I have been trolling around the outskirts, trying to find the people who appear in my SEABA work that hangs in the Hall Gallery at 180 Flynn Avenue. I didn’t want her or any of them to hear that they had a featured spot in my exhibit from someone and be surprised or angry. I generally tell people whom I shoot why I shoot and what I will do with the shots. Its a difficult strategy. The more you say, the less intuitive the images. People become self conscious and less reactive to the camera. Their increased control diminishes the honesty of the interaction. Posing intensifies. Men, more than women, will ape-out. All I seek is their humanity and a slight bit of emotional honesty, assuming that is possible.
Edward H. Campbell On Church Street
Corrected after e-mail from Mr. Campbell and a phone call. I try to be as accurate as possible, so I apologize for any misunderstandings.
Yesterday he asked me to e-mail him a photo I shot on Church St with his begging sign. Don’t usually include words with my images. Jay Maisel says that people will read the words before looking at the images. This is not to be confused with putting an image on a printed page which, according to my graphic design professors, is the first thing people will look at. Anyway, the images should speak for themselves. Not sure in Mr. Campbell’s case.
The Art of Laura K. Winterbottom and Lorin Duckman
I met Laura’s art at the SEABA office gallery during art hop. To visitors, the pictures are just some images to be liked or disliked. To her family and friends, they are her statements about life, creative outbursts that survive her; gifts that she will give in spirit. To me?
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A.C. Locasto Jeweler
Woodstock Maine’s Disgrace
Like Kristof in the NYT News of the Week in Review this Sunday, I have to wonder, or rather rethink my views on the First Amendment. Let’s edit that. I have to rethink my views on a lot of things. My experiences from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and the first decade of the 21st Century have gotten so confusing that I don’t know what I really believe about a wide number of issues. Consider that a liberal rag, The New Republic, one which guided my ideology in my more formative years recognizes that Islam may be at odds with the Constitution. How about that, sports fans?
Marie at College St. and Battery Bus Stop
The bus always comes for those who wait.
Old Puerto Rican Saying
Marie, oh Marie. How could I pass up such a lovely woman? Her hat. Her smile. I just glanced over at her as I walked past the bus stop at Battery and College and she engaged me. Yet another woman who agreed to have her picture taken with the proviso that she would not be responsible if the snapshot broke my camera.
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Michael Frett sees Bruce Davidson
Jillian Listens On Church Street
Jesse #2
Very upset, I am, as I leave for a week at Maine Media Photocamp after reading today’s article on the upsurge in killings of street people in the New York Times. The paper of record called them homeless. I don’t know exactly what that means, so I will leave it for another time. And, I don’t necessarily think that the rise in killings has at its genesis hatred, but the fact that people kill these people because they can for whatever reasons or no reasons at all disturbed me more than the Pew report that the number of people who believe President Obama is a muslim has risen.
Paul Keeps Working The Street
So many of us, well maybe not me, except for when I had my hip replaced, take sick days. These guys, my guys, have to go to work when they don’t feel 100%. Not like junkies who have to rob, steal, and beg for dope dough, these guys pull themselves up, dust themselves off, and start up all over again even on days when they haven’t slept it off. Not a good day for my man, Paul, but at least he be out there and I know nothing bad happened to him.