Green Shopping

I finally remembered to bring in my little shopping basket so I didn't have to use plastic bags. Yes, I am so proud of myself that I took a photo to share. :)

Honorable Mention...

Honorable Mention... a few more photos people really liked:





















(See the top 6 voted for below)

And the votes are in...

These are the top 6 favorites for "The Facebook Portrait Project." Anyone else care to cast a vote? (Top to bottom: John, Andrea D., Cindy, Andrea L., Chris, Jenny )

View more of this project in flickr:
My Favs: http://www.flickr.com/photos/katie223/sets/72157604813313817/
Facebook Project: http://www.flickr.com/photos/katie223/sets/72157603822472642/

Artist Statement

When did friend become a verb? Personal relationships are undergoing redefinition in our society. “The Facebook Portrait Project” is a color portrait series where I use Facebook to connect with my subjects. The project is circular; after I shoot the photograph is posted on the facebook site in the group "Facebook Portrait Project." My subjects (and others who want to participate) join this group within facebook. Everyone I photograph as a facebook profile and is somehow connected to me: some I see in my everyday life, others are friends of friends', and a few I haven’t spoken to since High School. I am exploring my generation and how the internet affects our relationships.

Long time no post

Well I've been lazy with my blog lately. I was going to type "Who's out there reading this anyway? Leave me a comment!" but then I realized I've been neglecting my blog so long that I missed Liz's comment! Thanks Liz!


I've now photographed over 40 people for the facebook portrait project! I am thrilled with this progress. I've also made some new facebook friends in the process. Some of the portraits I'm thrilled with... others I may want to try a re-shoot. However it's been a great project - thanks to everyone who's helped!

I've also been going to a LOT of galleries.

Boston:
• The World as a Stage @ ICA
Art can happen anywhere. Exploration of role & collaboration of audience
• View of the American West @ Panoptican
Old west photographs, shocking at only $275 framed
• Signs of Social Change @ Panoptican
• Imgages of War @ Robert Klein
• Photo-realism @ Pepper Gallery
• Running Through the Wind @ Griffin Museum of Photography
• The Portrait Collages @ Griffin Museum of Photography
• Presumed Innocence: Photographic Perspectives of Children @ DECORDOVA MUSEUM

Syracyse, NY:
• Syracuse University MFA 2008 @ SUArt Galleries
• BLAKE FITCH, Expectations of Adolescence @ Light Work
• Educating Artists: Photography Programs in Review @ Light Work

New York, NY:
• Lillian Brassman @ Staley Wise Gallery
• Fumio Tanai @ Sous Les Etoiles
• Chuck Close, Justine Kurland & Ryan McGinness @ Danziger Projects
• City Portraits @ Deborah Bell
• Sherry Karver & E. E. Smith@ Kim Foster Gallery
• Thomas Holton @ Sasha Wolf
• Martine Fougeron @ Peter Hay Halpert Fine Art
• Muzi Quawson @ Yossi Milo Gallery
• Martine Fougeron @ Peter Hay Halpert
• Jasper Johns: Gray @ MET
• Gustave Courbet @ MET
• Poussin and Nature: Arcadian Visions @ MET
• Lee Friedlander: A Ramble in Olmsted Parks @ MET

Talks:
Ralph Gibson @ PRC Boston
Tina Barney @ PRC

And yes, even a play about photography:
The Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island, presents Some Things Are Private. A play about photographer Sally Mann

2 birds 1 stone

I've been looking for something to watch on TV while I run on the elliptical. The answer is MTV (6-10am they still show videos). Why is this multitasking? Because the music helps me get a better workout and the videos give me some interesting ideas for portraits.
I think I've been a little too worried about making art-y portraits so I am letting the need for a concept hold me back. Time to just go out and shoot, shoot, shoot.

And by the way blackberry + mobile blogging = awesome!

Touchy-feely Art

I was thinking about how personal art is. In the past I have posted about my own exploration of self-identity through my photography. It seems to me that the more personally aware artists are about their work the more they can progress. Sometimes it seems to make them more successful. While the mysterious artist who doesn't address their motivation can be intriguing, I'd argue that it's much more powerful to hear an artist's true motivation behind their work.

I never posted about Stephen Wilkes' talk that I attended at the Griffin Museum of Photography. I've hear him speak about his Ellis Island photography when I was at Syracuse and now again at the Griffin. In speaking about his work - he has you believing in ghosts. I am very skeptical when it comes to the supernatural, but the stories he tells about his experiences seem too honest to be anything but true to his experience. He has a sense of the place that is truly as if it is speaking to him. I remember that he had said (at Syracuse) that he felt people had been interrogated in a particular room. In researching his book he found this was true - but when he previously spoke about it these thoughts were only based on his feeling about the place. I found this amazing. I loved his honest, touchy-feely, gallery talk. I am learning how important it is to be truly connected to your work and to be able to speak about it. I'm sure success is possible without this - but when an artist can speak so well abut their work... people want to listen!