During my time so far spent in an MFA program…
…how many times will I be assigned to read Walter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction?
…how many times will I be assigned the wrong room for a class, or not appear at all on the roster?
…and how many times will I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing here, or why I’m doing it?
(The answers, respectively [and so far] are 4, 3, and i.)
Video showing proof of concept for a camera that searches the interwebs for photos the moment you press the button. (via Digg)
Yes… but? And how is that not (at least pragmatically) random? And how would that even make a difference?
This is an interesting idea, I think - the seperation of camera and subject is a worthwhile endeavor. Or, it sounds like it should be, anyway. Sometimes projects like these sometimes strike me as style-heavy. Don’t get me wrong - I like random as much as anyone (check out my Camille Paglia Essay Generator) - but I’m not entirely sure that the manifestation of the concept is really that intriguing.
Maybe it just needs some improvements…
I would add a “pizza” button, so that once I chose to take a photograph, somewhere else in the world, randomly, a random person would have a piece of pizza appear in their hands. I would be a hero.
But seriously (or not) - what kind of functionality could be added to this device that would strengthen its concept?
So, we finally got our Christmas card photo right, even if it’s a month late.
A tip on how to make the awesomest face ever: ensure that Carrie (from Eagle*Seagull) takes a photograph while you try to pop balloons by squeezing them in front of you. She totally got the moment after the black balloon in my left hand exploded, and right before the white balloon did.
We sure know how to party.
It was good to be in Nebraska for a while - even though I was on the computer every day working on various projects (among them, the very recently finished - and still possibly subject to slight design changes - karenkunc.com).
I tried to stay away from the infernal machine for entertainment or personal work. In fact - almost the whole time I was in Lincoln, I was picking up new jobs while working on old ones. And because I neglected all of my own work, I think I got more done in just under one month than I have in the last 6.
And all the snow was nice too.
So, I’m now back in New York - back in my office - and editing some photos. There is a small, new batch of portraits up at justinkohmetscher.com.
One of the problems with being back at home is that I do not want to work on work stuff; I want to work on art stuff. This significantly decreases my budget for the art stuff and requires a total shift in attitudes. (Don’t you mean artitudes? -Eds.)
When I’m working on work stuff, I work sporadically at first: developing ideas, trying them out, re-designing and modifying. Then I’ll work practically non-stop for a couple of weeks, and then start over again, until the product looks and/or feels finished.
Some jobs take more cycles than others. And I’m always surprised at how incredibly simple my work is after I’ve refined it over and over again. The design always look very similiar to what it was when I had first started. Michael once told me that David Carson believes that the very first way you lay out the design of something is the most intuitive - and thereby the best approach (I am paraphrasing what I remember, which isn’t totally reliable, and I couldn’t find the quote anywhere using google, so correct me if I’m wrong) and even though when I heard that I thought it was kind of silly, I have come to realize that I work that way too, only it takes me way longer to get to it.
Working on art stuff is different - I get completely immersed right away and stay that way until it’s done. With most of the photos and videos I’ve been working on, it’s easy to make use of that first intuitive action. Most of my photo work is about an action (or reaction) to a present situation. I think. But I’m not sure.
School started this week, and I’m excited to be back. Today, during my first drawing class, we toured some of the students’ studios and had a kind of half-hearted critique. There was a lot of standing around - one professor and 6 students - not saying anything for a little bit, then talking about something - like a movie or dropping quasi-famous artist names - and then more standing around.
A couple of times, there was actually talk about art. I was told that my opinion of a girl’s painting was mostly wrong because I didn’t know the “law of painting,” whatever that is. (I did find
Minton’s Law of Painting: Any paint, regardless of quality or composition, will adhere permanently to any surface, prepared or otherwise, if applied accidentally.
from this site, but I’m pretty sure he wasn’t talking about that.) So the drawing class is going to be a challenge, I think. This will be the first non-photo studio class I’ve taken in a long time, and I’m anxious to get started on something that doesn’t involve a camera.
I suppose I should get started on figuring out what the law of painting is.
Any ideas?
