Waiting for a reply :), Xerxes.

For the blessings we receive
Come in the small treasures we look past
Those that fill your heart, I believe
Those that will bring you hope at last.

Having hope will change your views
And will bring happiness to your soul
For it’s not something you have to lose
It is our ultimate goal.

-Kirsten Hutchinson

yea, we’ve come a long long road…and i’ve really grown up…sort of ;)))….

what a strange and beautiful trip it’s been…

not a slight task, indeed ;)))

b

18 months after we first sparred on RT, I finally outworded BB. Not a slight task! :-))))

good god, you’ve just made me cry….literally…i guess i wasnt expecting to be very emotional today (just returned from shooting and now flying out the door) but good god, that’s one of the most people things anyone has ever written about my work, and you are one of the few people to ever understand that, or at least express it directly to me…

i hope that this year, will be the year we finally meet…always space (even in our tiny apartment) here in Toronto…

thank you so much my friend….

yes, the light comes from within…

big hugs
bob

We need not go back to the genesis of the image, (the shutter opening and closing), that information is but become a mere shadow. This image is as much shaped, and kneaded from your own inner vision and strength as by mechanical reproduction. You do not trust the camera, of the facts it catches. Or rather, you have no use for it, no use for photography itself, dare I say. I am not sure the light you claim is what the medium is all about, is not actually coming from you, entirely.

“I’m always doing the same images. I’m always looking outside trying to look inside, trying to tell something that’s true. But maybe nothing is really true except what’s out there. And what’s out there is always different.”–robert frank, film ‘home improvements’

running
bob

just saw this now….thanks so much for the great thoughts…totally agree and yea, erwit’s got it nailed! :)))) and thanks for the link to the class washing dinosaurs :))))….

LOVE LOVE your gold-red angel-dream photo! :)))))))…reminds me of found 8mm film, shot by Stan Brakhage! :)))))…and im totally with you….

now, no energy to write….im taking a holiday from Burn for now…i’ll write u when your work goes up :)))….yea, that’s it my friend, the flame of the flamingo’s smile that burns the same for all of us :))))

yes, it’s a pleasure to write here with you and talk and i hope hope it’s been great for your students too :))))….cant wait to see your project in full as it gets whittled into history books :)))))

more in a few weeks, or when u come up :)))

hugs
bob

and… here is something to make you smile.. burn is actually quite the teaching aid.
note – not one mac on a website.. all on desktop, feet up on tables for the ride… no corn pipes allowed.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3487/3295409368_d7e1b766c5.jpg

i have wondered about insecurity and narrow vision frequently while a practitioner.. for me the insecurity was extremely localized.. worrying that colleagues could snatch a job from me, and therefore take a weeks worth of cheap pizzas from under my nose. it was never a concern that so many people photographed, nor that my job was fairly sought after, (by those too foolish to understand exactally how much sacrifice it entailed.. just like me in the dawning).

focusing on our own thing has a way of relieving us of the competition, no? doing our thing.. seeing our thing.. enjoying our thing.. it has no limits and it takes nothing away from others.. photography is in that way much less of a stable product and much more of a ramdon marketplace.. we’re all selling, or showing, different cakes and so why bother that someone else cake is a different colour?

what i did find over time that my work has gone something like this – mid teens i could not get enough of books.. other photographers work.. devouring all with equal passion and projecting myself into the photographs i saw.. always considering the photograph as a reflection yet also picturing the photographer within the scene.. and what scenes i enjoyed.. extremes from the greats. the first photo book i bought was tim pages nam soon after it was released in the early 80-s.. i must have been 15.. and then the family of man reprint for an antidote.. and on.. and on.. to the point that last week i could take a book in from a single photographer with each of my students in mind.. “here – you would enjoy this..+” and so on.

then my own projects began.. many little ones.. and it stopped.. i did not look at another photographers work after about 1997 when i finally graduated.. not because i was not interested.. because i was focused on my thing.. i did not want to mistakenly produce derivative work, and that was part of the reason, but also because there was so much i found before me of interest that in persuing it all i simply did not have the time to look into other peoples thing.. it somehow became prohibitive.

i’ve always enjoyed crisp photography of less than crisp events.. tough subjects photographed sharply.. and yet i took all kinds.. so now.. with the book.. i am looking at all kinds.. and the past year since i finished the music project i have started again – to look at photographers work.. and i see so much more than i did as a teenager.. i see photos and respect photographers who have aloowed me to challenge my own persception of work.. which will allow me to use photographs like this..
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_D7BO-iIFIl0/SI8_bGje6OI/AAAAAAAAAIs/i5mgsy9YarI/s400/renaissance.jpg
alongside photographs like this..
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_D7BO-iIFIl0/SJF5y16Y7MI/AAAAAAAAAUE/2Qhrc2aqJrc/s1600-h/01540011.jpg

it is exciting for me.. seeing things which i previously disregarded in a completely new light.. contextual texture which overall must only be a positive thing for this endeavor, and in part burn is responsible for helping develop my perception philosophically.

i, as do you, photograph every day without fail.. and i said to my students today –
“photograph everything that interests you every day.. pick up your camera with your wallet and keys when you go out.. and play the game.. if you see a photo, take it.. because in 10 years you may see your work diffrently and photos you thought were poor may well complete a picture”
(paraphrazed).

the game for me is about moments, shapes and layers.. the rules are simple – no cropping outside the camera and be close.. use the technology as it is needed to catch the scene.. stay away from the scene though and remain invisible as much as possible.. when interacting, be quick.. be quick.. smile with eye contact only afterwards.. or run from clenched fists and bottles if they are heading my way :o)

it’s great fun, this game.. just great.
any words in the work in progress will be well received bobus and so please tuck in.
i have the second post planned and the first is yet to go up :o)

and on the jacket.. i payed 30 usd from the sally army..
rock on.
david, beate and top catx

and by the way, you can get a book now of Ruscha’s photographs (which include the 26 gas stations JOhn vink and I spoke of), i think you’d love the book :))))…and i loved your description of your projects :))))

thanks so much Adam for your sensitivity and insight :))))

cheers
bob

“life too is only an instant,
only a dissolving of ourselves
into everyone
as if we gave ourselves as gifts.”

And while it is obviously a very personal piece, there is a certain mysterious anonymity to the photographs that make it very easy to see one’s self in the work.

Thanks for sharing it.

Adam

i like receiving bob black hugs indeed :)))…thank you so much for your insight and patience to sit down and watch bones. i am happy that the work was ’successful’ in fueling your dreams or your memories or your initial skepticism….skepticism is not only good and healthy but i think a required elixir for each of us…im still very skeptical about the efficacy (can i use this word to describe an essay?;)) ) of the story, but i’ve had to live with it and put it out, and i’ve learned much from the failures of it…but, if you felt transported, then i am happy for that is always my hope for any work, that somehow it may speak to someone, take them on a personal journey that began as my own but somehow ended up their own….the collective sharing of memory….that’s all i could hope for….thanks so much eric

caint wait to see your essay here too!

bobblack hugs
bob

I have been away for the past 10 days, on a short vacation with the family with no computer or internet access. All I had was my Blackberry so I knew your long awaited “Bones” was up and could not wait to be back home to watch your essay… I had just put the kids to bed early and allowed myself some quiet time to look at it, get myself immersed into the mood, the dreams of Mr Black… As I told you before Bob, I was one who was skeptical initially but I have SO SO warmed up to what you did here… The music on top of the essay was a great choice… I felt transported into a very different place, started meditating… From my heart, well done Bob and thanks for having shared this very personal and unique piece of work with us….

A Bob Black hugs.

Eric

I hope that lion cub understands my words, it’s good that you used a silly voice, to go with the words ;)))))))…

and i am excited to see the work up in Work in Progress and I will definitely be watching and will totally offer any help I can (audience groans ;) ). I’ve always loved your Journalism/Music Documentary work very much, not the least of which because it feels authentic and in-the-moment and drawn up with the sense that you’re in the middle of it all and that those you’d photogrphed were comfortable with that, even the strangers, which means as a photographer you’re both present and absent and that’s a great great thing! As while our work might look different, i have always thought the essence is the same: to speak about what passes before us and through us as testament to this weird and wild and shaping life. I’ve never ever been a ‘competitive’ (or jealous) guy and i guess i am still always amazed that there is so much enmity in the photo world, some of which we’ve seen here as well. For me, it just seems to be born of insecurity and the neeed for people to categorize or create hierarchies of quality…i mean, for me, i jones for all good photography, it doesnt matter to me whether it’s beautiful, technically powerful and carefully poetically observed work, like Michaels’ essay on Sakhalin, or classic, dispassionate (but incredibly passionate) Journalism/documentary like John Vinks, or conceptual stuff or abstract stuff or color, or b/w or digi or film or whatever. All interesting photography, for me, begins and ends with an authentic expression and a complete dedication to the vision of the work, whatever that may be and unfortunately too many, by dint of taste or education or orientation dismiss work that the either do not like do not understand or do not recognize. for me, when i dont ‘get’ something, i think to investigate why, if i dont like something, i try to figure out why, and in the end, it’s always a learning process. Because photography is a tool of visual technique and one obsessed with perfection (as we can see right here at burn), an art form and a form of communication that differs from many others (what constitutes a perfect painting or piece of music or dirty joke, etc), and I increasingly move away from all technical perfections for that very reason. And yet, your own very accomplished work deals with great technical skill and verve and that’s also a pleasure :))

so, whether people come from the same country or not, often they can communicate and also discover that the same joints mean the same, have the same value, only expressed totally differently…a pinhole camera STILL produces photots that LOOK AS MAGNIFICENT to me as all these super crisp, perfect digital photographs…..and yet, often to me, it seems we’ve lost our bearings in all the beautiful colors and precise detail…detail is seductive, but might be misleading, i think Holmes suggested ;)))

so, i can’t wait to see your decade project here and will jump right in and i think and expect it to be a magnificent project and a terrific book…

and those jackets…..totally….though my own i bought for $50 and is 50 years old….the life of the n.american artist…money goes toward the good and film and books not the clothes ;)))

cant wait until your up…

hugs
bob

i´ve just put a few words and phots in yesterday for a work in progress blog, joining anton.. my hope is to make the most intelligent edit of my work possible.. with the help of you all.. keep em peeled as it may go up this month.. really looking forward to all feedback bob.. hoping that stoopid will have an opinion.. will be my edit, of course, although educated by respected scribblers.

you and i follow different ideals with our photography, to some degree, and in watching you produce bones i have begun to see the similarities in working method.. this has led to a greater understanding of art photography for me and i´m grateful to you more than most for that.

patricia and yourself in part inspired the introversion which led to my self portrait and the open attitude you and others lent to road trips encouraged me to try my best to pass on what little knowledge i have..

so..

a few kind words about our work is an easy task.. reading your work, while more difficult, is a rewarding pursuit.. instigating the kind of refection which can only progress us as human animals and perhaps as snappers..

i also believe that as a colleague teacher you probably have a love for corduroy jackets which is always respected by me.

love from the fam.
x

CARRIE :))…thanks so much for that. yea, my head’s pretty much over-stuffed…i guess that’s why i love and need the meditation, a way to quiet the disquiet….evyerhting i tend to do is always too…too many pics, too many words, too few money, too much internet, too much reading…someday, im gonna grow up and get it right: some simple loving silence :)))))))…thanks so much for wading through too many words/pics :))…it means a lot to bme :))))

DAVID B :))…thanks so much for that and especially for your endurance and patience will all my long-winded stuff…i cant wait to see your decade(s) long work in progress and eagerly await seeing it here….that will be cool-ass stuff! ;))))…kisses to the little lion cub….hugs, bob

SIS LIS :)))))))))))))))))))…thanks so much for that…yes, if if a book happens, you will get a special version, accompanied with a good long hug and a good long talk over wine :))))…maybe that’s what all these dreams of Oz of late have been about :)))))…not give us some of that MM stuff from Oz that you have so tireleslly and powerfully been stewing up…..hugs bob

Man, it sure has been a while since I’ve wrote anything on here(!), but your ‘Bones of time’ is the perfect timing – especially this early morning with the Berliner Messe! Great to hear, though I never ‘visualized’ this work with such a music. It works totally.

Lucky enough to have met the man (Cheers DAH), I need to ask: when will you and Marina grace us again in NY??

Hope it’ll be soon!
Take it easy up there in the cold ;)
Tanguy.