sunday morning ramble...

this is just a quick hello and goodbye...i just have no free time to be here with another workshop just started etc....this could be the last workshop i do here in my New York space for any number of reasons...in any case, and you know me by now, i will put everything i have into this one..as i do in everything i do connected with my work...other matters are often  a disaster, but whatever i do regarding photography, i am all in...whether it is my own work or my mentoring of others...two different "bodies of work" but both equally important and both with an equal piece of the "whole"

so, allow me please this brief break with our forum so that i may focus on your colleagues who are here in my home...by the way, everyone in my home right now is a reader of this forum...most silent non writers, but they know all of you who write and can recite me various incidents, paragraphs, and all kinds of things from right here...

point is, we are all having an impact on each other..yes, yes , the power of the net etc etc etc...well, by fate, or whatever, our online community has turned into reality so many times, from my first meeting with Rafal in Seoul to hanging with Patricia in Detroit...and a whole bunch of stuff going on in between at Look3 and Perpignan and just out there on the highway..you know who you are...you remember the good times and the truly sweet reality of what it feels like to know someone before you meet them and then take off on another whole new side of the friendship..and, you must admit, it has turned into real friendships...i am sure we all agree that our beleaguered world can use every drop of good spirit we can squeeze into it..but all any of us can do is just make your immediate environment as good a place as you can make it...

my life set of rules for myself: set up good vibes within a 20 foot imaginary space created around me....give everyone in that space as much room as they want....make whoever is right next to me laugh..

this weekend upcoming will be another one of our "forum family reunions"....i hope there will be many more....in that spirit it might just be the right time for me to show just a piece of my Off for a Family Drive work at the finale fiesta this friday night..seems like maybe we should look at some of these American families i met cross country  just because of our times, not because i my pictures....i will think on it....Alessandra Sanguinetti and Paul Fusco will precede the student show, but i just might stick "family drive" in there somewhere....what do you think??

after all, it will be a family night...

Comments

[Simon Griffee]

The short of it is this:

I would be in New York now… But because of visa problems — because of *imaginary lines* — I was denied the chance. The flight was Rome - Amsterdam - NYC and back. Travelocity would not refund my ticket after I found out about the visa problems despite many phone calls (buyer beware). So I flew the first leg of the flight and spent two days in the Netherlands instead (there's something for Panos in these photographs!): http://simongriffee.com/wip/taab

In the meantime, to keeping moving and working, to bring something good out of it all, I present you: http://imaginarylines.org/

In addition to the writing on the website, Imaginary Lines will be a long-term photographic project. It'll likely be a mixture of conceptual and documentary work, and I am thinking that it will merge with the ideas of my Libero Pensiero project.

Love to ALL, and thank you David Alan Harvey—your light illuminates far away… I am looking forward to seeing the student work and your Families work.

[Glenn]

SIDNEY - Mate Thanks AGAIN,
The slide show was'nt really fleshed out due to the short time spent on that particular assignment , As for books and such I've only returned to this work after it's been shot and filed on assignment , some shot my own visits ,some as shot opprtunities present themselves , I've yet to tackle the work in any focused manner....
moore soon

[Patricia Lay-Dorsey]

GLENN

I just looked at each of your 64 images one by one. I am left shaking my head in wonder. However did you gain the trust of these people, people whose experience of "tall white men" must have often been negative.

I'm with David when he urges you to "drop everything and just concentrate on this for at least some reasonable period of time." I don't know if that is possible but it would be a path that could make a significant difference in how the future unfolds for Australia's aboriginal peoples. What you are doing here is what every photojournalist worth her or his salt longs for--to develop a photo essay/book/exhibit that could change attitudes and policies towards an oppressed people.

Excellent work!!!

Patricia

[Patricia Lay-Dorsey]

SIMON

That pisses me off royally! The "imaginary lines" between the US and other countries have become all too real since 9/11. Homeland Security is doing little to keep us "secure" and all too much to give our sisters and brothers from around the world reasons to dislike America and Americans.

I am so sorry this happened and am terribly disappointed that it means we will not meet in person...at least not this weekend. May it happen some time some place sooner rather than later.

You used your time in Amsterdam well! I love how you mix abstraction with reality in your work. It gives a dreamlike quality to the whole. And your "Imaginary Lines" web page is inspired. Please keep us posted on how it develops...

Patricia

[Jean]

Too hard to catch all the comments...arghhhhhhhhhh

DAVID BOWEN
I'm happy for you that you teach darkroom ;-) good luck and enjoy it!!!

BOB
GREAT!!!! Bones is online ;-) i'll look it carefully tomorrow (it's 01h30 am in France...)
Good fiesta in NY!!!

[Lisa Hogben]

KAT

Yes I think my web host was having some problems but its seems to be fine now...I would love to hear your thoughts on this one. Cheers...

[David McGowan]

one for the ladies of the blog:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt_ta24JsEA&feature=related

[panos skoulidas]

SIMON,
Was this your first attempt to visit our
"island"...? or , what was the reason
for deny entry?
Sorry, either way!
Loved the photos..!

[Patricia Lay-Dorsey]

and one for the gents:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7llu2aQRSQ&feature=related

[anna maria barry-jester]

DEAR ALL,
I'd just like to pose a question for you...
for those of you shooting digital...do you find that your digital files "live" on your computers/hard drives, and rarely get printed? I'm having a bit of a problem with that, letting my images exist in the nether world only. I KNOW that I edit best with physical prints, and I know that my emotional understanding of my work has much more depth when I make prints, but I never put the funds aside for prints! Shooting film I always make the contact sheet, make the little prints, but with my digital files, I perpetuate the unsatisfying practice of just looking at them on the computer.
Somebody break me out of this cycle!

Just wondered if I'm alone in this...

[Patricia Lay-Dorsey]

ANNA MARIA

You are definitely not alone in this. I'd rarely printed any of my pics except for magazine submissions or portfolio reviews until David asked me to make 4x6 prints for him to use so he could do an in-person edit of my self portrait/daily life series last July. When I first saw that series in hard copy it was a revelation. Yes, they were real. Yes, I'd really taken photographs not just computer images on my monitor. Now my task is to keep making prints to use for edits. It's hard to do! I get lazy...

Patricia

[david bowen]

joni

i know some of cardiffs nightlife :o)
if i were still in nottingham i would certainly chip over.. there was once a young woman in cardiff who i admired..
photoed gil scott heron there a bunch of years ago.. must have been 96..

jean

too many comments.. yes indeed.. indeed... :o)

patricia.

lesson planning to billie.. love it.. thanks.
i love strange fruit.. brilliant.

simon

WTF is wrong with u.s... what does a border look like? i've yet to see one.. someone wiser than me stated that borders exist for people who hate.. and business i guess as well.. what a rubbish turn of events.
i have not worked in north america since 2005.. first worked there 2001 after september and it has become more and more uncomfortable getting into the country year on year.. and now.. i would happily not work there again..
last time i was there i was photographed, fingerprinted, interrogated and generally felt like a criminal for no other reason than i was arriving..
rubbish .. rubbish.. and does a great disservice to you good people who live there..

*ramble on continues ad-nauseum*

[anton]

ALL...

have a question i am struggling with... is i have no experience whatsoever doing projects with $$ involved, i was wondering if anybody here could offer some advice or ideas...

for some time now, i've been planning to do a project on japanese yakuza members in tokyo... gaining access, finding out if there is an interesting story to tell, explaining my angle on the story to the peeps involved.

what i basically want to do is illustrate the dichotomy in the life of a yakuza member who also has a 'regular' life, a family, kids, and the like... and the (possible) contrast between the "light" and the "dark" side in his life, and the way he/his family/his kids deal or struggle with it...

anybody mention tony soprano? :)

my brother, who lives in tokyo, is doing a lot of incredible legwork to make this happen and he knows (and trusts) a guy who can get us 'in' (so to speak) to places normally not accessible, and has found a few people in various layers of the organisation to allow me to follow them in their personal lives.

now the question which i am struggling with: the people i'd like to follow ask money in return for me photographing...

what do i do? i am perfectly aware that in a commercial context, this is part of the deal, using model releases and paying day models and such,

but this is a not a commercial context, and i just don't have the money to "pay my way photographing the project"... i'd go broke in a split second...

BUT i also realize that i have to take into account that the "culture" of yakuza is one of money, gifts, in return for favors or letting me photograph...

a gift should be mine to give, not someone to ask for... even if i would have bucketloads of cash (which i don't), i would still have a deontological problem doing this (in a non-commercial context, that is)...

so what to you think? is it 'normal' to do things like this in a non-commercial/documentary project? doesn't it 'skew' the real story into somehing else, something, dare i say, "dirty"? or is it simply a part of any deal, and do i have to grow up and get over it, and start looking into some funding (and approach this story potentially very differently)?

i know i might be asking very naive questions... but this is a first for me...

cheers,
anton

[anton]

ANNA MARIA

yes you are not alone here... i look in my "former" darkroom where my prints are stored and there have been very few additions since digital came into my life... it makes me feel very uneasy...

what patricia said goes for me too: my images took on another life once i printed them to edit... so this is something which has to be done...

thinking... thinking... i think i will start now keeping aside ONE day a month for printing... collecting all that (potentially) has been done the month before that is worth printing... send it to the lab, do archival quality prints... store them in acid-free boxes...

and one day a month will keep the costs 'manageable' i guess...

or not?

the first time doing this would be a pain of course, having to catch all up...

cheers,
anton

[david bowen]

anna marie

even work shot on film, developed and scanned directly at the lab very rarely make it into print form these days, beyond a set of postcards i keep in my bag to show when people ask.. it's something i am going to rectify very soon and print a new folio / plan exhibit.

anton.

thats a very difficult question, givin the nature of the subject..
all i have ever offered is a print, or a set of prints.. i would not do work where the subject demanded money.. payment in-kind through a nice set of prints is enough i think.
for you it's different obviously.. i could not presume to know what you need to do.. it's very difficult..
on model releases - i have never used them.. never asked anyone to sign anything and thats fine for use in an editorial context for work shot in public spaces, far as i know.. if the work is to be used for advertising i always make sure that the client understands that the burden of and resulting court action for the use of work without release is upon them.. thats to say that in the contract i note that it is understood that no model release exists for the work.. in the past it's been fine, or you could say i have got away with it.. either way..
so diffficult for the project you want to do. the outlay of funds to do the work is going to be huge and so paying to actually photo could be the end of the project.. it's also may be fair to consider that if you begin paying, where will it end? especially if you are photographing his friends and dark-side associates.. tricky.. very tricky..
i would tread carefully with money and offer some decent prints were it me, explaining that the project simply wold not happen if payment was needed and hinting that either the subject gets some great prints and coverage he could show to his grandkids or he gets nothing..
empathise with you mate.. hope someone else here has a different perspective to lend, and subsequently help you move forward with it.. will be a superb study if you can pull it off..

[Neil]

Anton,

Its a feeling I'm not *that* comfortable with either, paying for access. However giving of gifts is different, it would be a poor visitor that brought nothing for his hosts! Normally I would make some enquiries and bring something that is hard for them to obtain and trivial for you to obtain (there are a few families around the globe with a haggis and no idea what to do with it...) alternatively you could offer to do some family portraits and give them prints. Japanese culture may view this differently so some research is in order. Most guidebooks offer advice for what to take a host family, so that would be a start.

Sounds like a cracking project, good luck!

[Martin Brink]

ANTON,
Interesting project, but I wouldn't do it. Pay to shoot a project? never! It's OK to do it for yourself and on your time and fund it with your own money, but not to pay for getting access. This is just me..
If they want money I don't think it's little money either.. And remember it's a dangerous organisation and you don't want to run out of money.. Be careful here..

Cheers

[Simon Griffee]

PATRICIA,

I hear you… I grew up moving around a lot and vever had any problems from South America to North Africa to Europe… I look forward to meeting you at some point — you and your work inspire me — I point my parents to it whenever they say "we're too old to do anything new"! And to be clear, I am NOT saying you are 'old'—you are very, very YOUNG!!!…Younger than many people my own age that I know (I am 30)!

Thank you for looking at my photos from Amsterdam, and for your nice words about them and Imaginary Lines… I'll certainly keep you posted.

PANOS,

I had been to the US before, but the story of the visa problems is simple in human terms yet complicated in bureacratic terms, as is usual with these things… I have been told that it is best for me not to discuss it in public on the 'net since what I write may be used against me in the future.

I ran into Snoop Doggy Dog coming out of a coffeeshop in Amsterdam. There was this huge guy stopping everyone from going in, so naturally a crowd began to form around the place and word got around. When he came out with his entourage they got on bicycles and cycled down the street with a mad crowd in pursuit knocking over restaurant chairs, flower pots…pandemonium in the middle of the day!

ANNA MARIA BARRY-JESTER,

I've taken to printing out 10cm x 6cm contact prints after a first or second edit of the photos on the computer. I then use these for further editing on a table or on a corkboard/wall (inspired by David and several other photographers). It is a great feeling to hold the pictures in your hands, to move them around, and even do a little exhibition wherever you go!

I've also found that the size of pictures give a different feel…and I find it is easier to see relationships between pictures when they are all small…also easier to edit if you don't have a lot of wall space…

I try to keep in mind that each picture should be able to stand on its own…the difficult part…which means I need to shoot a lot (and even then, I am not usually successful)!

DAVID BOWEN

I agree with the person that said that borders exist for people who hate and for greed…

I will be writing about all this and more on Imaginary Lines, but the main point is that if one considers oneself 'American' or 'English' or 'Costa Rican' or anything associated with a flag or a label above considering oneself a human being, then one is dividing oneself from the rest of humanity and essentially committing a violent act (violence does not need to be physical…) and contributing to the world's state of affairs as much as the persons making the policy decisions and the persons physically building the walls and barriers…

Thanks for your words—I had the same feeling of being treated like a criminal when I last visited the US. I trust in individual people however, and do not judge anyone based on what 'one's country' does.

[Joni Karanka]

@david bowen: I bet Nottingham is rough compared with Cardiff... not been, though... going to visit Manchester at some point soon...

@anna maria: I scan my film but produce prints from scans quite regularly to edit and keep track. Nothing beats producing 5x7'' prints regularly in the darkroom, though.

[Neil]

Consider Joe McNally on the tarmac of a cosmonaut training center somewhere in Russia. He hands several thousand dollars to his fixer, who signals the "Vomit Comet" aircraft to take off with him and trainee spacemen inside. He was'nt going to get access any other way...

[Jean]

BOB
I looked at Bones! I liked it. Of course, as said DAH, it's not for everybody. I don't like the photos "with skull", but i like the rest. And it seems to me that you achieve to translate your deepest feelings about your son and father in photographs; THIS is true photography!!!

Congratulations.

[anton]

DAVID B, NEIL, MARTIN

yes... that is my main concern... IF one starts doing this, where will it end? i guess it comes down to taking a stand and saying 'this is something i, as a rule, do not do...'

of course, paying the fixer makes perfect sense to me (and will happen of course), as he is actually working hard to make everything happen, gaining access, looking for places, involving people, places, angles...

so i understand the Joe McNally thing too... making a $$ deal with a fixer is "in se" not a bad thing i guess, and one could leave it up to him to decide what he does with his earnings...

but paying "subjects" directly seems like a dangerous path to walk... it makes me feel not at ease...

contact sheets/prints/book/exhibition is what i had envisioned to give to all people involved, as a recognition of their involvement...

difficult one... pff i'd be very discouraged if this would be the only thing left standing in the way of this project actually having a chance of happening...

[david alan harvey]

ANTON...

straight cash out is a bad idea...it leads to jealousy, more cash out, no respect...

better to spend the money indirectly..small symbolic gifts, dinner, prints...this shows you care and show respect, but sets you up on a "higher plane" that just cash in a brown envelope...

rushing now, but back to this topic soonest amigo...

cheers, david

i have spent a lot of time with the yakuza...

[Maciej Dakowicz]

David

nice, I will come on friday night. That's gonna be the highlight of my trip to the US ;) It is a pity I didn't know about those grants.
Will bring you a small gift - my first self-published book - http://www.blurb.com/books/342113

and some people mentioned Cardiff nightlife. I have been working on this project for quite some time, there is the current state of it, a rather loose collection of best images:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/maciejdakowicz/sets/1391696/

[anton]

DAVID

yes... good point... the mutual "respect" part should always play a major role in any project i guess...

and something that yakuza members are especially familiar with...

ps. i'll be picking your brain about your adventures in japan soon :)
i'm really curious...

[marc davidson]

ANTON...

I dealt with this same issue when photographing some of the tribes in Africa.

For the Maasai, I had arranged to provide some "gifts" for the village (cooking oil, sugar, beer, etc...) which felt like the right thing to do and wasn't that bad.

For the Hadza tribe, I had to make a small monetary donation for the group; I also had to bring them some weed. Again, felt like the right thing to do and wasn't that bad.

The Surma tribe in Ethiopia were much different in that they demanded $ every time I clicked the shutter. I tried to negotiate some gifts or donations for the village as a whole but to no avail. That's just the way that it's done and being out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by AK-47 touting men, I felt I should comply.

The entire experience did leave me feeling uneasy but for them it is a simple matter of give and take. Needless to say, my 2 week planned shoot lasted about a week as I ran out of "photo-money"

Having gone through various levels of having to pay for access, I agree with DAH that it's a bad road to start down but sometimes there is no alternative.

[Akaky]

SIMON, go to Mexico and walk across the border. Everyone else does it; why shouldnt you?

[Akaky]

Yes indeed, there's nothing like an AK-47 to ensure mutual respect and good will towards one's fellow human beings.

[anton]

MARC

thanks for sharing your experiences... i would feel uneasy too if i read you describing the Surma...

i'm glad i asked the question here... i would have rushed in jumped at the chance, not thinking ahead... i realize now that this would have killed the project very quickly, and mostlikely would've jeopardized future projects in the area or longer relationships with the same people...

wow only thinking about shooting is definitely not enough... building up and maintaining interpersonal relationships, friendships, mutual respect, planning, walking the fine line of getting things done without compromising (artistic) integrity, all things that now suddenly became much more important on my to-do list...


AK47AKY!!!!

laughing :)))))

[Akaky]

PATRICIA, thanx for Billie. She's a favorite of mine.

[Paul Treacy]

Should anyone be interested, I just uploaded my new website. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Also, please advise of any errors you might stumble upon should you decide to visit.

I thank you in advance.

http://www.photohumourist.com

Paul Treacy

[panos skoulidas]

AK47KY...
Stop giving illegal legal advice...
Support our border patrol...
Please...

[Lee Guthrie]

Paul,

The website works very nicely. One comment, it took me a bit to figure out how to navigate through the photos and I don't understand the numbers on either side of the photos. Loved the shots. This is a good commercial site for marketing people to get those random shots they need. Some were very funny (the two guys sitting next to each other except for one thing--I can see you in the mirror). Good site. Thanks for sharing.

I'm starting to remember where everyone lives now and it is wonderful to be such a world wide web member.

Lee

[Akaky]

And now for something completely off topic:

Now, you may find this a little hard to believe, but gentrification has had some fairly unusual effects here in our happy little burg. In the years since our economic turnaround began, we’ve had an influx of people from the metropolis to the south. Most of these folks are artists of one sort or another, the type of people who refer to well-known holes in the wall as spaces and who often wonder aloud why they can’t buy their favorite coffee here. Their favorite coffee often has a very long name, which causes no end of confusion hereabouts, as most of the indigenous population thinks of coffee as a beverage that either comes black or with cream and sugar. But what really sets the gentrifiers off from the gentrified is the worldview of the former. They are a well-traveled, cosmopolitan lot, on the whole, dropping the names of obscure Parisian restaurants in conversation in much the same way as our stout yeomanry drop dollar bills on the lottery and nodding knowingly at the mention of artists whose work is so obscure that their parents haven’t heard of it yet. With all of this sophistication, you may well wonder why these people would want to spend any amount of time with a provincial yutz like me. The answer, I’ve found, is that for all of their worldliness and sophistication, most of these people have never actually met a Republican.

Yes, it is a good time to be a Republican here in our happy little burg; I know that my party registration has improved my social life immeasurably these past years and I am positive that being a Republican can do wonders for your social life as well. Rock-ribbed Republicanism will help you get girls and be the life of any party you attend. It won’t help you clear up your skin, of course, but in the main, you will be a more exciting, more fascinating person when you finally stop procrastinating and register in the GOP.

You are probably asking yourself, but Akaky, how is this possible? I’ve tried everything from industrial strength Clearasil to online blind dating with Filipino transsexual lesbian dwarves to improve my social life, how will my being a Republican make me a more interesting person and help me score with chicks, which, as we all know, is the main purpose of any male’s social life, no matter what their party affiliation. Let me explain what happened to my social life.

The vast majority of our gentrifying influx was, as mentioned, from the metropolis, a well-known one party state where Republican are few and far between, and when they do win elections, they have to compromise on vast swathes of the GOP agenda and pretend that they meant to register Democratic when they were filling out the voter registration form but that the form was confusing and the guy in front of them in line farted loudly and so they accidentally checked the wrong box. So most of our gentrifying influx has never actually met anyone who fundamentally disagrees with just about everything they hold near and dear to their hearts. Your average cosmopolitan knows that Republicans exist, of course, but they know that they will probably never meet one in the course of the day and so long as they remain ensconced in their island home they need never think about such people. So they ignore them, and by them I mean people like me, in much the same way that a Cairene ignores the Great Pyramid of Giza or a hungry dieter ignores the food pyramid with pepperoni pizza. But when the siren song of modern art calls to the cosmopolite, they must follow, even if it leads to our happy little burg, which hasn’t gone Democratic in a presidential race since Zachary Taylor won handily here in 1848. This was an anomaly, of course, and one the local historical society usually attributes to Taylor’s enthusiastic support among local Mexican War veterans. Faced for the first time in their adult lives with the much dreaded Other, many a curious cosmopolite will seek to grasp just why it is that the natives believe in the odd things they believe in and so they often ask me to explain the hows and the whys of what is going on here.

I don’t mind, of course; many of these people are quite sincere in their curiosity, although I am also quite sure that many others invite me along merely to shock their friends and add a bit of a political frisson to their dinner parties. It seems a strange fate for any Republican to be a suces de scandale, but it seems I have managed this difficult task on more than one occasion. I am not sure how I managed to get the job as token Republican in the first place; I suppose that some of my Democratic friends recommended me as someone who was reasonably intelligent, reasonably knowledgeable about what’s going on in the world these days, and could be trusted not to blow my nose in the tablecloth between the soup and the main course.

In some ways, of course, I am a bit of a disappointment. I am not, for example, a member of the National Rifle Association. In fact, I do not own any firearms at all—I am, however, like a good many other civil servants, a dangerous man with a rubber band and a paper clip—and I have experienced my share of crestfallen looks from people who thought that I must, like the Republicans they’ve seen on television, have several years worth of canned goods next to the arsenal I have stashed in my own personal bomb shelter. I don’t actually have a bomb shelter, either, and this and the fact that I believe that if you wish to possess0 a 155mm howitzer of your very own, then the government ought to take a polite interest in what you intend to do with the thing (you might, for example, be planning to overthrow the constitutionally elected government of our happy little burg, or worse, plan to do a little target practice on Saturday mornings when I am trying to get some sleep), has led more than a few people to believe that I am not really a Republican at all. Nor am I an evangelical Christian and I am not completely sure I could identify with any degree of certainty the significant theological points of contention and agreement between Fundamentalists and Pentecostals, except for a somewhat unfortunate taste in hair styling. I suppose I am not atavistic enough.

Still, I’ve learned over the years that one mustn’t completely dash people’s illusions, and I have managed to epater les avant-garde on more than one occasion. There’s nothing quite like the reaction one gets from pointing out to some cosmopolite with a home in Vermont who has just spent an hour expounding on the racial problem here in AmeriKKKa that the reason many white liberals love living in Vermont is that it gives them the opportunity to decry AmeriKKKa’s racist treatment of African-Americans for hours on end without having to live anywhere near actual African-Americans. The sound made on one of these occasions is a sort of a low moan, similar, I think, to the sound one makes when you step out of a car wearing brand new shoes and step right into a pile of fresh dog crap. Your average host or hostess loves this sort of political spat; it livens up the conversation in what, in other circumstances, would have been yet one more dull dinner party. They’ll denounce my obvious idiocy—this simply goes without saying, naturally; they have to keep their Vermont friend happy too, you know—and it almost certainly means another dinner invitation in the not so near future so that I can politely mock the shibboleths that they and their friends hold most dear. Hearing someone praise Karl Rove can be a mind-altering experience for some people, however common such praise may be in some GOP quarters. I guess everything sounds a bit shocking if you’ve never heard it before.

My perplexing adherence to what these folks often refer to as the Repugnicans, the Rethuglicans, etc. causes no end of cognitive dissonance among the cosmopolitan population—they think, of course, that by all rights, I ought to be a Democrat, the same as them, and they will often ask, in their confusion, if there is anything I wouldn’t do for the GOP? To comfort them I say, yes, there is: I will not give money to a candidate for political office, even to a Republican candidate. You may not have noticed this, but campaign contributions only encourage politicians, a particularly noxious breed of peculating parasite, to run for political office in order to do whatever it is they do on the public payroll, and to continue to run for office long after the rest of the population has gotten tired of listening to them and wish that they would simply go away and leave the rest of us alone. Our Great Republic will only survive if and when vast numbers of American citizens treat running for public office in the same way that they treat jury duty: as an onerous task to be avoided whenever possible, and if political office becomes inevitable, to be gotten out of as soon as possible. I mean, really, would you want the leader of the Free World to be someone too dumb to get out of being President? I didn’t think so.

[david bowen]

how funny..

i posted a blog about how the bjp (british journal of photography) came to feature me recently.. and now the bjp blog has picked up on it here.
http://post.blog.searchenginestrategies.com/1854/
very, very bizarre.. i always assume the only people reading my blog are mates and you lot..

[david bowen]

http://www.1854.eu/2008/09/talking_about_bjp.html

[Patricia Lay-Dorsey]

AKAKY

Now I know why we want/need you to be at David's on Friday...because you're a Republican!! Those folks are hard to come by in gatherings of artsy fartsy types or even serious war photojournalists. Give us a break. We'll even let you wear your McCain/Palin button...

DAVID B

That is SOOOO COOL that the folks at BJP read your blog...and quote it on THEIR blog! Hey man, you're more famous than you've been letting on. Don't worry. We love you anyway ;=)

Patricia

[david bowen]

infamous in some circles, perhaps.. :o)

i think it's a member of lightstalkers who posts the bjp blog..

[anton]

david b

cool cool. i remember reading that, and smiling while picturing you tirelessly going around the bar asking for the guy :))

and thinking: however funny, david b can make things work. a good spirit is a blessing for sure.

great stuff.

cheers
anton

[anton]

oh ps DAVID

i made a total stranger smile today... and it was within 20 feet :)

anton

[anton]

PAUL

yes like your site. like the "no fuss" big images. only minor gripe is what Lee said: it takes a while before you see the numbers to navigate next/previous...

other than that: good one.

oh and yes: your images make me smile :)

cheers,
anton

[david bowen]

ANTON>

the reason i posted that story is that i was reminded of it by a student who wanted to photo a sheep from the green fields to the dinner plate.
no permission from the slaughter house was gained.. he did not think the project would be completed as he had hoped.
but he carried on regardless..

for 3 days he went back to the fields to get the 'right' picture of the sheep there..
he ended up gaining a great snap.. and the farmer saw him doing this tirelessly..

the farmer turned out to be the owner of the slaughter house.. the boos of the woman who had refused him permission to shoot there.

the farmer finally gave him permission at the 11th hour.. and it also looks like the whole story, or folio of images, produced for collage will be bought by the slaughter house.. because they like them.

none of this would have happened if the student had GIVEN UP when told he could not photo in the slaughter house..

the world most definitely turns for those of us that try to help it turn.. dig our feet into the dirt and push hard..

[erica mcdonald]

AM HOME

thinking of you all and the family reunion soon to happen, and of those who will be there in spirit, and of all the students who are in the thick of it now, searching, struggling, awakening and finding that something that was hidden or blocked or misplaced or unknown just days ago..

BRO BOB

Will have to see and speak Bones when you are here, am in a time crunch now with the job assignment..

AKAKY

Please come..

ERIC

fantastic that you were able to do the interview..am very happen for the project's evolution

PATRICIA!

Holy smokes, can't believe you are coming, can't wait..

DAVID B

Are there things you still need?

DEAR DAH

What a wonderful idea, about the EPF and Workshops, absolutely lovely...

ALL COMING TO NYC

We are working on dinner plans in Brooklyn before the Slideshow, drop me a note at erica at ericamcdonaldphoto.com if you want to be in the loop..LEE, I don't think I you are in the email loop yet..I can't keep straight who all is coming, so please write if you want to know..

XO

[Patricia Lay-Dorsey]

DAVID B

Great story! Good on your student. It pays to be so persistent you get what you want in the end.

Patricia

[herve]

Hey Anton,

IMO, as long as nobody knows who you are, PERSONALLY, over there, moreover in both an asian and margin culture, it seems that surely enough no one has to make you gifts. Even if unspokingly, or not accounted by the penny, there is often a "barter" situation in dealing with people from which you want something, in Asia.

Probably one of these aubjects where going in and making yourself known (even to one guy/family), spend time to show your mettle, WITHOUT a camera, is paramount...

[panos skoulidas]

ALL,
Just pulled over at a AM/PM gas station
for a quick snack..
They told me I can't use my ATM card,
neither credit.. ONLY CASH..
The cashier told me:"sorry the whole
ATM / credit system is DOWN..
looking for coins to buy water....
Something really nasty is happening here..
or is about to happen!!!!!!!????
Driving to another gas station..

[panos skoulidas]

"the whole ATM system is temporarily
down in the WEST COAST"..
the cashier yelled really loud to the huge
desperate line of customers... Outside
the am/pm...!!!
Any other west coasters with the same problem????

[herve]

It is a good time to live if one is not obsessed with money, Panos.

When having is more important than being, then the rooster is due to come home to croak every once in a while.

The sooner we get this in our heads, the better life will be....Like borders! Give it another few hundred years....Yes, you are right, I am quite an optimist by nature. :-)

[david bowen]

hey erica

i think it's all together for the darkroom sessions..

funny - the pro shop in this city does not stock multigrade..
i was taken into a dusty basement to look for chemicals and paper.. only graded paper..
no thermometers.. very strange how quickly the darkroom has passed.

still - guaging the energy of the students for a bit of printing, i think there is bound to be a redressing of the balance.. and with so many of us still enjoying film .. darkrooms.. standing in a red room.. with a beer.. and playing all the fine printing games.. a little dab of cotton wool with hot water on here.. some cold here.. there is a great feeling to fine tuning a print i've yet to get through PS.

[panos skoulidas]

7 major Greek banks
"collapsed" today..
Reason: huge investments in our stock
Market system ( globalization)...
Someone said :" when the US catches
a cold, the rest of the world gets pneumonia..."
:-(((