A perfectly banal scene, on a perfectly banal day, with 4 perfectly banal subjects. Making one perfectly banal posting. Was this shopping center doomed from the start?
Tag Archives: M6
Artist Statement Anyone?
Always puzzling is the desire by those in creative arts academia to possess a photographer’s ARTIST STATEMENT. The danger being that much of what makes an image powerful is neatly defused in the explanatory prose. And some of the fun, the mystical, is removed from the equation. I love the feeling when an image stirs up questions; when it taps into some great internal resonant current of wonder. How disappointing it is to read an over-worded statement of creative intention that reduces a potentially magic property into a thesaurus of junior college art school ho-hum. In this day and age too many things are over-explained. Look into why any of the great photographers why they did what they did and chances are they’ll say that they just wanted to see what a particular scene looked like on film. (Of course, you are free to completely ignore my OWN artist statement, ahem.)
Taqueria Munoz
West Michigan. I got gasoline here years ago and now, caught in the cold of the lake effect snow belt, it is hot and spicy with tacos. (There’s a little food/snack shop down the road from this place that serves the migrant worker community. In the back is a cool case of small-bottle Cokes that are made with cane sugar.)
Sometimes…
Sometimes, you just have to give in. And when you do it’s like fine wine. Memories flood back, colors look brighter, music is everywhere. The sun shines. Then you shake hands with the clown, excuse yourself and say you’ll be seeing him again someday. Far down the road. Another time. Maybe we’ll have something to laugh about. Then. Down the road.
Frozen Food Month
Did you know that March is National Frozen Food Month? Who knew? But it is. And to celebrate a local frozen food aisle pulled out all the stops and went tropical. From end cap to end cap it was fringe, hula girls and exotic animals. Some a little less lively than others. Picked up a box of frozen chicken patties in their honor.
The New Leica Web Site
And speaking of German cameras, a question: have you seen the latest marketing effort over at Leica? http://www.leica-camera.us/ Seems that the way to sell a Leica nowadays is to treat it like soap. And pretend it’s the opulent 1980s before all bubbles burst. Very puzzling.
It may sound strange, but I just finished a 2-day jury duty and I enjoyed it. Started wondering if one could be a professional juror. Eat at the courthouse cafeteria, become familiar with all the jury rooms, acknowledge the judges silently as they pass in the halls. That knowing nod of yep, I’m back again. Collect, what, $40 a day.
From the sunshine of Venice, CA last year. Wandering between edits on a commercial television production. Trying now to remember what the warmth feels like. It was quite a walk from Santa Monica.
And since it’s so gloomy out here in Royal Oak, I think I’ll scan me a batch of slides and negs from the last couple of years. But that means sitting in the “cold” room. Well, let’s just see how the day plays out…