Alfred Stieglitz
Almost every great photographer experiences some period of absolute insanity in her or his lifetime. During this time, the photographer chooses to isolate themselves in some way - whilst constantly photographing something obscure and of very little (apparent) importance.
Probably my favorite is the great Alfred Stieglitz’s cloud series, where from 1922 - 1935, you guessed it, he just photographed clouds. One critic phrased it better than I can, “In his cloud photographs, which he termed Equivalents, Stieglitz emphasized pure abstraction, adhering to the modern ideas of equivalence, holding that abstract forms, lines, and colors could represent corresponding inner states, emotions and ideas.”
Alfred Stieglitz
Alfred Stieglitz
Alfred Stieglitz
The reason I thought of Stieglitz’s crazy phase is two fold: 1) I’ve always wondered what I’ll go crazy and photograph (probably trees or vaginas); 2) While at Fun Fun Fun Fest this weekend, I just couldn’t make myself photograph bands like all the other 100,000 photogs there because it honestly just makes me really bored. So i just took stupid/weird photos of pretty clouds.
Veronica Hansen
November 11th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
13 years of cloud pictures is, I think, my heaven. As for your crazy phase, I vote for a lengthy series on the Jernigan twins.
November 12th, 2008 at 12:38 am
Seconded. It would give you an excuse to travel the world and also examine the psyche of a known terrorist. The first five years can be the “Gitmo Period”, followed by the “University Professor Period”, and of course the “Growth Period” (commencing on Katie’s 30th birthday, when she begins her plan to become morbidly obese).
December 9th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Think I’d say he was extremely well focused rather than crazy. BTW, You’re doing some striking portraits.