Is Flickr next?

YouTube Contest Challenges Users To Make A 'Good' Video

Good fortune

I was free to have lunch (Kung Pao shrimp) with Kevin Miyazaki today. It made me happy. My fortune cookie was dead on.

4 Across

At various times I fall victim to bouts of obsessive behavior that manifest themselves through Sudoku, needle point and cross word puzzles. This is a video that Christopher Guest could have made.

Curtains

The new LACMA blog has a wonderful post on Charlotte Cotton's solution for displaying sensitive prints which has transcended it's utilitarian purpose.

via MAN

History in the Buffer

Mike Green/AP

It has been a week and a half since the election (only a little over a week?). I want to suggest you read this post by Contact Press photojournalist David Burnett. The Conscientious Google Group has been having a discussion on the visual language of photojournalism which brought about discussion of photojournalists themselves. I just think it is too easy to pigeon hole.

"Most photojournalists like to feel that what they do in their work has some historic sense to it. I mean, we're photoJOURNALISTS. We like to think that our pictures are, as we often say, the “first draft of history.” They tell the story without words. It's the kind of communication which relies on the eyes, and the heart, and crosses cultural lines in ways that cause words to stumble. For all our sentiment about being historians, most of the time we focus our lenses on situations, people, events which, while important for a moment or two, might not fall into the category of earthshaking or.... historic. But the other night it was different."

Hank Willis Thomas and Deborah Willis

Aperture Foundation had a wonderful artist talk with Hank Willis Thomas and Deborah Willis on Tuesday night. Most of you weren't present. How do I know? They took attendance. The highest number of viewers was 9 (towards the end) and that included myself and Sonja Thomsen (we were texting during the conversation, sort of like pokes, smiles and nods if we had been present). The good news is that the entire conversation is available here (click on the top left thumbnail, the video starts with an introduction by Laurel Ptak). The so-so news is that I am very disappointed that so few people took advantage of the live streaming, it makes me fear they (Aperture) won't see the value in making this sort of content available. If you live in New York and were present at the talk or simply too busy to view you have an excuse. For the rest, where these events and insights are entirely too rare, it is as important (IMHO) to support these opportunities as it is to buy work or give money!

View the talk! It is a warm, refreshing, cross generational discussion of making photographs! Subject, documentation, cultural bias, process, it's all here! It will also show Aperture that it is valuable to not only offer these artist talks, but to offer them on the web (what part of Statistic Counters do you not understand?).

Steady!

Nothing like Ambien in the morning.

Spitball fight

I am knee deep in the computer changeover from HELL! I am moving into a machine I am calling Big Bertha and have run into a long list of difficulties that I won't bore you with. As a result posting may be spotty for a bit.

Sonja Thomsen posted her version of this lovely site/sight today (McDonald's, Waterford, Wisconsin [yes indeed, Country Western theme]). It prompted me to dig out my version made with a point and shoot. So it is a throwdown between a point and shoot and an iPhone. What I know for sure is that I will never eat from this place again.

Sometimes

Jim and Jody 1994, JoAnn Verburg

I find that it is not uncommon for ideas from a variety of sources converge/cross/intermingle on the Web. Tim Archibald has struggled anew on his Echolilia series and the Conscientious Group is discussing Photography and Literature. In the midst of these discussions Brian Ulrich has posted on Click: Photography Changes Everything. Under the Who We Are category is a short piece by poet Jim Moore, husband and frequent subject of JoAnn Verburg, titled Photography Changes How We Perceive Ourselves. He closes with his poem The Portrait which describes the experience of being The Subject.

Holga video

Tom Waits |MTV Music

Thanks to A Photo Editor I was able to enjoy this video. For those of you that don't know, this blog was named for a line in a Tom Waits song.

Subject: How This Happened

YES WE DID!

Election Day 2008

I left my house very early this morning to drive 30 miles East to Racine to volunteer for the Obama campaign. I walked 5 miles going door to door on a truly spectacular Wisconsin November day to encourage people to, or thank people for, vote(ing). I was able to meet people of every age, economic level and racial or cultural heritage. I then went to Racine Obama headquarters and made 250 phone calls. It was a great way to feel that I had done everything I could do. To remove the possibility that if the very worst happens I might say, if only I had....

I came home to my town and walked over to the Village Hall to photograph the long line of voters. Here you see it. One of the lovely, hardworking poll workers told me to come back at 4:30 for the expected after work crowd (our polls stay open until 8:00 PM). Our Village Administrator told me over 50% of our registered voters had voted early (in the last few weeks) so the lines were indeed greatly eased.

I am hoping that I (and most of my readers from what I can tell) go to bed with a smile on my face. I will end with a quote by T. S. Elliot that I believe will apply to an Obama presidency.

immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different

-t.s. eliot

Waiting to exhale

These are some of the images that come up in a search of Google Images and Flickr on the word exhale. I am waiting to exhale.

Happy Halloween

I admire a man who can run a 5K in this costume. It's all about the head band, sleeves and bell bottoms flying.

Jen Davis

Untitled No. 29 2008 Jen Davis

Tomorrow I am looking forward to meeting Jen Davis. She is speaking as the annual lecturer for Milwaukee's Coalition of Photographic Arts, in conjunction with the Photography Council of the Milwaukee Art Museum. I have been an admirer of her intensely personal, yet culturally universal work for years.

Artist's Statement
The perfect body image in this culture requires that one be thin. Images of perfectly fit individuals saturate the visual media, creating icons which establish a norm that makes all else seem to be deviant. Overweight people do not satisfy what is attractive or desired. In this body of work, I deal with my insecurities about my body image and the direct correlation between self-perception and the way one is perceived by others. Most of my pictures take place in my home, revealing aspects of myself that are private and personal. I am evaluating my self-image, as an obese female in her 20s, dealing with ever-present pressures from the outside world. This process of self-exploration has helped to lay the foundation of finding my voice and recognizing my actions and insecurities. My work is solely based on personal experiences that I have re-constructed into a photograph, but I believe that it speaks generally to the situation of many women in our culture.


She will give her talk in the Lubar Auditorium at MAM at 6:15 PM followed by a reception at 7:00 PM.

I Voted!

Living in a small town frequently makes my life difficult. I have to travel at least 50 miles round trip to do many of the things that city people walk to the corner for. Thus it is a small recompense that I could walk across the street from my studio to our Village Hall, fill in a short form, receive a ballot and exercise my franchise in 5 minutes door to door. While it didn't have the excitement and anticipation of standing in line with my fellow citizens and casting my vote on Election Day, it also didn't have the several drawbacks. Chief among them standing in line for an hour and a half (the 2004 wait time) with my fellow citizens.

If you think that submitting an absentee ballot is only for those in the hospital or outside the country you would be mistaken. Election officials in Wisconsin are actually encouraging early voting in the hopes of easing some of the difficulty from what is expected to be the largest voter turnout in memory, if not history.

These Birds Walk

Just as so many of us face serious concerns about economic security for ourselves and our country an opportunity comes along to invest in something that will not only feed the soul but, most assuredly, will increase in value. Paul Schiek has announced the second subscription series from These Birds Walk. Putting your money in the Bank of Photography makes your life richer now and your portfolio richer later.

Cincinnati

I am in rainy, cold Cincinnati for the weekend. The coal is still going up the Ohio River. Posting to resume on Monday.

Commodities

Erik Dalzen

Erik Dalzen has started a fascinating project, *Commodities*.

"Commodities is a collaborative project between me and spirited bidders. Art pieces are created based on specific marketable goods and cater to niche audiences of collectors and enthusiasts. The works are then exhibited on the auction website, eBay, under search terms that coincide with the vernacular from which each piece derives. Potential buyers may experience the thrill of shopping and the excitement of competition by vying against one another to win the art piece. The culminating action occurs at the close of each auction once rival bidders complete each piece by determining its value."

I was lucky enough to be the successful bidder on the piece pictured above. A photograph of Andrea Modica's Treadwell.

Look through his other projects as well. I particularly like Some Things.

Art about the American Flag

9-11-02 Nina Berman

MAN is posting a collection of art that refers to the American flag. I submitted this image by Nina Berman as a particularly contemporary viewpoint.

Pause to Begin, unpaused

The Anachronism of Basic Instinct from Somewhere in Middle America Colin Blakely

Flak Photo and Pause to Begin are collaborating on the much anticipated roll out of the project. Flak Photo is posting work from all of the participants throughout the rest of October. The artist galleries are up to look through all the work. Starting today, following the release last week of the video encompassing the full road trip, Pause to Begin will have multimedia slide shows on each artist's work and process. It is a remarkable opportunity to gain insight and exposure to emerging contemporary photographers, rather than waiting the 5 or 10 or 20 years that usually pass before interviews and studio visits are made.

Pause to Begin has also announced that a catalogue and limited edition books will be available in December 2008. If you haven't subscribed to their newsletter I suggest you get on the list by clicking on the Resources tab.

Update: The multimedia pieces do not seem to be up as of 4:00 PM today, keep checking back.

Extraordinary/Ordinary Individual

Lisa Paul Streitfield

The print I am offering as a reminder of action is a photograph I made in Metropolis, Illinois last Friday on my way to Kentucky. Today I received an email from CAN (Contemporary Art Network) letting me know about a lecture available on their web site given by critic, curator and writer Lisa Paul Streitfield, "Shifting Political Landscape and the Visual Arts". I clicked on the link and this picture is the first of a series posted to illustrate her fascinating talk. I highly recommend you listen.

Uncanny.

Les Misbarack

I really don't mean for this place to be all politics/sports all the time but when I checked into my Reader this morning this post from James Danziger's The Year in Pictures got my blood moving.

Blog Action Day Part II

Superman 2008 Mel Trittin

In yesterday's post on Blog Action Day I mentioned a print offer to follow. Here it is. Make a donation or loan to any organization working to repair poverty anywhere in the world. Forward me a copy of your donation receipt, in any amount, and I will send you a 5 x 7 print. If your receipt contains information that you don't want seen, then find an easy way to get me the information, including your mailing address. I want this to be easy and I want to send you a reminder that you took action. That you took a little time and money to do something heroic.

So much hot air?

If you feel that reading and writing blogs is so much hot air, here is an opportunity to do something about it. Today, October 15, 2008 is Blog Action Day 08 and this year's theme is Poverty. If you are feeling that circumstances and events are beyond your control, then here is an opportunity to change that. I am taking this day to by-pass the latest 20X200 offering and sending the money to Nothing but Nets and Kiva.

Malaria kills more than 1,000,000 people a year around the globe. A $10 donation through Nothing but Nets will provide a mosquito net which can protect a family of four for 4 years. Kiva is an organization that facilitates the disbursement and repayment of micro loans to individuals and groups in developing nations in order to empower their rise from poverty. For as little as $25 you can participate in this proven economic paradigm shift.

Please take the time to visit these sites and participate if you can. It is an opportunity. It is an opportunity to own a piece of Hope and Change. If you need a sweetener then check back tomorrow. I will have a print offer for anyone who makes a loan or donation.

Mad

I am on my way out of town until next week. I have a couple of audio books on my iPod and good weather predicted for the drive to Southern Kentucky. While I'm gone I would like you to read Edward Winkelman's eloquent expression of high dudgeon, Mad? Sir, You Don't Know Mad!

If you're the praying kind, now might be a good time. If you're not, find something you can do to help save what's left of this country.

The Collector

There are those who think I am a little anal retentive when it comes to organization. As if that's a bad thing!? In order to keep track of the prints and pieces I have collected I made up an Excel sheet listing Title, Artist, edition, date acquired, price paid, where the print is kept, etc. I'm currently helping a friend do the same thing with her own work. I think of it as a contact sheet for my collection.

Yesterday a new piece arrived:


If the prices (the work is representative of the very best spirit and art that this country has to offer) at Art for Obama are simply beyond your means this Martin Schoeller portrait being offered by Hasted Hunt in limited edition was $250. 100% of that goes directly to the campaign. It is the best contribution "thank you" I have ever received.

Be the Change

In honor of tonight's debate I want to pass along this link for printing your own campaign posters if you are a supporter of the Obama/Biden ticket.
Change the Thought has a series of poster files available for download and printing (I printed the ones above on 13 x 19 paper). The only caveat is they must be distributed for free.

Daniel Farnum

Friday I had the pleasure of discovering (in that it is new to me) the work of Daniel Farnum. His series Me Growing Up is being exhibited in the Photography Gallery at MIAD until October 10. To my knowledge this is an under investigated landscape. The suburban/exurban haunts of the pre-driving adolescent.


"The recognition of adulthood is connected to the acceptance that childhood has slipped into the past. Memories from the places where we searched for maturity and independence are the residue that is left behind."

He gave a gallery talk via Skype; thoughtfully sharing his motivation, inspiration and process with the students. As an educator himself he was comfortably open and generous. Quite an extraordinary thing to have him virtually present.

Here's to the boys of summer

Congratulations to Zoe Strauss, Mike Macfeat and all Phillies fans. Never let it be said that I welsh on a bet.


It is a disappointing day in Milwaukee. I still agree with Franklin Delano Roosevelt's words. "What America needs now is a drink". Maybe next year.

Where there is life

there is hope. Prohibition may be alive in Philadelphia but in Milwaukee the beer flows!