Feast of Losses by David Plummer
Feast of Losses, is an ongoing project that documents the life of David Pembroke, who in 2003 was diagnosed with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, a rare brain disease that causes nerve endings at the base of the brain to gradually die. These neurons mainly control movement and balance, vision and speech and the ability to swallow. There is no effective treatment or cure and like other neurodegenerative diseases, PSP gets worse over time.
Website: www.lightstalkers.org/davidplummer
Kathleen, I was never a wide-eyed idealistic 22 year old! ;)
My wife (whose personality is the exact opposite of mine) swears I was born a 40 year old!
I don’t carry a machete. I did, however, upset a young woman on an ACLU message board once so badly that she started a thread suggesting I eat raw infants. That was back in the 90’s, though, and I’ve mellowed a lot. :)
Jim
ohgawd..thanks, i needed that bit of comic relief!
“MELLOWED?” she bellowed, then looked around and hissed facetiously under her breath..”darlin’ if you have mellowed, then i am Anna Nicole Smith”.
Stay just as you are, don’t ever change..the rest of us will find ways to adapt.
And thanks for the laugh, heh. It was wholly unexpected..oh yuh, and please do wave howdy for me when you fly past Hillister. i really do miss that place :(
best:
kat~
So I see your position Jim: photograph only that which is affects a large portion of the population. Sorry, but your reasoning is just about the silliest thing Ive ever read. You can have issue with how this was photographed, but instead your issue is with the fact that it was even photographed in the first place. Jim, just because something is not curable NOW doesnt mean it wont have a cure. Every disease was originally incurable. It doesnt mean no cure will be found in the future. Does this mean THIS photo will lead to a cure? No, but your stance is dont cover anything that doesnt have a cure, ever. What a silly, silly stance. From a newspaper editor, nonetheless. Id love to see your paper, must be a safe publication.
Also, Jim, for a PJ and a newspaper editor it is very strange to see you so oblivious (even hostile) to the power photography can have to bring about change, even a small change. Let me ask you this, since you take such pleasure putting down anything not PJ – what good is your PJ if it is kept safe and sanitary, god forbid it should ever cause a controversy. Jim, do you even know what you stand for? Im starting to doubt that very much. What sort of PJ do you practice? Country fairs and home coming games?
ALL…
the ” A DAY IN THE HOOD” that i promised last night is almost ready….
5 more minutes… im really excited… hopefully is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy more different style than my usual….
im not gonna posted here… im gonna hijack ANDREW’S “room” once again…
i dont know why… its just feels like home… thats why…
gimme 5 more minutes..
love y’all…….
Rafal
wow…you said things here that i have wanted to but didn’t have the nerve, the phrase “Rotary Club fundraisers” would repeatedly come to mind and i’d squelch it..i don’t want to speak for Jim..just want to make an observation that i noticed in this thread. i think if you read carefully you see him laying bare his own personal frustration with difficult or impossible situations like this diptych represents. He revealed his own..not from a Pj stance, but his own honest and heartfelt reaction to this photograph. It might not be yours or mine but it’s his and completely valid. I was touched and impressed that he did not bring anything else to the table when he expressed his frustration and helplessness. It was just Jim being real. I just had to say this in case you didn’t pick up on it. What you say here is absolutely right but read back and maybe you’ll see that, imo, Jim is warming up, relaxing, opening up a bit..
Now Jim, don’t go making a liar out of me in the very next post, k? Stifle it and go back to the discussion on “Hand”…;))
best to all
kat~
JIM
First, know that I mean no offense to your own views..but I was thinking about you comment that certain photos will just make you or the readership you are familiar with turn the page because there is no “effective response”. It seems that you genuinely want photos to serve humanity, and because you’ve seen what does and doesn’t work in a known context, it makes sense that you would continue to lean in one direction (as an editor, photographer, person)..except that there are many different contexts and audiences and minds and sensitivities, many (non photographers) who are highly invested, intelligent and may not ingest the daily rags at all or, in this example, even believe in God…(You wrote that these images leave you raging against god, but this would never occur as a response to many) All I am trying to say (in a pre caffeine ramble) is that if you believe in the power of photography, you might be heartened by the thought that there is a (non photographer) sector of the people who would not fault the editor in bringing such images / topics to light. Be glad of that..that photography impacts many people differently than in the way you have seen played out. The world is large, and thankfully, so are a great number of minds, many of which may source and respond to information in ways that are outside the norm that you have routinely encountered.
Rafal, you give photography too much power. Have you noticed that, despite the fact that millions of photos have been published showing the horror of war, there are still wars? Despite the photos of genocide all around the world, it is still going on. Despite the horrific photos we see daily of untold numbers starving to death, governments still starve their own people.
It’s not that I do not think these photos should be published. More light is better than less. But the reality is that the power of photos to change reality is incredibly limited. If you want to tilt with windmills, don’t let my cynicism stop you. I’ve spent my life doing just that.
Erica, they don’t have me raging against god. My point was that there is only one option available if you want to complain about undeserved suffering. Since most people in this country profess to be Christians, and since they are unlikely to curse god for this kind of stuff, they just tend to turn the page.
ALL…
this has been the tightest thread discussion on BURN so far…and a good one…all comments on point and staying right with the photographs published….this alone speaks to the strength of the images….
after i published these, David Plummer came forth with all of his images of David Pembroke…i wish he had submitted all of them to me in the beginning, because seeing this sequence would have been a very interesting essay indeed…i think he may post a link for all to see….
cheers, david
jim – do the ethical problem in part have something to do with the context of use for you.. the amount of funds the photo might raise and where the money from such work ends up being channeled?
for me – when i think of ethical problems within photography it is normally with respect to advertising and commercial use.. fast food aimed at children.. adverts with happy people encouraging others to over-stretch themselves with debt..
i know there are ethical ambiguities within work containing tough subjects and it is a worthy discussion for sure..
i may well find ethical problems with some peoples motivation for covering conflict and disaster.. although for end use of photos i find many more problems with advertising than any other use..
david.
Jim..
my experience differs from yours..I have seen that even amongst the masses, there are many who actually act on “Christian values”, doing more than simply turning the page..
RAFAL…JIM…..ALL
yes, the downside of human nature overrides the power of photography….
yet, the upside of human nature always makes us want to do SOMETHING…
photographers, and journalists and filmmakers and care givers and social workers etc have all tried very hard to swing the vagaries of our genetic animal make-up in the direction of “let’s fix this”…
does it work? the pessimists will say “no”…the optimists will say “yes a little bit”..nobody but nobody thinks the worlds ills will be cured by either information or even by direct action…however,some things HAVE been changed by quality input that changes the actions of the so called decision makers…
as with everything else in life, it all depends on what you believe to be true and how you are going to spend your time and use your talents on this beleaguered planet….there is no empirical manifesto…
it seems that for most of us here, we fall into the realm of let’s at least TRY..what all of us do when we get out of bed in the morning depends on our motivations and sense of self and our perceived expectations of result…
in my experience, i would much rather deal with people with a positive attitude….they at least do get SOME things done…folks with a negative attitude have NO CHANCE whatsoever…place your bets….
cheers, david
David, despite my cynicism, I continue battling the odds. Lost causes follow me home like sad little puppies.
JIM….
yes, i believe you…and i think you are a good man…just because we disagree on the manifestations of our work, does not mean in any way that there is any clash whatsoever with your humanity…and i feel for you because you say “lost causes follow me home like little puppies”…that is a stopper…
peace, david
Jim,
How can you suppose to know what most people’s reactions to David Plummer’s images of Mr.Pembroke are?
To echo DAH’s and others’ sentiments regarding these images: what affects people (disease, hopelessness and loss), are part of the human condition. And when struck with some tragic circumstance or unwanted affliction, we realize how little control we have over our lives. I find images such as David Plummer’s, David Bowen’s, Patricia Lay-Dorsey’s, Sally Mann’s, and Diane Arbus’s heartwarming and they show me that I am not alone in my struggle to persevere and understand.
Staring headlong into the ugliness of reality, reminds us of the impermanence of life.
Salutation to the Dawn, translated from the Sanskrit~
Look to this day! For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course lie all the verities
and realities of your existence:
The bliss of growth; The glory of Achievement;
For yesterday is but a dream, and tomorrow is only a vision;
But today, well lived, makes every yesterday a dream of happiness,
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, To this day!
jim,
i am with you. i have seen and been so close to such horrendous things not necessarily war, since i would be first to die physically; but poverty and hopelessness that oftentimes, i feel to die slowly is far worse off than being shot. at least there is some freedom if some end is offered. whereas i think it is necessary to post pictures like this, hopelessness and frustration are things that i dont have a lot of stomach for, not anymore since i had my kids. i try to be upbeat, be optimistic, when i am thrown lemons i make lemonade so to speak. but lemonade can also become stale, not refreshing, moldy if it is all you have. it gets too old. in the end, ‘overexposure’ makes people calloused and cynical.
i have more strength burned everyday to fight cynicism. each day saps more and more power from me. there is a tipping point for everyone. so when i am feeling down and sapped already, i take care of myself. i protect myself from things that i may perceive as negative that bog me down, therefore, i turn the page.
Im no romantic as far as the power of photography goes but then again, let’s not neuter photography by restricting it to feel good subjects. Like it or not, this is a reality. Better to confront its existence than plonk our heads in the sand.
ALL…
for those interested in the whole David Plummer sequence on David Pembroke, here is the link:
http://www.lightstalkers.org/davidplummer