nobody goes to Iowa for vacation….if you go to Iowa it is for a very specific reason…you are either driving to Colorado from Illinois , or to enter a Presidential primary, or to grow corn and the animals that eat it….i can tell you for sure that Cecil and Wilma above were not responsible for the Iowa primary results pushing Barack Obama into the international spotlight….they are among America’s conservatives by label…..conservative only actually in the sense of thinking that a man ought to work hard for his family and be independent and the government should keep its hands out of just about everything…the irony of course is that without government subsidies , Cecil would have given up the family farm long ago…
yet Cecil, a hard working man of strong opinions, didn’t see it that way…he figured he was providing Americans their biggest commodity..food…of course the only food i can remember after milking cows and baling hay all one summer with uncle Cecil and aunt Wilma was in fact Wilma’s chocolate cake…but, forget politics anyway…even if you disagree with the politics of many so called middle Americans, you cannot question their basic integrity…an honest dollar for an honest days work, get the kids disciplined and off to school, fight for freedom if necessary, and get to church on Sunday…..period
our current essayist Danny Wilcox Frazier explored Iowans as no other in his first book Driftless…check it out…brilliant book…he might not have met Cecil and Wilma, but i am sure he would have recognized them quickly if fate had brought him to their front door…
nobody goes to Iowa for vacation…well, i did…as a kid i thought Iowa was the coolest place on the planet…left my beach home , just to go help clean out the chicken house….seemed like fun at the time….wanted to be a farmer even before i wanted to be a photographer…old Cecil had big hands…i always felt he would crush mine with his handshake and basically, he scared the hell out of me in general….2010 was Cecil’s last year, so i publish this little anecdote just for Wilma and my cousins Marilyn, Doug, Lowell, Julie, Allen, Dale , and their families…
even apparent disconnected aspects of my history i figure play into the whole mix of things one way or another…what may seem important at one point, may lose significance in the long run and conversely something long ago almost forgotten may jump right in your face….all of this goes into every picture i make that truly resonates…not literally perhaps, but deep down…
what about you? do past family relationships affect you and your work? or is the present all that there is?
-dah-
That’s the reason why I love you…MY PHOTOGRAPHERS…
cause you give voice to all of us…
You give voice to the CIVILIANS around the Universe
“If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive in this moment. Each is present in your body. You are the continuation of each of these people.”
Thich Nhat Hanh (Vietnamese Monk, Activist and Writer. b.1926)
Thank you.
Interesting question. How could the present be all there is when there is no present, really… Time inescapably slips away, moment after moment, so we are only able to reflect on the moments past, however recent, or think about the future ones, always somehow distant. When thinking about time, I always recall my favourite quote:
“…in the hope, that time will not pass away, has not passed away, that I can turn back and go behind it, and there I shall find everything as it once was, or more precisely I shall find that all moments in time have co-existed simultaneously, in which case none of what history tells us would be true, past events have not yet occurred but are waiting to do so at the moment when we think of them…” from Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald
What you described as things being important or loosing significance through time, “things jumping out in your face” is just that… moments in time that co-exist simultaneously.
To answer your question :-)… Yes, past family realationships and all other relationships past, with people and everything else, that is all that my work is about.
This essay sent me down a road of memories; I spent my 16th summer on Uncle Walter’s farm in Saskatchewan. Every day we’d run the milk cans to the local dairy, down 20 miles of dusty road. Back home, what used to be a long slog in the car was no longer – my attitude toward distances had changed. My approach to time had altered too, I think.
My great uncle Andy…he had BIG hands! Whenever I meet someone my age from Sudbury, I ask them if they had ever bought their Christmas tree from my uncle, who would stack them by the hundreds in his backyard on Regent Street. As he was the only tree vendor in Sudbury during the 60s to 80s, my new acquaintances would always reply in the affirmative.
And just today (no bull) my friend Steve sent me this link; a mother/daughter portrait. They’re from Iowa too, and I’m sure many will recognize it:
http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/C.aspx?VP3=ViewBox_VPage&VBID=2K1HZOWSDU2XQ&IT=ZoomImage01_VForm&IID=2K7O3RJZY91F&PN=1&CT=Search
Our past can affect our future; our ancestors can still influence our present; sometimes the things that happen today are just weird coincidences. For me, the answer to the essay’s questions is “Yes”.
Ha, I too used to vacation in Iowa as a child. My grandfather was a foreman for a company that built those hi-tension electrical towers and they lived in at least three different small towns in Iowa. Yea, I thought it was a wonderful place as well, though I don’t have a lot of specific geographical memories. The old Muscatine bridge, endless dirt roads between the towers, biting cold at sunrise, countless little diners, steakhouses with candles in chianti bottles, fresh catfish and bluegill, hunting dogs, guns, quail, pheasant and motorcycles. It’s where I learned to shoot, hunt, fish, ride, and drive. The old company trucks with the h-pattern gear shift on the steering wheel. A couple of Allard’s photos captured a good part of that life.
But as to your question, nah, regarding work, whatsa behind me is not important. The present is all there is.
But maybe it depends on how we define the present.
All too familiar. Yes, family relationships affect us. Also… the present. Even the future affects us, really. If you think about it. What is also familiar is the inability for our family and friends to see/grasp reality. “Keep the government out of my Medicare!” “I don’t need government interfering with my Social Security!” And Cecil. Ugh. It’s a wonder. But, really, it’s not, is it? It’s ignorance. Plain and simple. Wall Street gurus laughing it up cursing “big government” while drinking high dollar scotch, completely unaware that the U.S. Government bailed their asses out! They have jobs today because of the Democratic government that saved their balls! It’d be infuriating if it wasn’t so laughable. Oh well. Time for some scotch and a good night’s rest.
Cheers all!
My last book in the seven book series is called “mis remembering” and there is a image of my brother in law just before Jimmy the Dancer took a good hold of him. He died the week I completed the last tweaks to the book.
Sometimes I worked on the image and others after I saw him in hospital and there he was a very different man than in the photo. In the book he is part of a situation not there as a person ……….. still it was a odd way to produce a book
what about you? do past family relationships affect you and your work? or is the present all that there is?…………so yes to both independently of one another and in spite of on another
what about you? do past family relationships affect you and your work? or is the present all that there is?……
what kinds of questions are these?
i think youre playing tricksie on me..
your past molds you at the present time and what you decide to do with what you know holds your future.
Iowans are an interesting group when you start talking about politics. We have one of the most liberal senators in Tom Harkin (which most farmers adore), and one of the most conservative congressmen in Steve King. We nominated a young black man named Barrack Hussein Obama during the Iowa caucuses, while simultaneously nominating a conservative preacher, Mike Huckabee. Many of us know that using corn as ethanol is stupid, wasteful and drives food prices up worldwide, but we like the farmers getting better prices (and know that that money will never dry up as long as we are first in the nation for the caucuses).
We are a state of somewhat extreme views in the guise of moderation. We are a state that regularly feels as if it is an underdog because nobody comes here that doesn’t really have to. Iowa is easy to dismiss. We are easy to overlook. We are easy to look down upon. Most importantly, we are easy to underestimate. Being an Iowan has effected the way I shoot, and the way I live.
When I went to New York for visit photo editors in August, I had a meeting at a major national magazine (not going to say which one). One of the junior editors found me quaint, and started to harass me about being an Iowan. “What famous people have been born in Iowa?” I responded, “Well, Opera star Simon Estes was born there, and still spends quite a bit of time in Des Moines.” “Never heard of him.” “Well, Slipknot is from Iowa.” “Oh yeah. Forgot about them.” “Seems we just found out a little about your musical tastes, didn’t we?”
To summarize what DAH said earlier, if you disrespect me, watch out. For some reason, I haven’t gotten any work from them. Fine. I’d rather have my pride than their business. :-)
BTW, note to all the photographers that will be coming through the state next caucus season: The image of the campaign sign in the snowy field has been done…alot. Please stop it.
Sitting in a mediocre hotel in Kansas City, waiting to fly down to Houston in the morning. David caught me in a conversational mood. Maybe it’s the subject matter. Maybe it’s the beer.
Farm life permeates most everything in the midwest. I bet people in LA or New York don’t have commercials running constantly about seed, weed control and pesticides. I work for Meredith (publisher for Better Homes and Gardens, etc.) whose first magazine was a newsletter called Successful Farming that started over 100 years ago, and is still published today. Ethanol is pushed everywhere, especially E85. Lots of pick up trucks, even though most of them don’t haul anything more than the occasional sofa. Little things like that stick out when you visit a major city. Seems like something is missing.
Funny anecdote that some people not familiar with Iowa might find hard to believe. I have lived in the Corn State almost my whole life. Moved here when I was six. Always lived in Des Moines or one of the ‘burbs. The first farm I had ever stepped foot on was in southeast Ghana.
“do past family relationships affect you and your work? or is the present all that there is?”
odd question. Cant say I have ever thought about it, so concsiously at least i’d have to say no. But thats not to say it doesnt. One thing for sure though is that the past has got me to where i am now. Any deviation of events would have led to a different ‘now’ entirely. So if you like who and where you are now, you must celebrate ‘all’ the events that got you here, coz even the shittiest stuff that happened forced a fork in the road that you had to choose from. And if you like where you are now then I guess you chose right right?
Back to family. I think most of my family see me as some kind of mad genius, which only makes them half right…joking aside they do also know that I am cold and distant, aloof, condescending, opinionated and supremely selfish….and they still love me just as much, which sums up family and love in my book.
If my life depended on it I could not tell you when my mothers birthday is, or how old she is. I call her rarely and see her even less…and yet when I got a call in new york a couple of years ago that she was in hospital and dying I dropped everything and flew straight to her side where I stayed until she was in the clear. just set up a chair as a bed right next to hers. Two years later she is still around, and I still dont visit or call. And yeah I forgot her birthday this year too. The same goes for all my family. They visit each other and call and have kids and do family stuff together all the time. They are all good people..but I rarely see them and play no part in the ‘family’ day to day stuff. But with each and every one of them I know that there is a place at the table and an open door anytime for me. And they know that despite the fact that I am mainly a mystery to them, and could be anywhere at any given time, and remain a stranger in many ways…..if any of them ever needed anything that I could give, they would have it in a heartbeat.
So actually, thinking about it now, I guess that family HAVE affected how I am and how I work. They have always allowed me to be myself, and accepted that…and continued to love and support me whatever I do without ever trying to change me.
john
Not only have past family relationships affected me and my work, but also the lack of said relationships, as time passes even more so.. as do present family relationships affect it, no way out there..
do past family relationships affect you and your work?
—————–
absolutely, past relationships fucked me up
or is the present all that there is?
———————
i wish…
Thanks for sharing David.
I recently moved to an area I though I had never been – Northern California, Central Valley – only to discover through memory my time duck hunting with my dad in the seasonal wetlands (I was too young to shoot so I held the dog), or driving out to watch the great migration of Snow Geese turn the sky black over the rice fields. All of this took place during winter visits to my Grandparents (in Ukiah, Mendocino County) from our home in Idaho. So yes, the past comes back to color the present… I soak it all up and hopefully it comes out in the work I do close to home….
Mendocino
Mendocino
Mendocino……….best weed…what’s not to love?
Not even to go see the Grant Wood house in Cedar Rapids???
Great question and I’m always thinking about how my past can affect now…
A great deal of my past stays in my past. I try hard not to think about my life from about the age of 10 to 18.. that’s almost a decade. From 18 to 26 I was spending a lot of time trying to make up for those lost 8 years… So now at 31, all I really have is my very, very distant past, or now. Since now has the most meaning and is the easiest to reflect on… Now I all I really have. In the future – this will be a past I can reflect upon…
Today I’m living the tomorrows past..
(one more reason to relax, no stress.. Any mistake of today will be laughable tomorrow)
Stress out now it will save you a task tomorrow and you can say be there done that without stressing that you haven’t stressed enough ………….. but that is tomorrow
Damn.. makes sense.. I’m changing my life now..
I’ll do tomorrows work today so I’ll take tomorrow the day off!
Brilliant
Makes you wonder why you even bothered with yesterday
best thing about yesterday is that all my troubles seemed so far away ,
but that makes it even better coz today im even more far away from my troubles .. NOT?
I’m reminded of the lines “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there”. And indeed it is, like a half-remembered dream. When I go to photograph I often say that I’m “going walkabout” and think of the experience as “dreamtime.
Having lived in the same area for a long time (too long) the place is not only populated with memories but also with ghosts. Ghosts of people gone and places disappeared.
John Gladdy, great post; Velibor “Yes, past family realationships and all other relationships past, with people and everything else, that is all that my work is about.” – your wonderful photography on your website reveals the truth of your statement.
Mike.
DAVID,
Interesting post and question…. I have been fortunate to get close to many middle Americans… Even before my stay in Cincinnati that you are familiar with, straight after college, I went to graduate school at the Univerity of Illinois, in Champaign Urbana… right in the middle of the corn fields… funny how I ended up there…. I was sponsored by a French chemical company at the time and with careful planning, had arranged to have a reserach program with a professor in Florida.. I had pictured a few years of fun, the beach, the palm trees and then 3 months before going, this company asked me to change and sent me to do research in Champaign… not exactly the palm trees there…. I thought I was going to dye in the middle of no-where… As it turned out, I had the best time of my life… nearly got married to a girl from middle america… You are right to talk about integrity… the church on Sunday :):)… anyway, warm memories and this is where I have fallen in love with the US (literally :):)…. small town americans have a narrow view of the world but when you get to know them, they are real people…
Now back to your question…. I would say for sure in my case that past family relationship have influenced me…. this is how I got into photography in the first place… There has always been a love for photography in my family… My grandfather was a pioneer long time ago, and we have plenty of very old photographs taken on glass of the first world war… priceless…. When I was a kid, I also remember my mother and father going into a small dark room with red light to develop their B&W photographs…. loved it when I was a kid, it was magical… the smell of the chemicals, opening the films in the dark… great memories… my father bought me a camera when I was young… as you know, up until recently, father and son were having their yearly trip together, going some place far that would inspire us and just photograph the whole week, father trying to beat the son, the son trying to take a better photograph…. was also fun to have both father and son join the same class with you…. My dad is still going strong by the
way… he just won a prize last week on some work he did in Marseille and the ever critical son actually thought this work was good :):)… anyway, the circle is still going… my little daughter Tia and my son Enzo both have their own cameras… hope one will get hooked… my daughter Tia I think is into it already and she is just going to turn 6 in a few days… funny story having an article about our family and experience and this freelance photographer came and asked us to take few poses… at some stage my daughter told her that she should use the flash in that spot.. I just smiled…
Cheers,
Eric
I thought very nice until I read this “…..conservative only actually in the sense of thinking that a man ought to work hard for his family and be independent and the government should keep its hands out of just about everything…the irony of course is that without government subsidies , Cecil would have given up the family farm long ago…” Wait a minute! Back up the truck! Is this the kind of thing you put in an article to honor someone? Especially since it is not true! Dad may have taken some cost share on some terracing done in the late 50/ early 60s, but not a dime since, until I came along and talked him into it in the 80s after Jimmy Carter ruined our markets with his embargo.
“You mustn’t forget anything–that’s the inscription on his coat of arms. To be alive, to him, is to be made of memory–to him if a man’s not made of memory, he’s made of nothing.”–roth, patrimony
“And do you accept the idea that there is no explanation?”–Cortazar
America has been subsidising their farmers for yonks they are a protected species just a the French farmers ………….. we have our mining companies who are sacred cows. Our farmers just don’t have enough clout vote wise
DAH:
To answer your question. I have a small family photograph of my great maternal grandfather, Herbert William Palmer. In the photograph he is making hay on a farm in Norfolk, sometime during the 1920s – 30s.
I never knew Herbert. I do remember seeing this photograph as a small boy once or twice. And I also remember my grandfather – Herbert’s son – telling me stories about his own childhood on the farms where his father worked. My grandfather’s stories often featured the mythical East Anglian giant Tom Hickathrift, who in the stories worked on the farms in Norfolk. My grandfather described how Tom was a hero to the local farmers: he was so big that he could pull a plough in place of a horse, he could harvest a wheat field in one day single handed, and with his great strength he could lift a hay cart above his head with ease.
I only rediscovered this family photograph about two years ago and soon after that it rekindled my memories about the stories of my grandfather’s childhood spent with the giant Tom on the farms. This was just after my mother died and was most likely my way of strengthening my connection to her side of the family.
During my long term work on the agrarian farmers of East Anglia, I have often been asked if I have an agricultural background. I always used to say “no” because I didn’t think I did. But now I see that this old family photograph tells me otherwise, and it is my direct link to world of the agrarian farmers in which I have spent so much time.
In my most recent book dummy this photograph of Herbert William Palmer appears proudly in the book alongside the intro text which mentions the stories about Tom Hickathrift. I’ve also been featuring these in recent public lectures about the work, and now they are a crucial part of the narrative about this project.
Past family relationships certainly do not play a role in all my work, but for some of it they clearly are very important. I also have a small “archive” of photographs, letters, and christmas cards that belonged to my other grandfather Jozef Partyka. He was from Poland and came to Norfolk (UK) with his Polish army regiment during the second world war. He was the regiment’s cook. I already have a photography project planned based on these materials….
Let’s talk on Skype very soon.
Cheers,
Justin P
David – where in the UP are you??
I’m about 50 miles south of Menominee, MI.
Free Beer for you if you can make it here!
On another note – stay safe and warm! it’s bad out there right now.
920-819-1147
America has been subsidising their farmers…
Correction, we subsidize our agribusiness. Farmers we bankrupt.
DAH – if you’ll be in the UP for a while – I’ll bring beer to you. and maybe some snow shoes??
farmers. agribusiness call l them what you like they all farm.
Just like logistics companies they are still truckies
Been talking to David – he’s temporarily stuck in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula – bad snow and winds have canceled flights.
Hope he keeps those rolls warm or they’ll crack!
dah is a subtle narrator,above all a great human being.
Wasn’t DAH just saying a week or so ago he never went to cold climates anymore? why is he shooting in Michigan?
Humansaibal – he is indeed – but he can be less subtle in person :) Great guy.
People don’t go to Iowa for vacation. They don’t really go to upper Michigan either…
BUSTER…
you are sounding just a wee bit paranoid..and i think we may disagree on what a government “subsidy” is and in this case when it kicked in…all i know is that Cecil defended various farm subsidy, no tax payments, payment for not growing, etc., as long as i can remember….there are many forms of “subsidy”..when the farm actually was passed from father to son , i am not sure i ever knew, so how much subsidy was actually taken by Cecil and how much by son, i am not sure..i was making much more of a point about hard working Americans who might have benefited from government breaks…no sin……obviously i was not going into any great detail in this piece, mostly tongue in cheek humor and yes i was totally honoring Cecil a man of convictions…i do not have to agree with political points of view to honor someone…and since my grandparents were also Iowa farmers and my parents raised on a family farm , i am not going to blast them in any vitriolic way…however, i can and do disagree philosophically on some points, most of our values are most likely the same…it is however my right as a citizen and as a family member to question some positions…in this case, i was not questioning anything, i was just pointing out an irony between what you believe about government and how in fact government has given you a hand albeit not nearly enough..
all i am saying overall is that while i do think farmers in this country deserve all the help they can get, many also tend to ignore others in society who also deserve all the help they can get ……as a full blown U.S. taxpayer with zero government aid, i have a right to say this…i have been around farmers all over America and all over the world, and while American farmers grumble a lot, they have for the most part in Iowa led very good and secure lives as have you and your family…Cecil’s family farm is now as it always was…a 100% family owned farm…and while some family farms have indeed been lost, yours was not…and while Iowa farmers are indeed an important part of this country, there are other citizens as well who make worthwhile contributions and there are other citizens who are not farmers who have lost their jobs and have suffered…few citizens of this country can claim a straight sense of security as have you for your entire life..sure you work hard, but lots of people work hard and lose their incomes anyway……so, please look at the big picture, no pun intended….and know that i place great value on you and your fine family of upstanding Iowan/Americans..i said so, and i meant it…
cheers, david
JASON…
yes, i find myself in upper Michigan , way way above the banana belt….my brother Gary and i are in a Best Western motel a few blocks from beautiful downtown Sault Ste. Marie…a high temperature of 8 degrees above zero F is expected…wind chill? who knows…it is just cold and beyond a certain point, what difference does it make?? flight canceled this morning and no planes here…they didn’t get in last night from Detroit snowstorm…we are here visiting family and i am shooting for American Family series of course…we are scheduled to leave tomorrow morning, but i am afraid to look at the weather map….what the hell were you doing up at 4am texting me anyway?? i doubt we will meet unless i am stuck here for days…many thanks for your offers of aid…that is if free beer is aid!!
cheers, david
It’s the last day of school today – i dug myself out of a very deep snow drifted driveway yesterday afternoon and have been at school ever since. up all night – helping people here and there get their final projects completed. my classes are all but done – all my work finished, just waiting. Glad to hear you’re not up there alone. You’re so close! and I wanted to find out what you were up to being so close to me! Mike C. has been known to stroll through my neighborhood as well, have to keep an eye out and a door open for you guys if you’re in town! Just as the burn hotel is open, you’re welcome to stay here anytime too. Since you’re working up there, and if you’re stuck a few days – Maybe I will ride up to say hello if you’re not too busy… I know what you mean about the cold it gets cold here and I’m used to it – it’s the nearly cold temperatures I hate the most… just can’t find the right clothes. ok – tired, rambling, time to do some serious work… hmm what should I do….
JASON…
You should open a bottle of wine…or some yellow water…
Be ready to shovel…:)))
Yellow Water!? never eat yellow snow!
What wine should I open? a sweet dessert? a White? a Red? a Cherry? class is just starting – no wine now… Coffee. mmmm
Dreamed I was an Eskimo
(Bop-bop ta-da-da bop-bop Ta-da-da)
Frozen wind began to blow
(Bop-bop ta-da-da bop-bop Ta-da-da)
And my momma cried:
Boo-a-hoo hoo-ooo
And my momma cried:
Nanook-a, no no (no no . . . )
Nanook-a, no no (no no . . . )
Don’t be a naughty Eskimo-wo-oh
(Bop-bop ta-da-da bop-bop Ta-da-da)
WATCH OUT WHERE THE HUSKIES GO
AND DON’T YOU EAT THAT YELLOW SNOW
WATCH OUT WHERE THE HUSKIES GO
AND DON’T YOU EAT THAT YELLOW SNOW
Right about that time, people
A fur trapper, who was strictly from commercial
(Strictly commercial)
Had the unmitigated audacity to jump
up from behind my ig-a-loo
(Peek-a-boo -ooh -ooh oooh)
And he started in to whippin on my favorite baby seal
With a lead-filled snow shoe
That got me just about as evil as an eskimo boy can be
[ Find more Lyrics on http://mp3lyrics.org/ezT ]
So I bent down and I reached down and I swooped down
And I gathered up a generous mitten full of the deadly
(Yellow Snow)
The deadly yellow snow, from right
there where the huskies go
Whereupon I proceeded to take that mitten full
of the deadly yellow snow crystals
and rub it all into his beady
little eyes
with a vigoruos circular motion
hitherto unknown to the people
of this area
But destined to take the place of the mudshark in your Mythology
Here it goes … the circular motion
Rub it
And then, in a fit of anger, I pounced
And I pounced again
Great Googly Moogly
And he was very upset as you can understand
And rightly so because the deadly yellow snow crystals
had deprived him of his sight
And he stood up, and he looked around and he said:
Oh (oh oh oh) No – – I can’t see ..
He took a dog doo snow cone and
stuffed it in my right eye
He took a dog doo snow cone and
stuffed it in my other eye
And the husky wee-wee I mean the
doggy wee-wee has blinded me
And I can’t see – temporarily
–Frank Zappa.
Truer words were never spoken.
and to think i was at the beach in my bikini yesterday….
yummy california sun…..
light
like
lemons….
fa la la…..
**
Family past is why I am a photographer today (all that I’ve truly known how to do from about the age of 7). Family present leaves me too exhausted to write much more, let alone photograph much more besides them. So yes, family does affect who I am and what I do….
“We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”
santiz
David,
You can’t even imagine the extent to which growing up with Bank Langmore as a father has influenced my photography, approach to life, things I want to avoid at all costs, etc. He was the classic brilliant and maniacal artist/photographer (I’ve told you some of that). On the one hand, I want to make prints as beautiful as his uncompromising approach to printing produced – on the other, I don’t want to burn out in my 40s (almost clear of that one). Mostly, I got my love of photography from him and for that I’m grateful.
J
http://www.jeffjacobsonphotography.com/iowa-on-my-mind
enjoy,
f
“do past family relationships affect you and your work? or is the present all that there is?”
You might have noticed that the subtitle to my Wasilla by 300 and Then Some blog is “one photographers search for community, home and family.”
I gave it that subtitle because I realized that this is what my work was all about – my search to find the home and family that, as I grew up, was ever-present before me yet always eluding me.
When I started my blog, my intent was to constantly weave the past – including family, living and dead – in and out of the present. This remains my goal, but so far I have not been that successful at it, because when you try to produce an ongoing piece of work every day, I find that the present simply overwhelms the past.
At least on the surface – because the past is always there and the forces that shaped it still underlie all the work that I do.
My ancestors were polygamist Mormons, including some who sat in jail with Joseph Smith and who crossed the plains with Brigham Young and received a number of wives in services conducted by him. Even though I have stepped away from that faith, their influence projected through the generations upon me is what has pushed me to the edges of their sphere to establish all the connections that show up in my blog – from the Apache to the Iñupiat (the Real People, Akaky – and did you know that Nanuq (Nanook) means polar bear?) to my late Muse in India.
I won’t explain, but the connections are all there and I am practically dying to find the means and time to do a thorough exploration.
If I am to accomplish this, I think I have to add a magazine to my blog – but where do I find the time to do that?
So that’s my answer to your question, David.
FROSTFROG..
Bill, yes with you it is pretty obvious and i am not surprised by your answer…i think i can help you with many things and will give it a real shot when we meet, except for one…and that is “finding time”…that is the biggie that i cannot figure out either…in my case, and i assume yours as well, life is a fast moving game…when i see a rear camera shot of a quarterback in a football game after the ball is snapped looking at his choices, and even after having a “play”or plan, still needing to make split second decisions with people running all over the place, i can relate….one must constantly prioritize…not yearly , but daily…one must decide not to do certain very attractive things…and yet be able to enjoy totally “wasting time” sitting with friends on the front porch..when to focus and when to let go is the name of the game i think….anyway, that is why we are all gathering here on Burn..to help each other learn how to spend our time wisely…
cheers, david
JOHN LANGMORE…
i know this about you…and what greater tribute could you ever give to your father? good on you…and him….
cheers, david
Thanks, David – Yes, that is the big question – to decide what of all the things you dearly want to do you must set aside and discard so that you can complete something else. What a tough one!
And thanks again for creating this gathering place.
Next, I just need to figure out how and when I can get to NYC again and actually meet you!