Tuesday, February 19, 2008

0830 Hello all, and welcome back. It has been too long. I posted my first photograph on this blog on November 10th, 2004. It is three years and change later. When I started it, I was in a tough spot with my work, I was working as a photojournalist for a newspaper that at the time resented and punished creativity. I knew that when I went there, but I needed to move up in my career and that was the road open. So I felt that all the work I had done for the 5 years previous to expand my vision was in danger of dieing through lack of use. This site was my salvation. I was able to publish all of the work that had no outlet. My approach to this site as a creative experiment was to shoot quickly and edit quickly. This is important. Rather then labor over whether a shot fits into a body of work, whether it looks like "my" shot, I was able to post instantly. This, and the advances in digital camera technology, has led to a kind of twin of my "straight" photojournalism. I sometimes feel as if I have two photographers in me, not struggling for control exactly, but certainly competing for my attention. As well as yours.
So, why no posts for two months? Not for lack of content, I assure you. The images stack and overlap so quickly that I find myself overwhelmed. But more to the point, I'm begining to see that the photographer who needed a free blog service to feel like his work is relevant has moved to a different point. My newspaper changed, and years of standing up for photojournalism there is starting to pay off. I no longer feel crushed in my work. And I have had other projects, the MD Deadline blog of newspaper work (link at right) exhausted me, and my photographs (and god help us, writing) are appearing around in some surprising and unsavory locales.
But 300 sits here, hungry and hungry. To be honest, it's felt bad not posting. The layout becomes more old fashioned every day, and there are better ways to show the work. I really don't know how long it will continue in this blogspot format, but it will continue. My thanks for your attention, as always.

Josh

0829 2008.

0829 New Year's Eve.

0828 Dressing for dinner out.

0827 Pink and blue.

0826 Thorn bush.

0825 Mirror family.

0824 Surprise party kiss.

0823 Lights.