The first question on the first day of class, after all the syllabus discussions were finished, was simple.  What was the first picture we saw after waking up that morning?  It seems an innocuous question at first listen.  When one actually stops to think about it, however, it becomes one of those things that, unless one has a “photographic” memory, could drive someone absolutely insane trying to remember.  In my own case I believe it was the cover to From Uncertain to Blue by Keith Carter (which is on my coffee table and would have been seen in passing as I let my dogs outside for their morning playtime), but to be honest I can’t quite remember.

The question was asked to illustrate the point that in the past decade, we as a society are being inundated with a barrage of different media.  Heck, even as I type this entry, I have Facebook open in another browser tab while I’m also listening to a song on my iTunes shuffle (right now it’s “The Gathering Wilderness” by Primordial).  On my wall in front of me are four photographs – one from my days in the United States Air Force and the other three being school photos of me, my brother, and my sister.  Right now I’m processing seven different pieces of media simultaneously.

Our society is saturated in media.  Now it becomes an issue of knowing where I, not just an artist, but an individual, stand in this media-saturated environment in which I find myself living.

The truthful answer is that I do not know.  One would think that at this point in my life I would have some sort of idea, but I don’t.  I came of age in the time when the saturation was beginning to take hold.  In the late 1980’s we had Sony Walkman’s, handheld televisions, and Nintendo Gameboys.  The VCR had come down in price to the point that it became a near-universal item found in American homes and cable television was reaching its maximum in terms of coverage.  Let’s also not forget the birth of the 24 hour news cycle.  A little critical theory concerning media here – it seems that the saturation is coming from the “hot media” (media that requires little in the way of mental engagement by the viewer – movies, video games, sporting events, etc) and is drowning out the “cool media” (media that requires much more in the way of mental engagement – books, comics, etc).

All this adds up to the fact that, even though I knew a time when we weren’t being barraged by media, the delivery systems came in at that critical point in my life where it all integrated seamlessly into my existence.  The appetizers of the late 1980’s have become, with the acceleration of the technology behind media delivery, a full buffet that surrounds your table and the selections change by the second.

So where I find myself now is adding to that buffet.  The blog and the gallery are acting as my voices in this media saturated world.  I don’t really know how loud my voice is as I don’t receive any comments on my entries, even when I ask questions to try to get a discussion going (although I know there are people who read this blog).  I also don’t track unique visitors to the sites.

So here I sit, with my blog and my online gallery, and I wonder about my standing.  I suppose I could start projecting myself more, in order to gauge the reaction to my own offerings, and quite possibly increase my own standing in this media-saturated world.  Of course, there is the fear of the unknown that holds me back a little on that, but that’s another story entirely.

Back to the original thought in this entry, even now I still don’t remember the first image I saw this morning after waking up and I have had 24 hours to think about it.  That itself is a testament to the speed and ferocity at which we are fed media.  The good news is that the pace at which the delivery systems are changing seems to have slowed, so we can all do a collective breath-catching exercise.  Every once in a while, though, something does catch me off guard.

gas station video

This was one of the few places were I wasn’t getting hit with “hot media,” well, up until this encounter with the gas pump.  With this I will leave the entry and address the question of the affect this media saturation has on me, in ways I do and do not perceive.