Friday, October 30, 2009

The Digital Age and my Butterfingers

What is great about digital cameras:
1. You can see the picture right away
2. You can store of these great images right there on your camera

The hazards however:
1. If you are like me, seeing the pictures right away, means that I never develop any of them--ever. Cheap-o lame mom!
2. if you don't download images to your computer you can quickly erase them in a crunch without thinking about it.

The pictures of Stella's birthday party would fall under the hazardous cautionary tale category.

Pictures of Her beautiful butterfly winged friends, butterfly cake, and butterfly art project are all gone, gone and gone forever. The fleeting moment of childhood meant to be memorexed and frozen through photograph was erased in a moment of sudden urgency. Roland Barthes posited that photographs are in effect ghosts because the referent they capture is already gone, already not three, already moved on. Well, Barthes, how I wish I had those ghosts still around to remind me.

What was worth replacing these priceless stills of stella's three year oldness?


Stupid pictures of the break-in at the 4-plex. Stupid thief. stupid me for erasing them. Poor Stella. It was such a lovely party.

As a piece offering from such a short mother, I offer this song written by Paul McCartney to his little Stella

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wpr2IEjVSg

Images I've been working through this Year

Strange International Airport Montello. Google it. Its a trip.
Trevor Paglen. Had the oppertunity to meet him this semester. Super cool spy "black world" photography. Check out http://www.paglen.com/pages/media.html to see him on the Colbert Report.


Kelly Brooks. Love her work. Does this really cool maps of kitchen traffic patterns.

Among these, I'm still sorting out my thesis research. But, it's been a pretty cool semester thus far.

Short Mother


Yesterday Stella told me that she didn't love me. When I pushed, she insisted that I was not tall enough, "Only Tom is tall, so I only love Tom." Alas!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009