I have a first, middle and last name: David Michael Kennedy
>Now you make a couple of other unwarranted assumptions -- for one, that
>the quality of philosophy or critical discussion here is the cheap,
>inferior Walmart version. Really?
You read between the lines.
The inference about Walmart was not a slur on the "quality of philosophy or
critical discussion
here", but if I want philosophy/critical discussion I will got to a place
that specializes in that. As the name of this list is Alt. Photo Processes
one would think we might specialize in that and leave the theory for PHOTO
ART. I'm sure Wall Mart has some quality items but not many, perhaps
tupperware. It also take so long to find what you want. But we could just
open up the list to include talk about marketing our photographs, different
lens and their relative sharpness. How about the newest digital camera, I'm
sure that would interest you. Where shall it end?
>I've found it acute, apt, articulate, indeed at times amazing, albeit at
other times >full of flapdoodle, but again, we don't know what will come of
it till we've gotten >there. (I can't previsualize a discussion any more than
I can previsualize a
>photograph.)
Perhaps if we try to previsualize more we would not have so much trouble on
the other end?
Personally I usually have a good idea as to how my image will look as a final
print as I am looking through the viewfinder AND I also have a good idea as
to how my actions will be perceived before I act or speak.
>And I certainly do not consider my own contributions to be the least bit
Walmarty >(tho I confess to never having been in a Walmart --have you?). In
fact I could >make a case that by>saying so *you* are doing the insulting!
Yes, come to think >of it, I do definitely feel quite >insulted....
Yes you could make a case, again by mis reading, perhaps to your own ends
what I said. It's not the quality issue here Judy, its the speciailty issue.
Why is that so hard to understand? Perhaps before commenting on my post you
should of gone to Walmart so that you would know from whence you speak. But
then as was said by someone earlier some theologians on photography don't
know how to process film. Yes I have been there. Usually at 2 am when I
can't sleep and have no idea what I want. It's a great place to wander the
isles and fill your mind looking at all the mass produced thing that one
really doesn't need but is programmed to think they need. It's also a great
place to find vast amounts of everything with no in depth selection of
anything.
My reference to Walmart did not reflect on the list other than to compare the
list to Walmart as a whole..meaning a little bit of everything, rather than a
list that deals in a specific subject area. As to your feeling insulted I
don't really remember your contributions to the topic at hand nor do I
remember mentioning you by name. Prey tell why are you insulted?
>As for subscribing to the Photo Art list, even assuming it's of sufficient
level to >engage the superior minds of those of us who insist on the best of
everything -- >sorry, I can hardly deal with one list and lead my life and do
my work.
I for one do not have the luxury to separate my work from my life as it is
one in the same. But as to time that's my point if you don't have the time
to subscribe to PHOTO ART then how do you have the time to deal with postings
on alt. process that belong on PHOTO ART.
I've always been amazed at the amount and length of you postings. Many time
I find myself wondering where you find the time. As a working artist I do
not have the time to deal with any lists but I try to keep up with the alt.
process list, (I suppose that is one reasons this thread of posts has me
annoyed), because I find the quality of technical information to be superb.
Insist on the best of everything? When it comes to my work your damn right!
But superior minds? I hardly fit into that category. Recently during an
interview I was asked to speak about what my work means. Hell Judy, I
suppose they would of liked 1/2 hour of rhetoric but I had no answers. The
best I could manage was that if I could fully understand my work I would
probably look for something else to do with my time. All I know is I love
photography and it allows me the opportunity to share with others something
of what I have seen, experienced and felt about the world and my life.
>Even more important, and here perhaps, sir (you are a sir?), you might take
>pause it is a delusion to imagine you can separate the theory from the work
and >put them in two different boxes... Woe onto him or her who does...
Madame, I haven't been called sir in years, David will do nicely, I do not
separate theory from the work and put them in two different boxes. My work
is all inclusive of my life and there is no separation from my work and my
life, or anything else for that matter. But to me theory is personal,
something that comes from inside and not often open to public display,
perhaps to my determent. I feel that technical information can be taught but
the part of the work that deals with our guts is not something that can be
taught. We have to dig deep with our own being to find those answers.
Reading and discussing theory is very nice but perhaps it is a tool to get
in the way of working? Very useful to people who really have no work to
produce. In general it seems the poeple who talk least do the most anfd the
peole who talk most do the least. I had an assistant who traveled with me on
a South Dakota project. He was in art school and was so upset because he was
not shooting. When I asked why he said for the past few years he had been
trying to figure out what his personal vision was. He attended class after
class at UNM trying to find his vision. He read books and studied the great
masters work....but he never shot because he had not found his direction. He
was looking for a series or body of work to do. Well, madame I slammed on
the breaks got out his camera and told him if he didn't shoot at least 5
rolls every day we where on the trip he would be deposited by the side of the
road and left for coyote food. The end result he photographed 5 to 10 rolls
each day for 6 days. No discussions about what he photographed although I
believe we did discuss filtration and exposure among various other technical
stuff.
A month later he called to show me his "South Dakota Series". He was amazed
that after all the years of talking all he had to do was to start working and
his "personal vision" was there all the time-all he had to do was stop
thinking so much and just do it.
>Which is to say we must reserve the right (I certainly do until Steve
deaccessions >me) to follow those discussions into theory when they
organically lead there. >Notto mention the pleasure of enjoying the critical
and aesthetic ideas of expert >colleagues whom we have come to admire and
respect... Needless to say, we >shall all strive every day in every way to be
kinder, politer, and worthier, but I >pray we will not have to censor our
every "conversation" for fear we are not being >sufficiently technical, and
to watch our every sentence for fear of drifting into the >dread
theoretical... If we do, if we become so intimidated, much life and heart
will >be drained from this discourse.
How you can carry on. I do not intend to censor.... only to suggest(quite
strongly) that things should be spoken about in their own time and in their
own place. After all this thread was started by a posting to PHOTO ART that
mistakenly found it way to alt. process. In no way do I put down people who
wish to theorize, we all have our place in the world, only to suggest that
the purpose of this list is primarily technical and should remain that way.
If my Ute Reader started publishing numerous articles by neo-nazi people I
would be pissed (sorry only word that fits) not because I want to censor them
but because I get the Ute reader for other reasons and do not want to wade
through all that neo-nazi garbage to find what I buy the magazine for. If I
was interested in neo-naziism I would buy THEIR magazine and I am not so I
don't and I get pissed when their articles show up in venues I have
purchased.(and we all do purchase this list-by paying phone/email charges and
in the time we devote to reading it). And before you say it NO I AM NOT
comparing theory to Neo-Naziism. I also think we have gone far beyond
"drifting into the dread theoretical".
>It is certainly your privilege in a country as full of freedoms as this
>one to be "of the old school." On the other hand, some of us are going to
>be or hoping to be or at least contemplating being some kind of as yet to
>be established or defined "new school." And you must permit that, even if
>you can't appreciate it. And you are certainly free to like speciality
>stores, but you must allow others to decide they haven't the time to run