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"When we take a photograph we stop the flow of time to produce a record, however much we then tinker with it later, to make it look a certain way. Here lies, of course, our desire for this moment to last forever."

California.

Katie in bed without a head. 2009.

Two Noam Chomsky's in Oakland. 2009.

Bikes everywhere! Golden Gate Park, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. 2009.

View from our roof. San Francisco to the left, Sausalito to the right. 2009.

Katie and Mike. 2009.

Katie, California Coast. 2009.

So I've been here for 3 months now. We finally got internet this week, so I am making my rounds to the blogs slowly. Katie and I have settled into Berkeley, but now I already have to figure out where to move to for next year as I have to decide what school I want to transfer to after this year.  We found it a blessing in disguise as our 3 months surrounded by lots of concrete, we are already ready to move anyway.  We are thinking about Humboldt State, or possibly one of the UC's on the beach somewhere, Santa Barbara, or Santa Cruz perhaps.  I also made a huge decision to not go back to school for photography... I don't think anyway. I have come to the conclusion that I need to be a history teacher for high schoolers.  I haven't really even been looking at much photography, however, Katie and I did go to a Sebastia0 Salgado exhibit here in Berkeley which was very interesting considering there was also a meeting going on in the gallery about the crisis of the water here in California.  Very informative all around between the meeting and the photographs. We are also going to start a band as soon as she can get her cello.  We want to be ready for tour this summer.  Any band name suggestions?    

Frances Stark.

I have followed Ms. Stark...well since I used to babysit for her son, Arlo-who is totally awesome at air drums by the way (or at least at 2 he was). I didn't a thing about art at the time and so as the years have gone by since I moved away from Los Angeles I have aquired quite a lot. I just saw that she was in the guardian, not to mention the Whitney Bienniel in 2008. Lately, I have been obsessed with language and wanting to learn as much about it as possible. Her work deals with a lot on this topic along with the problems that arise from language, like social conditioning and the struggle of being an artist. Because of my fascination with language recently, I am super stoked to delve even more into her work and hopefully get back in touch with her to talk about it.

Polliwog Magazine

I will go ahead and crawl back into my cave of non-posting after this last one...you know, the important one and all since it's about myself...

Polliwog Magazine just came out with Issue #4, and I am amongst some really great talent which includes: Traci Matlock & Ashley Mclean, Shen Wei, Florian van Roekel, Jennifer Cox, Giorgio Bagnarelli, Lindley Warren and Katherine Squier.

I couldn't be more excited or honored to have been considered. Rebecca does such a great job and I'm glad she decided not to quit doing Polliwog because I am looking forward to what she produces in the future!

Words and Words and Words

It seems to me that America is the wealthiest nation because it faked it well enough. It seems more likely that we as American's got sucked into a linguistic black whole while leaving our logic and minds somewhere to be determined. The people running the corporation...I mean country tell us to do one thing because no matter what America is the best, the greatest and the wealthiest. But are we? There is not one iota of proof to back that claim up and in fact the proof I have seen says the complete opposite. We live in a country who doesn't care about the people only the numbers that accumulate in their bank accounts. Keeping in mind that the numbers represent the money that represents value which represents judgement which represents a feeling. Clearly, feelings and logic got lost somewhere in translation along with humanity in American/Western Society.

Smart Skool.

I followed Pete's link to NYtimes article on student debt, aptly titled, Fools Gold. It is basically a snipet of people sharing their stories about their student loan debt. I couldn't agree more with their logic behind what our universities should be structured like here in America. This is what they said:

I never understood the reason why so much money is asked. Fear of debt and high tuition prices (or overpriced accommodation nearby) are the best way to discriminate between the better off and the less so. This prevents from the majority of society to access to good education, a majority that has proportionally within its ranks the future thinkers of a nation.
Also, what I cannot comprehend is how it is that society accepts this system. One would expect that a more educated society is in the interest of all the nation. Why then prevent people from accessing this education?
The whole idea of seeing if higher education is “worth the debt” is completely wrong. It is not only worth to one individual, but to society as a whole. Somebody with higher education - thankfully - would make better and more informed choices be it at the work place, or when voting, raising a family, analysing the news, participating in the public debate, being critical of the political power….Also, making it “worth it”, devalues academic degrees. People get an incentive to study a degree that gives them a specific job, rather than a degree that teaches them ways to analyse things differently, think creatively, make reasonable choices, preserve their critical spirit and curiosity, all of which can be applied anywhere. It removes people from research, the humanities and classical studies.
University is about having people being able to think for themselves and adapt to various situations.
I am French. Higher education is free (or very close to), enormous amount of people go to University, most are bared after two years because they do not have the level or the motivation. But they could give it a try.The levelling is dependent on your capacity at working and if students from better of families have a higher rate of success, the possibility for all levels of society to succeed is possible. It is also possible and it is increasingly done, to return to university for a year or two while having a job. Again this participates to have a more educated and informed society.
And after all, our graduates are not worse than any other country. If our universities make it rarely in the “world league” it is because the student:staff ratio remains high (but mostly at early university levels since at masters level it is between 1:2 and 1:4), there is little sport, large turn out, and above all, no ranking within France herself (all institutions just provide education) and because fundamentaly we see higher education differently from anglo-saxon countries.Another factor might be the wages after leaving university. But since education is cheap in France, it does not mean that we have to get a high wage job to repay a student debt. We can do what we like.
Why can’t people study for the pleasure of studying, increasing their knowledge and skill of analysis? Society benefits.
Thinking of university and higher education in general for the sole purpose of giving jobs needs to go. University is so much more than just that, but this is not quantifyiable.
Amaury

I find these days moving along quite swiftly. I finally found a job after looking for four months. Nothing extravagant-part time at a hotel, but I love travel and I find myself traveling vicariously through my guests that arrive always asking them about their trip. I haven't been looking at much photograhpy lately as I have been busy looking for a job then working at said job and getting ready for our big move out west. Things are finally coming along nicely and it seems that everything is in reach and going to work out.

Lately, I find myself questioning photography/art in general-and I know Pete has been touching on this subject. I've been reading a lot of Henry Miller and he made me feel a lot more peaceful about my passion which was something to the effect of-most people paint to paint a masterpiece, I don't care whether the painting comes out good or bad-it's the process of painting that makes me happy. I can't help but think that if I were to sell any of my images I would essentially just be selling my own memories and how do you put a price on that and why doesn't everyone just take pictures and and and and yeah. It isn't so much the act of taking photographs that gets me its the consumerism side to it that doesn't sit so well. I definitely want to continue making photographs and to do so I need funds since everything that has to do with photograhphy involves money one way or the other. I initially came to the conclusion that I would just shoot for others and get paid that way, but for the most part that would mean that I would have to completely sell out my morals to do so. I still don't have a resolution and I may just have to suck it up if I want to stay a part of society (which I'm not so sure that I want that either, but until my sister and I run away to the forest...which reminds me, we thought about living in a redwood tree and making a vertical house where there would be rooms hollowed out vertically...so the kitchen would probably be on top and then our bedrooms and maybe the "living" room on the bottom).

Zombieland.

These days I find myself wandering between day and night.  The lines have blurred as to whether the sun has just risen or set and my head is cloudy.  

My friend Jordan

Urbanautica, Liz Kuball and Dave Jordano

Woke up this morning and made my daily rounds on this here interweb-which led me to discovering the website Urbanautica via Jennilee Marigomen's flickr (which she was just featured on).  It is a very neat site which forced itself upon me to look at every image and to read each statement by each photographer. I'm just warning you now to be prepared for its aggressive guerilla tactics at making the viewer stay on its site until completion :).  It's worth it though since there are so many amazing photographers on there some huge- like Alec Soth and Amy Stein along with the likes of up and comer's like Will Govus and Marigomen.  However, I was really struck by two people I had previously never seen, Liz Kuball and Dave Jordano.  The website is a compilation of photographers who work in documenting the land wherever it may be that people inhabit.

Liz Kuball is based out of Southern California by way of the east.  She followed the westward dream like many of us do(myself included) and documented this process of discerning reality from fantasy that us transplants often come to fruition.  

from In Store. Liz Kuball.

from California Vernacular. Liz Kuball.

from California Vernacular. Liz Kuball.

Dave Jordano returned to shooting outside of his studio after a 25 year stint hiatus of shooting images inside for clientele.  I am glad he ventured back out into the world and so far he has brought us the stories of life on the fringes of society along with portraying a life that once was in his series on the Chanute Military base in Illinois. 

from Prairieland-On the Fringe. Dave Jordano. 2005.

from Prairieland-Habitants. Dave Jordano. 2005.

from Chanute AFB. Dave Jordano. 2007.