Anton Kusters (above) is one of the hardest working collaborators on the planet….Burn does not exist without Anton…the fact that he is jet lagged and needs a “time out” should be of no surprise….he jets back and forth from his home in Belgium to Japan, and his Yakuza project, and now just as easily to New York where he is crashing on the Burn office/gallery/crash pad sofa…he is here to work on BURN…we can do a lot by Skype, but one on one we can really get some work done….
what started out as an extension of my Road Trips blog and just a fun project with and for our audience here, has now blossomed into a seriously considered online media outlet/producer….all that has happened to Burn in the last few weeks is humbling to say the least….our nomination for a Lucie Award is flattering considering we are just a two person lap top from wherever operation at the moment… this was predicated by a nice mention of Burn on the New York Times “LENS” blog last week, whose progenitor, editor/ photographer James Estrin, just left my loft after meeting with my students for two hours…..David Walker, Senior Editor at PDN, this month did a nice, accurate, to the point Q&A interview with me in their magazine which always makes a strong push in the direction of young emerging photographers….The Digital Journalist guru Dirck Halstead at the same time wrote a strong editorial about the state of affairs for young photographers, and suggested that large funding operations direct some of their efforts in the direction of Burn, MediaStorm, 100 Eyes and other online efforts who pledge to pump lifeblood into a sagging industry….
so all at once, Burn has a place at the table ….organic…based on personal history and trust….working with the best people for all the right reasons, and all of it audience driven…..all of it…..funding for EPF, from you….donations which have kept our loft alive for office and gallery space, from you….submissions which have us now with more content than we can handle, from you….incidentally, i apologize for not being able to respond to every submission of photographs and every kind donation….we are way behind in viewing submissions and will soon employ a professional experienced editor to help, but i assure i view each and every submission…for those i like, i make contact as soon as possible, but please be patient…many many thanks to those of you who have given support….we could not have survived this long without you….
if now is the time for Burn to receive funding so that commissions can be given to the young generation and original work can be produced here for Burn from the iconic to the youngbloods, then OUR efforts here will be deemed someday to have been significant and historic… i just think that way….
so, let’s take this audience one step further….do i need your help? yes…. more pictures of course…but , what we all need now is to have a small first class team of grant writers and/or sales people to at least get me to the right person at the right kind of sponsorship venue…Burn is easy for me to pitch….really easy….first of all, it is not about me or my work(that is another problem!!)….Burn is about making a contribution to the new generation of photographers who express themselves either journalistically or artistically or both…..if you have any thoughts about potential funders and grant writing talent, please send them to Kerry Payne (photo below) who celebrated her 40th birthday at the Burn loft last night with our students toasted with Veuve Cliquot and Orios …Kerry is a hard core Aussie and should be recovered from last night’s modest bash by the time you send her an e-mail – kerry@burnmagazine.org….she is a biz person….do not write to Anton or to me, we are not….please please..
Anton and i cannot do any more than what Burn is now by ourselves…with just a little bit of help we can revolutionize….hey , is there anything better than the start up of a rock band in the garage?? yes, that is us….underground…underdog….full of enthusiasm…the best combo for creativity…
tomorrow we will go on with a live Q&A with Martin Parr…he will answer thought provoking questions from the readers here for two hours….Martin wants to do an original essay with first publication on Burn….i want to make that happen….and at the same time give concurrent commissions to two or three young less known photographers….i will make this happen….Martin, and Magnum , support this effort….a story on Alex and Rebecca Webb will follow soon behind, and they will be presenting at the Burn gallery event this friday evening where about 30 Burn audience photographers will be hanging on the same walls with Bruce Davidson, Elliott Erwitt, Gilles Peress, Susan Meiselas and Chris Anderson….we will try to invite likely print buyers and hope that someone who might collect an Erwitt would also buy a print from an emerging photographer…anyway, a nice thought…..oh yes, my loft students for the week are the highlight of the evening when they present their efforts for the week….we are hard at work on this show now…
so, this is a 24 hour time out from our normal programming….essays and singles from you will up again by tomorrow afternoon….but, this should give you all something to chew on….for one thing, do you take a time out right in the middle of when things are busy???
FRANCESCO,
Thanks for your kind words.
Eric
KATHLEEN…:)
exactly… “back yard”, “little village”..
Obviously the “exotic” is most of the times “easy” and “lazy”…
pulling the same powerful emotions , over and over, from
Africa, India and New Orleans and poverty and this and that…
The hardest to photograph is the boring , ordinary Wall Mart…
in the brain killing american suburbia..
but yet everyone prefers Las Vegas…because las vegas is easy, “safe”..
something like the “folsom leather festival in san francisco”…
easy, full of photos… but ends up boring in its own excess…
What Martin is photographing ( wal mart essay ), is not easy..
not guaranteed… unsafe…
good luck…
open the way.. we are all eyes..:)
Eric,
:)
i got your email
( hiding in the spam closet ! )
PANOS
Yes, YES! Walmart is the metaphor for the backyard, the village. Some naturally have that ability to slice cleanly through the familiar and splay it out for the rest of us in all its gory glory. (Todd Hido, Yoshiyuki Kohei, Richard Billingham for example). These people serve as 100 watt sources of inspiration to look homeward angel and pull it out from our souls, put it out there fearlessly. Yuh, well, my eyes hurt from thinking about this, LOL…so good to hear from you Panos..i thought it would be days before you saw that part of my post addressed to you.
hugZ
Kat-
Panos. A shit picture from wal-mart is still a shit picture from wal-mart, and a good picture from vegas is still a good picture from vegas. it dont matter where or what you shoot, its the shot that should count. This is easy, that is hard, is nonsense. so conversly, a shit shot from vegas will still be shit and a good shot from wal-mart will be good.
john
john gladdy- did you see my question to you awhile back about Ken Schles and Invisible City? Do you know / are you a fan?
John,
absolutely agree…
I just believe though that to pull an essay like ,
for example .. hmmm… Audrey’s , or Rafal’s…
its kinda harder than and more “unsafe” than an essay
about “HIV in africa”…etc..
but in the end ( as u say )..
its the picture that counts not the location…
so its not “walmart” vs “india”…
its ( non cliche) photography vs “boring”…
i wonder if people go for the cliche and vegas shots because of insecurity that they will not be taken seriously when photographing stuff closer to home.
the flikr generation thrive on ‘great shot’, and ‘WOW’ – shots which viewers are already familiar with and feel confident are ‘good’ shots… take a shit picture of a tough subject, bang it into black and white and some will still think it’s good snappin.. treat vegas to HDR or cross process and some will wet themselves.
our back yard could be walmart.. for some it is vegas.. or congo.. wherever it is – that is the place to start because there is good work to be done there..
after that, ‘work’ might propel you to other locations, yet you will still be in the same place and time..
it’s still martin who photographed new brighton that will be photographing american supermarket giants. still david ah who photographed ‘tell it like it is’ who fell in love with cuba.
it’s as difficult for any of us to crystallize our time and place.. our point of view..
it’s a place in-mind where good photography is made, rather than a place on the road.
i liked what martin said about photographing ‘old’ vs ‘new’, because to me that’s one of the essences of snappery – the ‘moment’ is not just confined to the fraction of a second, but also to the place, time and mindfulness of the photographer..
if we’re illustrating our place and our time as individuals, wherever that place and time is, the photographs have much more potential to be interesting.
it doesn’t even matter what flavor of photography you like to practice.
it just has to be honest..
hullooo, am i invisible? sheesh..this f*in place has way too much testosterone..what am i doing here anyway?
you know – i’ll bet there is someone who was ‘inside’ the “folsom leather festival”
with some great snaps which were far from easy to procure..
:o)
hope so.
kathleen – apologies.. was no intention to exclude you..
night
d
if you can pull it out of yourself in your own backyard then you sure as hell can pull it out in Vegas..THAT´S what Panos was saying way back when..START in our own village..that´s where familiarity makes it oh so hard to expose OURSELVES in the process..it´s part of our DNA..that´s why it´s a challenge, that´s why it´s important. Yes, like Audrey, like Rafal and yes, like Panos shot Venice. Doctor, heal thyself!
Freeman Patterson had a simple exercise in one of his books..walk 50 paces outside your front door, stop, find something to shoot. That could be 500, 5000, 50000 paces…it´s the Walmart in our lives that bears exposing to the world, then, ergo, expose the world to Walmart.
best
k-
except the simple exercise is far from simple..
David
s´ok, just sorta got to me for a second. thx. i love your comments, btw..and that post on electronic music in Eastern Europe was amazing..not sure if you saw my comment to you on that subject.
well, back to work for me..
ok, the rest of you can go back to ignoring me (´cept you, Panos ;)
kathleen
it’s true..
impossible to talk about anything unless we can first talk about ourselves :o)
freeman had a good idea..
David
Your last post btw, was superb, imo..i read it twice (the one about shooting honest and with mindfullness wherever you happen to be)..
really excellent..am printing it out.
great..
k-
ahh – sorry again.. very kind.
on close to home.. looking at my first print from 20 years ago – a crumbling wall 400 meters from my house :o)
electronic music started off photographing free parties for fun, which the guys in the flat upstairs organized.. a collective called DIY.
then it span out of control for a while.
hopefully have a post up on burn soon to chat about it all..
looking forward to people tearing into my work in both reasonable and unreasonable ways..
wasted
d
feeling parr inspired .. perhaps.. really enjoyed reading him.. his tone.
one of the things i love about the perceived ‘greats’ is how disarmingly reasonable and well explained their ideas are.. a real talent for simplifying some quite complicated ideas without breaking a metaphorical sweat.
good musicians are the same – just doing what they do.. able to explain it to anyone.
now i really must sleep..
night Kathleen
d
night, D..
i look forward to seeing your work published here..
yes, painters, writers too, btw..simplifying everything to the barest essentials.
k-
http://blog.melchersystem.com/2009/10/07/dying-in-africa-part-ii/
and for explaination
http://blog.melchersystem.com/2009/09/24/dying-in-africa/
ooohhhh … I missed the fun with Martin Parr… :-(((
And I really wanted to know what his favorite dish is.
Actually, after listening to all the interviews that are online, I did not really have a question concerning photography any more. More about other things. I wonder how the person behind these images is. That was one of the beautiful experiences of the workshops: you get to meet the person in a more or less “normal” daily situation. You see them move and react to situations and you get an idea about cause and effect that lead to the images. You get a glimpse. Just for a second. Like when DAH grabbed the camera in the dining room of the convent in Italy to make a picture of Chris and Atlas … or how everything in Antoine’s physique changed when this drunken guard came up to us in that parking lot in copsa mica where we were not welcome. These little things … you cannot really talk about them … they sometimes are minimal and … if you get a lot of them, you get facettes that maybe help you understand somebody. We all are where we are due to so many small and big decisions … I just love to watch that … and to try to understand. It just makes me happy somehow.
And that is one of the things I love in photography: it gives me an excuse to get close and watch – and sometimes I come up with little puzzles about different people. :-)) But never the last piece. It is always incomplete somehow. It is the only incompleteness that gives me satisfaction.
So I guess I meant is seriously when I said that I would have asked for his favorite dish. But then again I probably would have gotten the shortest answer. :-))))
Erica
there is no way John Gladdy does not fall for “invisible city”. I had to think of him too, when I saw the images … Absolutely!!! Although Ken does reach a more universal stand with the images he has chosen for this one book. I have just seen portraits from John. Beautiful, BEAUTIFUL, dark portraits … They do reach far but the ones I saw are still very connected to the person he photographs. I did not have the impression he was trying to go tooooo far beyond this person – to transcend. But would be interesting to see him do that. I am sure he can.
John … forgive me for talking about you in the 3rd person. It is just that I got this terrible flu since last night and I just hope it is not this swinethingy … I can hardly think.
Time to go to bed.
Hope the workshopstudents are all set up with their projects now and things are rolling! It is going to be an exciting and terrific day tomorrow. Hopefully someone is there with a videocam or an iphone or both … Panos? Are you going to be there???
ERIC
good to see/read you.
Yeees.. we have to meet.
Let me email you tomorrow – if I am still alive.
Good night from Germany.
Over and out.
David
From that link:
¨I do not want to see another photo essay, multimedia or any visual on dying Africans. Never, ever again. Enough. I understand that it makes for compelling images, that it seems that the photographers cares, but it present such a distorted vision of this beautiful continent. Not every country is at war, not every African is an orphan dying of aids or malnutrition. Not everyone lives in a broken down shaft wearing nothing more than rip jeans.¨
tou-fu**in-che
now GO to sleep!
k-
Anton. Mike, Workshop people..
am trying to transcribe the interview I did with DAH yesterday and have a missing blip..what was the work from Vernazza that was shown? thank you..
Lassal..
sleep well..i never asked DAH the questions..nor did I see our prints yet. We will all be surprised :)
Great conversation…I believe it started with my question to Martin which followed David’s comment to me regarding India…Too bad I can’t join in but keep going so I can read it later! :))
Also keep in mind what I said to Martin…that he makes the ordinary exotic. He turns Wal Mart INTO Vegas.
Cath´
Yes it started with DAH´s response to you about being published here at Burn..i thought you turned it into a timely question for Martin and the conversation since then has been interesting. I particularly respect David Bowen´s response before he went nighty-night. The reason i think that Martin can turn Walmart into Vegas is because he started with Walmart from the get-go. Metaphorically speaking, that is. I would still like to see YOUR view of Santa Fe. Sans cliches which, as a resident you are uniquely able to do. And Santa Fe, because it so thoroughly markets its own cliches, would seem a particularly difficult place to dig some truth out of. But if anyone can do it, you can. And, since David has thrown down the gauntlet to you to do just that, i suspect you will.
best on your travels
Kathleen
but Vegas is a mini Walmart without shopping carts. No?
David.AH
Thanks for bringing Martin Parr to Burn.
Here’s the quote that was freshest and most inspiring to me. I’ve gotta go dig that interview up now.
“…I disguise my serious photography as entertainment in order to help it get published, as the magazine market does not much like serious documentary/ photojournalism at the moment.”
David and Anton and all Burn people..
I’ve had almost zilch connection to media and blog sites but what was like a discovery for me of the perfect in sinc combo, as I wandered down a side street by chance, hearing the rhythm and rhyme coming out of from behind that wall has been BURN. I couldn’t believe my luck when I found the inspiration you’ve injected in my veins after a couple of years of feeling lack lustre. Now got myself a scanner and spending the hours needed has been what I need; getting organized. Don’t know how you at BURN do it, fitting in so much and David, I once thought of you like Deniro and what he’s done with that southside N.Y film festival thingy but maybe your more like Scorcese, your energy levels so high. Your offers of help to all of us I hope wont over load you to much.
I wish I could offer a brilliant idea to take us all further in to the statasphere of creativity and communication but at this point all I really have to add is a huge hug and thanks for your enthusiasm and sincerity….
to all. xxx
ALL
anyone interested who hasn’t seen it before, over on my site I have a synopsis of the talk Martin Parr gave this year at LOOK3..just go to http://ericamcdonaldphoto.com and then to scribbling in the dark, Martin Parr.
DAH……………..
short of the name of the photographer whose work of Vernazza you showed the workshop group (I think that’s what you said) the interview we did is transcribed. Do you want to proof? Should I put it up just at scribbling or do you want to put it here too?
Haik
Maybe if you bring enough cash to the table the casinos would provide shopping carts. Then it would be a really honkin´ big wall-to wal-mart. But it would still only count as a Walmart photographically if you called Vegas your village. Kabish?
k-
David B
“i wonder if people go for the cliche and vegas shots because of insecurity that they will not be taken seriously when photographing stuff closer to home.”
Assuming you mean by cliche and vegas shots, pictures of traditional subjects, then I can’t agree with your supposition. I don’t think people do it because they worry they won’t be taken seriously if they do something original. Surely we all strive to be original. I think its just that doing something original is that bit harder to work out and find. People probably don’t even think about how unoriginal they are being most of the time. If it weren’t we’d all be shooting original stuff all the time. Sometimes we may not be aware that we are shooting a cliche. In fact, you say it yourself.
“it’s as difficult for any of us to crystallize our time and place.. our point of view..”
The rest of your post I agree with and would say “good post”.
For my part, I’m going to shoot India. I don’t care if someone thinks that’s the essential cliche. I think its only a cliche if you shoot the same shots that we’ve seen over and over again. Certainly I am not going there to “blame” anyone for anything. I am doing it because it interests me and there are things I want to see that I haven’t seen – I got a hint of this last time. I think its honest to shoot what interests you, as honest as it may be to shoot in your own backyard. It’s a question of finding your own voice, or eye rather. To find something to show that others haven’t already seen. That’s the challenge.
Jared said, (and Chuck had the same thought): I don’t know why Martin’s doing this really — it’s already been done.
http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/?paged=2
I hope that Martin would be more subtle and more interesting. I mean they are interesting but only on the surface. There doesn’t seem to be much else going on. They are pretty scary, especially the woman with the bum-length dreadlocks and yellow shorts and the guy with his shirt tied up under his man-boobs.
CIVI
I’m trying to figure out whether you’d still say “What not to love?” Would you?
I thought it was clear I was being sarcastic or facetious or…. :)
KATH :))
Love your comment. Thanks for the inspiration, motivation and for your contribution here.
ANDREA,
See you in India :)) I like what you said about it being honest to shoot what interests you.
What it boils down to for me is that the camera gives me an excuse to hang out. I’d rather hang out in India than at WalMart. Period.
Imants; “ps my vegies in the garden are not for sale, mind you the local possums usually take first choice”
Nothing that a .22 won’t fix up… Oops, I forgot they’re protected in Oz :-)
Yea we trap them and then release them at or neighbors a couple of clicks away……………….. the thing about India etc shooting there is a bit like fishing in a bucket, point shoot and the tr0phy is neatly tucked away into the SD card
Yea we trap them, shoot them, poison them and run them over in the car and there’s still too many of the buggers here in New Zealand :-)
It’s funny actually, you probably know we dump a LOT of 1080 poison in the native forest to try and get the numbers down. so many conservationists leap up and down about how bad 1080 is, but you don’t see many of them lugging traps or cyanide into the bush to do their part in getting rid of possums. (and yes I am a conservationist)
Here’s a few fun NZ possum facts… “Each night possums consume about 21,000 tonnes of vegetation (300 g wet weight per possum x 70 million possums). Each possum killed saves 109.5kgs of vegetation annually”
Aaah yes, we REALLY knew what we were doing when we imported possums here!!!
Kathleen
vegas. village. gold-cart-with-suspension. wall-to-wall-mart. roseus cervix. man-boobs. capisce. प्रेरणा. beef.
pisser.
hugs.love.
Ceausescu’s Securitate alive and well in 2009 in Bucharest:
http://www.signandsight.com/features/1910.html
Jared, Sarcasm works when you know the person who’s speaking. I think I’ve read about two of your posts before this one.
Cathy, Where are you going? I’m going from the far east to the far west across the middle with a few zigs and zags. God yes, you’ve got to wonder about someone who chooses to hang out at Walmart ;-).
I’ve been shooting around here lately, it’s not difficult to find something shootable. I went to the markets on Saturday and felt more free than I’ve ever felt pointing my camera at people there. Not a single person objected or turned away. I could turn into a fly-on-the-wall photographer after all. But that’s a different topic. I’m considering doing a series of portraits about the locals next year. It’s not as if one only does one thing.
Bucket fishing is easy if the fish you want to catch is in the bucket in the first place. There’s a lot to be said for shooting in your own back yard but I don’t think there’s a rule yet that says we all have to do that now.
no time to report in details …………… bt we just have had 5 prints up on the wall …… 30 more to go …….!!!!!!!!!!!!
………
am burned ….. need a time out !!!!
Have a good show. Have a good party.
Cathy
It’s all good, grrl..shoot what makes your heart pound and your knees go weak..after seeing the people at walmart i realize a lot of what we worry about is a bunch of hair-tearing-angst. Shoot what makes you scream for ice cream..because if there’s a shred of talent in you and you shoot long enough and passionately enough, well it has just got to stick to David’s wall sooner or later. And if not his because half his preference for published work is highly manipulated PS stuff and that’s not what you do and there’s a long line of other wannabepublishedonburn contenders, then someone else’s wall. Insist on it!! Make them see you’ve got the goods. Our number one job is to shoot our vision and our number two job is to get the world to listen. And from what i know, the greatest innovators have had the toughest time getting published: William Klein and Robert Frank are just two examples. I have no idea how long it took others but unless they were well-connected then it wasn’t overnight.
so..ok..now i’m wiped out.
thx for the thx
hugZ
kathleen
emcd and lassal. Mr schles has some nice work. His portrait work is strong.
Joining in late, Kathleen,
if you want to go to extreemes check out ANDRÉ KERTÉSZ from my window, it was all produced from confines of his apartment. Done in sad circumstances after his wife died and he withdrew from the world, but what a piece of genius.
Ian
VIVEK>>>>> how did it go? what did you shoot?
andrea – perhaps i was being a little fatuous.. and tired :o)
people tend to copy postcards.. pictures they have already seen in the news.. the public records it’s consumption in this way. in bergen during the cruise ship season there are 3 spots in the city where i can sit for an hour or more and see 4 or 5 photographers at any one time, all taking the same view which is in the brochures they booked their holiday through..
india as a case in point – there are lots of things to look at outside of the people / festivals / differences between them and us.. the more i look back at the negs from my time there the more i love the photos of tourists.. those along with the day to day of where i was living are the most interesting things captured..
the package rajestan / goa / himalaya route is interesting to me when looking at the tourists buying into the authenticity of the exoticism.. the formnula..
other than that it’s a pretty dull route to take. if the animals interest you i would guess that animals anywhere interest you.. and a project focused on that would produce some great work. i think many people have no real personal interest though, and getting the ‘sadhu with chillum’ photo is as much part of their package tour as sitting on an elephant.
tourists don’t want to see nike swishes painted onto monks robes, no matter how in-their-face the swishes actually are. recording their active and adventurous consumption of exoticism is more the point.
people want to imitate the virtually dead profession of ‘travel-stock photographer’ and seek out the views other people first noticed.. photograph that hill in bergen the way it is in the brochure and pass it off to their friends as their own.. no one will know.. apart from the other 500 people who took the same photo on the same morning.
there is nothing wrong with this of course.. courses for horses.. but it’s not photography.
what i liked about melchers africa blog post is that it carries over to other places..
in india people expect to photograph poverty / festivals / old wrinkled faces smiling and i would guess that some are at pains to avoid getting other tourists in the photos.
people often make up their minds of what to photograph before they see a place.. hunting of poverty in places like india and africa is as prolific as hunting animals.. as imants hints – it’s the same sport.. and as melcher points out it has no consideration to the effect on the place being photographed.
it puts me in mind of the north of ireland, where i have probably worked the most away from home..
i remember someone on lightstalkers asking if it was ‘safe’ to do street photography there.. people still go there to experience their first ‘conflict’ when the conflict is long over.
people there are sick to the back teeth of people dwelling on the past, when there is a vibrant, young and relevant scene growing there.. and that relates to photography being about the ‘moment’, which is 1/30th of a second in a wider time-line of ‘right now’..
photographers who are ‘concerned’ and seek out problems can often have an adverse effect on the general perception of a place.. in the case of n. ireland it is taking a very long time to alter perceptions which PJ’s have firmly ingrained in peoples minds..
after all – when the war / famine / disaster is happening, well meaning / ambitious photographers flock there to document and publicize..
when the war / famine / disaster is over, very, very few return in order to update and redress the balance..
i think many photographers make the mistake of thinking that photographing serious subjects qualifies them as being serious about their craft..
undoubtably there are also people who genuinely mean-well.. and perhaps, for them, the troubles began in their own back yard..
to the fresh snapper on lightstalkers, though – n. ireland is still a place of daily conflict when in actual fact it’s offers some of the warmest and broadminded pockets of society in europe.
god knows i need to be more concise.. i could probably have said that in 2 sentences.. why i am not a writer..
Ian
I know of that book but have never had the good fortune to see it..he’s such a fave of mine though, i’m sure it’s wonderful. Josef Sudek also took a lot of photos inside his apartment and also through windows. You couldn’t get the man to leave Prague. All his work has the poignant tang of loving familiarity. Recently a woman photographer whose name i do not recall completed a book of photos shot entirely within her apartment in L.A.
Our imagination is our world. The best artists have shown us that time and again. It’s all about vision. The rest is details.
thx, Ian :)
Kathleen
working in different places over long periods of time helps avoid the cliches.. as well as having a focus of interest..
one day, when i have the money, i want to photograph taxi drivers the world over as a way of illustrating the relative income from the job..
my late father was a taxi driver in london :o)
“Our imagination is our world. The best artists have shown us that time and again. It’s all about vision. The rest is details.”
:o)
David
It is SO funny you mentioned taxi drivers..two weeks ago i walked by a long line of sitting taxis. The drivers were waiting for fares and each had his own way of waiting. Some stood outside their taxis, others sat inside. Some were half in/half out, others were leaning heavily against the fender. I shot from the hip, had my camera loaded with fast film, pre-focused and was able to shoot each and every driver as i strolled past..from the same angle, the same distance, nothing changed from photo to photo but the driver (because the cars all look the same)..i was so pleased at these portraits, because they really were individual portraits, that i want to do it again..and perhaps again. I worry about taxi drivers here. So many are killed..it’s so awful. I have a lot of compassion for them and when i saw the scans i was so moved by their expressions of resignation, boredom, fatigue, silent strength..nothing i’m sure you don’t know since your dad was a taxi driver :))
Well goodnight all..i am going to dream of walmart people…eeks..
kathleen