Stuff that "Caught My Eye" when I went out for a refreshing walk this afternoon. "Hey Kirk! How's that SL2-S working for you???" Well, how about some actual Jpegs from the camera. Guest starring the Voigtlander 75mm f1.9 Ultron.

Recently it was implied on the web that for a photographer to be a legit artist he or she must have an overarching idea and follow it slavishly rather than .... oh, I don't know... just having fun. I laughed when I read some of the essay and laughed even harder at the almost obsequious comments testifying to the importances of "big idea." But I guess there must be some validity to it all so I took a stab at writing a quick Artist Statement to share with my readers. Just so they'd know I was on the right track.  Here it is:

The summary

To photograph freely throughout the United States, using the miniature camera exclusively. The making of a broad, voluminous picture record of things American, past and present. This project is essentially the visual study of a civilization and will include caption notes; but it is only partly documentary in nature: one of its aims is more artistic than the word documentary implies.

The full proposal

I am applying for a Fellowship with a very simple intention: I wish to continue, develop and widen the kind of work I already do, and have been doing for some ten years, and apply it to the American nation in general. I am submitting work that will be seen to be documentation—most broadly speaking. Work of this kind is, I believe, to be found carrying its own visual impact without much work explanation. The project I have in mind is one that will shape itself as it proceeds, and is essentially elastic. The material is there: the practice will be in the photographer’s hand, the vision in his mind. One says this with some embarrassment but one cannot do less than claim vision if one is to ask for consideration.

“The photographing of America” is a large order—read at all literally, the phrase would be an absurdity. What I have in mind, then, is observation and record of what one naturalized American finds to see in the United States that signifies the kind of civilization born here and spreading elsewhere. Incidentally, it is fair to assume that when an observant American travels abroad his eye will see freshly; and that the reverse may be true when a European eye looks at the United States. I speak of the things that are there, anywhere and everywhere—easily found, not easily selected and interpreted. A small catalog comes to the mind’s eye: a town at night, a parking lot, a supermarket, a highway, the man who owns three cars and the man who owns none, the farmer and his children, a new house and a warped clapboard house, the dictation of taste, the dream of grandeur, advertising, neon lights, the faces of the leaders and the faces of the followers, gas tanks and postoffices and backyards.

The uses of my project would be sociological, historical and aesthetic. My total production will be voluminous, as is usually the case when the photographer works with miniature film. I intend to classify and annotate my work on the spot, as I proceed. Ultimately the file I shall make should be deposited in a collection such as the one in the Library of Congress. A more immediate use I have in mind is both book and magazine publication.

Oh wait. That's an exact copy of Robert Frank's proposal for his Guggenheim grant which enabled him to spend time and effort on his seminal work, "The Americans." In it he's essentially saying he's going to drive around and see....What Catches His Eye. How strangely familiar. 

And let's not get started on the wide net of subjects and scenes that Lee Friedlander cast. Or Garry Winogrand. There was never "the big idea" that held all their work together. They were out photographing to see what they could see and make photographs to share that particular gestalt. 

On a different note. When People talk about cameras, and review cameras, my first demand is that they "show me." Don't tell me, show me. With that being written here is a one hour take of images that "caught my eye" this afternoon while I walked through South Congress Ave. in Austin, Texas on a cool January late afternoon. I'm showing "why I like this camera and this lens as much as I do." The photos are my review.

It's supposed to get really cold on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday here in Austin. Which means highs in the upper 30s to 40s and overnight lows in the 20s. We're already in full panic mode. Stocking up on toilet paper and canned soup. And wine. And fireplace logs. I don't know how we'll survive but I hope we'll manage. Must seem quaint to all our readers who live much further north. That's okay, you can send us "thoughts and prayers" when the Summer heat arrives.....in April.....

SteamPunk Swim Goggles....

"Quick Honey, let's drop by Hermés and pick up a few scarves. 

And maybe a Birkin Bag for your Leica.... T-bills at the ready?

but across the street everything is mellow.

Homage to Stevie Ray Vaughn. On the back door of the Continental Club.

The club where Steve Mimms and I made the music video of Billy Joe Shaver's 

hit: "The Hottest Thing in Town." Back when we shot everything 

on 16mm film. I didn't shoot it, I was the lighting designer.... 

But what an all star cast: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8D8_ku-dFw

Shoes at a store that sells Turkish products.

 Studio car.