Saturday, October 11, 2008
Portland Ground
Since I'm involved with grid projects in Eugene and Portland, I was intrigued when I stumbled recently on Portland Ground. Miles Hochstein seems to be a one-man grid project, systematically dividing Portland into neighborhoods and attacking it with a camera. Judging from his personal site as well as the style of his photography Hochstein seems motivated more by an obsessive need to categorically document than the more art-influenced photography of the other grid projects. Folks looking for consistently entertaining photography might search elsewhere, but if you're curious what Portland actually looks like, this site is as good as any.
Lightleak building photographed 6/29/08 by Miles Hochstein
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Morning person
Pix Channel is a great site by photographer Randi Lynn Beach featuring short video interviews with many well known photographers. It's worth checking out but beware, this site has the ability to suck you in for hours. Here's a short excerpt from Beach's interview with Elliott Erwitt:RLB: What do you think about when you take photos?
EE: Lunch
Monday, October 6, 2008
Grasshopper shots
Last weekend I found two old digital cameras at a garage sale and bought them for the kids to play around with. They were Nikon Coolpix from I think the late 90s and they were practically free. The cameras came with accessories to charge and download but no cards. So when I got home I hunted around and found two old Compact Flash cards from several years back. One was 64MB and the other 128MB. Both of these were top-of-the line capacities when I bought them maybe five years ago.
When the kids had had their fun and filled their cards I downloaded them onto my computer to get a look into their world. Their world is generally close and blurry.
But tucked into the front of the memory were about 30 images I'd taken and forgotten about from another camera. In fact these were from the first digital camera I'd ever bought, a Canon G3 (with the cards). It had been a great camera until I'd dropped it, mashing the zoom lens back into the body. In the process of determining that the lens was inoperable, I'd taken these 30 photos as test shots. The camera didn't work and I threw it in a drawer without ever looking at the images...until now.
Turns out the images have a certain charm to them. They feel to me like how a spider or grasshopper using a Holga might see things. The vignetting is from the lens tube jutting out at an angle past the mashed lens.
When I first saw these they were mixed in with photos the kids had taken. I was frantic to figure out how they done it. "Which button did you push? Do you remember what you did here?" The kids were nonplussed. They had just pushed the big shiny button and why was I freaking? After I'd calmed a little I realized what had happened. The G3 is still in my drawer but I have no wires to charge or access it.
When the kids had had their fun and filled their cards I downloaded them onto my computer to get a look into their world. Their world is generally close and blurry.
But tucked into the front of the memory were about 30 images I'd taken and forgotten about from another camera. In fact these were from the first digital camera I'd ever bought, a Canon G3 (with the cards). It had been a great camera until I'd dropped it, mashing the zoom lens back into the body. In the process of determining that the lens was inoperable, I'd taken these 30 photos as test shots. The camera didn't work and I threw it in a drawer without ever looking at the images...until now.
Turns out the images have a certain charm to them. They feel to me like how a spider or grasshopper using a Holga might see things. The vignetting is from the lens tube jutting out at an angle past the mashed lens.
When I first saw these they were mixed in with photos the kids had taken. I was frantic to figure out how they done it. "Which button did you push? Do you remember what you did here?" The kids were nonplussed. They had just pushed the big shiny button and why was I freaking? After I'd calmed a little I realized what had happened. The G3 is still in my drawer but I have no wires to charge or access it.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Barbara Gilson
Portland photographer Barbara Gilson has recently put a web site online with many great images. I know Barb mainly through her husband Rich Rollins, also a wonderful photographer. Back in 1993 I took an introductory class in b/w photography (my entire formal education in photography) with Rich, and for a few years after I sat in on his three Photographic History courses at Maryhurst University, where Rich heads up the photo department. Rich and Barb are Portland's photographic power duo, something like the city's Jenshel and Cook. Unfortunately it's been hard to see much of their work because they rarely have solo shows and until recently neither had a web site. With Gilson's new site, that situation is now remedied.
Gilson's site is divided about half and half between her older b/w Diana work and newer color digital images. Here're some of my favorites of the b/w, shot mostly in the American Southwest. There is a giant print of this first one, kids jumping from a sand dune, in the reading room of the U of O Knight Library. It's right on the way as you walk upstairs to the library's photography section.
Recently Gilson has been working in color, documenting backyards and semi-natural spaces in the Portland area in a very fresh, clear (yet visually dense) way.
Gilson's site is divided about half and half between her older b/w Diana work and newer color digital images. Here're some of my favorites of the b/w, shot mostly in the American Southwest. There is a giant print of this first one, kids jumping from a sand dune, in the reading room of the U of O Knight Library. It's right on the way as you walk upstairs to the library's photography section.
Recently Gilson has been working in color, documenting backyards and semi-natural spaces in the Portland area in a very fresh, clear (yet visually dense) way.
News to me
I'm a little late reporting this, but according to People Magazine I am now dating Jessica Simpson. If you believe that, you might want to give this a try.
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