Along with other projects I worked on this past quarter I continued working with still life in a bit of a different way than what i had previously been doing. The process has been pretty slow but I’m happy with how these three images are working. When making these still lives I was thinking a lot about the idea of the table as a form of control. The table as the host for the things people control, Animals, nature, plants, etc… 
On Thursday, Todd Hido came to speak at RIT and in the morning he held a critique session. I was lucky enough to participate in the critique session and hear him talk about my work as well as other student work. I showed him a series of images I’ve been compiling for a book, he had a lot of constructive things to say and he also made a tight edit of the work and sequenced a few images in a way that i had never thought of before. This was something he did for most all of the work and it was great to see the way he worked with sequencing and was able to create a strong grouping of images from a series of work. Also all those who participated got a sneak peek of his book that will be published in a month or so, he brought with him a mock up of the book it was really amazing to flip through and experience it first hand.
Recently I have been making work that is branching off of what i normally do. I started shooting more black and white which is a way of working that I am not used to, but it has offered me a way to look at things differently and be more involved in the process. Even though I often find myself short on time, my time spent in the darkroom has been rewarding. Here are a few Images taken while driving around to clear my head.
Here is my most recent video… this series I’m working on is related to the idea of emotional anesthesia or numbness that occurs as an attempt to protect ourselves from feeling suffering on an emotional level.
Hello all I’m sorry for my long absence. It’s been a really strange time for me lately. I feel like I have been moving through a thick forest with a pocket knife when what I really needed was a machete. Just last weekend I had the pleasure of seeing the Gallery show I’ve been working on putting together for the last few months finally come together for it’s opening last Friday night at THE TRUST VENUE in Philadelphia. It was hell to get to that point trying to organize everything and make sure that the 6 other photographers involved were able to get everything together and to the gallery on time. The show consisted of work from Alan Charlesworth, Austin Whitney, Greg Gentert, Kath Raisch, Kyle Ferino, Nikki Graziano, and Myself. I felt it turned out well, but I’m glad it’s over because now I have a little less on my mind and can concentrate more on other things. I have a few things to post but I think I’ll space them out but for now I wanted to leave you with the first image of a new direction I’m taking in my still life work. In the back of my head there is still an idea of the relationship of man and nature but I’m trying to take a different approach. One of the other things I’ve been working on is a series of videos that continue the ideas raised in The “42 Degrees” video i posted a little while back(The second video will be posted by the end of the week). also as soon as I get through all of the scans I will be posting a series of photographs I made about a hunting tradition in my family. So there is more to come and again sorry for my absence. Let me know your thoughts.
Recently I began working with video, it’s been allowing me a way to work through ideas in a different way. It’s has also given me a sense of freedom and a way to explore, unfettered in a way, by the medium in which i most often work. So far i’ve done 3 videos and this one is the one i’m most excited about. In the video I was trying to explore the idea of emotional desensitization. I think it’s something that we all experience (well at least i have) where things happen in our lives that are somewhat damaging and as a response we build emotional barriers to keep those things from effecting us again. when this happens over and over we become emotionally numb in a sense. This video was meant to speak to that concept as well as the idea that someone would need to go to extremes to feel anything at all. Let me know what you think. The Video is Titled 42 degrees Fahrenheit.
Watch 42° Fahrenheit in HD @vimeo.com
As i was answering Nicole’s questions from her earlier post which covered things like, what is a good photograph? why do you photograph? why are photographs important? I started to realize that perhaps the way that I’m approaching these ideas photographically isn’t the best way. Perhaps I’m using a kitchen knife to cut down a tree. At this point i don’t think all is lost but I do believe it may be important at this time for me to explore different approaches and see where that might lead. I have a lot of reading and writing to do to boil things down and figure out what i find to be important and how i might approach it in a new way. I feel like i made a lot of progress in photographing these landscapes and i don’t want to discredit them. I just feel a need for a new direction one that can communicate more freely and become more emotive.
I’ve been working on a project lately that has been an attempt to allow myself to shoot in an exploratory and observational fashion. To allow myself to wander and photograph things as they catch my attention as this is far from the way that i have typically found myself working. Some people may find this to be a freeing and rewarding way to shoot however for me the uncertainty of shooting this way and not having a direction is somewhat terrifying. I’ve found that the images have definitely taken on certain themes as a result of my attempt to find a direction. However I am conflicted about what i want them to say and I’m afraid the themes that they are taking on will lead down a dead end road. Maybe I won’t find out till i get there and have to turn around, or maybe there will be rabbit trails along the way that will take me somewhere new.
A few weeks ago I got the chance to go to my grandparents trailer in northern Pennsylvania. It was the first time my grandparent have been able make it up there since my grandfather got sick a while back. It was great to see them there, they really seem to enjoy the quiet where they can roam about simply living and enjoying the nature that surrounds them. It’s a special place and that seems to only exist in memories because i don’t often get a chance to go there. Here are a few images i took while i was there.
Let me know what you think.
Throughout the summer as many others have been doing i decided to use my cell phone to capture moments when i didn’t have time to break out my camera and set up a shot as is often the way i work. I used it as a simple practice to keep myself in a rhythm of image making and observation. Here are some of the images I’ve compiled over the summer. The past few weeks I’ve laid my camera aside partially because of loss of resources and partly because i’ve wanted to concentrate on the other parts of my life for a bit. I’ve been attempting to take on as many books as i can to help me get my mind racing again and get a charge of new ideas however i seem to have swamped myself by spreading myself too thin and trying to take on too many things at once. I suppose patience is the only thing that seems to be coming through besides as a sense of inadequacy which i believe I’m not alone this feeling…
Just thought i’d quick post with some new photographs that I recently was able to scan just some things i’ve been working on and thinking about.
