Throwback Thursday
As we get closer to the Academy Award ® ceremonies this weekend, I am reminded of my own brush with award greatness.
In the photo below I am standing with a real Oscar ®! This is the closest I would ever get to any type of award, big or small. I might have moved in closer, but the two especially menacing uniformed gentlemen on either side of me warned me several times that it would not be wise. I had no reason to doubt them.
In a time where seemingly everyone gets a trophy just for showing up, the badge of honor I wear is the fact that I have never won anything. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, I am the only member of the Professional Photographers of America to score a 0 in a competition. Yes, that’s right, zero. No applause necessary. Thank you.
This photo was taken sometime back in the mid-nineties (?) at Shea’s Performing Arts Center in Buffalo. For several years, prior to my move south, I photographed many performances and special events. It was a grand time.
One of the great things about being a photographer (among many!) is it gave me permission to go places. Even if not always being invited. I was able to go places, meet people and see things I would never have had the opportunity to in any other profession. I am extremely lucky and blessed. You may feel free to remind me of this if you ever have the occasion to catch me bitching about something…
Wednesday Wisdom
“Ultimately, Photography is subversive not when it frightens, repels, or even stigmatizes, but when it is pensive, when it thinks.” – Roland Barthes
Throwback Thursday
Still accounting for 2023. Except for all the instant film I shot last year, I really didn’t make much new work. Mostly because I was busy, but also because I was having too much fun being instantly gratified…
Wednesday Wisdom
“Photography is a strange phenomenon; you trust your eye and cannot help but bare your soul.” – Inge Morath
Throwback Thursday
I hope everyone is having a terrific 2024!
I’ve been known to celebrate the new year (occasionally too much!) but honestly, it doesn’t mean that much to me. When we celebrate January 1st as the new year, we’re really celebrating an accounting principal. If we’re marking time we have to start somewhere and so here we are.
Personally, I think, if we’re really being true to the idea of new beginnings and starting fresh, we would celebrate our birthdays as the start of a new year; or, as many cultures do, celebrate the first day of Spring. I believe this, although I readily concede that I can understand how difficult the logistics would be for monthly billing cycles and when one’s taxes would be due.
In any case, I will share here a few of the images I really enjoyed from the accounting of the year 2023…
Wednesday Wisdom
“No matter how isolated you are and how lonely you feel, if you do your work truly and conscientiously, unknown friends will come and seek you.” – Carl Jung
Throwback Thursday
Reflections Pt. 2
It’s kind of a convoluted story how I came to be included in this years edition of Eyes on Main Street. But in the Readers Digest version, I had applied to the portfolio reviews as part of the Month of Photography put on by the Colorado Photographic Center. One of the reviewers I had requested was Carol Johnson, who happened to be one of the curators for the EOMS.
After being assigned to her, Carol reviewed my website and digging deeply into it, discovered Kids at Play.
Who knew?
Speaking about my work. Image courtesy Fran DeRespinis (c) 2023
The lesson here, if there is a lesson, is you never know what the actions you take today will lead to tomorrow, or next month, next year, or 10 years from now. That’s why it’s not always as important what you do, it’s that you DO IT.
Get out there. Make work. Share your work. Damn the torpedos. Damn the critics.
Find a way to say “YES!” Embrace serendipity.
To be sure, the road is often full of twists and turns, ups and downs, and potholes too, but as the wise man Yogi Berra once said: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it!”
Wednesday Wisdom
“…in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing the lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.” – Jack Kerouac
Throwback Thursday
Reflections Pt. 1
I was in Wilson, NC this past weekend for the opening of the Eyes on Main Street exhibit. As I mentioned in my last post, I was humbled and honored to be curated into the show. This is the 9th year of the exhibit and there have been only 625 artists from around the world to be chosen. Rare air for sure.
Artist walk as part of the Eyes on Main Street
As we were walking there were several artists there who took a few minutes to talk about their work. In many cases the work was from a specific project that they had worked on. Occasionally, there was an image included with some historical background, or an image like mine, included to add a little different flavor.
Generally speaking, work made for projects tends to be intentional. Photographers are out shooting on a mission. They are actively looking for content. In fact, many of the photographers exhibited traveled to a specific destination to make the work. And, if all goes well, the images will be presented as a body of work, either in an exhibit, a book, or both. My image, being a one-off, has been exhibited (several times) and if the planets align properly, be included in a book.
It was only much later that evening, while basking in the glow of my inclusion, that it occurred to me that my image was in fact from a body of work.
My lifes’ work.