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?"

link

Critique Feburary 4, 2011

More or less I feel that critique was a wake up call to the fact that I should not feel so comfortable with the status of my thesis project because there is still work to be done.

For critique, I showed all the photographs that I have selected and edited for my thesis. It was the first time I had seen all of them together and in a lot of it is a matter of narrowing down what use. I presented my idea of displaying my work as an installation of 4 photographs hung on wood the same wood paneling that is familar to many of my pictures and one very good point was brought up: the idea that creating an installation would take away from the meaning, intimacy, and focus of the photographs making it more about the space as opposed to my father because the space that I am recreating already exists in the photographs, which I never really thought of before. Some considerations that were recommended were possibly printing on different objects that might be meaningful to my relationship with my dad and including old photographs of him, but generally that I need to rethink things.

With those photographs I also showed some experimenting with photographing objects that my dad owns or collects, which might be useful with text, however, I shot them on backdrops as opposed to in their actual spaces. I'm scrapping this idea more or less. I'm annoyed at myself for having wasted time setting things up, but now I am going to focus 1) On more meaningful objects and 2) on photographing objects in their own spaces. When I look at it now I don't quite understand why I did it, I suppose when considering making a book I was planning on captioning, so I was hoping I could possibly write about the meaning of this object to my father. However, I showed my dad the pictures and he couldn't really remember where he got any of these objects except the ship clocks... Another suggestion for the book portion of my project was the idea of it being hand made--when I think of it existing as a book I cannot help to refer to Phillip Toledano, who's book Days with my Father is very clean cut and "commercial." I like the idea of making it by hand as opposed to sending it away and having it printed professionally. It would contribute to its meaning, exemplify the relationship I am trying to capture more, and add to the idea of memories and remembrance.

Basically I have some organizing and deeper thinking to do.

Eggleston: Faulkner with a camera

"Seeing a really good Eggleston picture is to be astonished by the knowledge that someone is seeing strange, remarkable things you could see yourself if you were just paying attention..."

link

Are Artists Bored by Their Work?

James Elkins ponders the question why modern paintings are created much faster compared to paintings in different centuries.

"Why do modern artworks take less time to make, on average, than their Renaissance counterparts? It has been argued that modern paintings are like icebergs: what we see in a Picasso portrait is only the one-tenth that remains after the nine-tenths have been hidden..."

link

Day and Night

Today was freezing, so I decided to take some pictures. I want to focus on exteriors, mainly the facades of houses and buildings. I prefer shots at night, but I also don't mind pairing the two. As cold as it was, I did invest in a wireless remote for my camera, which has cut the time it takes for my night shots in half. It was absolutely worth it.

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.