Month: November 2012

Foucault in Motion

It’s all around in everyday life.  A little pressure is applied here and there and next thing that one realizes is that the choices that one thought he or she made were not really choices at all.  Of course, the choice to not follow through exists, but pressure to conform will eventually force one back into the fold.  The inevitability of return is almost assured, and if coming back into the fold isn’t an option…  well, there are ways to deal with that as well.

The subtle and gentle pressures are applied from birth to death.  Vaccinations, school, college or military, work, retirement, death and disposal, these are all common pressures that run through lives in general.  Along the way are the details, the permutations of which are too numerous to ponder.  In many cases, these are couched as “requirements” in order to advance in a given pursuit.

Legend has it that young and hopeful photographers had to visit Alfred Stieglitz to get his stamp of approval in order to have any success in the world of photography.  After Stieglitz died in 1946, the legend goes that Georgia O’Keefe became the ultimate gatekeeper to the world of photography.  The level of talent of the artist was not the point, it was impressing these gatekeepers that mattered.  If they weren’t impressed, well, then the best thing one could do in order to avoid swimming upstream was to go home and find a new pursuit.

Stieglitz and O’Keefe are no longer the gatekeepers to success in art, but this does not mean that success is any more assured.  Now one must fulfill any number of requirements and play any number of games in order to get a toe in the door.

Subtle and gentle pressure.  The artist must go to school.  The student must pass the judgment of those who “teach” him or her.  The student must then stand out in competition but meet criteria set by the judges.  The student must then “learn” from these judges in order to earn that piece of paper that says they have passed judgment.  But then one is told they must earn another piece of paper that says they have gone through an ultimate judgment, which will propel them to the ranks of those judges.

Never mind the talent level of the artist (or lack thereof).  Discipline must be maintained and everyone should be moving toward the same end.

The game must be played.  All along the way, pressure is applied in order to keep the person on the path set by those who now oversee that very path, and by whom the criteria for passage is set.  The person is told they must take that path.  Failure to do so will result in the person not achieving success in the pursuit of their goals.

The pressure is gentle.  It’s almost imperceptible.  The pressure is great and is there.  Eventually, there is nothing but the path as one moves headlong and fast toward the destination.  As the pressure increases and constricts, the choice to continue down the path is still present.  But one thing remains…

Either way, the event horizon will be crossed.

The Panopticon continues its machinations.

 

Death Metal and Photography

In 2006 I started a website called elemental-metal.com.  It was an online metal music magazine that I pretty much ran myself.  My earliest photography was of concerts to which I was getting photo passes.  I wasn’t very good with my camera at that point, but it reawakened the artist in me.  I had to stop in 2009 as the website was becoming too difficult to manage and I wasn’t making any money from it.

Since then, as you may or may not know, I have been studying art – first at Lonestar College and now at the University of Houston, which has really shifted my focus.  Concert photography just kinda fell by the wayside as I focused on developing my artistic vision (and photographing professional and college sporting events).

A couple of weeks ago I got to see a really cool local band (Dead Trip is the name) and took my DSLR into the club with me.  It felt so awesome to be just going back to my original motivation.  The fact that the band knows how to bring it (and had the biggest crowd all night) was icing on the cake.  It really makes me want to do this more often, except this time under not so much pressure.  You can see my favorite below.  You gotta love a woman who can do death metal vocals better than most male death metal vocalists.

Meet Janis Walker of the band Dead Trip.  I hope soon I can have more concert pics in my catalog soon as my skills with the camera continue to grow.

You can check out some of my early shots with my DSLR by clicking here.

Quickie Update

The pace is picking up as we head into the Thanksgiving break.  I’ve got another project due next week and these final prints are proving to be the most challenging yet.  I may change my mind before then, but lab time is going to be limited.  The great thing is that for part of my final project I will be doing another gum bichromate!  I’m pretty excited about that if you remember from my entry around this time in 2010.  I have a couple of irons in the fire as far as independent work goes.  Getting those projects off the ground is going to require a little bit of planning and working around schedules, but that’s part of the reason for the semester break.  Up until about a year ago there existed a student photography club at UH.  It’s been revived this year and I went ahead and joined.  It may be fun to be a little sociable with other photographers, even though I’m the type that likes to be alone when I’m working.

At any rate, these activities are some of the highlights of my past few weeks.  Look for more entries soon as I start winding down the semester.  If you don’t hear from me before then, everyone have a safe and happy Thanksgiving Holiday.

Click to embiggen

 

In Which I Articulate a Dream

The dream I had during the assignment on creativity, creation, and creative still haunts me.  I felt the need to articulate it through my work in my Traditional Black and White Photography course.  This was not something into which I could tread lightly.   Dreams are powerful and this one, I think (for better or for worse) has permanently altered my intellectual landscape.  We will definitely see how this turns out, but for now we can dive into the mind and push forward to resolution.