Photography: "an invention of the Devil"

Here's another quote that I enjoyed from L. J. M. Daguerre: The Worlds First Photographer and Inventor of the Daguerreotype:

Click to enlarge

Here's the intro to that book if you're interested.

Monthly Challenge 6 of 12: Civil Unrest in Mpls/St. Paul

June felt a bit like a "get back to normal" month with regards to shooting. So it's strange that my June "challenge" was simply "start making photos again like normal." And I've already had some luck submitting this work to exhibitions.

In early March, we had a "stay at home" order issued by the governor, and as I noted in last month's "monthly challenge" post, it was just lifted at the end of May. I got out and made my first 4 a.m. photos in over 2 months (since mid-March). Here they are again, as first seen in May's post:

Here was the caption I posted on Instagram:

Memorial where George Floyd was killed 36 hours ago, photographed at 4:15 this morning.
.
I’m used to having the city to myself when I photograph at 4 a.m. Today, I encountered more people than I have in the previous few years combined. There were police officers across the street. There was a handful of national media getting ready to report (large, generic rental conversion vans with tech guys setting up, not the local branded vehicles). And two people walked up as I was getting ready to photograph. One stood in silence with her head down. The other kneeled down, and then ended up laying down in the wet street where Floyd was killed. I could hear him quietly praying about “change.” He sat up, pounded the pavement twice with his fist in frustration, and then they quietly walked away.
.
#GeorgeFloyd #ICantBreathe

Then we had the riots. That led to about a week of curfews being set. The first few nights, the curfews were harsher: 8 p.m. until 6 a.m. But then they loosened up a little: 10 p.m. until 4 a.m. I headed out one of those final days of curfew (right as it was lifted at 4 a.m.) to make photos of the growing memorial and some of the places near the Minneapolis 3rd Police Precinct that had been burned (click images to enlarge):

The growing memorial around the corner from where Floyd was killed.


Not a great photo, but a fantastic message to have on the side of a
comic book store just 1 mile down the road from where George Floyd was killed.


Burned down AutoZone with the sign "If we do this 'your way' we're doomed to repeat this again."


Boarded-up burned-down Dennys (with stoplight).


"Inside" the burned down Wendy's just before 5 a.m.

The weekend in the middle of June was when I participated in a 48 hour "Chase the Light" project as hosted by the Photographic Center Northwest (PCNW). I made these 5 photos during the 4 a.m. hour on a Sunday morning, and the titles below them were what I submitted to PCNW (click images to enlarge):

Murals on the riot-protected boarded-up windows at Seward Co-op
at 4:03 a.m. (from the "4 a.m Series"), Minneapolis, MN.


Mural on the riot-protected boarded-up windows at Seward Co-op
at 4:05 a.m. (from the "4 a.m Series"), Minneapolis, MN.


The “Say Their Names Cemetery” located a block from where George Floyd
was killed at 4:33 a.m. (from the "4 a.m Series"), Minneapolis, MN.


Murals on the riot-protected boarded-up windows of Arbeiter Brewing and
Moon Palace Books at 4:50 a.m. (from the "4 a.m Series"), Minneapolis, MN.


Minnehaha Drive-Up Liquors (burned down) across from the Third Precinct
building at 4:55 a.m. (from the "4 a.m Series"), Minneapolis, MN.

The "Abolish the Police" image got accepted into the "Chase the Light" project, as I noted in a recent post.

Then, another stop at the memorial:

Alley mural next to the George Floyd memorial with the text “give me
a place to stand and I shall move the earth” at 4:10 a.m.
(The police tape says “there is a line you do not cross.”)

Just last week, I was headed down Lake Street at 4 a.m. and made this photo:

Empty lot along East Lake Street, 4:45 a.m. (That mural is 3 pieces of plywood, so 8x12' total.)

So during last month, I started making more photos, took part in a 48-hour challenge and had a piece accepted to "Chase the Light", and won the "Director's Award" in an exhibition for the 2nd photo in this post. That's a decent photographic month for me. (And as a side note, I didn't post anything about winning the "Director's Award" on social media for 3-4 days because I was processing this white man [me] winning an award for photographing scenes surrounding a black man's death. It had a "this doesn't feel *quite* right" element to it. A check arrived 2 weeks ago as part of the award, and it's waiting to be donated to an appropriate cause.)

Well, summer months have a way of getting away from me. Last month I noted that I wanted to pull out some lighting gear for next month's challenge, so we'll see if I have time to do that this month.

Piece in "Chase the Light 2020"

Last weekend was the Photographic Center Northwest (PCNW)'s "Chase the Light" exhibition/fundraiser.

It was a fun idea that started the weekend before. The "Chase the Light" website said: "it kicked off with a weekend of photographic exploration June 13-14, 2020 where people from 29 states and 9 countries took off on photographic adventures." Anyone interested was supposed to make photos over those 48 hours (Saturday and Sunday), and then submit their best images by Monday afternoon. Quick turnaround! There were 330 photos submitted in total.

I headed out early on the morning of the 14th, and made these 5 photos during the 4 a.m. hour (with their titles underneath - click each image to enlarge):

Murals on the riot-protected boarded-up windows at Seward Co-op
at 4:03 a.m. (from the "4 a.m Series"), Minneapolis, MN.


Mural on the riot-protected boarded-up windows at Seward Co-op
at 4:05 a.m. (from the "4 a.m Series"), Minneapolis, MN.


The “Say Their Names Cemetery” located a block from where George Floyd
was killed at 4:33 a.m. (from the "4 a.m Series"), Minneapolis, MN.


Murals on the riot-protected boarded-up windows of Arbeiter Brewing and
Moon Palace Books at 4:50 a.m. (from the "4 a.m Series"), Minneapolis, MN.


Minnehaha Drive-Up Liquors (burned down) across from the Third Precinct
building at 4:55 a.m. (from the "4 a.m Series"), Minneapolis, MN.

A piece of mine was accepted, and I found it this past weekend on their website:

A few other pieces were already selling.


This was the piece they selected.

Check out the work and purchase a piece for their fundraiser if you'd like - it runs through Friday night.

Reminders of a "Normal" Semester

I stopped back at Hamline University recently to grab a few files from this past semester. We had about 5-6 "normal" weeks of the semester before we took a long spring break and then came back remotely for the rest of the school year. I sat down to make sure I had copies of all my screen capture recordings:

In the middle of the desktop is a grouping of 14 videos (nearly 5 GB of them).

Those are just recorded presentations for my students. They were not the examples, PowerPoints, handouts, or their projects. So all-in-all, I downloaded nearly 11 GB of info from the last half of the semester: 2.3 GB from my Digi I class, 3.5 GB from my Digi II class, and nearly 5 GB of screen capture recordings that were a mix of both classes.

I noticed my notes from the first week of the semester were still on the whiteboard behind the projection screen - the "nerdy week" as I call it where we go over camera functions. I love that week. This was a reminder of how joyfully and normally (and naively) we started the spring semester of 2020:

Everything was so dried on from the months of sitting there that I had to use the "white board cleaner" spray seen in the lower left. Here it is afterwards with the little towel hung out to dry because it was so full of cleaner:

Good-bye spring semester 2020. Hope to never see you again.

"Inside Hamline" Publicity

I was recently mentioned in "Inside Hamline:" a listing of faculty accomplishments from those people teaching and working at Hamline University.

The bottom one is an image from an exhibition that I was just a part of.


My blurb.

And then a few days later, I even appeared in their email blast about Faculty and Staff Announcements:

"Director's Award" from the The In Art Gallery

I was recently notified that I had a piece accepted to The In Art Gallery's June exhibition entitled "The Premier Exhibition." Not only that, but my piece won The Director's Award which comes with a cash prize!

"The Premier Exhibition's" main page, with my piece at the top.

The funny thing is that I shot this photo on a Wednesday, and then I was notified 8 days later that it was accepted into this show and won the "Director's Award." That's a personal best for me! Such a quick turn-around.

It's not my most interesting 4 a.m. photo BY FAR, but it's incredibly timely. It's part of a greater discussion right now. So that must have made it more interesting to the juror. (I haven't heard any specifics as to what the juror/gallery thought of my piece, and I'll share them here if they let me know.) It's pretty common to have discussions like this about who's working with an all-around interesting idea, and who's working with an idea that works because it is timely. And this is a clear example of the latter.

Thanks to The In Art Gallery for the award!

Coffee While Painting

These mugs seem to have a backstory...

Monthly Challenge 5 of 12: Bits and Pieces

May was 3 little pieces.

ONE: As mentioned at the end of April's "monthly challenge" post, I figured I'd spend some more time watching Lynda.com videos for May. I did that, but not very much. I officially completed the 13 hour "fundamentals" video that I wrote so much about last month:

And I started watching and bookmarking more. I'm part way into another Photoshop video, but this is starting to feel pretty dry - not this new course specifically, but just watching all these videos on Photoshop functions. I'm going to need to start mixing it up with something more engaging soon.

19% into another Photoshop course with a different instructor.

TWO: We had a "stay at home" order recently lifted, and I got out last week to make my first set of 4 a.m. photos in a few months. They're not great, but here are 2 photos from where George Floyd was killed:

Here was the caption I posted on Instagram:

Memorial where George Floyd was killed 36 hours ago, photographed at 4:15 this morning.
.
I’m used to having the city to myself when I photograph at 4 a.m. Today, I encountered more people than I have in the previous few years combined. There were police officers across the street. There was a handful of national media getting ready to report (large, generic rental conversion vans with tech guys setting up, not the local branded vehicles). And two people walked up as I was getting ready to photograph. One stood in silence with her head down. The other kneeled down, and then ended up laying down in the wet street where Floyd was killed. I could hear him quietly praying about “change.” He sat up, pounded the pavement twice with his fist in frustration, and then they quietly walked away.
.
#GeorgeFloyd #ICantBreathe

And here's a more recent one since the memorial has grown:

Side note: if you'd like to hear my perspective on what's been happening in Minneapolis and St. Paul over the last few days after Floyd's death, check out this link on my other blog. I was up most of the night for 2 days in a row, and just yesterday I realized I could have been watching some Lynda.com videos, but I wouldn't have absorbed any of it - my mind would have been elsewhere.

THREE: I also "attended" a Zoom-based lecture by Dr. Rebecca Senf entitled "Even Ansel Adams Had to Earn a Living". That was very insightful, and quite interesting. CCP just put the hour-long lecture online (cutting off some of the casual chit-chat before it had officially started), so here's what I was a part of:

Direct link: youtu.be/FFDPlwnFfY8

For June, I'd like to bust into some lighting equipment that I recently acquired. We'll see if I can do some work with that, and I'll post about it in a month.