Never too Late

It is becoming apparent to me that my lack of desire to edit pictures is a reflection of not being ready to face some parts of my life from after graduation last year. However, the more I become accepting of things that have happened, the more I can face the things I have been hiding from, and begin to share them with other people.

These are from last August when my father was officially diagnosed with Alzheimer's. They are black and white film and these are the only two I have edited so far.

It's a start.

Oh Tennessee, What did You Write?

At the end of May I traveled to Tennessee to climb in the Obed.

The first stop was Knoxville.

Better Late than Never

In Decemeber 2008 to January 2009, I took a trip to the Philippines with my parents... I eventually started scanning film, but due extended abscenses from the country and laziness, it is only now that I'm getting around to finishing scanning, as well as editing some of the film.

I will say, it is nice to have a fresh look at things.

Playing with HDR

Industrial Landscapes

As a contintuation of my exploration of space, I decided to try something a little more industrial. This building was formerly an indoor recreation center called Rex Plex in Elizabeth, NJ. They have an overall blue tone to them because silly me forgot to set my white balance and I haven't yet edited them. However, I quite like the cold feel it lends to them.

During critique a funny thing was brought to my attention. Almost all of my pictures share the same horizon line and almost line up perfectly when put next to each other. I always noticed that I have a certain style of framing things, but I never realized how geometric it was. My teacher referred to it as my way of looking at the world and my compositions are completely subconscious. From that we got into discussing composing my own landscapes due to how easily I could stitch these photographs together to create a world out of my vision. It could be very interesting.

Memories

“Most of the time, people want to believe they remain the same, but sometimes they also want to believe they have changed, and they shuffle and edit the facts in their memory to fit whichever belief is more relevant.”

Baumesiter and Bushman

These are photographs tied to my memories. In the prints, the squares are physically cut out and are meant to be aesthetically displeasing, or even awkward. My intention was to obstruct your view and ruin the cohesiveness of the photograph. I took out what I felt were essential details forcing the viewer to see what they want to see by either filling in the blanks, or projecting their own memories into the images.

Carlos Chavarria

"The term 'Downtown' designates the central area of the large American cities...and where all realities coexist within the same city."

link

Some Final Images

A glimpse at the last few images I'll be adding to the book, which I will be ordering momentarily.

More Houses

And more questions. I have been shooting in plenty of homes, but I still have not really answered: what is the question that I am asking my photographing these homes?

I figured that as I kept going the question would more or less answer itself, but not yet. 

And so I move on to more houses.

Simon Menner: Images from the secret STASI archives

"Sure, we all know what an image taken by a surveillance camera looks like, nevertheless I thought that there must be more than this. In a catchphrase: I was wondering, if Big Brother watches you, what does he see?"

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Snow...

It more or less snowed all day yesterday. Today, it's a winter wonderland outside. Shoveling wasn't as bad as I anticipated, except for locating our shovel. I'm still getting accustomed to my new camera, but I love it.

So Contagious

My dad has been sick for the past two days, so this morning I brought him to the doctors. His heart rate was a little high and the doctor thought he might have had bronchitis, or even pneumonia, so he thought it would be better to send him to the ER. He is fine, except he does have the flu and he's a little weak. It's thankfully nothing to worry about.

Website

I now have a website.

Check it out.

What Remains

Despite taking lots of pictures in my home, I haven't really showed my own bedroom. Partially because it's a complete wreck, but mostly because I have actually been living between two different bedrooms at home. A few weeks ago my 'old' room was completely cleaned out and this is all that remains.

It's strange seeing it so empty.

Street Photography in an Image-Filled Age

“It’s harder and harder to take a picture without somebody in the picture who’s also taking a picture,” the Brooklyn-based photographer Gus Powell said on Tuesday evening, explaining that the mere act of taking a photo hardly makes him stand out in a crowd. “We all take pictures — that’s what we do. It’s more that your camera doesn’t look like a phone — that’s the bigger issue.”

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My Room

We've finally been utilizing the extra space in my room.

Chels is still lacking a bed, so she's been crashing on my floor.

We've also set it up for studying and working out.

Even the Poos has been frequenting.

Christmas, Already?

I can hardly believe it's December.

Not a moment has been wasted around my neighborhood. Even my own house has a tree. This is the first time in about 3 years that we've had a tree, as well as a world record in terms of initiative for the holiday season on my mother's part. At least the months aren't lingering.

The Twilight Hour

The twilight hour is when all the magic happens. In terms of lighting that is. The only pictures I took of my weekend in the Gunks was to capture a some shadows. I've also been very intrigued lately with using a square format for pictures especially in terms of setting up a compositions, so I decided to test out my cropping skills, too.

Studio Journal: Recent Happenings

Things have been moving a little slower as of late. Thanksgiving came and went. It's nearly December. I haven't been as productive as I wish I could be, but this is what I've been working on as of late with my dad.

Studio Journal - Phillip Toledano

In regards to starting my project about my father, it was recommended that I look at Days with My Father, by Phillip Toledano. I have never been moved to tears before by artwork, but these photographs hit so close to home. Already I feel this will be one of the biggest influences upon my upcoming work and the series is nothing short of beautiful.