38 thoughts on “Spring”

  1. andrew b.

    The background with the raindrops has a very strong impressionist feel. Lovely.

    Of late, it seems I have been taking many, many snapshots and not very many photographs. Not sure what’s going on – perhaps trying too hard, not in the right frame of mind, not opening up or getting close enough….but it’s rather frustrating.

    Good light to all,
    A.

  2. david alan harvey

    ANDREW B

    there is nothing wrong with taking “snapshots”…this is part of the fun of photography after all…and sometimes snapshots lead to other things….applying the looseness you automatically have when taking pictures for fun to a longer term project is the ideal of course but taking individual pictures may not be as random as you think…

    will i see you at Look?

    cheers, david

  4. andrew b.

    Very true, David…I do think it’s the looseness that is missing – I’m just thinking too much. Part of it is, I think, also learning the unfamiliar camera and having to think about it as well…it’s nto second nature yet.

    But it’s all good! Especially since I am carrying it with me more and shooting more than before. Had a bit of a dry spell to work through.

    I will indeed be at Look – I couldn’t manage to get away for education week, but will be arriving Wednesday. Hopefully you and I can get together for coffee one morning, I have a few ideas I’d like to run by you. And of course I’m Looking forward to seeing the rest of the crew, as well.

    Best,
    A.

  7. Ross Nolly

    Andrew; for the first time in a while I can actually say that I seem to have finally re-gained confidence in my own work. Constantly shooting has been the key… :-)

  8. Imants

    Alternatively don’t shoot, if I really have nothing in particular in mind or I am doing something else the camera stays in the cupboard. Sometimes for months on end the longest was about 9 years.

  10. Frostfrog

    WHOA!!!!

    This one should be on permanent, prominent display in MOMA or the Louvre. I suggest you sell a fine art print to either for $10 million dollars. Then, since I suggested it, you can give me a 15 percent commission. Oh, hell… I’ll settle for 10 percent.

    Then you and I can both roam about, do whatever the hell we want, shoot whatever the hell we want.

  12. david alan harvey

    ANDREW B

    one of the things i try to impart to those i mentor, the MOST important part, is that the hardest thing and the best thing is to do what is EASY….what comes natural….the daunting revelation for most of my students is that the “freedom” so many ask for is exactly what hangs them up….

    faced with a blank canvas and total freedom most choke up…

    most of us have “learned” too much….by age 9 most have had the creativity drummed right out of them…up to 4th grade the art on the walls of the schools is GREAT..after that it starts to get too too “good”…

    so stay loose..do not “try” too hard…look in the mirror and shoot what you see there ONLY….starting by literally shooting self portraits works…..look at all the really cool stuff that came to Burn from this audience for Burn 02….the self portraiture bit at least gets you away from thinking that pictures are “somewhere else” or “over the rainbow”…pictures do come from within….so they are right there in front of you at all times…walking around the corner hoping that a “picture is there” is the worst concept of all time….

    AFTER you get this in your head, only THEN can you go to India!!!

    cheers, david

  13. Paul

    Andrew…

    Same here as Ross. I need to be constantly on the go photo wise. Photography is a enormous part of my life. The more I practice the better I see. Probably 25% of my brain is perpetually ticking over photography. But I’m of the obsessive kind and everything to the extreme. Just be you…

  14. david alan harvey

    IMANTS

    yes not working at all works too…at least for some…and your creativity goes beyond taking pictures anyway….your talents as a stone mason are most valuable for the overall creative process….getting outside of photography is the best way into it…as you well know….

    cheers, david

  15. david alan harvey

    PAUL

    obsession works for sure…yet like all things that “work” for you there is a also a very fine line between obsession and being so self absorbed that you can miss entirely….energy must be well placed….the energy that creates is the same energy that can be destructive….we see that in human nature every day….fine tuning this energy is the trick…

    honestly, and this might sound crazy, when i am shooting at my best, i always have a song in my head…usually a stupid song….but a song nevertheless….and i will sing out loud this stupid song….there is one really dumb song that i have been singing out loud for at least 35 years when shooting or when mulling over an especially good idea….and talking to myself seems to work also….

    nothing is going to work everyday…patience required for inspiration….yet one can “learn” both the telltale signs of when magic is about to happen or when it is best to just go fishing….

    and if you go fishing, just put the right bait on the hook…without the right bait, pasa nada….

    oh yes, you are invited to the Magnum bit in London as per our time in Paris…i hope we meet….

    cheers, david

  16. Imants

    Mentoring others is a great way to keep on track and I am sure David will be one of the first to recommend that path. The other advantage is that it also keeps your heart young and alive

  20. kathleen fonseca

    Imants,

    that´s a very cool site..saw this about autochromes..potato starch, who knew?

    “The picture of the Algerians above was made with such an autochrome plate. Microscopic grains of potato starch were dyed red, green, and blue-violet, then mixed evenly and coated onto a sheet of glass. A black-and-white emulsion was then flowed over this layer.

    During exposure, the grains of potato starch on each plate acted as millions of tiny filters. The light-sensitive emulsion was then reversal processed into a positive transparency.

    When viewed, light passes through the emulsion and is filtered to the proper color by the starch grains. The resulting mosaic of glowing dots on glass gives autochromes the look of pointillist paintings.”

    Autochromes were the first true color pictures, and the only industrial color photography process until 1935.

  22. Frostfrog

    First, just to be absolutely clear, although I wrote in jest the sentiment was real. This is a beautiful and amazing photo. It should live throughout the remainder of the time of humanity – and beyond. Of course, David has many photos one must say the same about.

    Now, speaking of spring – last week, our lakes were still iced over. It felt like we never going to see a warm temperature again. Now, over the past two days, our most popular lake, because it sits right on the highway in the middle of town, transformed once again into Wasilla Malibu. Yesterday, the temperature rose to 83 degrees.

    Right now, I am both blessed and cursed with a couple of good, well-paying projects. Blessed, for the obvious reasons; cursed, because the shooting is complete on both and now, that the cold and dark of Alaska winter has been replaced by the constant light and sometimes warmth of the Alaskan summer, I must spend of time indoors, when I should be out shooting, putting all this together.

    But yesterday, with the temperature at 83 degrees, I had to get out and roam about for a little bit and shoot a few pictures – all from the car – part of my quest to document a mostly roadless state from the roads of its roaded areas. These are all snapshots of marginal quality, most blurred a bit due to camera movement caused by car motion, the fact I was holding the camera in one shaky hand and pointing it blindly at crowds of people and things I was not looking directly at and just leaving it to my lens to decide what to focus on.

    Still, it is fun to do and see what happens and I think it does present some impressions of the Far North I think most southerners seldom envision:

    http://www.logbookwasilla.com/logbookwasilla/2013/5/29/wasilla-at-83-degrees-as-seen-from-the-car-a-teen-and-his-bi.html

  23. Frostfrog

    Damn. It never fells. No matter if I read these things over two or three or even four times, I don’t see the typos and errors until right after I post. Then they just jump out at me. To clarify the worst of the errors:

    “…I must spend of my time indoors putting all this together, when I should be out shooting.”

  25. Ross Nolly

    David/Paul/Andrew. It may sound silly but the greatest bit of recent inspiration for me was seeing Neil Young in concert a couple of months back. Seeing someone who is still so creative and constantly trying new things is still resonating.

    Also; you just knew they (Neil and Crazy Horse) were so into it that night. Jamming, head to head (literally) in a tight circle for massive solos lasting up to 20-minutes. Young’s solos were something I’ve never heard come from a guitar. It was like watching (and felt like) a band jamming in the garage; into it for the music and nothing else (even after40-years)… For me; inspirational. …. :-)

  26. andrew b.

    FROSTFROG
    Know exactly what you mean. I’m convinced the WorPress template used by burn hides typos until you hit the “submit” button :)

    ALL
    Thank you all for the suggestions and inspiration….and yes, Imants, stepping away sometimes works for me as well, until the desire to create overwhelms whatever it is that has pushed me off. I shot for my high school and college paper, and then quit for many years….

    I, too, have found if I have a song in my head it helps…I have a playlist on my iPod called “shoot” that are some of the songs I find that get me moving creatively….even if I just listen to them on the way to where I am going.

    David, I think you especially would have enjoyed watching my 15 year old son last weekend at the farmers market. We went just to wander around and take photos….he had seen the video of Bruce Gilden working the streets of NYC, from the thread when we were talking about approaching people ….anyway, while I was walking around pondering what was there – and thinking too much, and not getting much of anything, he was walking quickly, taking a shot, then moving quickly on…and getting some really fun street photographs of the venders and the people in the market….when I told him I liked the way he was working the area, he said he was trying the way he saw Bruce shooting in the video… but beyond that he was truly just instinctive with what he was shooting…

    http://photos.imageevent.com/j_andrew/alexflying/web-0844.jpg

    Of course he then asked if he could use my flash and a remote cord :)

    I didn’t have them with me and told him to practice a while and next time maybe he could use them. Look out, people of Lexington!

    good light all,
    A.

  27. Imants

    Markets are generally great safe havens for kids most people are quite receptive and forgiving.

    The “desire” could be where things go awol……

  28. andrew b.

    Actually, I think he was joking about the flash – he was having great fun, we know quite a few of the venders, and he’s taken portraits of some of them consistently for a couple years now…he said a couple p[eople asked him if he was shooting for a story or school – he told them it was a personal project :)

  29. Cesar

    Interesting words about snapshots, having fun and energy… Sometimes, with my mobile phone I take pictures I like more than the ones taken with the Fuji X100… With the mobile is like if you lost the obligation of taking the best picture, the best composition… You just see and shot, without concerns, and many times, the result is nice!
    About creativity, once in a training about “time management” the teacher told us about the % of creativity has a little boy.. 99%, and how it disappears as we age… Over time, we are more governed by discipline, responsibility, social norms, … and that “cuts” creativity … Hence, many of the great artist in History were identified as eccentric, out of the norms of the “rigth way of life”…
    That´s waht that teacher said… ;-)

  30. a civilian-mass audience

    Thank you All for reporting…EVA,thanks for the weather report…it feels good to have “neighbors” like EVA!!!

    oime, I have to send good energy to my “east side neighbors” in Turkey, “Everywhere is resistance, everywhere is Taksim!”…be strong…

    Keep shooting…the “next generation” is watching you,ANDREWB …:)))

    I LOVE YOU ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL…Happy 1st!!!

  31. a civilian-mass audience

    HAPPYYYYYYYYYYYY

    BIRTHDAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

    MR.HARVEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY !!!

    From Greece and the Greek family…we wish you to keep BURNING !!!

  32. a civilian-mass audience

    I know I am early …hihiii… but I might be without internet for the next few days and I just wanted to be sure that I will have a piece of the cake …hihii

  36. Pete Marovich

    Hello All.

    I am posting a plea to help my friend and fellow photojournalist Scott Strazzante promote his Kickstarter project to bring his long-term project “Common Ground” into book form.

    “Common Ground” brings to life his documentation of the disappearance of the American family farm, and the grave cultural and environmental impact of the resulting suburban sprawl. In over 17 years of looking and listening, Scott set judgment aside as he explored the evolution of one plot of Illinois farmland, and the people who live their lives there.

    Now Scott hopes to give this personal project permanence in book form. And he needs our support to do it.

    Common Ground started as just another daily assignment for a suburban Chicago newspaper and turned into a nearly two decade long ongoing project that has graced the pages of the Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine, Mother Jones and National Geographic.

    The project has been honored with Pictures of the Year International’s Community Awareness Award and 1st place in Feature Video in the NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism contest.

    Scott Strazzante has been a staff photographer for The Chicago Tribune since 2001. A 10-time Illinois Photographer of the Year, Strazzante has covered the Super Bowl, the World Series and three Olympic Games, but he is more proud of his work that uncovers small but universal moments in daily life.

    Please take the time to watch the short video about the project and read more on his Kickstarter project page at the link below.

    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scottstrazzante/common-ground-the-book

    A $50.00 pledge would be a great show of support and it gets you a signed copy of the book!

    Thank you for your consideration to support this exceptional piece of community journalism!

    Best Regards

    Pete

  38. Ross Nolly

    Paul; “Few retain the same energy and age as time goes by. Perhaps they’ve “said” enough as it is. Even though their record companies and bank managers will disagree”

    That seems to apply a lot in music (take the Stones for example); a couple of stand-out songs per album and the rest like a “paint-by-numbers” version. Few seem to keep evolving and trying new things. Maybe it’s a case of being comfortable, or not wanting to “ruin” their legacy?

    Yet in other arts; writing, painting etc may artists seem to keep evolving Not in all cases, but it does seem to be a trend. I suppose that’s why I admire Tom Waits, Neil Young etc; they’ve done it their way the entire time and are not afraid to take chances whether they work or not…. Sort of what Patti Smith said in that interview…

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