TN State Fair

As most of you probably know, I entered 6 photos in the TN state fair. It was scary because it marked the first time I have ever solicited unbiased opinions about my work. Up to this point I had only showed it to friends and family and whoever stumbled upon my blog. It opened yesterday, and we went today. Turns out, I made a mistake and entered all my photos in the professional division instead of the amateur. But it turns out that I won some ribbons anyway! I took one first place, one second place, one third place and two honorable mentions. Discovering the ribbons one by one (the first place one was the last we saw) was so cool. Very few moments in my life actually rank up there with it. My wedding, winning the teaching award, beating my wife to win the fantasy football championship...You know, other important things like that. Anyway, here's me with the winning photos, and full size links to them here, here, here, here and here.

Us and Todd

NAZAR

I'm an English major. Not just in training, really, but in personality. I was an English major before I ever even knew what college was, and I would be an English major even if I had been born 1500 years ago before colleges even existed. Therefore, I get unduly excited when a word describes something perfectly. I came across one of those words tonight in the book I'm reading. The book is titled Nazar: Photography from the Arab World. A book like this is necessary not only because the Arab world is the subject of so much of our current events from the past 20 years (at least), but because for much of the history of photography, the medium has been discouraged (sometimes to the point of criminality) in many Arab nations. Collecting the images that do exist from the very brave and talented photographers is a way of not only exploring creativity within constraint, but also of supporting a burgeoning photographic community.

The word Nazar in Arabic means "seeing, insight, reflection." I can't honestly think of one word which so accurately and fully captures what photography is. First of all, ever photographer must "see" in order to make an image. Every photographer will agree that the photographic eye is the single most important trait that a photographer must posses, over and above all the technical skills combined. Good images are those that provide some "insight" into the subject of the photograph or the society the subject and photographer share. When we look at images, especially portraits, we want to feel as though we know and understand the subject in a way which would be impossible without this picture taken by this person at this time, and we want that knowledge to reveal something about not only the subject, but also about the society to which he/she/it is connected. Finally, photography is "reflective," at least when it is done well. Images reflect the value system and personality of the photographer. His/her beliefs, prejudices, and ideologies are reflected in the face of the model or in the selection of setting. Photographs are at all times a commentary on the photographer as well as the subject.

Nazar.

If I ever get a tatoo, that will probably be it, as much for it being an example of a perfect word as for what it actually means.

Chester

Two things this summer that have really helped me with the photography. First, I've been traveling around a couple of states doing some research for my dissertation. This inevitably requires me to approach strangers in a strange place and ask them for something (in this case, their time). I've managed to develop some pretty good skillz (I know, Napoleon would be jealous) in this area over the summer, but that doesn't mean that it gets easier. It's really like an out of body experience still. When it's happening I feel like I can see myself doing this and I think, "That's not me. I don't do that." And while this kind of self-consciousness is strange/unhealthy for me, it's pretty much the only way I can make this work, so I practice it in small doses. Okay, so approaching stangers, that's number 1.

Number 2. I've been reading a TON about photography and have come to realize the importance and utility of being intentional. The idea that a photograph can be an artistic commentary AND a social document AND an aesthetically pleasing work of art has finally become clear to me. It is not the case, as so many have tried to suggest, that photography does any one thing better than any one other thing. Some photographers do certain aspects better than others, but the medium itself is powerful and unique precisely because it can do all of these things. The issue then is finding places/people/images that are strong in all of those components.

This all came together for me when I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone the other day and found myself saying that I'm only really concerned and interested in photography to the extent that it puts me in relationships with other people. But I'm not satisfied really with taking pictures of mountains and being in relationship with someone who thinks that the mountain picture is pretty, just as I'm not really interested in photographs that operate as artistic commentary, but is not socially engaged with the real world or a photograph that is aesthetically pleasing but has nothing to offer beyond itself. I'm interested in taking pictures and developing relationships that operate at all of these stage simultaneously. I need images that are powerful enough to put me in relationship with the subject, the viewer, and other photographers because it is a social document, an artistic statement and visually pleasing. I think I took one big step toward that just the other day when I took the following picture of Chester and his 100 year old hat. Like all of us, Chester has a story, and I think he may have been there to buy his hat new. It was great to have this experience with Chester on the streets of Minneapolis and while it wasn’t completely satisfying, it was a step in the right direction for me, maybe the first step. Thank you, Chester.


 

Photo v. Painting: Round 1

Roland Barthes

In short, the referent adheres. And this singular adherence makes it very difficult to fouce on Photgraphy. The books which deal with it, much less numerous moreover than for any other art, are victims of this difficulty. Some are technical; in order to "see" the photographic signifier, they are obliged to focus at very close range. Others are historical or sociological; in order to observe the total phenomenon of the Photograph, these are obliged to focus at great distance. I realized with irritation that none discussed precisely the photographs which interst me, which give me pleasure or emotion. What did I care about the rules of composition of the photographic landscape, or, at the other end, about the Photograph as family rite? Each time I would read something about Phtography, I would think of some photograph I loved, and this made me furious. Myself, I saw only the referent, the desired object, the beloved body; but an importunate voice (the voice of knowledge, of scientia) then adjured me, in a severe tone "Get back to Photography. What you are seeing here and what makes you suffer belongs to the category 'Amateur Photographs,' dealt with by a team of sociologists; nothing but the trace of a social protocol of integration, intended to reassert the Family, etc." Yet I persisted; another, louder voice urged me to dismiss such sociological commentary; looking at certain photgraphs, I wanted to be primitive, without culture. So I went on, not daring to reduce the world's countless photographs, any more than to extend several of mine to Photography: in short, I found myself at an impasse and, so to speak, "scientifically" alone and disarmed.

Barthes (1980)

HCB

"The debate over the place and rank we should confer to photography among the plastic arts has never concerned me, because this problem of hierarchy has always seemed to me purely academic in essence."

Henri Cartier-Bresson
1985