Minding my maps

Merriam-Webster defines  map :

1 a:  a representation usually on a flat surface of the whole or a part of an area

b:  a representation of the celestial sphere or a part of it

2 :  something that represents with a clarity suggestive of a map

~ the Freudian 'map' of the mind -- Harold Bloom

so I got to thinking ....

could photographs act just as easily as maps of a  life?

If I mapped myself, what might that look like?

And if I focused on, say, my creative life, would it be telling?

Could I show the route from back there 

to here?

So I gave it a try & here's where it led me ...

To the convergence of paper and books

to beads on cloth with an uncertain latitude

towards an elusive north star

with an ever present guiding light

and a dear navigator who teaches all the compass points.

Just a small smattering of map pages - old directions & new ...

so yes,  I can see how I got here

but perhaps the more important question is

just where am I going?

[ this is where a hushed voice offers, "Only the cartographer knows for sure..." ]

Read More

Her, with the camera

~ vintage photo, early version of stereo camera designed to take stereoscopic images ~

Do you remember your first?

I do.  It was a box Brownie, bright pink plastic and I thought it was the cat's meow.

That probably was the start of everything.

Later, during college years, I collected a hoard of old relics, stacked them

on a bookcase in my tiny studio and if they were lucky

I even dusted now and then ... similar to this collection below

although not near as tidy.

~ photo collection courtesy of Flickr ~

I've simplified since then and only "collect" online images of these antiquities

 - far less space involved & no cleaning required -
and the subject matter is mostly women  using  cameras.
Don't ask why that started cuz I just don't know.

But here's some favorites ... all females, using the *tool* of the day.

Where am I going with this?  I hope it will become clear in the end.
I'm thinking these pictures may be good food for thought because

these glimpses back in time could spark a few potent thoughts about  now.

In no particular order than just because I like them ...

~ Kodak girl, 1909 ~

~ Photojournalist, Margaret Bourke-White with her camera during WWII assignment,

Time Magazine. Favorite quote: "Work is something you can count on, a trusted,

lifelong friend who never deserts you." ~

~ Myrtle Lind, posed with Graflex camera, 1919, Library of Congress ~

~ American, Berenice Abbot, portrait behind a view-camera, early  1900s.

Specialized in architecture & urban street photography ~

~ Georgia O'Keefe with her new Leica, New Mexico, by Todd Webb ~

~ Jessie Tarbox Beals, pioneer photographer working Worlds Fair, 1904.

"Her trademarks were her self-described 'ability to hustle' and her tenacity in

overcoming gender barriers in her profession." First female night photographer. ~

~ Patti Smith, with one of her Land Poloroids, circa 1960s ~

~ Maiko girls (Apprentice Geisha) with camera, Japan, postcard mid 1920s ~

~ Documentary photographer, Dorothea Lange, working on 'Dust Bowl' series, circa 1936.

Favorite quote: "The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera." 

I've had a framed postcard of this image in my room for over 30 years - such spirit ~

~ Women holding Kodak cameras, Ideal Home Exhibition, 1971, Eastman Kodak 

eyeeee, the hot pants! ~~

~ Elizabeth Taylor with a Rolleiflex, photographer unknown ~

~ vintage photograph, little girl with her camera, circa 1910, from Flickr ~

~ Mary Ellen Mark, self portrait with Marlon Brando, 1979 (set of 'Apocalypse Now').

Known for in-depth documentary projects and portraiture - Time Magazine called her

a "humanist" photographer.  My teacher for one life-altering workshop, 1985. ~

~ Woman holding early Kodak camera, 1895. The camera was sold with

the film already loaded.  The entire camera was returned to the  factory

for film processing. Hulton Archive, Getty Images. ~

~ Diane Arbus, Central Park, 1969.  Noted for photographs of marginalized people.

Photo, Gary Winogrand ~

~ Climbing pioneer, environmentalist, and feminist, Miriam O'Brien Underhill,

Chamonix Aiguilles, France, 1929. To scale this center ridge she held her camera between

 her teeth.  She was the first woman to conquer the Matterhorn, along with other 

challenging peaks. On these treks she climbed only with other women - famously known

as "manless Alpine climbing." ~

~ Queen Elizabeth II and her Leica M3, circa 1958 ~

~ Imogen Cunningham, circa 1970s. Prolific American photographer known for

her botanical photography, nudes, and industrial landscapes.

Proponent of "sharp-focus rendition of simple subjects." ~

~ College girl recording her experiences in yearbook photos, date unknown ~

~ Margaret Bourke-White, top of the Chrysler Building, New York, NY 1935 ~

~ Edwardian woman, c. 1900. Possibly the world's oldest documented "selfie"

taken with a Kodak Brownie box camera ~

Which brings me back to the beginning of this story 

and that pink plastic Brownie camera ....

This morning I read a blog post by one of my favorite  male  photographers,

David du Chemin, called  'The Place of Craft.'  He always seems to arrive at the heart of

the matter, no matter what subject he chooses to speak about.  Now, although his post is

aimed at photographers - the craft of photography - one could replace that word with ANY

other artistic discipline and his thought provoking words could still be applied.

Here's why [aside from the fact that many of them produced incredible work]

I've put up a truckload of images of women using the cameras of their day,

and why the *tool* is not the point at all.

Not yesterday ... and not today.

Excerpt from du Chemin's post:

Make your art with the tool you have. Use a Polaroid or a RED camera. Use film or digital. Use Leica lenses or Lensbabies. Create abstracts and impressionistic studies of shape and colour, or stunning landscapes that are tack-sharp @ 400%, but don't kid yourself - it's not sharpness that makes it great. It never has been. Humanity doesn't need more sharpness. That is not one of the things for which we hunger. We hunger for beauty, and meaning, for stories, and for love - among other things, things that are communicated visually through light and composition - through our use of balance and tension and movement and scale and colour and a hundred other things that you can't buy in the B&H catalog, and won't be found in the manual of your new camera, no matter how much money you spend, no matter how much better your camera is than mine. We get it. Hell, every one of us has right now, at least one camera that's better than what every photographer who created a truly iconic image before the year 2000 ever had. You can make sharper, larger, cleaner images than any of them, together, ever made. And you know who cares?

: : :

Read More

Pennon takes flight

There's quite a lot of rigamarole involved in mailing a package to Australia.

A lot of addressing & declarations & valuing to be done

but true to my word to myself [which doesn't always happen]

I actually made my preset deadline of June 1st, stood in the slow post office line yesterday

with pen, tape & details

and sent my Solace pennon off to Andamooka.

I sure hope she gets there on time.

There's also quite a tale still to tell about creating this little flag for I chose to abort my first version 

covered in buttons because I'd messed up & not followed India's specs.  But I'll leave those details

for another post when all the photos have been edited and I've pulled my thoughts together.

There were attributes of this construction process that I really loved and in the end

flag #2 became a symbolic weaving together of many things I hold dear

and much of what I consider truth.

This was not at all where I thought I was going with flag #1 .... 

this went another direction entirely.

Much more personal,

much more about transparency

where fabric like silk organza can symbolize a veil,

where a narrow strip of indigo dyed cotton from a workshop 4,000 miles away

can symbolize the importance of always moving forward toward

the edges of places,

the boundaries of emotions

or past limits I do not want to set.

All the hours stitching were a gift of time which had me looking deep into what's passed

and reflecting on a whole bunch of tomorrows.  I wasn't to know when I started

that a bit of a health fright was headed my way [all reconciled now].

What began as a peace project aimed out at the world

suddenly became the exact path I needed to find my own.

Now my little pennon is crossing a great expanse of water

carrying my words on her ragged sleeve,

hurrying [through the good graces of the postal system] to join the 

collective poem about to be written

where she'll be dyed a rich blue, hang above a beautiful red desert ...

a most grateful guest of the elements

and time.

Read More

Marking time

There's more than one way to keep a diary

and it seems I've inadvertently been keeping one

through bundle photographs.

Call me crazy

but I love the look of them.

Obviously I must, because I can't seem to stop.

Beyond the anticipation of scrumptious prints [hopefully] waiting be revealed, 

there's a metaphor about this process I strongly relate to --

the metaphor of time ...

mainly, the importance of  giving  time.

Now I can say

I've learned great patience when it comes to unwrapping my bundles.

Oh, it was   SO HARD  in the beginning, I'll grant you that,

but it didn't take long to discover the wait was worth it.

Such marks from dry-down !

So, I'm not troubled by that discipline any longer.

And it seems when I have gotten antsy

I've helped to pass the time by taking a lot of "portraits."

Otherwise my files would not be so close to bursting with the sheer quantity.

oh dear.

Collating parts of my picture library this week was a long overdue task.  Since I've

gone off the deep end you might say, with effects editing, the multiplicity factor

was slightly out of hand [putting it mildly] and if there was going to be

any hope of finding particulars, some organization was in order

or I was doomed.

When the  Ecoprints  album was finally assembled, I reviewed the group

with a scrutinizing eye

noticing immediately the inordinate quantity of bundle shots.

Ever do a thing repeatedly - unconsciously - only to become aware of your

*inclination*

at a much later date?

Good then.  I'm not alone.

Laid out in chronological order I saw the entire past year [almost]

illustrated by the progression of foraging, wrapping and dyeing ... 

with special emphasis on

the bundles themselves.

It was grand to have them all in one place !

There was a "walking down memory lane" aspect to this endeavor

and I kept getting sidetracked by delightful memories of dye days past ... like the

great can experiment with my Lopez group - how we juggled for space in the cauldrons

but folks using blackberries bled all over their neighbors anyway.

Still, with such pretty results nary a complaint was heard.

And then there was the afternoon I became my grandmother in the kitchen

[preserving cloth, not green beans] and learned to  stuff, steep + store

for India's pantry shelf out in the interpixies ....

Mainly, I've dyed alone [cue Country Western music ?]

conducting all manner of experiments.  Different themes on different days,

playing around, plodding through,

definitely having a grand ole time.

I've put a few leaves through their paces

but then later, trying to ecoprint on paper put me through mine.

*NOTE*

 do not wrap your paper bundle with rubber bands

unless

you've put something sturdy inside to hold the bands in place.

Imagine unfolding mush [see collapsed bundle above]

... yessiree, not pretty.

When I couldn't make bundles, I sometimes dreamt them up instead ...

messing about with the entirely wonderful DianaPhoto app

one can conjure up all manner of imaginary landscapes

and so I did.

Halfway through the year a very particular dream did come true

and I wandered off to one of the more gentler landscapes I've ever encountered

where I bundled my heart out next to a great wide river

and drank   far too much   far too little fine, single malt Scotch Whisky.

This one was especially yummy.

but I'm digressing from the true direction of this story ...

which is to share my year of time-marking

through some portraiture of

the humble bundle

[no, I have not been drinking whisky this evening].

All those glorious bundles !

They've been rough and ragged ...

they've been tidy, clean & slick

but they've been mostly everything in between.

A motley crew of unrelated objects served as bases:

found

repurposed

gifted

scavenged

hauled from the shore

mailed from the desert

borrowed

and yes, even stolen ...

[innocent indiscretion at the shipyard, really]

but in all cases,

the tighter the wrap, the surer the outcome.

Here's a couple of favorites.

On the left, silk wrapped around three copper pipes; on the right, silk filled with seaweed.

Their diary entry might have read something like this:

Dear diary, had the most marvelous morning beach combing at the cove. What a 

stash of interesting seaweed! (time of year?)  Must try some in bundles - 

wonder if they'll give prints?  So nice of P to give me the copper.  Perfect temperature this aft, 

no wind - I'll wrap on the porch.  Still good color in the madrone bath, I think.

Dog's curious bout the unusual smells - funny to watch her nose twitch 

while she investigates. HA! a sneeze.

Can't wait to try my new string.

But instead ... 

C L I C K

and there was my story.

Read More