Thursday, February 28, 2002
» I've heard a lot of photojournalists speak to the fact that they don't have a say in how news is covered. This article questions why this is so, and I think it is excellent for its attempt to question that power balance- as photographers are considered 2nd class citizens within the newspaper industry.
Fortunately enough, my own experiences with shooting for newspapers have been unlike those mentioned in the article. At a local non-profit paper that I shoot for every month, the power of photography is clearly appreciated, and attempts are made to have as much photography in it as possible. One of the main reasons for this is the nature of the paper- it is sold by homeless vendors who spend hours in front of bookstores, grocery stores, and other places with heavy foot traffic trying to sell this paper to people who walk by. People will often give the paper no more than a glance as they walk by, and studies have always shown that people are much more likely to focus on pictures than text, so it is that cover picture that can make the sale. Why that point doesn't resonate with newspaper editors is beyond me.
12:44 PM PST
Wednesday, February 27, 2002
Photographs take on artistic significance (whether deserved, or not), just by being hung on walls. Add matting and framing, and you've got a serious piece of work, to be scrutinized by serious, serious people. The secret is not letting them know whether it came from a B&W darkroom with a coldlight enlarger, or your $99 ink jet printer.
11:21 AM PST
Saturday, February 23, 2002
» If any of you Portland WDCers are reading this and have some time next Tuesday, I urge you to come on down to this art auction benefiting Dignity Village. What/who is Dignity Village, you may ask? Read more here. Even if you're not interesting in buying anything, it's worth checking out the great photography, and to hear Dignity Village residents talk about what's happening in the community
12:02 PM PST
Thursday, February 21, 2002
» Lost Highways are neat and old in their own way, and I can only think of kids going out and skating them, making creaky wooden ramps, and having these enormous strips of pavement that they can skate on endlessly. It all feels very Midwest to me, but not in a bad way. Thanks to Mary for the link.
09:24 AM PST
Wednesday, February 20, 2002
» Sure, it smelled like ammonia, but for $20 a night, the Joyce Hotel in Portland is a reasonable place to stay, sort of (the discerning reader will notice the photography credits).
08:06 PM PST
» File Under: Are you fucking kidding?
"Civilized people -- Muslims, Christians and Jews -- all understand that the source of freedom and human dignity is the Creator.""Civilized people of all religious faiths are called to the defense of His creation. We are a nation called to defend freedom -- a freedom that is not the grant of any government or document, but is our endowment from God." - John Ashcroft
As an American citizen, I've always kind of assumed that the freedom we are given in this country comes from the Constitution, not some deity that US citizens may or may not believe in. It's abundantly clear, as the article states, that Ashcroft has no problem choosing Church over State, and that his beliefs are deeply rooted in "Believe in god or go to hell"-type thinking.
If anyone's keeping a tally, chalk up one more vote for desperately hoping he gets impeached.
01:16 PM PST
Tuesday, February 19, 2002
People's notions of privacy are all over the place. This one guy, while I was shooting photos of the Food not Bombs folks feeding him and other people food, he took issue with me taking his photo. I argued the point with him a little, and he shot back, "How would you like if I took your picture?" It seemed fair enough to me, so I very carefully handed him about $2500 of camera equipment and hoped I'd get it back.
Rather than put the camera up to his eye, he began swinging it around and hitting the shutter release button. It was actually entertaining, and he didn't complain the rest of the night when I took his picture.
I liked this shot especially, that caught part of my face, and came shortly before he gave me the camera back.
09:45 PM PST
Monday, February 18, 2002
This past week, the six month rainy season in Portland took a little break, and we had sunny weather for almost a week straight. I saw flowers blooming, and fuzzy trees buds starting to show. This brief reprieve is now history, and the rain continues.
Photography by Charlene, soon to have a web site of her very own.
11:03 PM PST
Saturday, February 16, 2002
Way back last December, I wrote about this early morning down at the New Jersey shore. I scanned the photos in, and let them sit on my computer for a couple months. Anyway, here's two of them that were shot from the deck after I got tired of kneeling in frozen sand.
06:48 PM PST
Friday, February 15, 2002
» It's the light that makes this photo so amazing, as if the little boy is conducting a sunrise.
04:10 PM PST
» Coyote! Most cities have squirrels, dog-sized rats, and too many pigeons. The Portland spokeswoman said after being released, the coyote "bounded after some field mice."
Now how the hell does she know that?
08:36 AM PST
Wednesday, February 13, 2002
» After listening to the same 100 or so songs for the last 4 months, I've found myself thoroughly tired of them, they're not exciting or inspiring anymore.
So, if anyone has any musical suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Really, anything.
10:42 PM PST
» As has probably been made abundantly clear, I'm really interested in old abandoned places. The Detroit Metro Times has taken advantage of what seem to be a plethora of abandoned houses within this city, and started an Abandoned House of the Week section on their web site, which I find sad and fascinating.
12:49 PM PST
Tuesday, February 12, 2002
» Busy, busy, busy. Grants to write, stories to cover, people to meet with, and gas stations to take pictures of.
I just wish I was kidding about that last one.
12:52 PM PST
Wednesday, February 6, 2002
» This exchange between NPR's Terry Gross and Gene Simmons from KISS is funny, showing Gene Simmons to be the idiotic ex-rockstar that he is.
04:36 PM PST
Tuesday, February 5, 2002
» Awesome. I've been totally slacking on selling off my old Volvo and getting a new car, and this one is definitely a consideration. You just can't beat 58 miles per gallon.
12:45 PM PST
» Wow, Michael Moore lays it all out for you- the links between George W. Bush and Enron. Brilliantly cross-referenced, the article shows that Bush is going to be running scared in the coming months. This article is just the sort of thing that will help him not get elected again in 2 years.
12:07 PM PST
» Michael "Nick" Nichols is an amazing photographer who is one of very few staff photographers National Geographic has. Through a professor I know, I nearly had dinner with him one night, but unfortunately got the message too late.
Anyways, he just put up a site that's stunning for its photography, but even better for his writing on photography. He's driven, and maybe a little crazy, and devoted to taking the best pictures he can.
11:56 AM PST
Monday, February 4, 2002
» Sometimes we begin projects with such energy, such inspiration that we're unstoppable. We work for hours without rest, no checking e-mail, no eating, just working. We're fueled by a narrow vision of exactly what we want to do, and there's not a thing to stop us.
It's consuming, it's driving, and sometimes, it's so completely wrong.
After having a new site live for less than 6 hours, I realized that everything I had wanted to do was in fact pushed by that initial drive, and that I had spent very little time in actually evaluating what it was that I was doing.
There's amazing strength in positivity, it gets you through things. I generally find negativitiy a weak response, the sort of response one has from reacting to life rather than living it. Reading about the Bad Brains, about PMA (positive mental attitude) affirmed that belief. But, in my hurry I forgot about positivity, I forgot that being cynical is not to be admired, it's nothing special to be that way despite the high value some people place on it.
So, everything needs to be done again.
While the changes might appear minor on the outside, the feeling behind them is going to change. Attacking people/things is hurtful to them, and to me. What I'm writing about (skateboarding) needs to be honestly critiqued, people/companies need to be held accountable for their actions, and that is true whether those critiques are met with criticism or praise.
It's new again, I'm excited, I believe in it and know good things will come.
This all came about due to some much needed perspective from Charlene, without whom I'd still be floundering around in uneasiness and diminishing self-confidence. Thank you.
08:47 PM PST
» Brand new site up, http://www.stuntwood.org. I decided I wanted to do a site like this last week, and spent the last couple of days (in between attending this), putting it together.
If nothing else, this is the fastest loading site I've ever made.
04:39 PM PST
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