Kidron Livestock Auction 2009 – II
January 9th, 2010
Archive
Archive for the ‘Photography General’ Category
Kidron Livestock Auction 2009
January 9th, 2010
Thank God for the gift of time. One of the projects I was working on last year was one with a subject that I have been living closeby of for years. But just like everything else – if it’s readily available, it’s the last thing on your mind. Or something you don’t think of for a photo project.
I have been at the Kidron Livestock Auction a number of times with visitors, and we did what everybody does when they get there. We took the usual touristy pictures. My daughter calls those “touron shots”.
Yet, as my mind was wandering one day this past summer, it occurred to me that one reason those kinds of photos are not only boring, but hopelessly stereotypical is that they always a) focus on the Amish, as if this were some kind of a zoo, and b) thereby either mostly romanticize or sometimes actually villify their subject.
Most people don’t see this place for what it is: a microcosm of the local economy, full of hard-working and down-to-earth people. There are of course the Amish, their “English” counterparts, who come there to auction off and buy livestock. There are the peddlers and vendors, the hotdog cart and the Asians selling cheap plastic items of all kinds. There are the busloads of tourons. And there was me. And so here is my version of Ohio rural street photography, all taken over the last five months within the same block around the Kidron Auction.
I was interested mostly in interactions between different people, but also in their individual state of being.
Can Photographs Find You?
December 29th, 2009
Something I’ve been thinking about the last few weeks is whether some photographs were meant to find certain people. I know that sounds rather metaphysical, but it’s the best I can come up with in light of a few interesting encounters I’ve had over the last few months.
First, we raffled off a smaller version of this photo at our local coffee shop.
A guy I’ve known for a few years – he’s both a musician and a painter – fell totally in love with it. Well, a few people have been in love with it, but he kept going on and on about how much he loved this photo. He of course put his name in the hat, but told me he had never won anything in his life. And wouldn’t you know it, he actually won the thing. No, they all swore it wasn’t rigged!
Yes, he could have bought the photograph off of me, and it would naturally have been nice to make some money. Yet, I am happy this picture went to someone so attached to it.
Then a few months later, a friend of ours saw this photo at Local Roots. It happens to feature his son’s arms.
He actually teared up when he saw it and told me those were his father’s arms. It was really moving. He apparently tried to take a photo of the photo on the easel even. Again, yes, he could have bought it.
I WAS going to give him a copy of it for his birthday next year (he’ll turn 84), but fate would have it otherwise. We again raffled off a small version of it, this time at Local Roots. The person who ended up winning it turned out to be his wife’s niece, and she told me today she wants him to have it. He was basically beside himself when I called him. No, again the drawing wasn’t rigged.
I think it was just meant to be. So, can photographs find you?
Wine Glass Abstracts: In Vino Veritas
December 20th, 2009
I had fun with this one, and I’m not done w/ the theme, yet, either. That said, there’s only so many props you can consume in one draw…
Prost!
Local Roots/NE Ohio Farms Project V
November 3rd, 2009
As I am working my way through all sorts of pictures, I keep pausing and silently enjoying a few that I consider more or less hitting the core of what I was trying to capture. Banzhaf Garten was one such place that simply proved to be an Eldorado of motifs.
Processing the pictures in RAW and Photoshop takes considerably more time, where Lightroom would have been the speedier alternative. However, there is no rush – so, why hurry? The following pictures were taken at Banzhaf Garten.
