Get Pushed, Round 36
Here is my submission for Get Pushed Round 36. It's frightfully late, and it feels like bailing out to me, but that's because I wasn't shooting FOR the Get Pushed assignment when I took the picture--even though I was already thinking about this event in connection with the assignment… Sorry about the verbal gobbledegook! Let me start again:
My partner for this round is the very talented Safar Fiertze, who has been using computer graphics software for artistic purposes with or without photography for some time, and is now putting energy into photography itself. Her artistic abilities are all over her photostream, and she answered my push admirably.
She gave me 3 options one of which I practically begged for, so it is the one I am trying to answer:
Option 1: This one is based on your request for a creative/artistic push. It also takes account of a comment about thinking about photography in a more metaphorical way, and additionally takes account of your professional role as someone who I would see as a kind of ethical facilitator through the problems of life.
I am currently working on the idea of creating a picture based on a very short story that I have written. I’ve thought a lot about the role of myths, legends, folk tales etc. and their social function and purpose. Fables, for instance, generally have a moral to the tale; fairy tales often feature a protagonist that has to overcome some mighty foe. I’ve been thinking about and studying photographs that are narrative in their content.
E.g.
www.flickr.com/photos/goodmolecules/6196114706/
With this in mind, this option is to create a picture that tells a story that conveys a message that you would like others to learn from.
I admire conceptual photography a lot, and this is exactly the kind of thing I would like to grow into. I spent a couple week pondering how to visualize some of the ethical complexities of a part of my life that is very dear to me, and failed utterly. That part of my life is an ongoing relationship with a small community of Lakota Indians in South Dakota who invited my friend and colleague Fr. Peter to bring a group from Connecticut to spend time each summer with their kids. I have now been part of this annual visit for 4 years. All my South Dakota pictures are from these trips. Out of respect for the privacy of my friends there, I post only landscape and nature shots, but I shoot many frames of our program and activities as well.
Native Americans as a whole have tragically high rates of unemployment, alcoholism and teen suicide, and the rates among the Lakota are highest of all. The history of the relationship between their tribal government and the Bureau of Indian Affairs is full of misunderstandings at best, and betrayal and violence all too often. Their way of life has been rendered impossible, and for decades, the maintenance of their cultural heritage was illegal. Yet many remain faithful Episcopalians, as their families have been for 150 years because the US government assigned them to the Episcopal Church to "civilize" them. That in itself is appalling. Yet, though far from perfect, the Episcopal Church has sought to bring good news to the poor, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the sick, bury the dead with honor, visit the lonely, and bind up the broken hearted. Because of this connection, we get invited to come provide a day camp for their kids for a week each summer.
I would love to figure out a way to set up and shoot a conceptual photo bringing together metaphorical and symbolic imagery to reflect on heart break and paradox, the connection and beginning of a relationship in the context of mistrust and betrayal. I simply don't have the chops. I went to South Dakota last month with Saf's push in mind, and kept turning it over in my head as we visited with old friends, hung out at a pow wow, went to church together, and spent joyful hours with the kids feeding them an "extra" lunch, telling BIble stories, making crafts and playing games.
I came away feeling defeated by the push, even though the trip was a wonderful visit. Not wanting to post nothing for this round, I looked through my photos from the week and came across this one. Fresh out of symbolism, it nevertheless gives a narrative of the topic.
Our little camp is housed in a county elementary school because the community of Norris is off the Rez, and thus has no indian school. Ironically, the white families in the area refuse to send their kids to school with indian kids, so the Norris Elementary School has effectively become an indian school. In the background is a display case of historic Lakota artifacts, as if they came from some exotic culture far away--but were in fact provided to the school by families in the area and are displayed with great pride. The swirl of kids' activities with indian kids and non-indian adults goes on around an earnest pastoral conversation. My friend Peter is visiting with Bertha, whose mother-in-law died this winter. She was the elder who invited us to come years ago. They are talking about how the family is going through an unsettled time as they grieve and wonder who will begin to fill her important role. Just beyond them a devoted dad bends over to show his three year old daughter how to blow through a straw to chase watercolor paint around the page. This is a multi-generational event! In this picture, other things are hidden in plain sight. It all looks tidy and clean and middle class. The school, however, is surrounded by dilapidated HUD houses and trailers, connected to each other by dirt roads. Some of the kids wear the same clothes the entire week. Many of them live with their grandmothers for a variety of reasons. The only business in the town is a tiny general store. There is no gas station. Even the bar went out of business.
When I took this picture, it was meaningful to me as a cross-section of our experience, but I was not thinking of it as a way to meet the push Saf gave me. It seems to be the closest I can come.
Get Pushed, Round 36
Here is my submission for Get Pushed Round 36. It's frightfully late, and it feels like bailing out to me, but that's because I wasn't shooting FOR the Get Pushed assignment when I took the picture--even though I was already thinking about this event in connection with the assignment… Sorry about the verbal gobbledegook! Let me start again:
My partner for this round is the very talented Safar Fiertze, who has been using computer graphics software for artistic purposes with or without photography for some time, and is now putting energy into photography itself. Her artistic abilities are all over her photostream, and she answered my push admirably.
She gave me 3 options one of which I practically begged for, so it is the one I am trying to answer:
Option 1: This one is based on your request for a creative/artistic push. It also takes account of a comment about thinking about photography in a more metaphorical way, and additionally takes account of your professional role as someone who I would see as a kind of ethical facilitator through the problems of life.
I am currently working on the idea of creating a picture based on a very short story that I have written. I’ve thought a lot about the role of myths, legends, folk tales etc. and their social function and purpose. Fables, for instance, generally have a moral to the tale; fairy tales often feature a protagonist that has to overcome some mighty foe. I’ve been thinking about and studying photographs that are narrative in their content.
E.g.
www.flickr.com/photos/goodmolecules/6196114706/
With this in mind, this option is to create a picture that tells a story that conveys a message that you would like others to learn from.
I admire conceptual photography a lot, and this is exactly the kind of thing I would like to grow into. I spent a couple week pondering how to visualize some of the ethical complexities of a part of my life that is very dear to me, and failed utterly. That part of my life is an ongoing relationship with a small community of Lakota Indians in South Dakota who invited my friend and colleague Fr. Peter to bring a group from Connecticut to spend time each summer with their kids. I have now been part of this annual visit for 4 years. All my South Dakota pictures are from these trips. Out of respect for the privacy of my friends there, I post only landscape and nature shots, but I shoot many frames of our program and activities as well.
Native Americans as a whole have tragically high rates of unemployment, alcoholism and teen suicide, and the rates among the Lakota are highest of all. The history of the relationship between their tribal government and the Bureau of Indian Affairs is full of misunderstandings at best, and betrayal and violence all too often. Their way of life has been rendered impossible, and for decades, the maintenance of their cultural heritage was illegal. Yet many remain faithful Episcopalians, as their families have been for 150 years because the US government assigned them to the Episcopal Church to "civilize" them. That in itself is appalling. Yet, though far from perfect, the Episcopal Church has sought to bring good news to the poor, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the sick, bury the dead with honor, visit the lonely, and bind up the broken hearted. Because of this connection, we get invited to come provide a day camp for their kids for a week each summer.
I would love to figure out a way to set up and shoot a conceptual photo bringing together metaphorical and symbolic imagery to reflect on heart break and paradox, the connection and beginning of a relationship in the context of mistrust and betrayal. I simply don't have the chops. I went to South Dakota last month with Saf's push in mind, and kept turning it over in my head as we visited with old friends, hung out at a pow wow, went to church together, and spent joyful hours with the kids feeding them an "extra" lunch, telling BIble stories, making crafts and playing games.
I came away feeling defeated by the push, even though the trip was a wonderful visit. Not wanting to post nothing for this round, I looked through my photos from the week and came across this one. Fresh out of symbolism, it nevertheless gives a narrative of the topic.
Our little camp is housed in a county elementary school because the community of Norris is off the Rez, and thus has no indian school. Ironically, the white families in the area refuse to send their kids to school with indian kids, so the Norris Elementary School has effectively become an indian school. In the background is a display case of historic Lakota artifacts, as if they came from some exotic culture far away--but were in fact provided to the school by families in the area and are displayed with great pride. The swirl of kids' activities with indian kids and non-indian adults goes on around an earnest pastoral conversation. My friend Peter is visiting with Bertha, whose mother-in-law died this winter. She was the elder who invited us to come years ago. They are talking about how the family is going through an unsettled time as they grieve and wonder who will begin to fill her important role. Just beyond them a devoted dad bends over to show his three year old daughter how to blow through a straw to chase watercolor paint around the page. This is a multi-generational event! In this picture, other things are hidden in plain sight. It all looks tidy and clean and middle class. The school, however, is surrounded by dilapidated HUD houses and trailers, connected to each other by dirt roads. Some of the kids wear the same clothes the entire week. Many of them live with their grandmothers for a variety of reasons. The only business in the town is a tiny general store. There is no gas station. Even the bar went out of business.
When I took this picture, it was meaningful to me as a cross-section of our experience, but I was not thinking of it as a way to meet the push Saf gave me. It seems to be the closest I can come.