now is the time……i just sense it…..the most amazing summer storm is just rolling through right now 6:30am my time….inspirational!! great light , but the whole family is asleep , so i was forced to shoot one of my rare "landscapes"…but, it is not the storm that i am talking about..
everything in life is always timing, timing and timing….knowing when the "time is right" is a sense that perhaps some people have naturally , but surely is a skill to be developed….
i sense that NOW is the time for all of you who are interested to start photographing something for this site ….now and until the first week of september…i am interested in your work from july 1 – september 1…(i will of course link to your past work)…..
this "something" should be an essay of your choice that would ideally be a subject close to you both physically and emotionally…and i am interested in publishing here all types of photography….now is the time for you to show me and our respected audience what you can do….
i well know the writing skills of many of you…..now i would like to see your photographic skills….most of my students and emerging photographers i know WANT a good portfolio review…..most of them NEED to just go out and work….
all of us must put our past work in the "back of our minds" and go out and create a new body of work….this is difficult, because most photographers get "married" to their portfolios….and this is totally understandable..but, experience with working almost every day myself and critiquing the work of so many students over the years proves to me that the best thing any of us can do is to "start over" each and every day ….
so, please start thinking…..and start working…..you may want to begin a new project or continue with an existing one…..i may publish single pictures from some of you or essays from others…..
please do not worry now about where all of this will be uploaded….i am working on this now….we have many choices, so this will be no problem….by mid-september we should have something magical to "put on the table"…
please start your thinking process from the heart…..give yourself the "assignment" that you would dream of receiving from a "mythical" editor …your best work will be something so so obvious… you do not have to catch a plane or a train to do good work…
i want to see how you see….i want to feel how you feel….i want to know how you think…i want to "read" you as "visual authors"….
you cannot "say something" if you have nothing to say….and remember, the best stories you have ever read, the best films you have ever watched and the best photographic essays you have ever seen have usually been personalized visions of what could have been a casual observation or not noticed by someone not attuned…
i simply want to provide you with a new venue…..a sophisticated photographic venue for others to see what you are able to do in a specific time frame….please trust me in on this one…the magazine editors i know value this more than anything you can ever show them in your portfolio of "greatest hits"….
so, let’s give this a try….none of us have anything to lose….this is exactly how i teach my workshops…..i throw my students "out into the cold" and make them produce…it works….i have seen it over and over again..
details for submissions will follow of course…..but, please forget these kinds of "details" for right now….
just think…but do not over think….relax…..enjoy…..play….work harder than hard…have no fear…be instinctive….get "inside" yourself…get "inside" someone else…be a mirror….be a window…..
you now have total freedom!!! ….please use your time wisely….
For David Michaels,
I think you need to read the post by DAH preceding all these commments. He explains everything you need to know for now.
Here’s a relevant quote for the time being, though: “…details for submissions will follow of course…..but, please forget these kinds of “details” for right now….”
And for David Alan Harvey,
Don’t know if it’s important for logistics or simply getting a feel for how many folks will be flooding you with images, but… I am totally in on this! Already started a brand new project just for this. Thanks for the opportunity.
-M
hello all….
just to be very clear again……this is not a contest…..this is closer to submitting pictures for a magazine…..i will choose the best of the best for viewing on this site in as creative a way as possible….
i will let all of you know soonest exactly where and how to upload your work….i am estimating that i will have you submit no more than 15-20 photographs of which i will choose whatever seems appropriate for the work you have done…
i will publish perhaps a group of the best single pictures….and another group of the best essays….the whole point is a selected group of great images from this audience…i view all of you as collaborators in a new way of thinking about online publishing and possibly turning it all into a printed magazine/book/exhibition….
the readers of this blog include a combo of emerging photographers, as most of you are, and a sophisticated group of current magazine editors and established photographers…if you are seen here , you will be seen by a very respected audience…
this will all depend on the quality of the work that will come to me…right now all of us are working with a sense of mutual trust and faith and sense of experimentation and adventure….if we turn it into more, than so be it….
i live my life in an “organic” way and would never change my basic philosophy in any way….i will keep all of you informed all along the way as to what is happening with all of it….
for those of you who are new readers of this blog, please go back into the archives just a bit and ‘catch up” on where all of this is coming from…there has been a natural and surprising evolution with this blog unforeseen by any of us…
I had been getting a little jaded on my summer project but this idea of yours has fanned the dwindling flames somewhat. It’s ablaze again. Thanks a million Mr. Harvey.
hi David,
thank you.
I find myself days away from a birthday that just this morning came looming large in my psyche, and with it an urge to look back and scour books upon books of old negatives for some creative oversights.
I won’t. Something new instead.
Peace and thanks for listening to the whisperings of Khronos, who emerged into life from chaos itself.