Who’d-a thunk it?
“A word to the wise is sufficient.” -Alfred Stieglitz
Resolutions
Click on images.
“Convenience has always won out over ultimate quality throughout the history of photography.”
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/filmdig.htm
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/new-years-resolutions
The View From Above
Yesterday:
Thelonious XCV!
October 10, 1917, Rocky Mount NC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ9El7k4mNo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qweSlfP6BtI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfMnWKYNA9o
For a trove of information: http://www.monkbook.com/the-book/
Mr. Andrews’s Apology
It’s not uncommon for an apology to be publicized; for example, Harry Shearer makes a point of archiving apologies on his weekly radio program “Le Show:” http://harryshearer.com/news/le_show/player/?id=874
Here is an apology that appeared last month. I can relate: http://blakeandrews.blogspot.com/#!/2012/08/im-sorry.html
I think I have a soulmate. http://blakeandrewsphoto.com/
Found, on page 16 of a 27-page public document
Short statements to the press do not (and, in many instances, cannot) address the carefully-reasoned finer distinctions in a complex situation. The NYT was succinct in its explanation, but everyone who can click to this blawwg is capable of digesting the contents of the source material, rather than leave it to others to interpret for us.
Here is one of many worthy nuggets, (typos intact):
“Sections 66.0506, 118.245, 111.70(1)(f), 111.70 (3g), 111.70 (4) (mb) and 111.70 (4)(d)3 single out and encumber the rights of those employees who choose union membership and representation solely because of that association and therefore infringe upon the rights of free speech and association guaranteed by both the Wisconsin and the United States Constitutions.
These are fundamental rights and the infringement having been shown, the burden shifts to the defendants to establish that the harm done to the constitutional right is outweighed by the evil it seeks to prevent. Because defendants contend there is no infringement of the rights of speech and association, they offer no evidence of the evil the government seeks to prevent by the infringing provisions. Without any evidence or argument that the infringement serves to prevent an evil in the operation of the bargaining system created by the statutes, the court must find the infringement to be excessive and to violate the constitutional rights of free speech and association.”
BTW, this is not the author of the document:
…nor does this image accurately represent the writer:
Sorry, I have to leaven. I will, however, warn those who share the Proofreading Disease with moi that there are causes to cringe (pp. 2 & 17, for instances). http://www.wispolitics.com/1006/120914mti_v_walker.pdf
Viveos
Two short news features have made WTTW’s coverage of Vivian Maier into a little trilogy.
You’ve probably seen the first story, from last summer: http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2012/07/31/vivian-maier
The new material appeared last week, over two nights. The other important owners of Ms. Maier’s negatives finally get to flesh out the story and early results of detective research place her in locations and dates.
http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2012/08/01/meteoric-rise-vivian-maier
http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2012/08/02/searching-vivian-maier
Hale County, Alabama, 1936
Walker Evans began work on a project documenting the Great Depression on this date 76 years ago today. He was working for the Farm Security Administration in the photographic section (he was granted a leave of absence to work on a summer assignment for Fortune magazine, on the condition that the pictures he made would be considered government property). Writer James Agee accompanied Evans toHale County,Alabama, to document the effects of the Depression on tenant farmers. For two months that summer, they traveled among the poor white cotton farmers, getting to know three families in particular. They didn’t want the images to be used for political or artistic purposes, but rather as a “documentary style” record.
Fortune declined to publish the piece as it was submitted. Agee refused to make revisions, and eventually he and Evans published it as a full-length book in 1941. It didn’t sell well, and went out of print, but it was reissued in 1960, three years after Agee’s death. Evans’s photographs are now among the most famous images of that era.
Viva Vivian
Here are some images from vintage prints by Vivian Maier that you have not seen before. Some are as small as 3×3 inches; any of them would fit in your hand. They’re not from the collection that prompted the blockbuster Cultural Center show and the book.
Go look at the collection, but ya gotta hurry. The Corbett vs. Dempsey Gallery is above Dusty Groove America; perhaps you already know where that is. Read all about it at http://www.corbettvsdempsey.com/ and contact me here if you need directions/encouragement. At the gallery, you might see Ben, who was so nice to everyone at the Tony Wight Gallery on the day of the AP “Power Walk In The Noonday Sun” field trip.
Here’s a little deep background on some of the work: http://gapersblock.com/ac/2011/01/06/getting-the-right-angle-on-vivian-maier/
I Can See My House From Here
So, perhaps, can you.
Creative Camerawork 