Monday, October 12, 2009

Thank You




Just want to say thank you for everyone who came out to the APA lecture on Thursday.
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Always feels good to have people who I totally don't know come up and say hello and let me know they are following the blog and aware of whatever it is I'm up to. It always feels good to be noticed! I wish I wrote every one's name down to send Thank You cards, ya know?

Co-incidently photographer Irving Penn had died that morning at the age of 92 and the blogosphere was filled with tales of Penn's life and work. I was never able to grasp Penn's work...it just never spoke to me, but I respected how the man and his work was admired by others. Lots of public losses this summer and it was curious to see how everyone dealt with this in this facebook blogspeed culture we are in: Jim Carroll, Michael Jackson, and now this founding father of photography Irving Penn.

All of this is on my mind as I turn on my computer and note that A.H. wrote an eloquent piece on WTJ? promoting the lecture. It was so generous in spirit I felt it was my birthday or something. One line stuck in my head:

... there is one thing we can be certain of, there will be a lot of love in the room. Oh and yes as he likes to do he will most probably solve all the problems of contemporary photography singlehandedly right there from the stage.

The second line was a joke, but the first line ...that was the one that stuck in my head. I send A.H. a note thanking him for the kind words. He responds:
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where was all this blog/facebook love for Irving Penn when he was alive?
that why I giveth now
whats the point when you are f'ing dead?

So simple and so well stated.

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It was great to see friends old and new at the lecture. Notable of course was my photography prof from PSU Ken Graves and his wife Eva Lipmann, Joshua Deaner in town for his first place award in the Photography Book Now / BLURB celebration and the grand prize winner for the best question Pamela Palma. OMG...so many pals: Shannon Amos, Heidi Yoder, TB, Brian Holliday, Suzy Poling, Winni Wintermeyer, Jeff Kausch, Max Fallon, Emily Merril, Mark Richards, Michael Winoker, Gerry Gropp, Peggi-jane Jeung, Shane O'Neill, Gabriela Hasbun, Lara Hata, David Bornfriend, Justin Bowen, Caren Alpert, omg...I can't even name everyone. But thank you.




2 comments:

Robert Holmgren said...

Regarding you inability to fathom Irving Penn--now you know how those of us who find most large format contemporary color photography feel (or maybe it's just me). This list includes most of Tierney Gearon, Rob Wall, Thomas Struth, Wolfgang Tillmans....and so on, but excludes much of Todd Hido, Gregory Crewdson, Edward Burtynsky and Andreas Gursky. However, all are subject to being reassesed. Such are the vagaries of taste.

Shane O'Neill said...

Great Job again.I loved it. It was fun to watch Travis (theatre manager) look around anxiously as you were showing your sex machine work.