proud to be in such good company

tiny tiny group show

role play

google image search results for "role playing"

By far the most significant reason my blog's slowed down so much in recent months has been this. First, it was this and now it's this and this. I'm not alone in this situation either. I can think of many of us who hold dual roles as Photographer / Administrator, Photographer / Publisher, Photographer / Editor, Photographer / Critic, etc. Even those of us who bear the burden of blogging wear find ourselves wearing two distinctly different hats at times.

Many interesting questions come of the situation, but I'm afraid that my other lives have me too fried to articulate them at the moment and it's not all that fun when it's one-sided either. Maybe I should have other people enter the conversation? Maybe a group blog'd be better? Kind of like a photo version of the View. Please, chime in.

the desktop test

my desktop this morning, courtesy Justin James Reed

Collect pictures into that source folder for your desktop and have it set to refresh every time you come out of sleep. If you find yourself tidying up so you can let the picture breathe alone, there in the center, it's probably a good sign that you love that picture or that it's got naked parts in it. If it does have naked parts in it, be careful on the airplane. Hey Justin, this is one of my favorite desktop pictures these days. Interested in talking about a print swap?

I've heard tales of the most amazing beef.

Ron Jude, San Fernando Valley, CA, 2004

Ron Jude, The Ice Plant, and Photo Eye.

from New York with love.

suddenly

Elias Hansen installing work by Elias Hansen and Oscar Tuazon, Cooley Gallery, Reed College, 08.30.08

if you're around, please come to this opening. i'm supposed to design a cocktail, but that might mean PBR. i want something brown and layered, but with a garnish that can function as a visual rupture. any suggestions?



suddenly: where we live now — is a book, a set of exhibitions, and a series of public events beginning in Portland, Ore., this fall, and transpiring in various places around the world. www.suddenly.org

September 10, 2008, 7 pm, 4th floor deck at Milepost 5: cocktails; visual art; and, Colin Beattie discussing Greater Beaverton, including Guatemala and the Sonoran Desert. Photographs by Shawn Records; sound installation by Michael McManus; projects by Gary Wiseman and Mike Merrill; artists in attendance.

Free of charge, Milepost 5, 900 NE 81st Avenue, two blocks from the MAX at 82nd. inquiries suddenly@suddenly.org
suddenly is:

Thomas Sieverts • Saskia Sassen • Fritz Haeg • Karl Marx • Shawn Records • Lisa Robertson • Zoe Crosher • Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College • Center for Urban Pedagogy, NY • Frank Heath • Pacific Northwest College of Art • Rob Slifkin • Sam Lohmann • Hadley+Maxwell • Sergio Pastor • Molly Dilworth • UO Architecture • Castillo/Corrales, Paris • Michael McManus • Yi-Fu Tuan • Alexandra Harmon • Aaron Betsky • Oscar Tuazon • Storm Tharp • Coll Thrush • Nico Wright • Fernand Braudel • Rem Koolhaas • Pomona College Museum of Art • James Glisson • Mostlandian Citizens Junior Ambassador and Katy Asher • Michael Damm • Alison Shotz • Diana George • Mike Merrill • Weiden + Kennedy • Athens West • Paige Saez • Milepost 5 • Eric Fredericksen • Anselm Hook • The Zwischenspiel Puppet Opera Company • Rebecca McGrew • Beaverton Creek Village Mall • Gary Wiseman • Colin Beattie • Kenneth Mroczek • Storefront for Art and Architecture,NY • Danielle Dutton • Marc Joseph Berg • the back room • Matthew Stadler • Stephanie Snyder • and others…

baby steps

Todd Deutsch from Chasing the Family Drift

Yesterday I had the good fortune of hearing Todd Deutsch talk about his work, past and present, in conjunction with his current show Chasing the Family Drift, that's up at Blue Sky. I've been smitten with Todd's work for a good long while now and it was great to hear him talk about it and see how that discussion compared to the BS I've come up with every semester in class. So, now that a full 18 hours have passed, the talking points that stick:

• a photo a day: interesting how Todd described the structure of the Family Days project (that of making one photograph for each day) as working well for making the work, but not necessarily for presenting & editing the work. As I've gone on about before, I think far too often we draw these lines in a somewhat arbitrary or pseudo-sociological fashion, based on a particular subject matter or geographic location. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. In this case, I think it makes sense because it comes back to the first-person, but yeah, once you're shooting, the pictures have a mind of their own and it's probably best to let the photographs inform one another rather than the calendar or a map. Of course, of course, there are always exceptions...

• the big picture: at some point early on in the talk, the question of truth came out as being a guiding force in Todd's practice. Which photos more honestly described his family life? Thank you Todd for bringing it back to the obvious. I hope that doesn't sound sarcastic because I'm not being sarcastic at all. Seriously, this is the fundamental question, isn't it?

• weiner-talk: like some other children I know, it ends up that Todd's sons have penises. That being the case, said penises are often present and noted within the course of day to day family life and, on occasion, find their way into a photograph or two. Todd was the first to bring up that question and leave it at that- what do you do with a photograph predominantly featuring your child's nether regions? In the search for truth/honesty within the family, it seems like it has to be acknowledged. My children spend a good portion of their days absentmindedly pulling themselves around while they go about their lives. Part security blanket, part leash... could there be a more potent symbol of childhood innocence?

For that reason alone, I'd argue that yes, the photographs must be made. But Todd's talk brought up another important aspect of this issue- that while a photograph of his son playing video games in his underwear at the age of 10 might not bother the boy, that same photograph, if seen by a girl in his class, might actually affect his day to day life. That's the sign of a good parent right there, isn't it? Looking out for their child, farther than the child might be able to see for his or her self.

So, what's the answer? Well, showing the images in question within the context of a slideshow where the question & the issues of trust, respect, etc. take center stage is a pretty great solution. It adds a new dimension to the artist's talk and makes it something more than a quiet formal rehash of someone's website.

That's not to judge others who freely show it all. I love Tierney Gearon's work, for example, but we've all just got to figure it out for ourselves. I can tell you that I've got a few family pictures that I'd love to use, but can't, simply because they make my family uncomfortable. I guess until I'm prepared to post pictures of my own business (don't worry, I'm not about to go there), I can't ask it of them.

Instead of purchasing naked pictures of kids, you should really buy this book.

Todd Deutsch, from the series Gamers

a good friend poses the question

google image search results for "squawk"

"speaking of blogs, have you given up?"


Yes and no. I keep thinking that I'm five minutes away from my next blog post, but then something gets in the way. I kind of wonder if it's a seasonal thing for me. The weather's too nice still, but it'll get dark and gray soon. Perhaps it'll come back full force? In the meantime, I'm thinking of it as an extended hiatus in an attempt to rock more and squawk less. Everything's busy, but a good busy.

Say, in the event that I haven't been deleted from every google reader out there and someone will actually read this, I'm actually going to be in NYC next week. Bring on the recommendations so I can add them in to Google Earth. Photo and art recommendations yes, but not just photo stuff, what does one do in NYC with two boys, 6 and 11?

So far I've got Gray's Papaya and Michael Mazzeo's Gallery (hoping to make it to that opening on the 12th) on my personal to-do list and the Natural History Museum and a double decker bus tour for the kids. What else though? New York is kind of a tv place for me... I've been there a few times, but always pretty quick and busy. I'm really looking forward to seeing some things this time around.