Photography Majors

I get a kick out of people who say people who do art are taking the easy way out, or slackers, or going to fail in life. It's true that some people who join the major are slackers... but doesn't every major have those people?

The daily day of an art student starts way before they even wake up. Many majors deal with textbooks, and studying in the library for hours on end. We have to go out into the world and make things. Whether that means getting people together to take their picture, or spending hours upon hours for their clay pots to dry. That means having models to pose for you as you draw them, that means being able to write a script for that film you want to shoot. It means understanding how graphic design even works and flows.

Going to art school is not only visual learning, but conceptually grasping how people see the world. Artists are designers. Your driver's license, your mug, your computer... all were designed by artists. The websites you look at, the graphics on the news stations you watch, the ads on the subway, the books you read. That textbook for your class. All these things were designed by people who spent years learning how to arrange articles on a page, compose photographs, and edit code so that websites looks perfect.

I know people understand how much image culture affects everyone. And if you didn't, I hope my little rant above brought you to a closer understanding. What irks me is that people believe that the arts aren't needed, and that by doing them, somehow you're a slacker, a fake, a phony. I've heard too many times the stereotype that artists are people who aren't good at anything else. That's so far from the truth it hurts.

I specialize in photography. I make imagery that revolves not only alien culture, but past photographic aesthetic, propaganda from the Cold War, the Civil Rights movement, the 1960s as a whole. I have photography peers who deal with issues such as racial differences, the death of a sibling, the military culture of the US, the comaradere of a mechanic shop. These images don't come from thin air. They take research. They take studying. They take time learning how to approach subjects, how to position equipment, and how to immerse yourself in a group you're not familiar with.

It's a little unorthodox, but the actor Jesse Eiseinberg has a cute quote that goes as such, "When I was a kid I wanted to be an astronaut and a banana, but now that I'm an actor I can be both."

That quote has stuck with me. If only because being an artist is the same thing. I can research astrophysics, I can research Charles Darwin, I can research feminist movements. I can research anything of interest and make art about it. I am not restrained by any topic.

Knowing me, I'd feel too restricted in any other major. I am not a slacker. I am not worthless. I am definitely not taking the easy way out. And I absolutely am not a failure. I have job prospects because I worked hard for my connections and my talents -- just like every other college kid my age.

Semester Blues

Today began the first day of my last year of school needed to graduate with my bachelor's. I wish I could say it was a piece of cake -- senior year, what a breeze, right?! But something about the mindset of having to go through another nine months of constant stress is absolutely tolling on my psyche.

It's almost debilitating.

While I was definitely stressed throughout the summer, I wasn't feeling as bogged down. Suddenly, there is senior thesis meetings, TA positions, shuttle schedules, work. The weekends are filled with stimuli creation, shooting, researching, trips home to NH, -- not Pour House and late night Papa John's. The luxury of being naive is over, the fantasy of a college experience is done. Suddenly, grown-up-living is right around the corner.

I know I have reasons to be excited: I'm going to finish the UFO project this semester. I'm going to be writing an *actual* psychology thesis. I have two shows lined up, I have a wedding to shoot, I still have a big check that hasn't reached me yet from shoots this summer. I am living by myself, without the pressure/annoyance of any other roommates. I should feel like successful, independent woman a la Destiny's Child, no? It's not so easy to be confidently independent.

For now, let me just dwell on the summer for a little while longer.

An Introduction

A person close to me told me I needed a hobby.

After the initial sting, I realized how true it was. Here I am, a year out from graduating college, and I've focused so much of my energy on schoolwork that I've lost a bit of myself in the process. I always assumed I was an interesting person, which incidentally made me a really boring person. Hobby-less, but also submissively unopinionated. So much so that I tended to let people walk all over me.

The fact of the matter is that I can't tell you my favorite breakfast food, never mind who I am as a human being. So after quelling the insecurity of my writing, of the embarrassment I may face in current (and future) events in my life, I've decided that the best way to cure a hobby-less, vapid trollwoman is to explore every freaking thing that comes to mind. I figure the best way to do this would be a blog.

I know I shouldn't start a blog on a negative note, but I'm well aware that my opinions don't matter. I'm not here to fight the man, I'm not here to be the next Elizabeth Gilbert. I'm just here to feel solid ground once and a while. Maybe this will become something, maybe it will fizzle out like other blogs I've attempted. I don't care. Who knows. Who cares. But I think the main theme I'm trying to get across is that this blog isn't directed toward anyone is particular. It won't be censored for anyone. It will just be a semblance of stories about me, which I will attempt to create some sort of entertaining prose about.

Since this is an introduction post, and I still don't have anything interesting to report, I guess I'll talk about the title of the blog, Ways of Seeing. The first thing about me is that I like taking pictures. I am a photographer, career-wise, but I think it's in my blood. After mulling over a few different title names, I decided just to steal the title of John Berger's book, Ways of Seeing. It's one of those books that your professors within your major suggest you read, but you never actually read. (Okay, so I've read a few chapters, and the old TV show has definitely kept my attention much longer than the book has.) And if I'm honest, the only reason I even thought about it was because I was cleaning my room today and I came across it.

But I totally think it's fitting, no? There are infinite ways to see something. Berger's book is contextualized in art and language, two topics I have become very much educated in while at college. But it's transcended into how I see the world, how I see life, relationships, time... everything. Maybe this blog is just one way of seeing, just one life and vantage point, but everyone has one. Perhaps it remarks about blogging in general, but there wasn't any restrictions on the name and goddamnit I thought it was was clever.

I'll leave it there before I get too stupidly philosophical. I've also decided that I'm going to incorporate photos into this blog as well. Photographs are basically essential to me now, and everyone likes visual representations. So, here we go: the beginning of a blog.