"at home..." workshop 2007

we have all written quite a bit lately about editing/ sequencing...the editing/sequencing  pictures that is...when i do my loft class in new york, i do another type of editing/sequencing...i try to pick and choose students that will be different from each other in style, from different cultures, different lifestyles and different motivations....i do not teach anyone to be like me or copy me or even think like me...my whole goal is to make my students be themselves....discover...and learn about who they really are...open up and let it out with their work...

everything we have been discussing on this forum;  authorship, editing/sequencing, and "results" are manifested in this work...

some of my students are conceptual artists, others do  social documentary  and others are lyricists and others are street photographers....i encourage the mix...in the next few days i will post a new artist or two each day  from last week's class...i will only publish  the author and the title....the photographs should speak for themselves......some will be obvious, others not....i will also soonest publish a link so you can see the audio slide show and find out "the real story"..

i think it might be interesting to see if you can guess "the story"...so, if you want,  create a four sentence or so "caption" for the stories below..i will bet some of you will come very very close to the artist's intent...

Kristin Murphy.......   "Lubavitch Life"

 

Chris Hushagen ......    "She Said Yes"

 

 

 

 

Noemie Goudal..."Creature"

 

 

 

 

 

Alyssa Nicol  .....    "Riders"

 

Comments

[Giancarlo Mori]

Very cool stuff. Especially Noemie1 and Noemie2...

[alex vo]

Hi david and all...

I've learnt quite abit about editing/sequencing,thanks to YOU and our other FRIENDS in this forum...its so educational...
So this is my guess for the story...

Noemie 1; Bone of bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called "woman".

Noemie 8; Eve in the garden of Eden.

Noemie 5; Gaining wisdom.

Noemie 2; The serpent deceived me.

thanks david,
ozzy al

[bobblack]

LOVE THE SERIES :))))...especially: 2, 4, 5, 9, 10 :))))))....

ok, so 4 sentences (or words David?)...

Here is my caption:

WE ARE OF WHAT ANOTHER DREAMED WE WOULD BECOME: SONNETS TO EURYDICE

(hey, i've just copyrighted that ;)) )....

(playing off rilke's sonnets to Orpheus)

Eurydice (Eurydíkê, Ευρυδίκ) ......

wonderful work

cheers,
bob

here's a link: i wont pick one out, but i have a few ;))

http://www.polyamory.org/~howard/Poetry/orpheus_index.html

[Sidney Atkins]

Now am I crazy (?), or did I not see a different edit (four fewer images) and a slightly different sequence the first time I accessed this page? I came back an hour later and it had changed to what it is now. So of course I am going to ask, why the change of mind? Or was the first time thru just an experiment? Or, is my browser or my mind at fault, and this was the original edit and sequence?

I can't fathom the story line, but the last image sure reminds me of "roll the credits!" at the end of a movie, whereas the next to last looks like some kind of triumphal, i.e. dramatically scripted, conclusion.

Sidney

[david alan harvey]

SIDNEY...

you may be crazy, but the order did change within the hour!!!...i made a mistake in posting order the first time around and corrected to match exactly how noemie scripted it for her slideshow...

david

[cathy scholl]

Honestly I haven't a clue.
A lot of "fine art" or "conceptual" photography is way beyond me.
I'm pretty "straight" I guess.

[SF Jason]

My feeble attempt:
Girl dreams;girl searches for partner; girl alone;

birthday balloons; self curiosity ;

naughty idea; self fulfillment;

regret/empty; confession; reluctant haircut! NO!

[jay nowakowski]

for what it's worth:

1. girl dreams/ reviews what she did during the day/night ( i like the coffee break image)

2. checks underwear for stains (some unresolved issue here: love, relationships, sex without love...stairs going down seems to give this image a heavy feeling)

3. returns to cluttered apt (might be symbolic of her life) and eventualy goes back to bed (sadness depression) and dreams of praying ( perhaps seeking help through prayer)

4. goes back to her job in haridressing salon (baloons in mirror)

wow! just my feeble attemt to string together a story line i could be all wrong here so please, this scenario is not meant to offend ...

If we shadows have offended,
Think but this,—and all is mended,—
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear

[david alan harvey]

CATHY..

pretty straight is just fine....

noemie is just one of the students with authorship and editing and sequence ....others will follow...

but, even if you are "pretty straight", i think it might be a rewarding unexpected adventure for you to look seriously and deeply at the best conceptual work...

the worst that can happen is that you reject it and move on..fair enough ....the best that can happen is you learn and maybe even "borrow" just a bit from the thinking process..

photography is a language with many voices...a photographer with a voice that you may not recognize at first, could end up whispering in your ear..

david

[Arie]

david....there is my attempt at it: it is the story of a girl who has a borring life (last picture) and then dreams of discovering herself (it goes from the dream of a girl who dreams to get married, to the self discovery of teh body to...)....it is like the pictures are in the reverse order...I think the photographer tries to capture childhood images...

arie

[Michael Kircher]

Interesting indeed.

I don't know exactly how to put it into words but (and I say this as lightheartedly as I can!) I definitely am getting a strong impression as to why I won't be in NY the 2nd week of October.

Noemie's work says something...just what, I don't know. But I do sense "authorship."

Looking forward to the rest.

[Dirk Chesterfield]

If you and the artist want a reaction here it is; I feel either ignorant or genius. I don't get this kind of stuff. On one hand I feel that there is a part of society that sees things I miss due to my lack of... something (intelligence, appreciation, life tragedies). On the other hand, I feel that stuff like this is fraudulent. Viewers want so badly to see and belong to the club that that they impart something artificial on to this type of photography.

Take a subject, put her in a variety of settings and call it art. Not one photo of this series could stand alone. Together they seem to want to say something - or maybe more accurately, we want them to. I can only see a handful of snapshots.

I take photos too and can certainly appreciate the work that was involved in this series.

[Harry]

A girl killed by a florists truck dreams of all the fun she had, smoking and drinking then comes back as an angle (balloons not wings) then visits the underworld falls to temptation then returns from the dead to get a hair cut.

I prefer opera when I can't understand the words modern art is often the same-though not always.

Harry

[Harry]

I mean angel not angle

[david alan harvey]

MICHAEL...

yes, wait for the rest...each author is different...

DIRK...

i do not think anyone referred to this work as anything other than a conceptual story ....noemie never referred to it as "art" nor did i...

but, how in the world can you refer to it as "fraudulent"?? noemie told "her" story in the way that she wanted...not in the way i may have suggested and obviously not in the way YOU wanted her to tell HER story!!!

the old adage "there is no accounting for taste" is always out there before us...i just like to allow my students a chance to have THEIR voice...

frankly, in looking at as much work as i do, both among emerging photographers and professionals and "art" photographers alike, the thing most often lacking in all of it is in finding someone who has "something to say"...a voice....i think noemie has a voice...

i must totally disagree with you strongly on one point...i think several of her photographs could stand alone powerfully ...i think you will soon see noemie make a serious "mark" in the world of photography..one of us may soon be very surprised!!

in any case, check out the other students who will be posted in the next few days...each had a different perspective and style and modus operendi....perhaps you will see something more to your liking...

thank you for the comment...always appreciated...good discussion is what we want to have here...your opinions are what will drive us all forward in a positive way...nothing beats healthy discourse...

cheers, david

[Aga_Luczakowska]

I like number 3 and 9 :-)
also... in few days make such many different pictures and put it in one story... it's good job!
i am curious your other students .. i am waiting to see more and more :-)

[Arie]

david...I am right in my interpretation of her work?

arie

[Dirk Chesterfield]

David:

Thanks for the comments. I did not mean fraudulent from the artist's standpoint - I meant it from the viewers. Oftentimes it's the viewers who 'impart' some special or empirical meaning to something - whether it's there or not. Also, the fraudulent comment went hand-in-hand with my feelings of ignorance because I fail to see anything redeeming (I feel "fraud" because I simply can't be that ignorant to miss whatever story or point the artist is trying to convey (do you see what I am saying?)). Far be it for me to call an artist fraudulent and I apologize if that's how it came across.

When I look at your work, or Abel's or McCurry's (to stick to Nat Geo); each photo stands alone and tells a story, a real story (whether staged or not). The coffee shop photo, the melancholy girl in bed photo and the gratuitous nude? My goodness, these have been done a million times and they stopped saying anything long ago.

But I will say that as an 'emerging' artist she appears to have moxie to get out there and do these things, which is so much more than I can say for people such as... well, me for example.

Furthermore, this is the first time in my life that I've ever posted a comment on an art or photo site with respect to someone's work. So the artist has clearly struck a chord. In the final analysis maybe that's what it's all about.

Respectfully,

Dirk

['Pong]

Astonishing series. I give it a go. The girl looks mysterious and vulnerable in her world. She questions her own existence. It has never been solved.

[david alan harvey]

DIRK...

i do not think you can compare what the NG photogs do with what noemie does....

NG photographers, and other photojournalists, document life as it is...certainly with a perspective , but "straight up"...no manipulation of the "subject"..

noemie is doing something completely different.... she starts with an idea and then "illustrates" and probably lets serendipity in there too.....every viewer knows immediately that these pictures are not from "real life"..or are they?? she certainly had an interesting "collaboration" with her subject and they both told a mysterious story...like many really good films and books, sometimes to have to see or read them twice..

in your library i am sure you have books which are both non-fiction and fiction...noemie's "book" would be in the fiction category, but as we all know there is so so much "truth" in fiction...certainly, one cannot be put above the other...and just as certainly some readers prefer one over the other...so be it...

many many thanks for writing back and clarifying....and please stay tuned...i will post a totally different author later today...

cheer, david

[cathy scholl]

David,

Thanks for the comment. I will listen closely to these voices and try to hear what they are saying.

I'm wondering... if Noemie lives in NY and knew her model previously or if you introduce your students to potential models? If Noemie were arriving from out of town with only a few days to shoot it could be difficult to find someone out on the street willing to get this intimate.

[Sherman Charles]

Hi David,

I like the first photo because the contrast of color and light. Flowers and asphalt. Red lipstick against pale skin.

The garden image reminds me of a girl that I never spoke to at a party I may have been to and our eyes caught for a moment. And in that moment we tried to exchange questions and answers. That's why I like it.

I like the coffee shop photo because of the stream of light coming in and the big red coffee cup. I love the texture of the image and the sense of a "celestial revelation". I don't like the "in bed" photo because I've seen so much of that "look" in contemporary fine art photography that I question the real motive of the image. I don't like the church image because I feel the need to see the expression of the woman and I can't. And that annoyance refuses me to appreciate anything else.

I like the barbershop image because of all that is in that photograph (people, things on the wall). Also I think it's pretty cool that the barber in his red frock is the only one in motion. I also think the red M&M on the flag is cool too.

I like the nude because of the caress of light on her body and the overall composition of the image. I don't have much of an opinion on the balloons image. It really does nothing for me. The photograph on the stairs intrigues me but I can't formulate a real opinion on it.

The cluttered room image makes me think "Where am I going with my life? I want to do so much but where do I start?".

That's my interpretation of those photographs. I think ultimately the idea of interpreting and asking questions is what really makes it interesting. I don't quite know what the story. It would probably drive me crazy if I tried to figure it out.

Great post.

-Sherman

[Jay Sinclair]

I actually thought I had a clue based on the first posting of the images! I thought it was something along the lines of stages or the drama of life… birth, death, sex, drink/smoking/joy of living, etc. Once you reposted, I am back to my usual cluelessness when it comes to conceptual photography.

Funny, its like misunderstanding lyrics to a song where you make up a complete story line. Then you find out what the real lyrics are and it’s sort of sad, losing that first meaning. Either way, I really think they are some beautifully evocative images. I still think that they have something to do with drama of life but I don’t know the bigger framework. Nice work though!

I love conceptual photography but often struggle with the meaning until I hear an explanation and then it is obvious or at least understandable. Sometimes it sounds made up and derived but sometimes the light comes on I really appreciate what the photographer was trying to convey. Those times make me want to be able to think in those terms in a better way. Has anyone ever found a good way to expand their understanding and vocabulary when it comes to conceptual photography?

[jay ott]

I'm more of a straight shooter myself. However, I'm really enjoying Noemie's approach here. I try to be open-minded to different approaches than my own. Noemie's series makes me want to go out and experiment.

Ray Charles in the "Genius of Soul" documentary film said, "It's all music. . . . " referring to what he borrowed from, blues, gospel, country, classical, and jazz.

So, I would have to say it's all photography. We can all come up with something new by mixing up and playing around with different genres.

Besides, if we all just stick to what we already know how can we ever grow?

[Mike Halminski]

Hi David and friends.
I too wondered if the subject and the shooter know each other well.
I get the impression that the story is about a lovely lost soul trying to find herself.