Tag: photography (Page 1 of 2)

2021…

December 31, 2021 / Rick / 0 Comments

…is almost over. It’s hard to believe my last post to this was in July 2020. I didn’t mean for this to be a once-a-year thing. Let’s resolve in 2022 to up to the productivity. Let’s just hope I’m not merely adding to the pile of broken resolutions (admit it, you have some as well lol).

Since my last post, well, let’s take a look. There were the protests/riots after the death of George Floyd, a clusterf**k of a presidential election in the United States, a clusterf**k of a protest on the day Congress was to certify the election results, Covid vaccines developed and deployed, economic inflation that is threatening to do some real damage to economies around the world, new Covid variants, and an ever-deepening divide between people groups of people in the United States. This list is just the United States alone. Many nations around the world are facing their own new challenges brought on by Covid.

On a personal level, I lost someone I considered a friend (non-Covid related) as well as Ozzy, my beagle and all-around great dog that adopted me at the age of 8 weeks. He would have been 13 in Jan 2022. I miss him every day. I also almost lost my German Shepherd to a severe infection. Thankfully we were able to intervene before it could spread to other parts of her body. Many of you know I live in Texas and the challenges Texas residents across the entire state faced in February. All these things were in addition to the stresses brought on by the challenges of recovering from 2020. Recovery is going to continue into 2022, but one thing I feel is much more optimism than 365 days ago. I need this feeling if I have any hope of accomplishing my goals in 2022.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom, however. Texas began its collective reopening in 2020 and accelerated that process in 2021 as vaccines became widely available. I found myself with some promo work and, after getting the pokes myself, was back in the bars doing what I loved the most – photographing live metal performances.

Dawn Of Dissolution – the commission that stirred me awake

David Van of Kranc - the first published concert photo from me in over a year. — David Van of Kranc – This is the first concert image made by me in over a year.

Since June, I have shot 7 shows, which is a little slower than the normal pace over the past couple of years (excluding 2020). For me, however, this pace is good. The show from where the above image was made was a chance to reconnect with people I hadn’t seen in over a year (some in nearly 2 years). It was the fuel I needed after the Dawn Of Dissolution shoot to feel purposeful again.

Creatively (and in general) things felt as if they were getting pretty dark for a little while. I tried me hand at a few things in 2020 but quickly gave up on them as things with the outside world seemed to be only getting worse with each passing day. I tried my hand at digital painting from a photograph:

Scene just outside of Shiner, TX (photo made in 2011)

Zolrak Montes of Unholier at Destroying Texas Fest 2019

This little experiment last about a month before I fell back into the funk. A couple of friends and I joined together and started processing each other’s RAW images. This turned out some interesting results. Although at any one time we were working on the same image, this exercise taught us that different people can look at the same objective information and see something totally different from the others. This particular activity lasted several months until one of the members started classes at a local college. Once he completes his work, we will be starting this again.

There are several other things I started and continue to actively work, especially now that I feel a little more like myself again. One in particular is a marriage of text and imagery based of a lyric I once heard. “I will give you sanctuary in these hymns of Thanatos” is that lyric. It’s stuck with me since I first heard it a little over 14 years ago. I am organizing a series around it. Here are a couple of sketches:

These are a little all over the place as they were tests of different techniques and concepts. I’m beginning to drill down on some consistency over the execution and will soon start executing more fully realized images. I’m a little excited about this project as the lyric on which it’s based is beginning to burn more and more brightly in my mind.

For the final topic of this entry, I picked up work on an existing project that had been neglected for a long time. This project is the skyscape images that helped me get into the BFA program at the University of Houston. I’ve often wanted to continue this one, and now that is happening. As of right now, the project is strictly digital as I lost my medium format film camera in Hurricane Harvey in 2017. A friend of mine recently gifted me a Pentax K1000 35mm film SLR. As soon as I can begin purchasing color film, I am going to definitely be adding that back into the project (it is a mix of digital, color negative, and color positive images).

In terms of my art, this is where I’m at so far in 2021 and heading into 2022. I have a lot of goals to reach in 2022, both in terms of my art and in my personal life. I would like to get back to New York to visit my family sometime this year and find a way to get my wife home to visit hers (which is, in my view, the greater priority). I will find a way to discuss some things more in depth in a future post that will come much sooner rather than later. Until then, I bid you all a Happy New Year and good fortune in whatever form will do you best in 2022.

4 Months Later…

July 9, 2020 / Rick / 0 Comments

As we started to turn a corner on the global phenomenon known as COVID-19, something began tugging at our collective shirt to try to bring us back around, with some states feeling the pain more than others. The reasons for the spike are varied and nowhere near as simple as much in the agenda driven media would like their viewers to believe. We also can’t forget to mention the (in more than a few cases very violent) protests following the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis, MN policeman. That event (also being simplified by agenda driven media), couple with the artificial economic slowdown in response to the pandemic, has left us in “interesting times.”

I always viewed the phrase, “may you live in interesting times,” not so much a curse but more a blessing. My wonder was why anyone would want to live in boring times. I watched on television as the Berlin Wall came down. I watched in near real time the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe. I was in US Air Force basic training when the Belavezha Accords were signed, which officially started the process of dissolving the Soviet Union. I was able to see the first non-white President of the United States get elected, followed by the election to the same office of another man who had never held an elected position in his life. The only overt negative in all this time was September 11, 2001.

While the good outweighs the bad quantitatively, it’s a different story in terms of quality. Not long after my last post (Pandeminomicon), I went into a bit of a funk where I just felt my energy was being sapped from the moment I woke up every morning. It was made even worse when I realized what was happening, but couldn’t pull myself out of it. Things have reversed, and I feel my creative energy has returned. Now I just need an outlet…

While we’re strictly not locked down in Texas, going out is not really an option and I can’t make any new concert work given the resurgence of COVID-19. I’ve been tooling around a little bit in Photoshop, so that’s been a help. I also spent about 2 weeks (most of it waiting for permission to use music) creating some videos of my published images for The Houston Metal Project. That was actually a pretty fun little project as it allowed me a glimpse of where I was at start and now my work has progressed. I need to start the edit for the book, but I can’t get together with my collaborators, who are going to help with the image edit, right now. We could collaborate over the Internet, but for this project I need to have discussions in real time, when the ideas are fresh and can be better fleshed out.

I did come up with an idea recently that I think could be beneficial, however. I’m happy to announce that I will soon be posting interviews. The first one is being worked right now as my subject and I take the time to communicate via text message. I don’t want to do email interviews as there is no room for the conversations that make interviews interesting.

At this point I’m going to face the coming day. The link below is to the first of the videos I created as described above. If you like it, please hit the Like button and leave a comment. I’ll be seeing you again soon, my faithful and not-so-faithful readers. Until then, stay safe.

Pandeminomicon

March 31, 2020 / Rick / 0 Comments

To say 2020 is off to an interesting start would be, by many measures, an understatement. As a nation we’ve been treated to a presidential impeachment (voted for in 2019) and trial, a change in provider payment rules that severely affects my livelihood, and a pandemic which has infected, as of 4 pm EDT on 29 Mar 2020, 140,904 people in the United States. 2020 is also an election year, which makes everything even more interesting, perhaps even surreal. I’ve been seeing a lot of memes regarding 2020 and how much people think it sucks, but I am trying to stay positive about the whole thing.

The county where I reside is currently under a stay at home order. As such, we should only venture out for essential activities and only those who are essential workers should be reporting for work. My spouse is a Licensed Physical Therapist who specializes in home care for the elderly. For many of her patients, she may be the only one who is able to check on their wellness on a given day. I worry about her every day she goes out.

For me it’s been business as usual during the day given that I work from home supporting my wife’s activities – paperwork, phone calls, billing, etc. The only thing that really impacts me now is the lack of choice in what I can do with my day. I can’t run normal errands and there is the matter of my client agency employees now working from their own homes. That makes customer visits and getting paid in a timely manner an interesting prospect. Again, it’s time to stay positive. I just need to stop posting YouTube links to songs about disease on Facebook.

As part of the stay at home order (and I believe under the orders of the Governor of Texas), bars in my county have been forced to close their doors. This, of course, makes it impossible to photograph concerts. I do miss going to the local shows right now. The people in the metal community (both the musicians and employees) in Houston are near and dear to me. I can only hope they are weathering the storm and can hit the ground running on the other side.

The dearth of concerts right now isn’t such a bad thing. I mean, I am saving a little bit of money on cover charges, drinks, and CD’s. It’s also rekindling the creative flame in me. I thought about it earlier today – I’ve spent so much effort on concert images over the past 6 years that some of the other ideas floating in my head are being pushed away. In fact, one of my started projects has been on hiatus for the last 3 years due to my efforts on the Houston Metal Project. This would be a good time to achieve some balance in my creative efforts. The only problem with the hiatus project is that it’s portraiture. That isn’t very conducive to social distancing right now.

But hope exists because lately I’ve been rediscovering my macro lens. The panic buying in the run up to our current state of affairs in Texas left the shelves of most retailers rather barren. It appears to have calmed down since then, but it got me thinking what it is that people are seeking for the end of civilization (I know that’s hyperbolic, but I strongly feel things are going to change; whether the changes are positive or not remains to be seen). I’ve seen images arranged as formal still life compositions, but that’s about it. I’m using the macro lens because I want to really get to the object and to see what it is about the object that has people making obsessive purchases. This is what I have so far:

These are by no means final images for the series. I have more objects I need to photograph. I am also going to explore different ways to capture what I’ve already done.

Has anyone been able to resolve why there’s been such a run on toilet paper in response to a pandemic involving a respiratory illness? My wife’s sisters in the Philippines told her they are laughing at Americans over this particular phenomenon.

I read somewhere a few days ago a blog post title that encouraged creatives to write about their “quarantine” experience. I didn’t read the post as I was trying to get something else accomplished and, unfortunately, forgot to bookmark it. Going off that headline advice, this is my first foray into that. We’ll see if I write more in the coming days, especially now that President Trump has extended the social distancing guidelines to until 30 April 2020.

As for now, my faithful and not-so-faithful readers, I do need to sign off. Stay safe, practice your social distancing, and for those of you stuck at home – avoid naps, make sure to get dressed in more than your pajamas every day, and stay in contact with your friends and family. These are all mental health tips provided by one of my local news stations. I will be writing again sooner rather than later.

The Next Step

September 6, 2019 / Rick / 0 Comments

I always had an “endgame” of sorts for my work on The Houston Metal Project. My original vision was for a book. The biggest thing holding me back was deciding on an insertion point. My plan is to continue to photograph these shows until I am no longer able, which made the decision harder. To put together his book, True Norwegian Black Metal, Peter Beste spent 7 years photographing the black metal culture in Norway. At the time I first saw his book (2015), I had been working on my own stuff for just over a year. I didn’t know if I could wait that long.

Here we are now, 5 years after The Houston Metal Project began, and I feel that this is a good insertion point for my first book. There are a lot of things to be decided aside from the images. Those decisions will come further in. My biggest constraint right now will be how much to include as this will be made through a self publishing service. Books from self-publishing services can be a little on the expensive side, and additional pages can really force the price per unit up.

With that constraint in mind, it’s only fitting that I begin the editing process now, even with Year 5 still in progress. This first edit is based mostly on technical grounds, with some subjective thought (e.g. composition) applied. To begin, though, I had to wade through over 2 years of images that were organized in ways that did not reflect any organizational discipline. Once I found those images and gathered them up, along with images from 2016 – 18, I found that I had published 2622 images to Facebook. All I did was sit there for 15 minutes, staring at that number, and ask myself what I got myself into with this stupid idea. Once that wore off, I started the initial edit.

At first I was a little shocked at what was published. There were images where the subject was slightly out of focus, underexposed images, ones with more digital noise that I would normally tolerate, and some that were just poorly processed. That isn’t to say there were no “good” images in there, they were simply a lot more far and few between then I realized then. Here are some of the gems I found in those early days.

This is just a small sampling from the keepers of the keepers of 2014 (I’m rather proud of the King Diamond image). 2622 images over 4 years is a lot to sift through, so those images are still being examined. This year, 2019, is still in progress in terms of making images, so after 1 January 2020 I’ll be full bore into that editing process. Help with the conceptual edit has been enlisted, but it will still be a while before I get to that point. What I want to say is going to have to be decided before I can think about that. Of course, these first keepers of the keepers are going to have a lot to say in that department as I start thinking about them. I’ll leave any commentary about that stuff to the appropriate time, i.e. when I come up with my own answers on those questions. My friends were more eager to help than I initially thought they would be, which is welcome because it shows they believe in what I’m doing with this project.

Moving along through these images, I have noticed a change in them and it can be seen in this image from 2019. I think this phase of the project is going to reveal a lot about my own practice to me, which is always welcome. To my faithful and not-so-faithful readers, I bid you goodnight. And as always, comments are welcome and encouraged.

PS – “Endgame” is in quotes because I plan to continue this project as long as I’m physically and mentally capable. This is just too much fun to not do.

Wherefore art thou, Richard Custer?

February 20, 2017 / Rick / 0 Comments

I’ve been here, but a bit inactive as of late. I’ve been a little inactive in writing as well as creating art. My activity has experienced an uptick as of late, but not really enough to have anything to put out there. The long of the short of it is that I’ve fallen into a bit of a rut with my work and am slowly climbing out of it. It’s taken (and is taking) a little perseverance, but I’m getting there. I also just read this article over at Medium.com, which seems to have kicked me in the ass a little bit (I’d say this post is evidence of that).

I’ve started work on a digital art piece that’s going to require a full year to complete. It’s going to take a full year because I can only add to it a small element each day. It’s not a choice, it’s just the nature of the project. I was inspired by a piece I saw on Twitter, where the artist used only a period of one month. I’m not sure how this will turn out aesthetically as it’s more of a personal piece, but I am learning something about myself from the piece and the process. Just what comes out of that new knowledge will remain to be seen. The piece will be unveiled after the beginning of February 2018 after I examine and make refinements to the individual elements for consistency. I may mess with the colors a little as well, but the elements and their placement will not be touched otherwise.

My friends in Desecrate The Faith have a new album, entitled “Unholy Infestation,” dropping in early March. I was privileged (and more than slightly honored) to be asked by them to do the photography for the album. This is one of the images I can show at this time:

From left to right – Tyler Shiery, Mike Caputo, John Hull, Coleson Cowden, Jonathan Bayliss

The other images for the album will be released with the album, but I’m very proud of the work I did for them. I was also able to sit in on the recording sessions with them. That in itself was a hell of an experience. I had an idea of how albums were made, but this really showed the hard work that goes into creating an album before the CD’s are ever made. Those photos can be seen here.

In terms of death metal, this album is going to make an impact on the genre’s landscape, and will be a model for other bands to follow. Seeing my name in the liner notes is already surreal, but given the impact I’m sure this album is going to have, the level of surreal (for me) is off the charts.

I’ve been reading a lot, though, and it has helped keep my mind turning through this rut. I’ve also acquired some equipment to help with another project on which I’m working. I just need to get off my ass and make use of it.

As for now, this concludes the latest update. I know it’s short by my blog entry standards, but never fear. I am currently structuring a new post that will outline some things I’ve been thinking about in relation to some of my concert images. Look for that within the next day or 2.

PS – If you’re into death metal, do yourself a favor and check out the first promo single from “Unholy Infestation.” You won’t be sorry.

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

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.

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.

Quick Updates

November 27, 2014 / Rick / 0 Comments

Regarding the Rock and Roll call for entry, unfortunately I did not make it in. The juror, Paul Natkin, had a vision different from what I had submitted. I will be honest in saying that I was a little disappointed and that some of his selections left me scratching my head a little bit, but I did see where my images just didn’t fit in with his vision. I don’t doubt the man’s credentials – he’s taken one of the most iconic photos in the history of rock music (click here to see). I do want to extend a congratulations to all those who did get into what I am sure will be an extraordinary show. I’ll just have find another excuse to visit Minneapolis in the near future (better yet – Mankato – I love the topography of south central Minnesota).

Two other call for entries have garnered my attention. I am debating on whether to answer them or not at this point. The deadline on 1 of them is 1 December, so I have some things to think about.

This past summer and early autumn were particularly stressful for me. I decided to channel some of this into some more personal work for the semester. Here are 2 examples of this work:

I created a total of 14 of these. They received mixed reviews, mostly because there did not exist something to tie them all together. That, I confess, is a fair critique because all of these were reactions to different situations. A lot of my peers had their favorites. During the midterm critique, I was asked how I was going to make the audience want to look at them because they didn’t seem, to this person at least, to be something I was creating to visually please others. I didn’t remark at the time, but I did later answer that question in a private conversation with this individual – those who go up to see it will be the ones who want to take the journey with me. I didn’t mention the fact that I noticed this person did not go up to look at them closely. That’s a fact that made me think the question was a little unfair – if this person had gone up to view them closely, but felt forced to do so, it would have added a bit of intellectual weight behind the question. To be fair, however, it is entirely possible this person went up to look at them closely prior to my turn at critique, but absent any evidence of that happening, I will assume that this person did not. I was also told by another individual to avoid “art as therapy” as it is usually nothing more than a resting stop between projects. I remarked that these “resting stops” often are the genesis to some great things. This person then backtracked a little and told me that they weren’t trying to denigrate my work, but I’m taking that with a grain of salt.

The good news, at least in terms of the semester, is that I’m back to creating work that will satisfy the academics. I have the series discussed in my previous post (Condensed Information). This won’t be included in my final for the semester as the concept has morphed a bit and needs some more work to fully flesh out. I’ve also revived another concept that had to be put to rest due to equipment issues. This one is exciting to me and I will share it with everyone in about 2 weeks.

I’ve also been creating videos for my program’s video section. To be honest, if there is one thing that art school does well, it’s instill self-doubt in students. I have my opinions on why this is, but I’ll save those for a night when I’m feeling a little more akin to sounding off. Let’s just say that this section is the one where I feel the most in terms of self-doubt. But, here is one video that I think will become part of something good:

I’m finding that my work is trending toward focusing on the individual. I’m finding that everyone has a story to tell, and I find these fascinating. In fact, my to-be-revealed series deals directly with individual identity. With my previous portraiture series, I learned a lot about the people who participated, especially in the “Emotional Portraits” series. Through the video above (and subsequent series of videos I plan to make based off this), I may just learn something about myself. We will soon see.

I also have a couple of other concepts that I want to try out. These will start soon. For 1 I need to find a willing volunteer and the other I can start with a self portrait over the semester break. Actually, both will start over the semester break as that’s when I will have the time.

Last night I had a dream wherein I referenced, in a conversation with the other person in my dream, a past dream. I woke up this morning and my head was spinning from it. As I get ready to retire for the day, I wonder if something like this will happen again tonight. At one point I was keeping a dream journal. Things started getting a little vivid as I was keeping it and I stopped. I wonder if I shouldn’t start again with this dream.

Ok, these updates weren’t so quick, but things have picked up in the last month. I’m creating again, which is very good for me. I also still have a show to plan. At this point, I’m going to call it a night. Comments and questions, as always, are welcome.