Wednesday, April 23, 2008

dorothy.

saturday morning, dorothy and i walked up to sun and fog and a lakefill surrounding. how i miss the memphis sun! chicago leaves predictability in a place not quite out of reach but too far to try. despite everything, i have never completely done photographing simply with the nikon and it was strange. the index finger learns to hold its impulses but with free storage rather than a physical frame, what is self-control? whatever it is, it is a different experience than the olympus, which i find the faster.

willow trees

fog and trees

this picture, i think, sums up the trip as a whole. through the hour or so we shot, the wind got colder and the sun kept its lazy head only occasionally peeking out, but besides the weather, dorothy primarily kept a composure of insecurity. not of herself, but of herself within the frame that i saw, something she couldn't (obviously). there were many moments of release but for the majority, without complete direction of what to do, she seemed completely dorothy when the camera hung at my side and so childishly (not as in seniority but in composure in face in innocence) unsure once my finger reached the 'trigger,' so to say.

more willow trees

the fog created such a mystery and glory in our little bay

a moment of sun

"absolute truth"

branches

another "absolute truth"

Friday, April 4, 2008

this is very long overdue. both in entry and film. the majority of these are from a saturday trip into chicago i took way back in the beginning of february, cold, freezing, and dead february. point blank, i just got back the developed film rolls (2 - one color and one black and white). the color had been in my camera from around october until the february trip and the black and white mysteriously appeared in my fridge (who knows how old). after all of that even, they both sat around until being developed about a week ago or so. point double blank: this is very long overdue. the color pictures are first in reverse chronological and then the black and white the same way.


chicago:
window reflections: car and worker


street shot: library


memphis (over winter holiday):
martha. i took this picture in the middle of a photographing project i was doing with martha and ryan which i will just title "this too shall pass." i didn't put any of the specific pictures for the project on here. i don't know if i'll ever finish it, but if so, there will be some of the others from that day.


evanston:
zack. how i see him mostly everyday, and how he is.


memphis:
daniel.


chicago (traveling to delaware, ohio):
ryan on the el. we were on our early way to cross states to ohio, to martha.


evanston:
david. from cutting his hair in october-ish.


evanston:
ryan's dance performance (with nayo).


same as above.


chicago:
howard el stop.


on the el.


troubadour in the subway stop.


a passerby.
unlike most of the others, this, i believe, deserves explanation. perhaps i explain too much or not enough, so this will either exacerbate or make up for it. as i do occasionally with street trips, the people-watching is essential as the journey progresses, and i will stop a person i see that just catches. not necessarily catches an eye or an idea or a thought or anything, but just a moment. i don't know if this is warranted, but i'll pull a "i am taking pictures for a (fill in the blank) photo project with (fill in the blank made up company). would i be able to....." and so on, and depending upon the person, try to talk to them for a little, my eye behind the lens the whole time. everyone can make conversation for face to face, but face to lens receives tension and fear for the most part. after a couple of crosses and questions, most people loosen up. anyways, he was from the south side of chicago and if i remember he had some family and siblings there also. when asked if he liked it in chicago, he said he wouldn't live anywhere else. this picture was one of the biggest anticipations of both film rolls for me, strictly for the personal side.


subway stairs.


buildings and a sky-patch in the shape of a rifle.


millennium park.

millennium park.


trees and benches and fences.


'x' cranes.


engraved 'chicago.'


the end.