In Progress - Japan

I don't know if I've talked about going through the editing process before. At the moment, I'm just about done editing the Japan photos, and going through them has brought to light a few interesting things - well, I found them interesting, anyway. So to sweeten the deal, here's a few early previews from Tokyo while I muse about subjectivity. Feel free to chip in at the end!

I don't often like my work when I'm editing it. Something about the process of working on the images makes me see all their faults, and none of the art. Every photo I look at suddenly seems boring, flat, and pointless, and I get tempted to dump the whole lot and take up staring at grass or some other non-creative pastime. (Much like my blog posts, really - they always sound so dull when I'm writing them!)



Tokyo - Shinjuku crowds

Even the images for Newtown by Night didn't impress me at first look. They grew on me over time - I suspect I had to let go of how I thought they should look before I could appreciate how they did look. It was a good lesson to try and see things as they are, rather than what I think they are, and something I would like to be better at.

I've learned over the years, though, to let the pictures sit for a while after I've edited them, then come back to see what I have. Another thing I learned from the very dedicated & talented Lisa Hogben is to group the images and watch them through as a slideshow a few times, to get more of a feel for how they look, and how they flow together.


Breakfast in Asakasa

So that's what I'll be doing over the next few weeks - getting comfortable with the images, and working out what to do with them, and where they'll go. I've also arranged to swap some curation with Xole - I'll be looking through a group of her recent work, and in return she's kindly agreed to sort through my Japan photos. I don't think I'm the best person to curate work, as my taste is a little individual, but since she was kind enough to agree to look at my stuff, how could I refuse?

How do you approach your creative projects? Do you like the outcomes? I think most of us are harder on ourselves than anyone else would be - how do you deal with that?


Harajuku Hip

Pain, In Progress

Yes, I'm still here. Been doing a few new things - learning to sew, so I can indulge my fondness for Victorian-era clothing, and starting to learn to do Chinese/Japanese brush painting (very, very badly - I can barely do a recognisable straight line). I've also discovered that making sourdough bread makes me feel calmer, happier, and more creative. Odd, yes?

But most of the reason I've been so quiet is a mix of stress and pain. Work has been remarkably stressful, and is only now starting to return to a live-able level of stress, and the cold has made the pain in my feet very difficult to deal with. It's hard to realise, even when you're living it, just how much pain drains you, and makes it next to impossible to be creative. When work is draining you past your endurance levels, and pain takes them even lower, life becomes a rather depressing trudge.

I had hoped that Spring warmth would improve things a bit - at least take the cold out of my joints, and let me walk a bit more. But as anyone in Sydney would know, the weather has perversely turned cold, damp, and rainy; just the weather that makes the arthritis worst. Ouch.

So I'm currently typing from bed; the warmest, flattest place available. Occasionally I venture out to do things that can't be accomplished from under a doona, then head back again when my feet start to complain too much.

Since I haven't any shiny new completed projects to share, I thought I might tell you about some of the things I have in progress, instead. I have several series' that are slowly accumulating images, some of them at least five years old. There's one in particular I'd like to talk about today, since I feel very much like a creaky tree myself - Wooden.


Forking trunk

A tree against the sky possesses the same interest, the same character, the same expression as the figure of a human. - Georges Rouault

I started this series back before I owned a digital camera, so all these images are film. I'd like to continue it with film; it seems to suit the images. There's a few ideas I'm slowly getting my head around with the series. Part of it is me coming to terms with my body - it seems odd to feel uncomfortable with my own physical being, after all. And part of it has to do with the way we see ourselves reflected in nature and the things around us; the way we'll look at the shape of a tree and see ourselveds. And when you get down to it, we are all interconnected, which I think may be an underlying idea in a lot of my work, but more explicitly part of this.


Entwining

I need to re-scan these images - my old scanner was pretty crappy, and a lot of the subtlety of the negatives is lost here. And I'd like some more images to round out the set; I want to see breasts and thighs, ankles and hands, as well as privates. It will have to wait for summer, though, until I can feel a little more anchored in my own body, without being overwhelmed.

So, what do you think? Click here to browse the rest of the series, as it currently is, and make sure to post or email an opinion. Would you like to see more of my in progress projects?


Openings