eliot- Maybe you should start thinking about putting together a book or something... great work! i really liked the spain stuff and as usual all of your photo's are getting better and better.
best,
Sean
Sean Sheridan at 2003-08-02 20:35:00
ripple reverb. very nice. wonderful, in fact. i still maintain that your work is heads and shoulders above most of the other photo logs i've seen. who else out there has the goods like you do, and keeps going and going...?
i just thought of something - something to consider. you know how you've been playing with the idea of publishing a book of photos, but then there's the whole issue of people wondering why should they fork out $25+ when they can get them here for free? well what if you published a book that was more than just photos? what if the elusive and enigmatic personality known as eshepard came out from behind the photos a little and gave us a piece of his mind? To wit:
* write a travelogue; arch, wry, intelligent, eliot; full of photos that aren't available at slower.net. I'd buy it.
* write one of those The Art of Seeing-type photography books where you... nah, not that.
* team up with a short story writer or essayist who shares your cynical outlook on life and figure out a way to let the words and pictures play off each other. something dark and edgy, perhaps.
i'm still thinking. but i seriously believe the travelogue idea is workable, especially in the beginning...
greg at 2003-08-02 22:37:46
real quick; by travelogue i do not mean "A Travelers Guide to Spain" or somesuchbaloney. I thinking more along the lines of travel writing, where you (and possibly even someone who has a knack for travel writing. hey, you're off the hook already!) go somewhere and document your exploits with words and pictures. of course it would be more than just a simple documentary; for those who can read between the lines it would be nothing less than a biting satire on what it means to live in America! or somesuchbaloney.
greg at 2003-08-02 22:53:22
exquisite description...
palla at 2003-08-03 10:34:36
Beautiful shot.
Naz at 2003-08-04 00:05:41
so are you thinking about it? does the words&pictures thing resonate with you at all? are you open to more suggestions? hello?
greg at 2003-08-04 09:17:21
Greg - I don't really do much with words, so I don't know how it would make a book a stronger proposition. Thanks for the food for thought though. How come I'm a cynic?
Eliot at 2003-08-04 12:19:31
Or I should say - how can you tell
Eliot at 2003-08-04 12:21:22
i dunno, it's just a feeling i get - not that your photos necessarily betray any particular cynicism or whatnot; i'd say on the whole they are very pleasing (more-to-the-point: exciting to look at) and, in a sense, uplifting - from a visual point-of-view. but anyway...
i really would like to see you latch on to a good idea, bookwise, and run with it. in the meantime, maybe you can get your work featured in magazines like Blindspot or Aperture - to start paving the way.
i do have some more ideas i'm working on and i'll run them by you soon.
greg at 2003-08-04 13:53:27
alright. how about if i start out with the most outlandish/dangerous - albeit potentially exciting - thing i can think of? (it just hit me a few minutes ago so this is a very rough version.) hear me out and then we can move on to more sensible ideas...
call the book, Altered Perceptions: A Photographic Experiment in Three Acts.
(i need to preface this by saying that, while i do not use drugs myself and do not in any way condone the use of drugs, i do believe that some fascinating perceptual shifts will occur among smart, non-drug-users who are suddenly under the influence.)
Preface: Overview of the experiment.
Act I: Home
series of photographs taken around Brooklyn. this grounds the reader; shows him/her how you see the world.
Act II: The Trip Away From Home
here you are introduced to a little bit of backwoods americana: the gothic south. to make matters worse, you are now on mescaline (or absinthe or something). fortunately you have at your side someone you trust entirely, someone who will in fact be providing the book's running commentary (think Lewis Blackwell on David Carson.) so there you are, camera in hand, seeing everything in an entirely new way... (btw, the more you are established at the outset as a descent, serious-minded young man with a gifted eye who is willing to conduct this visual experiment, the better.) the constrast between the photographs in Act II and in Act I should be striking and significant.
Act III: Back Home
another series of photographs around Brooklyn, after your journey into the unknown. now the reader gets to examine this set with those in Act I. is there a noticeable difference? have you brought back something you can use? has your general focus shifted? are the photos more abstract or less so?
again, the thing that helps tie it all together is the insightful commentary accompanying each section.
i gotta say, even though this idea is totally insane, the concept is, for me, powerful and irresistible.
now, give me some more time and i'll try to come up with something that you might actually consider...
greg at 2003-08-04 15:44:27
You are clearly underemployed :)
Eliot at 2003-08-04 16:52:20
ha! actually i run two businesses but, alas, my schedule is my own.
greg at 2003-08-04 17:44:06
before i move on to another idea, wouldn't it be neat if Act II was done in a cross-processed fashion, to beef up the effect? i'm thinking of the greenish yellow tinge in drainyoo's recent stuff with the Fuji Velvia 50. i know i know, you're 100% digital, and it's a sin (i think) to achieve the effect with Photoshop, but i digress...
greg at 2003-08-04 17:50:04
your travelling companion is a wonder with words. maybe a co-operative venture? i'd buy it.
lynn at 2003-08-05 14:57:23
eliot, i have not been able to let this idea go, hence i have not introduced any new ones to you. i never for once seriously considered that this would be a doable thing; i was mostly having fun with a preposterous concept (more on concepts in a moment). but now i'm thinking that this is the seed for a novel. of course i'll give it a David Cronenbergish-like spin (think Videodrome) in the second act, where i can interject lots of ambiguity and mystery, and where i can hopefully explore issues of perception, consciousness, identity, etc - things i'm interested in. i can mail you the paperback when i'm finished.
i'll keep trying to come up with an interesting concept for your book. i firmly believe that, unless you're already famous, a rock solid concept is key to a successful photography book. i recently saw a photo book at Border's by a NY taxi driver who took lots of pictures over a period of time. the book was divided into two sections: day and night. i don't know how rock solid that is but it is a concept nevertheless. i do realize that you already know this but i just wanted to reinforce it. the concept is the thing. the pictures can be brilliant on their own, but something has to tie it all together.
ok, that's it. i've got some writing to do.
glreddick@yahoo.com at 2003-08-06 12:44:59
Was the light artificial, or sun poking through in the middle of a storm? Very cool picture, and I'm glad you managed to get DOF to render it all sharp. Nice.
Doug at 2004-01-18 04:06:01
best,
Sean
Sean Sheridan at 2003-08-02 20:35:00
ripple reverb. very nice. wonderful, in fact. i still maintain that your work is heads and shoulders above most of the other photo logs i've seen. who else out there has the goods like you do, and keeps going and going...?
i just thought of something - something to consider. you know how you've been playing with the idea of publishing a book of photos, but then there's the whole issue of people wondering why should they fork out $25+ when they can get them here for free? well what if you published a book that was more than just photos? what if the elusive and enigmatic personality known as eshepard came out from behind the photos a little and gave us a piece of his mind? To wit:
* write a travelogue; arch, wry, intelligent, eliot; full of photos that aren't available at slower.net. I'd buy it.
* write one of those The Art of Seeing-type photography books where you... nah, not that.
* team up with a short story writer or essayist who shares your cynical outlook on life and figure out a way to let the words and pictures play off each other. something dark and edgy, perhaps.
i'm still thinking. but i seriously believe the travelogue idea is workable, especially in the beginning...
greg at 2003-08-02 22:37:46
real quick; by travelogue i do not mean "A Travelers Guide to Spain" or somesuchbaloney. I thinking more along the lines of travel writing, where you (and possibly even someone who has a knack for travel writing. hey, you're off the hook already!) go somewhere and document your exploits with words and pictures. of course it would be more than just a simple documentary; for those who can read between the lines it would be nothing less than a biting satire on what it means to live in America! or somesuchbaloney.
greg at 2003-08-02 22:53:22
exquisite description...
palla at 2003-08-03 10:34:36
Beautiful shot.
Naz at 2003-08-04 00:05:41
so are you thinking about it? does the words&pictures thing resonate with you at all? are you open to more suggestions? hello?
greg at 2003-08-04 09:17:21
Greg - I don't really do much with words, so I don't know how it would make a book a stronger proposition. Thanks for the food for thought though. How come I'm a cynic?
Eliot at 2003-08-04 12:19:31
Or I should say - how can you tell
Eliot at 2003-08-04 12:21:22
i dunno, it's just a feeling i get - not that your photos necessarily betray any particular cynicism or whatnot; i'd say on the whole they are very pleasing (more-to-the-point: exciting to look at) and, in a sense, uplifting - from a visual point-of-view. but anyway...
i really would like to see you latch on to a good idea, bookwise, and run with it. in the meantime, maybe you can get your work featured in magazines like Blindspot or Aperture - to start paving the way.
i do have some more ideas i'm working on and i'll run them by you soon.
greg at 2003-08-04 13:53:27
alright. how about if i start out with the most outlandish/dangerous - albeit potentially exciting - thing i can think of? (it just hit me a few minutes ago so this is a very rough version.) hear me out and then we can move on to more sensible ideas...
call the book, Altered Perceptions: A Photographic Experiment in Three Acts.
(i need to preface this by saying that, while i do not use drugs myself and do not in any way condone the use of drugs, i do believe that some fascinating perceptual shifts will occur among smart, non-drug-users who are suddenly under the influence.)
Preface: Overview of the experiment.
Act I: Home
series of photographs taken around Brooklyn. this grounds the reader; shows him/her how you see the world.
Act II: The Trip Away From Home
here you are introduced to a little bit of backwoods americana: the gothic south. to make matters worse, you are now on mescaline (or absinthe or something). fortunately you have at your side someone you trust entirely, someone who will in fact be providing the book's running commentary (think Lewis Blackwell on David Carson.) so there you are, camera in hand, seeing everything in an entirely new way... (btw, the more you are established at the outset as a descent, serious-minded young man with a gifted eye who is willing to conduct this visual experiment, the better.) the constrast between the photographs in Act II and in Act I should be striking and significant.
Act III: Back Home
another series of photographs around Brooklyn, after your journey into the unknown. now the reader gets to examine this set with those in Act I. is there a noticeable difference? have you brought back something you can use? has your general focus shifted? are the photos more abstract or less so?
again, the thing that helps tie it all together is the insightful commentary accompanying each section.
i gotta say, even though this idea is totally insane, the concept is, for me, powerful and irresistible.
now, give me some more time and i'll try to come up with something that you might actually consider...
greg at 2003-08-04 15:44:27
You are clearly underemployed :)
Eliot at 2003-08-04 16:52:20
ha! actually i run two businesses but, alas, my schedule is my own.
greg at 2003-08-04 17:44:06
before i move on to another idea, wouldn't it be neat if Act II was done in a cross-processed fashion, to beef up the effect? i'm thinking of the greenish yellow tinge in drainyoo's recent stuff with the Fuji Velvia 50. i know i know, you're 100% digital, and it's a sin (i think) to achieve the effect with Photoshop, but i digress...
greg at 2003-08-04 17:50:04
your travelling companion is a wonder with words. maybe a co-operative venture? i'd buy it.
lynn at 2003-08-05 14:57:23
eliot, i have not been able to let this idea go, hence i have not introduced any new ones to you. i never for once seriously considered that this would be a doable thing; i was mostly having fun with a preposterous concept (more on concepts in a moment). but now i'm thinking that this is the seed for a novel. of course i'll give it a David Cronenbergish-like spin (think Videodrome) in the second act, where i can interject lots of ambiguity and mystery, and where i can hopefully explore issues of perception, consciousness, identity, etc - things i'm interested in. i can mail you the paperback when i'm finished.
i'll keep trying to come up with an interesting concept for your book. i firmly believe that, unless you're already famous, a rock solid concept is key to a successful photography book. i recently saw a photo book at Border's by a NY taxi driver who took lots of pictures over a period of time. the book was divided into two sections: day and night. i don't know how rock solid that is but it is a concept nevertheless. i do realize that you already know this but i just wanted to reinforce it. the concept is the thing. the pictures can be brilliant on their own, but something has to tie it all together.
ok, that's it. i've got some writing to do.
glreddick@yahoo.com at 2003-08-06 12:44:59
Was the light artificial, or sun poking through in the middle of a storm? Very cool picture, and I'm glad you managed to get DOF to render it all sharp. Nice.
Doug at 2004-01-18 04:06:01
Six
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