February 2010
“Writers always envy artists, would trade places with them in a moment if they could. The painter’s life seems less ascetic, less monkish, less hunched. Instead of the austere mess of the desk there is the chaos of the studio: dirty coffee cups, paint-smudged cassette decks, drawings of the artist’s girlfriend, naked, on the walls … In the age of the computer the writer’s office or study will increasingly resemble the customer service desk of an ailing small business. The artist’s studio, though, is still what it has always been: an erotic space. For the writer the artist’s studio is, essentially, a place where women undress.”
—Geoff Dyer, Out of Sheer Rage (via erasing.org) (via caseyagollan)
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At first it put me off. I thought, why won’t he just answer the question? But the more I read, the more refreshing Erwitt’s attitude was. Here was a photographer who wasn’t afraid to say “I don’t know”. It seems the perfect counter to today’s culture of specificity, in which photographers are expected to plan out their projects top to bottom and be ready to explain them in a concise three paragraph spiel. For many photo projects nowadays the explanation often takes precedence over the images. You read the artist’s statement and you don’t even need to see the photos.
Erwitt is the antithesis. Photographs before theory. Can you imagine any of today’s hot young photo stars being brave enough to give answers like this?
Diamonstein: What are really saying [in your photos] about the whole question of personal identity?
Erwitt: Gosh. Nothing, I guess…
” —B: Questions without answers
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Unlucky people often fail to follow their intuition when making a choice, whereas lucky people tend to respect hunches. Lucky people are interested in how they both think and feel about the various options, rather than simply looking at the rational side of the situation. I think this helps them because gut feelings act as an alarm bell - a reason to consider a decision carefully.
Unlucky people tend to be creatures of routine. They tend to take the same route to and from work and talk to the same types of people at parties. In contrast, many lucky people try to introduce variety into their lives. For example, one person described how he thought of a colour before arriving at a party and then introduced himself to people wearing that colour. This kind of behaviour boosts the likelihood of chance opportunities by introducing variety.
Lucky people tend to see the positive side of their ill fortune. They imagine how things could have been worse. In one interview, a lucky volunteer arrived with his leg in a plaster cast and described how he had fallen down a flight of stairs. I asked him whether he still felt lucky and he cheerfully explained that he felt luckier than before. As he pointed out, he could have broken his neck.
” —Be lucky - it’s an easy skill to learn - Telegraph
“It seems where feelings really get hurt is if I exhibited this picture and sold it. The intellectual argument stops fast and the commodity one begins there. Plagiarism begets ownership and so forth…. But I can’t help but wonder why this isn’t different than the Shore picture. Is it OK to re-photograph a Shore, Jackson or Atget because they received their accolades and Flickr user eyeseeyou hasn’t? With content based photography the issue is a tough one irregardless and like the readymade will always be rife with arguments.”
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Brian Ulrich on his photographs ‘strongly influenced by others’
More on similar photos - Conscientious
(via jkaranka)
“When we talk about creativity, we’re talking about ideas that are novel, that are good and that are appropriate for the task you need to do. With creativity, with intelligence and with wisdom there’s always a big decision. The big decision with creativity is to defy the crowd. It’s to buy low and sell high in the world of ideas. A creative person is someone who decides to produce ideas, to support ideas that go against the crowd, and that is like buying low, doing the opposite of what other people are doing.”
—Leadership Is Something You Decide To Do - Forbes.com
“For the record: It’s not clear to me how a fully clothed child on a mall coin-op ride is harmed by having his likeness captured by a camera, even if that camera is in the possession of a paedophile. And I’m pretty sure that taking pictures of your kids having fun on rides isn’t a warning sign of paedophilia (I’m in big trouble if it is!).”
—Mall security guard accuses shopper of being a paedophile for photographing his own son Boing Boing
