Curation of Colorstalker's photostream (text included)
1. Work table, 2. Madonna & sprite, 3. my soul is my love's imagination, 4. Sunday in Red Hook, 5. Dune runners, 6. The woman with no footprints, 7. "Ruben Velez Jr. I love you.", 8. Lucy at Duck Pond, 9. Feeding Sasha, 10. My 4th of July picture, 11. BWthreeshooters, 12. BWboyfixingbike, 13. Projects, 14. Annie's garden, Union St., 15. Mama truck, 16. Fruits & veg, 17. Martial arts school, Shaolin, 18. Hail forsythia..., 19. Grave by stone wall, Vermont, 20. Right around the corner, 21. Red wall, autumn 2003, 22. Billionairess for Bush, 23. Old neighborhood, 24. Street food vendor, Xian, 25. Street sweeper, 26. Barber, Xiamen, 27. Businessman at the beach, Gulangyu, 28. Transaction, 29. Blue grate, Flatbush Avenue, 30. Yellow frame house, Brooklyn
Created for The Co-Curators Resource Group
I have had the great pleasure of curating Tim Connor’s photo stream
for the The Co-Curators Resource Group project. Tim was a relatively early contact of mine on Flickr and although I had followed his posts for many months I did not have a grasp on what he was about until I did this project. The selection I made for the collage is not meant to include his “best” work in any other sense than that each image represents one of the themes, styles, or qualities I found particularly salient in his body of work. I will be leaving a comment on each of these images and summarize my overall impressions here.
Color Stalker:
Tim’s screen name “Colorstalker” aptly points to one of the qualities of his photos, particularly those in his Last Light set, replete with studies of the walls and buildings of his urban environment in the last light of day (10, 14, 21, 29, 30). These scenes, likely drab and ordinary most of the time, are shown to us as vivid paintings, often transformed into brilliant murals by the inclusion of trees, vines, or shadows. His love for his City is apparent in these photos and we picture him wandering streets empty of all but glorious light and shadows.
Partial Observer:
The majority of the images I chose illustrate Tim’s ability to capture moments in people’s lives that invite us to understand their larger stories, and his own as well. Tim is not a voyeur or even an impartial observer. His glimpses into strangers’ lives are sympathetic and we sense him as an integral inter-actor in the scene, either because of the direct regard of those in his camera’s eye, the inclusion of his own shadow, or by a point of view that seems to merge him with the central character in a scene. Although his images are typically non-judgmental, there are exceptions that prove the rule; some of Tim’s images are powerful statements about our society (4, 13, 22).
Nostalgic:
For want of a better term, I’m using nostalgic to describe a quality of the images that grabbed me and kept hold. Tim has posted a set of black and white snapshots he took in 1976 (Snapshots Deluxe set) that remind us of simpler times and simpler environments (c.f., 11, 12). Kids play alone on city streets, teenage girls sunbathe in back yards, and shy adults sit on porch couches. These images tug at the heart and call up vivid memories for those of us who grew up in those times. Some of my favorite recent images have a timeless quality (3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) with a similar emotional impact.
Persistent focus:
When you visit Tim’s stream, be sure to check out his sets. These collections illustrate the intensity of his work ethic and intellectual focus. Although the photos on his stream show a remarkable variety of people, places, and contexts, a visit to his sets shows how tenacious he can be when he feels especially drawn to a topic. I particularly like his By the Sea and Cape Cod sets (5, 6) and his China set (17, 24, 25, 26 27); his latest focus on the saints and madonnas in city yards (2, Saints set) has yielded images just begging to be collected into a book.
I hope this selection is useful as an invitation to a rich and fascinating journey through Tim’s stream. Be sure to attend to his text and the comments for the images for a better understanding of his process. You can see my original selection by going" here " I started with 106 images.
To go directly to the set that contains these images, go
here and view as a slideshow!
Created with fd's Flickr Toys
Curation of Colorstalker's photostream (text included)
1. Work table, 2. Madonna & sprite, 3. my soul is my love's imagination, 4. Sunday in Red Hook, 5. Dune runners, 6. The woman with no footprints, 7. "Ruben Velez Jr. I love you.", 8. Lucy at Duck Pond, 9. Feeding Sasha, 10. My 4th of July picture, 11. BWthreeshooters, 12. BWboyfixingbike, 13. Projects, 14. Annie's garden, Union St., 15. Mama truck, 16. Fruits & veg, 17. Martial arts school, Shaolin, 18. Hail forsythia..., 19. Grave by stone wall, Vermont, 20. Right around the corner, 21. Red wall, autumn 2003, 22. Billionairess for Bush, 23. Old neighborhood, 24. Street food vendor, Xian, 25. Street sweeper, 26. Barber, Xiamen, 27. Businessman at the beach, Gulangyu, 28. Transaction, 29. Blue grate, Flatbush Avenue, 30. Yellow frame house, Brooklyn
Created for The Co-Curators Resource Group
I have had the great pleasure of curating Tim Connor’s photo stream
for the The Co-Curators Resource Group project. Tim was a relatively early contact of mine on Flickr and although I had followed his posts for many months I did not have a grasp on what he was about until I did this project. The selection I made for the collage is not meant to include his “best” work in any other sense than that each image represents one of the themes, styles, or qualities I found particularly salient in his body of work. I will be leaving a comment on each of these images and summarize my overall impressions here.
Color Stalker:
Tim’s screen name “Colorstalker” aptly points to one of the qualities of his photos, particularly those in his Last Light set, replete with studies of the walls and buildings of his urban environment in the last light of day (10, 14, 21, 29, 30). These scenes, likely drab and ordinary most of the time, are shown to us as vivid paintings, often transformed into brilliant murals by the inclusion of trees, vines, or shadows. His love for his City is apparent in these photos and we picture him wandering streets empty of all but glorious light and shadows.
Partial Observer:
The majority of the images I chose illustrate Tim’s ability to capture moments in people’s lives that invite us to understand their larger stories, and his own as well. Tim is not a voyeur or even an impartial observer. His glimpses into strangers’ lives are sympathetic and we sense him as an integral inter-actor in the scene, either because of the direct regard of those in his camera’s eye, the inclusion of his own shadow, or by a point of view that seems to merge him with the central character in a scene. Although his images are typically non-judgmental, there are exceptions that prove the rule; some of Tim’s images are powerful statements about our society (4, 13, 22).
Nostalgic:
For want of a better term, I’m using nostalgic to describe a quality of the images that grabbed me and kept hold. Tim has posted a set of black and white snapshots he took in 1976 (Snapshots Deluxe set) that remind us of simpler times and simpler environments (c.f., 11, 12). Kids play alone on city streets, teenage girls sunbathe in back yards, and shy adults sit on porch couches. These images tug at the heart and call up vivid memories for those of us who grew up in those times. Some of my favorite recent images have a timeless quality (3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) with a similar emotional impact.
Persistent focus:
When you visit Tim’s stream, be sure to check out his sets. These collections illustrate the intensity of his work ethic and intellectual focus. Although the photos on his stream show a remarkable variety of people, places, and contexts, a visit to his sets shows how tenacious he can be when he feels especially drawn to a topic. I particularly like his By the Sea and Cape Cod sets (5, 6) and his China set (17, 24, 25, 26 27); his latest focus on the saints and madonnas in city yards (2, Saints set) has yielded images just begging to be collected into a book.
I hope this selection is useful as an invitation to a rich and fascinating journey through Tim’s stream. Be sure to attend to his text and the comments for the images for a better understanding of his process. You can see my original selection by going" here " I started with 106 images.
To go directly to the set that contains these images, go
here and view as a slideshow!
Created with fd's Flickr Toys