five-points-of-view blueprint

The reading from the Tao of Photography made me think about Jackson Pollack and how he broke away from the tradition of representational painting and headed into unknown territory. Abstract Expressionism shifted the focus away from the object- the painting - and back toward the act of painting. Pollack walked around his canvas which would have been as big as the tundra and sent paint flying out over it in much the same way a raincloud throws water out across fields and rooftops. Whether this solemn ceremony resonates with the viewer is uncertain; if anything reaches us in the gallery, then we should accept it as an incidental side-effect, an unintended repercussion of the act of art-making. I think, though, the intention is to transport that raw energy of creation into the object. However, the performative aspects of painting don’t always survive in the final document. There’s two sides to art (yes, exactly that number). One that wishes to unshackle itself from commodifacation, the product, and the outcome and the other that pants as it races to meet people, the kind that opens the front door and shouts something at you as you walk by on the sidewalk. I mean it tells you something you really want to know maybe about our spineless culture or our need to rehearse community even as it splinters and gets stuck under our fingernails.

But right now is a good time to pry ourselves away from our built-in tendencies to art direct our final image, and to dive as deep as we will allow ourselves into the act of making photographs.

So the reading made me ruminate more over how I will photograph the five points of view assignment and less about what I will photograph. The five points of view present me an opportunity to reconnect with my original desire to become a photographer when I identified with the camera as a tool of discovery. Hopefully, I will incorporate the tangible suggestions from the text: breaking rules/photography conventions, shifting perspectives, exaggerating depaysement, staying aware of juxtaposition, and even hideously under and overexposing frames.

Veering in and out of twenty-four hours, I will follow Madalyn Grossman, a twelve-year old who is in the image above singing her heart out in the Roots biodiesel school bus. She leads an unconventional life and is most articulate about who she is and what she believes. She is also serious about her dance studies and I haven’t been with her outside of the Roots alternative school yet. This assignment will give me a chance to follow her into other spaces in her life.