Photography Exhibit: Part America, Pt.1

This was my most audacious project of all time. I wanted to capture the essential 'American Flag' photos and, no word of a lie, I missed a shot of a flag flown off a motorcycle in a big empty Iowa nowhere. I cannot express how much my regard for America increased at that time. Naturally, all pictures posted as part of this exhibit will be disappointments, but some I believe are at least poignant disappointments. One American on a motorcycle casts a large shadow, in the right conditions, and to be honest I am happy I saw it, because fuck the internet. You want to see something that awesome go find it already, it's against my ethics to give you a cheap cyber look at a moment so pure. I feel I took some quite justiceful shots, anyway.

There is of course the quintessential small town American Flag. This subject has inspired probably dozens or more photographs, and this rare shot also manages to portray the ideal truck to car ratio in small towns, sometimes epithetized as 'real Amerika'.

Ah, the limpid flag by the corporate signage. A metaphor? A prophecy? Surely not. America's real flags are like those of any country: its skies. Another important thing about America is that you must explain or have explained to you the value of flag sizes. A tattooed flag, interestingly, is worth far more than a 40-80 footer. And ultimately, almost every sentence in this paragraph started with an 'A' in awe (eh?) of awesome shit; I bet that dealership sold the first Mustang or something. And what it is now does not matter it was part of the goddamn golden era.

Keep in mind the picture above was taken in 2009 so it's kind of thematic. Go back, click for the full-size and lose yourself in morbid thoughts. No, this isn't a cheap-shot at all. It's a real picture and I took it. I don't believe in post-processing digitally because I am an atavistic fool, I suppose. More good fucking business ahead...

Photography Exhibit, Pt.1

One of the few things I find myself thinking about often is that I'm not taking enough pictures. I've taken a fair number in my time and reviewing them is one of those self-made luxuries. Digital photography is pretty versatile. I am no connoisseur of digital photography or even of photography in general, but some of the images I have taken with a relatively old and unimpressive camera are excellent. To me at least, the best of them are small works of art that encapsulate something of their moment; the worst are lessons that I know can be understood and mastered.

My American Midwest series is probably some of the finest (I'm tempted to type 'phinest' but that reads wrongly) photography I've ever gotten up to. At one point, however, I went insane and scored artistic merit points only on the number of flags per picture. This led to a period of artistic distraction that almost destroyed me. More on that later. My focus was the American highway:

Oh the thing was very worthwhile in the end, but I doubted myself for many years. There are pictures I'm not brave enough to take. For instance the pure and haunting recollection of a motorcycle roaring across a rural intersection with an extra large flag. I was too slow to catch it and there is no way I can express that sort of thing in words, because I've seen it, goddamnit! Words will never do it justice. On the other hand, there was interstate commentary to be made:

The best I could try for was a photographic syllogism, but I think it only really resolved itself in a half-assed Velvet Underground homage. It is also vaguely an allusion to certain stereotypically midwest politics, I guess, but you'd need to read the image critically for that. Something about that midwest sky is different than what I'm used to, and I know expansive skies.

Then again it is pretty ubiquitous, and the above picture isn't really an homage to anything in particular. That sky is pretty typical dusk fare. Some of that is pretty nice, though. It's reassuring, even, in a weird sort of way - as if the crane is waving goodnight. Yeesh. I need a break from this business. Stay tuned for Part 2, which may feature several iconic images of the legendary American Flag in Real America.