Catchup? Kat's Up?

So, I’m a little behind in the blogging, which is above average for me. But last week saw two major occurrences for me. The first, I participated for the first time as a juror for an exhibition. The exhibition in question was a student show hung for three months at the Art Institute of Colorado. I was one of about twenty jurors and it was quite an experience. It started off calmly enough, but as our selections got whittled down, the debate heated up. Questions of audience perception versus artist’s intent were the most debated. In the end, I walked out content in my choices in backing the pieces I felt were both technically and artistically strong (and I didn’t pull out any of my hair). The second major occurrence was my first public portfolio review. That was another experience altogether. When I described it as a “science fair for art kids,” I wasn’t that far from the truth. People zipped by with no more than a glance or a quick flip through my book. Those that did stop were more interested in discussing my choice of cover and paper in the construction of my book than any of the images themselves. Though not the main goal of the review, I did enjoy talking about book construction, printing methods, and the like. Hey, If I can share my knowledge (which by the way is more often common) I’m happy to do so.

Quick update done, we’ll get some more pictures up soon. But I suppose there is something else I can blog about. I have been considering purchasing a scanner. More to the point, I have begun to consider putting money in a jar under my bed for a scanner. I have been eyeing somewhat greedily the EPSON V700 flatbed scanner. Why that particular model you ask? Well, the main reason is that it has received very high marks as being an inexpensive (relatively) film scanner that is capable of scanning everything from 35mm to 8x10. I mostly shoot medium format film with my holga and taking film over to my local lab is becoming a little bit cost prohibitive. For one thing, getting the resolution I like from the scan costs much more than getting simple proofs. The question now becomes can I justify the one time expense of the scanner or simply continue to throw money at getting the resolution I need? Of course there is always just the “that is sweet!” factor and I’ll probably just buy the scanner.

The funniest thing about the whole scanner issue is that I shoot holga because I like the fact I am not in control, but I want the scanner so that I can be in control of the final capture. It’s like I’m chasing my tail.

(For those of you that caught the Simpson's reference, yes I am steeped in pop culture.)

3.2 Seconds

Today I had the wonderful opportunity to meet two great professionals. The first, Jay Dickman, a Pulitzer prize winning National Geographic photographer and master storyteller, and the second, Jay Kinghorn, a literal digital photography guru. They were opening their limited show at the John Jellico Gallery at the Art Institute of Colorado, which had begun using their new book Perfect Digital Photography as one of the primary texts for incoming photography students. Now, I haven't had the time to completely go through the book, but from what I have seen it is not arrogant to call title the way it is. The author's skill sets compliment each other completely as the text goes through the process of taking a picture. I say process because that is what it is. Sure, anybody can click the shutter, but as Jay Dickman put it, it takes a lot more to make someone spend more than the 3.2 seconds most people give to an image. Now I may have gotten the numbers mixed up (I've also been told 20 seconds), but stop and think about how long do you look at a picture in a magazine before you flip the page? Do you think that the images that you linger on were really and truly taken with very little planning?

One of the best things about the Jay Dickman's talk was how he described the way he told a story. This really resonated with me because that is what I really consider myself: a visual storyteller. It's what I want to be. His explanation of how you put together a photo essay made so much sense, yet I had never really thought of it in that way before. Even as we talked at the reception, he did nothing but inspire me. And of course, when he asked me what I wanted to be doing 10 years from now I drew a blank. That's a consitent problem with me, nowing here I am in the moment, but in the distant future, things get a little foggy, but we're getting off topic.

Talking with Jay Kinghorn was pretty much the same way. He really emphasized and reinforced Jay Dickman's comments (see, just like I said about their book) about how the great images, the ones that move you and inspire you are all previsualized before the lenscap is even removed. Yes, there is an element of "right place at the right time," but on the same token, it took a little bit of planning to put yourself in the right place at the right time. I'll admit, that I end up more lucky than anything, but on occasion I'll see the perfect location and I'll wait for just the right moment to come along and the picture will be exactly what I envisioned.

As a side note, I just got around to getting my film scanned this morning, so with any luck, I'll be able to post some new pictures in a couple of days.