Summer Update 1

Finals FINALLY ended. I'm home for the summer now. I got a job photographing groups of ballerinas (ages 2-17). I love it way more than I should. I always wanted to be a dancer and I get along great with kids. It's awesome. It's also on location, so it's not cooped-up and boring, and requires much less cleaning in the long run.

It's also kind of like walking into a Degas sometimes:


I'm pretty sure I'm going to take adult ballet classes when I get back to Minneapolis.

Our Kickstarter project is going really well. We're past 75% funding as of today. Hooray! If you'd still like to donate here's the link: KICKSTARTER - Impressions of the Midland: A Photographic Walk from Minneapolis to Chicago.

I started my internship with Heidi Norton. It's super fun and there's tons to get done. She's great person and a wonderful photographer.


I'm also considering options for my senior project, and I think I want to make a Tarot Deck. Below are two fabulous photographic tarot projects:

"Mountain Dream Tarot" by Bea Nettles.


And "Vertigo Tarot" by Dave McKean.

And finally, I'm pretty sure I worked out all the bugs on the website this time. There were a bunch of pictures not showing up in Firefox, but hopefully everything is well now. Also, I removed last names from the web text in "The Best Evidence is in Black and White" due to subject request. Apparently the page was showing up pretty high in the Google search, which is good because it means people are going to the site, but not so good because it means that people's horrible angry moment selves could be revealed, with names. But I did it, even though I'm fairly certain that Sophie Calle wouldn't take down the last names....

But the names are still there in the pictures. So I guess it's a good compromise.

Typewriter Problems

So, I just spent an hour in the MCAD library on their fabulous IBM late 80's typewriter typing up the textual part of "the Best Evidence is in Black and White." Apparently I can type just fine until the last line. I have 6 pages here with screw ups on the very last line, sometimes even the very last character. I felt very disruptive, but I got it done. Now all I need is to print the pictures of the people. I found two to three for each, and my mother dug out the 5th grade picture for that girl. I also found a mysterious copy of my 7th grade yearbook which I borrowed from a friend and scanned about 6 years ago. She's in that too. I was so excited. Now I just have to pull together the Shakespeare part, and write my junior review statement. Yuck.

Updates

Junior Review is coming! I've been very busy with papers about Lord Byron and trying to find a better solution for the Shakespearean Women project. I'm trying something with dolls this weekend. I hope it goes well. On the Best Evidence is in Black and White front, I'm turning it into more of an installation piece, with a type written sheet of the documentation, the small pictures I took over winter break, a picture of the person that I have lying around (the only one I'm missing is this one girl from fifth grade, but I'm hoping my mother can dig out my 5th grade class picture...), a pedestal with an item that I associate with that person, a relic if you will. More updates soon.

Ready for 2nd Semester

So, break is almost over and I'm wrapping up the first stage of the autobiographical project I'm working on. I have 4 of the 6 initial pictures of houses that I need to go on. I'm planning on taking the other 2 on my way out of town tomorrow morning.

I've also been planning out the project I think I'm going to focus on in my Advanced Photo class this semester. I'm excited that it's a critique-based class, because I always have trouble making work that I really love when I'm prompted by a project. This project is going to be on Shakespearean Women and how underdeveloped and one-dimensional they are. I need to do a ton more research for it, but I have a fairly good idea of what I'm going to do for several of them, including the Nurse (Romeo and Juliet), Calpurnia (Julius Caesar), Titania (Midsummer Night's Dream), Lady Macbeth (Macbeth), and Desdemona (Othello).

In other photo news, I failed at my one goal for winter break, which was to update my website. It hasn't been updated since first semester LAST year. So there really isn't anything I feel accurately reflects my work up at the moment. It's mildly upsetting.

I've also been meaning to photograph an abandoned neighborhood near O'Hare Airport. The city ruled in favor of the expansion and this neighborhood had to evacuate, but it's winter so they haven't started demolishing it yet. From the outside it's beautiful and creepy, and I'm pretty sure if I miss this opportunity they'll knock it down and I'll regret it. How often do you get to photograph an entirely deserted but in-tact neighborhood? Not often.