TAMUC Photo

Cooper, Texas.

2010-03-11T08:01:00.000-08:00

Cooper Texas is one of my very favorite little towns in East Texas. Why? Well, treasures like Mabel Wheat, Miller's Pharmacy, Jalapeno's restaurant, and really nice people... Both classes met in the town square for a fun day of shooting and dodging the rain. The light, especially in the afternoon was beautiful, so I'm hopeful that we got some great shots! If you missed the trip, be sure to drive up on your own and explore and photograph. And stop in and say "hello!" to Mabel, get a root beer float, and be sure to see the wonderful mural by Lloyd Goff in the very nicely preserved post office...

Finally, consider signing up for the May-Mini class on pinhole photography. It's going to be ten fast days of making cameras and shooting and working in the darkroom and hanging a show and making a camera obscura and visiting cool little towns and printing cool pics that you took with a box and a hole and I'll show you how I make my AWARD-WINNING pinhole pictures...and, jeez, isn't that enough?!? It's ten days in a row, you get 3 hours credit, it'll be a blast.

PDNB. Rhondal McKinney

2010-01-23T18:22:00.001-08:00

PDNB is a photography gallery in the Dallas design district. This month they have an excellent show of landscapes by Rhondal McKinney. This prints are small by today's standards. They are contact prints from 8x10" negatives. Delightful, delicate images, I hope to someday meet Mr. McKinney, and really regret not going to the opening. Anyone want to give me $2500.00 for a print?

http://www.pdnbgallery.com/Site/HOME.html
http://rhondalmckinney.com/

something old, something new...

2009-12-22T06:43:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about doing these ever since I first crossed the Red River. Of course these aren't the Red River, but I'm trying to get the relationship between the developing marks and the subject worked out. I just need to keep making them I guess and maybe I'll get somewhere. It's been fun (and frustrating) working on them. I have six cameras that I take out at a time, and there's plenty to photograph within twenty miles of home. I'm thinking the final print size will be 40x100". I don't know about the blue ones, they're sort of fake cyanotypes. I remember seeing a book of old cyanotypes that someone did of some river... they're sort of haunting me.

Peter Miller

2009-12-17T20:23:00.000-08:00

I ran across the work of Peter Miller tonight and just think that it's wonderful! He's been photographing the people and places of Vermont for fifty years or more. They have an honesty about them that is so lacking in a lot of current work. He's got a limited edition hand-made book that looks wonderful; it includes an original signed print. Get one before they're all gone!

http://www.petermillerphotography.com/

are you for real?

2009-11-30T16:54:00.000-08:00

So the other night I was on the internet, or looking at a book or staring out the window, or dreaming. I can't remember which. I remembered this beautiful little submarine that I had seen at a gallery in Kansas City several years ago. It took me a while but I remembered the artists name, and I also remembered that I'd met him once or twice and was always amazed by his work. Well I looked him up and there he was, teaching somewhere in Maine. I wrote him a long rambling email, told him about an experience that I'd had years ago about meeting a guy who had these incredible model boats, one of the Titanic that lit up... and how when I went back to look for him again he was gone, his place was gone his town was gone. I'd been haunted by that for years- still am.

Anyway, Randy just sent me a beautiful email (when was the last time you heard someone call an email beautiful?) He's working on an installation for a little town in Maine, and I'm really tempted to go up there and see it.

Here's his website. And that's the sub in question. I wish I would have bought it when I had the chance...
http://www.randyregier.com/index.php
http://www.flickr.com/photos/regierart/

William Stafford

2009-11-28T08:23:00.000-08:00

William Stafford is one of my favorite poets. I first saw his work in one of Robert Adams books. Robert Adams is one of my favorite photographers, so a match made in heaven. Stafford has several books on how to be a poet, and for me it's easy to transpose the word "photograph" and "poem."

"Writing a poem is easy, like swimming into a fish trap. Analyzing a poem is hard, like swimming out of a fish trap."

"...puzzlement can be accepted, but insulting clarity is fatal to a poem."

Greenville Texas. Home of...CB's Burgers.

2009-11-06T19:42:00.000-08:00

This past week all three of my classes took a road trip- fifteen miles- to Greenville. We walked around the downtown, saw the Master Gardener's Garden, the Farmers Market, Majors Field and lots of cool old buildings. We even stopped at a tortilla factory and had some free hot tortillas. Then to CB's for lunch. CB's has been around since the forties and serves a nice egg cheeseburger. I've been going often enough that I just walk in and they serve me "the usual." CB's is located at 3304 Wesley St, Greenville. Please be nice and leave a tip for the girls behind the counter. It's set up in a way that most folks don't leave tips, but it's the right thing to do, and they really work hard.

The Case of the Inappropriate Alarm Clock

2009-10-26T06:22:00.000-07:00

The New York Times has an interesting series of articles about photography, documentation and "truth."

http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/category/the-case-of-the-inappropriate-alarm-clock/

Grad Reviews.

2009-10-24T19:47:00.000-07:00

So this past Friday we had mid-term grad reviews at school. All the faculty, all the grad students attend and we look at the grads work for the semester. I got into an interesting discussion about some drawings, in which the student makes drawings of skin. Or more precisely, the student makes drawings from the photographs of skin. My first question of course, was why make the drawings at all? I mean, isn't the photograph enough? What does the act of drawing add to an already existing photograph- of something else? Certainly I understand drawing and what it does, how it helps the artist learn to see, etc. But if the artist already has an image, what does drawing that image add to the understanding of it? First, the drawing is mediated by the act of photographing- that is, we now are looking at the subject- in this case, skin- though the lens of a camera. Through the lens of a specific camera, a specific lens at a specific aperture. I would contend that the artist is no longer drawing a person's skin, but is in fact, drawing a photograph of a person's skin- and therein lies the problem.

Now, certainly it's difficult to draw a small part of a person's skin- hours of time looking at a subject, hours of time for the subject to be looked at. so it would seem to be simpler to just take photographs and draw from those. It's worked in the past. (The painter Richard Estes comes to mind.) But in my opinion, there's a big difference, not only in the act of drawing from a live model and drawing from a photo, but also in the outcome. And I certainly think that it's very fair to ask the question, "why draw at all?" Especially if we're only drawing photographs.

(The above three images are by the artist Whitney Bradshaw. We were in graduate school together briefly.)

Joel Sternfeld at the Amon Carter!

2009-10-24T18:48:00.000-07:00

Thursday, October 29, 2009 - 6:30pm - 7:30pm

The Long History of a Split Second: A Discussion with Joel Sternfeld

Join the discussion as photographer Joel Sternfeld speaks about the journey of his career leading up to his large color photograph March 4, 2007, The East Meadows, Northampton, Massachusetts, currently featured in the Carter’s exhibition Masterworks of American Photography: Moments in Time.

Reservations are required; seating is limited. Please call 817.989.5030 by October 22 to register; confirmation will be sent.

Camera Remote for Your iPhone!

2009-10-24T18:46:00.000-07:00

Check this! It's a camera remote for your Canon or Nikon. You can adjust controls, change exposure, aperture, shutter speed, and even fire your camera from your phone. You can even what the viewfinder sees from the phone. Pretty cool! The bad news is that it needs a wifi to make it work, so it's perfect for the studio photographer, but not so much for the person on location. Still, it's an interesting innovation for an iPhone!
http://www.ononesoftware.com/detail.php?prodLine_id=38

It was so Smart, I Cried.

2009-08-26T20:41:00.001-07:00

A month or so ago, I decided that I need to drive to Fort Worth to see the William Kentridge show. Lord, I'm glad I did. This and the image from:

http://www.themodern.org/onview.html

William Kentridge:
Five Themes
July 12–September 27, 2009

“Charcoal…became a way of thinking, rather than a physical medium.”
– William Kentridge

William Kentridge: Five Themes features the most comprehensive survey to date of the films, drawings, books, prints, sculptures, and stage designs by this influential contemporary South African artist. The exhibition features the first American presentation and catalogue of the new work Kentridge has created since 2000 that dramatically expands his technical innovations as an artist filmmaker, enlarges the scale of his work in stage design and installation art, and extends his themes beyond the impact of apartheid in South Africa.

I'm going to take my classes to see the exhibition, along with anyone else who might be interested.

After, we'll head to the stockyards for the best burger you'll ever eat. I promise.

http://www.shakeyourloveshack.com/

Amon Carter and Joel Sternfeld

2009-07-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

A recent acquisition at the Amon Carter. This image is so stunning, it makes me want to re-think every picture I've ever made.
http://www.cartermuseum.org/

Elegance

2009-07-27T09:03:00.000-07:00

The smallest modification of tonality affects structure. Some things have to be rather large, but elegance is the presentation of things in their minimum dimensions

Frederick Sommer
General Aesthetics, 1979

http://www.fredericksommer.org/

The pot is Warren MacKenzie's. From the Red Lodge Clay Center.
http://www.redlodgeclaycenter.com/

Summer in East Texas!

2009-07-16T09:07:00.001-07:00

Yeah, okay the first thing you think is hot and humid. At least I do. And it is. The second thing? Ribs? Nah...Rodeo!
These are a few images from the Ladonia Rodeo, July 9,10 and 11. I'll be shooting the Cooper Rodeo this weekend and next weekend I'll be at the Kueckelhan Rodeo in Bonham.

Cooper Photo Exhibition

2009-05-09T08:15:00.000-07:00

The PHO 112 class is having a Photo Exhibition today from 4-6pm at Jalapeno's Mexican Grill, in Cooper Texas. Cooper is one of my favorite little East Texas towns, and Jalapeno's is definitely my favorite restaurant in the region. The food is very good, and very fresh. Everything is prepared on-site, the chicken and beef are first-rate. Most importantly, the owners, Jose and Hilda are wonderful, caring people.

It's my hope to have a new show at Jalapeno's every semester. I'd love it if we could work with Cooper High School and have a show of their students work, or even have a show from Paris Junior College. I'd also like to find a few other venues for exhibiting the students work. My plan is to make one set of frames each semester until we're swimming in them. This semester alone I've made (with the generous help of Jeremy Newton) one hundred frames from maple boards.

The images for this exhibition were all taken in Cooper, and are really nice. My hope for the future is that we'll have a nice system for hanging the work on wires from the ceiling in the restaurant. I think it also be smart to include the Music Department and/or the English Department when we have openings. Wouldn't a poetry reading or some live music be cool?

Breaking Boundaries

2009-04-24T07:26:00.001-07:00

Sarah Kolac

2009-04-18T22:10:00.000-07:00

...graduated last year. She was a great student and has a lot of talent. She's currently assisting in the Dallas/ Fort Worth area and is also shooting on her own. Give her a call for your next assignment!
http://www.sarahkolac.com/

I'm going to start...

2009-04-16T18:38:00.000-07:00

...including work from our current students and alums. If you'd like to have your images and info added, drop me a line or add a comment!

Sam Fleishman is a current TAMUC student. He's a hard-working photographer and a really good student. He's constantly emailing me images of his work and asking for an opinion. He listens too, sometimes. He's currently doing a series of portraits of local religious leaders that is really quite thoughtful. Check out his site and let him know what you think!

http://www.fleishmanphotography.com/

Commerce Community Garden Association

2009-04-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

There are a few new cool things happening in Commerce right now. One of them that's near and dear to me is the Commerce Community Garden Association. We're just in our first year, but already we've got 36 4x12' raised beds, water for irrigation and four acres! of row crops that we're growing for people in need in our community. It's my hope that the garden will be a good model for the community and the university to work together to make Commerce a great place to live. I'm hoping that it'll also help resurrect the local Farmer's Market. Check it out here:

http://commercecga.blogspot.com/

How can you help? We can always use contributions! (Yeah, that's me, Amish hat, Pointer Brand chore coat, shorts...hell yeah!)

Help Me Lecture!

2009-04-14T17:23:00.000-07:00

I'm looking for venues to talk about my work. High schools, community colleges, universities, you name it. I'm really interested in meeting folks from the area, so if you work nearby and would like to meet and maybe have me do a lecture to your class, drop me a line or add a comment on the blog. I promise to be interesting and fun! And I'm free! How can you beat that?

Certainly I'm also interested in venues for local (and regional and national!) exhibitions. I can show my work, Chad can show his, and/or any of the other faculty can show theirs. I'd also like to have a traveling student exhibition as well as a traveling alumni show, so if any if this interests you and you can help out or know of any opportunities, please let me know!

Alumni Exhibition?

2009-04-12T21:47:00.000-07:00

Since I'm new here, I thought it might be a good way to meet people, even if only through their work... how 'bout we plan an alumni exhibition? I don't know if we have any money- okay, we don't have any money for a book, but certainly we could do a blurb book. We can have the exhibit here in the fall and with luck might be able to travel it some. Any interest?

What are the Outcomes?

2009-04-10T17:52:00.000-07:00

In planning a new curriculum, the first question to ask, is 'what should the students know?' What are the conceptual and technical skills necessary to succeed as a photographer? What business skill, what interpersonal skills? Should exhibitions and professional practices be part of each of the classes?

Should a photography program be teaching video, audio, web design? Or should we stick with still images?

Two Campus Locations

2009-04-10T07:19:00.000-07:00

As many of you already know, TAMUC has two campus locations, one in Commerce and one at the UCD in downtown Dallas. How do we best take advantage of this opportunity? Which classes should we teach at the UCD and which in Commerce?

Also, our design and photography students should be working together in studio situations. How do we best accommodate this?

It's my belief...

2009-04-10T07:14:00.000-07:00

...That the best commercial photographers have a strong foundation in the arts. Toward that end, I feel that our students should take foundations classes that include; drawing, color theory, 2D and 3D Design. The best fine-art photographers need to understand the business and professional practices of the fine-art world. Much of their knowledge base overlaps. Do you agree?

How do we market TAMUC?

2009-04-09T20:39:00.000-07:00

By this, I mean how do we distinguish this photography program from the many others in the region? Commercial? Fine-Art? A little of both? Should we be marketing the program to the community colleges, or should we be approaching the DFW high schools?

What are ways to market the program? What is the role of the professor in marketing the photography program?

What Role Does the Darkroom Play in the Digital Age?

2009-04-09T20:28:00.000-07:00

Many schools (Columbia College Chicago, for one) still teach film and darkroom as the introduction to photography class. Others (RIT) have moved film to an alternative and elective process. The question to you is: where does film belong in a photo curriculum? Are there things inherent in film that are important for a photographer to know? Is the darkroom so much fun that it's a good class to hook students? Or is film the new alternative process that should be taught only as an elective?

In a related question, what role does the view camera play in ones education? How many of you are still using a view camera? Will a DSLR with a shift/tilt lens do the same thing?

Welcome to the TAMUC Photo Blogspot!

2009-04-09T14:21:00.000-07:00

You've been invited to join the TAMUC Photo Blogspot and Photo Advisory Board because we value your experience as a photographic educator, photographer, artist, alum, curator, manufacturer's rep... you get the picture... we value you and your opinions. We're trying to gain some insight from a wide variety of people interested in photography and interested in TAMUC.

Photography is an amazing media. The challenge is to stay abreast of the changes while holding true to tradition and history. We're very interested in your opinion regarding the future of photographic education especially here at TAMUC.

I'd like to start by discussing a number of questions. I'll list them as separate entries, you can answer in comments, or feel free to add your own entry. (You can reply anonymously if you like. I'm going to keep this blog public as I'd like to have as many interested parties involved as possible.)

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. We really do value your opinion!