How Many Remember This Unsung Hero?

Charles Bradley- Wow! Wow! & Wow!

 I aint heard nothing this good in a Long... Long time!

If Dreams Could Only Come True...

I Don't See Race (just don't drop me off in this neighborhood)

Can ya see where I'm going with this? Can ya? Can ya? Can ya?

I don't know if the person who originated that "saying" was 100% sincere in what they wanted to convey, or just plain shrewd and duplicitous. Either way people, if you really are sincere or perhaps simply attempting it... hell, even if you just wanna plain fake it (and don't give two shits about equality, justice or peace)- please, please, please (there's a song in there somewhere) refrain at all cost from reiterating that accursed saying! If there's anything a person of color does not want to hear it's, "I don't see race." 

Because every time someone says that, it tells that other than white person that you are not seeing them as who and what they are; you are not considerate enough, knowledgeable enough, astute enough to know how the world works (regardless of whatever education you may possess), and how your position in it is automatically differentiated from theirs since birth- and that you will neither make the time nor effort to even consider that, thank you very much. In short, that magic, feel good phrase says more about what you so woefully lack as a thinking, feeling individual, than anything you may possibly have to offer as friend, ally, or neutral observer. And it does so in a manner that not only comes off as utterly inept, but also as completely arrogant, ignorant, condescending and bogus.

Yes, we are all of the human race- non whites have been having to prove that over, and over, and over again for one very long time now. We're well aware of it. So please don't insult us by saying that you don't see what's as equally obvious as any other physical attribute such as height, weight or sex. Don't tell me to my face you're so pure that you don't avoid certain neighborhoods at all cost- when I'll freely admit that discretion is the better part of valor.

If you really want to come off as someone who isn't prejudiced, someone who is, in fact, fair and genuine, then make the time to have that conversation, make the attempt to understand, and let your actions reveal the sincerity of your intent, and your heart*

*Inspired by a true life exchange with a most learned colleague recently subjected to "the saying" in a professional, photographic context.

Mitch Epstein- State Of The Union

 Photo: Mitch Epstein

Mention the pioneers of color photography, and the usual suspects always come up: Eggleston, Shore, the two Joels, Graham, Parr, etc. Mitch Epstein is not usually muttered in the same breath, but here is a (master) photographer who understands and does color as well as any of them, and was also doing it at the same time. 

I was somewhat disappointed upon first opening State of The Union. The book leans toward the large size of the spectrum but opens with small and medium format photographs printed double truck slightly right or left of center. I would have been happy to turn a book of this size edgewise just so I could study each of these rather wondrous photographs at my leisure as a seamless, uninterrupted image. And they definitely do demand to be studied- despite a straight forward shooting style and subject matter firmly rooted in everyday reality, there's something profoundly surreal about many of these images. Some seem not so much captured, as much as... slowed down; others, eerily 3D. In the book's print of the image above, one feels as if you could almost place yourself amongst the soldiers as you weave about the moving mass. Like I said- the guy knows what he's doing.

But wait- there's more...

The reason for the book's particular size finally reveals itself when you reach the second half- large format images from the American Power essay. Again, they're printed double truck across both pages, only this time they are framed with small, evenly spaced white borders- and they look... Spectacular! Sharp, absolutely drop dead glorious reproductions that, were they seamless, you could dry mount, frame and hang proudly! I don't ever recall being quite so bowled over page after page, image after image by a book's print quality, presentation and, of course, it's knock you off your feet imagery...

Photo: Mitch Epstein

Robert Gumbert- American Prison Tattoos

If for some reason you still have not seen Robert Gumpert's prison portraits, you are missing out on work that accentuates and epitomizes the very power and potential of photographic portraiture...

Picture Perfect Postcard...

Pretty damn crazy absurd spectacular!

Wondercon #6- Mr. Vader

 Darth peruses downtown San Francisco from the patio of his retirement villa, where he encourages fellow residents to "buy local."

Paint It BLACK!!!

Maybe the Japanese radiation will mutate sea life so that it can flourish and prosper in the oil and methane rich waters of our present/future... What? Not funny? Got that right!

Meanwhile, Obama has given the green light to drill anew even though no new regulatory laws have been passed, no new preventative technology has been created, the gulf and surrounding wetlands environment is still very much poisoned, the clean up workers themselves have been poisoned, their ages old sea based economy is dead in the water, and practically no one has been compensated for their losses. Wow!!! We're talking multiple win-win-wins here!

Soon they'll have carte blanche to drill, pollute and poison the Arctic! Think how much easier it'll be to spot those dangerous polar bears in their new black coats and easy to spot footprints!

RIP- Chris Hondros & Tim Hetherington

There are plenty of places to go and find out the facts and accomplishments concerning these photographers' lives. These are a particular breed, and it's a wonder any get out alive and intact, sane or coherent. I'm sure while we observe, and others mourn, tonight they will get the honor, camaraderie and reception they deserve from those that preceded them on the other side...

Film Wasters

Filmwasters #48 - "My life went to the market to buy some meat and liquor" by Sean Rohde .

Don't know if I like the picture more, or the caption (OK, OK, the photo- really, really do love it!)- even though, I thought, right until now, that it said, "My wife went..." From the very analogue and very eclectic Filmwasters... And I can't quite get over the one below either.

Rose by Robert Schneider

 

My Piece Of Photographic History

I'm not big into autographs or "celebrity" memorabilia, but this is one small and hardly insignificant (at least in my eyes) historical artifact I am most happy to receive, and treasure. My "official" Vivian Maier 120 film spool sent for my small contribution towards the making of her life's documentary. Can't wait for the book, and the movie!  (Not the best still life, granted- just wanted a quick representative shot).

27% Of Your Income Taxes Will Be Spent On War

But that's exactly where your money is needed most, right?

And then there's this little tidbit of good tidings and cheer...

Flickr My Ass

Well, it's been a fun weekend dealing with my friend Flickr. First, I couldn't sign in, time after time after time. Emails, help forum, blah, blah, blah. Finally figured a run around so I could avoid the blank screen and get into my own account, just so I could... pay them! So I hit the pay button and... the second blank screen! Emails, help forum, blah, blah, blah.

Finally figured the second run around, and finally paid. Now I have to wait for their backlog to clear from all the other thousands having the same problems so they can accept me again into their fold.

You'd think they would make some attempt to fix this, since we pay them, rather than telling us to work it out ourselves and fix it for them. Somehow, I don't remember doing all this when service was... free.

US Support Of Plane Bombing, Civilian Murdering Terrorist

Despite all the "you're either wit us, or agin us" rhetoric, this terrorist  Posada bastard wasn't tortured, renditioned or even extradited despite blowing up a plane full of civilians, and despite our so called laws, treaties and policies that have done all the aforementioned to completely innocent people time and time again.

Greatest Video Ever Made Or Seen

No matter your taste, no matter your passion- it has a little bit of everything for everyone (actually quite a lot).
(Via Boing Boing)

What- You Don't Make Mistakes!?

A)  She was hired for her looks

B)  She's just naturally forgetful

C)  It always worked before

I'm kinda leaning towards C).

Wondercon #5- The Rectangular Walking Carpet Fuzzie

Hey, it is, what it is...

I'm going to assume its Japanese, and speculate it's something to do with a video game, kids' toy, cartoon, whatever... It was most definitely lime green, very cute- and very funny. It walked like a wind up toy under the guidance of the person on the right- probably because I doubt the person inside could see where the heck they were going very well.

He Just Went Corporate...

So I was at the local Mac store this past Sunday when all of a sudden this intense applause breaks out- and I mean intense! It doesn't stop, it gets louder, stronger in increasingly nonstop waves. I was there playing with an iPad, one of the few modern day gadgets I find appealing even though I don't need it and can't afford it. So now I'm forced to look up and I'm straining to see who the fuck it is that started and continues to maintain such a commotion, and I see that people are making quite the effort to go up to said person, congratulate... him, and shake his hand. He slowly inches his way down the cavernous store aisle towards the door all the while shaking hands, being congratulated, getting hugged. Feel the love, baby! This is now threatening to surpass cult like behavior.

He's a relatively small, young, twenty something (Tom Cruise?- no he should be older now); he doesn't appear exceptional in any way. So who the fuck is he? I usually wouldn't give a shit, but it's still loud as all hell, if not louder, and I can't concentrate to make the iPad do what I want. So I start asking, "Who the fuck is he? Who the fuck is he?" And no one around me seems to know. He finally exits looking very much the embarrassed. The mania subsides.

I go up to one of the still smiling Mac T shirt people and she enthusiastically blathers on about he's some kind of genius, just got promoted and "just went corporate," and that this is a tradition they do. "Like the waitresses singing Happy Birthday at Denny's?" I reply. He'll make more in one day than I make in months, and I couldn't even get the goddamn iPad to display my blog.

Family- Chris Verene

 Photo: Chris Verene

Family by Chris Verene is an intriguing and contemporary body of work. Intriguing because it examines  its subject matter with the eye of a long time native, and not from the mythic lore of iconic mid America. Contemporary, not because it breaks with any particular aesthetic boundaries, but because he uses his own extended family and acquaintances to emphasize and explore a region very much struggling in today's highly troubled economic times.

Chris hand writes his own narrative on the borders of his photographs, and it works nicely to hold them together while providing a modicum of insight- the landscape is familiar, but even the natives seem a trifle alien and uncomfortable in their surroundings now that hard times affect both urban and rural enclaves alike.

Ironically, a very visible sign of contemporary America's austere landscape is the high prevalence of obesity. As more and more areas lack nominally priced, nutritional items and are instead inundated with cheap, high fat and unhealthy food, more and more of us can now only afford to choose one from a long list of necessities, be it: housing, health, education, etc. Family shows some of the everyday consequences inherent in what is increasingly becoming a necessary survival strategy.



Paging through the book, Arbus came to mind with her often stark portraits of the seemingly unfamiliar within the ordinary, as well as Jim Goldberg's hand written Rich and Poor narrative. Verene's photographs cover a vast array of familial situations, some everyday trivial, others, situations that portray significant lifestyle changes, consequences and celebrations. And although I sometimes question the omnidirectional style of his lighting, many of his photographs are simply beautiful. And like life most anywhere, that beauty is often lost, unrecognized and only rarely acknowledged.

Photo: Chris Verene