telling Patricia about … :)
ALL
I would be very, very happy if you could give me some feedback as to this project. How do you think this should work considering the aim of having more than … let’s say 1000 (maybe 800 or maybe 5000)… portraits in it?
I have found quite some pitfalls already and probably there are a 1000 more to come.
This is just the beginning so I can still change whatever I like without loosing too much.
The website is just a framework, to be able to archive and browse through it. It is not 100% done yet, but I think it is quite important to keep the information together.
Especially if the project is supposed to grow as I hope it will.
Any ideas & comments & links to reference material would be very much welcome.
Thanks & all,
L
LASSAL
This is a GREAT IDEA… I can see it as a book… not sure how many portraits — maybe 200? but in as many countries/continents that you can get to… if it’s going to be web-based, audio would be a nice addition…
–thanks for sharing !!
your photographs are strong and of a long tradition –
check out this blog post by james danziger –
http://pictureyear.blogspot.com/2008/11/sander-sensibility.html
– take care!
HELLO ALL…
tomorrow will be a relatively free day for me and i will be able to respond to all of your comments..rushing now for a lecture at ICP…
we will chat tomorrow…
cheers, david
David
I apologize for my absence during so important time for this forum and for you. I have crazy time now, but soon it should be over. I think You know, this is always pleasure to participete in every big moment for this forum for me, but for a while I will be only reader.
Of course if you think I could help in any case, just give me a note. As usually.
sorry for english but I have no mind for grammar. :)
peace for all.
ps. I have to paint one of the Stations of the Cross at 30x30cm convas with effect like rubens at 200×150 cm. in one day… of course.
so wish me luck, like I wish you with “our baby BURN”. :)
ALL
Our Man is just a bit on the humble side. So David says, “..rushing now for a lecture at ICP…” I thought, “Well, that’s interesting. Wonder who’s speaking?” then I checked the ICP web site and here’s what I found:
http://www.icp.org/site/c.dnJGKJNsFqG/b.886227/k.9EDD/Lectures_amp_Public_Programs.htm
Don’t you wish you lived in NYC???
Patricia
PATRICIA makes you wonder about the benefit that transpires here for free when you see the cost of the ticket to see DAH for a short while! ;-)
LASSAL, LASSAL, LASSAL…Lassal, off the top of my head I can only think of three people who have social skills to pull this project off and only two capable of the moody ambiguous portraits needed for this project, My friend Ben Roberts is one of them and after looking at the inception of your project I think you are the second.
But you may totally hate what I think is necessary to move this concept past mediocre. That’s ok too.. Promise! But right now you’re attempting to infuse power through numbers and the counts you’re throwing around are insane!! Lassal, if you want to pursue the spirit of this project then I think instead you should infuse power through an increase in intimacy and vulnerability and chance, rather than count and geography.
You need to produce a result that lets us feel more like voyeurs than passengers on a tourist-city, double-decker bus. You’ve already got the portrait skills, but do you have the testicular fortitude to take your project effort to a level most would cower from?
If i was given this project Lassal i would meet with as many strangers or acquaintances as i could (i already do this, so maybe it just seems easy to me), after earning enough trust to move past stranger into an acquaintance, if not already, i would explain my interest to include their portrait in a project i was working on, i would show them a book that i carry with me that provides evidence of the calibre of portraits i can make (i don‘t have this book Lassal, but you have enough enviable portraits to have one!).
If they still seemed interested i would further explain that the project was deeper than just a book of pictures, it was actually a book of confessions, or apologies, or regrets, or any other baggage that the person was carrying around that they’d like to think about, write down on a post card, and when they had time, send back to me, as if to finally get it off there chest. (there’s something still a bit romantic about post-cards and mail and stamps…)
i would promise them that i would have the film developed by the time i received the card and i would promise to send them the image as a print or e-mailed as an electronic image if they wish…. After i received the post card with the information and the delivery instructions.
a Simple equation. i would leave them feeling that i felt deeply about the project and they would know that the return should be sincere or not at all.
i would state in the opening of the book that comes out of this project that This Was My Way of Working, simple,…simple but so efffing unnerving!
thinking about this to us as spectators already makes your heart jump a bit… people that hear this for the first time will already be sitting on their hands biting their nails wondering what kind of results you collected?, what kind of humility you went through to make this happen?, and better yet, what’s in those post-cards? and better yet, what does the person look like that said that?.. And the triple crown… what’s their name? and where are they from?.. Some will prefer to give only an e-mail address, this is ok as we really only wish to have the confession and the portrait to match it and they want to get it off their chest and also likely get the best portrait that will ever be produced of them.
i think the idea of the post card from the home town is a very nice add and maybe during the edit you have enough returns that you may only include this combination, but first I think it’s important to get these returns sent to you.
The portrait session is key to this exercise Lassal. i really don’t understand what happens during a portrait session, but at its best it’s as intimate as you’re going to get to someone with their clothes still on. i would suggest you use only natural light and only a medium format camera (creates more ceremony than a digital/35mm), better yet get an old Hassy on the cheap if you really want to disarm your subject.
i promise you Lassal that if you run that portrait session well, you will bond with that person and become someone they want to tell something to, i know this from experience. It’s just enough anonymity to be vulnerable and just enough relationship to reveal… think about it… how many times do total strangers bare their sole to you anyways? This is a similar dynamic, make yourself that priest!
I get anxious just thinking about this ambitious effort Lassal and already want to know how it would play out! I get excited at the fact that you suddenly have an excuse to talk to so many people that you’ve never talked to before and if successful, and more importantly, you get to know them on a level subtly past superficial or antidotal from a ‘story’ ;-(
Even if you totally suck at this project Lassal you would be a stronger human from the effort! No duress, not growth! It’s the hermetic way!
Or you can just think this is a ridiculous idea! I promise it won’t hurt my feelings if you did. ;-)
LASSAL
Please listen to our friend Joe. His idea sends me into orbit! It moves your project from our galaxy into the stratosphere!!!
Patricia
wow … how will I answer to this now?!
I was just checking the wonderful link from “a reader” and loosing myself in the images when I saw this post here now from Joe – and now yours Patricia.
A READER / ALL
this blog post by james danziger –
http://pictureyear.blogspot.com/2008/11/sander-sensibility.html is really worth looking at.
In fact I have managed to acquire the whole set of books from August Sander 10 days ago!!! I am sooooo happy about it and … so astonished: It is less than half the price it used to be. A dumping price for this amazing work that comes in 7 beautiful hardcover books … So if anyone is interested, you should check this out now.
Makes me sad though, to see how much it seems to be “worth” now…
JOE
well, to be sincere, the first thing that came to my mind when I read your post was “I love you!” and a big smile on my face.
Apart from some little things we are not soooo far away. At least not anymore. The project was a small workshop idea at the beginning, and I had people write greetings from their places to me, the tourist that was passing by. More or less inverting the normal way these things are done. That was ok for a week’s workshop but not for more. Things would repeat themselves and be really superficial … So I started with the little personal “stories”, anekdotes or something that still could be related to the place on the card, at least vaguely, to somehow connect the location (which I do not see on the portraits at present) with the person. The pitfall with the card was that … like in Helsinki, you find just very few different motifs on it (in parts of Slovenia I hardly found ANY postcards) – so in Helsinki I started to include art-cards and more. It still had to be finnish, but as they have a very busy group of young photographers working day and night and becoming quite famous, that was not a problem, especially not because I included the historical postcards into the selection too.
So much for the cards … Until now at least :)
As for the part of the taking-and-giving I am absolutely of your oppinion and already doing what you proposed: people get their portrait in return. AND – if I have their addresses – they do get a postcard from Frankfurt too.
Apart from that I do some little favors if I see that it will help: Anu (not in the selection anymore) and Kirsi got a whole set of pictures of them climbing up that crazy wall (I was really full of admiration for them – just got an email today from Anu, who is right now in fact climbing up Mt.Kinablau in Borneo…). And I did a whole set of pictures for the Gypsie people who let me into all of their houses (yes, houses) and offered me the best coffee I have ever had. I did not know they originate from India, did you Joe? So they are really after anything that comes from there … like being homesick for a place you have never been at. So I did a little research here with a friend that runs a bookshop and we found a wonderful & fitting picture book about India, full of color and vibrance, just perfect for my new gypsie acquaintances. They did not expect it, it was a surprise. And as I have been told, it was a good one. :)) And you know, this makes me very happy too, because these people – practically all of the people I have met now on this way – absolutely humbled me with their openness and willingness to collaborate! Sometimes I wonder if I would give so much for … a stranger. Would I?
So this is very real and not staged empathy. And I am very, very sincerely thankfull for all the help I am getting by all these people I met just moments before asking them to do something for me.
I try to give back whatever I find possible, so I can walk on without feeling miserable. I try to keep a balance. It is something I personally need to feel ok.
As to the book with portraits … I actually did a mock up about how things should later look like and had a friend translate my explanation into proper Italian, so I could try to show that I am not (completely) crazy. It worked well. The more portraits I got, the more I added to the demo. So this was actually ok. And they understood why I needed the postcard because I had them included in the layout.
As to how I go about to find these people … I think it sounds much more difficult if you just think about it than if you actually do it. It is not difficult at all. But I have to have the space to do it my way. Friends tried to sent me to busy market places, but I prefer quiet situations where I can see where I am interrupting and if it is opportun. I am always amazed, when walking home from the supermarket, carrying heavy stuff, just trying to get home and people interrupt me to sell me something… They do not really show a good feeling for a situation. So mainly I need a good feeling about situations, and then it works fine – Unless I get into language troubles. Happened too. Two old men with time and willing to do something, REALLY trying to understand but … I do not know Russian. I could not explain. So we had a coffee with some vodka and laughed a lot and… then I left.
What I found out that really works is people sending me along to other people. I got into some kind of nice working chain … which was perfect because once a friend sends you over, I did not have to start from scratch. Sometimes they had already called before and explained, so I got a warm reception.
See … actually it is easy.
BUT. I do have a problem with the thought of exploiting them with these stories. Sure it would sell better it there were these “forbidden” thoughts … But I do have their names and portrais next to that … And rest assured that people are sometimes unaware of the fact that they are giving too much information. I would not like to do anything they would regret later …
But I see your point, Joe. And I agree I have to do more with these stories. So this is really something to think about. Thanks so much for pinpointing this out again.
Also with the gear … I have the worst gear. A point&shoot camera. :)
In fact I was asking DAH if I should not go MF… I was even thinking of getting Marcin’s camera … But … I would have to find someone who could explain me how to best get the film digitized later because I have a 100% digital workflow. And the digibacks are too expensive for me.
I absolutely love the idea of shooting with an old Hasselblad :))))
Did I forget anything?
Oh yess, the quantity … :))
Well, I guess I let August Sander influence me here … I did in fact have the documentation aspect on my mind. In fact at the very beginning, during the workshop, I was thinking of getting a whole (!) village. Just one. But all of them. I am very glad I did not tell this crazyness to anybody back then :))
But it is an open project. If I spent 20 years on this one, then … the numbers would be achievable. But would it be good? I do not know. That is why I put this question up: under which circumstances would this be faisable without being a waste of time? I am not expecting to use all of the images I make. It will obviously be a selection. But even though.
Thanks again Joe, for your thoughts and for writing them down for me. I wish I could go on exchanging thoughts with you. Maybe not while putting up these killer posts like I am doing now. I would be very gratefull if you would go on sharing your thoughts as the project progresses. It is very important for me to communicate. Sometimes I tend to get lost in a complexity that I build up myself.
Tell you something: why don’t you write me a postcard and I then make you portrait when we meet in Tuscany :))))))
One more reason to go there!
All my best, thanks again and a good night,
Lassal
“testicular fortitude”
Love this one :)))
JENNY
I haven’t recieved any emails from you after the 15th of December and the last one wasn’t OTT at all… I have contacted Shinji twice via LS and his email and also have heard nothing further…
PAUL
After having volunteered for 7 years at a K-5 school, I can REALLY relate to your video:
http://vimeo.com/2551141
It captures the high-speed energy & enthusiasm of youth in an original & authentic way. Keep doin’ it, brother. You’re really onto something!
I appreciate your response to my post about long-term projects but perhaps I didn’t make myself clear. The point is that I don’t want to finish my project because I’m enjoying it so much. I’m not even interested in taking time out. I was saying that I’m grateful I still have six more months to spend on it. I really love working on long-term projects and was wondering how others feel when their projects come to an end.
By the way, I don’t see myself continuing working with this subject. To be honest, by the time I’ve given it a year, I think I will have milked it dry. It will be time to go on to something new…
Patricia
ok, so, like, this is sacriledge, but, gonna give u something from what i’ve been carving on…..
“The son remembers what the father wishes to forget.”–Yiddish Proverb
…and so this morning darkness spreads thin the winter light and soon the pliable silence is more limber with memory as it enters.
And what began as a small ache, a tap of ash and rough bone, soon morphs into a presence that fills the elongated space between the chair and desk at which I sit and the throat of the corridor that scaffolds the space between these words and the commonwealth where my wife and son now sleep. It is because of this tract, this early-morning quiescence, that specific beat between the rum of my ticking head-heart and all that has gathered between the un-counted clicks of thought and waking, that I am at unrest. Now with a receipe of words, as if counting upon alchemy and gestation, I try to make sense of a description, try to make sense of an arrangement of pictures that are born of a remembering, pictures that mean to speak of what is here, now, in this quiet morning when I feel bereft for without the sound of my wife’s hum or my son’s sleeping vigilance, all disappears like vapor. Is it possible to convey that what I am and all that I shall be is ever but a description of that space, of that purloined arrangement beween solitary lull and bound ,,,
did you invent that passage Bob.. or is that an incarnation of Goethe? :-)
Lassal, i hear you, but i still think three things 1.) you’ve got the skills to pay the bills on this daring project, most don’t 2.) people dooooo want to go on the record and say something to get it off their chest, they would see this as a perfect platform to do this (think of Nan Goldin) as for me, Postcard!….. Pffft…. a post card wouldn’t get me past my confessions from the age of four, ….“I’m sorry babysitter X for….., I‘m sorry to babysitter Y for….” basically i’d have load of baggage to dump! and 3.) think hard about the interdependence of the photographer in a project like this, you can only do what you feel ethically legitimate Lassal, but if not this approach, still strive to stretch out of your comfort zone, think about what it must have felt like to be Amy Stein during her ‘Stranded’ project.. when you think about the ethics of that way of working it almost seems sinister, Amy’s of course not (I love her work!), but her portraits came through the demise of her subject, her luck was actually the bad luck of others! Imagine the conversion of the stranded into an actual portrait session? I don’t think without Amy’s ‘way of working’ that the portraits would be so moving.
So Lassal I hope you can invent some way to introduce this same way-of-working energy to make this portrait project just as revealing about you as a human as it as about your subject as examples of humans. We already know you’re a very social creature, that’s a great platform, but how do you push the envelope? ;-)
JOE…
welcome!! i do look forward to your continued participation here…you will add add add…
cheers, david
JOE,
not sure if you are still reading this thread …
I am really thinking about your input…
See … It is good you brought Nan Goldin in. Because you will need specific type of people to bring in specific types of input. At the moment I am going “international/general”. If I went to red light districts, I could get a very different coloration :) to all of this. If I went to see only fishermen, or miners, or maids of high society people, or musicians, or… I would be able to set things up differently. So one of the weaknesses right now seems to be the unspecifiedness … I could make people speak about their dreams, about when they found out that there is no Santa Claus, about their first love or if they ever lied for a good cause. I aknowledge that I could and SHOULD do more with the parameter “story” … I will be thinking about it.
But you see by your own example how easy you can feel trapped by being asked to write such a postcard. And how easy it is to find an excuse. :)
I was not planning to research for a book… I was planning to do portrait photography embedded into a concept. I have to be careful not to destroy this by adding too much yellow press effects (please, please, please … no offence, but these are the same tools used :)))))
Thanks again for the imput. I will work on a solution and I would love to get your input as to whatever I come up with…
Cheers,
i was in a desert once , screaming BURN! BURN!
it’s a lucky name….bravo’