Candace Owens, Outer Banks artist/photographer, stopped by just now to get me to sign her copy of the June issue of NatGeo with my OBX story in it. I am right now so crazed busy, but how could I say no?

The mother of two of the cutest kids I have ever seen, Candace and her husband Randy are also part of my upcoming American Family series. So you will someday meet the whole family. One of Candy’s paintings (a mermaid) graces my wall. She also shoots weddings and family pictures for local photographer Brooke Mayo.

As you probably know I shoot all the time. Mostly casual snapshots like this. After all, lucky me, photography is very much my hobby. Occasionally I post here, but it always seems awkward. It interrupts the flow of the emerging photographers essays. So I mostly put my stuff on Instagram and share right along with everyone else waiting to see if I have any “likes”. Funny. Essay  in NatGeo, new book out, but looking for “likes” on Instagram. Well honestly I love to see how everyone shoots on a daily basis. What is happening now. I shoot these with my iPhone just to be totally amateurish in nature.

Fact is we all love to do this, so I have a new idea. BurnDiary.

Burn’s own Haik Mesropian has created now for us a new page where we can do this on Burn. Your Instagrams can come here. On a separate Burn “bulletin board” so we can interact for real with new pictures shot with any camera. Only one picture per person per day (yes, you too Panos). Let’s see how it works. Should be fun and it will keep our front page here clean only for essays OR for the the shot that YOU just took that we decide to bring to the front. So sharpen your eye, shoot what is around you in an interesting way, and fire it off to BurnDiary. Details coming soonest on how you will do this.

Thanks for stopping by Candace. Thanks for letting me take a picture of you as well. You are a model mom. My door is open to you and the family any time.

 

457 thoughts on “BurnDiary”

  1. Gerhard Clausing

    Another fabulous idea! With neighbors like that, who wants to travel? Looking forward to BurnDiary. Currently exhausted from rearranging (based on a true story)!

    Greetings from California, David!

  5. SFJason

    Panos is going to have a tough time posting only ONE photo per day. HaHaHa!

    Can I give DAH a “LIKE” for this idea? ;-)

    -J

  6. panos skoulidas

    http://instagr.am/p/LVmd9MhrRr/

    What????? I photo a day? Or per minute?? I have 2700 photos WAITING!!!
    THANK YOU DAH ( for the Idea )
    THANK YOU HAIK ( for making it reality )
    Haik is a personal very true friend of mine, the real deal,
    not just an acquaintance but a real great heart and soul..
    And btw he knows his sh$t very well..
    When it comes to tech stuff HAIK is tha man to RELY ON!
    ( oh kudos also to Ryan Sharif from Los Angeles – also great friend and troubleshooter .. Ryan and Haik are the ONLY folks I call first right before I start crying from distress:)))

    But yes one photo per hour maybe???
    ANOTHER GREAT DAY FOR BURN!!!

  9. Gordon Lafleur

    LOVE the idea. I may even capitulate and buy an iphone…maybe. Do you still carry a “real” camera all the time? I worry that if I get an iphone I will be too lazy to.

    Indeed, how could you say no to a lovely young woman in a semi-transparent dress?

  10. Frostfrog

    I would say Candace is not only a model mom but a mom model.

    As if I am not overwhelmed already! Now I have to get into Instagram and post in Burn Diary everyday, too, just to keep up!

    I jokes!

    Sort of.

    It is a fun idea, one likely to finally push me into Instagram. It will be interesting to see where it goes, who joins in, both from the regular burn followers and all of a sudden from out of the woodwork, both good and not so good, as my old photojournalism mentor Nelson Wadsworth used to say…

    Gordon, the iPhone is great but has its limitations. You won’t get too lazy. Sometimes you might, but not all the time.

    Panos lol :-D lol

  11. panos skoulidas

    Gordon:)
    Androids can do Instagram too..
    We are NOT promoting iPhones here..
    Let’s make that clear…all “smartphones” can do Instagram after the marriage of Facebook and Instagram..
    etc

  12. Charles Peterson

    DAVID,

    Got the book yesterday. Blown away. Not only is it a new way of thinking about what a physical book can be, but also how one can express emotion about a place, person (?), a way of life. Really inspiring.

    At first I had some trepidation about the whole process of viewing it, but then once untethered from the constrictions of the spine the images flow nicely in the hand, and is a very liberating experience. Fantastic post processing as well, not too much, not too little and they all come together, iPhone to M9. Bravo and congrats!

    Charles

  15. panos skoulidas

    5 Broken Cameras

    Opens on Wednesday in Manhattan.

    Directed by Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi; director of photography, Mr. Burnat; edited by Véronique Lagoarde-Ségot and Mr. Davidi; music by Le Trio Joubran (Samir Joubran, Wissam Joubran and Adnan Joubran); produced by Christine Camdessus, Serge Gordey, Mr. Burnat and Mr. Davidi; released by Kino Lorber. At Film Forum, 209 West Houston Street, west of Avenue of the Americas, South Village. In Arabic, English and Hebrew, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. This film is not rated.

  16. panos skoulidas

    last until the year 2525, that is, if man is still alive.
    —————————-
    smiling…im sober now..i stopped the “hard” sh$t a while ago…thanks to my camera that let me move on and seek cure….:)
    ps: kids out there please please DO NOT do drugs…Mary Jane is a blessing but stay away plz from all those “hardcore street, under the sink crap”…please pretty please!!!!!!!!!!

  17. Gordon Lafleur

    Panos, I don’t have an android smart phone either, just a very basic stupid phone, with which I make fewer than 10 calls a month. I’m tempted to get a smartphone solely because they are fun to take pictures with. I love the hipstamatic ap, and also love the pretty much infinite depth of field camera phone pictures have. I don’t own an ipod, ipad, or mac either, although I do have a blackberry playbook which is fun.
    In any case, for the moment I will stick with hauling around one of my too numerous regular cameras and post pictures the old fashioned way. Hell, I’ve been buying up film cameras lately, (got a Mamiya 500 dtl slr yesterday for $15) maybe I’ll regress into a film shooter in my declining years.

  18. Jason_Houge

    David – I’ve sent you a note on FB when you get time to look.

    Gordon, I don’t know where you’re from but Cricket wireless in the US will be carrying the iPhone… a Prepaid iPhone. So if you’re not using it a lot, then this is a nice phone. I use mine as an organizer – a paper planner doesn’t beep at me to wake up or when its time to do something. But an iPhone will
    also not a terrible camera.

    http://www.gadgetbox.msnbc.msn.com/technology/gadgetbox/400-cricket-iphone-worth-it-808588

  19. Gordon Lafleur

    Hey, no, Jason the new iphone is an AWESome camera, that is why I’m so tempted, OK I even went into my local phone provider store this aft as I was waiting for a drug prescription and inquired about it. (I’m from Canada)

    Meanwhile, here is my first pre-contribution to the diary. My amazing wife Martha at breakfast the day before yesterday, (not taken with an i-phone, but with a Canon Rebel) who is now in Seattle blissed out on her annual 5 day retreat with Amma, her spiritual guide. Expect a lot of photographs of Martha in my contributions to the burn diary.

    http://www.pbase.com/glafleur/image/143710929/large

  20. Jason_Houge

    I’m scanning some of my latest work right now… which contains: hanging out with Peter Yarrow (Peter Paul and Mary), My brother helping my dad move things from one of his three storage units to another – where he keeps his life after divorce, road killed turtle and puppy – I have a thing about photographing various dead animals I see, and children of the Oneida tribe…

  22. Frostfrog

    Jason:

    Too complex to easily explain, but within the past couple of weeks, I have had a very intense experience with Peter, Paul, and Mary – Bob Dylan tied in.

    Very intense. Ethereal.

    Be sure I know about it when your pictures of Peter Yarrow can be seen. I bet he really misses Mary. I do, too.

  23. Jason_Houge

    Bill is it? Absolutely – in the scanner as we speak. little dust cleanup and I’ll upload them.

    The story:
    I was asked a few weeks ago to do video of a concert. Peter Yarrow is working on a project called Operation Respect – It’s an anti bullying campaign. He usually performs in front of teachers, social workers, guidance counselors, etc at conventions. This time was a bit different. He did a small concert at a Jr High school with kids from the choir class and glee club. His project will be done at this school and to initiate it he flew in for free and performed some of his classic hits. He does miss Mary very much. And perhaps ironically, the woman who was responsible for getting him to come and also sang with him on a couple of duets, is named Mary. They sounded wonderful together. Anyway – I have 5 hours of video to sift through and make something beautiful of it. I got to hang out with him for the day, we talked photography, music and activism. We had dinner and shared some fries. And in fact, he turned 74 yesterday.

  26. Jason_Houge

    Bill, I will try to. I volunteered to do the video, and I was initially told through someone connected to the project that I couldn’t post it – why I don’t know. But there was no contract or agreement… It wasn’t work-for-hire, and I would never sign such an agreement.

  27. vivek

    burndiary- sounds like fun ………

    GORDON …. smartphone’s will make you a bit lazy ….. but you will definitely be shooting more…. emailing more … sharing more …… plus there are a lot of cool camera related apps on both platforms that you can use with your dslrs ….

  34. John Vink

    So… You wanted pictures… These were a few links as updates for one of the stories in the ‘Quest for Land’ application… The story on land grabbings is not over yet. The release of ‘Quest for Land’ will not stop me from covering this.

  36. a civilian-mass audience

    SFJason…
    “Panos is going to have a tough time posting only ONE photo per day. HaHaHa!”

    Yeap, BUT I see many of YOU with itching fingers…right MR.VINK…hihiiiii…

    REVOLUTION…EVOLUTION…only in BURNLAND…

    Damn,what are we drinking??? Just tell me what?:)))

    P.S I would like to have a mom like CANDANCE in my front door…oime…
    What not to love !!!

  37. Frostfrog

    John Vink – Yesterday, I received a long overdue payment, the absence of which had pushed me right to the brink. Now that I got it, I just purchased and downloaded “Quest For Land” onto my iPad. I will go to bed early tonight and take it with me.

  41. Frostfrog

    John – it was… the kind where you can’t pay your bills, when you put $10 worth of gas in your car and wonder how you are going to be able to drive to Anchorage and back – a $20 dollar trip. My plan last night didn’t go too good. My two year-old grandson is visiting and shared the bed. It turned into happy chaos. I got started, but when you have a living Jack in the Box popping up all over the bed, it gets in the way of serious study.

    Tonight.

    Thanks, Jason. I will take a look, shortly. Having a little money now, you inspired me to purchase some iTunes Peter, Paul and Mary – better quality and easier accessibility than YouTube.

  42. Jason_Houge

    Bill… I know that brink all too well… It’s worse than depressing. I’m trying to make work about it – but so far, I’ve not been very successful at getting the funds I need to take it nationally, the level I think it needs to go because It’s not just affecting a small number of people – US ranks No 1 highest in poverty among developed nations. and No. 2 for child poverty… The feeling, the magnitude… It’s almost crippling…

    Yes Youtube has some pretty crappy videos of PPM. My G/F and I have recently found about 4 or 5 vinyls of theirs while thrifting. Lovely things records, unless scratched, they last as long as photographs.

  43. tom hyde

    An interesting blog post and discussion regarding the lack of historical photographic base knowledge on the part of photography students, in this case an MFA who had never heard of Weston.

    Just recently I gave copies of Burn02 and Charles’ Touch Me I’m Sick to a teenage family member interested in photography who has been fed a steady diet of crap commercial consumerist photography and Ansel Adams without exploring the amazing breadth of the language. (Uhhm, Charles, I might need another signed copy!) I treasure these books but I value inspiring young CURIOUS minds more. It struck me what a valuable tool the Burn books are in particular with their amazing mix of styles and unique ways of looking at tne world. I encouraged him to spend time looking and thinking about the work and, in particular, the work he didn’t “get.” Burn02 just might remap a few young brains from their steady diet of McPhotos.

  47. Frostfrog

    Panos – scary video, and one that somebody put some real money and production into. I find the juxtaposition of this with Jason’s recent work on Peter Yarrow and its reflection back onto the music of Peter, Paul and Mary an interesting one – perhaps best expressed through this line of “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?”:

    “When will they ever learn?… when will they ever learn?”

    Never.

    And the answer is blowin in the wind.

  51. dq

    @tom hyde
    yes, none of these kids know nuthin’ ’bout foto history, and it’s weird. i have a photo assistant, a photo-journalism grad from a well known photo school, “might” have heard of robert frank, but not The Americans… Edward Steichen. Who? Haven’t asked about Weston, but it’s a good guess he’s a mystery, too…

    As far as not “getting” a particular photographer, I saw a friend’s copy of (based on a true story) and I have no clue what’s going on there. None. Call me dimwitted, call me confused, call me shallow. But call me. :-) When one of the more thoughtful readers weighs in here with their interpretation of the “novella,” I’ll be curious to see. Other than people calling it “groundbreaking” and “amazing” and “brilliant,” what might be the story? I hope to have another peek at it soon.

    cheers

  54. Jason_Houge

    Akaky that’s Nutella ok maybe not…

    dq The Americans? really? I’m happy to own the Steidl edition of it. See if perhaps any of these names ring a bell with your assistant: Margaret Bourke-White, Robert Adams, W. Eugene Smith, Steven Shore, Peter Turnley, Nan Goldin, William Eggleston, Danny Lyon, Larry Clark, Larry Sultan, Diane Arbus, Dorothea Lange, Mitch Epstein, Annie Leibovitz, Walker Evans, WEEGEE, or maybe Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, David CHIM Seymour, Andre Kertesz? just a few off the top of my head… What super special school did he/she go to that forgot to teach him basic history?

  58. pAtrIcIO m.

    What a lovely image of your neighbourg, David. I see a Leonardo DaVinci’s painting in this blue woman with that halo behind…
    Looking forward for BurnDiary, and for the EPF Winner!
    About OBX article in NG:
    Why there is no image about the interior of a wooden house in Outer Banks. I’m curious about what is life inside (if I were ONLY a NatGeo reader…I know interior life with your burn pictures/instagrams), like a normal Wednesday morning?? That was your decision or Editor en Chief decision?

    Have a nice Domingo!
    P.

  62. eva

    Jim..

    best send him a message on Skype, less likely that it goes lost, I will remind him to check there, that ok?

  66. mw

    OT, but one of my favorite directors, Bernard Shakey, just released a 41 minute video on the net. It’s not up there with his masterpiece, but I think many of the burn regulars will find it interesting. It features, for example, some fantastic artwork by notable street artist Shepard Fairey. The soundtrack is interesting as well. Fairey’s illustrations represent songs that we sang in music class back when I was in grade school such as “Oh Susanna” and “Oh My Darling Clementine.” Funny how those songs which began their life as subversive protest songs, murder ballads and the like became harmless children’s tunes. Not so funny how that original subversiveness resonates so much again nowadays. The band’s pretty good, too.

  67. david alan harvey

    PATRICIO

    i cannot remember how it actually came down, but awhile back the editors and i mutually decided for NatGeo OBX we would make the whole story take place within a 15 minute bike ride of my home, but not actually show my home or my family or my friends…it is already a personalized story anyway…and honestly i often think it not a good idea to show too much in this regard…the best case scenario is a tour bus at my front door…this year i want to totally reduce any public image…this only happened because of the net..a surprise to me..maybe others are looking for exposure, but not i…yes, my work of course, but not ME…

    cheers, david

  68. david alan harvey

    AKAKY

    i am embarrassed to even refer to literary stuff with you here in the crowd…yet, i hope you will pardon my attempt…clumsy i am sure, yet a real story that could only be called a novella…and with the visual literacy bit i espouse…

    you know Akaky, photography cannot just sit here,particularly not now when the tech mystery is thankfully gone..not human nature to not go above the mean level whatever that level is…we always go forward..i think by some miracle i might have made something truly unique…as if from another person because i have never tried to be unique…

    i was in it of course,but in another way i was watching from the sidelines amazed at what was happening so easily…you might just know what i mean…ain’t a regular nor predictable thing…

    but yes, novella should be the name of a pasta…and of course pasta by any name is righteous…

    cheers, david

  70. PauloSm6

    Nice idea David, just how will it work? A hashtag: #burndiaries???
    Sounds like fun! let me know how to participate!
    Regards,
    Steve

  76. a civilian-mass audience

    VIVA AMIGOS…where is the party?

    Where is my cake?

    Cake,food,party,drinks…???

    LOOK three times…I want my cake…that’s it.

  77. eva

    CIVI…

    LOOK, there is the party… HERE is the PARTY :)

    Those at the LOOK party better REPORT!

  79. Roberta Tavares

    David, sweet young boy…I totally would make you crazy today (before malicious interpretations arise …)
    That’s the hardest regret Im dealing with ; the the fact I wont be at Look 3 this year, I wont be able to chant, to clap “happy birthday” in a addicted one-one hour mode , I wont aplause everytime you open your mouth infiltrating brains with something brilliant or completely out of mind so hilarious genius you can be, I won’t be policing you and the girls around when I know your weakness and we all want to protect you of your worst enemy, I wont show up with a giant cake with “We love Viagra.To the youngest most joyful and viril man ever”, we wont be protagonist of the epic famous infamous dirty dance of ours , I won’t be loading the fridge, to be sure you’ll be kind of wasted and inviting half part of the city to the house just based inn the fact everyone deserves to be there, cause they love you and that’s the atmosphere that inspires, excites you . So, either I recruit a third me (unfortunately Renata cant make it either) or I trust on you, Burn crew, Look 3 camarades to make it happen..you deserve a special day like so many ones we already had . Dave, you are one of my favorite things in the world and definitely my favorite people..cause we are so similar in so many points (we recognize ourselves)and even in our divergences we are so damn amused dealing with them, cause that’s family, that’s love. I love you David Alan Harvey cause “we did something here”, you deliver and you always turn left when you should have turn right ahaha Congrats on being yourself ..for the bright and dangerous side of that :))

  80. wendy

    Roberta,
    your words are always so beautiful…
    and don’t worry,
    the BuRN crew will make it happen..
    maybe a day late.. :)
    Eva
    I trust Panos will be posting updates….
    perhaps? :)
    peace
    love
    and
    photography to all….
    !!!
    and David,
    ***************HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!************
    see you tomorrow……
    x0x0x0x0x0xx0

  81. panos skoulidas

    Wendy , I’m only responsible for coordinating the not so secret BURN parties..
    and keep the zig zags rolling…
    But yeah stay tuned.. Instagram made it easy for us to report this year..
    Remember the good old days that we had to go to motel/dorm download photos, put them on a slideshow.. blah blah tomorrow? Ha! This time instant updates..:)))
    All we need is an extra battery…

  82. panos skoulidas

    We have a big house thus year..
    All Burnians , some arriving from Greece ( GO VISSARIA),
    Wendy will be in da house and couple more great folks that will reveal later..
    I’m sure Doug will be sleeping in a sofa next to me..
    Oh a New Yorker coming too..
    My oh my it’s gonna be a mess .. A nice Burn mess..
    We need a tshirt that says:
    “I Survived a Burn Look3 Party”

  85. Kyunghee Lee

    Burn Diary… very nice and creative :)))
    It would be a unpredictable and huge narrative or poet!!!

  88. john gladdy

    I dont know about burn diary, but seeing as I have so much time on my hands at the moment I have started a sort of retrospective diary/blog. Am still figuring out all the wordpress stuff to make it work properly…and of course it has no real direction at all..but..if you sign up now you will get a FREE GIFT email saying ‘thank you for signing up’ who could resist?
    http://johngladdy.wordpress.com/

  89. Frostfrog

    John – you’ve got me waiting moderation. Good luck. I will be following. I trust you understand blogs can be dangerous to one’s health and financial well-being. I enjoyed your first post.

  90. eva

    Mr. Gladdy..

    It says you’ve sent me an email.. but I got nothing.. hey, you promised a thank you email, I want it!!

  91. wendy

    Visual stimulation everywhere…
    Great energy..
    A full house..
    Stanley Greene last night
    EPF will be announced today at 4…
    And lots in between…
    Photographs
    And
    Memories…
    What not to love??
    Xoxox

  109. Akaky

    In an unrelated matter, I can’t believe that come tomorrow I’ll have been working in this dump for 25 years. I think this shows a tremendous lack of ambition and/or imagination on my part. Twenty-five years…God, I am getting old.

  110. a civilian-mass audience

    Keep reporting…go BURNIANS ..
    Love spread the love….
    Come on, where is the party? Where is my cake

    We are All family…and you are LOOKing freaking
    Amazing!!!

    May the spirits be with all of Us…

    What not to Love…ouzo has been delivered;)

  113. mw

    Hey Paul, interesting stuff. Not all of it pertains to photo essays though. We don’t usually work so much with fictional characters. A lot of it, with a little re-write, does, however. The themes are universal: work, work, more work, flexibility, ruthlessness in editing, experimentation, exercise, to thine own self be true. I pulled them out below. Would be interesting to fill in the blanks with those things unique to photo essays.

    #2: You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.

    #3: Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.

    #5: Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.

    #7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.

    #8: Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.

    #9: When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.

    #10: Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.

    #11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.

    #12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.

    #14: Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.

    17: No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it’ll come back around to be useful later.

    #18: You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.

    #20: Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?

    #21: You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?

    #22: What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

  114. mw

    And speaking of story, I admit I am a bit disappointed with the EPF finalists. Not that any single one of them isn’t worthy. I think they are each fantastic in their own right. Of the years I’ve been watching, I think these are the strongest individually. But taken as a whole they are too similar. It seems the judges are saying that the only type of photography that matters is to travel to the ends of the earth and document the most horrible thing you can find in a very earnest manner. I have the greatest respect for that kind of work, and perhaps it is the most worthy of widespread recognition, but again, that’s not all there is. And it’s a bit surprising because so many NatGeo people and the Webbs are involved, all of whom take a significantly different, I would posit more sophisticated story-telling, approach. David’s Nairobi work is the best example I know of for photographing third world nightmares (sad, I count much of the U.S. as third world these days as is well documented in a couple of the essays). If I were to add a rule for photo essays to round out the Pixar rules above, I think I’d add, #3: also show who benefits from the misery. And #4: Ask yourself: Is there no joy in this world? If there is something in this story besides unmitigated misery, show that too, at least a little bit.

  115. mw

    Probably better to separate the EPF stuff from the Pixar rules discussion. Each essay is excellent and nuanced in its own way. Perhaps a problem with the putting them all together in a video with Nina Simone vocals is that it creates a separate work of art that invites us to see it all as a whole. And cumulatively, it’s pretty damn depressing. In the context of the Pixar rules, I think each separate essay was created consistently with those rules, but when we see the video as a whole, a lot of that nuance is lost. That’s not a knock against the video, since it is not intended to be a work of art separate from its parts. It’s just hard not to see it that way.

  118. panos skoulidas

    Thank you Eva!!!!

    Antoine is out of this world…
    and as we speak he is doing some new “amazing crazy” new work “somewhere” in northern Europe..
    Stay tuned;)

  119. a civilian-mass audience

    Can I sing now? Can I? …you don’t want me to dance…

    Come on BURNIANS … Where is the party? I want to partyyyyy…till tomorrow…
    Bring it on
    What not to love…
    We are a big love family …I know, I know JIMMY… :))))))))))

    Viva …let’s shake our brains…is that right WENDY

  120. Paul

    Eva…

    And then David creates “Based on a true story” and you can turn it round around and give it fifty different versions or meanings and has doesn’t have much to do with Pixar’s advice…

  121. eva

    Paul..

    With rules in mind, (BOATS) would not exist in the form it exists today. Rules might make for a safe life and a tranquil state of mind, but rules and creativity (of any form) are, to me, an oxymoron..

  122. mw

    Regarding Pixar rules and Based on a True Story, I think quite the contrary. Rules, of course, is a bad term, but great stories all come out of the same pool. Nothing in the Pixar rules is about sequencing or allowing for different interpretations. Most of them are about conception, creative construction, editing, or tension. Thinking long, hard, and deeply about the story and how it works. Although I’m willing to bet big money that David didn’t consult some rule book while working on BOATS, the finished product and the way it was produced is a good example of how following a lot of those rules can result in great work. They are definitely worth contemplating.

  123. Paul

    Before getting down to rules and Pixar lists, I realize the hardest thing I find is discovering a hook which holds a visual narrative together. Especially when one is a single image photographer.

  124. mw

    Paul, yea, those kinds of storytelling rules don’t apply much to a single image. I’d hazard that the single most important element of a single image is tension. The great ones are not simply images of a subject; they are images of a subject in relation to something else, something that introduces an element of tension. Salgado’s photos have a spiritual tension (ecological of late), Harvey’s a sexual tension, Gene Smith innocence, Cartier-Bresson social… I could go on, but the point is that there is usually something working against the subject. Of course being a visual medium capable of going beyond the possibility of words, tensions can exist between colors, shapes or other compositional elements. I suspect most of the best photos have both those kinds of tensions; narrative and compositional.

  125. Paul

    MW…

    My obstacle is finding the hook or idea to put several or many of my single photos together and create an essay . I need an “excuse” a narrative which runs through all of them which makes a coherent story and something common to all them. I suppose there are two ways of doing it…
    Think up an idea or story and shoot images according to the narrative.
    Or compile a load of photos which having something similar between them and find a story within which is valid .

  126. mw

    Paul, do you ever do any simple photojournalism? Like covering some kind of an event? A carnival, circus, or sporting event? Or like a lifestyle piece documenting a scenic park, cemetery or some other place? I do stuff like that all the time when I don’t have any big ideas I’m working on. Telling simple, obvious stories is good exercise and sometimes you find a bigger picture within them. Just finishing something, however unexceptional, and moving on is good for the soul and typically leads to better things.

  128. Paul

    MW…

    That’s a good idea and something I haven’t done in ages, in fact since I studied photography at college. Thanks!!
    I’ll do it.

  129. Akaky

    The thing of it is, of course, that if you’d told me in 1987 that I would still be working in this dump in 2012 I would have laughed my ass off and then told you, in a completely impolite tone of voice, that you were out of your damn mind. Yes sir, that’s what I would have done. None of that civil service baloney for me, are you nuts, no way, Jose! Of course, this being twenty-five years later and here I am, still toiling away in the egregious mold pit like some proletarian drudge out of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, well, that’s more than a little embarrassing, I have to say. Laughing in someone’s face when they’re right and you’re wrong is always discomfiting in retrospect. Even in currentspect, which I’m fairly certain isn’t even a word, it’s discomfiting.

    Actually, I’m still wondering how I’ve managed to hang onto this job, given my absolute lack of qualifications for it. I have a degree in the basic subject matter, but I got it back in the early 1990’s when all the information was in books and it was just a matter of finding the right bit of information in the right book. But at about the same time I was getting my masters degree Tim Berners-Lee was inventing the World Wide Web, thereby rendering everything I’d learned obsolete. This is annoying in and of itself, you know, because no matter how you look at it, the time and money I spent getting that damn degree is now time and money flushed down the rat hole. And all I learned in graduate school was theory, and while in theory there is no difference between theory and practice, in practice theory is a waste of everyone’s time and energy. Nothing I learned in graduate school prepared me for how to deal with exploding toilets, leaky roofs, crazy people defecating in the main room, adults aggrieved that they have to obey our rules, horny teenagers going at it amidst the flower pots, kids setting off fire alarms, oil burners glowing in the dark, and the dead guy in the men’s room. I don’t remember any of that coming up at all in school, not even once. I wonder why I’m still here sometimes. I think it’s just a lack of imagination on my part, but I could be wrong about that.

  130. Paul

    Akaky…

    That’s a good quote and sort of reminds of something out of Cormac McCarthy’s “City of the plain”…

    “The best horses are the ones been around kids. Or maybe even just a wild horse in off the range that’s never seen a man. He’s got nothin’ to unlearn.
    You ever break a wild horse?
    Yeah. You hardly ever train one though.
    Why not?
    People don’t want em trained. They just want them broke. You got to train the owner.
    Akaky Why do I have the funny feeling you’re not a fan of Cormac McCarthy :)?

  132. Frostfrog

    I broke a wild horse once. The Lakota folks who owned it said they needed it broke, but really, they were just giving me, a young Mormon missionary from California, a test, to see if I could do it. I didn’t know what I was doing, spent three days with that horse, got bucked off again and again and literally got the hell knocked out of me but at the end, I was able to ride that horse and have it go where I wanted it to go.

    Then I went back to where we stayed and spent the next three days mostly flat on my back, convalescing. The owners of the horse set it back out to feed on the open range and nobody ever rode it again.

  135. Jason_Houge

    John – I’m following your lead. As everyone comes back from Look3 – here is my project again in Kickstarter – it’s called Poverty Now. I’m documenting the change in US poverty. There are only a few days to pledge support. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jasonhouge/poverty-now

    After then, I’m hunting for more grants. Does anyone have a good list of grants that would help cover my film, travel, and misc expenses?

    P.s. Panos, how are you embedding YouTube videos on here?

  137. Akaky

    I broke a porcelain pig once; I had to pay for it. Not nearly as interesting as Frosty’s story but you have to work with what you’ve got. And you’re welcome, Audrey

  138. wendy

    still a bit dizzy..
    savoring the love and passion…..
    J’ADORE…….
    great imagery everywhere..
    fish in the trees….
    millers
    and
    laughs…
    house
    and
    family….
    photos
    and
    LOVE……
    x0x
    **********

  139. Jason_Houge

    DAH check your Facebook messages and let me know if you have any questions – it’s small scale but I think you would be a great addition.

  140. mw

    I’ve been watching the EPF winner video quite a bit, but haven’t changed much from my initial reactions. I think each essay is very good on its own merits, but when viewed as a whole it strikes me as horribly depressing and I’d like to see a little more variety. Apparently I’m not the only one with that general feeling.

    I’m guessing David will say that they just pick the best essays without regard to genre and that past years demonstrate that there is no particular bias towards any particular type of photography. To that I say, yep, history demonstrates the truth of that. Fair enough.

    And I really do think each and every essay is worthy. Oh, of course I could quibble here and there. But first and foremost I think the right one won. That’s truly excellent work and it works on many levels. Were I in the mood to quibble more, I’d worry that most of the rest are just too damned earnest. They are about what they are about and there’s not really a lot of room for interpretation. With the notable exception of the Iraqi essay, which I would have probably voted runner-up.

    But I know David values nothing more than great photography. Story and all else — great, but secondary to the photographs themselves. So where I’m a little uncomfortable with the “Monia” because it’s a bit of a cliche, or at least has been done a gazillion times, but some of the individual photos are of such a high quality that I can forgive the old, worn story. Actually, I thought the quality of the photography elevated it to where I would have voted it third. And as for putting the individual photo before the story, again I say to that, fair enough. We know who we’re dealing with. Nobody’s getting conned.

    And there are a lot of really good individual photos in these essays. Each one contains several that I strongly identify with and would love to have hanging on my wall. My favorite, of course, is Danny Wilcox’s horse picture. My quibble with that is that it’s horrendously out of place in an essay about poverty. Cause if that’s representative of what it’s like to be poor, then sign me up. I regularly dream a pretty much identical image. I think a lot of us do. Jung wrote extensively about it. But as far as I know, no one ever associated it with poverty. But hey, Jesus died for somebody’s sins…

    Anyway, that’s my long-winded way of once again congratulating the finalists, winners, judges, burn folk and anyone else involved. Good stuff. Makes you think. And it’s something to talk about.

    As for the music, I really like it. Nina Simone channeling George Harrison? Great stuff. OF course it gets old pretty quickly on multiple viewings/listenings. I’ve really been into Neil Young’s latest offering, “Americana.” So far my favorite accompaniment is “High Flyin Bird.” You might consider giving it a try.

  141. Jason_Houge

    MW – does the feeling you get from the work change if you mute the music or play some other music? I think music adds a layer or dynamic to the work and give an additional meaning that may not be intended by the artist….

    Since the general feeling is sad and depressing – does that possibly show that there is a lack of hope in these photographs? Why do these people push through and continue to live another day if their lives look so wretched? There must be something!

    I don’t necessarily think more variety is the answer, because that would make it very difficult on the judges. Out of a 1000 that submitted, these were the chosen photographers. The judges decided to work together and narrow it down to a common theme. A theme based around the subject matter – the unkempt fringe of our existence…

    What the photographers presented were wild, dramatic, bleak, and bizarre visuals, and what they neglected to share was hope, dignity, and compassion. Almost all of the images also seem to represent moments of reflection, resignation, solitude, stress, or grief. With maybe three exceptions. One being from the Serbian project, the image is of a family gathered around the table listening to music from a concertina/accordion… The other two being from Yesterday’s War, Today’s Iraq the second image – the family is looking skyward, but at what? are they smiling or grimacing? And the last is #4 in that project, an image of men watching a 3D movie. They are joyous yes, but something is obviously missing. This same thing is often hidden from view in their society: the women. When they are visible – they are heavily covered, a mark of oppression…

    Perhaps this is the next step in their journey as photographers – to come to grips with this phenomena their work exhibits and find a way to incorporate some hope back into their work.

  142. panos skoulidas

    how are you embedding YouTube videos on here?
    ————————————————

    copy link from youtube and paste here…

    ALL, sorry just returned…tons of things to do, books to package, ship blah blah etc….
    Lots to say and report but i need to do laundry first etc….plus VISSARIA is here so i need to pay attention to family etc….etc…stay tuned!!!!!!

  144. bob black

    MW:

    the MORE photographers pay attention to awards/accolades, the more their work looks like award-winning stories/photographs, etc….the more photographers emulate one another and engage their lifes and manner of life in the same network of folk/mentors/festivals/visual tropes, the more it all looks the same…a collective jamboree for the initiated, nothing more…now that’s a general comment about the state of things…as they gather to worry over all this nonsense…my take on all this is much simpler than an overbreathed analysis…as a former epf finalist, i’d simply say it was fun to enter the original contest and make work specifically for it, to make it as different and conflicted as david was used to seeing, later worked it a longer project and exhibited it in an exhibition, i have nothing but found memories of the process…i never expected nor cared to be chosen and quite shocked when i was was, but at that point there was both a lot less money and a lot less eyes lazer-beamed on BURN…shit, burn hadn’t even existed when it was originally announced…what matters is not the award or the name or any of that….but the process of honing one’s life…to the life around and trying to make sense of that….it is hard both as a photographer/writer and a supporter of this outfit to criticize anything, as I feeling nothing toward it but love and affection…i would say also that involved myself here in mentoring/helping young photographers (in toronto) and talking about their work in public, i do find a wondeful difference…the stories here are more intimate, smaller-scaled and more challenging…it would have nice if the photographer world generally was helmed by folk who inspired people to work their own lives photographically, rather than the world writ large…i struggle more and more with colonization of the photographic world…what i want to see more are stories about places done by photograpehrs who come from those places and not westerners feeding us stories about other parts of the world….and so to get that now, i tend to focus my limit time on work like that, looking for work like that….Moriyama and Araki and Fukase and company made sense and senselessness out of japan as an example….all the stories were strong and powerful and well imagined visually and narratively…though almost none of them took great visual or narrative or conceptual risks…and THAT is what i lament and find so often now among young photographers (in the genre of ‘traditional’ narrative/documentary work)…with the exception of thinspiration (which increasingly troubles me for some of the reasons i spelled out and for other reasons, though seemed initially to be the most brave visually and narratively through its repetition/horror/voyeurism etc) but that essay comes crippled by its lack of context (is this autobiographical or is it a Methamphetamined, junked up view from a documentary photographer trying to examine the life of these young women?)….

    i didn’t have any problem with the ‘world-wearied’ nature of the pics (that’s what young people breathe, and the hope is that they’ll transcend that eventually), and neither should we….our expectations should NOT be about what is produced under that rubric (epf award winners) but what gets done in the entirety of the photoworld….what matters is not a story…but the life’s work…seeing it like this, for me, i just enjoyed seeing a lot of good picture making by some friends and some people i respect and by some young photographers i didn’t know either…and enjoyed that….

    the rest of the deep analysis, is just dross…

    find the stories that matter to you, and fly them…

    cheers
    bob

  145. Akaky

    AKAKY IRL: So?
    AKAKY: So what?
    AKAKY IRL: Are you going to tell me what’s going on or what?
    AKAKY: Nothing’s going on.
    AKAKY IRL: Says you.
    AKAKY: You’re losing me, dude. If you want to talk in Pinteresque non sequitirs all day long that’s fine—I guess someone has to do it—but if you want to carry on a conversation you’re going to have to start making sense pretty soon or I’m going to make myself a ham sandwich.
    AKAKY IRL: So nothing’s going on?
    AKAKY: Nothing’s going on.
    [Pause]
    [Longer pause]
    [Longest pause]
    AKAKY: You’re overdoing the effect, dude. Get on with it.
    AKAKY IRL: Sorry, it’s been a while. I’m a little out of practice. So, nothing’s going on?
    AKAKY: No, nothing’s going on.
    [Pause]
    [Longer pause]
    AKAKY: Dude—
    AKAKY IRL: That’s not what I heard.
    AKAKY: That’s not what you heard about what?
    AKAKY IRL: I heard something was going on.
    AKAKY: You heard wrong.
    AKAKY IRL: So, I don’t have anything to be worried about?
    AKAKY: Not a thing.
    AKAKY IRL: Everything’s fine?
    AKAKY: Everything’s fine, except for the usual medical stuff, you know how that is.
    AKAKY IRL: Yeah, I know how that goes, but besides that, everything’s okay?
    AKAKY: Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?
    AKAKY IRL: No reason. So, everything’s okay?
    AKAKY: Yes it is.
    [AKAKY IRL stares at AKAKY]
    [AKAKY IRL continues to stare at AKAKY]
    [Ditto, except for longer]
    AKAKY: You’re overdoing the dramatic effect thing again.
    AKAKY IRL: Tough.
    AKAKY: So, why are you doing it in the first place, if you don’t mind my asking?
    AKAKY IRL: I’m wondering just how frigging stupid you think I am.
    AKAKY: I’ve never actually tried to figure that out. There didn’t seem to be any point to the exercise. I’ve always assumed it was somewhere between a two by four and a box of rocks.
    AKAKY IRL: Do you think I’d be asking you all of these questions if I didn’t already know the answers?
    AKAKY: If you already know the answers to the questions, then why are you bothering to ask? What kind of dumbass asks questions he already knows the answers to?
    AKAKY IRL: Don’t go all philosophical on me, smart guy. I know you went down to the city the Sunday before last. Didn’t think I was going to find out about that, did you?
    AKAKY: Oh, bugfuck.
    AKAKY IRL: Bugfuck, my eye. I got calls from at least a dozen people who saw you on the train coming up from the city. They all want to congratulate you on your remarkable recovery.
    AKAKY: That was nice of them.
    AKAKY IRL: Nice, my ass. They didn’t see you sucking down Vicodins like they were going out of style and trying to get out of bed Monday morning with ankles the size of basketballs. What the hell were you thinking?
    AKAKY: My ankles were not that big. Stop exaggerating.
    AKAKY IRL: Exaggerating? Exaggerating? Have you finally gone out of your damn mind, going down to the city in your condition? What the hell did you go down there for?
    AKAKY: I just wanted to see the sights.
    AKAKY IRL: You’re shitting me, right? You already know what the damn sights look like—you have enough pictures of them, for chrissakes—so don’t try to pull that one on me. What’s going on?
    AKAKY: I went to see some people.
    AKAKY IRL: What people?
    AKAKY: Just some people.
    [Long pause]
    AKAKY: Jesus, not again.
    AKAKY IRL: Wait for it, bubba, wait for it…
    [Longer pause]
    AKAKY IRL: Jesus H. Christ…you went to see those blog people, didn’t you?
    AKAKY: I wonder why the blog people sounds like the title of a cheesy Fifties horror flick. And The Blog People there could be sequels like the Revenge of the Blog People or Son of the Blog People or I married a Blog People communist.
    AKAKY IRL: Stop trying to change the subject, dumbass. That’s it, isn’t it?
    AKAKY: Look, you’re making this sound a lot more dramatic than it was. I went down to the city, I met Laura and Audrey, and we went to a gallery and the library and Rockefeller Center. And I ate a hamburger. That’s about it, dude. Nothing out of the ordinary.
    AKAKY IRL: Where’d you get the hamburger?
    AKAKY: At T.G.I.F.
    AKAKY IRL: Did you tip the waiter?
    AKAKY: What?
    AKAKY IRL: Did you tip the waiter?
    AKAKY: Yes, I tipped the waiter.
    AKAKY IRL: How much?
    AKAKY: What?
    AKAKY IRL: Are you going deaf too, stupid? How much did you tip the waiter?
    AKAKY: Three bucks.
    AKAKY IRL: You cheap bastard.
    AKAKY: I am not cheap.
    AKAKY IRL: The hell you ain’t, bubba. Three bucks, that’s just embarrassing.
    AKAKY: It’s TGIF’s, for crying out loud.
    AKAKY IRL: It’s TGIF in the city, guy, where the minimum wage is half a million dollars a year. If I were that waiter, I would have hit you over the head with a bottle of ketchup, just on general principles.
    AKAKY: The ketchup bottles are plastic nowadays, dude.
    AKAKY IRL: I would have bashed your head in anyway. There’s a principle to uphold here.
    AKAKY: If you say so.
    AKAKY IRL: I do say so. You didn’t bore them out of their minds, did you? You didn’t just sit there like a bump on a log like you usually do and say nothing? It’s going to be very difficult to maintain your international man of mystery schtick now that actual live people have seen what a clod you are. You didn’t embarrass us, did you? Please say you didn’t embarrass us, even if you don’t mean it.
    AKAKY: I didn’t embarrass us.
    AKAKY IRL: Oh my God, it’s that bad? I’ll never be able to hold my head up in public again.
    AKAKY: Hey, I didn’t embarrass us. Really. It went well, I thought. I did my best to keep the conversation going and Audrey was a gamer; she kept at it even if she doesn’t speak much English; and Laura was right there to cover the difficult spots. We talked about Weegee and photography and that Jefferson Davis wasn’t really captured in a woman’s dress and some French game called petanque. Everything went fine, or at least I think so.
    AKAKY IRL: Humiliated in front of foreigners…how do you even get us into these situations, that’s what I want to know. I’ll have to go away, I’ll have to hide, maybe even change my name or go into the witness protection program or something like that, just to get away from the shame of it all.
    AKAKY: I’m all for that.
    AKAKY IRL: You would be, you putz. Why did you go to the library?
    AKAKY: They wanted to see the library.
    AKAKY IRL: Did you go up to the reading room?
    AKAKY: No.
    AKAKY IRL: Why not?
    AKAKY: It didn’t occur to me.
    AKAKY IRL: What’s the point of going to the library if you don’t see the main reading room? You really are a dumbass. Did you at least point out the lions?
    AKAKY: Of course I did.
    AKAKY IRL: What’s with the of course? Someone dumb enough to miss the main reading room is dumb enough to miss Patience and Fortitude. You did get their names right, didn’t you?
    AKAKY: Yeah.
    AKAKY IRL: Well, that’s a plus. And then what?
    AKAKY: We went to Rockefeller Center and they went to the Top of the Rock.
    AKAKY IRL: And you didn’t. I don’t even have to ask about that.
    AKAKY: I could’ve gone up, but it was getting late. I had to get home.
    AKAKY IRL: Late my ass. A guy so afraid of heights he won’t go more than two steps on a goddam ladder is not going to the Top of the Rock without a lot of Prozac to ease the way into the elevator. I know you, bubba. And then you came home and told me that cock and bull story about being in Wal-Mart all day long. You should have come up with something better than that, guy. I knew that excuse was bullshit the minute it came out of your mouth. Even Wal-Mart isn’t that fascinating during the daylight hours.
    AKAKY: I’ll think of something better next time.
    AKAKY IRL: Not going to be a next time, dummy. You try this stunt again, I’ll break your legs to make sure you stay where you’re supposed to be.
    AKAKY: You’re a very angry individual.
    AKAKY IRL: So you keep telling me.

  147. audrey bardou

    Akaky,

    A very sincere thank you for meeting us in NYC and writing about this perfect day… My first time in USA, I didn’t speak english, my second, a little, maybe my third time, I will be a chatterbox who know ;-))) Seriously, It was my first time that I took “good” pictures with someone, I always need to be alone for that… so for me, it is a big compliment… inspiring AKAKY!!

  148. a civilian-mass audience

    A message to the ACADEMIANS:

    Thank you for your posts…they better be good
    Because it will take me a week to read them
    BUT
    As our AUDREY says…j’adore you ALL…!!!
    oime
    What not to adore!!!

    Go GREECE…go BURN…viva!!!

  149. a civilian-mass audience

    I am extremely busy with my chickens…BUT I am watching you…

    Yeap,I am the mass audience…we are everywhere…ok
    I will be back…

  154. andrew b.

    AKAKY:
    “The preoccupation with rules does not sit well upon the creative mind.” Len Deighton, Funeral in Berlin

    Maybe I’m still sleep deprived, but I seem to be able to hear Donna Ferrato in my head saying “Rules? F*&k rules.”

    WENDY: you nailed it with the above. All I can say is “wow”.

    I’m in Asheville, NC, and wish that I had the accomodations in C’ville that I do here – Wendy/Panos/Doug, I think mu living room here is as big as your house was….

    Once more, a party room with no one around I know with whom to party. C’est la vie.

    I must say, C’ville recharged my creative energy. Now, to put it into practice….

    must go, light outside is going behind the mountains and is lovely.

    good light, all.

    a.

  156. andrew b.

    And Corbis did an amazing job documenting the event – photos, narratives, transcripts of some talks (Donna Ferrato’s is a must-read, not the review, but the transcript itself).

    This link takes you to the earliest, if you want to read in chronological order.

    http://www.look3.org/blog/page/4/

  157. panos skoulidas

    Thank u Wendy. Andrew and all for videos…
    I’ll post my “views” soon too but now I can’t..
    “RIO” book is on front page of Magnum therefore…
    … therefore… orders are coming.. and we are working here in Burn warehouse 24/7 to
    prepare shippings, bubble wrapping yada yada blah blah etc..

    Gordon and my Canadian friends thank you for feedback about
    BOOKS ARRIVING IN PERFECT CONDITION..
    At this point , that is all I care about..
    I care about the BABIES to arrive safely at your home(s)!!!
    Thank u all!
    Soonest
    ( back to work )

  160. Micaël Martel

    I wish I had a phone that could use instagram to be able to participate in this burndiary… I absolutely love the idea David!

  161. Vissaria Skoulida

    I am Vissaria’s mom, Maria and I would like to
    Thank you Andrew B. For all his help.
    Mr. Kurt and his daughter Sara. Thank you and thank
    Again. You left early and I didn’t have the chance to say
    Goodbye and give you the stuff but we will meet again.
    I am very sorry for the disturbance late at night…
    Thank you again.
    I would like to thank Wendyyyy and Dougggg and Andrew
    I hope the Greek coffee was decent enough for your stomachs.
    And Wendy I forgot to give you your Greek memo thing but we will
    Meet again!
    A big thank you to Aundrey, Laura,Jordan,Patricia,
    Jefff, yes thank you Jeff. I am sorry I am still suffering from jet lag
    I am forgetting names.
    Thank you all for making Vissaria and I,feel at home.
    You are, we are a big dysfunctional family but what not to love as civi would say

    Of course a big hug to Mr. Harvey, his son, Candy, Kerry,Gina and to my family ,
    Panos and Kim!!!! And Carolyn …
    I can go on forever

    Thank you ALL.sorry if I forgot to mention your name
    But you are all in my heart. Vissaria is next to me. She is taking pictures and
    I am distracted :) yeah, blame the kid now:)))))

    Love ya!!!!!!!

  162. panos skoulidas

    It’s the 13th of June yet???

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY VISSARIA !!!

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY VISSARIA !!!

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY VISSARIA !!!

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY VISSARIA !!!

    … To the infinity and BEYOND!!!

  164. Akaky

    VISSARIA’S MOM,

    Of course you blame the kid. Why not? Being blamed for everything is a kid’s job. My father used to blame me and my brothers for stuff that happened before we were born.

    AUDREY,

    You’re welcome and thank you for proving that I am not a figment of Bob Black’s fertile imagination.

  165. Thomas Bregulla

    VISSARIA’s MOM,

    even without knowing you – we burnians have to thank you, too – to give your daughter the opportunity to attend a burn meeting. Not many parents would go that far.
    this is true love.

    you are a role model for me.

  166. a civilian-mass audience

    Here we are again… Happy birthday VISSARIA!!!
    Go GREECE!!!

    AKAKY when I was eating my French toast…I got the
    news that you are an amazing soul…aha…
    Credit when credit is due…now AKAKY IRL…I won’t go
    there…:))))))))

    PANOS…I know you are busy but please keep reporting
    Grecoman…
    Come on MY BURNIANS …let’s have some feta cheese and
    some gyros…it’s a party day afterall…
    No alcohol today…but I can a have my ouzo blended with
    orange juice…I am an old civilian afterall!!!

    Viva !!! Opa!!!opa!!!opa !!!

  168. a civilian-mass audience

    THOMAS…THOMAS…

    When will u be back in Athens?
    You have to come to your civilian’s house…
    We never skyped…all my fault.i will make up for this
    I kept my best bottle of wine just for you. It’s under
    the rooster’s bed…you ‘ll see;)

    Ok, spread the love, spread your smiles…
    Time to feed the chickens…oime

  169. Paul

    Visasaria…

    Wishing you a great birthday.
    BTW we haven’t recently seen any new photos by you. I hope you’re still shooting images :)!!

  177. Akaky

    “AKAKY when I was eating my French toast…I got the
    news that you are an amazing soul…aha…”

    Jeez, I wonder who could’ve told you that. In fact, I am not an amazing soul; I’m just on a lot of painkillers.

  179. panos skoulidas

    Paul,
    Vissaria has a new big volume of work…
    ( Greek ragedy related of course, stay tuned… My dream is to go back to war zone and work with her on a book or whatever … She has the fresh eye and she is fearless..
    I on the other side I’m scared to go shoot there… but I have to , 2 more suicides today in Athens.. I, we, the ART COMMUNITY must and WILL DO help….)
    Stay tuned my friend :)

  180. panos skoulidas

    Highest suicide numbers ever..
    Elections on Sunday..
    Civil unrest will follow and CIVIL WAR is almost unavoidable..
    Let’s stop living in Denial..
    Sorry to tell u the truth.. But plz don’t kill the messenger ( even if he is Greek at this circumstance …
    I hate to say it but euro central bank and it’s austerity measures MURDERED 2000 Greeks in 16 months ( suicides )…
    It is a WAR! with no visible enemy.. Greek citizens are now homeless..
    And as John Gladdy’s Albanian “rap friend”, “recommended” last month
    : KILL ALL GREEKS..
    How about KILL ALL HOMELESS too…???

    Anyway , God saves the Queen..
    Fascist of all world unite…
    GREECE IS DEAD …
    TIME FOR ALL THEM VULTURES TO CELEBRATE..

  181. Patricia Lay-Dorsey

    Hello my dear Burnians,

    What a joy to reconnect with so many of you in Charlottesville…like coming home. I would like to share the Look3 photo album I’ve just posted on my old web-posting place, pBase.com. The URL is

    http://www.pbase.com/patricialaydorsey/look3_2012

    Hope it gives you a taste of what goes on during those magical days in Charlottesville, VA. Now you have a whole year to get together the funds, get vacation time from work and make your travel arrangements so you can join us there next year. You may think, why would I make such an effort for a mere 3 days? But, in my experience (3 years now), LOOK3 is timeless time. While you’re there it seems to go on forever. Such a rich and glorious time. Worth every penny you will spend and every effort you will make. Just ask Audrey from France, Laura from Italy, and Maria and Vissaria from Greece. I bet they’ll say they wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

    Please come next year!

    with love
    Patricia

  184. panos skoulidas

    panos.skoulidas@gmail.com

    ( in the meantime I’m working on this new project called : “kill all Greeks “,
    Unless someone here gives me a better title idea , then I’ll change it )

    ps: reason I’m upset today is because the 36 year old young man that killed himself today in sepolia Athens jumping from the 6th floor of a building.. I found put that, that’s the same building I lived for a year while in college.. that is the main reason I’m so depressed now )
    But I’ll relax and hide my feelings because it’s Vissaria’s BIRTHDAY today and I have to bite my tongue and keep smiling.. But only my heart knows..
    I’ll leave it like that..
    See u all later my friends… Gotta cheer up now and celebrate my niece…
    And thank u all for the support…

  185. panos skoulidas

    oh I forgot to also add: they also stop providing medicine to my father that suffered from a stroke a while ago.. Next threat is they gonna stop his pension..
    Soooo I gotta think and think FAST.. Running out of time… I feel trapped unable to help.. My only weapon is a camera and MY BURN FAMILY LOVE AND SUPPORT..

  186. Jason_Houge

    Patricia! How are you doing!? It’s been a long time. I saw a picture on Facebook that you appeared in from the festival. I hope youve been well!

  188. panos skoulidas

    “Καλύτερα μιας ώρας ελεύθερη ζωή παρά σαράντα χρόνια σκλαβιά και φυλακή”

    ok, over and out…
    Respect and love to all of you

  190. andrew b.

    Patricia! You said it just right – timeless time, and worth every moment and effort to get there. There is a photo of you and (not sure the name is right) Lindsey? in the album I posted the link for that is on facebook.

    Maria, Vissaria, it was grand to meet you, and glad I could help out. Ilooked for you before i left the afterparty but couldn’t find you (you might have been on “bouncer” duty. I still have one chocolate left – saving it for just the right time, perhaps tonight on the patio as the sun goes down behind the mountains in front of me.

    CIVI! You were there in C’ville, I just know it – the greek spirit goes everywhere! :) Ouzo candies are good stuff.

  192. panos skoulidas

    Jason yes we should talk indeed…
    U know how to find me..
    I feel guilty now coz I’m still checking BURN while I’m attending VISSARIAS birthday party..
    But Jason thank you for being so compassionate , regarding the subject u decided to work at…

    Andrew, thank you again for helping me bring the “Greeks” safe to C/Ville from airport..
    You are a diamond!!!!
    One love!!!

  195. eva

    Wendy..

    Thanks! Looks like everybody had a great time.. and what a line up of talks and shows!

    Going to see Webb’s over here, along with Magnum Contact sheets, then Ballen, Leiter, Koudelka, Giacomelli in the next weeks.. so I can’t complain :)

  197. david alan harvey

    PATRICIA

    it was terrific to see everyone at LOOK3 from our community here…but none better than to see you back in the mix…we have missed having you here as a commentator…now with your new book coming i hope you will be able to share experiences with us from time to time…Burn basically started with Falling Into Place…now so nice to see everything totally falling into place…

    hugs, david

  199. Patricia Lay-Dorsey

    DAVID AND ALL

    It feels like home to be back on Burn. I will check in when I can but that won’t be real often. I’m doing my best to spend less time on the computer these days. Life is so rich that I don’t want to miss a minute! You know me, being out there among ’em is my thing…

    xxooo
    Patricia

  200. michael kircher

    Well, looks like LOOK3 was a huge hit. Some excellent images floating around out there! Congrats to all who attended, shared, partied, explored, taught, learned, ate, drank and were totally merry. Sorry I missed it.

    On the other hand, I did make it out to Durango that weekend to visit my friend and fellow Burnian, Jeremy Shockley. It was a total kick.

    http://michaelkircherphoto.blogspot.com/2012/06/hangin-with-friend.html

    And if you’re on Instagram there’s plenty more there.

    Happy Birthday, Miss Vissaria!

  201. andrew sullivan

    And to continue the Peace, Love and Photography theme, it was a pleasure to share a house with Panos, Kim, Wendy, Doug, Kurt, Sarah, Maria and Vissaria. We all had a great time together… Greek coffee and chocolate croissants in the morning, long talks in the backyard into the wee hours, “family” meals on the mall with lots of old friends and new ones too. Just lots of warmth all around.. Thanks guys!

  203. Ross Nolly

    Paul; Thanks for that Jim White link! I haven’t read it before. I’ve been fortunate to swap a few emails etc with Jim and he told me that he reads “Suttree” when he feels down. Reading that book lifts him up during those “doubting times” :-)

  209. eva

    Oh cool! I look great!!! And am much much younger!! And had fun!!

    Only that it is not me :(

    Doug.. that’s sweet Audrey in your pictures :)

  211. audrey bardou

    Doug,Thank you Merci :)) Glad to meet you at Look3 and my name is Audrey, not Eva…

    Eva, when do we meet us ?!! I Hope very soon :)))

    Hugs! audrey

  215. audrey bardou

    Doug,

    Don’t worry! It made me laugh :)))) Especially because I forget always the name of people (ask to my friends!!) for one time, it’s not me ;)) And thank you again for the great pictures !!!

    all the best, audrey

  216. Akaky

    Easier said than done, Panos, easier said than done. And my father, may he rest in peace, used to have trouble with names, too. Whenever he wanted me to do something he’d point at me and say, hey you; I thought hey you was my name until I was about six years old. And if he wanted one of my brothers, he’d snap his fingers and say, Joe! Frank! Fred! Charlie! get over here now. This is all very well and good, of course, but while I do have four brothers, none of them are named Joe, Frank, Fred, or Charlie, so when me and my brothers were kids we spent a long time trying to figure out who in the hell these other guys were. We never did, which annoyed us no end, since it looked to us that Joe, Frank, Fred, and Charlie were getting out of the chores we couldn’t get out of, the lousy bastards.

  219. Akaky

    You probably have, Thodoris; I’ve been telling this story about my old man for years. In fact, I used to ask him who those guys were, but he’d always say it was none of my damn business.

  220. panos skoulidas

    Akaky I hear u I hear u….:)

    Doug, thank you again…:)

    I wonder I’d there will be any room available for rent in C/Ville next Look3…
    This “thing” getting bigger better stronger…
    As Method Man once quoted:
    “We don’t die, we multiply”

  221. a civilian-mass audience

    Happy birthday LAURA …!!!

    What not to love my BURNIANS …so busy, I will be back
    2 more days for Grecolandia…
    Let’s see …pandora’s box is waiting!

    I love u ALL. THANK you ALL…blah, blah

  225. a civilian-mass audience

    DOUG,DOUG,DOUG…!!!!!!!!!!

    Oime, THANK YOU for reporting…
    They are ALL LOOKing amazing…

    Viva BURNIANS…what a freaking great family…

    I need my coffee…one more day for Grecolandia…

  226. Jeff Hladun

    It doesn’t take much to figure that the Look3 Festival is an excellent reconstruction/analogy of the art community of early 20th century Paris. The Promenade Mall of historic downtown Charlottesville, empty of cars, shaded, and full of outdoor cafes, could easily pass for Montparnasse. Photographers of every ilk, from the legendary Ferrato, Webb and Greene, to the solidly entrenched Nichols, Taylor-Lind and Saman, through to the about-to-be Danny Wilcox Frazier, were all about, rubbing our elbows; for me an exquisite belle epoque of the photographic world.

    At the peak of this godhead of inter-connected creativity of course was Godfather as Matisse, and Maestro as Picasso. What a treat to meet with them together for the first time in just over a year, and certainly too, too much to go into here. It was my pleasure to be introduced to both Madame Maestro, and Godfather’s Muse. What not to love?

    Central to all was the way-station of Miller’s Tavern, where the Burnians were encamped like the Fauves. These Wild Beasts of C’Ville were uniformly riotous and always warm in their welcome. You already know who attended – introductions were made beforehand – but it was a magnificent experience to embrace all both physically and spiritually in the flesh. Especially Civi who arrived later. A wonderful man, who has been lying to us about his age. If he’s in his eighties, then all I can say is Ouzo and olives are the secret to rejuvenation! Haha!

    My contribution to the Burn Diary is below, with a better-than-Facebook version of dear Vissaria’s pano shot-see #12. (I had asked for a Vissaria workshop, and watched closely how she worked. 45 seconds of picture-taking was all I needed from her.):

    http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/8965445656/albums/look3

  228. a civilian-mass audience

    GORDON…I was there!
    But as you know by now I am everywhere
    CIVILIAN… Please, don’t push your fellow
    Photophilosophers cause there will be no
    Pictures of me…hihiiii

    I BURNED all the evidence…hiibiii…
    Hard disks,film,links…
    cause
    I believe in Democracy…hiihiiiihii…

    I am in a good mood…go Greeks…we are f u c k e d therefore
    Let’s shake our asses!

    JEFF…I want your zippo;) yeap:))) and ouzo on you again
    Am I a needy civilian? hell nooooooooo…

  229. Sidney Atkins

    Nothing fills me more with despair and sadness for the future than to see young people who seem reasonably intelligent in other ways smoking cigarets… and their friends who tolerate it.

  234. panos skoulidas

    Did the Greek team just won?
    Russia out? Interesting !
    The Pirates won over the Status Quo?
    Interesting…!
    well sometimes the Bad Boys win…
    only sometimes….

  239. Paul

    Jason…

    It’s looks so easy at first doesn’t it! Then one goes out onto the street and suddenly at least in my case I find it so hard to walk up to strangers and start talking let alone get a photo. Jacob Aue Sobol goes right in personal into the subjects life.

  240. andrew b.

    Hey folks – pardon the intrusion for a “technical” question, but I am in need of some advice to save me much time and experimentation (which, of course, I will end up doing anyway, but that’s another issue….).

    Anyway, for those who use or have used the GF1, what focusing method have you found works best/fastest? I need a starting point.

    And a happy Fathers Day to all those out there that serve in that role….biological or not….

    good light,
    a.

  241. a civilian-mass audience

    GO MY GREEK PEOPLE…

    There must be a way…time for REVOLUTION

    Be strong, be safe … May the spirits be with US…
    All of US!!!

  244. vivek

    andrew b

    af mostly on the GF1 with the 20mm lens on …….. i use the af lock button quite a lot …once click it locks focus …..2nd click on af mode again ……… MF on tht lens is not as practical as MF on say a 50 mm nikkor dslr lens would be imho ………

  245. andrew b.

    VIVEK:
    thank you. been playing with it some today. I do have the 20mm lens. Do you use the AF with the single block, the one with the multiple block, or the tracking? I think the single set small (and you can move it) seems fastest…

  252. david alan harvey

    PAUL

    we are trying to sort this out…there are a few ways we can go on this…one way is too choose the best each day…the other way is to have its own page and have many posted each day….i think the former is actually better, but we can try and see if many will send in…honestly we did not get much response to this idea in the first place…yet i still like it..not too complicated to do..anyway we should be able to start soon….i am off to France until July 5 or so…but we can work on it while i am there…maybe…i think this daily format would suit you to a tea…we will see…

    cheers, david

  253. Jason_Houge

    David I think the burn diary is a fantastic idea. I’m curious – maybe it’s somewhere in a post – but what will it be really? Sort of a blog of specific projects (like Postcard from America is) or will it be something else? Travel safe

  254. andrew b.

    DAVID:
    Wouldn’t having to pick the best each day create yet another curatorial job? Although, if it’s open, could see it quickly getting overwhelmed….kind of torn between the two.

    Either way, sounds like fun, and another avenue for folks to be involved.

  255. Sam Harris

    David…

    i really love this Burn Diary idea, i hope it happens…
    one picture per person per day – honor system?

    anyway, in this spirit here’s a few i took the other day… http://wp.me/157qQ

    i don’t have an iphone or instagram so i’m still doing it the old fashioned way…

  256. panos skoulidas

    Congratulations to both Portugal and Germany teams for going to the semi finals…well deserved….. i see Spain vs Germany in the finals…lets be cool….politics and sports should never mix…
    Again big CONGRATS to both Germany and Portugal…peace please peace…love to ALL!

  257. david alan harvey

    i have just been talking to Haik Mesropian our Burn tech genius….we are working on two things….

    first, a real archive for Burn…this place will seem and look totally different with an easy to view archive…our archive is impressive…very impressive….we all remember for sure that some things are better than others, but when you see the overall big picture as have i, you will be pleasantly amazed….

    secondly, the BurnDiary…where all of you can upload here your Instagrams (and maybe other things, not sure)..in any case a daily diary of the readers here…like comments except pictures instead….put your pictures where your keyboard now is….we have all kinds of ways to do this…so we will experiment with the best system…so get ready…this could be very cool…or a disaster…either way , we will find out….

    we decided tonight to prioritize the archive…Haik can only work on one thing at a time….so first BurnLibrary, one after BurnDiary….

    cannot give you dates yet….we just don’t know..Haik cannot start until next week….so everybody chill..we are working on it….

    cheers, david

  258. Jim Powers

    I’m not sure it benefits anyone but Facebook for Burn to aggregate Instagram snaps on this site.

  261. panos skoulidas

    Jim ,
    obviously the idea is to experiment..
    To see if it’s possible to “replace” words with photos.. Of course ( if I understand it well ) we will still be able to post our usual rants etc..
    But as the Eskimos said : “one picture is as good as 666 words”
    So imagine how much keybord time we could save by posting a photo!;))))

    Thidoris,
    Instagram is available to all Smartphones , not just iPhones .. Droids and all other stupid “smartphones”
    can also use it… I can’t talk for others but I’m not even sure that our Genius Haik owns an iPhone either.. But that is not the point.. Burn does NOT sell smartphones..
    Burn idea is to EMBRACE the new , not to exorcise it.
    Remember the old fears? film or digital? Instagram or typewriter? Gay or straight?
    Durant or LeBron? Fake dilemmas … Bi polarism …

    I know it’s harder to embrace the new.. I know the easier way is to stick with the past, the film, the typewriter, the manual car transmission etc..
    But Jim sometimes you remind me of my granpa that used to tell me that a car safety belt is evil and useless…
    I had this type of conversation with a Harley rider in Texas the other day..
    As a stereotypical MACHO TEXAN he told me: we do NOT wear helmets here.. We are real men.. Helmets are a government conspiracy against our freedom.. Viva Rick Perry.. Viva freedom he said.. Viva tradition..
    Modernism is communism he said.. Jesus will protect me he added..technology is for the “girls” he said obviously pointing at me…

    “GET YOUR COWGIRL ON” I said and I run away ( the Californian girl in me told me to run run run )
    Run Lola Run… I still have my head standing right above and between my shoulders.. Not so sure about his though..

    Moral of the story ( and that goes to impotent EURO LEADERS that raped Greece once again yesterday : DO NOT BE AFRAID OF THE NEW … embrace change.. Enough with the CONCENTRATION CAMPS and that old Christian teqniques of Austerity and severe punishment)
    Europe is slowly turning into China…
    No “need” for googles/doodles/poodles etc..
    Heil PAST!!!
    And as the NEO FASCIST leader told the press the other day:
    ΕΓΕΡΘΗΤΙ , that means ( stand up ) in front of the Flag and be quiet while the “national” anthem is playing..
    Tradition, flags, countries, patriotism, purity, cleanliness, fear of modernism ..
    Bullshit crap, nazi/Taliban/Christian way of thinking..
    Jim please put your helmet on while rising your Harley.. and don’t worry all that much about Instagram taking over the world…

  263. Carlo

    Good post Panos!

    aaaannnnndddddd……looking forward to Burn Diary…I think it’s an awesome idea!

    Checking out all the cool links from Eva, Paul, Sam, MW and the rest…..thanks!

  264. panos skoulidas

    Recession and austerity fuel suicide in Italy—and the collection agency is exacerbating the situation.

    In late May, Marco Turrini reached his breaking point. Out of work for more than a year and under pressure from tax collectors, the 41-year-old publicity agent picked up his 4-year-old son, Samuele, and 14-month-old daughter, Benedetta, and threw them out of their sixth-floor window in Brescia, near Milan. He then struggled to push his wife to the same fate. She escaped, but he turned to the window and jumped. He died on impact, but his two young children lived for several long minutes while neighbors tried to save them. The story is tragic, but continues to repeat itself in scenes of desperation across Italy.

    Barbie Nadeau on Greece’s election results.

    On the afternoon of May 10, Arcangelo Arpino, a 63-year-old entrepreneur from the suburbs of Naples, walked into the mosaic-laden Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary in Pompeii and knelt to pray in front of a painting of a crowned Madonna and child. Then he walked out to the parking lot, sat on a short stone wall, and shot himself in the head with a 7.65 caliber pistol. In his pocket were three sealed envelopes. One was addressed to the Madonna, asking her to look over his wife and children. Another was a memo explaining the complicated economic state of his Euro Costruzioni construction business. The last was to Equitalia, Italy’s national tax-collection agency, blaming them for pushing him over the edge with repeated threats and relentless tax assessments. “This is a difficult moment for so many people,” said Claudio D’Alessio, the mayor of Pompeii. “The mark of blood on the grass is symbolic of the pain this community and country feel. But there are those responsible for killing him—the national government and the regional government helped kill this man. The citizens are at their limit.”

    Filippo Massellani / Emblema

    On March 28, Giuseppe Campaniello set himself on fire in front of the Equitalia office in Bologna after he received a final notice about the doubling of a fine he could not pay. He died in a burn ward nine days later. He never had the courage to tell his wife, Tiziana Marrone, about their dire financial straits because of a mix of pride and embarrassment, she says. Marrone found his poignant suicide note: “Dear love, I am here crying. This morning I left a bit early, I wanted to wake you, say goodbye, but you were sleeping so well I was afraid to wake you. Today is an ugly day. I ask forgiveness from everyone … A kiss to you all. I love you, Giuseppe.”

    Turrini, Arpino, and Campaniello are three of more than 80 Italians whose suicides and deaths can be linked to austerity measures since the beginning of the year. Marrone managed to form a group of the grieving widows of suicide victims dubbed “white widows” by the press. Their first march was in Bologna; they walked from the charred sidewalk where Campaniello set himself alight to the burn ward where he died. They waved white flags to symbolize their surrender and many carried their husbands’ suicide notes. Marrone plans to stage marches in Rome and in the poorer southern regions of the country as the situation gets worse. “There is no way to find closure when your husband takes his life because he can’t afford to support his family,” Marrone told Newsweek. “I cannot even bear to think how desperate he must have felt to end it that way.” Her aim is to build a network of suicide victims’ family members and to call attention to the plight of Italy’s new poor.

    Many more have killed themselves in Greece, which once boasted the lowest suicide rate in Europe. There, 1,727 people have killed themselves (or attempted to do so) following the financial strains of the austerity measures since 2009. The ghastly trend is on the rise in Spain, too, where the unemployment rate for people under 25 years old is now more than 50 percent, which helps explain why that age group has the fastest-growing suicide rate in that country. In Ireland, which has been in recession since 2009, deliberate self-harm rates have doubled since the crisis began. In the countries most affected by the euro-zone crisis, depression is on the rise and suicides are spreading.

  265. Carlo

    Reading D’agata interview from the link here and read what seems very fitting for now:

    “… I don’t believe in photography as art or a job or anything. I think of photography as a language and I think a language should be used to speak, to say what you have to say. So the only things I have to say about my life and what I know about the world, is the way I see it. So, it’s not about photography … I think people should just use photography to say things and not just photography for the sake of photography … the world is full of talented photographers. The problem is just so many of them just don’t know what to say, they think life is one thing and photography is another but they don’t realise that photography is just a way to reflect what you are.”

    I remember Paul posting part of this quote before…it seems appropriate to post it again.

  266. panos skoulidas

    To ALL
    EURO “LEADERS” / technocrats / super thugs:

    “Cood morning” and a BIG , FAT F$$K YOU”
    Middle fingers up in the air.. YOU won this time, Fear tactics and blackmail the POOR , THE DESPERATE , the JOBLESS, the HOMELESS, but it’s temporary..
    FASCISM ON THE RISE AGAIN, this time the REAL FASCISTS/ TERRORISTS are wearing suits and ties getting elected, sitting in Parliaments all over Europe and USA of course..

    Obama worried about his re election.. Now that they shot Greece point blank he has another great chance to stay in that Casa Blanca… Of course he will need to tell us Anericans the TRUTH about the huge ANERICAN DEBT.. But not now.. Too early ..
    NEVER TELL THE TRUTH BEFORE THE ELECTIONS..
    Only afterwards…
    People , ARTISTS .. Wake up please !
    Wake the f$$k up damn it…
    Art is our ONLY WEAPON AGAINST THE new world “banking” system..
    ART SAVES LIFE
    Art is what I “preach”
    Over

  267. panos skoulidas

    Carlo..
    Perfect D’Agata quote..
    I’ll rephrase it: it’s not about photography, it’s about HAVING “something” to say..
    AUTHORSHIP..
    We have enough BUTTON PUSHERS ( self called photogs, simply coz they can use a 5D or able to develop a tri-x in a darkroom they are self proclaimed “artists” )
    The world is full of them but what the art world and world in general lacking
    is real artists like D’Agata/DAH/Dali/Picasso etc..
    Camera operators everywhere, taxi drivers everywhere but only a dozen of those drivers can win or even handle a Formula 1 Grand Prix…
    Many Jo smoes but only one AYRTON SENNA ..

  268. Jim Powers

    Panos, my problem with Instagram is not its “newness” or “cuttingedgeness” but the fact that photos published through Instagram benefit no one but Facebook. It’s hard for me to understand why someone like David who feels ownership of ones images is so critical would embrace Instagram, which is primarily a huge copyright grab, adding value to Facebook, but returning nothing to the photographer.

  269. mw

    Although decisions like this are always subject to change, right now I have decided not to use Instagram, so if that is a requirement for Burn Diary, I won’t be participating. Although I appreciate Jim’s concern that Instagram users are functionally little more than shills (e.g. I’m told (many times a day) that Panos “Likes” Amazon) for a mega corporation, that has nothing to do with my reasons for opting out. After all, these days we’re all just carrying water for mega corporations one way or another. No, I just figure that if I see something that I want to photograph, I want to photograph it in such a way that it communicates something of my vision, and I don’t see Instagram doing that. What I see Instagram doing is making everyone look superficially interesting but pretty much the same, which is another reason I choose to keep processing my own photos. Taking throw-away pictures that look at least something like everyone else’s is fine for someone with David’s body of work, but from where I’m walking, that’s not something I want said about me.

  270. panos skoulidas

    Smiling to ALL…
    Funny how I ended up being the Insta/protector here..
    Really though I don’t know I still NOT feel threatened , at all..
    I don’t feel any paranoia either.. Why? Well maybe my photos suck so much that nobody will steal them..
    Maybe simply that’s what it is.. Whatever I “own” is in my heart and can’t be stolen.
    Im really naive, I just want to have fun, share with the world and friends too..
    And although IM NOT A LAWYER . I still know ( common
    Sense ) that the copyright is MINE anywhere and everywhere as long as I didn’t signed a waiver paper ..
    My photos are mine until I say so..
    Now THEFT, piracy happens.. It’s part of life..
    People can rob me anytime walking down the street..
    Jim and MW,
    If I follow your LEGIT (no sarcasm) FEARS, then I’ll never walk in the streets again,
    And guess what, LOLA ( my doggie ) will hate me for life..
    And nobody but nobody upsets Lola..
    See those fangs???

  271. panos skoulidas

    http://instagr.am/p/L8kmVLBrXE/

    Lola said ( don’t worry mr naive Greek panos , I’ll protect your copyright, now let’s go for a walk …she said )

    But what if thugs take my wallet I asked her back..
    Well your wallet is EMPTY anyways she responded…
    love you all..

    Buddha once said about fear of losing ones possessions that… Ahh forget it..
    Ahh forget what Buddha said , nobody is listening anyways
    All go out shoot photos , walk your dog and if u feel like locking your “valuables” in a closet so be it
    ( just make sure you walk that dog twice, daily )
    One love
    Later

  272. mw

    Hey Panos, you can do what you like. I’m not judging you or anyone else in this matter. I just choose a different road. Fear has nothing to do with it. And I have it from a Tibetan monk that Buddha would approve.

  273. john gladdy

    What about the fact that most imstagramspam is just BANAL!
    OMG! theres someone at the door! snap
    LOOK! New shoes. snap
    LOL I just had a shit..bought some curtains…ran a cat over.took my fucking mutt out for a walk. snap snap snap snap…on and on and on.

    It like saying LOOK! LOOK! MY LIFE MATTERS!
    REALLY!
    LOOK HOW MANY ‘THINGS’ I DO IN MY LIFE.
    ISNT IT A GREAT LIFE? …Tell me its a great life…..please? please tell me It matters..that I matter……I must matter because i do things and show them to you…mustnt I?

  274. mw

    And anyway, even if I was inclined to judge people using Instagram, why should I bother when Gladdy’s around to handle it?

  276. mw

    you just judged me.

    I don’t see how you got that from my little quip. It’s true though. I judged you funny. You’re writing anyway.

  278. Thodoris Tzalavras

    Pqnos,

    Try not to smother that “new” thing by embracing it too hard…
    (to be perceived as a joke… or not… up to you…)

    On a different note…
    having decided to do the pre-press for my second book by myself, i’ve been knee deep in duotone curves and the rest of the hoopla the last couple weeks… there’s a 50/50 chance I might screw the whole thing up… no real way to properly proof duotones, so will only find out at the printing press… a bit too late though… fingers crossed… and… boldly going where many have gone before… cheers

  279. john gladdy

    Thodoris. Have you found a press that knows how to handle duotones?
    Are you doing the dcs.2 channel seperations yourself?
    Interested as I have a project I wish to offset print as quadtones but am wary of taking to a press that is unfamiliar with it. scary stuff if it messes up.

    Michael. Its cool. We all judge all the time. Almost impossible not to. I just like to be upfront that I do.

  280. Jason_Houge

    Jim… All
    From Instagr.am’s terms:

    “Proprietary Rights in Content on Instagram
    Instagram does NOT claim ANY ownership rights in the text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, musical works, works of authorship, applications, or any other materials (collectively, “Content”) that you post on or through the Instagram Services.”

    That’s not a rights grab.

    And if you truely think about the images… Are any of them SO great they will ever be seen as iconic or world moving that anyone should worry about what it says next? I should think not. In times of importance – a real photographer (not the average street button pusher) will reach for their camera. A cellphone is last resort and I doubt they will use instagram to flub up the image and make it look “filmy.”

    “…By displaying or publishing (“posting”) any Content on or through the Instagram Services, you hereby grant to Instagram a non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, worldwide, limited license to use, modify, delete from, add to, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce and translate such Content, including without limitation distributing part or all of the Site in any media formats through any media channels, except Content not shared publicly (“private”) will not be distributed outside the Instagram Services.”

    I don’t think you have anything to worry about.

  281. Thodoris Tzalavras

    John,

    For the first book, I hired a firm in Athens with experience in duotones who were very cool in letting me in on the whole process (of course, observing how something is done does not make one an expert in doing it…)
    I only know (some of) the things those guys taught me, so for the separations I use a manual method in PS (not the image—mode—duotone)… know nothing about quadtones, nor dcs.2
    The way I’m doing it, I prepare the duotone files in PS, save them as psd, place them in Indesign, and export a pdf file from there…
    The printer I’ll use this time around (in vast contrast with the one who printed the first book) does not have experience with duotones, so everything is on me… hence the crossing of fingers… cheers

  282. Akaky

    The thought of your first book still gives me agita, Thodoris. I know it shouldn’t but it does, anyway. When I think that the model I was looking for was on the lampstand at the head of my bed it makes me want to shoot someone else’s foot off with a shotgun.

  283. Thodoris Tzalavras

    Akaki,

    Sorry man, I didn’t get the reference… but then again I learnt what agita means, so all is good… and if you ever change your mind, there’s always a copy here with your name on…
    ok… back to the dungeons now… cheers all

  284. Paul

    Thodoris and John Gladdy…

    Is it true that quadtone printing creates better prints than doutone or are they just separate ways of printing.

  285. Paul

    Instagram is a way of practicing in my free time when I’m at work or just too busy with other dutys at home. Keeps my creative juices warm because if I take a day off without thinking or looking creatively I grow “stiff”.

  289. mw

    After my little back and forth with Gladdy earlier, I went out on an errand and ended up shooting a photo project. I spent somewhere between 3 to 5 minutes on it, no more than if I were doing Instagram or the like. Then when I got home I spent about 10 minutes figuring out how I wanted to develop the photos. Then it took a few minutes to batch and upload. I’m pretty sure these are images I can sell if I get up the gumption. Had I just been goofing on the iPhone with Instagram, I’d have nothing. That’s what I don’t understand about Instagram and the like. If you’re carrying around a walk-about camera like a Fuji or micro four thirds or even an iPhone, why would’t you want to take any shot seriously and process it yourself? Don’t mean to be judgmental. I just don’t get it.

  290. Thomas Bregulla

    maybe I’m getting this completely wrong, but to my understanding BurnDiary is a thing of its own.
    No Instagram required.
    One picture per day per user. Simple. Easy. Like-Button to show, if you like a picture.
    you can upload your snaps or your complexly constructed pictures.
    loose or tight.
    just let go, speak with your pictures.

  292. mw

    Thomas, the way I understand this discussion, it’s about processing. Programs like Instagram and Hipstamatic use templates to process photos. I prefer to process each image separately to represent what I saw when I took the picture. Or what I see when editing it. Bottom line, what I see. Not that devices aren’t important, but that’s not what I’m talking about in this thread.

  293. panos skoulidas

    It like saying LOOK! LOOK! MY LIFE MATTERS!
    REALLY!
    ——-
    John sorry to tell u but YES.. Yes indeed : MY LIFE DOES MATTER…
    Smiling.. Should I feel guilty on this one… Smiling…
    Hell yeah it does matter…!!!

  294. Jason_Houge

    The way I understand the diary is this will not be for everyone… Everyone can enjoy it, it’s something fun to get more interaction. I don’t know about you – but I’ll bet many of us have our own sites and they’re not getting as many hits a day that Burn is. This is a way to get your work, whether it be serious finished creations or the “sketches” made on a daily basis, seen by a wide range of sophisticated people. It’s nice to see how people think – unfortunately unless there is some sort of instructional base that accompanies it, those who are aiming for a deeper understanding and wish to continue reaching for the stars will just continue to make mediocre work…

    Thats the funny thing about instruction too – it gets you into a mindset where your work starts to look like someone else’s… It can be hard to find yourself again and take the knowledge you’ve learned to grow your eye and mind. It sometimes feels like you’re abandoning something, or betraying your teacher/mentor, when you let go of that “borrowed look” to find your own…

  295. Imants

    bugger ( a Kiwi expression) the intsagram/kissagram get a 808 and take real pitchas ………….ps all that copyright stuff is bullshit people pull all sorts of stuff from the net.

    If wwwdot citizen pulls one of your images there is a whinge or two but no real action ……. but if Coca Cola pulls the same image it is a new ball game suddenly!!!, for the creator it becomes a great photograph and tagged with $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Yep greed comes into the frame and image content no longer matters

  296. panos skoulidas

    Jason
    Thanks for explaining.. Can’t u see though that nobody is listening…???
    Smiling…
    Plus we had the exact same conversation a month ago.. Tired repeating myself but thanks for clarifying anyway.. It’s getting boring after a while…

  297. panos skoulidas

    Thomas you are right of course.. Another proof that (almost) nobody listening nor reading ..sad but I’m used to it by now .. Thanks again for re re re clarifying :$

  298. Imants

    Can’t u see though that nobody is listening…??? jeez I thought you were presenting your argument via text Panos…..maybe I will turn the sound up on on my computer amd listen carefully

  299. Imants

    Panos nobody is denying your privileges with intagrams etc some are just stating they are not interested. Personally I will pass on that daily photo stuff ………a daily morning crap is of greater benefit to my system

  300. panos skoulidas

    100 years ago everyone hated Leica 35mm .. All the Ansel Adams purists were like ” oh my god who needs a tiny negative”

    100 years later same crap :”oh my god who needs a tiny phone?”

    naysayers will never change… It’s almost a profession and I’m glad some do it so professionally ..
    I’m amused by all that.. Go ahead, keep trashing all that stuff that your kids will soon be using ..

    “your sons and your daughters are beyond your command , coz the Times they are A Changing”
    bob dylan

    Keep on bashing on … but why so angry???

  302. panos skoulidas

    …. You’re right I mean really..
    Maybe morning constipation is the reason for this angry ANTI-tech talk..
    I’m taking your advice and running to the bathroom immediately :)

  303. Imants

    You sure have bee in your butt there …… Panos why do we all have to be interested in instagrams or panograms as you prefer them to be known?

  308. Frostfrog

    Panos – ‘But as the Eskimos said : “one picture is as good as 666 words”’

    How come you knew this, and I didn’t?

    I think of you not only everyday, but every time I read, hear or watch news from Greece. You too, Civi.

    Anybody:

    For a long time, I have really been hurting for a good film scanner. I used to have a really slow Imacon but it went nuts and blew out a computer. The best I have been able to do since to is take digital pictures of the negative (which can actually work out pretty good when everything comes together just right). I have just been fortunate to land a multi-year project that is going to require that I go back into my pre-digital, mostly black and white negs and my client appears to be willing to help me out with the purchase of a quality scanner.

    Any recommendations?

    To stay on point – I really love my iPhone. I get pictures with it that I could not get with a “real” camera (yet I still use real camera for at least 90 percent. As for iPhone images being last resort, check out my Alaska colleague, Richard Murphy:

    http://blogs.denverpost.com/travel/2012/05/16/call-wild-richard-murphys-iphone-images-alaska/7258/

  309. Thodoris Tzalavras

    Paul,

    In theory, the more inks you add (tritone, quadtone…) the smoother the gradation between tones becomes, and the “richer” your image looks… in practice though, there are too many factors involved that in the end it’s a case by case type of thing… the whole thing is mostly dependent on the competency (and the experience) of the people doing the pre-press and the people doing the actual printing (besides paper stocks, types of inks, etc, etc)… so, you can find duotones that look much better than quadtones, depending on who did them… for an example, take a look at LensWork, which is stochastic duotone… their quality is exceptional…
    anyway… gotta run (as Bob would say)…
    also, take what I say with a bit of salt… I’m not an expert in this field, just an enthusiast…

  310. Thodoris Tzalavras

    Bill,
    Depends on your film’s format(s), your budget, and the intended use (how big you’ll print)…
    I have the Epson v700… it’s not bad, but if your budget allows I would suggest the nikon 9000, or better yet the Flextight X5
    cheers

  311. john gladdy

    Bill.
    If you are able to sell a kidney
    Flextight X1.

    if you are willing to sell your car
    Nikon 9000 ED

    Affordable workhorse that gives good results (once you learn it)
    Epson V750

  312. john gladdy

    we posted simultaneously and chose the same lineup. I have the V750 and its ok. The holders suck but you can get aftermarket. The software sucks but viewscan or silverfast are very good. If you have dust within 50 miles it WILL find its way onto the scan bed after the thing has been on for more than 20 minutes, but again anti static wipes and an air blower sort that ok. The X1 and X5 are great but I would always just hire out time on one at a calumet workstation. pay by the hour.
    the nikon is great but the holder/feeder is tricky and apart from ebay they are getting hard to find and I dont really trust ebay for this sort of kit.

  316. Akaky

    Apropos about absolutely nothing currently under discussion here…

    First, let me say that I have nothing against the idea of the government trying to reform the ills of society. I am not so Panglossian as to believe that this is the best of all possible worlds. Sometimes, whether we want to admit it or not, reform is necessary. No one, for example, quibbles today about whether or not Red Sox fans should have the right to vote, even if buying season’s tickets to see this Satanic horde and their grotesque rituals ought to be prima facie evidence that you are an imminent threat to the moral fiber of this our Great Republic. This will not happen, unfortunately; the nation as a whole accepts, however strange the concept may be, the idea that the Red Sox and their acolytes deserve the same right to choose their elected representatives as ordinary, decent Americans.

    But I digress. Reform is not necessarily a bad thing, unless the reformers allow the idea of reform to carry them away. The problem with reformers, however, is that the idea of reform does carry them away and usually not far enough away so that the rest of us do not have to live with them. Reformers can’t help themselves. The desire to do good coupled with the power to do good is a heady brew, a very heady brew, and sometimes it goes to a reformer’s head, especially if they’re not used to it and most of them aren’t. Drunkenness besets our great nation as a veritable plague? Well, ban alcohol, the reformers cried, and that will end that problem. So, they did…and it didn’t, not by a long shot.

    I bring this all of this up because the reforming urge has reached us here in our happy little burg, where the solons who govern the town took time from their usual peculations this past week to consider whether they ought to ban bake sales within the city limits. There are fashions in reform, just as there are fashions in women’s clothing, or so people keep telling me—the finer points of women’s fashion elude me to the point where the only dresses I can identify with any degree of confidence are miniskirts and wedding gowns—and the fashion in reform this year is fat. Yes, America, the land of the free and the home of the brave is rapidly becoming America, the land of the lardass and the home of the humongous. Here in this brave new world that has such people in it, reformers at every level of government are taking it upon themselves to nag, to cajole, and finally to compel the rest of their fellow countrymen to eat our vegetables whether we want to or not, or there will be consequences more dire for us than simply being sent to our rooms without our suppers. Just as an aside here, I want to say that while I do not wish to disparage those people who like asparagus—there is no accounting for tastes, after all—or those who grow asparagus for a living—if what you do is legal, then how you make your money is your own business, I think—I will eat asparagus only when some jackbooted secret food policeman rams the nauseating stuff down my cold dead throat and nor before. That’s just my opinion, you understand.

    Why, you may ask, and if you don’t I’ll ask for you, are the local solons even considering this idea? Because baked goods are a threat to the health and safety of every citizen of our community and we must take every step necessary to prevent the scourge of obesity from taking root in our homes and robbing our children of their long-term health. Thus spake Dr. Hieronymus Jackson, MD, in tones both ominous and portentous at the city council meeting this past Wednesday night. Dr. Jackson is the leader of the reform faction of the city council and a man I find personally annoying in the extreme, but that’s probably just me. A good many people must like him or he wouldn’t have gotten a seat on the city council last November. On the other hand, the fact that his opponent dropped dead from a heart attack two days before the election probably didn’t hurt the good doctor’s electoral chances any, either. Having gotten his current job through the will of the People and an Act of God, Dr. Jackson and his cohorts on the city council are out to make sure that we all live as long and healthily as possible, which is all very well and good, I suppose, but I already have a mother who will do this sort of thing for me without costing the taxpayers a nickel, thank you very much.

    Why baked goods? Baked goods are made from flour, which rapidly turns to sugar in the bloodstream, and eggs, which are little balls of cholesterol just waiting for the chance to find an artery wall to spackle, and sugar, which rots your teeth and turns into…itself in your bloodstream and leads to diabetes and heart disease and tooth decay and probably cancer too, since everything anyone does these days seems to cause cancer in laboratory rats. And since parents these days do not want to turn off their kids’ computers and tell them to go outside and play, then government must step in and tell these juvenile sumo wannabes and their parents what to eat and when to eat it and, I presume, whether they can watch television while they are eating their vegetables. We don’t like having to do this, Dr. Jackson and all his ilk will tell you, but it’s for their own good, you know, which leads me to believe that Dr. Jackson and his ilk do like having to do this and that they intend to do even more before they’re through.

    It may be for the kids’ own good, but Dr. Jackson unleashed a backlash of epic proportions, or as epic a proportion as we ever see here in our happy little burg. Badmouthing baked goods in the purely abstract is one thing, and a thing many people will agree with, but banning bake sales within the city limits strikes at local philanthropy with a meat ax and no one will tolerate that, not while there’s a breath in anyone’s body. No bake sales? No sales to raise money for the Little Leagues or the drama club at the high school? No bake sales for the Girl Scouts or for the churches or for the animal rescue shelter on Schuyler Street? No chocolate chip cookies and pineapple upside down cake from the fire department’s Ladies’ Auxiliary in their annual fund drive? And don’t let anyone kid you, the Ladies’ Auxiliary’s pineapple upside down cake is great pineapple upside down cake and I don’t care how bad it is for me, I want a piece or maybe two or three.

    The climax to this drama came this past Wednesday night, when the city council met to vote on the issue and found the council chambers packed with clergy and grandmothers and kids dragged there by their parents, most of whom were out for Dr. Jackson’s blood. As the teenagers texted and tweeted and communicated with each other in shrugs and grunts, their elders had at the doctor and his minions, bitterly denouncing him and them. He was a charlatan, and a quack, and a doofus as well, in no particular order, and his first name was stupid; only a scholar of the early Church would know that Hieronymus is none other than Saint Jerome, so if he wanted to be Jerry Jackson why didn’t he just call himself that? This was manifestly unfair to the doctor, who clearly had no choice in what his parents chose to name him and the mayor said as much, but the angry crowd was having none of it. Dr. Jackson tried to explain why he wanted to ban bake sales, using the previously mentioned ominous and portentous tones to tell us all about what was going to happen to us if we didn’t stop stuffing our pie holes with cookies and potato chips and all the rest of the American cornucopia of junk food, but no one wanted to hear that or him telling us that we could all stand to lose a few pounds. After almost an hour of increasingly shrill denunciations, the city council voted to table the proposed ban and worry about the evil effects of baked goods on the health of the citizenry on some other day. Dr. Jackson was visibly upset, but in this matter, even his fellow reformers abandoned him. He left the chamber in a huff, muttering something under his breath, and I like to imagine that he is in his office right now, plotting and planning on how to get even with the ungrateful wretches he wanted to help so badly. Reformers are like that, you know; they don’t ever really go away. They just sit around and wait for another chance to mind your own business for you. I think it goes with the territory. Right makes might, as Mr. Lincoln said, and all reformers think they’re right all of the time. This is not always true, of course, but reformers are optimists; you’ll see things their way in the end. They’re sure of it.

  319. panos skoulidas

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/world/europe/greek-vote-past-europe-returns-to-fiscal-rescue.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120619

    GREECE VOTED FOR THE PAST:(
    That will “save” Italian and Spanish banks temporarily and keep mrs Merkel’s throne for a little bit more longer… Other than that Samo Samo …
    Nothing will change until
    mrs Angela follows/joins Monsieur (failure) Sarkozy / Bruni on their beautiful luxurious boat called “Austerity”…. Oh there is also a rumor that they are changing the name of the “tinanic” size boat from
    “Austerity” to “NO GROWTH”… the early idea to call the boat “Docile P.I.I.G.S” was abandoned as name coz it wasn’t catchy enough…
    Honestly last hope is the 2013 elections in Germany.
    I have faith in German public/voters and hope that they will do what the fellow French did to Sarkozy:

    “showed him were the ocean is”
    -old gangsta quote-

  320. Gordon Lafleur

    Frostfrog,, congrats on the new gig. Grandbabies need new shoes and all.

    I’m not a scanning expert, but my new Epson V500 (159 bucks on sale) blows the doors off of my old Epson 3200pro (1000+bucks).

  323. Paul

    Frostfrog…

    I’ve been using a Minolta 5400 35mm scanner for the past six years. Does a bloody good job and I’ve tried all the Epson flatbeds and when it comes to 35mm film it’s in a class of it’s own only thing that can make it sweat is Imacon. Ok I don’t think you can buy them new anymore but I can assure you it scans extremely well and there are loads being sold second hand.

  325. Frostfrog

    Thanks for the input, Thodoris, John, Jason and Gordon. I have been wondering if any of the Epsons gave a truly good scan. I have never been pleased with any flatbad scans I have actually produced on any machine, so I am glad to know it can be done.

    Akaky – amazing piece. David is right. Why aren’t you writing for the New Yorker and getting good money for it, instead of for free for the amusement of Burnians?

    Of course, if the New Yorker should find you through Burn…

    It seems that both you and Panos write intimately of revolution these days…

  326. Jason_Houge

    Frost- I’ve not really been reading all of the scanner talk… But I’ve used the Epsons, they’re pretty good for 120 and 220. The bigger models do all right with 4×5 as well. You can get a fluid mount for the v700 and v750. I’m not 100% pleased with their 35mm abilities. The Nikon 9000ed was capable of getting the grains in my film. They had specific (separate) settings for e6 and kodachrome. I completely preferred the nikon but they’ve discontinued it and I see no evidence they plan to make another. The next best thing I’ve found is the hassleblad virtual drum scanner for the low cool entery price of about $22,000 usd. The Nikon was great but slow as hell at 4x and 900 dpi… It can scan much higher resolution but I was already sitting 1/2 hour or more for just a few frames in the tray already.
    The Epsons are much quicker, a bit soft, but they seem adequate. I think, judging from the videos I’ve seen, all if the Vivian Maier photographs were scanned via Epson.

    Also I tend to print small 6×9 and I’ve not seen any difference between the Nikon or Epson. The editability is better with a Nikon scan because the file can be saved as an NEF (Nikon raw).

  327. Gordon Lafleur

    Sorry to continue the tech talk, but what are you film burners out there scanning with?

    In my experience, with flat-bed scanners, some fancy photoshop sharpening is absolutely necessary. Very soft otherwise. I’ve had good luck doing a high pass sharpen on a layer set to overlay mode, then sharpen the high pass layer with smart sharpen. Then I may or may not do a high radius (20pixel), low amount (10to20) unsharp mask sharpen on the merged final to pop the mid-tones, and sometimes a final smart sharpen on the final layer.

    I wonder how many burnians know what a film un-sharp mask was, and have actually made them?

  329. Frostfrog

    I actually started out with pretty good film scanners, back in the 90’s. First, the Leafscan 45, which is what I made all the scans with for my book, Gift of the Whale, and for the Uiñiq magazines I was doing at the time, plus some other publications. It made very good scans, but was horribly slow. In time, it went bad and started banding like crazy. A client hired me to do a big job, I told them I needed a scanner, and they purchased an Imacon Flextight, scuzi connection… oh, hell – I can’t remember number and letter designations – and let me have it. It made flat, pasty, scans that absolutely needed to be punched up in Photoshop and was very slow, but fundamentally an excellent scanner.

    That scuzi connection gave me a lot of problems as computers advanced and one day it totally blew out a computer, so I never used it again.

    Both the Leaf and the Imacon easily articulated the individual grains and had excellent depth and breadth. I would not want a scanner that could not articulate the grains. The ultimate product for this new project will be a book, but of course print-making will also be something I will need to do.

  330. Paul

    I think Instagram reminds me of this quote by Sylvia Plath…

    “Every story, every incident, every bit of conversation is raw material for me.”

  332. bob black

    appropos of instagrams, appropos of scanners, appropos of burn diaries, appropos of Akaky and political revolution….appropos of the EU 2012, but most importantly: appropos of nothing discussed above, or of late, to begin with…….:
    ================================================================================================

    This art, practiced high in the vaulted domes of the great variety theaters, is admittedly one of the most difficult humanity can achieve—had so arranged his life that, as long as he kept working in the same building, he never came down from his trapeze by night or day; at first only from a desire to perfect his skill, but later because custom was too strong for him. All his needs, very modest needs at that, were supplied by relays of attendants who watched from below and sent up and hauled down again in specially constructed containers whatever he required. This way of living caused no particular inconvenience to the theatrical people, except that, when other turns were on the stage, his being still up aloft, which could not be dissembled, proved somewhat distracting, as also the fact that, although at such times he mostly kept very still, he drew a stray glance here and there from the public. Yet the management overlooked this, because he was an extraordinary and unique artist. And of course they recognized that this mode of life was no mere prank, and that only in this way could he really keep himself in constant practice and his art at the pitch of its perfection.
    Besides, it was quite healthful up there, and when in the warmer seasons of the year the side windows all around the dome of the theater were thrown open and sun and fresh air came pouring irresistibly into the dusky vault, it was even beautiful. True, his social life was somewhat limited; only sometimes a fellow acrobat swarmed up the ladder to him, and then they both sat on the trapeze, leaning left and right against the supporting ropes and chatted, or builders’ workmen repairing the roof exchanged a few words with him through an open window, or the fireman, inspecting the emergency lighting in the top gallery, called over to him something that sounded respectful but could hardly be made out. Otherwise nothing disturbed his seclusion; occasionally, perhaps, some theater hand straying through the empty theater of an afternoon gazed thoughtfully up into the great height of the roof, almost beyond eyeshot, where the trapeze artist, unaware that he was being observed, practiced his art or rested.
    The trapeze artist could have gone on living peacefully like that, had it not been for the inevitable journeys from place to place, which he found extremely trying. Of course his manager saw to it that his sufferings were not prolonged one moment more than necessary; for town travel, racing automobiles were used, which whirled him, by night if possible or in the earliest hours of the morning, through the empty streets at breakneck speed, too slow all the same for the trapeze artist’s impatience; for railway journeys, a whole compartment was reserved, in which the trapeze artist, as a possible though wretched alternative to his usual way of living, could pass the time up on the luggage rack; in the next town on their circuit, long before he arrived, the trapeze was already slung up in the theater and all the doors leading to the stage were flung wide open, all corridors kept free—yet the manager never knew a happy moment until the trapeze artist set his foot on the rope ladder and in a twinkling, at long last, hung aloft on his trapeze.
    Despite so many journeys having been successfully arranged by the manager, each new one embarrassed him again, for the journeys, apart from everything else, got on the nerves of the artist a great deal.
    Once when they were again traveling together, the trapeze artist lying on the luggage rack dreaming, the manager leaning back in the opposite window seat reading a book, the trapeze artist addressed his companion in a low voice. The manager was immediately all attention. The trapeze artist, biting his lips, said that he must always in the future have two trapezes for his performance instead of only one, two trapezes opposite each other. The manager at once agreed. But the trapeze artist, as if to show that the manager’s consent counted for as little as his refusal, said that never again would he perform on only one trapeze, in no circumstances whatever. The very idea that it might happen at all seemed to make him shudder. The manager, watchfully feeling his way, once more emphasized his entire agreement; two trapezes were better than one, besides it would be an advantage to have a second bar, more variety could be introduced into the performance. At that the trapeze artist suddenly burst into tears. Deeply distressed, the manager sprang to his feet and asked what was the matter, then getting no answer climbed up on the seat and caressed him, cheek to cheek, so that his own face was bedabbled by the trapeze artist’s tears. Yet it took much questioning and soothing endearment until the trapeze artist sobbed: “Only the one bar in my hands—how can I go on living!” That made it somewhat easier for the manager to comfort him; he promised to wire from the very next station for a second trapeze to be installed in the first town on their circuit; reproached himself for having let the artist work so long on only one trapeze; and thanked and praised him warmly for having at last brought the mistake to his notice. And so he succeeded in reassuring the trapeze artist, little by little, and was able to go back to his corner. But he himself was far from reassured; with deep uneasiness he kept glancing secretly at the trapeze artist over the top of his book. Once such ideas began to torment him, would they ever quite leave him alone? Would they not rather increase in urgency? Would they not threaten his very existence? And indeed the manager believed he could see, during the apparently peaceful sleep which had succeeded the fit of tears, the first furrows of care engraving themselves upon the trapeze artist’s smooth, childlike forehead.

    “First Sorrow”–Kafka

  333. bob black

    ooops….forgot the most important 1st 2 words….fucking internet….should be:

    A TRAPEZE ARTIST—this art, practiced high in the vaulted domes of the great variety theaters, is admittedly one of the most difficult humanity can achieve—had so arranged his life that, as long as he kept working in the same building, he never came down from his trapeze by night or day; at first only from a desire to perfect his skill, but later because custom was too strong for him…..

    etc…

  334. mw

    Started a new project today. It’s about street plants living in the toughest parts of Brooklyn. I go out to the very worst neighborhoods, chosen by crime rates, and photograph the plants trying to find some kind of life in those meanest streets of the city, that is Brooklyn, the city that never sleeps very well because of all the noise and stuff. I call it “It ain’t easy being green,” and have commissioned a song to go with it, which you can see here.

    It’s not a bad idea. Do you think maybe it’s worth a go at a Kickstarter or Emphasis.is grant? It wouldn’t be very expensive. A two month timeline. A couple metro cards, coffee and a bagel every morning. Six hundred dollars. Call it seven for the occasional smear. Then another $10,000 for gallery prints and we’re good to go. Sound like a plan?

  335. Jason_Houge

    Michael… I couldn’t get the money I needed to photograph the changing face of poverty in the US through kickstarter – but maybe there would be better chance with sidewalk plants. It’s all in who you know and who will publicize your idea for you. I found out I didn’t know anyone. So, it didn’t work for me – maybe you’ll land the goal. good luck

  336. Imants

    Why waste 10,000 on prints ……… tqke the photos attach QR codes that are GSP linked post on the net and let people visit the actual place. Others will just use the wwwdot world(most will never see the prints)

  337. Imants

    I reckon I could easily give up taking photos and get people to send unwanted images to me andI could make up essays/books from them.

  338. Frostfrog

    Jason – I’m sorry you didn’t get enough pledges. Don’t give up. Shoot it however you have to. MW – good luck with Kickstarter or whatever route you go.

    I’ve been thinking about Kickstarter for a couple of different projects, too, but have taken no real steps toward it.

  339. Imants

    The problem with Kickstarter for artists, photographers is that fewer members of the public see the work created as productive and worthwhile. People are using etc the same method to fund new alternatives in technologies, inventions etc that is pretty stiff completion. The “I want to” way of thinking no longer hold much sway

  340. Frostfrog

    And yet, a number of photography projects have been funded through Kickstarter, including one on Winter Solstice in San Francisco that my fellow Loft alumni, Edite Haberman, participated in and another to Burn veteran Manjari Sharma for her Darshan project on Indian Gods and Goddesses.

    For those interested in trying, there is nothing to lose by giving it a go.

  341. Imants

    Sure there were heaps funded some do but the rate has trickled to a slow walk………one really has to research and capture the public’s interest these days. There is a heap of competition out there for the same dollar, by all means give it a shot but come prepared.

  342. Frostfrog

    Imants, I agree on this 100 percent – and not just for Kickstarter, but for just about any significant potential funding source. Still, as Edite and Sharma have recently proven, it can be done.

  343. Jason_Houge

    Just because the public doesn’t appear to be very interested at the moment does not mean the work isn’t important. If Robert Frank had listened to the publishers and people of his time in the US, The Americans would not exist. And imagine what life would be like then. The problem with Kickstarter is they claim to not allow “awareness campaigns” “fund my life projects” and business start ups. Yet there are more than plenty startups and fund my life projects on their servers. I had to “convince” them that my project wasn’t solely about awareness raising. I told them, the act of taking a photograph does not raise awareness. Undoubtedly people may become more aware after seeing the images but the purpose was to document a particularly unstable time in US history. Btw they also claim the service is only for US residence.

    Thats the problem with kickstarter. Emphasis might be better suited for photography projects like mine because to make people aware IS a very important aspect of my photography. However I decided against it because their site sucks, it’s in beta mode and very clumbsy to work with, they take a lot longer to approve or disapprove so things are out there hanging… And they are newer, less exposed. On the flip side, that they are newer and less exposed and more exclusive, with a bit of mentoring help, means your project may indeed have a better reception. Whereas Kickstarter has lost favor recently among just about everyone because of those techy projects either becoming the same thing already made ten times over, or they are fraudulent projects with no intent to give the rewards, or because there is no exclusiveness, no mentoring to better a product, and no regulation to back up claims of legal action against those project creators who do run away with the cash.

    So, yeah projects win some projects lose some. I’ll bet those two already have made a name for themselves and have a good CV to prove it. Kickstarter is not the place for a “Newbie” like myself. I guess.

  344. Frostfrog

    Jason – The most important thing is that you believe, and you keep at it. Just about everything I have done, I have had someone tell me I couldn’t do it and I have been denied funding more times than I can think of. It still happens. This is just a tough field and there is no way around it. As I think you know, I believe your story is important and that you can do it. Discouragement is part of the process – but don’t give in to it.

  345. Jason_Houge

    The most discouraging thing for me is I haven’t figured out how to find a publisher/editor/magazine what have you to get my work out there. I post often on my own website that nobody visits and on Facebook and Pinterest, but that gets me no where. I’m often limited to email as my only contact and I think that’s probably the least likely to get me in contact with anyone. I don’t the money to travel with and I don’t know who to call or what I’d even say to them…. It’s a small hurdle really. But I’m like a 2 year old trying to figure out how to jump over it, My legs are too short and Ive got more growing to do if I’m going to do it all on my own… Discouraged? Nah. Disappointed? Yep.

  346. Imants

    jason it is about finding an audience general or niche, whichever you deam as important. Asking for twenty odd grand is a lot, very much in the mid to high end scale of an arts grant.

  347. Frostfrog

    I hear you Jason. I sent Gift of the Whale to about 25 publishers before it got accepted – but the process remains as troubling and puzzling for me now as it was then. I have other books in the works (too many, probably) that I think about sending out, but then I remember how long it took and how many times to get Gift of The Whale to the right place and I don’t want to go through all that again, so I don’t send them to anybody.

    I just keep waiting to master iPad app tech so I can publish them myself and then maybe afterward find a real, paper, publisher. But I haven’t done that yet, either. I keep thinking next week I will find the time to figure it out, but in just two weeks next week always becomes last week and the task remains undone. Then again, if I didn’t put so damn much time into my blog, maybe one week next week would become this week.

    I take some inspiration and encouragement from John Vink and his new iPad app, “The Quest.” If you haven’t purchased it, I think it worth the investment, plus study time. He has grasped the concept of the future.

  348. Jason_Houge

    yeah… It’s all budgeted out. To cover travel, supplies, hotels, phone, food, car insurance, laundry, batteries, etc etc. And that’s what 6 months of constant travel would cost. It didnt count for any medical/dental/vision care, rent, cat food/little, vet bills, or home needs and im the only money earning person in my home… I would go smaller scale, but I don’t think it would yeild a productive outcome. if I cut it in half and tried for additional funding steps, and the next phase wasn’t funded, what a waste that would be. I wonder what the true to the penny cost of RIO was for David, Nat Geo and other funding parties involved. 20k may seem like a lot… But again, I’m starting with nothing. Not a name, no published projects, few gallery shows, and a lot of ambition, something to say and the will to say it.

  349. Imants

    Jason I have ten books sitting going nowhere fast.I write athree textbooks for the Singapore education system and made $200,000 over 10 years…. they took me two years to write. Not a real big earner but with teaching and stonemasonary contracts I did ok. Stonemasonary was on contract some great jobs not much money sone hard boring jobs and a good return. Teaching to me is either a year by year or day by day prospect. Just had a drought workwise but a bit of luck sweet until January. Then it all starts again chasing contracts. It is the nature of the beast, one makes a choice I chose the arts a very competative field even at grass roots level loved it hated it but being versatile helps.JUst keep at it if you want some never get anywhere but live in a very productive way.

  352. Jason_Houge

    Sorry, I was developing my negatives and the battery on my iPod died. Now it’s charging. I know book publishers are that way, already tried that with another project. I was more referring to magazines and papers. I don’t have any near me I can just walk in and talk to. It’s more of a famine that a drought for us “young” people. The more experienced have the biggest following and respect. I’m not that young, David even suggested I was “too old” to be coming into photography. But history suggests if you make your mark at an older age, the longer you’ll be remembered than if you had been successful in your youth…. Anybody remember a “good” early Robert Downey Jr movie? Or know what Macaulay Culkin is doing these days? For a time Imogen Cunningham, Dorthea Lange, and dare I say Walker Evans were forgotten about too. They were fortunate enough to have a revival.

  353. mtomalty

    “Started a new project today. It’s about street plants living in the toughest parts of Brooklyn.”

    MW, if you’re interested in looking, I’ve been shooting a similar theme in Montreal
    for some time now.
    I’ve got hundreds of the damn things and don’t know what to do with them :)

    Go to http://www.marktomalty.com and check out the gallery, “urban green”

  358. panos skoulidas

    ANGELA STILL NOT LISTENING!!!!????

    World Leaders Make Little Headway in Solving Debt Crisis

    SAN JOSÉ DEL CABO, Mexico — President Obama and other world leaders pronounced themselves united in the effort to increase growth and employment in the global economy on Tuesday, but appeared to make only modest headway in persuading Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany to drop her opposition to more government spending to alleviate Europe’s debt crisis.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/20/world/leaders-make-little-headway-in-solving-europe-debt-crisis.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120620

  359. panos skoulidas

    With his own re-election chances directly tied to the European economic crisis as it drags down growth in the United States, Mr. Obama
    desperately … DESPERATELY…
    wants Ms. Merkel to loosen the reins on spending and the austerity programs that have been imposed on Greece and the other struggling euro zone economies.

  360. panos skoulidas

    American officials at the summit meeting hoped that for all of Ms. Merkel’s tough talk, her hard line was starting to soften. One hope is that she and other European leaders will allow the European Central Bank to create low-interest Eurobonds …

    but Angela still NOT listening :(

  361. panos skoulidas

    A senior administration official said that the “tone” coming from the Europeans was, at long last, different from two years ago, and that the European leaders were starting to listen to Mr. Obama’s lead-by-example message.

    The meeting has been taking place just as the fragile global economy is stalling again, with the United States the sole bright spot, but even that is relative, given that American employment growth has weakened again. Britain and European countries seem to be either in recession or on the edge of recession, and emerging markets like China and Brazil are not picking up the slack.

  362. panos skoulidas

    Ms. Merkel, who has been under increasing pressure from Mr. Obama and some of her European counterparts to ease up on Germany’s austerity-first prescription for the rest of Europe, appeared to take heart from the victory on Sunday of pro-Europe forces in Greece, thereby confirming the fears of some economists and European and American officials who fret that the Greek results might remove the impetus for quick action.

    ( in other words the Fake new Greek government that was created under fear and pressure from Merkel that gives the unreal ok for more austerity , might destroy Europe and the US..
    SOMEONE NEEDS TO STOP ANGELA MERKEL NOW.. Before it is too late.. If Obama cannot then someone else should step up…)

  366. mw

    John’s right that I wasn’t entirely serious about the kickstarter thing. I wasn’t entirely unserious either though. At this stage of a project, I find it difficult to tell the difference.

    And I was somewhat thinking of Jason’s “Poverty in America” project. Although I doubt I could actually get funding for such a superficially silly project, it’s possible and that would say something about us as a species (though I’m not exactly sure what) if people cared more about funding pictures of poor plants than poor people.

    Of course it’s possible that many people would rather look at symbols of poverty than actual poverty and my “It’s Not Easy Being Green” project provides plenty of symbols. The first picture, for example, that shows the plant in the ugly streets of Brooklyn against a dark background splattered with white says a lot about perspective. The white represents both the Manhattan skyline and the perceived social reality that the poor brooklyn street plants are up against. The second photo opens for discussion how the poisons so prevalent in the urban wasteland wither the roots and stunt any potential growth in the young plants. The third photo, shows that death is all too often present and that urban values can be pretty messed up. The fourth photo explores the complicated interactions between the green and the blue. Is the blue an oppressor, protector or job opportunity? Poison or avenue for growth? In all the photos, the way the various colors interact and influence one another tells a tale.

    Anyway, the point is… Sorry, I don’t have a point. I think it started as “gallery prints sure are expensive.” I’ve been looking into it and yep, they sure are. I think if I got a big show and had to come up with that kind of money, I’d just buy a printer and do it myself. I figure that financially it would be about a wash after all the paper and ink I’d no doubt waste getting back up to speed as a printer, but then I’d still have a printer and could do it much more efficiently next time. So I’m revising my kickstarter idea for “It’s Not Easy Being Green.” Now I figure I can knock it out in two weeks so maybe $50 for coffee and bagels, $50 for metro cards, and $10,000 for a printer, inks and paper.

  368. Jason_Houge

    Michael, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I think the topic is seriously underexposed and I would welcome more coverage anyway possible… Go for it. It could be taken as being “green” for the enviornment – or as symbols of poverty, oppression, you just might get funding by those hoping to see “greens” from a Brooklyn basement, especially in those hoods. I agree it would say something about us as a society. That we can’t face the true problems, we want to be entertained more than educated, that we want to be sheltered… I suppose the US had been called on countless times to help the starving, dying, pitiful world that it is just too painful to look at our own skinned knee. Or, we just can’t believe what we see all around us is actually the same thing, only it looks different, and that’s scary. I’ve met plenty of folks who deny they were ever in poverty. They just had some “tough times”… My girlfriend and I are calling it the Nat Geo affect… Our hypothesis is that places like Nat Geo, Child fund international, and others have shows us what poverty “really looks like” from a 3rd world point of view for so long, no one here in the US recognizes that the people we see every day covered in Nike, Adidas, Tommy, Abercrombie, Hanes and Polo labels are in fact just as likely to be THAT poor. Our society no longer makes their own clothes and we down wrap our selves up in other people’s traditional wears and walk down the street. So if it takes photographing some plants then do it. I would suggest however, not starting off trying to buy an Epson 9900… It’s a beautiful machine and makes some damn sexy prints but, borrowing someone’s perhaps you can pay a lab fee over at Bard or ICP and use their equipment… I don’t know good luck.

  370. john gladdy

    Freaking GOOGLE is trying buy VENICE BEACH…
    Are we gonna let them?

    Why not?
    Isnt that also progress? Stop defending the old and get with the new?

    Who needs old andel adams era sweaty gyms full of steroid bloated anachronisms?
    Move over and let the future in…it is after all what you preach for all the things YOU like.
    Isnt it?

  371. Jason_Houge

    I’m not for either stuck and dusty tradition or destructive progress… What’s Google going to do with the beach? sShouldn’t we know that before we get freaked out over it? Maybe they will protect it??? Maybe they’ll buy the Amazon too and protect that also…

    on a note on the old and now stale digi vs film discussion
    I stick with film because I have only lost a negative if I’ve chosen to – I’ve lost MANY thousands of digital shots just because a bearing on a hard drive seized, the heads hit the disc, external hard drive tipped over when moving laptop, SD cards cracked in two, lost USB drives, files corrupted, and DVDs got scratched. But my negatives… They might get a scratch, some dust embedded in the emulsion, or I may trim a little too close sometimes, but they’re always there. I can drop my binder from two stories up and the negatives will still be there.

    I can’t afford to buy a new smart phone every two years and sign a contract too – My iPhone 1st gen lasted a year before it drowned, the 3G almost 5 before the digitizer went bad… along the way the camera went fuzzy, the screen got scratched, the casing cracked, and it slowed waaaay down. For my money, I would rather hold a one of a kind Instax or Fuji instant print shot through an old polaroid peel apart than dink with digital settings meant to make something look like it’s old. I’ll take a Holga over a point and shoot digital, and I’d shoot my all manual voigtlander over the Nikon d700 I have sitting on a shelf too.

    When it comes to products, just because it’s newer doesn’t make it better. Of course – it’s usually only better over the item it’s actually replacing (ie iPhone 4g over 3g) because over time all things degrade, some are built to, some are just prone to do so quicker.

    But when it comes to IDEAS – i.e. google buying a beach – it’s worth hearing the rest of the story. Democracy sounded good 200+ years ago.. today it’s pretty much a sham. Socialism is feared by the US “republic/democratic” society because it infringes on the Free Market! Well the Free Market and Capitolism are different from politics in general. That’s business imposing it’s dusty traditions on a society in need of new ideas.

    I’d like to hear some new ideas.. Anyone got some?

  374. Frostfrog

    John Vink – Lens Blog looks great! I am still enjoying and learning from The Quest on my iPad.

    Paul Treacy – Beautiful spread on CNN.

    Jason – I will be looking for it.

    Panos…. :( I hope that somewhere in this fiasco, there is hope. When a US in decline is held up as the one bright spot…. well…

    I almost got beat up by a gang on Venice Beach for taking a picture of some people playing guitars and singing on a cold (42 degrees or so) rainy day.

    MW – Nice joke… even if not total joke. I think I need to get more sleep. It sounded a bit absurd, but then some absurd things get taken pretty seriously.

  377. Frostfrog

    Hardly shot anythig so far, probably won’t shoot much more and what I have shot has all been from the car:

    A sign at the edge of the highway giving the number of moose killed on our Mat-Su Borough roadways since last July.

    Train.

    Vehicles passing between train and me.

    Someone using the great “F U” and emblem of a pistol, all in red, as a threat to kill or rob me and all others who pass by him.

    Woman pushing baby in stroller down bike trail as dog trots ahead.

    Anyone who wants to see need merely to tune into my blog tomorrow by clicking on my name, “Frostfrog.”

  378. Frostfrog

    Gordon – I like the dogs and Jason, I really like the cat shadow and it is good to see your self-portrait.

    Gordon, an iPhone will not make you lazy. It will just expand your vision and cause you to think in different ways. Then, sometimes, you will have both your “real” camera and your iPhone and you visualize a picture, pick up your real camera, suddenly realize that it lacks the capability to allow you to take the photo you want and so you will let it hang and pull out your phone.

    Then, other times, you won’t even touch the phone, because it will lack the capability to get the picture as you see it and can get with your real camera – kind of like a mechanic with different types of wrenches.

  379. panos skoulidas

    Bill……..:)
    thank uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!
    how i wish oh how i wish i was so accurate as you are when you write…
    i guess im not good in writing…
    (im not even gonna ask bobby black nor akaky on this one:)
    im horrible writer i know..i accept it …
    love u all!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  380. panos skoulidas

    John oh John…once AGAIN u got it all wrong..
    GOOGLE IS THE PAST amigo…is Ansel..Google IS the status qwo..
    my oh my…ask me…i lived in the silicon valley for a while..
    here is some info (2010…not that new but..) but John oh John listen..
    Silicon Valley moved to Austin since 2010 (Austin is the capital of Texas btw)
    now check this out: (you’ll love this i promise)
    Google is not “alone” in wiping VENICE BEACH off the west LA map…
    “DREAMLAND” aka Stephen Spieleberg studios tried 7 years ago to buy MARINA DEL REY (google map it, its on borders of Venice, now… two years forward this and you have the city of SANTA MONICA getting united with city of LA and Santa Monica real-tors and decide that IF WE ELIMINATE THE BAD SEED which is VENICE then “they” own the Pacific all the way from MALIBU TO DANA POINT….all the way to Mexico and Baja california for real…

    moral of the story: John oh John G! before u starting lecturing me about California/LA/VENICE area “situations”, plz pretty plz advise me first…i can help u with your research (ONLY if im convinced u care about those communities) , plz pretty plz

    And a HUGE THANK YOU for bringing this up so i can BRING IT UP TO THE SURFACE… big thank you!(no pun)

  382. panos skoulidas

    I almost got beat up by a gang on Venice Beach for taking a picture of some people playing guitars and singing on a cold (42 degrees or so) rainy day.
    ——————————————————-

    Bill i hope someday i’ll bring a book about Venice , a “situation” that im working on, since 2008 When DAH gave me as an assignment..i told him thats my backyard and he said:”go for it”
    the rest is history …

  383. panos skoulidas

    “DREAMLAND” aka Stephen Spieleberg studios tried 7 years ago to buy MARINA DEL REY
    ——————–
    correction: i meant to say : PLAYA DEL REY not MARINA…apology
    peace;)

  389. Paul

    “I’m resisting smart-phone cameras partly because I’m afraid it would make me too lazy to use my “real” cameras.”

    Why? I honestly don’t understand this fear about instagrams or iphones. As far as I’m concerned the only point that concerns me is a getting the photo. I don’t care too much as long as I get the moment on film, memory card or my ipad camera. Try it out, its such a liberating experience being only concerned with the image and nothing else…

  390. mw

    Gordon, as someone with an x-100, I can’t imagine why you would ever choose to take a picture with a phone. Well, okay, I guess maybe if you want to sneak a photo, but unless you’re out in the wilds of Borneo, if not on a different planet altogether, that advantage is pretty much lost. Everybody recognizes when someone is photographing with a phone these days. Of course if you want a phone/computer and consider a decent point-and-shoot camera a nice little extra, then the IPhone is a fantastic device. I’ve had one for a long time. It’s a phone, it’s got email, I can surf the web, it plays a mean game of backgammon, it slices and dices, and I can sneak a photo here and there on the subway. But if it’s just a camera you’re after, I’d be shocked if anyone looked at what you can get for $600 and chose an IPhone camera for its value. I bet you’ll take about three pictures with it and then apologize to your poor x-100 for even thinking about running off with that slick little hussy all decked out in those high heeled apps and low cut web services.

  391. Jim Powers

    Several times a month I get an engagement photo that some proud mom has snapped with her cell phone. Most of the time, the image emailed to me from the cell phone is about the size of a postage stamp at print resolution, because someone told her to set her camera at the lowest photo resolution and she could fit 10,000 photos on the phone before she had to delete them. I guess this makes sense, because she is shooting 1,000 photos a day of the dog, cat, kids, the food on her plate, the food on her kid’s plate and the food on her cat’s plate. But when I try to explain the problem, for the 10,000th time, she gets mad at me because, “Well, they look great on Facebook.”

    I hate cell phone cameras!

  392. Gordon Lafleur

    mw
    Don’t get me wrong, I love iphone photos. I even borrowed my son’s older iphone for awhile to play with. There is no denying that they can be a serious tool. I just don’t need another choice at the moment. I’ve got too many cameras already.

  397. a civilian-mass audience

    Thank you BURNIANS for ALL the links and posts
    Yes, FROSTY …keep reporting
    and MR.VINK,you are on a mission!

    But I have to scream today…
    GO GREECE …show them what you got!!!
    Don’t get me wrong…I love German people
    it’s just the politicians and their games
    don’t go along with my blood pressure…

    Viva BURN…may the spirits be with US …
    With all of Us…

    I love you my BURNIANS…I am still traveling
    but I will check you when I will be back in my desk.

    When there is vision there is a way …!
    Open the circle …we are all one (hihihi…maybe two
    after my ouzo …oime:)))

  398. a civilian-mass audience

    ANTON…I know I am late, very late…
    But

    Happy birthday…don’t bring cake…I am on a diet
    Chicken wings and beer will do it:)

    Love and hugs from the BURNING circle…!!!

    And for you that I missed important dates
    I love you ALL!!!

  401. a civilian-mass audience

    THOMAS and all my German friends…no matter who wins…we are all in this BURNING
    Circle together…I know you know:)!!!

    Spread the love…

    What not to instagram!!! JIMMY, you can try this out…
    You might really like it…you never know …:)

    Back to our regular program!

  402. a civilian-mass audience

    And don’t forget your RIO book…

    Thank you EVA…and let me tell you

    YOU don’t want to be stuck inside your home
    without one…

    Go RIO…go Universe…oime, I need my coffee..
    I have to focus…

  404. Paul

    Imants…

    I’m sure at leat 90% of the photos posted daily on Burn Diary will be boring and fun ony for the photographer. However every so often I guess we will see something incredible, which will make all the yawns, raised eyebrows and private smirks worthwhile. Anyway from what I’ve seen of very nearly forty years of life living is usually boring unless one makes a vey strong effort in making every something special out of it.

  408. Thomas Bregulla

    Imants, Paul,

    Many pictures will be boring, but some won’t. And why give them to Instagram if you can store and show them in a real friendly environment. And by definition, if one may upload only one picture per day, the photographer has to select quite strongly, which limits the level of boringness, maybe ;-)
    I still like the idea, and at the same time I respect the feedback, which will be given about the pictures.

  409. john gladdy

    Think about that Paul. Thats like saying ‘ Real life is trivial and boring most of the time, so lets use our technology, not to alleviate that, but to digitise the trivial experience and make sure it follows us into the future.’

    The Degradation of human life

    Debord traces the development of a modern society in which authentic social life has been replaced with its representation: “All that was once directly lived has become mere representation.”[1] Debord argues that the history of social life can be understood as “the decline of being into having, and having into merely appearing.”[2] This condition, according to Debord, is the “historical moment at which the commodity completes its colonization of social life.”[3]

    Guy Debord wrote ‘The society of the Spectacle’ in 1967

    Situationist theory of the spectacle
    “We live in a spectacular society, that is, our whole life is surrounded by an immense accumulation of spectacles. Things that were once directly lived are now lived by proxy. Once an experience is taken out of the real world it becomes a commodity. As a commodity the spectacular is developed to the detriment of the real. It becomes a substitute for experience.”
    —Images and Everyday Life.

    consuming more and more stories of other peoples lives trying to fill a hole that never fills.
    The existential nightmare.

  411. a civilian-mass audience

    I strongly believe that in order to accomplish something..
    There have to be a commitment…IMO
    and a positive energy helps…

    I love you ALL…!!!

  412. mw

    …authentic social life has been replaced with its representation: “All that was once directly lived has become mere representation.”…the history of social life can be understood as “the decline of being into having, and having into merely appearing.” …the “historical moment at which the commodity completes its colonization of social life.” …“We live in a spectacular society, that is, our whole life is surrounded by an immense accumulation of spectacles. Things that were once directly lived are now lived by proxy. Once an experience is taken out of the real world it becomes a commodity. As a commodity the spectacular is developed to the detriment of the real. It becomes a substitute for experience.”

    My first thought on reading all that was “He says that like it’s a bad thing.”

    My second thought, upon noting the date, was that it was probably the acid talking.

  413. Paul

    John Gladdy…

    I’m only searching continually for magic in the quotidian. As far as I know the only hole in my life which never fills is usually between 8:00am till 5:00pm whilst working and chores like these are usually the ones which “try” to bore me. At the ripe age of eight I stared straight into the eyes of death and I might add I was totally aware of my situation, I was warned my chances of survival were far less than extremely slim. I was lucky, but in many ways that situation has been as much a handicap as an advantage. I’m excessively aware ever since that life can end in any moment, I go into everything with utter passion, a continual attempt of making everything a fiesta. As we all know life usually can be pretty average and trivial and short of leaving home and abandoning a wife and two little kids and heading off into a new sunset I try my best to make my daily life interesting. Catching those fragments of magic which elevate the quotidian up into the supernatural, where it’s all true and full of soul or “duende” as the spanish call it. It doesn’t have to be instagram we all could start shooting film like you and send each other once a month our 4 best 10×8 images to each other. Just sharing the successful jump across that damn chasm… :))))

  416. tom hyde

    Related to living through the proxy of the spectacle, either passively or actively, and the substitute for real experience … Martin Parr on Too much photography

    I’d post my own photo proof that everyone is a photographer now, in the form of a single, but I submitted it here.

  418. Paul

    “What am I doing, talking, having my figments talk, it can only be me. Spells of silence too, when I listen, and hear the local sounds, the world sounds, see what an effort I make, to be reasonable. There’s my life, why not, it is one, if you like, if you must, I don’t say no, this evening. There has to be one, it seems, once there is speech, no need of a story, a story is not compulsory, just a life, that’s the mistake I made, one of the mistakes, to have wanted a story for myself, whereas life alone is enough…”
    Samuel Beckett

  421. Imants

    ps Panos the Germans steamrolled the Greeks then the Italians are next and finally the Spanish “……economy and football same same ……….

  423. david alan harvey

    ALL

    sorry i have not been around…was actually locked out of Burn…could not even get a new password….hackers are increasing their efforts to get in….we are having to take extra measures…..a bit of a nightmare….if this bar closes down, meet me across the street, we will have a beer and start all over again!!!…

    new announcements here soonest..i must be off now to France and the annual Magnum meeting in Arles….even the thought of a spreadsheet makes me dizzy….not my thing…ahhhh the things we do to do what we want to do….never a straight line is it??

    cheers, abrazos, david

  424. Paul

    David…

    I quite like the new Magnum website Jim pointed out last night. Now I can see it on the iPad, which I think is a good thing.

  432. Paul

    John Gladdy…

    It may not seem so to you, but for instance I really enjoy your posts. I find them rather unlike any other blog I’ve ever visited.

  434. Frostfrog

    Paul… I agree… John… sorry to disagree with you…

    MW – I enjoyed taking a walk with you. How do you link directly from comment text this way?

  436. Paul

    a href=”http://www.logbookwasilla.com/”>Visit FrostFrog’s blog

    And just add this < at the very beginning of that code.

  440. Akaky

    It’s Monday and so far the weather has been as follows: sunny, cloudy, sunny, drizzle, sunny, light rain, which is different from drizzle, although I’m not sure how, sunny, drizzle, sunny, partly cloudy, drizzle, thunderstorm, drizzle, and now it is sunny again. How long it will stay sunny is anybody’s guess, but on a day like today, I would not bet the farm that our current sunniness is anything but a very short-term phenomenon. I dislike weather like this; it smacks of indecisiveness. If it wants to rain, fine, it can rain; if it wants to be sunny, equally fine, let it be sunny. Be consistent, that’s all I’m saying here. If we have to have bad weather then I want to have bad weather and nothing else; all this backing and forthing like a damn seesaw trapping the citizenry in some sort of weird game of meteorological table tennis is bad for the digestion, I think, and does not improve one’s disposition, especially if said weather drives you to mix your metaphors in a fairly outrageous manner like I am doing here.

  443. Akaky

    I’ve been looking at the OBX article in NatGeo. Very interesting all around, although I’m pretty sure that if the mako sharks had caught a life insurance salesman in a peopling tournament we’d be looking at a very different set of photographs.

  449. Paul

    I’m back and cracked those nagging creative doubts pretty quick. It only took me a week totally isolated from Internet and photobooks to find what is really important to me. Having great fun now just being me.
    And glad to be back playing on the Burn playground :)!

  454. andrew b.

    Not sure where the general party room is atm, seems like everyone’s over hangin’ talking about bieke’s essay…

    Anyway….

    TOM HYDE; sent an email for you, did you get it?

    So what is everyone doing? CIVI, you haven’t been singing! Panos is posting videos (of course), Akaky waxed poetic on something (I have to go back and read it, although I did notice the a positive spin on health news and a new camera (and I got a GF1, are we related?).

    BILL, glad you’re making it through – have been following your news, but not commenting much. Hopefully the positives build up a little more each day.

    DAH – burn university? Also have a question for you, email or skype next week sometime?

    and now the rainstorm has passed and the sun is going down, and I believe I’ll go play flaneur in my own city….after a glass of wine.

    good light, all
    a

  455. a civilian-mass audience

    Oups, ANDREWB…I was in the wrong aisle…:)))

    I am trying to pay back …IMF…:(

    but I am still singing…check me out…!!!

  457. a civilian-mass audience

    and for the AURORA,COLORADO friends …

    may the spirits of strength be with YOU and with ALL of US too…

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