Archive for April, 2007
Tuesday, April 24th, 2007
I was reviewing my recent photographs from the French Quarter, and noticed that almost all of the images depict people interacting with either a door or a window. Doors and windows, along with images of cats, lighthouses, and lone trees are classic cliches of photography. But cliches become so because there is an inherent draw to these subjects. Windows and doors are portals into and out of intimate places, opportunities, adventures, temptation and healing. They can be guarded, left, opened, closed, and ignored.
Just because the subject matter is overused, doesn’t mean it’s no longer useful. There is more to a cliched subject than the cliched presentation. Look deeper.
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Friday, April 20th, 2007
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Thursday, April 19th, 2007
In the middle of Bourbon Street bar strip, if you go south on St. Peter Street for half a block, you’ll come to the humble gates of Preservation Hall:
Preservation Hall opened its doors in 1961. The hall was created as a sanctuary, to protect and honor New Orleans Jazz which had lost much of its popularity to modern jazz and rock n roll. Allan and Sandra Jaffe, the hall’s founders, wanted a place where New Orleans musicians could play New Orleans Jazz, a style, they believed, should not disappear.
Among the nightlife of the French Quarter, Preservation Hall is an oasis. The venue doesn’t serve food, or sell drinks. They only cater in sweet, beautiful jazz. The environment immediately shifts my focus from self importance to admiration of something outside of ourselves. The audience’s favor isn’t even necessarily directed toward the musicians, but to the pure joy of the music, the creation.
Last week, I went there twice – to breathe in, to leave, and then to live.
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Wednesday, April 18th, 2007
It’s hard not to be allured by the bar hopping, bright lights and loud music of Bourbon Street. Even though I’m not looking to meet anyone, I feel the need to be just a bit more hip than I usually feel. I have different personas in my head that I could assume. I could be the firm steady guy that keeps his cool. There are hurricanes and hand grenades, colorful mixed drinks in tall, translucent containers. I could down one of those and feel looser, get a little wilder and get noticed.
Maybe some hot chick will notice me, but I’m married, so of course I’m not looking, mind you. At least, that’s what I try to convince myself. But hey, it would be a nice boost to my ego if someone noticed. The bass beats in my chest, the neon blurs my eyes and the people are reveling, beckoning me to come on in, to see what I’m made of.
Why am I all of the sudden so self conscious? Will I be in, out, or just there to lose myself – just for the evening.
Not everything entices though. The smell, for instance. All up and down Bourbon street, spilled beer and vomit mix on the asphalt and flavor the air.
And, the party isn’t the only game in town. There’s jazz.
But that’s another topic, for tomorrow.
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Tuesday, April 17th, 2007
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Monday, April 16th, 2007
I just got back from three days of wandering around New Orleans – mostly in the French Quarter. I appreciated having multiple days in the same area, where I could return to the same locations and let the rhythm of the place sink in.
The French Quarter is alive and well. Bourbon Street is like a year round spring break party, and provided a great environment to focus on street photography. To date, most of my photographic subjects have not included people. With people, you need face issues of interaction, etiquette, and moment that require a different pace than observing the pattern of leaves on a tree. But, to capture the random unkown, there is perhaps nothing like street photography.
I’m learning that street photography is an act of declaring moments of importance. This person that we would have never taken the time to notice, the interactions that we wouldn’t have endured – they are all important enough to freeze and ponder; to see.
On the excellent blog 2point8, Michael David Murphy recently provided this excerpt from an interview with Gary Winogrand.
Q: But the thing that’s intriguing is not really knowing what the result is going to be like.
Winogrand: What I know bores me. You know, you get into the business of commercial photography, and that’s all you do is photograph what you know. That’s what you’re hired for. And it’s very easy to make successful photographs — it’s very easy. I’m a good craftsman and I can have this particular intention: let’s say, I want a photograph that’s going to push a certain button in an audience, to make them laugh or love, feel warm or hate, or what — I know how to do this. It’s the easiest thing in the world to do that, to make successful photographs. It’s a bore. I certainly never wanted to be a photographer to bore myself. It’s no fun — life is too short…
I’ll be sharing images from this trip over the next few days. Thanks for reading.
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Monday, April 9th, 2007
Two weekends ago, I attended a music festival at Calvin College, where Emmy Lou Harris was interviewed and later had a concert. During the interview, she said something along the lines of: Our limitations define and create our style. Otherwise, we would just mimic everyone. She went on to say, that when she covers someone else’s song, the physical limitations of her voice don’t allow her to sing it with the same range, or textures as the original artist. And, that’s what people love about her – the style that is provided by her limitations.
That’s a deep notion, one that re-orients my concept of creativity. Or, to turn it around: The way that you are wired is your strength. This is quite freeing. I don’t have to beat myself up if I don’t see or create like some of my favorite artists. In fact, my biased view of the world, my wounds, my passions quirky and square, even the limitations of my current skills all play into a way of creating that only I can fully live into. I’m not saying, don’t work on getting better. I’m saying, getting better means that you become more of you.
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Sunday, April 8th, 2007
Why is it that there is a notion of “Christmas spirit”, a sense of peace and goodwill for the weeks prior and around Christmas, and there isn’t a similar tradition of Easter spirit? What does this say about how we observe Christmas? What does this say about how we observe Easter?
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Thursday, April 5th, 2007
Spring is here. At least it was here briefly – just long enough for new leaves to bud and for flowers to bloom. And now, it’s cold again. Yesterday, I took a walk with snow flurries falling around me. I’ve already forgotten the enchantment of spring, even as the flowers are still on the trees. At least I took some time to run around with a camera. Otherwise, I may forget altogether.
By forget, I mean to live as it is practically of no consequence. In my mind, I may use reason to know a thing, but practically, I don’t live by it. Sometimes, during the middle of winter, it’s hard for me to believe that the trees ever had leaves. My mind has a hard time pulling itself away from my current situation. The world seems like it has always been bare branches. Sounds goofy, doesn’t it? But maybe you can relate.
The past few days, I’ve been pondering the notion of re-enchantment. That is, rediscovering or revealing the enchantment that is inherent in a subject. Websters defines enchant as:
That which captivates the heart and senses; an influence or power which fascinates or highly delights.
Re-enchantment supposes that there is a wonder in the world around us, a wonder that has been neglected or obscured. Something like stopping and smelling the roses, but stronger. More than stopping to enjoy the rose and then moving on. Something that grabs hold and breaks through what we’ve taken as cliche. To discover something enchanting is to take in, in a way that changes the very representation of the thing.
Interestingly, most modern breeds of roses aren’t even fragrant: “because of our quest for longer blooming cycles, brilliancy in colouring, diversity of habit, and perfect form for exhibitors, fragrance is now secondary.” We are so much in the habit of dis-enchantment, that we can’t even smell the proverbial rose, even if we tried. Something that was once a wonder is now a marketing and distribution plan.
Art is this strange way of using what is unreal, an image on paper, to point us back to reality. What is art? I’m not sure, but what if rather than ask what art is, we ask why we create? This is perhaps, where art can be of use: to re-enchant us.
What have you forgotten lately? Let me know what you think.
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