Creativity; once in a while or a driving force? Living in the moment focused and in tune to every nuance. To see what is before you and be compelled to comment, visually or verbally. Since March of 2003 I have been creating verbal images after 30 plus years of creating photographic art/commentary with some occasional journal and poetry writing an injury temporarily silenced my visual voice. Still compelled to comment I found writing to be as creative an outlet for me as photographic art. Thirty years of seeking the highlight, celebrating beauty, youth was replaced [not totally] with a more documentary look at the world as it is now. No longer am I a romantic realist, more a cynical optimist. The pen is mightier than the sword so the old axiom goes, but today’s history is being written with disappearing ink to be spun and re-spun to suit the needs of those with the biggest swords.
In my next book I will loosely marry images and words to create emotional avenues for thought. You remember thinking, focusing on one thing and doing it well! Pre multi tasking forced goodnuff tasks to be completed so you can continue down the road of distraction missing everything of beauty that may cloud your vision of the profit just around the bend. More creative tangents later.
Below is a sample page from the next book. The image is bigger on my website. I invite you to vist and listen to the images. Of course you can buy one or a copy of my first book. Art is my only career, not a second job or a retirement hobby. Art is a profession. enjoy pjc
comments encouraged. Photographic Art
The body and the mind – separate entities not working together. The body hurts the mind depressed shuts down. The why becomes why bother? Its not a question of what the equipment can’t do it is a question of making the equipment {body} do what you want it to. How long though? The work I am doing [not doing want to do] all are large, long projects. Is there time? Preparing to die. A life of organized chaos. ART. Singing to an empty auditorium. Young with something to say believing that someone will listen. That someone can hear, will care? I, I, I, ME, ME, ME, The over educated masses can do algebra, calculate interest but do they care? De humanized by speed and greed educated to worship profit. How long can I believe? Do I still? Anyone listening…….. The step between spring and summer, fall and winter. The body has made it to late Autumn, the mind never found its way out of Spring The distance from spring to late fall is a leap. A leap of faith or fear? A leap I may not make.
The pigeons fly from one roof around the bank and back a group without a leader or purpose just doing it over and over without feeling.
© Peter J. Crowley 1/27/04
Hi Peter
I know we’ve discussed this before,but I have a real problem with our new multi-tasking population. I like you believe doing one thing at a time and doing it well is the best way to life fully. It’s not how much you do quickly, but it’s the ‘one’ thing you do with excellence. There’s much talk now about how our youth who seem to feel so superior to their elders because they can listen to music, text message a friend, work on a school paper, eat a fast food meal… all at the same time and do each sucessfully, but, ask those same young people the very next day what they did the day before and much of what was accomplished is lost and forgotten. So it seems that all that ‘activity’ on a day to day basis only results in starting the creative process over again and again. It’s the ability to focus on one thing that makes a great artist, businessperson, doctor, nurse, politician?, builder… I find myself multi-tasking daily, not because I want to, but it’s become expected and if you don’t, your out. Consequently I haven’t been really creative for months for the reason that I forget day to day what direction ‘I’ want to go, Cynical optimist? I’m having problems with the ‘optimist’ part. I find myself fighting and scratching with everybody I interact with to just slow down and see how much MORE gets done when your going 30mph in the 30mph zone instead of goinG 90mph in the 30mph zone.
Steve,
How embaressing, when you posted this I was editing artiles from Arts Deadlines daily art news on subjects I want to comment on,IMing with my web designer about this blog and Gallery show. The writer uses the word capture for the making of a photograph. Capure implies stealing, taking without permision, violence. I do not cature anything I create.
http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/52619
He is speaking about and being totally lost in multitasking instead of creating.
Remembering what happened yesterday is not important it’s what you are buying today or even tomorrow thats important. Ah “Plastic without it even landfils would be impossible.”
I have complete empathy for you I cannot imagine being in college. One of the articles I will quote from or link to is written by a UC asst. prof on Jounalism [you mean they have to teach people to lie I thought that was genetic] writing about how how he/she no longer has the students write papers because the internet has made plagarism so easy. Well this may be simple but spend an evening reading and researching the papers those who cheat Kick their ass out of the White House, no I mean class or school. But there are no more students, they are customers now so if you punish them well they will take their plagarised grades to another Institution [asylum] of higher echewkation. Boola Boola. there isn’t any optomisum this afternoon and its time to go class or a bar. Really out to seek the Highlight and dry air I am told is out there today. Stay tuned much more rambling some with documentation to come. There are Roses to be smelled and images to be made. http://www.flower-forum.com/
enjoy pjc
Back to photography, documentation and creativity. You started out in your blog by excluding spin from your definition of image. I feel this is an artificial distinction. Andrea Modica once said that what she finds most fascinating about photography is its ability to lie. The art of (I know you don’t like the word) “capturing” a moment in time, isolating it from the before and after, reducing it to a two-dimensional palette, compressing its tonal range to that of film, often even bleeding it of color, using light, shadow and selective focus to emphasize some aspects and hide others, this is photography and no one would do it unless they had a story to tell. It may be just a “mundane” story of “My trip to the Grand Canyon” or something subtler. But it is all a lie, becuase it is just using the props found in nature (or the studio, darkroom and Photoshop) to tell your chosen story with all its tall tales. When this is done verbally, we call it spin, history or fiction, depending upon your point of view; when done visually, we call it documentation, photography, fantasy, art; when both it is theatre or cinematography. History is written by the victors, all history is fiction, spin; all photography is a creative lie. What propels it? The same that propels all other forms of spin: the overwhelming desire to alter or influence other people’s views of the world.
Sukumar,
I didn’t eliminate spin, “The pen is mighter than the sword so the old axiom goes, but today’s history is being written with disappearing ink to be spun and re-spun to suit the needs of those with the biggest swords.” It just took me three posts to get around to spin. You are right all art has a “spin” Art that doesn’t have something to say isn’t art. What I attempt to do with my images and words is over avenues direct people to think with luck agree with me or ask Why? A photo is only as you say a moment in time or a part of a story. Each viewer brings their past and future to it and in a way the image becomes part of their story.
History is written, spun by the victors. I wonder if all this spinning will alter those four freedoms? Or how much it already has? I know that it is making me dizzy trying to keep up with the pace of the spin and the availability of all the new sources.? Not to mention all the new ways of listening to what the people want to hear and spinning it that way.
What this blog is about is my spin, I’d rather it be called commentary LOL or our commentary. But I definatly have a point of veiw and I want to exchange it with others, provide a small source for idea exchange.
Thank you for introducing me/us to Andrea Modica, a very interesting project. enjoy pjc
Dah, should read [not over avenues offer]
What I attempt to do with my images and words is offer avenues direct people to think with