Archive for the ‘photography’ Category
Too cold for school. Just right for fishing.
What to do at -15 degrees F.
It’s not playing hooky if they call school off.
Lovely plywood.
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Image credit: Kirk Livingston
Mike Spitz: Medicated for your Protection – Portraits of Mental Illness
Looking for traces of normalcy
Sometimes an image can help us have a difficult conversation. Mental illness is one of those topic areas we continue to have difficulty talking about.
Mike Spitz is a clinical therapist and photographer who set out to document the faces of people with mental illness. Here’s his process:
Despite their mental and physical deterioration, abandonment by friends and family, and their pathology, my aim was to capture the subjects’ humanity, dignity and any traces of normalcy. I was not trying to present them as “crazy.” I shot in a straight forward manner without unusual angles, blurring, or other tricks to create a madness “effect.”
Mr. Spitz shot photos on weekends and nothing was pre-arranged and the photos depended on the willingness and mental condition of the people being photographed:
Most of them were friendly, helpful, eager to participate, and lacking in the usual self-consciousness and inhibition of models and other “normal” or “sane” subjects.
Check out the full post at Lenscratch, which remains a daily must-read for me.
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Image credit: Mike Spitz via Lenscratch
Concrete Ledge with a View
Ailsa’s focus on birds (Where’s my backpack?/Travel theme: Birds) got me thinking about these pigeons I saw in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
When a woman below started sprinkling handfuls of seed on the sidewalk, the pigeons dropped like curtains of rain. I was not practiced enough with shutter speed to catch the action. But I did catch them looking smug and satisfied.
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Image Credit: Kirk Livingston
Photography and “built-in objectivity”
Hyper-collage from Jim Kazanjian
Lenscratch features photographer Jim Kazanjian, who makes images without ever picking up a camera. Instead, he pieces together found images to form mad hallucinations that are just a bit off—in the way a nightmare is all the more horrifying because it is so close to normal.
I like Kazanjian’s twist on objectivity (which is also a statement on what we privilege):
I’ve chosen photography as a medium because of the cultural misunderstanding that it has a sort of built-in objectivity.
Kaznajian’s aim is to “render the sublime.” His method is, well…
My method of construction has an improvisational and random quality to it, since it is largely driven by the source material I have available. I wade through my archive constantly and search for interesting combinations and relationships. Each new piece I bring to the composition informs the image’s potential direction. It is an iterative and organic process where the end result is many times removed from its origin. I think of the work as a type of mutation which can haphazardly spawn in numerous and unpredictable directions.
Kaznajian’s method is also a sophisticated comment on the creative process. Have a look at the full article: http://lenscratch.com/2013/12/jim-kazanjian/
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Image credit: Jim Kazanjian via Lenscratch
Step 9: Accomplished (Resist the Irresistible)
Step #9: Try to not eat it all the first night.
This photo taken under the guidance of the Daily Prompt: Simply Irresistible and under the influence of MopMop’s The Golden Bamboo live beat factory.
Let the record show: resistance is not futile.
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Image Credit: Kirk Livingston
conversation is an engine 