The Edge is an Interesting Place.

Based on what some of my Ladies with Lenses said, I have noticed an 'outside looking in' kind of feeling to a lot of my photographs. I do seem to be the observer of my family and in a way a self proclaimed black sheep. As much as I have wanted to feel totally included I always have felt more on the edge then in the thick of things. This has more to do with me in many ways then my cousins, for reasons I am not quite sure. I will have to go back and look at the last year to see what I can find that speaks to this.

The great edit

I have sorted thought my 506 first round picks from my shooting over the last year, and while I am not done ( I got it down to 98) and I know I have missed some good ones. I don't really know what I want to make from all of it. There are many different routes I could go. For instances, I have quite a few photos of my father. I also have many photos of my family at gatherings, that is what i thought I wanted to document from the start. But then there are still photos from around the house and other places I go that I like, so I don't want to discount them. Here are a few from the selection.

Closer to Home

Here are a few images from my current series. I have begun to edit down the large amounty of images into something that better encompass the idea of family as identity. These are straight from the camera, I have done no work to them.
This is my father. There seem to be many photos of him as I go though and edit down what I have. I think this for a few reason. One he doesn't seem to mind me taking photos of him, and two, we are a lot alike. He is very interested in my photography. He wants to know about it and how it works and all the new tech stuff. I remember him taking photos when I was younger. He gave me his camera when I started photography in high school, I still have it, and the tripod that he used as well. I am thinking there will be more photos of my father later, in another series. In this image he is being threaten by my Aunty Patricia. He wanted to smoke a cigar at a family baseball game and she said she would whack him if he dared. She won.

Here is my younger brother. I like this image because to me it is both so much and so not Steven. He has change quite a bit in the last year and it is good to see him comfortable with himself. Also Snap wanted to see it.

New Year, New Plan

In looking at the blog of my good friend Katie Wright, who posts often, I have decided that I need to update more. I know I won't be able to post one a day, due to the no Internet status of our apartment at the moment. However, I should be able to do one a week. This will force me to show some of the images I have taken and keep me accountable for going to see shows at the many museums and galleries that New York has to offer. Or at least comment on music or current events. This is something I want to make time for and I hope will both allow me to think more critically about things and force me to be more creative. Two skills that have, I feel, slipped in the last few months.

I am currently working on images of my extended family, specifically my cousins, our get togethers and lives. I have a statement for this work but I don't feel it is quite ready for eyes other then my own. That being said, here is an image from our Christmas party.

This is my cousin Kirsten and her father my Uncle Red. She, who really hates it when I take her photo, is the third and youngest girl in a family of four, three girls and one boy who is the youngest of the four. Kirsten's two older sisters, Shannon and Taren, are both married, one with a small child. Uncle Red will be very sad to give away his last daughter. In a side note, Kirsten looks very much like her mother, Anne, here.

Here is an image from our New Years Hootennanny.

This is from the left, Dan, Sean's back, Sheila, Taren, and Shannon. Dan is Shannon's husband and some will say, very much like her father, Red. This was right before midnight and everyone was getting ready.

My cousins have got to the point where, while they still notice me taking photos, they don't mind as much. I try not to show any of them in a bad light and try to just take snap shot, slice of life, photos. I plan to take what I have shot over the last 6 months and see what jumps out and work from there.

The Project Continues

After going to breakfast with my mom and some of her sisters and a friend whom we all call Auntie out of respect, I continued to shoot for my "Things for Sale in a Small Town." I am pretty happy with what I found, not just truck and cars. There were a few new things such as my uncle's dozer and a truck bed. There is a truck cap I wanted to shoot but there was some police activity occurring across the street so I decided to hold off. I am confident it will be there tomorrow.

Yellow Dozer, 151 Young St., East Hampton, CT

OH! and I found a bus. That is right a BUS! I was pretty excited about this one.

White Bus, Intersection of Glastonbury Tnkp and Sage Hollow Rd, Portland, CT

I plan to do some more looking later in this week. Gas still cost a lot of money to just ride around with out having some idea where things are. I want to verture further in to the surrounding towns, like Glastonbury, Portland, and Colchester. I want to try to keep it mostly 'small towns' with things like regional high schools. Not cities like Middletown.

Things for Sale in Small Town

So I have started my new project. This whole thing came about from me driving around and noticing in the back of my mind that there were a lot of things, mostly cars, on people lawns for sale. That got me to thinking on our current economic crisis and gas issues. So I thought I would go and see what I could find. This is only one shoot, I plan to go out again later today to a few places were I know there are more things and a big more variety. I don't want this to be just about car, I plan to look for other things, such as firewood or, as on of my cousins told me, bunnies. I'll see what I can find. But I would like some feed back on what shots seem to be working best. I have not done any work on these images as my photoshop program is on the fritz.

Black Volvo and White Bayliner, 186 E. High St., East Hampton, CT

White Bayliner, 186 E. High St., East Hampton, CT

Grey F250, Intersection of Lake Dr. and E. High St., East Hampton, CT

Blue Blazer, 12 Portland Resevoir Rd. East Hampton, CT

Red F150, Intersection of Hebron Rd. and Blackledge Dr., Marlbrough, CT

Grey Blazer, 157 W. Main St, Hebron, CT