“The word muse comes to mind.” That’s what a friend said in response to this video when I shared it in my stories, which sparked a conversation about the muse—her supposed passivity and historical exploitation. “Being called a muse is high praise, but a beautiful object can be a muse too.” But a partner participates in the work—“the work,” which is in itself merely active collaboration with everything around us. Nothing to extract. Nothing to contain. Everything to gain.
We took these in the same spots we did our first headshots together for Christine’s website when I first got my Fujifilm XT4 and I barely knew what I was doing. This time, I used Fujifilm 35mm and Christine’s new vintage SLR—you read that right, Christine’s been bitten by the shutter bug too! Here she is with my Nikon Lite-Touch. But she’s now the proud owner of a quirky little beast we found for an absolute bargain that she wanted me to be the first to test drive: a 1971 Sears TLS straight outta the Christmas catalog. Swipe to see … Continue reading “Christine’s Camera” →
Working with @christine.bingham.art on this photo-documentation project has been a thrill and an honor, and sometimes pretty nerve-wracking too, since I only picked up a camera two years ago. The learning curve’s steep, but I’ve always learned best in situ and in media res. My brain’s wired that way. This particular shoot, documenting Saint Kateri, was especially poignant. It took us over a year to make it happen, and in that time, we got to learn so much about Kateri and the people of Kanawake, which we even had the privilege of visiting (it’s just outside of Montreal). So, I’ve … Continue reading “Christine’s Project: Kent” →
Scenes and snippets from last night’s visit to West Seattle to see Christine’s students showcase this semester’s visual arts. First slide’s what we found later that night, on a main street in White Center. I guess there’s a poetry of sorts in my selection. I was most impressed by this piece by a student named Zola. It depicts anxiety as a raincloud of negative talk and asks: are you part of the rain? Swipe to see a giant marshmallow and more.
There’s a sense of many things coming full circle. Cycles coming to completion, stories tied up in a bow… This shoot is part of one Christine’s stories. Saint Triduana of Restalrig was the first piece in her series, based on another painting she’d made and given away to a roommate in Edinburgh. And here we are, taking pictures with it in the apartment she lived in just before she moved to Scotland. It looked very different back then. This project and this place are deeply meaningful to Christine in ways that are only right for her to tell. What I … Continue reading “Christine’s Project: Cascade” →
There’s a Netflix docuseries on 9/11 and its aftermath where a veteran from the war in Afghanistan shares an epiphany he had on a watchtower one night. “It’s the freedom to pretend,” he exclaims, suddenly realizing what “freedom” means in America. “Everyone feels entitled to their fictions.” There’s something about his insight that resonated with me and how I read the representational politics interrogated and poked fun of at “The Freakshow Show,” this year’s BFA show at @cornish_artdept. Much of the work from this year’s cohort seems to be about laying bare such American fictions. We’ve made it a little … Continue reading “Cornish BFA ’24” →
I posted this image on a Sunday in 2013, a couple of days after taking the photo at a Catholic spiritual retreat I was gently compelled to go to by my parents – I wasn’t a fan of the church at the time. The image is taken from a workbook, and I seem to recall that the ocular illustration was meant to convey some theological concept or another — from aleph, the lid, to dal, the pupil — but I don’t remember what. “Contemplate,” it says. I do remember that this retreat was the first time I learned what an … Continue reading “Light-Dark” →
There’s a place in the mall where I’m staying (yes, my hotel is in the mall) that’s called the museum of illusions, which sounds a lot like how this part of Houston feels, especially in the early morning fog. I took these after breakfast yesterday. I could have stared at that thing for hours. It’s fascinating how much this part of Houston reminded me of Dubai, even in its muggy evening breeze that indicated to me that there’s a gulf out there somewhere around here. More street scenes from my first Texan morning. The first breakfast wasn’t included in the … Continue reading “Houston: Y’All Come Back Now” →
“Many people, when writing about photography say that it always shows what we already know—that which is common knowledge. I think this assertion should be corrected to say instead: photography always shows what we think we know.” (Luigi Ghirri) I woke up today to a message from a Lebanese visual artist that rattled me a little, given that we’d never interacted before, and that I respect their work. It said, in response to a thing about astrology I’d thrown up in my stories: “The aqua moon explains how I can never grasp your point of view through your photography. Not … Continue reading “Aquarian Eye” →
I took this on my first ever photowalk today, using the digicam I brought back from Lebanon. I’m glad I brought it along, because it was -9 °C out and I could barely operate my other camera for more than a couple minutes at a time. I very quickly learned that I had the wrong gloves and lenses for staying nimble on a day like today. So, what was I thinking going out on one of the coldest days of the year to cosplay as photographer? I was thinking that I need to start getting out of my own way … Continue reading “Origin Story (Still in Progress)” →