In the weeds is the title that came to me here. It's a weird shot that might work. Creating the series (now called The Recollection) I've been messing up the foreground a little. My photos can be a tad too tidy. This image was made the day Hurricane Irene blew into town. Lots of wind and excitement. The long weeds waved and moved like currents in water.
The Portfolio Review in New Orleans ran round the clock from Friday morning until late Sunday afternoon. There's a lot to digest. The event felt BIG and WHIRLLY and included everything from an accidental karmic trip to the haute fashion show at the Ogden Museum to gumbo to a book art lecture to the main event - images.
Three quick lists -- what I got, what I didn't get, and what got that I didn't expect to get.
Got: subjective and confusing readings of my work. One liked this, the other that. Underneath the subjective stuff, I got that my work is divided into two expressions - more crisply focused documentary work and surreal dreamscapes. I am revising. I plan to lean hard into the dreamscapes.
Didn't Get: Clarity, contracts, fame, a mentor or a clear signal that pushing the work is worth so much hoo-hah. The outer world -- it can mess up these inner creations.
Got that I Didn't Expect to Get: A deadline extension. A patron in Pensacola, Florida. Several very talented and cool friends. And a look inside a woman's mouth to see the word LAUGH tattooed along her lower gum. She folded down her lip, unfurling her message that made us both laugh.
Final thought: be serious about the work, but don't take things too seriously. Laugh.
Your words and inspiration are taking me into a new direction for a new year, Cheers.
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