With that in mind, I'm going to shamelessly plug my new website. It's not exactly what I wanted, but I took advantage of the services provided by Columbia's Portfolio Center and built a new, hopefully more professional website. Updating information and uploading images is still in progress. It's going to take a while, as would be expected. I'm also including a section of the site for my writings because I've recently decided to pursue both photography and writing in the professional world. I feel I can bring the two together somehow. So, please check it out. It would be extremely helpful to receive feedback on the construction of the site and on the images. There's a contact section on the site where these comments can be submitted. Lastly, I wholly believe in the power of networking. I've already started a links section on the site to link to artists/people of interest to me and who I feel should be shared with the world. Please check out those people as well.
http://elisetanner.com
Last night, as I was photographing one of the events for the Fiction Writing Department's Story Week Festival, I got to see renowned Chicago photojournalist Art Shay speak about his work with writer Nelson Algren. When he first walked out and took his seat in the front row, I couldn't help but smile at the sight of this stout, elderly man with a tiny old point-and-shoot film camera hanging from around his neck. On stage, he was funny and insightful, and full of dazzling stories that can only be told by people who have lived as long and fulfilling of a life as he.
In addition to photographing Story Week, I've been working on my Documentary I project. The project started with the intent to explore and hopefully answer a couple of questions: "Is there a Gay Culture?"; "How does Gay Culture exist today?" etc. I've chosen to give myself boundaries, in a physical sense, within which to explore and contain this rather broad idea. These boundaries are a neighborhood, dubbed "Boystown," the GLBT area of Chicago akin to San Francisco's Castro. I've been rather disappointed, however, with the feedback I've received from my class and my teacher. I can sense that they "just don't get it," which is definitely my fault. At this point, all I know to do is continue shooting as much as possible and see where the project leads me. I have ideas, but getting them across, visually, will be my greatest challenge.
Here are a few examples. Note: these have not been through post-production yet.
I've been thinking a lot about how all of these images will come together in the end. I think a book, with a title page and artist's statement, would really solidify this project. I'm debating about including other text. I've been interested lately in how artists, specifically photographers, combine image and text, my two greatest passions. A part of me wants the image to speak for itself. Another part of me believes in the power of words; and I love words and I want to use them to the best of my abilities.
On an entirely different note, my girlfriend, Dana, bought me the cutest gift.
She knows me too well. I was crushed when I learned of Polaroid's demise. At that time, I had been working on a view camera project using solely Polaroid type 54 film. Since then, I've mourned the rising prices and its imminent disappearance. But Dana discovered an alternative! Fujifilm is not going anywhere, so she bought me a fun, easy to use instant film Fujifilm camera. The film is cheap (especially compared to Polaroid's prices). I've only had it for a day, and I've had so much fun with it already. It's nice to carry around a camera that's not so heavy my arms grow tired just from carrying it around.
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