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It (Was) World Photo Day!

August 20, 2016 / Rick / 0 Comments

As legend would have it, the date for World Photo Day came about because it was on 19 Aug 1839 that the French government purchased the patent to the Daguerrotype process and announced that it was being given away to everyone for free. It seems a good a reason as any to choose a date for celebration. If it had not been for the generosity of the French, photography as a process may have taken a very different path to development. This year marked the World Photo Day’s 7th year of celebration, which isn’t too shabby considering the growing pains it had to endure its few couple of years.

I had pretty much decided that I was going to take the day off from making images and, instead, reflect on my own personal views in this world. I’m going to be honest, between work, watching preseason NFL Football, and enjoying an incredible Italian dinner, I didn’t get much thinking done. In fact, I had even planned this blog entry to coincide with the ending of World Photo Day in the Midwest, but ended up falling asleep early. Bad, Rick.

I did, however, think about my own evolution in photography. Some of my earliest images are lost forever due to hard drive failures and getting lost in moves from one hard drive to another (1 lesson learned – file organization is important). I did come across this one, however:

Williams Tower – Houston, TX (2007)

I recall my own innocence (for lack of a better term) in taking this photo. I was still learning everything I could about photography, but it was very slow going at the time. Magazines such as Popular Photography seem to assume one has a baseline of knowledge. I didn’t even have that baseline when I took this picture. It wasn’t until a little over 2 months later that things would finally start to gel for me.

Beneath The Massacre at Summer Slaughter 2007 in Houston, TX

An early concert photo taken in 2007 (before the image of Williams Tower). This was among the first taken with my DSLR.

Cy-Fair College – Houston, TX (2007)

That was my first film image taken after I enrolled in a photography course at Cy-Fair College. I was amazed at how one class worth of lecture crystallized everything for me in terms of the camera settings. I had achieved a baseline of knowledge (and quickly learned how very little use a certain magazine had for me in terms of teaching). I knew I could only get better from there. I had to, since this negative was pretty messed up by my repeated attempts to load it on the film roll for processing. It also awakened the artist that was always inside me and had been suppressed since graduating from high school.

I’d like to say that I did get better. In these early days I still had my innocence (again, for lack of a better term) about photography. I learned technical aspects (such as metering for extreme lighting conditions), effective composition, and color balancing. I would go on to learn about conceptual things such as the language of photography (which eludes me a little, but with each day it gets a little slower in avoiding my grasp), the essence of photography as an index and how it relates to art, and the limits and possibilities of the medium. The conceptual stuff destroyed my innocence, but gave me new focus (pun not intended) in terms of how I was going to proceed.

This is an interesting time for photography. Like the proliferation of hand held cameras in the 1960’s and 70’s, cell phone cameras have brought an old challenge back to photography, albeit in a way that is much more intense. A couple of years ago an artist was inspired by an exhibition at the Museum Of Fine Arts Houston that explored photomanipulation prior to the advent of Photoshop. He created a little project of abstract photos taken with his iPhone. He said that he was “faking it” by attempting to create art with a cell phone camera. Not much was discussed about that project (he was submitting 2 for critique), but it does illustrate the challenge posed and the resistance to it. The explosion of social media has also brought new importance of the snapshot just by virtue of the proliferation of snapshots in the wild.

The 2 issues above pique my interest each in their own way. The proliferation of cell phone cameras (along with their growing capabilities) has led some agencies to actually eliminate photo staff and rely on the field reporter to get images for a print or web story. Can an untrained (relatively speaking) photographer capture an image that will have the same effectiveness as one captured by an experienced professional? That is the biggest question. The growth of social media, fueled by the growth of cell phones, challenges our personal relationship to photography. The snapshot is generally a personal image made to document our relationship to the world. When those images are out in the wild, is it still “just” a snapshot? How has our relationship to the world changed when a personal photo is published for all to see? How is medium challenged in general? Is “art” photography elevated or cheapened? These are just a few of the questions we find ourselves asking.

Thus ends my contribution to World Photo Day. I will leave you now with a recent image I created, just to show my own progress in photography. I will also leave a snapshot I created at the same event. Maybe it will help my faithful and not-so-faithful readers to ponder their own questions regarding the medium within the context of my discussion. If not, well, that’s perfectly fine with me. Not everyone thinks about it the way I do, but I do hope you at least enjoy the images.

The “professional” image

The snapshot

My Most Recent Show

August 2, 2016 / Rick / 0 Comments

My second show after graduation was a success. There was a large turnout for the show and many stopped and looked with great interest at my installation. All of the other artists hung their work in a salon style. Mine was the only work that had a conceptual theme with the work. I’m not saying they were wrong to go with a salon style, I just was a little taken back at the way my work stood out.

My installation (click to embiggen)

As you can see from the previous post, I did end up tweaking the installation a little bit. I decided to go with a longer horizontal element. It gives a little more balance to the overall composition, as well as giving a subtle hint of that most important of heavy metal iconography known as the pentagram. I also went with larger prints of the bigger elements. My goal was to get the same size as a vinyl sleeve, but unfortunately I am unable to print that large on my own. The larger prints ended up being 13″ x 13″, just short of a vinyl sleeve. A lot of the viewers seemed amazed at the use of CD jewel cases for the smaller prints. Most thought it was very innovative. At the time I came up with the idea, I didn’t think of it as innovative, but I do appreciate the compliment. I had thought about putting CD’s inside the jewel cases, but by the time that idea came to me, I realized I wasn’t going to have time to curate the selections properly.

The goal with the jewel case frames was twofold. First, I wanted the prints to be small so that people would actually have to go in close to view the images. Heavy metal is not a musical genre with a high tolerance of casual fans. One normally must be fully engaged with the music in order to fully appreciate it. Here I wanted to pull in the viewer in order to full see the image in front of them. The second reason, which I touched on in a previous post, was because of the importance of physical media to the fans. Heavy metal fans still purchase physical media more often than digital media. This reference to the CD is a nod to that importance.

The use of iconography in the larger prints puts forth the public image of heavy metal. The inverted cross display, also a use of iconography, was arranged to explore the ritual that is a heavy metal show. To this end, I specifically chose black metal and occult-oriented death metal acts.

In front of my installation. Photo by Jazmin Galindo Hull. (click to embiggen)

That was the thinking behind the most recent installation of my work. I ended up leaving it up for a week. It was sad to take it down, but I knew the show had to end sometime. I am pretty proud of what I accomplished with this installation, and I’m already toying with ideas for the next show, which, if I’m invited, will be in October.

I’m definitely not complaining about the opportunity to add to my CV.

To see other works from the show, check out the images on the Feral Noise Facebook page by clicking here (Facebook login required).

In other news, I am excited to report that I have been making significant progress on another artistic portrait endeavor. The project has evolved a little bit. I found, quite by accident (or serendipity), that the new direction is offering much more in terms of my conceptual vision. I am slowly acquiring images and hope to share these soon on the main website. I’m also looking at answering a CFE (call-for-entry) for a gallery in Vermont. I’ll have more details on that in a later post.

To all of you, my faithful and not-so-faithful readers, I bid you good evening as the sandman is calling. If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments section below. I would enjoy your feedback as well.

Moving Forward

July 18, 2016 / Rick / 1 Comment

It only took a few hours of frustration to move this blog. That does not include the typo I made in the process, which locked me out of the old blog in nearly complete fashion. I took a few classes on relational databases when I was pursuing a computer science degree. Over a decade has passed since I had to practice database-related things, so this was a challenge. In the end, the knowledge was recalled and applied, and the move proceeded.

I now present “Rick’s Picture Corner” re-branded as “Richard Custer’s Blog.” I, of course, am Richard. This is my chosen artist moniker, but since we’re all on friendly terms, you can call me Rick. This blog is now more integrated into my artist website (www.artistrichardcuster.com), although the look and feel is much the same. I will soon be dumping the Rick’s Picture Corner domain as I start making more changes and updates to my main website.

Now with that bit of housekeeping out of the way, I’m pleased to announce that I will be exhibiting in my second show since graduating from the University of Houston. The show is going to be centered around hardcore, punk, and heavy metal music and features Houston-based artists. Here is the flyer:

The flyer (click to embiggen)

I found out about the show a few weeks ago. Given the short time left before the show, I placed a link to my work on the Facebook event page to ask to be considered for inclusion in future shows. The coordinator messaged me back the next day and told me he would find space for my work. It’s an understatement to say I was surprised, and was very happy when I found out that I would indeed be included in this upcoming show. I immediately went over installation concepts in my head. This will be my installation concept:

My installation concept (click to embiggen)

This is based on a wall space width of 4 feet. I will have to update this concept as I just found out that we will each have 5 feet, but it becomes a matter of moving the larger images out a little bit. As for the images themselves, the 2 larger images are finalized as shown. Each one will be a 12″ x 12″ print mounted on cradled wood. The smaller images, which have yet to be finalized, will be 4.75″ x 4.75″ and placed inside CD jewel cases.

Conceptually, the inverted cross is a reference to the adversarial nature of heavy metal music to religion and ideologies related to such, especially the Judeo-Christian belief systems that dominate the West. The live shots reflect the almost ritual aspect of the live performance and its importance in the genre. The jewel case “frames” for the smaller images signal the importance of the physical media format as CD sales outpace digital sales among heavy metal fans. The larger prints, as with the inverted cross, display the iconography often associated with heavy metal.

At this point, I will conclude this, the inaugural post of the re-branded blog. I have more updates coming as my activity in my chosen medium has picked up in the last month. To all of you, I thank you for your continued support. Feel free to comment below with any ideas or critiques you may have on what I’ve written this evening. I will see you all again soon. Until then, my faithful and not-so-faithful readers, I bid you goodnight.

A Small Triumph (and Other Things)

March 22, 2016 / Rick / 0 Comments

Finally, I can string together a group of coherent thoughts in order to make a larger one. Truth be told, there’s not much method to my writing madness. Most times I simply sit down in front of the keyboard, let the thoughts stream out, then edit and organize on the fly. This past week, however, my body was ravaged by a virus that left me thinking about other, more immediate needs, such as relative distance to a bathroom and monitoring my body temperature.

Show flyer for “Armed and …” at The Lens Capsule

At this point, the sickness is relatively behind me. I’m still feeling a little weak physically, but mentally I’m back at form (which isn’t much to brag about, but it suits my purposes). So here we go…

I had my first post-graduation show earlier this month (11 March) as part of an opening at Houston’s Lawndale Art Center. The opening was in conjunction with FotoFest 2016, which opened the same night. My little opening happened in an alternative space called The Lens Capsule. Emily Peacock and Britt Thomas (co-founders and curators) make up The Lens Capsule. What they do is work with established art spaces in Houston to bring in a rented moving truck in order to exhibit a new artist. The artist’s work is installed in the moving truck and guests can go right inside to view the work. It provides great initial exposure to those just getting started in their artistic endeavors.

The work I had on display was from my “Armed and …” series (click here and here to view). It wasn’t my first time as an artist on display, but it was my first solo show, and being the center of attention was something to which I was unaccustomed. A lot of people wanted to speak with me after seeing the work, and I was happy to oblige, but nervous at the same time. All in all, I met a lot of great people that night and received a lot of great feedback from both critics and the public. This is definitely an experience I can use going forward. Now I just have to update that CV…

In terms of the stream of consciousness, I briefly thought about issuing a “fuck you” in a not-so-subtle message to an anonymous person out there. If this person is reading this, then the fact I had a show is “fuck you” enough. No more words need to be said on that subject.

Installation of “Armed and …” in The Lens Capsule

My wedding anniversary was a night later. 22 years is another small triumph. It offsets the 2 openings and 2 concerts I had to miss this past week.

At this point, I have a week’s worth of work (both artistic and non-) which needs to be accomplished. Digging out of the backlog won’t be fun, but it will be worth it at the end. I will be chatting with you again sooner rather than later.

Finally

December 21, 2015 / Rick / 0 Comments

Well, so much for those promised updates through the semester. I got busy with my schoolwork and, well, this blog suffered. I am happy to report, however, that I have earned by Bachelors of Fine Arts in Photography and Digital Media from the University of Houston School of Art. This was a process that took 4 years to work through (not to mention a lot of money). My parents came down for the graduation ceremony, which I really enjoyed, and I made a glutton of myself at a Brazilian steakhouse afterward (which was also nice). The next day I ended my run on Coog Radio and closed out Wings of Black for the time being. And on the following day I took in a concert at House of Blues. The Texans also beat the Colts for the first time ever in Indianapolis. All in all, it was a good few days.

I’m feeling accomplished, but at the same time, I’m wondering where I go from here.

But all that aside, I had a fun final semester. The 2 seminar courses were very enriching. I got an A in one course and an A- in the other. The A- comes from the relatively low grade (B+) on my final paper. I was about to ask the professor for her feedback on that, but as I read through it, I realized where it fell short of an A. I wrote about the contemporaneity of black metal. In doing so, I think I established my points on one side of the argument rather well. Where I fell short was in defining the contemporary. One thing I learned in that particular course was that contemporary art is more than just art being made now, and I failed to fully establish the parameters with black metal music as a genre could be considered contemporary. I did give it some mention, but I realize now that it wasn’t enough to fully support my thesis. I’m not mad, though, because now I can go back, revise it, and make it into something that can establish the credibility of black metal in the overall heavy metal music genre.

The ideas are still flowing through my head. I’m getting ready to go back to work in earnest on a project that’s still in its experimental phase as well as the Houston Metal Project, with the next show hopefully coming very soon. I’ve also discovered that Aperture has digitally archived every issue ever published, which is a gold mine I will be opening very soon.

In the course of writing this, I’ve just come up with an interesting idea regarding the fact that the photographer is always in the photograph, even if they are out of the frame. For some reason, the candid portrait of Joseph Goebbels by Alfred Eisenstaedt came to mind and immediately hooked up with an unpleasant experience I had with a family member today. I’m thinking I will need to find a way to elicit the reaction from my subject, but I think I can pull this off. This also may be an interesting exploration of the indexical nature of the photograph. The things we do…

At this point I think it’s time to sign off for the evening. I have some things to write down and some research to do on this new idea. I would promise more updates, but I will need to let my actions speak for themselves on that front.

The index of my post-graduation ceremony adventure in gluttony.

Wow

September 3, 2015 / Rick / 0 Comments

It’s been way too long since my last post and it’s high time to remedy that. Let’s recap the past 6 months…

The final semester of the BFA portion of my studies seemed to fly by in a blur. Between losing my German Shepherd to complications stemming from megasophagus to the final preparations for my senior show, it got hard to grip the handle sometimes. I managed to get through it (with a little help from my old friend Nicotine) and emerged exhausted, both physically and mentally. I developed what I think are some strong bonds with a couple of my classmates and got to know everyone a little bit better. The stress of achieving a common goal can bring out the best in people, and I got a good look at the best of my classmates this past spring. As the president of the class, I am very proud of what everyone achieved with their collective effort. The show came off with no out-of-the-ordinary problems and only 1 very minor hiccup occurred on opening night.

My installation for the BFA show

The summer was spent decompressing. I kicked around a few ideas of future projects and resumed The Houston Metal Project, which was mostly on hold because of all my other commitments. Being able to take a road trip to a family reunion went a long way toward decompression. The best part was visiting an area of the country I had yet fully experience. Southern Illinois probably isn’t paradise to everyone, but the area has an allure about it I cannot quite nail down. I also got to spend a day in St. Louis, MO. Aside from the attempted break-in of my rental car (in a supposedly secure parking garage at the St. Louis Art Museum), I must say I had a great time. The best part of the whole experience of the family reunion (aside from meeting family members I have never known) was the fact that I had no phone signal at the event, which took place at an Illinois state park. The 4 hour disconnect from the outside world was, in a word, liberating.

It is worth noting that, even though there was no signal, everyone (including myself) tried to check their phones. That phenomenon is something for the critical theorists to ponder.

After spending a day in Minneapolis to reconnect with a couple of family members close to my heart, it was back to the daily grind and academic decompression.

The obligatory tourist photo

A rather scary sight from my window in central Iowa

That’s pretty much how I spent the rest of the summer. I looked forward to this, my final semester as an undergrad at the University of Houston. This semester does not include any studio courses as I am fulfilling my minor in Art History. These Art History courses aren’t your regular types, either. Both classes are seminar style, with an emphasis on reading and discussion. There are no midterms or finals, just a lot of writing. These classes are by no means going to be easy as they are going to challenge me on an intellectual level to think even more deeply about art in general and help chart the future course of the projects I am undertaking.

And, speaking of art projects, I have just been asked to do a show with a local alternative space. The organizers are in the planning stages right now, but I’m excited.

A test shot from my new project

My final semester as an undergrad is ending its second week. Expect a lot more posts over the next 14 weeks as I discuss some of the concepts being researched in my classes. As for now, it’s time to get back to the reading.

PS – Don’t forget to check out my new website – www.artistrichardcuster.com

Untaken – 27 September 2014

February 28, 2015 / Rick / 0 Comments

A few months ago I was at a music festival called “Building Temples From Death Fest” here in Houston. It’s an all day death metal show featuring bands from around the United States (and sometimes from outside our fair nation) that’s been going for 4 years now. I was there to photograph for my “Houston Metal Project” opus that I’m working on. There was a guy there who looked like he maybe had Cerebral Palsy. I’m not 100% on that but my guess is somewhat educated on the matter. Anyway, I was sitting outside, alone, and he came outside and sat near me. He said hello to me. I admit, I really didn’t want to talk to him at the moment (I really didn’t want to talk to anyone at the moment, I just wanted to get some fresh air), but I was friendly and said “hello” back to him and we struck up a conversation. He mentioned that he was from the Fort Worth area. I asked him what brought him to Houston. He told me that he came down just to see Internal Bleeding, the show’s headline act, and to get a chance to finally meet them. He talked about how he followed the band since 1991 (the year of their 1st album release) and how this was an exciting day for him. It made me think about how the band may have had a positive effect on this man’s life (he appeared to be around my age). It made me realize how important it is to be able to meet one’s own heroes. I honestly have never had the pleasure because I don’t really have any heroes. I mean, I’ve met my share of famous people and have gotten to have nice conversations with them, but never with someone I would label as a hero. I thought about taking an environmental portrait of this man who was really excited to be there, but I did not. I felt that if I did, I would somehow be taking some of his excitement away and keeping it for myself. Looking back, I am glad I made that decision. The excitement he felt was all for him and I wanted to let him have it all.

Generalized Thought Patterns

February 23, 2015 / Rick / 0 Comments

(Un)fortunately, I lost (as in the relationship was destroyed) a family member last week over a disagreement over some words that were uttered by this person. I felt the need to point out something I felt was wrong with the statement made. I probably should have kept my mouth shut, but what’s done is done. The result was for me to be called brain dead and told to fuck off. After being told to do so, I made a comment about epistemic closure (a bit of a misapplication of the term, but I felt it was apt in this case) and the “friendship” on Facebook was terminated by the family member. I was attacked later that day by the same family member over something unrelated. After a bit of a back and forth, it was done and I went on with my life. It was a couple of days later I was showed a comment made on the original thread where I was called brain dead and told to fuck off a 2nd time. Only this comment was made immediately before the Facebook relationship was terminated and the privacy controls were set to prevent me from seeing it. To say I was angry is an understatement as I felt what was done was something that is usually relegated to the elementary school playground in terms of maturity level, not to mention cowardly. I had the opportunity to respond directly, but I chose not to do so. Instead I made a snarky comment on my own Facebook page using language ambiguous enough so only those who knew what happened would get the reference.

I’m not really sure how I feel about it at this point. I mean, I looked up to this family member and never had a bad thought about him. Unfortunately, something happened a couple years ago that caused the relationship to begin to sour. Over the past few years a transformation has taken place to the point where he is no longer the person I admired as a young adult. I realize that people change and I’m not so naive as to believe that changes in my own life have affected my outlook on people, events, etc. On the one hand I’m hurt that our relationship has gone bad. But then again, do I really need this source of stress in my life?

The Fall 2014 semester started out with me and one of my professors having an adversarial relationship. I’m not sure why, but there was definitely a tension between us that lasted a good portion of the semester. It started to dissipate late in the semester as we both seemed to back off each other. It was unspoken and just sort of happened. The anger I felt was powerful (and I want to thank my friend Claire for putting up with me through it), and letting it go allowed me to breathe again.

In terms of the adversarial relationship with the professor, I wondered out loud on many occasions if art school actively tried to cultivate adversarial relationships as some sort of twisted method of fueling inspiration. The theory has legs, but those details would need to come in another entry in about 20 years.

I was having a conversation with my friend Shannon Duncan outside her studio space this past weekend and she mentioned something about strong personalities. That particular phrase seemed to crystallize things for me. Strong personalities tend to create adversarial relationships, even when views and goals are somewhat aligned. It reminded me that my own hardheaded nature can sometimes be detrimental. I already knew this, but sometimes a reminder is necessary.

Facebook tends to amplify those strong personalities because it’s much easier to snipe at people from the relative safety of a keyboard (especially when one is 1200 miles away). Face-to-face confrontations tend to be a lot less dramatic and people are more easily swayed into accepting compromise when their counterpart is right there. I’m not saying I’m immune; my opening paragraph is my testimony that I’m not immune to that phenomenon.

As I was laying in bed the other night, for some reason a particular moment from 1991 came into my mind’s eye. I was on the confidence course at Lackland AFB enduring my basic military training. I was on the very last challenge – monkey bars over a pond. I failed the previous challenge (after successful completion of the 13 that lead up to that point), where I was to catch a rope and swing across a pond (I missed catching the rope). I was very wet and very tired. Monkey bars were never my strong suit on the playground growing up, and this was a long set. The bars were also wet from previous airmen who had failed the rope swing. I got just under halfway done negotiating this obstacle. I was having trouble gripping and my forearms were burning. I knew I would pass the confidence course portion of basic training even if I failed this challenge. In one instant I just said “fuck it,” let go of the bars, and dropped into the pond.

I had given up when I had a chance to really and push myself beyond anything else I had been capable of prior to that moment.

I don’t know why that moment flashed in my mind when it did. All I know is the phenomenon are related somehow. My job at this point is to figure out why.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for taking this journey with me into my own mind. A lot of art is about thinking, and I’ve been doing a lot of that over the past 2 weeks. An exploration may be in order soon. To that end, I will leave you with 2 images – 1 made by me and the other made by the aforementioned Claire. We all made a book a few days ago in one of my classes. I called mine “Something Had to Change/Undeniable Dilemma/Boredom’s Not a Burden/Anyone Should Bear.” This entry is definitely different from any other… I wonder if that day was prophetic?

Claire Gage

Shannon Duncan

Stream of Consciousness

December 14, 2014 / Rick / 0 Comments

Seemingly unrelated, these videos are an encapsulation of a state of mind I’m currently experiencing. They can be viewed in any order you wish, depending on your mood. If it were possible, these would not be placed in any linear type of order.

Labeling

December 13, 2014 / Rick / 0 Comments

Labels, when used on people, are words that are sometimes mistaken as descriptions. Words such as loser, extremist, overachiever, etc are not descriptions. The use of these words as descriptions is a product of assumptions based on, for the most part, little information and a lot of opinion, which is then projected upon the person. The use of a label to describe someone has the effect of eroding one’s identity, and thereby makes the label the most prominent thing that identifies an individual.

In this series, each subject provided a label, on that was ascribed to the subject by others, that was in turn projected onto their body using a portable projector. The subject was then photographed in a manner akin to a formal portrait. Only the bottom half of the face is in the frame and that begins to fall to black. The prominent showing of the label then becomes the main focal point, and ultimately, the identity of the individual. It is important that the label provided be one that was ascribed to the subject by others, and not by him or herself. Self-ascribed labels become an integral part of a person’s identity, whereas externally ascribed labels take over a person’s individual identity.

For each image created, the subject is invited to watch while the graphic of their chosen label is created in Photoshop. This serves to help reduce the anxiety that comes with being a model. The anxiety is further reduced and the subject’s relationship to the label becomes more apparent as I take my time in shooting 3 frames.

The ability to see part of a face serves as a reminder to the viewer that therein is still an individual. This project does not aim to stop people from labeling others. In the end, it is up to the individual doing the labeling to decide whether or not to apply one to another individual. The goal of this project is cause an extra step into the labeling person’s thought process and force him or her to consider why they are labeling and what that label can ultimately do to another individual.