Well, for better or worse I've settled on a project/ theme for the month. (For now. Life has a way of constantly throwing curve balls and smacking me in the head with toasters, so things might change.)
Background.
Other than health stuff, my most pressing issue has been combining a 1200 sq ft house (mine) with an 1800 sq ft house with a workshop & storage building (Mom & Dad's) into a 450 sq ft apartment (mine). I've had stuff in various states of storage since May 2009, and a handful of boxes un-opened since a military reassignment back in Dec 1994. I had worked things down to a cluttered apartment and one remaining 10x10 storage room. Then I was hit with a large price increase in apartment rent, and had to close the storage room to re-direct that rent money to the apartment. Everything was squeezed into the apartment.
Since November, I have emptied one + row of boxes and removed the cartons to recycle. I've been making regular trips to donation points, recycling, or trash. The place is still overly filled and I have to still move things to get to other things, but there is less of a trip hazard now. I'm working slowly but surely through the piles o' stuff. Goal is to be de-cluttered by June. Not 100% sure I'll meet that, but it should be close. Not sure what later this year will bring, I need to be able to pack and move for as little as possible if needed. Changes might be afoot.
Project.
I'm sure some will recall one of the books I acquired last year was American Surfaces by Stephen Shore. I wasn't impressed. At first. Once I began to understand his viewpoint, it made better sense. And as I paid attention, there were little nuggets like a photo of someone looking at snapshots, and then you noticed the snapshots are Shore's photos from earlier in the project. I'm not a Stephen Shore, and will likely never reach a similar level. But I think I'm going to take some methodology from his book. Instead of doing my usual attempts at making a photograph, I'm just going to take snapshots of what I see, as I see it, showing what I saw. Warts and all.
This is going to be a huge departure for me and way way out of my comfort zone. You're going to see me on good days, bad days, maybe worse days. Same with the apartment - if I haven't dusted in a week you'll see dust, if the trash hasn't been emptied yet today you might see trash in the bin, if the carpet hasn't been vacuumed in a few days you'll see whatever has found its way onto the carpet. Unlike American Surfaces, I will not be showing a toilet as a subject, although mine might be in the background or edge of an image. I doubt I'll have any snaps of other people. I'm hoping to do a short documentary of someone who's not a hoarder forced into hoarder-like conditions, and progress towards returning to a more normal state of being.
I'm going to use a film sim from Mark Adams or the Fuji X Weekly site. Haven't decided which one to use yet. I'll be shooting jpg only, SOOC except to resize for web. Most shots will likely be in the apartment. Some will be out and about. Might be an intentional/ unintentional self portrait thrown in for chuckles. First 3 to 5 days will likely just be showing the situation, setting up for the rest of the month. I'm sure this won't be to everyone's tastes. But that's OK. It's about the only coherent thing I can do right now for the span of a month.
Background.
Other than health stuff, my most pressing issue has been combining a 1200 sq ft house (mine) with an 1800 sq ft house with a workshop & storage building (Mom & Dad's) into a 450 sq ft apartment (mine). I've had stuff in various states of storage since May 2009, and a handful of boxes un-opened since a military reassignment back in Dec 1994. I had worked things down to a cluttered apartment and one remaining 10x10 storage room. Then I was hit with a large price increase in apartment rent, and had to close the storage room to re-direct that rent money to the apartment. Everything was squeezed into the apartment.
Since November, I have emptied one + row of boxes and removed the cartons to recycle. I've been making regular trips to donation points, recycling, or trash. The place is still overly filled and I have to still move things to get to other things, but there is less of a trip hazard now. I'm working slowly but surely through the piles o' stuff. Goal is to be de-cluttered by June. Not 100% sure I'll meet that, but it should be close. Not sure what later this year will bring, I need to be able to pack and move for as little as possible if needed. Changes might be afoot.
Project.
I'm sure some will recall one of the books I acquired last year was American Surfaces by Stephen Shore. I wasn't impressed. At first. Once I began to understand his viewpoint, it made better sense. And as I paid attention, there were little nuggets like a photo of someone looking at snapshots, and then you noticed the snapshots are Shore's photos from earlier in the project. I'm not a Stephen Shore, and will likely never reach a similar level. But I think I'm going to take some methodology from his book. Instead of doing my usual attempts at making a photograph, I'm just going to take snapshots of what I see, as I see it, showing what I saw. Warts and all.
This is going to be a huge departure for me and way way out of my comfort zone. You're going to see me on good days, bad days, maybe worse days. Same with the apartment - if I haven't dusted in a week you'll see dust, if the trash hasn't been emptied yet today you might see trash in the bin, if the carpet hasn't been vacuumed in a few days you'll see whatever has found its way onto the carpet. Unlike American Surfaces, I will not be showing a toilet as a subject, although mine might be in the background or edge of an image. I doubt I'll have any snaps of other people. I'm hoping to do a short documentary of someone who's not a hoarder forced into hoarder-like conditions, and progress towards returning to a more normal state of being.
I'm going to use a film sim from Mark Adams or the Fuji X Weekly site. Haven't decided which one to use yet. I'll be shooting jpg only, SOOC except to resize for web. Most shots will likely be in the apartment. Some will be out and about. Might be an intentional/ unintentional self portrait thrown in for chuckles. First 3 to 5 days will likely just be showing the situation, setting up for the rest of the month. I'm sure this won't be to everyone's tastes. But that's OK. It's about the only coherent thing I can do right now for the span of a month.
Last edited: