Friday Photo

Technical Difficulties...

I had fully intended to post something new today... Unfortunately, I am experiencing some computer issues and nothing is working the way I need it to.
So the work computer is about to go for a visit to the kindly computer doctor and I am "forced" to plan in a more... how should I put it?... a more analog manner. This means instead of opening up Photoshop to draft a lighting set-up, I'm opening up a notebook and actually using a PEN! Not the Olympus PEN, but an actual ink-in-the-tube, Bic type of pen.
It's kind of exciting. As I looked for a fresh sheet of paper, I flipped past some other creative ideas that I have yet to act upon. It's almost as if the creativity fairy took a hammer to my normal workflow to remind me that I don't necessarily need all the bells and whistles. And while I am quite annoyed with said creativity fairy right now, I am kind of re-energized about those almost forgotten ideas.
Who knows... maybe my New Year's Resolution will be to re-organize my workspace so that ideas don't get lost in the shuffle so easily.

Friday Photo

When Your Dogma Eats Your Homework

One of the toughest things I've encountered in my creative life is reconciling myself to my own dogmas... In my more enlightened moments, I am struck with thoughts such as "Every creative endeavor is valid because everyone who creates is responding to being created themselves."
Then I think "Wow! How pretenious is that for a girl from Iredell County?"
Or, even worse, I encounter some work of art --- whether it is a photogragh, a painting, writing or an installation --- and my gut reaction is "Egads! What were they thinking?" Which, in turn, leads me down the dark hallway to the realization that maybe people are looking at what comes out of my brain and thinking "This is supposed to be art?"
I don't like the hyper-critical side of my brain. I don't always see how it can be productive. At least I can remind myself that I don't have to like everything I see... and not everyone is going to like my work. And I don't even have to agree with everything someone does or says or produces to appreciate them or their work. And that's really the way it should be because if we all agreed, we would be an awfully boring lot.

So where is all this coming from? I've been editing and downloading images I shot this weekend. That always gives me time to let my mind wander... I've got the beginnings of a new book or screenplay (haven't decided which yet) rumbling around in my brain and trickling down onto paper. Plus I captured faces this weekend in their natural state (my favorite) and that tends to get my brain going.
So is what I shot this weekend valid and creative? I don't know right now... I think I'm rambling.

Friday Photo

Prodigal Prints

We celebrated Thanksgiving last week. There was food... and this being the South, most of that food was produced from old family recipes and was not in the least bit calorie-conscious. I still haven't managed to tally up the poundage of butter used.
But food consumption was not the main thing. I think the "over-indulgence" was actually a form of holiday carb-loading to fortify us for the family workday on Saturday.
There were plans to rake leaves and power wash my mother's carport. The latter activity netted me some forgotten images like the one above.
I had moved back in with my parents at one point and there was not enough room for all my junk. I ended up abandonning a wooden dresser on the carport. Initially the dresser was used to store little things --- safety goggles, dust masks, wood screws, etc. --- but after a while it was ignored. I had forgotten what I had orginally placed inside.

While everyone else was blowing leaves and scrubbing siding, my mother instructed me that since the dresser was techincally mine, I was the one who had to deal with it. There was no escape. So I opened up the drawers one by one to clean them out and get the dresser ready for a new home.
Amid the cobwebs and spider eggs and dust were boxes of old slides. I opened one box and discovered that they were images I had shot in high school and college. I don't really remember shooting a lot of slides... I tended to go with black & white film since it was cheaper. But the images are all from my trips.
And amazingly, everything is in decent condition. No mold. Just a little dirt. But definitely not what you'd expect from being outside for several years. (and the dresser is not in bad shape either)
So I'm scanning old slides and I'll be looking for some more Polaroid film to create some transfers... Anybody got a box of 669 you'd be willing to sell at a reasonable price?