O my god! New post!!!!!

:))))))))

I dont know how I could help to make it grow but if you need some I am on your service.

DAVID

It’s really difficult for me, to keep in date with all the comments and ideas on the blog, I am too slow for this brilliant community. I have decided to join for my own commitment. the first in my e.life. I’ll try not to be so far….keep reading. Not easy !

The fact is, since we have met I began my own brain storm to a new project. This essay is something very important to me and something i would love to show, and share.

It’s about Maria do Carmo’s life and work. A dive into the domestic work scene around us. Here in Brazil, São Paulo specifically. I spent three weeks working, day and night, living, walking, and working by her side. This is the best selection (maybe my A edit) from this work. In fact i am a bit saturated, and I cannot figure out which of these images are good enough, strong or not. I love them all, and each one have your own story for me, but I need to go further. what do you say ?

“Carmen’s Life”.
http://www.galembeck.com.br/carmenslife

I also placed this link on the Student work
I hope to hear from you very soon.

Congratulations to Amanda and Scott
My best wishes

All

I would love to have some feedback about this work. In fact I need it !
This is very important for me. Any idea, comments, text help, review… Fell free !

Thanks a lot !

Gui Galembeck

DAVID…

“by the end of September we will have all assignments finished i think”

If you are referring to “self assigned” as well as those you have “officially” assigned, I hope you will put out a “last call” for submitting links.

As far as where the blog should “go”…I’m thinking about that. Not sure that there need to be any big changes made around here but progress has a way of coming along whether it is wanted/needed or not…Keeping that in mind it’s fine to have a direction, a goal, although it sounds like Amanda and Scooter didn’t spend the last year working on their wedding plan (like many) and all went well for them. SOMETIMES people are so attached to their plans and goals for the future that there’s no room for the organic change that takes place by itself.

David, like we had discussed before, if you have funding and someone who can project manage the cashflow, I’d be happy to lay out and art direct the magazine. I’ve even talked to Bob about contributing writing. I thing you’d have to assume the photo editor-in-chief position, though.

DAVID… in other words…I’d hate to see the blog become defined in stone “THIS IS WHAT WE’RE ABOUT” that eliminates any other possibilities. Doubtful you are capable of that so no need for me to worry!! :)) What has happened here (I believe) has happened because of the OPENESS. So let’s please continue in openess.

I must admit, I too find attempting to read through 700 comments completely overwhelming. I mostly lurk, reading an odd comment here and there and clicking on interesting links. However, even thought this blog is a relatively tight knit community, as an “outsider” it seems a little daunting to “dive in”. Perhaps (at risk of blasphemy) a more structured “bulletin board” style of communication would help this? I would love to hear everyone’s opinion on this.

David, I have some links and thoughts I would like to share with you, however, I realized that I didn’t ask for your email during the Santa Fe workshop. Mine is j25rober@ryerson.ca

Jordan.

MARCIN….

you are such a big part of this no matter what you do….a true ORIGINAL!!!

just keep going with Hometown which i finally saw and love….

KATIA…

yes, of course i remember…i did wonder what had happened to you here lately, but never thought for a moment that you were not out there with your kids….

you do not need to do anything special as far as being considered for EPF…just keep shooting and that little story within the story will be very interesting for us all to see…

JORDAN…

sorry you feel it overwhelming to “dive in”…now that you have done it, how bad does it seem?? i am not sure what you mean by the “bulletin board” style, but i am sure everyone else does…i do not get out much!!!

one of our regular writers told me that she gets private e-mails from people who are afraid to comment and literally asking her permission or suggestions for how to comment!!

that is the last thing i want…please feel free to say whatever you want to say whenever you want to say it…

i cannot answer every question nor respond to every comment…but i give it a good try, with some days being better than others for me to respond…but, i do read everything and now usually only respond to questions that have not been answered by someone else..unless of course the question is directed at me personally, in which case i think i always answer…or try to anyway…

welcome…

cheers, david

Hi David Bowen, nice to meet you too !
I knew Carmen years ago. She worked a lot at Tatiana grandmother’s house. She is also working for my mother-in-law, and spent a long time with the family since our cousins were babies.
We spent 3 weeks working. Night and day. Not such long time but, just the enough for a first moment.
Yes, there is closeness for me, just by the work itself. Not for Carmen or her family, the are marvelous and I love to keep all the time I can with them !
The fact is that I spent much time looking at these pictures, editing, thinking… and I love them all. I can’t go further by myself…. and stopped at this point that you saw… I don’t know if I finish, or not but I am very very glad that you like it !!
Thanks a lot for expressing your opinion.

Not sure I understand the possible directions, David.

Fund-raising, putting work towards getting the blog goal-specific? At the onset, sure enough, people will volunteer, but what will make it a serious, continuous effort on the part of these individuals?

We are all nice guys wishing the best to the others, but people are people, there may be a problem in gallantly putting one’s time and energy, ie. commitment, in an enterprise that may end up promoting, funding other fellows/gals, than oneself?

Again, I may have misunderstood what you wish from us, or some of us, to work towards (I am just the dunce in the class here. I can try better puns, jokes, but that’s about it ;-)…. Fund-lowering more my expertise than raising!!!).

See, already a problem. Bob didn’t even consider me as a possible writer…

And we have not even started!

:-))))))))))))))))))))))

PS: I say, let’s involve others than the usual supsects. Try, at least.

HERVE ;)))))))…

ooooops….that is like totally totally MY BAD!…it goes without saying Herve: YOU ARE TOTALLY THE WRITER HERE! :)))…

ok, totally agree: fair enough. I do feel so stupid now, you have no idea….

i got a good idea: have some folk volunteer to be editors to invite/put together: that way it aint the “usual suspects” but a new, fresh bunch of folk :)))

and Herve, really, with all of our “on again off again” relationships, you should know that I totally think of you as an essential, and critical part of this blog and one of the reasons that it has thrived: not only because you are a smart and challenging (tireless too, more than I) thinker but also a restless provacateur: in the good sense!!! :))…

you, if not one else, need to contribute BOTH pictures and writing…

sorry…

running
cheers
bob

UNCLE DAVE – Congratulations Scooter and Amanda, What a Cool Wedding! U-Boats? , Pirates? , Blackbeard? – Sounds like my sort of place.Thanks for the interest in the aboriginal community work I’ve been doing – Definitely got me thinking.
BOB – I’ve spent a long time digesting the Poem you sent me and , compadre , I reaaaallly want to sit down with a bottle or 2 one day , and thanks for putting me onto Giacomelli , caught up with sister Lisa while she was in town , we both agree that The family Black needs to come in out of the cold and warm those frostbitten toes down under.

DAVID BOWEN….

that is an interesting thought..your idea of industry connections….well, let’s think about that some more…for sure, and maybe you do not realize this, many many editors are already tuned in to what we do here…most likely American editors, but many others as well…

connecting to what is left of the existing market is surely important…i mean, it is not gone yet after all!!! but, i think we all need to create a new vision for the future…but, for me anyway, all of this should be organic…

well, let’s keep talking, thinking…by the way, did you receive your book? i think we sent it two weeks ago ….

cheers, david

by SEAN GALLAGHER……… :

“Dear David,

Well I took your advice and just booked some flights to Perpignan and it seems to have worked out. Gina Martin was incredibly helpful and helped me to find a place to stay with Helen Twomey from Nat Geo. It’s a piece of floor, but that’s all I need! I shall be there from the 1st to the 8th, so hope to see you and everyone from the blog there. I shall keep an eye out for any postings about meeting points, times etc. I don’t have a cell number for Perpignan yet. Picking one up in the UK where I am making a pit-stop from China before arriving in France. Shall post it once I have it. Very much look forward to seeing people from Look3 and new previously unmet fellow bloggers.

By the way, if there is any way you feel I can help out on the blog, just let me know. I owe you David and I’d like to help.

Looking forward to Perpignan,
Sean”

DAH – oh yeah… nick’s birthday is the 4th (thursday) the night of the NG party! we will have to celebrate!! xo

Apropos question for me at the moment, having spent yesterday with the lovely Erica McDonald. Erica can get little dogs to sit and pose for her, and she is the epitome of grace and patience while she does it…you can only imagine the wonders she works with her neighborhood characters. Erica’s friendship is one of a few that I’ve nurtured with this blog…she happens to be a wonderful person to spend a day with, but to do it with cameras in tow is particularly special.

I am most frequently too overwhelmed by this blogosphere to comment and participate, I’ve never been most expressive with my words, and certainly not the impulsive ones that come flowing after the insightful questions posed here. But like so many i lurk and comment periodically, frequently wishing that I was more participatory, but knowing that “my way” is not usually to discuss my projects in progress, and perhaps blogging isn’t my best form of self-expression. That said, I do wish to keep up with the spirit of this venture!

Still thinking of what and how, but I join the many others, I’d happily give back in any way I can…

PS, to all of you going to Perpignan, I for one will be longing to join you, have fun!

Cathy;

What a combination; music and photography!! I was fortunate to be able to shoot the 3 day WOMAD festival here in NZ during late summer. Managed to shoot two shows of Sharon Jones and one show of Mavis Staples!! Two soul divas esp Mavis Staples….

I’ve always wanted my photos to be the visual equivalent of a Pete Townshend solo album….. Am still trying…. I’ve always felt there’s a link between music and photography…

Cheers

great – ALL LURKERS
it’s not how long you have been doing something, it’s how much energy you put into it that defines your place

so just jump in and take up the space you need.
a well known musician told me that once, when i was on a job in italy.. new to working abroad and wondering how on earth i managed to get them… no apologies or permission needed and no one here who you need to check with first.

DAH DMC BOB ALL

magazine.. journal.. 1/4ly.. brilliant idea.
i can offer my services to get all content ‘print ready’.. could also help as a fundraiser and act in a general liaison capacity if needed.
brief cv.. well.. yes.. i helped to set up a magazine a few years ago which is now on issue 24 (produced 6 times a year) and a client list of publications i’ve worked with is here… (scroll down) http://www.bophoto.co.uk/about/about.htm
in short – a magazine from EPF – perhaps a kind of new photographer catalogue, in a way – would be a commitment i would love to be involved with – as deeply as ya’ll will accept. i have excellent contacts to top writers from the magazine and newspaper worlds… get me, eh?

DAH

i’m tripping over myself running down the stairs most mornings to look in the postbox.. it’s not here as yet although i’m not worried.. it will come i am sure.. it’s like christmas eve every day.
with industry links i guess what i mean to say is that working offf of the stories people are producing, it would be great when people present the concept of their work if they also had in mind a public outlet – not necessarily paper based – could be MM or exhibit.. that way there could be a ‘complete’ couching start to finish – from concept to print/web/ distribution.
perhaps that is already the point and i missed something, arriving late to the party as i did..
for me – i have never been able to afford any kind of photographic life without the consideration of selling and distributing the work.. it’s been the point of my work for much of the time..
and so if i could carry out a start-to-finish project – treating it like an on spec piece to offer around newspaper supplements and the few paper based journals that may be interested – i think that would be of most help to me. hopefully help others see through the cloud of fear sometimes produced by the thought of showing editors work.

my idea would be based around music and cultural events organized by the teens who have grown up on different sides of a war and use music as a backdrop to reconnect with each other..
towards that end i’ve been photographing derry and belfast in northan ireland over the past 4 years (exhibited last month in derry http://bophoto-mumblings.blogspot.com/2008/07/festival-exhibition-in-derry-ireland.html ) and made a bunch of trips to serbia and croatia over the last 2 years.
i think concerntrating on derry and belfast would work best.. i still have a couple of solid photo trips to make – to capture the ex-paramilitary doormen at the venues and to cover a couple of other angles.. perhaps if i also expanded upon the balkans work and maybe journied to palastine and isr it would make a piece with a broad interest which someone might pick up?
i have a writer i have made many of the N.ireland trips with, who is both excellent and heavily published professionally.

for me it would be an important story.. the problems left behind after a war are rarely covered by the media.. high unemployment.. high youth suicide.. a destroyed arts community.. occasional backwards looking violence.. however i think the way to really help these places is to look for the positive stories which will help bring about a change in peoples perception.
these events are often organized at great risk to the promoters and they do astonishingly good work.
eventually i would like to do a research MA along these lines.. for now though i’d like to see who in the media might be interested.. and so initial pitches would go to the guardian and observer in the uk as well as a bunch of music mags i already have solid ties with.
any other sugestions, client or otherwise, would be appreciated..
challange me, people.. tell me whats bad about the idea as well as whats good.
*smiley*

ONE MORE THING TO ALL>>
i am teaching ‘photojournalism’.. i’d rather say photography to be frank.. to undergraduates and i’d like to use some of the projects sourced from here along the way.. i think the idea of only getting the kids to concentrate on magnum, 7 and others will be excellently supplemented by work from here.
initially i’m thinking of patricia, david mc and now gui as well – a couple more from the ‘projectlinks’ page.. you guys okay with that?
i think it will serve to inspire the kids to see work-in-progress rather than simply daunt them with the work of M & 7 snappers..
???

the link
http://1997to2008.blogspot.com/

DAH : gearing up to fly south to buenos aires on sept.10/08. taking a leica m3 and the collapsible 50mm summicron – along with a boatload of tri-x film. since the camera has no meter i will use my small sekonic incident meter. just curious should i keep to just 400 asa across the board or rate the film @ 320 asa when using my other camera with a meter ? i ask this as more often than not i use tmax 100 for my b/w work. the reason i chose tri-x is more latitude and apparently more resilient to adversities ie..weather, humidity, heat, travel etc..

also can anyone (DAH) recommend a good color negative film ?

Gui:

Enjoyed the colours and the “feel” of life of Carmen, especially mixing it up with flash and ambient shooting. Really enjoyable. There seemed to be a bit of redundancy in the images, lots of side on (in my head it gets labelled as the “Beatles” image) walking pictures. The sequencing does’nt quite work for me, especially your opener. Its good to be immediately introduced to the main character and get a good look at them so I can relate the other pictures back to her. I like images like “Bus Stop” for this. Would it be trite to contrast where she cleans and where she lives? If you put the names of the people pictured into the introduction (especially the gentleman involved) we could get the relationships faster.

I really like the “Work and Life” image! It has a life of its own!

neil: also books by ernesto bazan here:

http://www.bazanphotos.com/photographyBooks/cuba-bazan/esp/index.html

re;links..

i invested probably too much time in the link through this ‘shoottheblog’ post yesterday..

happy days
http://blog.photoshelter.com/2008/08/on-the-road-with-charles-w-cushman.html

@robert: c41 film choice depends on what you look for. The Kodak and Fuji portrait films have low saturation and massive range. Fuji Superia is more on the saturated contrasty side of things. I think I start to develop a palate for Agfa Vista that’s just plain, although out of production. You can get similar films in supermarkets, like Ferrania film rebranded. Asking what is a good film is like asking what is a good camera… just different tools…

Thankyou for the links Robert, David B!

The Cushman archive is really interesting! Especially looking at places you know and how they were in the sixties.

ROBERT,
Reala is an amazing film. Superia 400 is also very good and cheap. Overexpose that one with about 1/3 stop. I haven’t shot Portra, but they are probably very good as well. However, I personally think I prefer digital for colour photography. When I do colour I often want to come close to the reality and I think digital does that better (if you use a good camera of course).

Cheers

re; the cuchman archive

i really buzz off of seeing people in old photos – thats the hook that stole so much time from me yesterday.. just brilliant food for imagination.. and the old cars.. the crumbling 19thC theater and crumbling early car behind it.. all is beautifully washed out colour..

invigorating.. yes..

i think digital is a whole bunch easier to deal with working in colour.. switching asa.. colour balance.. it’s brilliant for that shizzle and it is possible with experimentation to get ‘truer’ colours without switching between tungsten / daylight films.. which can be a hassle.

all depends what you wanna do as an end result and it’s a really personal thing i think..
like.. no one can tell you to tote a g-string or pecker pouch over boxer-shorts..
although i have always used boxers and have to say – conceiving a child was easy.

ROBERT,
Yeah, I think so. Color balance is more accurate and you remove the step of scanning.
As I say, it depends on the digital camera and film and scanner. To me film ain’t very neutral when it comes to colour, there’s added saturation or contrast, for good or for bad. So I think digital really is easier and more accurate when it comes colour, but at times I love the colour and look from film, but I don’t know if I think it’s worth the hassle anymore.
Will probably load my film camera mostly with C41 B&W film, because it has huge latitude, scans well and is a good starting point in the computer.

Cheers

here is an idea..

this nottingham community site http://www.leftlion.co.uk was set up by friends.. i helped a little.. especially when we produced the magazine to accompany the website.

it *could* be adapted to have articles about ongoing work.. the forum is there.. other special features could be tailored. and the codewriter is a good friend.. although as busy as the rest of us.

DAVID HARVEY:

check your email…it’s about your trip to Perpignan :))

running
b

DAH –

i like your analogy of “talk radio” style – that is exactly what this feels like.

It’s “family” sharing, inspiring, encouraging, discussing, disagreeing, laughing, celebrating… from all over the world online… it’s brilliant!

GINA, DAH…
stop taking my motherfucking CREDIT AWAY…
i was the one talked about “TALK RADIO” first…
i had the first show called the “WRAP UP SHOW”…
come on people… show some respect “history-wise”…
come’on…
dont get me started… suing :)))))))))))))))
peace

ps:… im going back to sleep for an hour..
and then VENICE…..
Oh i got some “crazy disturbing ” photo links bringing from VENICE this monday night… i cant wait to share with YOU…all…
Anna, Wrobert… no way for a party this weekend….
diggin’ in Venice… still diggin’

“…I think the fastest portal to the “group” is to say something that ruffles Panos’ feathers—in a few days you’ll be his best friend.

Posted by: David McGowan | August 21, 2008 at 05:42 PM…”

sad but true…. D, :)))) ,
especially when it comes to my “radio show”…
keep all the magazines in the world …
BUT , when it comes to Radio.. please dont take it away from me…

TWO THINGS I LOVE THE MOST…
RADIO and SOAP OPERAS…. here i have the best of both worlds…

so, people please listen to DMcG, and start ruffling my feathers…
….:))))))))))))))))

ok… i will holla back from venice…..
if anyone wants to ASSIST me the next 3 days in Venice…
please do not hesitate…. im out of Rodinol, Tri-X, Oxycontins,
Vicodins, Xanax, Benzodiapins or tylenol pm…
i only have some expired aspirins… from overseas…
Again, do not send me anything by the mail…
please come meet me in person and i will share… with you..
AGAIN… GONZO WORKSHOP THIS WEEKEND FROM PANOS…
IN VENICE… forget Julia Dean…. she wont get you HIGH…

peace and love everyone
hopefully ill be back with some crazy work in 3 days…
again , thank you ALL for the endless motivation…
and once more.. people keep your magazine…
but give me back my fucking RADIO SHOW…
peace ( or war )
( now you all see why i turned digital

…ok ill explain…
i turned digital because i was wasting too much time
CHASING LABS…
i thought it was better dedicating my time,
CHASING DRAGONS…
plus you can use Photoshop to fill up ….,
all this extra time you have waiting for your Drug Dealer to show up at
your local Starbucks…!!!!!!???
;)))))))))))))))))
see?

David, I would be very happy to be able to bring you my help in France, I do not know high society if it is not Robert Ménard de RSF, Sylvie Hugues of the magazine Réponses photo and I have to meet in Perpignan, Xavier Zimbardo, president of the festival Photsoc… thank you for your commitment to us all…

I love this forum! I am happy to meet a large number of you in Perpignan, in very soon, audrey

ANA

email me re: Perpignan….. gmartin@ngs.org

Hi ALL

Tonite is the NYC Premiere of FLYING ON ONE ENGINE (documentary film)

I took the photo for the poster..I’ll be out of state, but please go if you can and support both this lovely film and the charity..

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2396721382

It’s part of rooftop films..

Flying on One Engine
Charming curmudgeonly doctor Sharadkumar Dicksheet lives half the year in a small, dingy apartment in Brooklyn, surviving on Social Security payments. The rest of his year is spent performing hundreds of operations a day in India, saving tens of thousands of lives a year. A portion of each ticket sold benefits his charity, The India Project.
http://newyork.going.com/event-359193;Rooftop_Films_Flying_on_One_Engine

GINA

just sent you a note on facebook

… a brainstorming salon on the DAH roof is in order methinks … with draft requests for some of the “players” in new media … organic freewheeling crazy dreams … it would be a shame to let this continuing momentum plateau. Further David, further!!! You are THE fulcrum. I am sure there are plenty of amazingly talented people to pull the levers if it is to create something “new” and unique and build upon the foundation of community created here.

A truly good idea will find the means …

There has to be print, must be print but i think there must be more as well … the opportunities are like never before and yet no one has quite hit the mark just right yet, at least not in a coordinated multiplatform organized yet freewheeling inclusive kind of way …

I understand not wanting to “get bigger,” at least in the sense of maintaining the family being built here everyday but can’t there be the possibility of THINKING BIGGER in terms of potential, presentation and possibility?

Really, this community is going to continue to grow as long as you don’t do an Alec Soth on us (sorry Alec, we do understand) … continued growth is a reality … so it only makes sense to take all of this creative energy and start building a house or two … not too planned, no bloody subdivisions or ticky tacky houses, but, an organic hippie shack or two around the town square.

Seems like lots of photogs like to moan about the state of the industry waiting for a white horse to ride in but like some of the best story ideas, the genesis of the “next big thing” may well, and should, come from the photographers, photo editors (who often want to run “better” work but can’t in the corporate environment), writers, artists and dreamers. The internet has leveled the playing field … let the creatives create and leave the corporate miasma to feed upon itself.

All of that said … planning, organization, frameworks, mission statement (ugghh, did i really just say mission statement? … fuck me i’m getting old) and all the other boring upfront stuff is important as well. BUT BIG THINKING FIRST!

Call it … The Left Bank of Brooklyn Salon … or Further Over Brooklyn … or …. ? ((((: THINK BIG!

hmmm, got carried away … just a thought … sorry David Alan Harvey but you are stuck with us now, let’s do something special, something refreshing, or at least get a little drunk and solve all the publishing industry’s problems … i think you did say some months back that Guinness is on tap in this forum, right?

marcin: very nice work on your hometown series; love it..

does anyone know why kent klich left Magnum in 2002 after being a member for four years. his pictures are really touching – all top shelf..

okay had some time to think about it…

…david PLEASE don’t change the organic nature of this wonderful thing we have… it’s like a big hippy house (yes that’s the analogy young tom!) with a lot of conversations going on at the same time… please… do NOT try to strucutre this or it will die, i promise you… no compartments for the conversations, the critiques, the writings, all HAS to be done mixed up and all at the same time like it is now .. this wondeful chaos is the catalyst of the energy we create and it’s sparking into real things all the time… it is sociology 101 that you do not try to structure this but that you nurture and feed it… mind you, it ONLY works here BECAUSE everyone who joins in is de facto like-minded and cares enough to voice an opinion… do not take this for granted, it is quite unique… there is, as far as i can think of, nobody who does NOT get heard here… sure, yes, sometimes you have to yank the chain a little (i need constructive criticism on my tiny “acrobats” story! here! here! look at me! :))) but that is like it is in real life: you have to speak up a little to get heard. we don’t need to install a system so that everybody gets heard automatically, it’s just the point that you learn to speak up and stand up for yourself… it’s so much easier here than in real life… if you can’t get people to hear you here, what on earth are you going to do in the real world?

(oh by the way, i haven’t the faintest clue how to get “heard” in the real world, or get ‘the right’ people to look at work i do. i’ve tried dropping my trousers on festivals, jumping off bridges and streaking football games… all to pretty limited success i confess)

i’m a web designer. been so for about 11 years now… ages in internet terms. i tell ya: PLEASE do not change a thing about the “formula” here… it is absolutely fine like it is now, a mirror of the lively chaos of the real world, like-minded people engaged in wonderful conversations, wonderful writing, wonderful images, wonderful advice, and then there’s PANOS.

it takes effort to be a part of this here, it takes some commitment, even if that only means reading and keeping up with the conversations… i mean, just reading takes me about 45 mins every day, and that in turn makes me think not sleep and think more and learn, and even write sometimes too… i care about you all, and in my book that equals commitment.

—

about commitment:
i am by no means a rich person, but i saved up for a DAH workshop… if i get accepted……. i am willing to give up this workshop and give the $ here as a help towards the funding of the publication… and the time i save into making stronger images still… i know in one way i wil cut myself and bleed doing this… it is all i have… but in another way i might just help a little making something much more wonderful happen… way more important that our energy GETS REAL and i would be proud to have had a chance of maybe being meaningful to it…

——

blogwise,

the only thing i would change is help the people who are NOT an active “participating” part here, the people who are a part of the people we all want to reach to get published: they need to be able to see the work here fast and efficient; without delving through 700 comments. a section for everyone’s portfolio, just a list of names & links and a short description, a bit like you already did on the student’s work post, should do just fine. minimal effort, maximum effect.

and for the participants: just add ONE simple tool that will give everyone a tremendous help in keeping up the conversations here. not threading, not bulletin-boarding, not “foruming”, but just add an RSS/ATOM feed for the comments! nothing more, nothing less, visually nothing changes on the blog, and apparently it’s dead easy to install this for typepad (anyone know how?), and in this way you empower every reader to organise the comments as they see fit on their own time… not having to reload/revisit everytime, and content gets “pushed” to your computer… okay maybe not if you’re in an internet cafe, but the blog is still there…

am i making any sense?

publication-wise there are some pretty cool ideas floating around… i like david b’s take on it all, no nonsense and straight to the point. i wish i had experience & contacts so i could offer the same as he does…

i think a yearly print publication is definitely possible. with the tools of self-publishing it is very reachable. i mean you don’t need to use blurb, but there are other solutions out there that take hi res pdf files, so we can art direct ourselves completely. then put it up for sale, see how many buy the first issue and then use that case to step it up… in whatever direction that may be… no need to decide that now, as long as we keep the energy flowing, things will materialise… just look at sean gallagher… how great is he doing…

—

DAVID WAIT another idea:

what if, besides the EPF grants you would also grant AEPF grants (“assignmented” emerging photographer’s fund”) in another form: not money, but a presentation on a page of this site: name, short short bio and slideshow + text. i think this would be a great way for people who get an assignment from you to show their work to all, and editors, publishers and the like can follow the progress and literally “see” EP’s in the making…

yes yes i think this might be a good idea

peace
anton

DAH
Any help you might need from this part of the world I am totally on !
I love this feeling of community work and I think I could be helpfull in some point. I am ready for suggestions.

BOB

I’ll try to answer your questions, but I am not able to give all the answers, at least not in images. First, I would like to say that I am extremely happy with your feeling about this work. It’s really good to see that, it hits some people with the power I think it had.

Well observed, i don’t have party time for Carmen. In fact, Carmen did not have party time on the last years. Not just only one day party when we were walking side by side. I think just clean her house will not put away all the suffering for her life… nor the other 6.5 million in the same situation… you are right .
The point here is that I saw her smile just when she is at home, with her family !
She always prefers to be at home that go out for a party. She needs to be at home ! That’s what I could see all over these days.
But this is really a good point, and it was at my schedule at the beggining, but I didn’t want to fake it since it doesn’t happen in front of my eyes.
Maybe I’m too late for fun in her life, I should have been there 12 (or more) years before… So I do prefer to keep this point out in this moment. But what can I show to you that you could not understand ?
well… I don’t think it’s even near to be normal when you have to struggle to survive at this way (wich of us did it the same way ? one time inserted in her life, I began to think we are all f*** luckers !) with 3 biological kids, and husband, to feed, clean, learn, pay the bills (cleaning houses and taking care of someone’s kids) anyway, a person that works 8 hours in someone house, plus 8 hours in your proper house, with a new born baby and just decide to adopt another boy without any kind of distinction, first because she wanted a boy second because she have pity…. god ! would you do that ?? I don’t see it everyday. That’s why i think she is a tough woman ! It was my decision to show the beauty in her life. People suffering we can see everyday here in this part of the world, this is such ordinary, but not the way I see her. And the way I see her is not the same way I see other people in the same situation.

I do not know Pedro Costa, but i am running to learn more about him and his work.
if you have any cool link, please send me !

DAVID BOWEN

I’ll be honored to be part of it ! Let me know more about your teaching !

NEIL

it’s pleasant to me receive your ideas, and thoughts about this work. I really appreciate !
I’ll try to get better on my introduction, but the meaning of it may be more confused if I put the image you told me as the first one. I’ll break the life time between day, night, work if I do that. Don’t you think ? That “Bus Stop” picture for me is more like finishing the work and going home than awaking and going to work.
For me it’s almost obvious where she lives and where she works. Where do you think she lives ? The good and “normal” house or the dirty chaotic house ? where can you see her smiling ? where can you saw her family ? It’s quite explained for me… but It would be helpfull if you tell me how it could be better ! That’s the point. Thanks a lot for your help !

Good luck for all you going to Perpignan

BOB,
So nice from you that you are putting David in contact with that friend in France. Hmm you should also come to Perpignan!! Why don’t you think of it? ;-)

GINA,
Just sent you an e-mail :-)

hey ana…

and, if you get selected you *know* the editors/publishers/DAH posse and lots of others *will* be watching you… up the pressure… see the editing process happen live with david… deliver super images we all will love… that’s what it’s all about…

…and for a developer it should be easy to set up a template so david has no extra work… just the hardest bit: selecting the EP’s :)))

love

HERVE: :))

E-STRING in tune ;)))….im for ALL possibilities of photography: :)))…and yes, i still love prints (ibid, my comment about giacomelli) b/w, color, film, digi, transparencies, whatever…still love them (old and new), but they’re just no longer the end-all-to-be-all for me…in fact, less and less really…but prints still are lovely…and i still make ’em, just not the focus of my work anymore, now it’s more about using the pictures for something else: books, projections, conceptual representations, words, potential places for distribution…i love photography entirely, not just one aspect (prints) for example. this includes “traditional” format: magazines (love a good magazine, like PRIVATE or APERATURE or NG, etc), books, printsonwalls, but love (ache really) over other means: web, games, films, mm, ringu-via-web (something i suggested to David last year when the assignment idea first got kicked around), etc etc etc…i love the entirety of photography…i just dont get why so many photographers still cling to tradition, especially in a medium that, by definition, seeks innovation…

Also: there are folk reading…doesnt mean that have to comment…..the blog takes alot of time and attention…i know myself i struggle (always seem to loose the battle) with this myself ;)))))…but Sister Erica is target-nose bullzzzzeyed! :))

GUI: Pedro Costa: i met and drank with him last year here when he had a retrospective…find his films!, a link:

http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/films/2007fall/costa.html

he’s a genius…and an interesting man…especially when you share a cigarette ;)))

enjoy

running
b

I love this place but comment rarely and have not showed work yet due to the commitments of two young sons , a wife, a day job and the whole living in another culture thing. I need to shoot more that is clear as I want to play a more active role in this community (no excuses though just a bit lazy I`m afraid). I don`t know if I can be of any help but if if Roadtrips needs anything done in Japan I will try my best to do it or contact people that probably can do it better than me. Because, my personal photo difficulties aside, I find I am inspired daily by the people here and think David has done an amazingly generous thing in giving his time and a large part of his considerable energy to helping those that have talent by the bucket load but before this forum grew could not get any feet in the doors, anywhere.
Of course he needs to concentrate on his own work more.
David you once said that “we are a lot more like you than you imagine” when talking about the awe that ordinary photographers have for the like of Magnum, 7 and Noor people. That may be true as I know a lot of pro-shooters here in Tokyo and they are to a fault, generous, open, helpful and above all indulgent of my questioning and borderline worship but, without a doubt, you are one of a kind. I love the organic nature of this place, that there is no need to sign in, know some strange, private language and that your ideas, to a greater degree, still direct the conversation we have. I like that I can visit when I have time and find something interesting among the hundreds of comments and I hope that it doesn`t change too much. My only fear if it does grow it that it will get like Lightstalkers with cliques and angryness breaking out. The most amazing thing here is how friendly everyone (who isn`t anonymous anyway) is to each other be they regular, vocal contributors or occasional commentors like myself.
Thank you
Damon

ok… VENICE REPORT…
You all remember SCOTTIE , THE KING OF ALL HOMELESS.
or , the KING OF ALL VETERANS..
Anyways.. Scottie,
was missing from Venice for almost two weeks now…
There was a rumor… A rumor that… That Scottie was dead..
The King was Dead!!!!??? And where the hell was I ??!!!
So, I was sad, upset, guilty.. sipping on a guinness .. and
Then..!!! And then the phone rung!!!
It was Sarah!!!!
The King is Alive..!
Scottie is in the VA hospital (veteran and sawtelle ave.),
TIED DOWN IN HIS BED ( restrained, dry, tortured,
dissed,squeezed… abused, disrespected .. humiliated..)
The treatment of a HEROE..
Someone that gave away his mental and physical
health for your motherfucking freedom you assholes..
Anyways.. Scottie is so necessary for my Venice bullshit..
Scottie is so necessary for America,
Scottie is a soldier,
Scottie is all alone tied down like an animal to his
filthy bed.. Scottie is me.. Is you..
Scottie is America..
Scottie is venice..

I’m going to the VA hospital first thing tomorrow..
I’m going to expose the Hypocritical “help”
Provided by the state to our heroes..
People.. Stop being ungrateful and stop treating
your heroes.. Your ( ours) veterans with so
much Hate and Neglect..
For God’s sake..
And BTW.. fuck GOD too
ps: I’ve had it.. Ok: more news tomorrow..
I’m bringing the camera into VA HOSPITAL
first thing tomorrow .. Let ‘EM bitches kick
me out.. So WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!

Glenn and Robert

Thanks guys :)

must run

Hi Erica, I did not pick up any thing rude coming from you. I was indeed talking about the professional input itself, not stating there is no one posting here with that expertise. This, I have no idea, unless they present themselves as such.

It’s also because these people might find over-reaching to volunteer expertise themselves on a fellow professional’s blog, or some other reason, that I thought an interview might be a good format.

herve and erica that is..

will alec soth buy a digital back for his 8 X 10 ? what about lise sarfati will she go digital too ?

ALL

can we;
put the film down and move away from the subject..
please.. can we just put in down to taste and stop talking in absolutes?

‘only the sith talk in absolutes’
(obi-wan kinobi)

OK let’s change subject (anyway I use both digi and film and hope to keep going on like that, budget permitting).

ANA GINA and all “the lucky that are going to Prepignan”
I’m also a lucky one..going, as said in previous post, from 1 to 7 so I’ll write you an email. Or we’ll meet “somewhen” :) at Cafè de la Poste (yes the right one, Castillet)

DAVID
This Radio talk (pardon Panos) or Hippy House (sorry Anton or Young tom) or Happy space or whatever (BUT NOT BLOG :) ) it seems to me to be perfect (am I sith?), don’t need to became larger or brillant-webdesigned but only to improve in any of us, writer or dreamer, partecipant or lurker, new or old. And most of all I’m sure that you know or will know very well what is or will be the best.
It doesn’t affect with the fact that from this new wonderful things will came to life.

ALL
I don’t use to ask feedback but I need to choose one between this three photo: http://picasaweb.google.it/lauranutella/ToEditONLYONE?authkey=N_bc_WDfJSY
It’s for the portfolio composed by a small extract of 4 projects (“Gipsy camp”, “Landscape of Palestine”, “Far from home” and “Feticheur”) going on since years and having as a common essay “Restlessness”.
I already share with you but if you need to choose the one the other are here:
http://picasaweb.google.it/lauranutella/Portfolio4SmallView
Answer also with private mail if you don’t want to write here.

GUI
Thank you for the good luck but ….aren’t we going to Perpignan to have a party ?:)))

ALL,

quick note … no time…

Ready to help wherever turns out necessary! I have great contacts to a company that does all kind of web programming (whole portals, interfaces for print & press, uploads for all kind of multimedia, etcetcetc. Multiuser, Multilangual if necessary) They are in Germany, though. But ready to help – they just love it when it gets complex :)
I talked to them yesterday and the first thing my friend came up with was an idea like Lightstalker, which would be kind of easy for them to do BUT is obviously not necessary. They are not into photography, so they do not know what there is already.

In case the brainstorming creates new ideas that would make new web-applications & approaches necessary, they at least could help theoretically if not practically.

JAMES, ALL

I will be in Perpignan too. So will Diego Orlando. Gianluca Marucci wrote me an email yesterday – he will unfortunately not manage it. But Ana Yturralde will. Cannot check right now whom I missed …

Apparently there is a meetingpoint at the Cafè de la Poste at Place de Castillet, but Diego said not to worry and just to follow the “stream” of people.

Anyway, we are exchanging cellphones too, apart from the mask-thing. I’ll be writing you an eMail with my number. And you might want to check with Ana, Audrey et.all.

Cheers,
(today running too)

Lassal

Thanks Lassal, got your email.

If PERPIGNAN peeps want to send me their contacts.I am happy to try and arrange a meeting time/place for EVERYONE if this hasn’t been done already. I don’t know the city, but i’m sure we can figure something out… I’m happy to be the hub to accumulate all the contacts.

james@jameschance.com

James

Ana, there is also Pierre-Yves who will be present in Perpignan !

great job GUI,
MARCIN, RAFAL.

Hey Gina :)))
Hey Laura:)))
Hey ALL ( waking up- ready to go to the
Veterans Hospital)…
Let me dive once more into this craziness,
into this drama..
Good morn and good light to y’all…
Peace

PERPIGNAN CREW…

add Lance Rosenfield to the bunch. my email is gmartin@ngs.org

EVERYBODY

After all the trouble a number of forum contributors were having with Lightstalkers over the last two weeks, I can’t quite believe that a bunch of other forum members are seriously suggesting that this site be more like Lightstalkers! It crashes my system every time I try to look at somebody’s portfolio there.

Since we’re floating trial balloons about ‘where the site should go from here’ I’ll add my 10 rupees. The forum itself? Absolutely nowhere! I thought everybody agreed this site was unique and wonderful! Its energy and stimulation and occasional profundity and general human good will all come from the cocktail party format. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

But I understand two problems… one is David’s workload and responsibility. I don’t think that pertains to the site per se… it is about the work of the EPF- raising money, administering it, setting up the galleries on the other site, arranging slide shows, etc. That is all related to this forum but has actually been operating in parallel. That’s where David needs help and to delegate responsibility.

The other problem… all you lean and hungry young photographers want to sell yourselves, get exposure, be seen, get feedback from editors and buyers… Once again, although related to this forum, I don’t see whay that can’t be done in a parallel universe. So if for example David McGowan, Tom Hyde, Bob Black, Herve, or whoever want to set up some kind of magazine, either online or hard copy, that draws on the work of forum members and has David’s blessing, why not? and if that becomes part of the conduit for funding, OK…

But please leave the forum alone! Talk of ‘streamlining’ (whatever that means) or ‘Lightstalkers’ gives me the shudders.

Laura,
beautiful work! I like very much 1 and 2, 1 more classic has my taste but 2 speaks to me more, I like very much your work on Rome…
Gui,
thank you for the sharing, you have a very beautiful intimacy with this family…
Kind regards, audrey

LAURA,

I just took a look to your three pictures. As the two first are very different from the third, I think it is important the “purpose” why you are editing just one. There are different emotions, feelings and sensations from the first two and the third! Without knowing the final destination of the picture you finally choose, I really like the first two. And from those, definitely I prefer the second one :-)

AUDREY, GINA,

I did not know that Lance and Pierre-Yves were going to Perpignan too. That’s great!!

ERICA, JCHANCE, SIDNEY, AKAKY, AUDREY, ANA and All
Thank you for your advise!
It was really useful to me. In a certain sense it confirm my opinion … that I can’t choose :) joking… that for Portfolio the first run better with the other (also if the second … alone works maybe better).
I know that the third one is different. I have a link with that one but…I can’t explain.. it’s a part of something else…a work on Gurunsi that it’s one of the few that I can’t stop editing mostly because… I still haven’t choose between B&W and color.
The same old story. That work is in colour but I can’t do without the BW ones.

GINA & Perpignan
Just sended and email (I don’t have the Ana email but someone is doing a mailing list)

GUI
of course! “Good luck” are always welcome

David McGowan

I looked at your garage sale slideshow and the impression I got was that these sales are happening because of the economic situation in Michigan. Is that so? or is it a long running summer tradition that has not much to do with the economical situation of the country/state? I am asking this question because here, I live in the canadian province of Quebec, garage sales are a big tradition. As soon as the snow melts and the weather is warm enough to stand outside without a coat on, that means end of spring, May ish, people start to get their unwanted stuff out on the sidewalk to sell. In Montreal, where I live, anytime during warm days, you can see these sales in streets, in front of houses, apartment buildings, etc. It is really a long standing tradition that goes on no matter what the economical situation is. Instead of throwing away or giving it away, people try to get a few bucks for the furniture, the bicyles, the clothes, the shoes, the plates, etc, etc, etc that they don’t want anymore. It has a pratical purpose : letting other people, in exchange of a small symbolic amount of money, take away the stuff you don’t want anymore, instead of doing it yourself … It is also an occasion to talk with the neighbors, socialize, etc. much more than to make money… because usually prices are quite low. So, I was wondering if the purpose of these sales is different south of the border?
Thanks.

Martin

I’ve really got to run soon, but I’ll try to give you the short answer. Yes there is a tradition of garage sales in Michigan, so much so that things like “Michigan’s Longest Garage Sale” are an annual event. However as indicated by several news reports, there’s a particular explosion of sales in Michigan, due in part to our economy.

I don’t mean to (and don’t think I do) imply that all of our sales are the result of our economic woes. Many, many are of typical folks cleaning house. But I do take closer looks at some people whose lifestyle is disrupted by our economy, and have to give up things they would normally keep, as sales of items now become a regular part of their need and lifestyle. And also, sound bites about the economy are easy to pick up at these sales, so this study is as much about the atmosphere and buzz as it is about the sale itself.

I’ll be happy to talk more about it, but gotta run!!!

Free chating place- that how I see this open room. Telling stories, showing world, exchange thoughts.

LAURA,

I’m right now finishing the editing of my portfolio and that is one of my worst decissions! Color vs B&W. Some photos work better in b&W but some in color and I really wish I could make a mixture and present a series with both, but everybody says that a series has to be ALL in color or B&W. So for the portfolio I will mixt both and for the series I will have to decide… Tough work!

About the mailing list, I don’t know if somebody is doing it. I have several emails (and cellphones), but not all. Here you have mine: anayphotoATgmail.com

DAVID,

I’m really excited about that little planning session in Perpignan! I’m going to Perpignan the same day as you by car and I will pass by Barcelona. if you want, I can pick you up and give you a free ride to Perpignan from there. Just let me know, ok? it will be a pleasure for me!

“Perpignan is sounding like it could get out of hand!!! like Look3…
heaven help us!!”

You made me laugh! heaven help us!!! :D

Hugs!
Ana

ALL:

I just talked to David! He just wanted me to remind everyone:

NOT TO WORRY ABOUT HIS SILENCE :))))))…he’s with the family and has no time, but he’ll be back after this week…

Also, I just want to say that it was just my joke about david getting married…just a joke :)))..he’s with family only…the married couple are the lovely ones in the pics…

ok, gotta run…

hugs y’all
bob

marina

bob praises you, and rightfully so..

thanks for sharing her wisdom bob bro.. might want to mail you soon, what is your address?

love
anton

I don’t know about you, but I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about a whole lot of things. There are only so many hours in a day and you can only think about so many things in those so many hours before you want to stop thinking and watch television. This seems to be true everywhere; even with the advent of our new postmodern information society, which allows more people to think about more things that most people couldn’t care less about one way or the other than ever before, most people will reach a point of data overload and will start tuning out. This is as true for me as for anybody else, so on the odd occasion when something on the information superhighway comes along and manages to pique my interest, I tend to spend more than the usual amount of time mulling the subject over than most people I know. The recent earthquake in California is a case in point. We all know that there are earthquakes in California; that is not the issue here. I am simply wondering just why it is that all these earthquakes must be San Andrea’s fault and not the fault of some other deserving saint.

As far as I can tell, and I should mention here that I have done absolutely no research on this and so I am entirely ignorant about what I am talking about, the better to hold a strong opinion on the matter unsullied with mere information, San Andrea, the biblical Saint Andrew the Apostle, never, in all of his missionary travels preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the benighted lower classes of the heathenistic Hellenistic world, set foot in California, an equally heathenistic country chock full of benighted lower classes, although with better sanitation, and in all likelihood could not find California on a map of the United States, an ignorance of basic American geography that the blessed saint shares with millions of American schoolchildren. Even if he had known where California was, it would be extremely unlikely that he would ever have gone there, what with his driver’s license expiring early in the year XXI. It does not do for saints to be wandering up and down the Pacific Coast Highway with an expired license; while not a cause for scandal in the theological sense of that much abused word, it does tend to promote bad driving habits and a fundamental disrespect for both canon and traffic law. Driving without a license also jacks up your insurance premiums once the cops pull you over and discover that you can’t legally drive in the Golden State. All around, it is not a good thing to do.

In any case, not much is known about Saint Andrew the Protocletos, which means the First-Called and is not, as I first imagined it to be, the scientific name for a small and not particularly bright species of dinosaur. According to the ancient sources, Andrew was the first called primarily because he was the first person in that area of the Galilee to get a cell phone and unlimited minutes for his calling circle, something that helped keep the Apostles in touch as they wandered around ancient Israel together healing the sick and raising the deadbeats and then calling; you just know when some guys have nothing but a pair of deuces in their hand and are just trying to bluff you out of the pot. This is, in fact, one of the few things we know for certain about Saint Andrew. Most of what we do know comes from the Gospels themselves—we know from the Gospels, for example, that Saint Andrew was the brother of Saint Peter—and from some newly translated documents pulled out of the remains of an old Coptic monastery at the Nag Mefurmoni archaeological site in Egypt. In 1976, a team of archaeologists from Harvard working on a two year project for finding new ways to loot the Harvard endowment discovered, quite by accident, a treasure trove of early Christian documents and Red Sox memorabilia at Nag Mefurmoni, a small desert outpost only a hundred or so miles from Cairo. The stunned archaeologists, who’d spent most of the dig working on their tans, literally stumbled across an ancient library under the spot they were going to park their Port-O-Potty, a library that included, amongst other things, a carbon copy of a hitherto unknown Gospel according to Andrew and Andrew’s Epistle to Saint Barney the Barman, along with Barney’s reply. Barney’s reply contains one of the first complete examples of a Christian catechism ever found, as well as a request that Saint Andrew settle his tab and, in the margins, some professional tips on how to make the perfect Harvey Wallbanger. This epistle never actually reached Saint Andrew, though, as Saint Barney neglected to put a stamp on the envelope and so the epistle never left the Nag Mefurmoni post office; apparently, the post office clerks just tossed the screed into the undeliverable file, along with all those letters kids wrote every year to Santa Zeus. But in all of those documents, however, there is not one mention of California, earthquakes, kids wearing pajamas to school, or why anyone Saint Andrew should hold responsible for these phenomena.

Saint Andrew is not the only saint to have such uncanonizable faults attributed to him. Saint Vitus’ dance, for instance, is a disease in which the sufferer moves, jerks, and makes wild involuntary spastic movements reminiscent of the worst excesses of the acolytes of Isadora Duncan on speed, whereas Saint Vitus himself preferred the minuet and the occasional foxtrot to keep things interesting. Saint Elmo’s fire is not really a fire at all, a fact once explicated on by the American theologian Rob Lowe, and Saint Elmo had no more to do with the eponymous unfire than did Saint Kermit, Saint Oscar the Grouch, and Saint Demi Moore.

So why Saint Andrew? No one knows, as far as I can tell. Theories abound, of course, as they always do, and some of them are more nonsensical than others, as they always are. This is the way of the world; in the wake of any great disaster, someone will have to say that it must be somebody’s, anybody’s, fault, although it actually helps if the someone you’re trying to pin this thing on is either a Jew, a Jesuit, or a Mason. If you can get someone from all three groups and the CIA involved as well, so much the better for your theory. This has actually been going on for quite some time now. For example, the Inquisition blamed the 1755 Lisbon earthquake on the malign influence of heretics and was all gung-ho to give a few of them the permanent hot foot just as soon as they found enough of them to barbeque. The king of Portugal was having none of that, however, and told the inquisitors that he had to feed the living and bury the dead, tasks that left little or no time for pressing people as to whether or not they believed in the Real Presence in the Eucharist. Mass executions of apostates, while an edifying and altogether wholesome spectacle for the entire family, would have to wait for another time. The inquisitors left the royal presence deeply annoyed; in every crowd, there’s always one killjoy who spoils the fun for everyone, which is something I’m pretty sure you’ve already noticed by now

DAVID
I have not had the time to look at the TPW-DVD.
Perpignan should be ok, timewise… Or after that. If there is need for hurry I can have a look if there is a possibility to get it to Mike.
You tell me.

Oh… and I will send you an email this weekend … I was not sure … You will probably be innundated after these 2 weeks off… But you can read it any time … I just have to WRITE it now. :))

ALL
I posted the stuff with the webcompany I know because I understood brainstorming was going into that direction …
Have not had the time to read all the comments BUT … I totally agree with some that we should be carefull not to destroy this wonderful … loose … free … community …
Wonderful stuff here… Great to meet people from the blog … like Nacho in Tuscany … and have this big grin in our faces. A feeling of brotherhood … on a pure, simple, happy way.
All across the world …

David, Iztok said he will be coming to Perpignan and Franco just wrote, he will be there too (from the Tuscany workshop).

Tony, Hunter and I will arrive on the first and leave on the seventh.

Listening to Ludovico Einaudi “Divenire” – a music I got from Stefano from the Monastery in Tuscany. It is the Music he associates with the place … He wished me to take it home with me (postcard) … And I am right there now … flying over the hills … It really works!!!!

… and doing my accounting!
(What a killer…)

Abraços,
Lassal

sidney my man…

recipe to get your wyborowa to ideal temperature: ‘decapitate’ a plastic bottle of water of 1.5 litres; fit the vodka bottle inside. top off the plastic bottle with water. put in freezer till water is a solid block of ice. when serving, you’ll see it’s quite “syrupy”… a different drink entirely….

and soooo good :)))

All

I am very excited to share with you what’s going on with my first book that’s in the middle of printing process.
The book will be published by Toseisha in Tokyo, Japan.
It is one of the major 3 publishing companies for the photography books in Japan.
The book will be out on October 25th, 2008 and the publishing company has invited me to the this coming Paris Photo Festival. (Nov. 13th- Nov. 16th, 2008 ) with my book.
Wish me luck.

The president of the publishing company from Japan has brought me the edited version of the book along with the cover design for the book on 21st Aug. k.
The cover was done by a topologist from Netherlands. He did a beautiful job by writing on a piece of cloth and blowing it with air so that it could form waves like figure.
We went over the book a photo by photo and discussed the last changes to be made. The publishing company has even made very special inks for my book.
(Takahashi brand, it’s the president name of publishing company): a black ink is made of 3 different mixtures of inks and a gray that’s made of 5 different mixtures of inks.
This September 16th will be the first day to print my first book.
This all is very new and exciting for me.

many many Thanks.

.

kyunghee, whats the book about?

KYUNGHEE LEE

경희씨,

종말축하 합니다! 잘 하셨읍니다! 고생 많이 하셨을텐데요. 사진집 책의 출판 많이 기대 하겠어요.

씨드니 앹킨스

Sidney..
Once again I have to agree with you!
I’m completely covered with what you just
wrote above..! You are right in my mind..
( we have the same chino-japanezo-Korean
Microsoft Translator I see)..
Although everyone insists that the “google”
one(translator ) is far superior..
;)))))))..
Ok , I hear you..
Enough with all this TECH TALK..
Peace and hugs

Kynghee Lee,

All my congratulations!! Paris Photo 2008 is a very great event in France!! It takes place from 13 till 16 November 2008 to the Carroussel du Louvre (http://www.parisphoto.fr/?lg=en ), November is also the month of the photo in France, I shall try to come… I am sure that you go to make very beautiful meetings…
Kind regards, audrey

take him off to the bathroom for a special one on one
——————-

Gee, no wonder David can’t always be present… Makes sense now.

I had no idea!

:-)))))))

GLENN…and all,

Love it! :)))
Wondering who among us are vomiting in the pot plant?

Since my original posts on this thread were all about the openness that exists here and my concerns about jeopardizing that, I’m glad to read comments like yours.

HOWEVER…a late night thought based on what Sidney said…

It gets a little crazy sometimes with so many links to view here.
Is there some way we can all post work together in the same place…NOT on this blog but something along the lines of our own little yahoo group…perhaps attached to the blog…a “workbook” so to speak?

I admit I’m lazy (or crazy) for not having my own site but I wish there were an EASY way to post stuff for all to see as well as a way to EASILY see what others have posted in the way of images?

Kynghee Lee. congratulations! I love your work!!!

KYUNGHEE,
good, wonderful luck!!
I was suppose to go to Paris for the Festival ( non only to have a party :))) ) for the agency but I don’t think I can manage it. I’ll have a try, so we can meet again.
But in the meantime let us know if it’s possible to buy it on line.
Is it about Island?

GLENN…..

perfect description!!…laughing….so so true…

and that pretty much describes my loft and the gatherings there…so , i guess it only stands to reason that this is some sort of on-line manifestation of that “reality”….

but, if this party does get out of hand, then we just shut the doors, give the place a good “clean up”, and then start all over again!!

cheers, david

MARCIN
God, I just love the picture, Marcin, you painted of this blog! In my eyes you are absolutely right about the open room …
… you are truly a poet …
(I’ll go to Heildelberg to meet the editor right after Perpignan – how is your essay doing?!)

GLEN
… wonderful …!
I think you found the words to describe what everyone here feels. If ever there is a book or something about this blog, I vote for your description to be the opener …

As to the risks of change:
I think all of us have had the experience of knowing a magical little off-place, a café or a little restaurant, that would not fit into the ordinary, often because lack of money called for some improvisation … The place would be full of loyal visitors every day. And then … the owner makes some money with the business and decides to renovate. PENG! Magic gone. People disappointed. Place empty. Owner wondering where everybody went.

Well… things just change. Some things die eventually, new things come up. That does not have to be bad. That is just how it is.

I do not think that it would ever be empty here… Too many people just hoping for “the special someone who will make dreams come true and happy ever after will be a reality if they can just bend the ear of the host” (Glen). I think there would be more of these people here, if things changed in a specific direction and less poetry, and this would be extremely sad. … The magic… the freedom of really moving around in this party that was so colorfully described by Glen, that is just soo much more! And there is something else too … I do not know what it is. Maybe because there actually IS a very serious note to this. It is not a simple blah-blah blog but it really has a passion and an aim. Everyone of us has it. Everyone of us comes together here because of that. It might look different from person to person but here you might find the little group of people that fit, be it a little tech talk because you have a problem to deal with, be it … anything. So you do have the serious fundament but at the same time … the party. People leaning out of the windows, maybe after one beer too much and being very open about their lifes and fears. It is just very …. human … here. Not one of this straightforward, cold, photo-blogs …

One reason for that I think is because David manages with his open heart to love and embrace everyone. To give everyone a chance. Regardless of how the first impression of that person is, he gives them a chance and does not start by sorting out according to specific narrow criterias.

So, if anything new should be tested, it might be reasonable to test it parallel. Like to add a module kind of thing that then is or is not accepted. If it is not accepted it can be taken away again or modified without causing damages to the main Party.

… normally I love “change” but here I am a little afraid. I am not a blog person. This blog is the only one I visit regularly….

I admit I was not even very happy when David said this here could become a book of some sort… Because I was afraid everyone would start writing differently … writing for a book. I had the impression this really happened for a short time but then, thankfully, the heart & soul of this community was stronger.

CATHY
you do not have a website? Why?

KYUNGHEE LEE
Congratulations! Wow, that sounds so very good!! I am so curious (like everybody else) to know which work of you is going to get published. And yes, please do tell us where or how to get your book!

I was thinking about going to Paris in November, but I am still not sure about it timewise. But let us see … I would be happy if we could meet for a coffee there. Otherwise I assume you will be pretty busy. It should be a very good sign that you were invited to go there by the editors. And if the President himself came to see you for the last corrections?! … Welll … I guess that sais it all :))
I am thrilled for you!
Thank you for sharing!

@Kyunghee Lee: congratulations! I love the Japanese publishers!

Back to the family and commitment issues. The Guardian today has an interview with Josef Koudelka. He has three children but no long term relationships. On the topic it reads:

“When pressed, Koudelka talks with pride about his children, but one detects regret too. ‘Listen,’ he says, when we meet the following day over a beer, and I broach the subject of family and commitment, ‘I am not a family man and I can never be a family man. But I am very happy, I have children and I hope that they are happy that they exist. From the beginning I make certain rules with my children and one is that I can’t be with them all the time. I tell them that when I am with them, I am for them, and when I am not there, it is best they should try to forget that I exist.'”

Rest here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/aug/24/photography

You are all just lovely..camaraderie, indeed, in this open room. Some time ago I told David I felt like I was leaning against the open back door, watching people come on in..

KYUNGHEE LEE

how joyful!

JAY

Curious as to how long you have been on this piece as to date..and if the risk/reward thoughts are newly surfacing?

DAH

You mentioned something about a NYC gathering for ALL at some point..were you thinking about anything in particular?

GUI

about what may be missing..DAH has offered to share his thoughts about the Carmen story on his return, I think I will hold my tonque and await his comments.

SIDNEY

we actually agreed about Laura’s photo..my thoughts were about one as a stand alone and one in context of the story..

PEACE to all

My grandmother celebrated her 90th birthday yesterday..the written words on cards she received from people that seemingly only had a tangental or cursury connection to her were astounding..one usually never knows how a simple act of kindness or goodness can affect another..it seems though that if you live to 90 you may find out! Do good, be good..xoxo

HERVE

look what I found:
http://www.magnumphotos.com/archive/C.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.StaticPage_VPage&SP=agency_advcorp&l1=1&l2=2&XXAPXX=SubPanel0

Magnum’s Advertising Portfolios :)))

LASSAL…

Why do I not have a site?
The only reason is MONEY.

I would like to work with Neon Sky on a site but after just spending two years fixing up this house and now needing furniture and landscaping, it doesn’t seem like this is the time for additional monthly expenses.

ANYONE KNOW OF A LESS EXPENSIVE BUT GOOD WAY FOR ME TO HAVE A WEBSITE? :))

Eric, I have 4 photos in the gallery sfr, but the numeric editions are horrible, I did not stop making all the expos, I can maybe join you on Wednesday in Arles?
Audrey

KYUNGHEE LEE-
Please do let us all know what work is being published, and about it’s availability. So very exciting, a beautiful publisher, such an intriguing process. I love the imagery I get of swirling inks, shades of black blending themselves together, dancing in unison until they at last become one. Somehow fitting with your photographs…

Congratulations!
Anna

KYUNG-HEE :))))

CONGRATULATIONS! :)))…I am so happy that you finally now have a date for publication and I can’t wait to get my hands on a company :))))…as one of the lucky ones who had a chance to see all the images in the preview, i cant wait to see it as a book with the Intro and with the design :)))

have a great time in Paris also :)))…Paris Photo will be a blast for you :))

hugs
bob

All

The title of book is “island”
Island is a metaphor.

.
.

I am a island
You are an island
We are all islands

.
.
The book is about relationship of people.

Yes, it’ll be possible to buy on line after publishing. The price of the book has not been decided yet. It will be up to the publishing company to decide but I believe it will come out to be a reasonable price.

Audrey, Laura, Lassal… ^^

And I really really want to see you and have a coffee in Paris Phot Festival (2008 13rd – 16th Nov.)

Rafal, Anton, Sidney, Panos, Marcin, Anna, Luis, Joni, Erica …..Thank you very much.

.

BROTHER GLENN! :))))))))))))))

im in th corner staring at the lava lamp, licking up what’s left of the HarveyWallbanger in my jam-jar, waiting for you to open those bloddy booze cabinents, hoping Harvey finally passes the cornpipe to us, while my mrs. is enrapturing others with her prescence as panos is shooting her everywhichwayand out and Patricia is doing wheelies on the balcony and all be damned the lavalamp is still as beautiful as i remember :)))

see u there :))

hugs
b

oh BOB, sorry,
too beautiful a picture to come in with WP-MU …

ERIC…

I arrive in Perpignan on Sunday. Drop me an email… I should know my international cell number in a day or so… gmartin@ngs.org

anton:

yea, you can write me whenever you wish…

bluewordsme2@gmail.com

gotta go :))

b

KYUNGHEE….

i will be working on your forward in the next two days….i am very excited for you….

ERICA…

how about sometime between my two workshops??? i have a week break between the two…

cheers, david

GLEN

Your description is the best argument for not changing a thing here…

KYUNGHEE LEE

What wonderful news… congratulations!!!! I can’t wait to see your book!

ALL

What do you think about our own wiki?? So much wisdom gets washed away with the waves and waves of comments and posts…. trying to find that one link or comment from weeks ago is basically impossible. With a wiki, this knowledge would have its place, and we could refer back to it…. and also, the collaborative and free form nature of wiki might just suit everyone?

I imagine articles on our favorite books or artists, or even particular photographs… pages for events like Perpignan and look3… each person here could have a page… anything! Also, this is low risk, as it doesn’t change the blog, but would be a parallel project… a very easy way to spin a web of knowledge and information.

Its potential usefulness would be dependent on collective participation and contributions…

ALL

I finally got into the darkroom (or darkhallway in my case) and have posted some photos which answer the eternal question “What did I do on my summer vacation?” As good photographs ask more questions than they answer, the eternal questions I hope to pose are “why?” and “wtf?”

I’ve seen so many things here in this single conversation (if you can call it such) that remind me why I started Vewd. It was to foster this sort of thinking.

It is my dream to be able to fund essays for the sake of essays and sharing the world we live in. We at Vewd haven’t made a single penny, but we still are paying out of our pockets the photographers we “publish”. We don’t want to be the big guys in town, we just want to help photographers be better photographers and get them work.

I have heard adamant objections to change on the site, but 700 comments are a feat for anyone to read. I do not know how to technologically overcome that but I would be willing to invest time and effort into figuring it out.

If this “hippy shack” would be interested in it, I am happy to offer a formal invitation to combine the technology of Vewd.org with the community found here.

We have in place the same things you are looking for: an online publishing tool for photo essays, a written blog with a strong commenting software, systems to pay photographers, servers to handle thousands and thousands of visitors a day. It would provide this community with an IT staff ready to build anything they request and play with ideas to figure out what we are to become.

I would love to play with this idea and see how Vewd can help – what are your ideas on this?

Matt Blalock

all…

after david’s workshop in june i went out and made a second part to the story of birgit.. put what i have learned there to good use.. trying to expand the focus but stay close close.. in this chapter i introduce her brother vincent and her sister hana

kids playing
making funny faces
rolling over the floor
little details
split second portraits
tiny, tiny
but grand
emotions

http://antonkusters.com/birgit-vincent-hana

what do you think?

peace,
anton

MARCIN, LASSAL, LAURA,

A perfect example of how AMAZING this community is…
I posted my “problem” with not having a website and you IMMEDIATELY were there to help. You’re WONDERFUL.
I totally thank you and have only a second here but just wanted tp say a quick THANKS.

I DO have my domain name CATHYSCHOLL.COM reserved thru network solutions I believe…paid for it a couple years back…paid for five years. I know my site is long overdue and now you are pushing me to do something about it. Okay! :)) I’ll be back soon…

ANTON,

I love this additional work. it’s lovely and intimate. your style seems to work so well with your subject. nice work – keep it up!!!

DAH

Yes, personally the week of Sept 20- 25 works to show you where I am at with the assignment, but i was actually alluding to something I think you wrote in the previous thread, about wanting to get a lot of people together at the loft to talk..am I making that up?

ALL

Am back in NYC..made it swiftly through the airport where I was stranded a couple of weeks back..it was a bizarre deja vu, knowing a place so intimately, and I saw my protectors the the ticket agents too..it was like old home week or something!

PLEASE

let me know if anyone wants to help out with shooting this last week, I could use help tues – friday..

Cathy

I have to check how many place I have on my server but I am almost sure there is many place. If you will have webiste give me a note.
I will check everything soon.

peace

Okay, another installment of this Americana thing I have going.

The Moving Wall is a touring Vietnam memorial that made a stop in my home town this weekend. I photographed the ceremony. Everything was shot and recorded on Thursday.

This is a long edit (about 12 minutes) but really I have the local community in mind, and those who didn’t get the see the memorial. So it is a lot longer than I would prefer, but at least stick with it through the scout portraits. I’m pretty happy with those as a group.

http://www.humanfiles.com/slideshows/moving_wall/publish_to_web/moving_wall.htm

I see well an exhibition of all these persons some the others who form the road…

ERICA…

yes, that is what i was talking about…getting as many of us from the forum as possible in New York for a gathering sometime that week..

MARCIN…

you may be right about the disappearance of film once there are small cameras with “full frame” sensors…but what about the archiving??? all hard drives eventually fail…you have a lifetime spent constantly moving work over to new hard drives….it seems to me that if you are working in digi, you had better make prints of anything that really matters….which is exactly what anyone does with film, but for some reason,this is not the inclination for most digital photographers…i really have to force myself to remember to print my digital work…a hard drive sitting on my desk does not compel me to go in a take a look and see what needs to be done….so easy to just forget …. whereas a set of contact sheets beckons always…

DAVID,

I recently read a long article about the archival problems with digital. The article was in swedish though.
NASA and other big organisations have lost large amounts of important information due to failior with digital storage and not having the time to renew their old backups.
As long as I myself is around I will probably have fresh backups and working harddrives, but after that? who’s going to do the backups? sure, if you have Magnum or another big agency they will probably keep it safe for you. But apart from that I see enormous amount of digital information just disappearing. What you are saying about prints is true and important to do if you work digitally and want your work to live on. But how long will the prints last? probably very very long if stored and framed properly. Yes, there will be fading, but the image will be there..

Cheers

Eric,

Génial!! je suis très heureuse que nous nous rencontrions! il me manque l’espace Van Gogh et les magasins SNCF à visiter, je ne sais pas si vous avez fait ces expositions, nous pourrions nous retrouver devant l’espace Van Gogh à 14h30? ou à un autre endroit? à très bientôt,
audrey
ps: mon tel +33 6 61 12 21 32

audrey, gina

thanks for taking a look… and glad you like it too :-)

truth is that i am very insecure about using color.. somehow i always end up converting it to b&w, and every time i do, a sigh of relief.. i don’t know why, it seems like i am more comfortable with it. i have no idea if it suits the story better though…

you know what? shall i post this exact same chapter in color, and ask your opinion again? b&w or color?

thanks for taking a look…

david, martin

yes it’s true that hard drives fail… but “backup” is not the same as “archive”… archives used to be on DLT tapes and stored in a fireproof safe, until secure online digital archiving came along. quite expensive, but chances of it failing are a million times smaller than, let’s say, your office burning down or getting flooded or broken into. but is it future proof? who knows…

hmm archiving and backup strategies, interesting… have we dealt with this before here? it’s kinda tech-talk, i know, but just too important maybe…

question: is there *really* (percentage-wise) more “image” loss when seriously archiving digitally vs. seriously archiving on paper? i have never heard of companies/people actually not being able to recover archived data when their hard drives failed, IF they implemented a secure backup and archiving solution.

ANTON,
Yeah, I really believe that there’s a lot more image loss with digital. Especially among ordinary people who don’t care about backups, prints and don’t transfer files to their new computer etc.
And those images (from non photographers) are equally important for future generations..

Cheers

Martin,

How many of these “non-photographers” images survive from the past ages of film & print? How many are doomed to rot in drawers or attics, unfound and unloved?

Sites on the internet preserve at least some of the tsunami of digital images, searchable and “live” not locked up anywhere! I’d never have seen Cushman’s pictures of Edinburgh in the sixties unless they were accessable online in digital form!

“Put ’em up! Keep them right there…Where I can see ’em!”

NEIL,

I’m not against digital publishing at all. Question is if you had seen Cushman’s pictures of Edinburgh at all, if they were captured digitally? don’t know..
Digital is very safe in short term, but don’t know about long term..

Cheers

Anton,

You are right that digital neglect is….digital. Its fine or gone. I would’nt give up on an increasingly technology-savvy public yet! If people care, they’ll do it. My bet is that if someone cared enough to take care of their slides like Cushman did, they’ll do the same for their digital data.

The density of digital data and the ease with which it can be copied is a considerable help! A friend of mine keeps a set of backup hard-drives in a cupboard for me. I’d have a hard time persuading him to let me fit in a physical archive of my images!

There is, for sure, something to be said for the security of using both belt and braces… digital and print… not that many people do nowadays.

KYUNGHEE…

this will be done today…..

NEIL….

of course “seeing” pictures is quite good on the net for information purposes…

but, cannot possibly be compared with seeing a fine print….

surely, for showing your portfolio then your laptop is just fine..and yes, it would be impractical to carry your finest prints around everywhere…

however, every photographer should have a box of “best prints” somewhere…archival prints…..all the rest of it is just “process”…the final final result of what we all do is a PRINT…that is , at least for me…the net, magazines, even books can never quite do justice to what we do…yes yes pictures can INFORM even with poor quality magazine reproduction or on the net…but photographs are different than pictures…photographs in their “highest order” are OBJECTS in and of themselves…if you do not believe this, just go to a Sotheby’s photographic auction sometime …

cheers, david

People keep prints, photo albums and negatives and for many it’s the most valuable things they have. And if they inherit from older generations I’d say that 95% don’t have the heart to throw it in the bin. It doesn’t need the maintaining that digital needs. It can sit in it’s box and you can take it out after 50 years and sure it won’t be as new, but it’ll be there and a bit faded.
I don’t think that people that have old hard drives will continue backing up through their lives and I certainly don’t think the next generation will do it for them.
So we need new and better solutions as you Anton. Just because we value our work doesn’t mean our kids or relatives care about it in the same way or have the same knowledge..

Cheers

Kyunghee,

Looking forward to the book—best of luck with that!!

David M

Sidney …

how come you know all these languages?!

Lembro que você falou Portugues comigo no começo und Du hast auch schon ein paar deutsche Sätze geschrieben und zwar PERFEKT.

That is so impressing it is almost scary!!!

LASSAL

You are both too kind and also exaggerating! I only know one word of Portuguese: “Obrigado!” The only languages I am competent to actually write letters in besides English are Japanese, Korean, and maybe German, and it takes a long time. I have picked up a few phrases here and there in other languages over the years, from travelling solo and from living with people from many different countries when I was a graduate student in Japan. Most well-educated Europeans speak more languages than I do.

hey kyunghee…

ok i will try color tonight! thank you for looking…

i am very curious about your book… i really liked the “island” pictures which you showed before.. i remember the grassy dune in the wind and the beach and shore and water… a lot of feeling in it…

dear laura!

oh no sounds like a disaster horror story!!! i don’t know exactly what happened, but maybe it’s good to discuss backup and archive strategies once here… i am sure there must be some specialists reading this who can help us out :)))

one thing i learnt the hard way is never to do long-term archiving on DVD, as the media will deteriorate very quickly… i guess there are better DVD’s out there now, but i have some discs that are about 10 years old that have become transparent and unusable… the plastic is ok but not the data layer… all gone…

ps. i don’t know what a “white room” is?

Martin

you’re right of course… hadn’t thought of that one: what about archiving for the future, and possibly for the ones who don’t care in the same way or have the necessary tech knowledge… good point…

in that case, i would say printing archive inkjets (or silver prints in case of film) in acid-free cardboard boxes is our best bet…

what i wanted to say, was merely that IF you choose digital you have to play by the rules of digital to “maximize your chances of survival”, and that these rules are very different from the “analog” ones

cheers!

David,

I would be there if I could, would drop everything if i could, but have plans/tickets/reservs./anniv with my wife Sue set for Greece Sept. 18 to early Oct … damn, was looking forward to comparing all my misconceptions about virtual people here with the real deal and dreaming big …

… And here i was thinking i embarrassed myself again with that previous far flung post ;)) Funny, Sue (Gemini) accuses me of being too linear, logical and Libra but somehow i can throw a wooly log on the fire here now and again …

tom

… and you know i am committed to however i may be of service …

AH! am going but…

Just had a moment of reflection and realized that my comment above that “I do believe that with time and money I could create from a fuller place” is horse shit. As many brilliant artists have shown us, creation of a stunning body of work can be beyond the constraints of time and/or money. Not that both time and money aren’t incredibly helpful and of great value, but what is needed more than an abundance of either is an abundance of spirit and inner resource..

This place is a bit like psychotherapy. You say something, then there is a little silence or an ‘mm-hmm’ and then you have another thought..thanks all.

ok… Time to emerge out of the Venice DEN
or pit…! ( once more )!!!
Take a breath…
Now I’m posting through the phone..
I have couple of new STORIES to show YOU!
Tonight when I reunite with my laptop I will
Link you all..
First..
We will witness the strength and determination
of the “VENICE WOMEN”.. Women changing the world
In Venice Beach..

Also in another link you will go back in the past,
“sex and drugs and rock’n’roll”
so we are going backstage on a rock concert..

following up on all the comments about storage, and what brings about “success” of a body work (thinking of both all the comments about Magnum, as well as the conversation between Erica (sacrifice, before and on this page) and Ana, and too the lovely language chat between lassal and Sidney (hey, i read the essay, and really enjoyed it alot, i hope rest of the blog read it too, thanks for the link!)..

some words…at least words that have always rung true for me, at least when it comes to creative endeavors…though, have less application with business models ;)))

“One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.”–thus spake zarathustra, f.n.

David / All

I’ve been lightly discussing content/design ideas with David Bowen, if a publication for the group were to become a reality. One approach is to have a broad range of content (as typical magazines do) but that does create an ambitious workload for something that would start off as a yearly—that amount of content might not quite be necessary at this point.

The other approach would be to have one to three articles (depending on how you divide information up) then let the bulk of the publication be a type of EPF/DAH blog portfolio. The focus of the articles could be on the culture of the blog, David’s family album project, EPF and assignments, and maybe something about workshops and festivals.

But the majority of pages should be populated with strong essays or bodies of work from this group, accompanied by a small amount of text—or maybe a more poetic treatment with classic bits of text from the blog scattered throughout.

Also, chicken or the egg question: do you design to fund a publication, or fund to design? It would be excellent to be able to pay contributors per image used, article written, page designed, etc.

and .. patricia..
come and play.. missing your presence.

david mcg & david b…

right on guys, this captures the intent and spirit for me.. wanna be a part, no question about that… but hey i’ve mentioned that already… no repeat necessary.. whichever way possible (used to design mags too) and if, photographically, i ever were to produce something good enough to be featured, i’d consider it a grant in itself… absolutely..

you could have three different kinds: feature on the site, feature in the mag, and the actual EPF grant itself..

‘ts getting somewhere, that’s for sure.

David McG …

I cannot hear Taps or Amazing Grace on the bagpipes without choking up for friends lost in the line of duty, for friends, family and strangers i have watched pass out of this life, and for vets i have worked with in the past to get through that awful kafkaesque nightmare of the VA. Too many, all stories different, and the same. I wrote you two draft emails and deleted them both … just let me say your series hit a deep note with both me and my wife Sue, who lost many close friends in that war and in the years after. Those Boy Scouts … probably not even really understanding why they are standing there, standing there to honor boys lost who were just a few years older than themselves, four decades ago, who really didn’t understand why they were standing over there either, waving a flag or a gun …

How many of these young innocents in your pictures will become names on a wall, too? And for what?

David & David

Awesome idea. Is there any mileage in creating a demo/sampler issue to show what we’re about and use to obtain funding?

neil – i think a mock up would be a great first step in terms of gaining funding and as charles says – distribution.. which is a high percentage of the work for sure.

CHARLES,

Thank you! I had the same dream and finally took one step to make it true. Started in Senegal (three times already) but hope to make it through many other places around. By the way, I had the chance to work and photograph musicians there ;-)
And you’re right. I need to put the very best in just one place .My problem until now is that I don’t have a website (I just use the blog format. Easy and free…). I’ve been thinking of working on a good website but it takes time and needs knowledge (and I don’t have much of those). But yes, I expect to do an effort in the next couple of months and construct one. I even don’t have a site where to upload my latest essays! And I know I should find how to do it.
Thanks so much for your nice comment on my work and for suggesting to get a good website. Will try to do it soon ;-)

No problem Rene – that’s just the organic nature of this blog.

DAH
Please, take your time !
Your own work should be the most important thing in your head,
I am totally with you.
When you feel that is time to talk, I will hear with heart opened.

LASSAL ( ! )

Você me surpreendeu respondendo em português ! Eu sabia que você passara parte de sua vida no Brasil, porém não esperava uma resposta em português.
Da mesma maneira que você, não é tão fácil para mim, conversar sobre fotografia em inglês, mas eu vou me virando e na medida do possível, aprendendo bastante, embora algumas palavras (normalmente girias) ainda me escapem ao conhecimento. Quando quiser visitar o Brasil, sinta-se em casa, e por favor entre em contato ! Você será muito bem vinda ! Em agosto do ano passado eu estive na Alemanha, porém ainda não te conhecia, o que é uma pena, pois tenho vários amigos ai e nos divertimos bastante em Berlin. Onde você mora atualmente ? Estou enviando suas congratulacões a Carmen ! Ela vai adorar saber sobre você.
Eu não conheço o fotógrafo Caio Reisewitz mas vou procurar conhecê-lo ! Você tem alguma indicação sobre o trabalho dele para me passar ?

well… as you mentioned, Carmen is just a small part of women in the same situation, but she is what I see as the strongest part. Someone that keep fighting and never surrender. Yes, a dreamer.
She (they) are not so far away as you think (in Brazil), because they are inside our houses, our families, living for our life as close as you can imagine ! Yes, two worlds… one life. That’s what I am trying to show. But I am thinking if I should really open this vision into diferent ways that sometimes are not part of two different worlds and just piece of one exclusive world….. her life. The life she dedicated to the kids… she told me on her first interview (assumed for this project) that never went to a big mall. Party… she prefer to stay at home. Socializing…. she also prefer to receive people at home. Work is money, she is a professional that must attempt to relationship, may have a boss… but she never wanted to live their life !
So this way become very difficult to slip the story in two different channels, because for her, there is just one way…. be the best for the kids is her life. So… yes I have shoot lots of relationship, I am confused if that’s the right point but, I just assumed that: her life are kids. if she eats mignon at the work and rice at home…. does not matter. How do you feel ?
Difficult…. yes, but I hope to clean my mind, and that is the why your oppinion is very important to me. I’ll try to post a new link with a longer edit very soon.

Thank you very much !! and remember…. you are welcome !

AUDREY BARDOU

Yes, high level intimacy. This is one point I like this work.
Good to hear from you Audrey. I am glad you like it.

BOB
Thank you for the links !
Good learning for me !

PANOS
Thank you !!

ERIC ESPINOSA
So how do you feel about ?
Thanks for checking it !

ERICA
Ok, I will wait.

KYUNGHEE LEE
Very good news ! Congratulations !
Show us some preview if you are allowed.
Sorry if I missed something…I would love to see, is it possible ?
I am not pressing you…. just curious.

Cheers

Gui Galembeck

gui the peace maker :o)
great..
i think we probably all use both at some point, and meet in the middle.

ALL..

i’m going back to my roots.. yeah.
teaching off of my old tibetan work and found some slides of half a dozen of the frames..
my negatives are now only 6 weeks or so from delivery.. it’s been a nightmare being away from them.

enjoy.
http://www.bophoto.co.uk/blog/blog.htm

david b

again, you amaze me with your stories and images.. you seem to have lived seven lives already.. great stuff… if this are your roots… man then i have got a song for you :)))

going to bed now.. tired… have to start work again in 5hrs..

peace bro

Panos, thank you, looking forward to Greece! :)))

Just got some tips, contact, from someone who was raised in Athens … she could not wait to leave, i know it is much different to live there … Charles Peterson knows her, our mutual photo editor on occasion ;-)

Have a little free time to myself upfront, can’t quite decide where to go before meeting my wife in the kyklades. Fascinated with Mount Athos peninsula, a millennia of autonomous rule, all monks all the time, the last remnants of the Byzantine empire, would seem to fit in with an upcoming project here to some degree but bureaucratic hassles, permits, time limits to go there … and then also remote Karpathos, a favorite of one of my favorites Nikos Econompoulos … and then western Crete.

Must choose, can’t decide, wonderful dilemma.

“Most well educated Europeans speak more languages than I do.”

Okay, now I feel iggerant; most well-educated gnats speak more languages than I do.

andrew

you do make sense.. the more i look at it…

so tired now, really going to bed now… will sleep on it.. but i think you said it well..
thanks for looking

snoring

et tu gina? coloribus quoque?

:)))

ok i give in…

sleepy sleepy thanks to you too for looking…

AKAKY :)))))))

yes…on all accounts…and i like fruit cake too, go figure ;)))…but, im totally down with Twain and Vonnegut as not only 2 of our greatest (and those dudes surely are biologically connected, gotta be), but also 2 of the greatest mustaches this side of the War in the Caucuses (the 19th century one ) ;)))

“Of course, no man is entirely in his right mind at any time.”-Twain

“Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand.”–Kurt Vonnegut

ANTON …

hard to tell … I think I like about 1/3 better in color (like the first 3 photos) and 2/3 better in b/w… For me it has definitively to do with the kind and amount of color & combinations …

Falling into bed now too, just passed by quickly to see what is going on here…

GUI
;)))) thanks! Be warned, because I’ll get back to you on this!
More tomorrow…

BTW Caio was one of the artist on the 51st bienale of venezia that represented Brazil. Unfortunately I missed him there. Got to know him earlier, when he was still in Darstadt and struggeling for his photographic language… I think he had to return to Brazil to find it. If I remember correctly we went to school together as small kids in SP… But that was something like kindergarden or so. And he was some years older than me too.

Gute Nacht everybody around this part of the world,
Bom dia para o pessoal do Brasil! :))

Lassal

ANTON :)))

I have looked at both the B/W version and the Color version…

Amigo, listen: THERE IS NOT A BETTER VERSION BETWEEN THESE 2 SETS! :)))

they are ENTIRELY DIFFERENT!…the same story, the same children and the emotion and the story is entirely different on whether you’ve done that work as color or b/w….no better. i love the b/w and i love the color…for 2 very different reasons…

the b/w is more sad, more existential, more frightening and seems to suggest despair…the color is more about the energy and the joy, the “mystery” of the children’s encounter with this diabetes…of course i shoot only color and i am aware (and sometimes frustrated) by the weight of b/w…i dont mean “historical” weight (b/w is timeless bullshit, or that what all the classics were of), but the visual punch of using only 2 elements…color has magnificent weight and sadness too (look at david’s divided soul or Bravo’s work or Andersons’ work on the campaign trail or in russia or Jonas B’s use of color), but color also creates a different visceral response…it’s sensorial…and therefore, we “read” the story differently…

for me, it seems you have to ask yourself: as a photographer, how did you experience these children….were you trying to tell a story about them, their struggle, their coming to terms with this or were you making Pictures using them…this is a question i struggle with all the time…especially when photographing children (as in bones)…i dont want to suggest for you an answer (there is not one), or my own opinion, but you should look at both b/w version and the color version and ask yourself this:

which story has meaning for you as to what you’d wanted to convey to the viewer by photographing these children…

i love the black and white photographs, for sure, but oddly now as i see the color, it is the color pics which make the most sense to me…

and thats as a B/W talking ;)))

but, both are strong and powerful and radiant…for different reasons…

cheers
bob

just a thought on the disappearence/reappearence of film.
I very much doubt that film will disappear, sorry to all you digi clones. I know you want to eat our brains, but film is just too popular. so there.
Freestyle photosupply here in LA keeps having record sales in film and related supply. hell, you can get 35mm at the 99c stores if you have to.
also I think the new owner at Ilford is a purist old school type who is loyal to film. its actually surprising to me how many films are actually on the market. its choice.

don’t you mean clingfilm vs silverpaper

ANTON:

there was a typo in my comment,…as is obvious, it should be:

“of course i shoot only B/W and i am aware (and sometimes frustrated) by the weight of b/w”…it’s why i choose to stay with B/W and B/W film…’cause it’s been the way i see, but also, i’m still struggling with all that b/w means…for me, often, restriction (2 grapic elements, 1 spectrum of tonality) yields incredible diversity and freedom….

i love love color (i used to be a painter, right)…and i love color photos…but, i think lots of photogs think the question of b/w vs. color is just about “the look” of the picture…that would be a major mistake…and why i find so much b/w quite boring really…

anyway, both are strong, both sets have their character…now you gotta ask: what is the character of the story and of you as a photographer…

goodluck brother

b

D Mc,

Great idea about publishing…I think theres a lot of material here to publish so that shouldnt be a problem…finding an audience may be. Perhaps set it up as an on-line publication first?

Kyunghee,

you are very lucky. I was able to talk with Bruno when he was here in Seoul a couple of times but would have loved to shoot with him for a day.

David McG, just looked at the “moving wall”. Really good job, very humane approach, IMO, totally american, I think you are on to something documenting this country’s growing pains. The Fusco analogy is a well deserved compliment.

I can’t wait for your next “installment”.

YOUNG TOM

Athos. Heck ya. I would consider it a privilege.

Angels in the Dust. Have never heard of it… (and now) CAN’T WAIT to see it! Love it when that happens.

Anna, decent documentary and your subject … tough …

Athos … okay, Athos first, it’s settled … i do so hate standing in line though, and i’m sure there will be no humor if i start mooing like a cow being led to slaughter in the Greek ministry or U.S. Embassy, i have to go through two governments for a maximum 3-day stay, bloody paperwork … ;-)

But yes, it is a privilege … it is unfortunate they have such byzantine male-only rules, amazingly in place for 1,000 years, even for animals apparently, except cats. I will be lost in translation in a big way, perhaps i should wear a nice summer dress as i step off the ferry … young tom in drag … maybe not. Like Bob, I just don’t have the legs for it :))

david mcg

thinking b&w… i get you… i have that too, “birgit” is the first time i actually contemplated the possibility of color (ditigal, eh – before that i only had Tri-X)… and i must say it’s quite unsettling, but in a good way. seems like i am learning to look at my own images all over again. makes sense?

lassal

yes the first thing i noticed was that i would make a different edit for the color than for the b&w… i think about 80% would stay the same, but the rest would be different… i feel that some don’t “work” well in b&w or in color. but because this has never occurred to me before, i would have to re-edit some of the work. glad that i am using digital this time :)

bob bro

damn you keep on saying it like it is, how do you do that :)) no really, thanks for the deep insight… i’ve been running around quite a while now, trying color here and there and always disappointed.. but now i know that this was a wrong approach in se… as a photographer i have always only “looked” in b&w, almost by default. it just made more sense (still does most of the time). but now that is getting uprooted… but at the same time gives more freedom… with birgit i totally “lose” myself while photographing, i’m barely aware of myself photographing, being so into the moments, so empty afterwards… this does worry me a little: will i, in other projects, always have to go as “deep” as this to yield results… will i literally be able to cope with that…

also it’s the first time that color had made sense to me. she is beautiful, she is life, she is all about color… sure there are heartbreaking moments, but it doesn’t do her justice to show her story in b&w. in some way, after i look at the color again, i feel like i’m almost betraying the situation (and her) when i show the b&w… strange feeling indeed… no. color is the only choice here. even though i’m a b&w kinda person… well, at least, i thought so… having doubts about that as well now (a good thing i suppose? can only make me stronger)

it will kill a bit inside of me to let go of the b&w here though… there are definitely some singles inside my mind…

i did think of mixing the two together… in a serene kind of way… everyone always says choose b&w or color, but do you think, like e.g. in a book, you could mix? like several color spreads once in a while broken by b&w?

david b

thanks for the words.. a few days ago it was the first time i thought i could turn this into something.. don’t know what yet.. so much to document, to see, to share.. this is only scratching the surface… hmm… i’m starting to see possibilities here… but first get my images… then the rest… maybe need looking into some kind of support to carry this to a next level, like travel with her, go to her school, more, more..

audrey

i do not know how to photograph in color either… this are my first baby steps!!! you should try, it’s fun :))) thanks for looking…

herve

Hilarious! “In My Herve Opinion”… sounds so much better than humble :)))
i do see what you mean by the rhythmic complexity… and definitely some of it gets lost when in b&w… sometimes for the better, but this time i think not…
another question: i see this complexity when looking at the images afterwards, but… i do not see this when framing for the photograph, in that moment i just switch off my brain and “feel” for 100%… no thinking… but if i don’t “see” it while photographing, how can i ever learn or improve or control it???

and yes you are right, the colors are straight off the camera… only minimal WB adjustments… i kinda like it this way for birgit, there is a kind of transparency in them, a transparency that is in her skin too. but it is not ‘outspoken’ enough to be a ‘signature’… i should really “own” my own color. but to be honest i have never explored the light management… (first time color, you know…) and now that you mention it, it seems like something very important to do.. will look into it… thanks for the insight…

and as ALWAYS… IF you have a big screen… click below,
then , click slideshow… also available in China and of course Athos ( Greece)
Anna, Young Tom, :)))))))))))))

http://gallery.me.com/innerspacecowpanos#100129&view=mosaic&sel=0

so… more to come,
peace

ANTON wrote: “i did think of mixing the two together… in a serene kind of way… everyone always says choose b&w or color, but do you think, like e.g. in a book, you could mix? like several color spreads once in a while broken by b&w?”

And yes, that is what I think every single day, and specially now that I’m editing a work mostly in color but where some random photos work really good in b&w. And a friend of mine just showed me one of the books from Winogrand: WINOGRAND 1964 and a report about it. And, like if answering Anton thoughts (and mine) you can read:

Black and white still dominated [at least four to one], but the color camera was often raised just seconds before or after a black and white shot was taken.
If Winogrand’s color work does not have the narrative impact of his black and white work, it makes up for it in its spot-on graphic sense, using color and shape the way a jazz musician uses phrasing and tempo to shade a performance.

In the book (mostly in b&w) he mixes some color photos that really fit in the symphony… And, why do we always get the straight way and what everybody says? an essay has always to be only in b&w or only in color) WHY??

Garcia Rodero just had an incredible exhibition in Photo España. All photos (tremendous photos) in b&w but…. there was a small room with color pictures making the exhibition richer than it was. Just amazing….

Maybe I should keep some b&w photos in my latest color essay….

Peace

Ana

Hi David,
just a little note about a book you’ll enjoy to see….”Campo Adentro” (Susan Bank) a b/w essay about this little “Guajiro Village” at Pinar del Rio, Cuba…beautiful photography…I guess you ‘ve been in Pinar del Rio….my mother war born there.

un abrazo.
Carlos Rubin

.. and for the record..
all photos shot with only one lens,
( 28mm)… NOT because I’m a Purist,..
no.. but because I’m lazy…
:)))…
Peace y’all …

HI ERIC,

It’s funny you picked up on that sentence..a couple of minutes later I wrote another post, realizing that the first words are untrue to a point, that creating something meaningful need not be restricted by money or time. They can be real factors in the production of something, but it would be foolish for me to see these as the things which keep me from doing the work I long to do.

The ‘fuller place’ that I was thinking of is an inner place, not a physical one. While I understand that it is easy to get deluded by thinking ..if only.. I do believe that some projects/subjects resonate more deeply than others, and I can feel that I haven’t allowed myself to delve into the subject matters that mean the most to me. When I do (because of intellectual/emotional reasons as well as having a degree of freedom to do so time and money wise), I suspect (and of course I could be mistaken) that the process of committing to something that I have a profound connection to will allow me to work from this emotional/spiritual/mental ‘fuller place’. My guess is like in anything, when you feel a sense of purpose that comes not just from a level of wanting to do good, but from knowing that this is work that you must do, as a unique being on a path, that aspects of self not previously accessed will reveal themselves..

and yes, I have a sense of what that project might be, but is a topic best saved for an in person tete-a tete..

right now, just struggling to deal with basic issues of light and a too small backdrop and feeling rushed and a bit confused about how this neighborhood piece is going to pan out. never before have i worked so openly, with expectation of an end result, with the support of others..all marvelous fodder, but pressures too. but I guess this is part of the DAH ASSIGNMENT EXPERIMENT..time frame, restricted budget, audience waiting to see if you can produce…

xo all.

wish I could be in Perp. but there is work to be done here!

Anton

Thank you for your color images on Brigit.
In my humble opinion, color is better for me… B&w is good but feels too sad…

In my case, I work in B&W …when the objects are connected with lines which introduce some feeling and emotions …or with some masses which reveals some informations.

The other side…I work in colors…color is the first factor rather than lines or masss. Color itself represent some feelings, emotion and meanings.

David Mc. Charles, Gui
Thank you so so much.
I enjoy your works, too. ^^

Sidney
I always admire at your extensive knowledge and generosity.
In the early 1980s… I was an unversity student… Then I walked along the Busan harbor everyday, too.

I looove sea-smell and sea-wind very much…
Someday if you visit Busan, Let’s try sasimi together.^^

Thank you.

.

yes ana… go for it!! i’m doing it too :-)

(and thank you for your thoughts!! winogrand was a great help…)

marcin

got your prints in the mail today… gorgeous… thank you thank you

i hope all is well with you these days

anton

Sunrise

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/269461main_Sol_090_sunrise_516-387.jpg

KYUNGHEE….

i just sent you a private e-mail detailing my delay with your forward..but , just in case you see this before you see your e-mail, i had to take my mother to the hospital yesterday…i spent the night with her last night and she is in stable condition…in any case, this obviously meant i did not get to your “preface” for your book…am i too late??? barring any negative turn in my mother’s health, i can do your forward tonight or in the morning unless the deadline is passed…let me know soonest here or by e-mail…

cheers, david

DAVID:

running to meditation, so this will be brief…

Marina and i send you our thoughts and love and hope that all will be well with your mom…

you’ll be in our prayers…

hugs
b

Dear David

I’m so sorry about your mother.

I hope she gets better soon.

I’ll pray for her here in Korea.

About the letter, My publishing company gave me a few more days when I told them about my situation.

I have the deadline untill 29th .

However I still need to translate your writing in both Korean and Japanease by that date.

So if you could please write the letter by the 27th (tommorrow).

That would still be fine.

I am sending you a copy of the letter from Japan also.

David, thank you very much.

sincerely yours,

Kyunghee Lee

p.s. I have sent an email , too.
It’s the copy of that.

.

damn.. Sorry to hear that …!
Damn..
Yep.. I also suggest courage..
Time heals..
Peace

DAH…

Please keep us all posted re: your mother. My thoughts are with you my friend. xox

David – just checking in here.. while Hillary talks in the background.. the first thing she said tonight was ‘I am a proud mother…”.. well your mother must also be very proud.. and deservedly so.. stay with her amigo.. my thoughts are with her and you.. i imagine her only as well and vibrant. talk soon, lance

Lance,
thanks man… David was in a car when he called me…
and you how “old fashioned he is…:)))))))))))”
he has no “bluetooth” earpiece… and you know the law has recently changed… and the fines severe !!!
laughing…. a real magnum photographer doesnt need bluetooth !!!???shiiiiiit…:))))))
but yes, he in good spirits… but “focused” to his “responsibilities”
and COMMITED… COMMITEMENT… !!!! ???????
what a coincidence.. just like the TITLE of this thread!!!!!
COMMITMENT !!!!
peace

Hey David,

sorry to hear about your mother. Spend all the time you have with her. She will get better.

I hope and certitude your wonderful mother will be fine and good health. Keep your time with your mom. Most important.

peace and health.

I wish a very good restoring to your mom, that she can bring in as soon as possible among you, a lot of courage to you and your family, Kind regards,

Panos …
thanks.
Wrote you an email.
L

I hope your Mom gets well soon. Take good care of her, we appreciate her work ;-)

Best Wishes

Mr. David Alan Harvey

i recieved your parcel from new york today..

sending you email now.. it’s difficult to thank you enough.. however – i will try.

i hope things are smooth for you and your family.. and that the next 72 hours turn positive.

love, peace, respect
david

Morning ALL

Last night I dreamed that Marie and I went to the video store to find a good flick for David to watch with us, to distract him a little while his mom is in recovery; we picked out Funny Face, the 1957 film with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire. The photographer character in the movie was loosely based on Avedon, whose images were in the film. I’ve never actually seen the movie..but will try to track it down to watch it in the spirit of the dream.

sending good thoughts..

Hi David,

My congratulation to Amanda and Scooter. I wish them joy and happiness and hope they find the balance needed for harmonious lives together. I am wondering why Amanda chose to give up her family’s name when she married – is this ‘the norm’ in the US? To me, it implies a form of ‘ownership’ – what do you think?

I am committed to ‘ideals’ (because they remain unchanging) and to working ‘to the beat of my own drum’ but it would be good to cooperate with others who think in the same way – and if their drum beats at the same pace it would be wonderful!

Have a great day!

Jenny

Jenny,
“I am wondering why Amanda chose to give up her family’s name when she married – is this ‘the norm’ in the US? To me, it implies a form of ‘ownership'”

I have a feeling you are opening a huge discussion there :)

David,
I wish your mothe rprompt recovery. Take care of you and of yoruself

Arie

David,
I meant

I wish your mother prompt recovery. Take care of your mother and of yoruself..

Sorry still early here…

Arie

David,
I’m thinking of you and your mother and sending you thoughts and prayers… and hoping for many more days of happiness and sunshine for both of you.
Kelly

Wishing the Harvey family all the best …

DAVID,
I wish your mom get well soon and hope the best for both of you.

did someone said GONZO???
;)))) .. ALL, please write…
We are not mourning anything…
I’m in the car.. I can’t write but yes.
We.. Are still doing our job… here,
writing…
Just because we “allow” David some
private time ( family – healing time)..
Does not mean that “we” are frozen..
Let’s all keep posting links to our work,
Joking, teaching, learning, lurking,
writing …
I promise more David news as soon as
I can..
In the meantime keep working..
Show must go on..
Just a bump on the road..
It will go away..
I promise you..
Peace, love and hugs…
ps: Lassal thank you for your encouraging
email..:)

YES, AGREED PANOS

No mourning..and even the mourning dove who chose to lay her eggs on my fire escape, who has been my constant companion while I am at the computer, is rejoicing today, at the birth, hatching, of her little one..she and I are listening to Corelli, she’s nested among my herbs, I think she is quite well.

Actually, in thinking about those moments when health isn’t at its best, I was musing over the things we (I) delay and then perhaps wish we hadn’t. I have delayed scanning the 4x5s from this assignment, couldn’t bring myself to confront them, new territory and all (first time using a 4×5) in the midst of an already consuming project..but today I couldn’t get an assistant and at the encouragement of a friend, I am here now, scanning the 4×5.

All is not rosy, but there are a few flowers among the weeds, and it isn’t as bad as I expected..okay, back to it, write some good things, long day ahead still..

panos thanks a lot for your words, i’m sure we will meet again somewhere.
I don’t write a lot on this foum but I am always here with all of you, this beautifull community.
kisses