Sometimes It Is So Much Fun

Great and elegant giant question mark by prop stylist Shannon Amos of Artist Untied, and great locations courtesy of The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.

Bad Blog / Found Blog

The other day I was walking through a park and found a chunk of rubber on the ground. It's shape looked familiar:

"Does it look like Italy? Maybe like California? or was it Florida? One of those long shaped states or countries, God, I just don't know. Oh, I guess I'll put the thing on my scanner and that can be my next blog."

I found myself using the instant gratification the blog provides as an excuse for doing something creative that day. Oh...I did the blog, I created something today...right? Can I be done now? Mentally tricky stuff this blogging can be.

Fortunately, just as I was about to scan this mundane piece of rubber, a photographer friend showed me this returned promo card he sent out earlier that week. I begged him for it. Enjoy.

oo

Responses to "The Pointer"

Got some interesting responses to the last post, I thought I'd publish them here. The first one is kind of fatalistic and the second one kinda sounds like a call to arms, but they have their points. Do we need a Blogifesto? Is this hype or journalism or just someone's diary?

Anonymous said...

I know the feeling. We get into photography because we think we have a better more clever approach. When the client insists on their vision-- one you don't share--off goes the enthsiasm engine. You know your career has ended when the only reason you've taken the job is the money.
July 14, 2007 10:32 PM

ThomasBroening said...

How much sunshine do you intend to blow up our ass? Instead of saying you had an idea for the story you really liked and the editor's weren't bright enough to get it, you tell us this feel good story of trying an idea and it failing. But guess what? Its all good because you all came up with a solution that was even better!!! Great news! And then you all hugged on the conference call.

Do we need more hype and exageration in this business? Isn't the point of the blogs to inject some truth into this industry? Do we need a blog manifesto? A blogifesto?
July 15, 2007 8:27 PM

The Pointer

ooo

The idea really seemed do-able at the time: hire a prop stylist to create a three dimensional version of the "pointer" that appears on every computer, be it p.c. or mac. Take that prop out into the world and point it at significant places in America's dot com history. Oh...here is the garage HP was started in, let's point it there. Oh, here is the dorm that the Yahoo dudes used to crash in...let's point it in there.

oo

o

Enthusiasm was high, I sold the idea pretty hard to the magazine. We went forth on a blustery SF Monday to try it out. I was kind of having a blast: it looked surreal out in the world but it still seemed to make sense. Kinda clunky with the model trying to hide her body behind it, but I kind of loved the home-made d.i.y. qualities it had. It was dada-ist, so very San Francisco, and feeling like field day in art school, taking all this theory out onto the streets to meet the people.

I came home, processed the digital files, high-fived myself, and sent the magazine editors a note saying " We nailed it. You are gonna love it. "

0

Next day, bright and early I received a concerned sounding email from the photo editor, asking if there were other images I shot that I didn't send them...like perhaps some without the arrow? Could we have a conference call at 2:00? At that point I knew this idea did not fly.Nothing had been nailed, no one was in love.

0

The one really rock solid thing I've learned is that once you are in the position of needing to defend an idea to a client/editor/subject, you really have already lost the battle. If the shots are not speaking to them, you really will never be able to talk your way out if it. And there is nothing more awkward than trying to explain a photograph. It either speaks for itself or it doesn't.

In the end, the conference call led to a better solution for the project: a path that maintains the spirit of the idea but approaches it in a less goofy and more elegant manner...so all is good and we are still plugging away on it, trying to work out the glitches as they arise.

0

Oh...but there is nothing that really feels the same as the spectacular crash and burn of an idea.

Blue Nailpolish

Sandwich, Dragon and Two Chairs

Pictures from Home, 7/07

Or?