Alden Jones Photography

The Reason for My Hiatus

2011-08-27T15:05:00.000-07:00

First Fridays

2010-11-12T07:38:00.000-08:00

I took a group of Literature of Photography students to the galleries at 450 Harrison for First Fridays last week. We played with night photography and artificial lighting. I had fun with gels.

My adventurous side has slowed down as I hit the 8th month of pregnancy, and I really haven't had the ganas to carry my heavy camera around these days. But just you wait. Once this kid comes, I will be breaking the "no photos of kids" rule all over the place.

An Open Letter to my Literature of Photography Students

2010-11-02T15:30:00.000-07:00

Dear Literature of Photography students,

I know you are spying on my blog.

Therefore, I have decided to take on a couple of the assignments I've given you lately and write you a letter about street photography. I have this one photo that I think about a lot in this context. I took it while I was in Cambodia, where I dealt with the awkwardness of taking pictures of strangers in a way I'd never done before. I'd always been more of a "sneaker," and was shy about approaching people and asking to take their picture, especially when I was clearly a newcomer to the culture, and didn't speak a word of Khmer.

I had mixed results with that approach this time.

So, here's the photo. I took it at the Ta Prohm temple in Siem Reap province.

I took this photo with my Nikon 18-200 lens on full zoom. Then I cropped it. This means I was over 200 feet away from this group of performers...but they saw my massive lens and they saw me pointing it at them. And they were - or at least the girl in the middle was - not pleased.

They were performers who danced or posed on demand for money. But I was not offering them money. Though I was trying to capture a "between the shots" scene like the kind Annie Liebovitz described in her series of shots of Nixon leaving the White House, what I'm assuming they saw was me stealing from them. This photo has haunted me for four years, and while I feel some guilt when I look at it, I also feel glad that I took it. I'm glad that I caught myself getting caught as the tourist who took without asking. Because, when we are tourists, we are always, at some point, that kind of tourist.

I also took some "street photography" shots that were happy stories. In this case, I saw this family and wanted to take their picture. When I asked, they were delighted. I took hundreds of shots of this little ham here.

I also "snuck" a picture of these monks, who then followed me and wanted to see the photos. We wound up spending almost an hour trying to talk to each other.

And just as fast as something like that would happen, I'd make a bad decision to follow a few naked kids and take pictures of them when they clearly didn't want their picture taken.

As my friend Patrick said of photographic subject matter, "Naked children is generally a bad idea." But we could argue that one for a while.

So there you have it. Street photography in Cambodia. You, too, could go on Semester at Sea and see it all for yourselves! It's been four years, and obviously I can't stop thinking about it.

Love, Alden

Garlic Fest

2010-10-05T21:54:00.000-07:00

Mums were acquired. Ducks were herded. Carrots admired.

Show at Southeastern Contemporary Art Gallery

2010-09-23T08:09:00.000-07:00

Cell phone photography legitimized as art...

I have three photos (the three in the previous post, in fact) up in a show at the Southeastern Art Gallery. See press release:

Cell phone photography on display at Southeastern Art Gallery

Dale Newkirk, curator for Southeastern Louisiana University’s Contemporary Art Gallery, hangs cell phone images in the gallery for the show exhibiting photography collected from more than 350 submissions. The show, which is free and open to the public, runs through Sept. 25. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. with extended hours until 8 p.m. on Wednesday and 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Saturday.

HAMMOND – Nearly everyone today has a cell phone, and many use the device’s built-in camera to capture their environment.

That’s what artist Dale Newkirk of Southeastern Louisiana University observed at last year’s Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans. And it gave Newkirk, who is the curator for Southeastern’s Contemporary Art Gallery, an idea for an exhibit: Why not display some of those images in the art gallery?

Newkirk solicited submissions from artists, photographers and the general public and received more than 350 images from 200 people around the country. The National Cell Phone Photography Exhibition opens in the Contemporary Art Gallery Thursday (Sept. 9) and runs through Sept. 25.

“The new phones today are amazing and can capture some great images,” Newkirk said.

Newkirk chose to arrange the photos in a random pattern and deliberately kept the display very minimalistic. “I wanted it to be in a very casual setting,” he said.

The exhibition will be displayed in the gallery, 100 East Stadium, next to Clark Hall. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. with extended hours until 8 p.m. on Wednesday and 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Leverett, Mass.

2010-08-26T07:54:00.000-07:00

A rainy day in Western Mass...

Spring Break: Looking Back

2010-08-06T06:40:00.000-07:00

Holy Moly! Enough time has passed between this blog post and the last one that it's actually time to be nostalgic about our trip to the Dominican Republic. In that case, here are some wistful shots from our trip. It was kind of a 3rd honeymoon, taken the month before I got pregnant. Thus, it was the last time I had a whole entire glass of wine, which only serves to intensify the nostalgia. We spent a night in Santo Domingo and spent the bulk of our time in Cabarete in a really wonderful eco-tourism hotel with only a handful of cabanas, on-site yoga, and really yummy food. Surfing competitions took place down the beach. It was a heavenly winter escape. I feel nostalgic despite the oppressive heat that has defined Boston Summer 2010.

Spring Break

2010-02-25T11:42:00.001-08:00

"Sin Alley" in Midway Journal

2010-02-11T08:19:00.000-08:00

I have a short story, "Sin Alley," up in the current issue of Midway Journal. The subject matter is hinted at in the photograph above, which happens to have been taken during my most recent trip to Costa Rica, where "Sin Alley" takes place.

Holding the sign above is the curator Jacob Karpio, who owns the eponymous gallery in San José, Costa Rica. My friend Karina Salguero is a magazine editor in San José. She invited me to come along to Jacob's gallery for a press release breakfast party for the show he curated called LOVE. Back when I lived in Costa Rica as a volunteer teacher 15 years ago, I would have died to have found an arts community like the one Karina is now a part of. During his welcome, Jacob said that he felt Costa Rica's time was here as a nation celebrated not just for its natural beauty, but for its arts and urban culture. Things have changed drastically and quickly in the arts community in San José in recent years. It's flourishing thanks to folks like Jacob.

In my writing about Costa Rica and the works by Costa Rican authors I've chosen for translation (mostly fiction by Carmen Naranjo), I've always tried to take on issues that had nothing to do with the environment, its wildlife, the beaches. "Sin Alley" is gritty and urban. And - you've been warned! - it's rated R.

I miss Costa Rica...

Things I Love to See #8

2010-01-13T08:27:00.000-08:00

A reluctant (gorgeous! We dubbed her Chrysanthamum) drag queen...

Some unreluctant drag queens...

And myself with an excuse to wear a feather boa.

Things I Love to See #7

2009-12-29T18:46:00.000-08:00

THIS as the view from my chair this morning....

Looking over the cover of my book:

Looking up:

Things I Love to See #6

2009-12-26T20:54:00.000-08:00

6. Pictures to take pictures of

Things I Love to See #5

2009-12-24T08:56:00.000-08:00

5. Something pretty hanging from the ceiling

Things I Love to See #4

2009-12-23T10:34:00.001-08:00

4. My students on a photo shoot, going for it

Things I Love to See #3

2009-12-22T19:22:00.001-08:00

3. An Alpaca chowing down

Things I Love to See #2

2009-12-21T12:08:00.000-08:00

2. These two dogs playing in the snow

Things I Love to See #1

2009-12-21T08:46:00.000-08:00

1. A teenager reading Toni Morrison on the T

Happy First Friday

2009-12-04T10:06:00.000-08:00

It's First Fridays in the South End, and while I'll be hitting the highway and heading out of the city right when the gallery doors open, I did make a trip last month with a group of Literature of Photography students to see the November openings and open studios down at 450 Harrison Ave.

Note to gallery owners:
Everyone's happy at an art opening when there are cupcakes.

In addition to eating cupcakes and being wowed by the imaginative qualities of painting after a months of scouring photographs and examining the photographic process, we saw a visually - and technically - intriguing show at Gallery Kayafas, one of Boston's best venues for art photography. Caleb Charland uses multiple and long exposures, mathematical equations, and natural light sources like candles, light pens, and sparklers to make these cool black-and-white prints. It took us forever to figure out how he made some of these exposures - and in the end, he had to explain to us how some were made. See if you can figure them out:

Instamatica

2009-11-02T11:02:00.000-08:00

Oh, there are so many things to love about Polaroids. What I am loving right now is the way the shiny "scanned" border is always the same frame, and you have to get it right the first time - I'm taking a break from editing post-shot, and it's nice.

Here are some shots from the weekend.

Fauxlaroids

2009-10-23T12:55:00.000-07:00

A New Profile Picture

2009-10-22T18:05:00.001-07:00

You may notice that I have a new profile picture. The old one, while sentimental (it was taken when I was really, really happy - in Croatia with Kate and some friends and miles of coast ahead of us), was getting a little stale. This photo was taken by Emerson College student Rebecca Knell in an alley off the Boston Commons.

Learning is Fun

2009-10-19T20:16:00.001-07:00

I designed and implemented a new class at Emerson's Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies called The Literature of Photography. It's a class of 19 freshmen, about half writing majors and half arts majors. We are reading the usual suspects: Sontag, Barthes, Berger, Calvino. We also write poetry, study and critique narrative photography (what photography isn't, somehow, narrative?), and go into back alleys and take pictures of each other.

You can find some of my students' work on our Tumblr site. I will continue to brag about them as the semester goes on, I'm sure.

Jess Getting Ready

2009-10-16T15:45:00.001-07:00

I grabbed Kate's camera and became the impromptu photographer for the "getting ready" segment of Jess and Melinda's wedding in Portland, Oregon. I think the camera loves Jess as much as Melinda loves Jess. We had a fun time while Jess got her hair and makeup all settled and got into her dress. Then it was off to the Hoyt Arboretum to meet Mindy and get hitched. It was supposed to rain all day, but it held off completely until the "minister" - our friend Dan, recently ordained with the Universal Church of Life - pronounced Jess and Melinda married. At that very second a light mist dusted the crowd, sparkling like glitter in the still-sunny sky. Try not tearing up when something like THAT happens at a wedding!

Jess & Melinda's Wedding Weekend

2009-10-15T12:53:00.000-07:00

Jess and Melinda got married! Here is a "Polaroid" (a la iPhone software) of Jess getting ready (more of those soon). And here is one of Jess and Joe at the wedding site, working hard...

One Last Look...

2009-09-28T23:02:00.001-07:00

This is the view from the deck off the attic bedroom in the house Kate and I rented in Wellfleet for the week of our wedding. Every morning we awoke to the sound of seagulls and the view of the oystermen wading out in their boots. I sure did like it there.

Night Falls

2009-09-13T19:41:00.000-07:00

on another summer season in Provincetown.

Wedding Pictures

2009-09-08T10:38:00.000-07:00

Here is a peek at our wedding pictures, taken by our most talented friend, Margaret Singer. You can see more of her work at margaretsinger.com or at her blog.

I Knew There Was a Reason I Kept Those White Go-go Boots

2009-08-25T20:10:00.000-07:00

Carnival 2009: Peace, Love, and Go-go Boots.

If you know me, you know that I love Provincetown. And Carnival in Provincetown is one of my favorite days of the year. The glamour. The characters. The attention to fun. The fact that everyone is throwing beads and candy and blowing kisses and hugging strangers. The fact that everyone wants their picture taken all day long. And this year, the fact that I got to wear my white go-go boots and hot pink halter dress with the silver threads. Scratchy...but worth it!

This float blasted "Let the Sun Shine In."

I should mention that it was about 95 degrees. It was a good day to be wearing as little as possible.

Julia hurls herself upon the boob float.

Excuse me officer, are you cruising my wife?

And afterwards, we happily wait in line for sandwiches at Farlands.

Lantern Festival, Jamaica Plain

2009-07-29T19:24:00.001-07:00

The Forest Hills Cemetery hosts an annual Lantern Festival on the day the doors open between the living and the dead. (It's a Buddhist ritual.) My aunt, Carolyn Dunn, passed away a few days before our festival this year. I decorated a lantern for her and set it afloat.

Night Swim

2009-05-24T07:38:00.000-07:00

I went on vacation with two other artists from the Colony.

The pool was very nice.

(PS: Click on the image to see how different the color is in the original image. Can someone tell me why the color/contrast sucks so bad on photos uploaded to Blogger? Is there some trick to this that I'm not getting?)

Coke Is It

2009-05-23T15:30:00.000-07:00

I've been writing a lot about Coca-cola lately. Specifically my experience drinking too much Coca-cola in Bolivia. When you're writing about Coke, you really start to notice how very omni-present that white wave is. I liked the juxtaposition of the street-level mural of "Costa Rican life" and this huge tower of a Coke...kinda sums up some of the thoughts on cultural imperialism and the seductive powers of the hobble-skirt bottle...

I Can't Throw a Rock at my Bookshelf

2009-05-15T21:48:00.001-07:00

without hitting a book about Burma.

A student gave me Amy Tan's Saving Fish from Drowning on the last day of class. I started it on the plane. It's a book I've been wanting to read. When I was in Burma I had dinner with a tour guide who was incredibly well-read (before we left we rounded up every single book we could part with to give him as thank-you gifts) and he didn't have anything nice to say about this book. He wasn't exactly clear why he disliked it so much, but he clearly thought she had missed the mark when it came to illuminating the situation in Burma. The book is about a group of American tourists who get abducted while on a tour at Inle Lake. My impression of what was objectionable? Tourists aren't the ones who have to worry about getting abducted in Burma! They just prance around the country and go home. If they piss off the junta, the junta shuffles them off to the airport and sends them on their way. BURMESE are the ones who go missing, folks.

I'm a little more than half-way through. When I think of Amy Tan I picture her as I saw her at the PEN gala one year, in a hot pink prom dress slow-dancing with her dog. This makes me forget how serious and talented of a writer she is. The writing's good. I'm into the story. The characters are complicated. So far I'm really liking this book. But what do I know?

For whatever reason, I decided to break up chunks of novel-reading time with short pieces from the 2007 edition of Best American Nonrequired Reading, that clever anthology Dave Eggers does. Four essays in, I turn the page to Scott Carrier's "Rock the Junta," and boom, this reader's back in Burma. Is the universe trying to tell me something?

Well, stuff's going on. It's just too fucking nuts. Aung San Suu Kyi was recently accused of breaking the terms of her house arrest. Some American tried to swim onto her property. Government set-up? Very possibly. Her current sentence was up on May 27 - she was finally going to be released after 6 years. (This time.) Now she's on trial again, back in Insein prison, and every time she arranges for a lawyer to represent her, the junta's like, Oops! We're revoking your license to practice law! Sorry! Muaa ha ha ha.

I'm constantly amazed that this is still going on, that the junta can do whatever they want and get away with it. Hillary Clinton's all, "We call for Aung San Suu Kyi's immediate and unconditional release." Thanks, we'll keep that in mind. Obama's like, we will show our opposition by renewing those economic sanctions that haven't done a thing to change the power structure in Burma. Take that, junta!

Though I suppose all I'm doing is sitting here reading books.

If you like a good story, just follow what's going on in Burma.

If you want another opinion or two of mine? See what I wrote for The Smart Set just after the 2007 protests.

Double Dosing

2009-05-12T12:54:00.000-07:00

As proclaimed in my bio over there on the right, My identity is that of a writer. Photography is a secondary fun-generator. (Not that it's always fun. Sometimes, when the person I'm taking a portrait of turns out blurry while the background is annoyingly sharp, I lose my cool a little bit. But even one killer picture in a shoot gives a thrill.)

However, when I really buckle down and get writing, as I have here at the Colony, I don't feel as much of an urge to take pictures. For a year, maybe two years, it was the other way around. But writing has always nagged me in a way that photography doesn't. (Thus the career choice.) So back I go.

The creative process of the two arts is immensely different for me. One involves thinking thinking thinking, and the other involves shutting off the verbal part of the brain and seeing. But once I'm knee-deep in a story, the words in my brain form and bump around no matter what I'm doing or where I am. So for the moment, this photography blog might be more about writing and the photographs might be a little raw. Such things happen when you try to double dose.

I forgot to install Photoshop on my new hard drive (the old one crashed and burned) before I left anyway.

Casita 3

2009-05-09T13:47:00.000-07:00

I first came to the White Colony (which I try not to refer to as The Colony For White People) in February, 2005. The founder of the colony, Bill White, died the month I was here. He was old. It was natural. It was a strange and sad time. Bill was a peace activist and expatriate who started the colony in memory of his two children, Julia and David, who were both artists and died tragically (one of a drug overdose, the other of suicide). I get the feeling that the White Colony has always been a kind of dark and random place, but it's in the most sunny and alive of spots, and I've met some wonderful painters, sculptors, and writers here. And boy do I get work done. I mean, it's not like there's a whole lot else to do.

This time I am in the furthest casita from the public road.
(That's my house! The cute little pink house sticking out...see?)

There is nothing between me and the rain forest.
I walk the loop around the compound every day. Mangos and bananas grow with no one to pick them. On my first day a mango (a green one even, not even ripe!) landed like a bullet in my path.

I do yoga daily and base my diet around the godly avocado. My friends are geckos. I have a good groove going. And when I feel I deserve a break? There's the pool.
That white chair is where I sit and read Best American Nonrequired Reading 2007. I highly recommend the graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel. I love her!

Costa Rica: Birds of Paradise

2009-05-04T18:40:00.000-07:00

I'm spending the month at the Julia and David White Artists' Colony in Ciudad Colón, Costa Rica. I have a little writing studio with a 10-foot window that looks out over the rain forest. It's not one of those showoffy Costa Rican rain forests - no monkeys or sloths here - but there are some rather cool things growing outside my door.

Breaking the No-Kids Rule, Again

2009-04-25T13:58:00.000-07:00

Baby Alea (with mama Kate Bowen behind).

A Couple of Kate

2009-04-20T20:56:00.001-07:00

Two portraits of Kate from Antigua, Guatemala.

Chichicastenango, Guatemala

2009-01-27T10:07:00.000-08:00

Chichi is known for its market. Kate and I ventured out on our second day in Guatemala. What we bought was not what we might have expected to buy. I was drawn in by these wooden painted religious statues. Who knew I'd have the Virgin staring down at me from the shelf over the desk where I write? She would not approve of some of my subject matter.

These are film.

Film Photography Was Even More Fun

2009-01-24T08:21:00.000-08:00

once you could scan the prints and edit them digitally.

These are some of my favorite photos from Cuba, taken in 2003 and 2004. The pool sweeper I did not touch after scanning. For the other two, I used the same super-crappy scanner, cropped them, and edited for color and contrast. Voila.

One of the Fun Things about Film

2009-01-15T22:15:00.001-08:00

is that sometimes, you unzip your camera from its bag to see that there's a mysterious half a roll still in there, and there's going to be some great surprise when you get the roll developed.

That's my niece, Taya, one year ago. I always had a vague memory of taking her picture in front of a pile of sweet potatoes.

Drama For Sale

2008-12-08T12:47:00.001-08:00

This is the photo up at the Bromfield Gallery.

Bromfield Gallery 12x12 Holiday Show: Dec. 5-20

2008-12-05T12:32:00.001-08:00

I have a piece in the Bromfield Gallery 12x12 Holiday show. This year they took one from a series of nighttime photos. (Last year it was one of my Burmese Dreams pix that I wrote about in "The Burmese Dreams Series." Hear me read about it here if you wanna.)

Opening reception is TONIGHT at 5:30! Arrive early and you can probably score a couple of glasses of Two Buck Chuck.

Bromfield Gallery
450 Harrison Ave.
Boston, MA 02118
http://www.bromfieldgallery.com/current-exhib.html

Sticks and Bricks

2008-12-02T07:48:00.000-08:00

My amazingly talented friend Liz Karney just opened a furniture refinishing store in Northampton, Mass called Sticks and Bricks. Kate and I swung by when it opened. In the front, showroom. In the back, studio/workshop. Liz made everything herself. She has a spy at the dump who calls her when the good stuff gets thrown away. And Liz turns it into gold.

This is the window display. My guess is that Liz put this together the way it is usually done in cartoons. One second there's a bunch of chairs sitting around. Liz grabs them and for .5 seconds there's a blur of arms and chair parts and dust. Then the dust lifts and Liz is standing there with her hands on her hips admiring the sculpture she's just thrown together. Yes, she's that good!

Kate tried to convince me we needed this piece for our dining room.

Kate and Liz on a loveseat Liz made out of a bed.

Liz's tools on the wall in the workshop.

See more on Liz's blog: carpenterant.blogpot.com.

Little Children Part IV

2008-12-01T13:01:00.000-08:00

My cousin Kim asked me to do a little photo shoot of her kids while we were in North Carolina for Thanksgiving.

Ain't my people handsome?

Oh: And When I Said I'd Been Busy

2008-11-30T20:40:00.000-08:00

...part of that whole busy thing was about getting engaged.

There's us! In Ogunquit! The day we got engaged!

We're getting married next summer in Wellfleet, where Kate spent a lot of time growing up, two towns up from Provincetown, where my Pilgrim ancestors dropped anchor and hung out a while before moving onto way-less-cool Plymouth. The outer cape feels like home to both of us. And lucky ladies that we are, we found the perfect boathouse in which to hang paper lanterns and have a killer party.

Please do not ask me what I'm wearing. I have no idea.

Which is Cooler...

2008-11-17T08:29:00.000-08:00

The fact that I can get into this pose before the autotimer goes off?

Or the fact that I have a fireplace in my new house?

Carnival 2008: Wild Wild West

2008-10-31T13:55:00.000-07:00

As if anyone in Provincetown needed an excuse to wear chaps.

Catching Up

2008-10-21T18:22:00.000-07:00

Coming soon: photos from the forever-ago Carnival in Provincetown.

Here's a hint to this year's theme...

Giddyup.

Little Children Part III

2008-09-18T15:39:00.000-07:00

That's Ashton.

Little Children Part II

2008-09-17T13:38:00.000-07:00

Another moral conundrum.

This is Chloe. Chloe is a FIRECRACKER. Here she is the summer of her Kindergarten year.

When she entered Kindergarten, Chloe's Pre-school teacher pulled the Kindergarten teacher aside and said, "I just want you to have an idea of what Chloe's going to be like. So, she goes into the bathroom one day, and she's taking a while to come out. So I knocked on the door, and said, 'Chloe, are you ok in there?' And she goes, 'SHUT THE FUCK UP!'"

Oh, the stories I've heard about Chloe.

Chloe's got special needs. She's had some problems with blood flow and one side of her body growing faster than the other. She's larger than the other children in her class and is technically classified as a "dwarf." She scares some of them, but she could not care less. She's got A+ sass. She "challenges" her teachers and tutors tremendously - yet all of them fight to be her #1.

So here, in the picture above, she looks upset; it looks like there's something wrong. I cannot convey in this photograph how much of a charming tyrant she can be. When I took this picture she was reading me the fuck-you act, because she'd demanded that I give her my camera so SHE could take pictures, and I had told her she'd have to dry off first. (Seriously. This 5-year-old girl had me about to hand over my Nikon D200 as long as she wiped off her hands.)

So the photograph. It looks exploitative. It may upset. I know Chloe, and I found myself liking the face I caught, maybe even the shock of it. But I know she's about to head-butt me and then jump happily into the pool with her tutor. (Kate.) What you see is someone with special needs looking tragic, but perhaps also comic. Bad taste?

I'm not sure. Regardless...isn't Chloe's tutor hot?

Time Out for David Foster Wallace

2008-09-16T10:28:00.000-07:00

I know I've been a terrible photo blogger.

I've been distracted. More about that later. Right now, a time out to mourn the death of one of America's most important contemporary writers: David Foster Wallace. He hanged himself last Friday in his California home. It's a loss I can only begin to put into words.

I met DFW many years ago at the book party for Infinite Jest. It was a coup to get into this party - you had to get past 2 sets of bouncers (for a BOOK party!). My friend Valerie had just interviewed him for Stim Magazine and they'd hit it off, so she and I wound up in the back room with DFW and a few of his friends. He seemed stricken by the whole event. Infinite Jest was largely about the horrors of consumerism. The rep from Little, Brown had stood up on the bar and welcomed the crowd by saying, "We'd like to thank David Foster Wallace for writing a big book so we could charge $29.95 for it!"

Perhaps he was being ironic. It didn't seem like it. Regardless, DFW shortly disappeared. One of his friends found him locked in a stall in the bathroom. At his own book party. For one of the biggest books of the decade.

Apparently, when the friend found him, DFW said to her: "I just want to go back to my hotel room and watch Baywatch." (He admitted later, in an interview, that he loved Baywatch - he loved the fact that in one hour, a problem was presented, then fully resolved.)

I used to think this story was pretty funny. Not so much anymore.

RIP, DFW. You've changed the face.

Little Children

2008-09-04T21:06:00.000-07:00

As the teacher of a creative discipline, I'm always tickled by the arbitrary rules created by teachers of creative disciplines. I, for instance, banned the word "eternity" when I taught a poetry workshop. When she taught undergraduates, my mentor, Amy Hempel, banned the word "dorm." And a photography teacher I know has one rule for subject matter: "No children or pets."

Generally, I agree: Please, no more pictures of your cute kitty cat.

But when it comes to my 2-year-old niece Taya, I just can't help myself.

The End of Burmese Dreams

2008-08-12T12:46:00.000-07:00

The Burmese Dreams show came down last week. Big thanks to those who bought photos and donated money to the U.S. Campaign for Burma. I wrote an essay about hanging the show on the day Cyclone Nargis hit - guess what I called it? (That's right. "The Burmese Dreams Series.") I read it at the reading series Four Stories - you can hear an MP3 of the reading here.

My Summer Garden

2008-08-11T16:54:00.000-07:00

Obsessive gardening + obsession with macro lens =

The Imboden Factor

2008-08-04T19:29:00.001-07:00

Connie Imboden had me doing two things I haven't done in a while. One: shooting in reflections.

Also: macro abstracts.

When I first got my bells&whistles camera I took a lot of arty abstracts. I took them because I didn't know how to use my camera. Ooh, look! It looks COOL blurry! Guess what it is? It doesn't MATTER what it is! It's all about form!

Recognizing the limitations in this, I swung way to the other side and spent my time on Semester at Sea trying to take a nice, solid, "good" photograph.

Glad to be back.

Connie Imboden Happened to Me

2008-07-23T11:21:00.000-07:00

I like free things. A very nice free thing happened to me recently. The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown needed to fill a seat in a week-long photography workshop, and due to my powerful connections at the Work Center (thanks Dorothy and Salvatore!) I was offered the $700 slot free of charge. I'd never taken an art photography course or had my worked critiqued in any sort of formal, art-oriented manner. Really, I still very much benefit from basic practical criticism, like "you need to pull out the highlights more" or "next time you shoot in bright sunlight, try ISO 100 instead of 640, dumbass" or "why is it blurry?"

The course was taught by Connie Imboden. I hadn't heard of her. Have you heard of Connie Imboden? You should hear of her.

One of Connie's main bodies of work is a series of nudes shot partially submerged in water. She initially used surface reflections, and then began placing a mirror at the bottom of a shallow pool. The result is a sort of triple image: unless you have someone there to explain what's what in the photograph, it's almost impossible to tell what's above the surface, what's reflected on the water, and what's reflected in the mirror. You can stare at what you might later find out is a man's chin popping out above a thin line of his neck, and, even knowing how Connie works, and that it's a body part, have absolutely no idea what you're looking at.

(That's a foot.)

Google her and read about how Connie was afraid of water as a child and she faced her fear through art...or how the water is like amniotic fluid...or the parallels between going underwater and the inward psychological journey. Yes, yes, yes. I love that it's mainly about form. The photograph is a puzzle. It's about dismantling the geometry of a familiar object and rearranging our associations.

Sometimes it's about being creepy. Me? Fond of creepy, mostly.

The model for this one is Cindy Sherman's dentist.

Guest of Cindy Sherman

2008-06-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

(I did not take this picture of Cindy Sherman. Cindy Sherman did.)

Last week I volunteered as an assistant theater manager at the Provincetown International Film Festival. Oh, how I love this town.

For one thing, crazy is everywhere. Also, during film fest, famous people are everywhere. I got playfully elbow-ribbed by John Waters and served chorizo-stuffed mushrooms to Gael Garcia Bernal. Jane Lynch came to my theater twice. Word on the street was that Quentin Tarantino got wasted at the Old Colony Tap and Governor Bradford's, though I myself didn't catch a glimpse (damn!).

In addition to star-f*ing, I actually got to see a lot of great films, including Paul H-O's documentary, Guest of Cindy Sherman.

I have always liked Cindy Sherman fine, but this film made me fall in love with her. Her self-portraits are so dark and serious - and the Cindy in this film was totally giggly and shy. The film editor, Tom Donohue, who spoke before the screening, said he knew much more about Cindy from her work than he ever did from her personally. It was amazing to see her process - there's some really amazing stuff that happens before the shutter release.

Also, she had a long relationship with the filmmaker, Paul H-O, who is well-meaning but definitely annoying, and that whole story line is fascinating.

See Guest of Cindy Sherman!

Lens Lust

2008-06-17T17:16:00.000-07:00

I walked into Hunt's to buy matte photo paper. I walked out of Hunt's with matte photo paper and a Sigma Macro lens.

I think I have a problem.

The Burmese Dreams: an Accidental Benefit

2008-06-04T10:21:00.000-07:00

So why now for this here blog? Well, I've shown my photos a few times around town (Francesca's and Uptown Cafe, both in the South End, the Bromfield Gallery in SOWA, and presently at Ula Cafe in Jamaica Plain). Do I have a website? people ask. No, I do not have a website. But now...I have...a blog! That makes my "website" show AND tell. And it's free! Thanks, Blogger.

The final prompt to start a blog involved requests for information on the show I hung at Ula Cafe on May 2. (It's still up. For directions and other info on Ula click here). And I really want to get these pictures out there for people who aren't in the vicinity of Jamaica Plain, because there's a "cause" involved, and while I'm usually not a very active "cause" kind of gal, this one is important to me.

My show at Ula, originally called "Police States," became an accidental benefit for cyclone relief in Burma. The two components of the show were taken from my photographs from Cuba and Burma, two nations ruled by oppressive governments. I called the Burma set "The Burmese Dreams Series." The very day I finished hammering the frames together and climbing the walls to hang Burmese Dreams, Cyclone Nargis hit Burma from the south, and demolished most of the landscapes that were in my photographs. I'm sure most of the people in those pictures are dead. So the show became about something entirely different from what I'd intended - it became about loss and tragedy, but also the preservation of what was once there.

This is a sampling of the Burmese Dreams Series. (The color doesn't transfer well - the originals are far more saturated - better representations on my Flickr page.) Consider buying one. It will stroke my ego, and more importantly all proceeds from sales go to the U.S. Campaign for Burma - a righteous organization which has been working for democracy in Burma for quite some time. They're priced at $120 for an 8x8 or 8x10 printed on archival matte paper. If that's steep for you, you can suggest a smaller price and I'll most likely say yes.

Just don't ask why they're blurry. They're supposed to be, okay?

Exoticism and This Whole Photography Thing

2008-06-01T11:38:00.000-07:00

I teach a class at Emerson College called Exoticism in Literature and Art. I began my academic inquiry of exoticism as a student at the Bennington Writing Seminars in 2000 because exoticism was what I did: I wrote about cultures other than my own. I exploited the charm of the unfamiliar. Is the word "exploit" nasty? How should art handle this? Meaning, if you're an artist, should you look at this issue differently than, say, a critic would? I play both sides. For more thoughts on this conundrum in the context of my travels, refer to an article I wrote for The Smart Set.

The implications of photographing "exotic" things and people - especially people - cause me concern, but that does not stop me from doing it. Sometimes, with an eye on the light-box peephole, you stop seeing people as people.

These are portraits of Dalits - "Untouchables" - in the village of Nalloor, India. They loved being photographed. The guy in the doorway followed me around all day. We had a great time. I was as exotic to them as they were to me.

Every Good Story

2008-05-28T12:39:00.000-07:00

Every good story begins in one of two ways: a stranger comes to town, or someone leaves home to have an adventure.

I decided to get serious about digital photography when I found out I'd been hired to teach on Semester at Sea, the "floating university campus" that goes around the world in 100 days. (You can read all about my trip here if you're so inclined.) We were visiting 10 countries in that time. No way did I want to carry fourteen thousand canisters of film around 3 continents, and it was coming to that time when I was really feeling the heat to move away from film anyway. After a brief - well, actually, pretty drawn-out - mourning period, I bought an ass-kick, over-my-head digital camera. Took a class. Proceeded to take a lot of bad pictures. Took some I thought were good, too.