Had a great first meeting with my mentor, Randy West, this week. We went over the work I presented at residency and discussed its weakness and strengths. He was very helpful with nudging me towards new directions, meaning not telling me what to do but asking the kinds of questions that might allow me to figure something out for myself.
This lifted me out of my post residency blues. My brain had been racing during residency trying to keep up with all the input. Between crits, lectures and classes it was a lot to sort out. When I got home it was a difficult transition and was left feeling deflated after so much stimulation. I felt unfocused and cloudy. After my meeting with Randy I felt a lot better. I felt like I had some direction and was eager to get back into the studio. I started with pulling out the old 8mm projector I cleared from my Mom’s house. I looked at it like it was an antiquated machine from another century, which is exactly what it is. I had no idea how to use it so I brought it to my friend’s house and he kindly gave me a tutorial and we got it loaded and up and running. A new bulb would be need, we figured out which one was it was, ordered it online and waited for it to arrive. About a week later I was ready to go. And then, guess what, my 5 year old Canon digital camera refused to operate. No joke. After some back & forth with Canon on the phone I sent it down to Virginia for repair. It will be a week or two. So what to do? Thank god for my trusty 4X5 camera and instant Fuji film (no more Polaroid)
So of course after I made a few exposures the film broke and I discovered my spicing cement was too old to work (no surprise but I gave it a try) So I’m heading out tomorrow to get some fresh cement (can’t seem to find tape) All these are just annoying little setbacks and I’m not going to let them get me bogged down.
I was looking through my notebook for stamps and in the back flap I found this quote by Lewis Baltz. I had cut it right out of the magazine and stuck it in my notebook. I think I may have been carrying this around for about 3 years.
“I’ve thought that when people appear in a picture, they automatically are perceived as the subject, irrespective of how they are represented. In my work, I want the only person in the picture to be the viewer. For better or worse, I was creating some sort of microcosm universe and then inviting people to enter it-and, by entering it, to complete it. The fact that it wasn’t a very inviting universe isn’t lost on me. In one sense, I can understand why people were worked up about it.” LB
