Comments on: nathan pearce – midwest dirt

By: Top Photography Films - Nathan Pearce

Top Photography Films - Nathan Pearce — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:11:47 +0000

[...] Nathan Pearce featured on “Burn Magazine”. [...]

By: Jukka Onnela

Jukka Onnela — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 03:16:45 +0000

I don’t really know what to say, could say but I hate namedropping. Life goes as it goes. Damn good work.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 21:58:02 +0000

Mw…

LOL! You know very well that whenever I don’t comment on an essay it’s usually because I don’t get it’s meaning or significance and feel unsure. My view on comments is highly personal. I have nothing against constructive criticism quite the contrary, however you must take into account that all my knowledge on photography which has nothing to do with either landscape or fashion photography is thanks and due to DAH. Now if I had taken a critical stance towards many of the first essays I discovered on Burn, the one’s I simply didn’t ‘get’ or enjoy and commented in a critical way, I can assure you I would never have become the photographer I think I’ve become. Instead I kept quiet as I usually do, trying my very best to learn and see what the photographer was attempting communicate – yes probably very boring but I’m not round here trying to entertain, only learn. It so easy to comment in a critical way and just turn to another page and keep on stuck in the usual rut. Some essays take time to understand others are instantaneous and you can feel them straight away. Now of course there are many occasions I still come across an essay I can’t relate to and I feel that sudden urge to say so out loud right here, I stop and remind myself that DAH knows a damn sight more on photography and everything relating to it. So I shut my trap up, (especially considering the highly significant fact that I personally haven’t managed yet to complete an essay and be published on Burn), and try my best to get past my initial negativity.
I think criticism is great, I personally feed off , it helps me tremendously but I’m a highly driven person, but others don’t have to be this way, so for many it’s a delicate subject. We all know that creating something with passion is stuff of very few and how hard it is to create anything above mediocre.

By: tom hyde

tom hyde — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 20:26:56 +0000

What I really think: This essay is the shit, at least for me. No need to overintellectualize it. It’s real. It’s life. It’s America and American (sorry, USA and USAan). It’s well on its way to being fucking awesome. I will buy the book. If Nathan does a Kickstarter project to finish or publish, I’ll give him 50 bucks and a box of birdshot. No bullshit.

Yep Michael, pretty harsh and out of context. Then again, we all go off the rails here at one time or another.

By: mat kuhlig

mat kuhlig — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 19:59:03 +0000

beautiful, nathan. not enough photos of flora. miss you, man.

By: mw

mw — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 19:03:44 +0000

I’m afraid that came off much harsher than I meant. Of course Paul makes substantive comments and has done so in this thread.

By: Carlo

Carlo — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 16:50:25 +0000

writing one liners or worst feeling forced to write “something” should not be part of the equation.
If it comes….write…if it doesn’t….dont.

By: Carlo

Carlo — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 16:43:22 +0000

“Why don’t you say what you really think?”

Well….I like this essay and congrats Nathan but if I have nothing to say I just don’t comment.
It does not mean I don’t like the work. It just means I having nothing to say.
No mystery there, just plain and simple….the truth…

By: mw

mw — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 04:06:52 +0000

So to put it in the “shorter” format, for you Paul, and just about everybody else: Why don’t you say what you really think?

By: mw

mw — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 02:56:21 +0000

Paul, if you miss the good old days so much, why don’t you comment on the photo essays rather than start new dialogs. You have certainly proven yourself capable of making insightful and challenging comments about the work that is presented here. That’s been my whinge lately: too little discussion of actual photography and what better jumping off point than the published essays? Here you have two essays published back to back. Interesting, audacious, fascinatingly flawed essays that burn kremlinologists can’t help noting were definitely chosen by David and you comment not at all about one and not at all well about the other. I mean, to say this essay isn’t preachy? I’d say this approaches Jukka levels of moral righteousness. And Virgil’s essay isn’t far behind, though from an entirely different perspective. Of course anyone should discuss whatever they like, but why not do that and make substantive comments about the essays. Sure, there will be a few photographers that prefer nothing but praise, but I suspect many more would prefer deep intellectual consideration of their work, even if it’s not altogether positive.

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 07:32:43 +0000

Jim…

I got the same claustrophobic feeling, I usually share this feeling with my wife when we spend a little too much time in rural areas. What I love about this essay is Nathan isn’t trying to preach anything or showing off some eyeball kicks, the work is subtle and elegant. It’s all about Nathan’s impressions and reactions.

By: Frostfrog

Frostfrog — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 03:21:01 +0000

Jim, for once you said something with which I agree, but for different reasons. When we speak of Rural up here, it means something entirely different than it means anywhere down in the Lower 48. When I am in Lower 48 Rural America, I do feel claustrophic. Everything seems cramped, penned in, even when I am in what folks call open space, even in the west, the deserts, the Rocky Mountains. I can and do enjoy it for awhile, but then it gets to me and I just have to head north again.

By: Jim Powers

Jim Powers — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 23:58:48 +0000

I’m all about rural America. It’s where I live and work. And I would agree this essay is an impression of rural America more than a picture of it, perhaps defined by the photograher’s biases. There is no “rural America,” by the way. It all depends in which direction you point your camera. I can take you from a fancy gallery opening to a roundup on a Longhorn ranch by driving 10 miles.

The photos are a little claustrophobic to me, but that’s how I sense the photographer feels about his version of small town life.

By: Frostfrog

Frostfrog — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 23:52:04 +0000

Paul – I love both thoughts. I’m at a little bit of a loss as to how to do the first, especially since my one New Year’s resolution is to cut my time online by about 80 percent so as not to let myself get so distracted from the work before me and this means I will not have as much time to leave comments.

Of course, it is now five days into the new year and I have truly kept this resolution all of one day – but I’m not giving up on it.

Nathan – I know it will. There are so many things out there shouting out for our attention every day that I and others may sometimes miss what quietly comes next – but when you finish this book, we will be there.

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 22:19:53 +0000

Frostfrog… I think the best essays usually go slightly unnoticed. They are subtle like the power and intelligence of oriental philosophy.

By: Nathan Pearce

Nathan Pearce — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 22:19:03 +0000

This book will be done someday.

I hope you will all keep looking at what comes next.

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 22:14:31 +0000

Frostfrog…

Let’s start a dialogue thread! I miss the good old Burn although I’m sure it’s just taking a nap. So lets wake it up.

By: tom hyde

tom hyde — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 21:13:52 +0000

This, this is the shit. And I mean that in the most complimentary way.

I would buy this book when it is “finished.” I really hope it is someday. In the meantime, here’s raising an animal beer to you Nathan. Cheers.

By: Virgil DiBiase

Virgil DiBiase — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 20:40:58 +0000

Nathan, a brilliant essay. Oozing with soul. Be proud.

By: Frostfrog

Frostfrog — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 20:30:06 +0000

Imants – Maybe you are right. One would think so fine and thoughtful piece of work would attract more comments and it could be that the cat in the photoshopped hat stole them, although I am not certain. In general, with an occasional exception, it seems some excellent essays do not attract as many comments as they used to. Also, in the past there was generally a dialogue thread where one could feel comfortable to drop in any kind of comment on anything, but such threads no longer seem to develop. Even with all the comments it go, the cat in the hat did not turn into such a thread.