older, golder

The finest vintage photos you can find are the stranger ones (see first two images above). Also as great are those with unintentional shadows (see last two images above). The aesthetics of personal photography are kind of enchanting.

merry christmums

I got socks.

old gold

goodies from my traditional annual organization of old negatives.

Old Faithful, 1966

A found vintage photograph. 50 cents. Unknown Photographer.

Washington, D.C. 1962

My favorite Lee Friedlander photo. Though all his work concerning the social landscape and urban life of the US in the 60s/70s is equally as intriguing and iconic.

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Sophie Curtis

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophiecurtis/

Lina Scheynius

If you aren't obsessed already with her work, I'm not sure who you are!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/linascheynius/

Jenna Popoli

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mothers_milk/

City of Roses

Last week I descended into Portland and wasted no time falling in love with it, especially when the first thing I saw was this mountaintop. I'm now even more anxious to return in January for school.

Among the reasons to love Fridays

If you don't already love Friday then you haven't seen the greatness of Kate Steciw's Friday Round Up. She hand picks found images and e-mails them out to any willing recipients. These are some recent highlights. Hurry up and sign up here!

Always Charming

Hand-selected drawings from the ever so charming Blake Wilson. Recycled paper, pen, and permanent marker.

Dan Colen

From Series "No Me"

Audra Wist

I glimpsed her work a while back and when discovering it again today, felt it necessary to share. Intriguing photos by Adura Wist; more here.

Summer Lookbook 09

The first issue of Blank Page is complete and deserves your attention!

I have a small handful of photos in the issue, alongside many talented folks. Thanks Blank Page!

To go away and not look back

Back from a miniature vacation in the whereabouts of california and central texas. It was good for accomplishing some relaxing and also some work resulting in many pictures, including these, and some yet to be developed. 

How i've been spending my time

Art, camp, and twitter

"There are certain things that everybody should know, whether they like them or not. 19th-century visual art, literature, and so on. How can you know anything about literature if you know nothing about Wuthering Heights? You may not have read Tolstoy’s War and Peace but you should at least know something about it."

Walrus Magazine » Q&A: Camille Paglia on Art, Camp and Twitter 

http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/2009.07-camille-paglia-david-balzer-camp-royal-ontario-museum-ten-commandments/3/

Bill Jay on photographic fame

I stumbled upon this while reading Alec Soth's rant about flickr. 

"I think we can agree that any definition of fame would include such phrases as “popular acclaim,” “known far and wide,” “public estimation and regard,” “household name,” and similar tributes. Now lay back and concentrate. Name an active living artist-photographer who is famous. . . . . . . (The dots represent time passing. Go ahead, think about it for as long as you like.)

Ready now? Good. Who did you come up with? Joel-Peter Witkin. Robert Mapplethorpe. Annie Leibowitz. Sally Mann. Who? Never mind – we have enough names for our purpose.

The next question is: how many people in the USA have heard of any one of these names? As I cannot hear you I will answer the question myself. Probably one thousand at any one time. More? OK, let us up the figure to five thousand although I think that is stretching it.

Here is the first conclusion: in a nation of 260 million even the higher figure does not represent “public acclaim”; it means that the name is recognized by only five persons in a quarter of a million. Now, compare. When a minor television sit-com actress of dubious talent declared her lesbianism she inundated every major news outlet for weeks, including the cover of Time plus seven inside pages, and her coming-out episode was watched by everyone in the universe except me. That is fame."

After attending a lecture of Soth's and seeing his work, I have to say I really agree with what he has to say about contemporary photography.

Bottom Line: Good photography is rarely popular.

Read the full article here!

UNsurprisingly

my indecisiveness has led me to conclude that i like tumblr better.

Absurdity

is everywhere!

(photograph by me, the book of disquiet)

The Curtain

Has anyone else read Kundera's essay 'The Curtain'?

"No way around it: historical consciousness is so thoroughly inherent in our perception of art that this anachronism (a piece similar to Beethoven written by a contemporary today) would be spontaneously (that is, without the least hypocrisy) felt to be ridiculous, false, incongruous, even monstrous. Our feeling for continuity is so strong that it enters into the perception of any work of art."

It's such a relevant concept, the value of history and significance of original pieces. It's a really thoughtful read, and that reminds me of a recent post by Amy Stein, regarding a recurring theme in Italian Renaissance art of the myth of Leda and the Swan (Zeus takes the form of a swan, rapes Leda, and she gives birth to four sons, two of which are from Zeus and hatch from eggs). In short, she remarks on the eroticism of the classical depiction, "...Like being raped by a swan and giving birth to bastard egg children is the height of eroticism". Then she references how one of her photographs reminds her of what might have been a more authentic reaction of Leda. So essentially it's an historic motif being reinterpreted, which got me back to thinking about to Kundera's essay. I think it comes down, in reference to fine art, to imitation vs. expansion.

Red scale film project

I've been using a red-scale film I stocked up on a while ago. I'm also continuing a project about lack of/obstruction of identity. More to come. It looks as hot as it feels outside. 

You don't have to be a Rockefeller

I wish this was screening somewhere nearby!  They are adorable and charming and make me want to start my own collection. 

F-stop Portfolio Issue

If you have an extra moment today I suggest for you to use it by taking a look at this month's issue of F-stop magazine - They featured a few intriguing portfolios that caught my eye. Also, as a side note, if you happen to browse through the group exhibit you may stumble across a few of my photographs that were published with the issue!.

Word for word

Michelle Anderson Photograph. "Roots"

Browsing through The Photographic Dictionary is my most recent favorite pass-time. It's an expanding bunch of images by contemporary photographers that define dictionary words with visual language. Somehow there's a real cohesiveness with all the pictures, which i love, and what i love even more is that most of it is film rather than digital. If it was up to me (which, i suppose, it actually is) I won't be buying into digital for a long time, if ever! I think it's about the tangibility of film, the series of chemical reactions it takes to create a photo, that makes it superior to digital and so appealing to me.

Blog (and photo book) under way

So I am convincing myself that I in fact will find a summer job, while simultaneously thinking of other alternative options in the back of my mind. Options such as self publishing a small photo book to sell; selling prints; selling lemonade, etc. As well, I am refusing to allow myself to waste any amount of the endless free time I have, and will do so by writing and recording my work here (plus others' work I find motivating). 

As for the photo book though, that is a thought I've had for a long time and intend to make happen soon; profit really being irrelevant (obviously)! It will include my most recently finished project. A peek:

If any body knows of any good publishing/printing companies, I'd appreciate/love recommendations!