Just Give Me Money

Al,
The new work looks great, it seems to have matured nicely. I can't help but say and don't take it the wrong way, but I would love to see some of them in color. I know, I know, you're probably getting real sick of people telling you that, but I tried. I just would love to see the color of the dirt, it is red there, right? I think the composition of the lay of the land is quite striking. With Christenberry just having been here, i've been looking at a lot of his work and Walker Evans' work that he did in the region and I weirdly miss the south a little bit, so make them in color! (sorry, I didn't mean to slip) anyways...

I like that the humor is still there, but more subtle. The repetition of object is kind of haunting. I think I feel a landscape show coming on... I think I might have to find a venue for it...

The cluster of trees with the one broken branch is one of the saddest images I've seen in a long time. I'm not sure why... very nice.

 

Thanks for posting this Al. Like Jeremias I will try to comment in a mature way which I know you always appreciate.

I thought for a while on Jeremias' color comment, torn by something I couldn't quite grasp, and maybe still cannot. I have a huge bias towards color, this is no secret. Yet, despite the fact that I know these areas sing in color, I am shocked by how much I enjoy the work in ol' B&W. Here is my theory:

Your images are often funny and the seriousness and quiet that black and white landscape connotes offsets this to some extent, keeping the fun from over-riding the very serious commentary that also takes place. I agree with Jeremias that the work has matured, or at least began to speak about more than singularities. Instead of a suite of random fascinations the work is becoming one thought, attached across the miles and years by your camera. Or, more poetically, they used to be separate paragraphs, now they are a sentence.

Thanks again, for the glimpse and Jeremias' comments for making me use my brain after a mind-numbing day at work.

 

Good point Jay. I forgot to ask, Al do you like Robert Adams?

 

Good call Jeremias. Both his work and writing seem like they would suite you, Al.

 

Robert Adams is on of my heros -- To make it home is one of my favorite books.

Oddities are what I really enjoy photographing and I think for a long time I was so hung up by just trying to find the really over the top ones that I was passing by all sorts of other ones, and, now that I feel like I've got the over the top part covered I can actually let myself pay attention to the finer details of the landscape.

I know, color! Yes, the dirt is red but I think that would make the photographs feel almost too localized & site specific. I REALLY like how J put it (can I just steal that right from you and stick it in the artist statement?) and have to agree that back in the day when I was at SCAD and shot some of the original ones in color (the dead deer for example) I thought they took on a kind of circus atmosphere that was over the top. I do think that by being in black and white a kind of balance is achieved between the outright laughs and being taken seriously. But, then again, the new work is much less funny ha-ha and much more subtle oddities, so maybe color would work. I have some color sheet film hanging out in my fridge so it wouldn't kill me to try shooting some of them in color.

On a side note....
I listened to the Christenberry talk -- just bought his book at SPE so could follow along -- and thought it was really good (it was lab day and my students really got a kick out of the part where his brownie was rejected by the thief). They really were interested to hear someone from their home state sound so exicted about the Alabama landscape since they all tend to think of it as nothing special..

 

Al,
That is great. I will pass it along to my students, it will make the whole experience for them complete having actual feedback from the real world. The PRC also thanks you for sharing the interview and are very excited to hear that it reached your students. I will see about letting William Christenberry know as well.

 

Jeez, what about me? I shared it with myself who shared it with the voices... who were also impressed by what Christenberry had to say about Alabama's landscape.

 

But J -- your voices aren't in Alabama, so it's not quite the same....

 

you guys really crack me up.

Al the work looks great. i do agree with Jeremias though that i would like to see it in color. however, i think i would be more seduced by the color and not see what you are trying to say with the image if they were in color. there is now a big push for color photographs to be huge and rival painting. i commend you for keepin' it real with the black and white. your print style is very consistent with the very neutral images of Evans and the like and i think this help to place your work in that felid.

while your early work was more over the top and i did enjoy it for that reason, this work i can sink my teeth into more. the sublets allow for me to find my own 'ha ha' in it as opposed to be told what is funny. the image with the many pine tree with the three in the front does it for me as well as all the cut wood piled in front of other trees. great work Al.

 

It's interesting that you phrased it 'keep it real with the black and white' since i've been hearing a few comments that because they're in b&w it makes it feel like it's another kind of reality other than the (color) one we're used to. I like them b&w since it streamlines it almost, making the subject matter more the focus rather than the print; but then again, you could say that by putting them in b&w it makes it more about the prints than the subject matter since it seems like more and more people are making color photographs gthese days. (Where's Greg and his 'it's all about the print' when you need him? He would be able to have a good bit of thought on this topic!)

I'm going to try round 2 of making the same shots in color and b&w then comparing/contrasting. I need to empty out some of my film backs before I can load up the color, then have to figure out where to get sheet film processed.... Anyone have any recommendations? I always just used to have photoSCAD do it.

 

hey Al there is a plac in ALT that does it. i am not sure the name. i bet if you do a google serch you could find it. good luck.