context

I've spent entirely to much time working on this post tonight. But, I'm struggling a bit with teaching, and how to bridge some gaps. Or, wether there are any gaps at all. My last post was an effort to try and draw some resolutions. Anyway, I haven't figured it out, so I'll save the long winded post or going around in circles, and just jump to the center...

In regards to teaching:

Ultimately, I want them to go out into the world and drink it in. I want them to become invested, and to love and be scared, and capture it all. I want them to bask in the face of reality and create fictions. I want them to believe that art can change the world, and that they are the ones to do it - that their images are the only answer. I want fire and swagger.

I want them to make great photographs, and I don't care how they get them.

But, my contradiction is that sometimes I do care. I also want them to experience an image on the ground glass, upside down and backwards. I want them to peer down through a waist level finder. I want them to compose inside a square. Experience the freedom of a rangefinder. I want them to struggle with a dark cloth in the wind. I want them to use a tripod. And not. I want them to rely on a single lens, and be forced to get closer. I want them to decide on black and white or color before they leave the house. I want them to get down to one final exposure, and make it count. I want them to have patience. I want them to be present.

I realized tonight, that this conversation is probably more about me than my students. A necessary realization.

choices not versus

© Rineke Dijkstra

I've been stewing over this post for the past few days. The film vs. digital debate is tired, and I don't want to stir the pot here, but I do want to get a few things off my chest. I think there is a conversation to be had about film and digital photography without having it slide into an us versus them, or them versus us, debate. We are all them and us. Great pictures get made, every day, by talented, hardworking, resourceful photographers with a battery of different tools.

The fact that we have the options, and the idea that those options might be jeopardized, is at the heart of the issue for me. Last week, Kodak applied for bankruptcy protection. The (eventual) death of film was declared. Yet, the same day, as I read the newest issue of PDN, the stark contrast to that news couldn't have been more evident. There was Rineke Dijkstra shooting film, Shelby Lee Adams also pulling sheets, and Danny Clinch talking about the breadth of tools he employs to make photographs - both film and digital.

As photographers, we somewhat bend to the fact that technology, our tools, define us. I'm not saying the cameras we choose, but the machine in general. It has limitations - it's a perfectly imperfect machine. On a more romantic day, I would argue otherwise, but as I write this I'm feeling a little more pragmatic, as I think about the reality of having less possibilities. Less resources.

At the end of the day, I don't care where a photograph comes from - good work is good work. Period. But, I also find great joy in trying to put myself in the heads of other photographers, I enjoy the idea of process, and decision making.

I've been thinking a lot about Joel Sternfeld lately. His new body of work First Pictures is an interesting example. Let's strip away the digital/film issue and concentrate on his use of different formats, different tools. he couldn't have made those first pictures with an 8x10. Conversely, he couldn't have made American Prospects with 35mm. And, iDubai? That's another discussion. The differences between the works are important - there is much to learn there about him, history, color, and photography in general. Sternfeld is going to make good, thought provoking, and many times difficult photographs, regardless of the tools he uses. However, I think its important to recognize that this decision in regards to the tool is an important one, and in no small part dictates how he approaches his subject. The same could be said for all of us.


© Joel Sternfeld


It's this decision making aspect that makes me uneasy about the idea of Kodak packing it in. Currently, the digital formats that are in the same economic universe as most of us is limited. 35mm equivalents are it (as incredible as they are). Medium format digital or 4x5 back? Forget about it. With the (future) death of film also dies choices. I think (hope) our history as photographers lives outside the technology, but only if we are spread across a wide and varying spectrum of choices in tools, and don't let the market dictate those choices.

A good argument could be made that Kodak's ambivalence to the revolution is in large part to blame for the vs. problem. To be fair, conversations like this probably aren't helping. We live in an interesting time, no doubt, and I can't help but think what the present would be if Kodak had embraced digital photography as an extension of a heritage, instead of something different and threatening. And, found a way to bring all of it together as an image making culture of choices. Had the wherewithal to follow "you press the button, we do the rest" with an embracing "we are all photographers".

more on awe

© Zoe Strauss

Tonight is the opening for Zoe Strauss' exhibition Ten Years at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This promises to be a huge show, and I can't wait to see the reviews and photos from the night.

Back in 2009, Zoe came to Alaska as a USA Artists Fellow. She spent a couple days in Fairbanks, and we hung out a bit, went exploring for photos, and I took her for burgers at Ivory Jacks. She was a treat, and an absolute force of nature. From the moment you meat Zoe, you get 100%. All spark and fire. She truly believes that what she is doing is necessary and relevant. There is no pretense - the work is it. The only thing.

I've always admired her fearlessness. But, the thing that stayed with me was how wholly committed, how unwavering, she was. I remember thinking - 'If I'm really to do this (photography) she is the measure. Her passion to tell stories and be engaged sets the bar'. I still think that.

10 Years.

back home

Ok, so .tumblr didn't take. Two things seem certain: first I can't seem to get away from this blog, second, I seem to do a variation of this exercise every year about this time. The Fall is always hectic, the darkness sets in, I close up a little and the blog goes quiet. And again, I feel the need to write. But this time it feels different - like a life line of sorts. I need more dialog, more conversation - even if it is one-sided.

I was just going back through the archive here, and although I was often amused, I was also struck at how engaged I was. Not recently, but not too long ago. There was struggle, and fight, and goddamn awe on so many occasions. I was moved, and writing about it. I miss that. I miss exploring, here, books that meant something to me, offering a bit of critical dialogue, and screaming into the void. I didn't know what I was doing (still don't) but I was doing it deliberately.

So, Im coming home, back to this damn blog. If there are still any readers here - thanks for sticking it out. It's good to be home.


The view down Gold Street from in front of our house. I'll be in the basement tapping out more regular posts. Promise.