Lobsters, Art & Public Policy A Conversation with Ben Cameron 10/27/2004

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What can we learn from lobster fisherman about the 'ecology' of arts and culture? Ben Cameron leads a lively conversation about the value of arts and culture in our region.

Here is Ben Cameron's talk at TED from 2/26/2010

Is new media a replacement for traditional English studies?

A colleague of mine who teaches English posted this video on his blog. I enjoy it immensely and think it applies to the discussion of media studies, culture, and the convergence of legacy media into new digital media and the ongoing struggle between depth and breadth of knowledge as we expand our command of technology and see English departments blending in with Communications departments. Where I teach, digital photography and video production has found its way into English classes and traditional composition is being taught in our photography and video courses.

While the representation of Nazi's is a little harsh the irony is worth it. I wonder what Walter Benjamin would think...

Visual Poetry: A collection of Photographs

Perhaps one of the fundamental issues with being in grad school is formulating the answer to a question of self identity. Why am I doing this? Why do I seek recognition through the completion of another degree. The workload necessary to work full time and go to school certainly puts a strain on family relations and on my own sense of self as I try to balance out external and internal demands.

In the past month I have tried to revisit my core self by returning to work on my personal photography. In reviewing my work I take comfort in knowing that it is perhaps the purest expression of who I am. The written word obscures what I can feel within the tonality of a black and white photograph. Here is a small collection of black and white silver photographs that I have made from images I have created over the past twenty years.

The Decline of American Newspapers - An Independent Film Project

Here is a preliminary trailer I have put together for a film I am working on about the changing media landscape and the decline of American newspapers.

A Tribute to Walker Evans

I've been researching the work of Walker Evans who is considered one of the greatest social documentary photographers of the 20th century. Although he abandoned the candid moments in the tradition of Henri Cartier Bresson, Evans would return to a place with a large format camera and capture the essence of our culture through the presentation of artifacts within the landscape.

Lloyd Fonvielle writes about Evan's work that is published by Aperture and describes it as a vision of American poverty that is unlike European poverty which had been romanticized in the work of Atget, but rather a "poverty of culture" whereby our architecture may refer to european style but is cheaply built in an industrial age by a young country that has chosen to litter the landscape with advertising in pursuit of the wealth of the "American Dream."

I have always been drawn to this type of imagery due to my own blue collar roots and family mythology of working, traveling, and working some more. As I look around Spokane I am fascinated by place names that reflect wealth, power, and happiness and yet are far from it. In neighborhoods of every kind we see the all too common white picket fence that illustrates our pursuit of the American dream, although if you look closer you see emblems of alternative beliefs and politics.

These photographs were taken primarily around Sunset Blvd, Government Way, and Inland Empire Way which connects Highway 2 and the Latah neighborhoods. I have included a couple of previous photos from the South Hill and the lower East Side along the Internet just to sparkle some extremities to my portrait of Spokane.

Sunset Blvd is a street filled with old motels and apartments that have been usurped by larger hotels near the airport. These photographs are like a cross between the Brat Pack 60's and Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. Today these are often used as flop houses for a transient population. I also photographed the Latah neighborhood which runs along Inland Empire Way. This neighborhood is a modern reflection of the 20th century challenges for the working class. And finally to complete my patchwork quilt of Americana, I revisited some rural areas within a few of miles of our downtown core.

The final image is the last remaining film store in Spokane and seemed appropriate for this photographic project.