Grandfather Speaks

Image Critiques Project Critiques
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Project Images

Click the image below to see all the images (external website).

Grandfather Speaks

Project Description

PLEASE FOLLOW THESE SIMPLE (I hope) INSTRUCTIONS:
Click the image above, and a file will come up but in a compressed form. Then, go to the upper right corner and click “Download”. Give it half a minute, and the full-resolution PDF will come up. If you slide your cursor to the bottom of the page, a black taskbar should appear. Click on the “full screen” icon (second from right) and possibly give the “+” key one click, and you can go page to page using the arrow keys on your keyboard. Let me know if my instructions are accurate.
If at all possible, I would ask that you please look at this on your desktop monitor or laptop rather than an iPhone.
Naturally, I would love to hear your impression of the piece as a whole.

Self Critique

I believe I have something to say that comes straight from the heart. I have tried to integrate, philosophy, poetry, and image in my own voice. In this project, which only includes 10 photographs, I have written two pieces. The first is essentially a land acknowledgment with respect to the people and the land where these images were taken. An acknowledgment such as this cannot be copied or written by rote but must, rather, come from the heart and I think I have succeeded in doing that here. The second, “Grandfather Speaks”, is drawn from my understanding of the many teachings that have been gifted me along my own spiritual path. It is my hope that the photographs and what I’ve written are experienced as greater than the sum of their parts.

Creative Direction

I have known for some time now that I wouldn’t get full satisfaction from my photography until I started working on projects. I feel that I have something to say but I also feel that, in this life, it is highly unlikely that I will ever be able to say it with a single photograph. It was therefore, timely when @DavidKingham created the Project Critiques forum. It kind of lit a fire under me and I immediately started to work on a project even though I wasn’t exactly sure where it was going to take me. I began with the photographs, but soon realized that the images needed to be blended with words. And that’s when I began to get excited.

Specific Feedback

To be honest, I don’t really want critique on an image-by-image basis. What I’m most interested in is how you, the reader, are affected by the whole – the text in relationship to the images and vice versa. This is meant to be experienced as a whole piece, and since I’ve never done anything like this before I’d like to know the extent to which you experience it that way and how it affects you.

Intent of the project

On Landscape Submission

Additional Details: The pdf monograph is very linear in structure mostly because I don’t have the patience for the steep learning curve of Adobe InDesign. Though the Lightroom Book module is quite intuitive it is also quite limited beyond design basics. The full text with photographs will be published in On Landscape magazine and I am very interested to see how they lay it out for print.

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Oh Kerry!

This really is a beautiful and touching work of art (I don’t even want to all it a “project”, which sounds way too ordinary and mundane). Your words combined with your images form a powerful experience for me, the viewer. I viewed this with a cup of coffee in my favorite chair this morning, and felt like I was transported to be next to the Original People.

I am currently reading “Dorothea Lange Words & Pictures”. It is impacting me greatly…both her powerful images, and how her titles, captions, and notes accompany her images.
“All photographs…can be fortified by words” (Lange, 1961).

Here is another quote, attributed to Dorothea and Paul Schuster Taylor’s 1939 book “An American Exodus: A Record of Human Erosion”:
“Upon a tripod of photographs, captions, and text we rest themes evolved out of long observations in the field.”

Your work is a great example of what this Lange book is about. Your words set the stage for a lot of reflection of your beautiful images, and the theme of connectedness to the past and to the earth is clear. (Also very clear are the images…I’m marveling at your technical skill of producing such clarity and texture in the rocks and boulders)

This kind of made my day!

Well done, and congratulations on publication in On Landscape.

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Beautiful images and beautifully presented and I think you did a wonderful job on this! I made myself a cappuccino, opened the PDF “Full Screen” and spent a few quiet minutes this morning enjoying this.

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This opened very easily for me – and after a first look (far too rushed by a desire to see the next image) I’m going to take a hint from @Mark_Muller, but since it’s late afternoon I’m going to opt for a glass of very nice wine (I think a favorite Merlot would be a good pairing) and sit back and scroll at leisure. Your words about the camera’s eye and your own struck a deep chord with me.

I’m delighted to hear of the publication! I think this is the start of a continuous meta-project!

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I know I already commented, at length!

This series has been on my mind.

I just want to acknowledge all the work you put into this. You obviously took a lot of care with image selection. Equally and maybe more so are your words, in two unique sections, chosen with care from your heart. Your love for this land and it’s history really comes through.

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Kerry, your words and photos together are greater than each would be alone. The photos give a sense of solidity that supports your words.

Two of your ideas/observations really resonate with me:

“…there is no other reason to care for life beyond the truth of its being.” Wouldn’t the world be a better place if we all subscribed to that idea? Society feels so transactional these days.

“The camera’s eye and my own - two different ways of perceiving that inform each other and offer insight into the nature of the world that I alone could not know.” I love the way you put this.

If I could add a non-serious observation - the first photo after the Grandfather poem looks like Grandfather’s butt. :slight_smile:

I look forward to seeing this in On Landscape! Congrats on that.

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@Mark_Muller - You know, Mark, if we can find the courage, we might take the risk and put our thoughts and feelings out into the world. If we believe in what we have to say, we hope that it will have some impact. But, for the most part, once our work is released into the wild, most of us will never receive direct feedback and never really know what became of our thoughts, feelings, and images. That is why it is so meaningful to get your obviously heart-felt feedback. It means so much to me that it has touched you in this way and your open-hearted response is a much appreciated gift that I receive with gratitude.
@Tom_Nevesely - Thanks so much, Tom. I am delighted to give a good cup of cappuccino a boost wherever and whenever possible :smile:
@Diane_Miller - If there is anything I can do to encourage you to sit down with a good merlot, well, my work is done! The notion of the camera as ensouled is a notion that began to cross my mind a year or so ago. For me, it is a humbling thought and a practice that has helped me get down off my high horse just a bit. Thank you for your kind words and support.
@Bonnie_Lampley - Thanks so much for taking the time to sit with this piece. That the words and images meld for you is very encouraging. As to Grandfather’s butt - I imagine you were the class clown who had a knack for saying what every one else dared only to think. I thought so too, by the way, but felt that Grandfather has enough character to get the joke without offence. I sure hope so, otherwise I’ve got some serious 'splaining to do.

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Actually, I’ve only developed that bad habit in my old age. :laughing:

I though perhaps you had done that on purpose. I couldn’t imagine that you hadn’t seen that feature.

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The Merlot proved up to the task (Rombauer, 2018, if anyone is up for recommendations) and we (the wine and I, and my spouse) properly enjoyed a deeper dive into the images. He once made the observation to some nameless onlooker, “We came halfway across the country to photograph here and she’s taking a picture of a rock.” He has since come to appreciate images like that, and I really wish now I could find which rock it was… It was way before I ever knew about Guy Tal.

I have to admit I repressed thoughts of the butt, out of some sort of false perception of artistic respect, but they were there, and any good Buddhist would embrace them! Grandfather is undoubtedly expressing his opinion of what has become of too much of humanity.

I think you should do more collections of your conversations with your camera.

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