December, 2010. Mom.

December, NYC. 2010

Red Bicycle, 2010.

I miss posting photos on my today...

Last week I was too rough on my camera when taking it out of my bag and it popped open and exposed my film. It happens, I know--even with digital: press the wrong key in photoshop and POOF!, there goes your picture file--but I think I'm still kind of reeling from the loss of it.

Digging through my childhood stuff at home in Providence over the Thanksgiving weekend I found 4 rolls of undeveloped film from my Photo I class back in high school. Ten year old film. As soon as I have some extra cash I'm going to have it developed.

I've more or less given up digital photography entirely- I've been loaning out my Rebel to friends who seem to need it more than I do-- and am still getting acquainted with my Minolta X-700. Is it crazy to be poo-poo-ing digital? How important is it to keep up with the times? Very, I'm guessing, but I'm not so sure I'm all that crazy about our photographic times.

Did anyone read Vince Aletti's pitch-perfect review of MOMA's New Photography show in the New Yorker? It was rough, for certain, but not mean. Not Sarah Palin mean. It's aptly titled "Cool Hunters" and in less than 300 or so words, got right to the core of the question, "what's wrong with contemporary photography [and all contemporary art for that matter?]" Lots of style, little substance, the article laments. What's with this distance? Aletti calls one photographer's body of work a series of "truly random juxtapositions." Ouch.

I saw the show and, like the reviewer, felt completely unmoved. Some of the images were stylish, sure, throwbacks to Cindy Sherman (accompanied by a glossy short film starring Bryce Dallas Howard), but I left thinking, where's the soul here? Why aren't I stirred?

"If this is where contemporary photography is headed," Aletti concluded (and I might be paraphrasing here), "I'm taking the off ramp." eep!

More soon. New Pictures to follow, too. I'm planning to wake up early in the coming weeks to catch the City on film in a different light. I just wanted to warm up the ole' blogging muscles again...Happy Holidays!