Tag: photography

by jad

Doing Photography

I never intended to actually start “doing” #photography when I first started posted those little excerpts from Sontag and Barthes all those months ago, but here we are, featured in @anna.s.snapshots‘s Issue 3 of Plastic Perspective. It’s a portrait of Christine that I took on my very first roll on my #Holga135 at just the right moment, in just the right light. It’s all kind of surreal. And here we are playing photographer and model. I’d be cringing if I weren’t so grateful for Christine’s steadfast support, encouragement, and patience as I turn her into guinea pig slash muse for this strange new hobby that’s … Continue reading “Doing Photography” →

by jad

A Fire is Lit: Concert Photography

This was my first time attempting to take anything more than smartphone snaps at a concert, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. Bar House wasn’t what I expected. It’s a great space but a little difficult to navigate with a chunky camera. I found it almost impossible to capture the frenetic energy from my cramped vantage point, so I’d assumed that most of my shots would have to be scrubbed off my SD card at the end of the night. But when I scrolled through them later, sitting by Fremont’s Lenin statue, I realized that much … Continue reading “A Fire is Lit: Concert Photography” →

by jad

Blackletter October

[Chorus] I feel them all, great mass of colorFlooded in my bedI feel them all, great mass of colorFlooded in my bed, dissolving into red. [Post-Chorus] (Can I accept I’m real?) x Quid tandem?Privatae res vestraequo statu sunt? x Quid quiden ignis Deust est. x Ager uritururbs obsideturbelli gloria peneshostes est. x Beati qui lavant vestimentasua in sanguine Agniut sit potestas eorum in ligno vitae,et per portas ingrediantur civitatem. x Sed fugit intereafugit inreparabile tempus. Fiat. x Have fun tonight. x Assorted October scenes on expired black and white #kodakadvantix.x x x x x x

by jad

September Estrangement Series

Over the next few days, I’ll be sharing an assortment of #analogphotography from recent happenings and wanderings. This set’s from a staff retreat I was on earlier this month, my third time on this former military base. The first slide’s taken with a #Holga135 on #fujifilm200; the second’s almost the same shot taken on my phone. I greatly enjoyed my pre-dawn and early morning walks and felt like I’d completed some kind of cycle by being here, having sat with hesitation at the threshold of belonging the last time I was in this place. I’ve walked across now. I’m there. x The last night of … Continue reading “September Estrangement Series” →

by jad

New Aura of Old

“Aura is a quality integral to an artwork that cannot be communicated through mechanical reproduction techniques – such as #photography. The term was used by Walter Benjamin in his influential 1936 essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Benjamin argued that ‘even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: Its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be.’ He referred to this unique cultural context i.e. ‘its presence in time and space’ as its ‘aura’.” (TATE / ART TERMS) I’m not sure … Continue reading “New Aura of Old” →

by jad

Neither Art…Nor Nonart

“Artistic production begins with ceremonial objects destined to serve in a cult. One may assume that what mattered was their existence, not their being on view. … Certain statues of gods are accessible only to the priest in the cella; certain Madonnas remain covered nearly all year round; certain sculptures on medieval cathedrals are invisible to the spectator on ground level. … In #photography, exhibition value begins to displace cult value all along the line. But cult value does not give way without resistance. It retires into an ultimate retrenchment: the human countenance. It is no accident that the portrait was … Continue reading “Neither Art…Nor Nonart” →

by jad

Dog Days/Dead Media

Today has been the wildest day for technology, with copiers falling apart, messages not going through, PDFs mysteriously rendering darker, and emails landing in spam mid-thread; so if Mercury isn’t in retrograde, it really, really ought to be. I even posted this before I was ready. Sigh. Astrology’s connection to my “style” has come up a couple of times in the past few of days; one friend zeroed in on my Aquarian bent (“a bit cerebral in your aesthetics. edgy, understated and clean. futuristic”) while another noted the broadly #crabcore vibe (“Cancer Mercury explains your posts, your memory for so much like … Continue reading “Dog Days/Dead Media” →

by jad

Sickly Sweet Seven

We interrupt this regular broadcast to bring you a memory—this is #Istanbul, August 2015, a couple of days before we took a leap and made our first truly adult decision of our lives. x In October, it’ll be 11 years since you first walked into the room and set your scopes on me, saying “hi, what’s your name?” Today, it’s 7 years since we made it official and we’re still full speed ahead. Ahoy, Christine! ❤️🫠 x We liked it so much we did it again the next year, in #Paphos—here it is in October 2016. Slide 2 is the weird but meaningful … Continue reading “Sickly Sweet Seven” →

by jad

Tacoma Exposures

This pavilion is known as the #Fuzhou Ting, after the sister-city in China that funded and helped construct this structure in #Tacoma‘s Chinese Reconciliation Park. According to ChinaCulture.org, “all pavilions described as Ting have this in common: they have columns to support the roof, but no walls. In parks or at scenic spots, pavilions are built on slopes to command the panorama or on lakeside to create intriguing images in the water. They are not only part of the landscape but also belvederes from which to enjoy the scenery.” This park is easy to miss when driving by, so I was pleasantly surprised … Continue reading “Tacoma Exposures” →

by jad

Summer Estrangement Series

Hi, my name is Jad and I have a scarcity mindset. Okay, so that’s starting off a little glib, but seriously, when you think about it, the term has become a catch-all for all things uncouth; if not a stigma, then a case of adult cooties. No one wants a scarcity mindset. But scarcity seems like a natural default for me when budgets are limited and resources are stretched. Digital media trick us into endlessly producing because the costs are offset way down the line—our millions of JPEGs cost *something* somehow, but we’re not the ones immediately fitting the bill. … Continue reading “Summer Estrangement Series” →