I know it’s about the power of the script you were satirizing to suck you in, but just at face value it’s a valuable satirical statement, which you started off trying to make, about the pessimism of so many X-ers of the likelihood of finding the meaning and fulfillment they were promised by that script. What some commenters here are seeing as emotionally emptiness I’m seeing as faces full of defensive resignation to inevitable failure. When the piece is framed so the viewer is already anticipating the end, then the friction between the hope (which is never completely lost) and the expected reality – the impossibility of
ever not being alone – comes through in just about every shot. Like some fellow said, when you say “I love you”, it’s a prayer to the gods who may make it so, but you know they rarely listen. The snapshot aesthetic works because it emphasises the superficiality of the relationship – a shallowness to it all.

That’d be a pretty thin piece for many, I know, but that’s the level it works best at for me. To make a statement like that with photography and a good-natured wit is quite something.

Best wishes with future work.

From a personal perspective I have (as many others here quite assuredly) have experienced the range of emotions attempting to be communicated here. In 5 yrs I have dated, proposed, , married, had two kids, and very nearly ended up in separation and divorce (still not out of the woods) so from personal experience the photo essay feels contrived, immature, lacking in depth, cold, artificial, patronizing, and lacking any reel drama, or pathos. If that was the intent then I think the essay has succeeded. Again I am describing the visual imagery and technique here. I think as a photographic experiment it is quite interesting and worth the attempt. Not all experiments end in success but that does not stop us from searching for the philosopher’s stone. Keep up your spirits and your work.

All the best,

Frank

The reslult, to me, is still the same, whatever you do it must be convincing.. if it’s not then critiques come in, the moment you put out the work to public (which is a free choice btw). It doesn’t matter how hard the whole thing has been on you, for the quality of the work it cannot matter, no excuses and no hiding behind emotional attachment to the work. I don’t say it’s easy, but there’s no difference between in-capsule and out-capsule relationships.

I like John’s way.

the project i would really like to do – which condenses time and events into a manageable, fictional account – would be a short film..
fiction can indeed be a good way of telling the truth and i´ve wanted to make one highlighting some of my real experiences as a photographer working in the music industry for a long while..
condense 12 years into a one-month-in-the-life… highlights and low-lifes.
it would be one way of getting round the lawyers :ø)

how about life as a conceptual experiment?
having one simple and unlikely wish – then creating a reality which fits that idea?

you obviously missed my comment above where i was trying to make a case for you as a conceptual photographer with room to grow…funny…now, you describe yourself as a documentary photographer…in looking at your website and work on Flickr i do not see any documentary work…only with Two Sisters do you have the documentary approach which is quite nice…in any case, we will wait to see what you do next…thanks for sticking around….

cheers, david

Thanks. You’ve pushed me a little further along. Not sure if I’ll ever try a “capsule” project, but love the concept. I think you’ve pushed us all a little further along.

David A…,…, anyway, thanks.

For the record, this project was an experiment. It is not my usual mode of working. I actually consider myself a documentary photographer if you asked me any other day. So, I tried something new and stepped outside of my comfort zone as an artist and photographer. It was and IS very hard to make one’s self so vulnerable in this way- to make the private so public. My request for everyone to try a capsule experience was not me being cheeky. It was a sincere query to ask yourselves what sort of challenge you would undertake?

This is not a project that I am planning to work on further or will ever revisit. It is done. I had the experience and I don’t need to repeat it. So….thanks for the ‘in the future of this project’ comments, but it is really over. I’m back to being behind the camera now.

yes! i am starting to believe that more and more….

yes, of course, that is what you do and me too….but not everyone uses photography for the same reasons nor has the same predilections…we all have different things in our hearts and heads that are going to come out one way or the other…frankly, i love fiction…with fiction you can really tell the truth…as you well know, there are some writers who do both fiction and non-fiction and a few photographers as well…obviously Ellie had something on her mind..something that could not be done by walking down the street with a Leica…shouldn’t she be allowed her own form of expression? yes, i see the weaknesses in her essay, but i also see someone really trying to substantiate and affiliate compound ideas …how she grows from this will be interesting to see i think…but i doubt it will be in the direction of straight documentary photography…nor should it be imo….sure she can do her work more succinct and with more raw visual power….but some of the essays that many seem to like here in the photo-j category go by unscathed when in fact they are no better versions of that genre than Ellie is in hers and required a whole lot less thought than Ellie put into her work….just my opinion…

coming to Spain in April with a quick stop in London…any chance for a cold beer??

cheers, david

this is exactly right! :))))