So today was the first day of working on the 23rd street project; just a walk up and down with my leica to see what I saw, and to try to get a handle on what the project would and could be. <br /><br /><img src=”https://images.matt.pictures/first_day_of_23rd_st._project/1242/0001.jpg” alt=”Photos” /><br /><br />So, as I was walking and talking to Grant, I was also thinking. Grant graciously came along to watch my back. I have this tendency to concentrate so much on what I’m photographing that I walk out into the road to get the right angle, and not notice oncoming cars. So it’s good to have someone along who isn’t trying to line up things visually, much less conceptualize a new project at the same time. <br /><br /><img src=”https://images.matt.pictures/first_day_of_23rd_st._project/1242/0002.jpg” alt=”Photos” /><br /><br />The project as I see it now can go a couple of ways; I can see it happening fairly quickly, couple weeks of work, but the idea, the interesting thing to me thus far, is that 23rd street is the border between two really distinct neighborhoods, and that contrast causes all this crazy activity, lots of bums, shops, empty storefronts, crazy shit. It’s a busy area. <br /><br /><img src=”https://images.matt.pictures/first_day_of_23rd_st._project/1242/0003.jpg” alt=”Photos” /><br /><br />But also there’s the possibility of following the street for a while, six months to a year, to see what happens, because as midtown wraps up to the south and paseo continues to develop to the north, there’s no way all these buildings will stay run down; they’re going to become prime real estate soon; it’s already happening to a few little strips. <br /><br /><img src=”https://images.matt.pictures/first_day_of_23rd_st._project/1242/0004.jpg” alt=”Photos” /><br /><br />I like the idea of this photo essay as a series of intense contrasts; the tension between the neighborhoods from the north and the south, the new shops and their new customers and the old bums and winos and just the plain residents (somehoe nobody has yet targeted the down-and-out demographic, except maybe Byron’s liquor). It’s probably an avenue I’ll pursue (or at least be thinking about while I’m shooting.<br /><br /><img src=”https://images.matt.pictures/first_day_of_23rd_st._project/1242/0005.jpg” alt=”Photos” /><br /><br />Edit to add: Film scanning is a bitch. I think I’m probably going to just shoot this with my canon digi, just to save myself the hassle and the expense of film. OK, croudsource an answer: what do you think? Is the film look in the above pics worth the hassle? (shitty scans, I know; part of the cost would be a new scanner).
Posted by matt on 2009-02-17T00:00:00Z GMT
So yesterday was a fucker of a day. After I said all that about loving life on the road and how I’d rather be doing my job than carousing and womanizing and drinking (still basically true), I had a fucker of an afternoon. <br /><br />It was made worse by the fact that I had a great morning- I was shooting really well, not too tired or too sore in the shoulders. Well, there was a bit of technical difficulty at the beginning (I had changed my manual ip to try to get my comp working on their network, and voila, it worked, but then the guys out front couldn’t connect to me. Never mind they could’ve found me in the network browser). But being a little pissed just sharpened me up, and I hit all the marks just right. That I also have to make up the marks as I go, or rather intuit them (an important philosophical difference, but we have to many parentheticals already) makes no difference.<br /> <br /><img src=”https://images.matt.pictures/fucker/1243/leonardsign.jpg” alt=”Photos”/><br /><br />Then the afternoon came. Groups of dancers, first duo/trios, and then gradually increasing until there were 30 on the floor. So, just as we were getting into the groups of 6-8, one of the pins bent in on my card reader and I was in trouble. So, I sent the guys out front, my boss, an IM asking for help. I get no response, and in short order I had worked through my extra cards. So, I ran out to their area, and in the process, missed a dance routine. Threw me off the rest of the afternoon. Got heated there for a second and I was tempeted to walk off from the whole thing, but my better nature prevailed, and I’m still employed. that is, they didn’t fire me for a mistake, and I didn’t walk off mad. <br /><br />Then dinner, and my boss was in hot water for us leaving “early.” Early being maybe 15 minutes to beat the crowd. Oh well, now nobody in the whole crew gives a shit, we’re only doing this job for the money anyway. Why won’t people figure out that giving subordinates shit just pisses them off and gets you less work, of lower quality? Foster a good work environment, and good things happen. Positive reinforcement. When your buisiness depends on creative people, all that bad emotion can really fuck up their day, which in turn screws your product. <br /><br />Enough rambling, back to work for me.
Posted by matt on 2009-02-15T00:00:00Z GMT
Why am I awake at this ungodly hour? It’s saturday morning. I should be drunk, passed out with my arms around some beautiful woman I don’t deserve. I should have partied all night with my friends.<br /><br />Instead, I’m here in a town in north carolina in a town who’s name I can’t spell right (albamarle? albermar? something). Today, I’m going to go and sit in a chair for hours on end, and take pictures. This instead of waking up with said woman, making breakfast and nursing a hangover all day, orange juice, eggs, coffee, maybe a mid-afternoon bike ride. <br /><br />No, today I’ll shoot more than 10,000 pictures. I’ll hear the same 50 songs repeated about twice, some more than others, and some more annoyingly than others (I never did like Annie). I’ll hold up the 5 pound camera setup for most of that time, a 12-13 hour day, with a short break for lunch. I’ll be exhausted and ache at the end and probably have one dinner choice, because everything else in town shuts down at 8. <br /><br />The strangest part? I prefer this to staying at home. I’d rather be out here on the edge of what I can do, busting my ass, trying to do something nearly impossible (produce good art on demand, several hundred times in a day? that’s so absurd it’s beyond consideration, but here we are). This is difficult, but it’s the life I’ve been missing out on in a lot of ways, going different places, doing photography, a little suffering but much joy. <br /><br />Other than the people in what I’m already thinking of as my old life, there’s nothing I miss. With the exception of the hypothetical pretty lady, who 9/10ths of the time I’m texting from the road anyway. What’s wrong with me?
Posted by matt on 2009-02-14T00:00:00Z GMT
I’m in albemarle NC and I can’t sleep. Insomnia-blogging. not much to say right now. might think of more later and give it another post. <br /><img src=”https://images.matt.pictures/just_a_few_phots_from_the_road/1245/0001.jpg” alt=”Photos”/><br /><img src=”https://images.matt.pictures/just_a_few_phots_from_the_road/1245/0002.jpg” alt=”Photos”/><br /><img src=”https://images.matt.pictures/just_a_few_phots_from_the_road/1245/0003.jpg” alt=”Photos”/><br /><img src=”https://images.matt.pictures/just_a_few_phots_from_the_road/1245/0004.jpg” alt=”Photos”/>
Posted by matt on 2009-02-14T00:00:00Z GMT
