Barack Obama's flickr and post election thoughts

Surfing around blogs/links, I came across Barack Obama's flickr stream. With 50,000+ photos posted dating from his candidacy announcement until today, this is a treasure trove and a delight to peruse.

Obama's use of 21st century social media--his flickr site combined with text messaging, twitter, and email--made this historic campaign even more astounding and transparent. (See this post by Mel Trittin for an example of the email sent right after his victory and this great twitter-inspired artwork by Brian Piana.) I especially like his "about you" section on flickr, seen below.

Around the blogosphere, I also enjoyed Shane Lavalette's quotation of my favorite part of Obama's acceptance speech and Dawoud Bey's thoughts on the true dawn of the 21st century. Like Amy Elkins, I was warmed by the photos and montages of global citizens celebrating as well as the impromptu "pots and pans" parade in my neighborhood on election night. Sitting on my couch, I welled up yet once again, especially at the above picture of his beautiful family.

I so much look forward to the next 4 years.

A bit more about Barack Obama...

Occupation:	Senator (D-IL)
Interests:	Basketball, writing, loafing with kids
Favorite Books & Authors:	Song of Solomon (Toni Morrison), Moby Dick, Shakespeare's Tragedies, Parting the Waters, Gilead (Robinson), Self-Reliance (Emerson), The Bible, Lincoln's Collected Writings
Favorite Movies, Stars & Directors:	Casablanca, Godfather I & II, Lawrence of Arabia and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Favorite Music & Artists:	Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Johann Sebastian Bach (cello suites), and The Fugees

Recreated iconic photos...in legos

Here's something fun to peruse this week/weekend.

Inspired by my last post on iconic photos recreated by senior citizens, I present iconic photos redux -- this time done in legos, and quite well I might add -- in an amazing flickr set. You can click here or on the above image to browse other odes to Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Eddie Adams, and Alfred Eisenstaedt. (You can also check out a behind-the-scenes setup shot showing how he made the above image right here.) Thanks to DK for pointing me to this!

ABOVE: An homage to Henri Cartier-Bresson's "Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare" by Balakov

Happy 4th, In Full Color

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4TH of JULY weekend! Bruce and I, DK, and JS walked to and through MIT to watch the fireworks explode over the Esplanade. It was a great view and a super show!

I share with you the above image from the Library of Congress's Flickr site, yes Flickr site. If you haven't yet checked it out, this site is refreshingly fun, open, and democratic (although I wish folks would only post informative notes on the images). The above transparency is by Charles Fenno Jacobs (1904-1975) of "School children, half of Polish and half of Italian descent, at a festival in May 1942, Southington, Conn."

Be sure to explore their 1930s and 40s color set in particular. These images are from the FSA and the OWI (Office of War Information) and range from 1939 to 1944 -- certainly an era that we aren't used to seeing in color. The best way is to click on the first - a Rosie the Riveter - and keep clicking to the right. Enjoy!

New Blog & Flickr pics from Fotofest and SPE

The PRC is test running a blog, which will launch SOON...ah the anticipation. All four of us have been secretly posting for a month or so, so when we do announce the url, be sure to read all the posts! The long and short of it is, I am having trouble knowing what to post there and what to post here! As many folks who work at small non-profits, small departments, or just plain small places, life and work mix readily. As a proud blog "mother," I want to give fair time and effort to both (my heart is, of course, still with my first born). I think I've decided the tone will be different, so even if I post on a topic on the work blog, be sure to tune in here for the other side of the story and more fun, witty banter. I'll post the "birth" next week.

Below is my recent post announcing some pics from Fotofest and SPE on flickr.

LKB here again, aka the girl whose brain is mush from being gone for most of March and then deinstalling and installing the next 2 weeks. I promise that I will write many inspired posts giving you the inside scoop as well as tips for these two important industry events in the coming month. However, until I regain my brain cells after looking at what I estimate to have been over 100 portfolios, my flickr pics will suffice.

I just posted on the PRC's flickr site dozens of fun photographs of Fotofest and SPE. Both were amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Houston and Denver, especially the latter. You can see the company with whom I reviewed in Fotofest's Meeting Place session one here and see an overview of all of the SPE 2008 sessions and events here. So, go ahead and enjoy the PRC's flickr pics here or by clicking the above montage!

(To entice you further, there are some great pics of new SPE board member and recent PRC lecturer Arno Minkkinen and some behind-scenes party pics.)

ABOVE FLICKR MONTAGE - CLOCKWISE STARTING IN THE UPPER LEFT:
David Coleman of UT's HRHRC photography collection chats with former Bostonian Jim Stone at Fotofest;
A Fotofest opening - that is Aperture's Lesley A. Martin on the right, our next juror for our PRC juried show!;
Jonathan Singer, John Craig, and new SPE board member Arno Minnkinen look at their fuji prints at the SPE closing dance party;
At the SPE opening reception, from left, Thomas Gustainis, and MassArt alums Caroline Burghardt, Rebecca Sittler, and Bruce Myren (latter now an MFA student at UConn).

Flickr flurry, then dénouement

Over on the Soth blog, there has been a hullabaloo about flickr. Earlier, Alec posted a comment Stephen Shore made about flickr and posed the question "where are the great pictures on flickr?"; today, he emailed and received Shore's response, calling for any ire to be redirected and for a truce to re-establish the "thoughtfulness and civility of debate." For me, as it always is on Soth's blog, it was the hope of higher discussion that inspired me to throw my 2 cents in. With 227+ comments and counting, I thought I'd highlight a few quotes, including my attempts to explain my fascination with such things, as both a form of introduction and closure.

From Shane (not in comments, but on his blog): Venue aside, it’s really just a fact that all the greatest work is generally found hiding amongst everything that’s not; how could a single piece of art be particularly moving or especially nice to look at if all art was? ...It can be rather tragic to witness any previously tangible practice go digital (as Flickr is, for many, a replacement to a dusty photo album) and perhaps this is part of Shore’s frustration?

From me: As has been echoed by now hundreds of times, flickr is a tool. Some use it for marketing, some for games, some for documenting, some as a diary, and some for art - just like photography itself. It’s not so much individual images for me, but the great uses that are so brilliant, much like an amazing archive or a powerful database. This is also similar to the purpose, function, and now renewed interest in vernacular photography. With the patina of time, will all flickr images gain such collector status (that is, if they can be retained later and perhaps become physical)? Flickr for me is a giant box of photos at a flea market that I can dive in, sort through, and take what I want from it and perhaps use or think about images in new ways...Signing off - WWST (What would Stieglitz think?)

From Ryan A: Being someone who is in the process of studying cultural anthropology, i think flickr and other online sites like it are amazing–and yes, i think they are fascinating insights into people’s lives. im not sure about the images gaining some kind of artistic collector status though. i like your flea market comparison though. it seems to me that photographers, writers, and many others are always going around trying to understand humanity and life. well, sites like flickr (whether art, vernacular shoebox nonsense, or what) give pretty amazing views/slices of SO MANY lives that it’s mindblowing really. when have we ever been able to access so many people? anthropologically, flickr is a gold mine. i dont really care how much great art is there. great art is so personal anyway. who knows.

From me: Hi Ryan! I think we’re coming at this from similar angles (from art history and anthropology). What I meant by collector status was really the fascination of an image divorced from its original use. i.e., if someone came across a shoebox full of some neat square photos that had circles in them (a group on flickr) but didn’t know about its origin, man would it draw a lot of interest, both money wise and in a museum! We showed a great documentary film a while back in conjunction with a show. Other People’s Pictures followed snapshot collectors and dealt with why people collect what they do. In a way, flickr allows folks to both photo and collect, groups and pools take that one step further. And yes, it is fascinating. This weekend I will go to Home Movie Day at the Harvard Film Archive (to find where and when in your city, go to http://www.homemovieday.com/). Will I see stunning art films? No. Will I see some glints of art and brilliance in someone’s old super 8 kodachrome? Yes. Will I see some amazing pieces of history, culture, and windows into people’s lives? Most definitely!

And lastly, from Ryan's blog, this comparison is apt: To me, it's a great tool, and it's incredibly fascinating to see the multitudes of ways that people employ it. Fine art be damned; I like Flickr. Speaking out against it is like coming out and saying you don't like paper. It's a tool. Some people use it to mail off their bills, some people use it to write the Grapes of Wrath.

Off to HOT-lanta and flickring

Sorry for a delay in posting, it's just been so beautiful out in the Northeast. Bruce and I leave tomorrow for Atlanta for a wedding and to visit a friend. I've always had crazy times in this city so I look forward to seeing what will happen. We'll likely hit the High Museum and the Botanical Garden, among other things. I've been to the World of Coke, but maybe Bruce will want to go as he has never been.

In the meantime, there are some new pics posted on our various flickrs. It's always fun to look at pics of people. Check them out!

• Juried show opening fun at the PRC
• A trip to the beach cowboy-style