Os - Journal

I’m not entirely sure of what to think of Trenton’s studio. I’m not sure what to think of Art anymore either.

It all seemed pretty underwhelming and I wonder about what makes a good artist great. It seems that all of it happens internally.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I started listening to Brackhage around the same time that I was thinking about this.

Brackhage talks about listening to the buzzing in his head that he calls his muse, something we all have the capability of doing, and letting work flow out of him.

I think that’s what a good artist does. Being able to feel inspired from that weird spiritual place people find so hard to talk about and letting that flow uninhibited. It’s easy to fuck it up though. Over thinking things and forcing yourself in to the work.

Most of the time it seems like a good artists don’t know what they’re doing. I think it takes time for them to realize what it is that they’re doing. The doing happens naturally. The explaining seems to be the harder part.

It seems that the most successful artists are capable of articulating their works as well as they are at making it. Everyone is capable of making great work, but to be a good artist and what makes an artist and artist, is understanding and communicating that process.

That’s still a working definition.

Os - Journal

I've thought a lot about our field trip to the airport. I had never seen the inside of that industry like that before. It seemed to me like a small secret city we had been allowed into.

Everyone we met were real characters too. It was all very surreal. Maybe akin to Alice traveling to wonderland in a way. Why not? Gigantic “metal birds” and looming watch towers seem just as fantastic.

And although there was this sense of wonderment to our visit, I couldn’t help but feel afraid. At first I wasn’t really sure of what I was feeling, but when I looked out over the balcony of the control tower for the first time, over the vastness of this place, I knew.

I was afraid of what I saw – Empire. Being able to see it physically with my own eyes, I was able to understand the feeling that had chased me since we had arrived. I saw imperialism personified.

Maybe I’m being a bit dramatic, but I found something seriously disturbing about the airport, disturbing in the way that I find most corporations to be. I see them as soulless entities. Great evils that no one person can stop, that no one person created, that no one person directs, yet something we all contribute to and are responsible for. I think of Legion, the group of demons who possessed the man from Gadarenes, referred to in the Christian Bible. Like Legion, these soulless entities are comprised of many and are contributing to a great deal of suffering.

You read and hear about the effects of Imperialism but to see it physically and not just talked about as a concept is wild. Like staring at a great Dragon.

I saw imperialism that day for a couple of reasons. Mainly because of what the airport and airplanes o for us as a species. Imperialism could not function on the scale that it does today without this entity, this combination of space, time, people, and technology.

Before the airport and airplanes, ships and other sea faring vessels did the job, but not as well and so the spread of imperialism was limited to that technology.

Now things are much different and the airport is just one of the many tentacles of something I struggle to fully understand.

I think this is why I made my video piece. I felt compelled in its making. I’ve felt this way a few times since I started making work seriously. It’s definitely becoming more of a trend I feel.

I brought my camera with me out of habit and because I figured why not, never really intending to make anything out of the footage I captured but when I sat down to review my footage, and after feeling what I felt by being there as well, I began working.

My first attempt was a complete mess. I don’t think I really understood what it was that I was attempting to do at the time but after a few weeks of thinking and working I believe I got a good result. I feel like I’m communicating what I felt that day pretty well.

Os - Journal

Frank White’s Studio was an eye opener. It was interesting and informative to see the way a photographer works within the “real world”. At the same time however, I felt like his studio was kind of a relic, anachronistic almost, since modern artists in Houston don’t own studios as much anymore. For that reason it was a bit of a novelty, akin to going to the zoo and seeing the last great panda or some other dying breed.

I wish he would’ve talked a bit more about the technical aspects of his practice. He seemed pretty focused on the financial side of things. It’d be interesting seeing another artist more interested in conceptual work and less interested in making money.

His conceptual work was a little shallow I thought. He kept calling his work humorous. I understood his humor but I didn’t find it funny. His work was funny in the way that Garfield the comic is funny, which is to say not funny at all.

Megan - Journals

Visiting Frank White's studio was an interesting experience. He was much more of a schmoozer/fast talker than a conceptual artist. He did have some aesthetically appealing work, be he also seemed to be more into himself than anything else. It was nice, however, to see that you can have a commercial career and have fun with it. But I do think Frank took himself way too seriously considering the work he was putting out there.

Reliant Stadium was pretty interesting. I went there for the rodeo one time, about 10 years ago. I'm not really one for sporting events, etc. But it was still a cool experience. The stadium is ridiculously massive. I can't even imagine how many people it takes to keep that place running.

Visiting the waste water facility was probably the worst trip I've ever been on. it was definitely interesting to see just how much waste is put out by even a small portion of such a huge city. It was really disgusting. Especially considering the water is filtered and recycled back into our drinking water. I know it goes through a major decontamination/filtration process, but it still makes me wonder if it's 100% clean and safe to drink...

Going to IAH was one of the most amazing experiences for me. Definitely my favorite field trip of the semester. I've never flown commercially and have only been to the airport a few times to pick people up, so this was a pretty big experience for me. Especially going behind the scenes. Going inside air traffic control was awesome. Looking on either side of you and seeing planes come in one after the other after the other is really something else. Watching the planes come and go on the runway was the best part. It was so surreal. I could have stayed there all day. It was just amazing.

It was a really great experience to meet Trenton Doyle Hancock and see his studio work space. It is so refreshing to meet an artist who is into the actual craft and so hands on with their work. It really put a lot into perspective for me. It actually made me feel pretty nostalgic. It really got me thinking about why I started doing photography in the first place and how much I really want to get back into my original style of work. Go back to my roots and just do what made me happy to begin with.

Danielle's Journal Entries :)

Frank White Studio:

It was really awesome seeing someone on the commercial end of photography and how their studio looked. I really enjoyed that. At the same time, I wish he would have gone into more detail on his photographic process rather than keeping it a secret. I get the feeling it's going to be extremely difficult to break into the commercial world and become successful, it would have been nice to get a few pointers from someone who knows the industry. On the bright side, our visit made me even more determined to find an internship! I am still looking and waiting to hear back from a few people (who hopefully aren't creepers like the last guy) but I am confident I will find one before the end of summer!!!

Reliant Stadium:

This one was probably my favorite out of all of our field trips! It was so exciting to see the locker rooms, the gym, and how the stadium looks from the field. Also seeing the press box was AMAZING! I am now a firm believer that's the only way to watch sports! I got a lot of really interesting shots from that field trip (which is why I decided to post them) and I don't know- it was just an awesome experience I won't forget!

Water Treatment Plant:

Disgusting- yes! Fascinating- yes! I had a lot of fun on this trip as well! I mean, how many people can say they have been to shit town USA?!! (Pardon my french!) I never realized just how many steps there were involved in making our water clean; and that was just for the bayou water! There are twice as many steps for purifying our drinking water! The lighting in some of the areas we went was really cool and gave me some ideas for possible future projects. (No they are not poo related!) It might be cool to go to different places that aren't necessarily 'high-end' but to photograph them as though they were. I don't mean urban decay- I've been there and done that as I am sure most photographers have, but like machine shops, processing plants, things of that nature. It might be fun to capture them in the same technical manner as a five star hotel would be captured- it also may fail horribly. Either way I think it'll be a fun little mini-project for me to play around with over the summer. I'd also like to go out into the country and try to photograph barns and ranches like that as well- I know that's fairly common and has definitely been done before but I still love images like that. I'd also really really like to go up towards the midwest and get some amazing storm pictures! I have always loved storms and like trying to capture them- this seems like a good year to really explore that. (That project might have to wait until the spring though when things are really active and unpredictable.) But I got all of these ideas from this field trip, which is crazy since they really don't relate to water treatment at all. I think it was the combination of the drizzly weather, and just the grey-green overcasts and dim lighting that started it all, not to mention the interesting textures.

Airport:

I know I keep saying this but I really enjoyed our trip to the airport! It really made me want to travel and go somewhere exciting this summer and take tons of pictures! Seeing the flight control was really cool- I was really surprised how small our airport is! It feels so much bigger inside than it did on the outside, which should be obvious but still caught me off-guard. It was also really cool being out there on the runway- that was really really awesome! I have ALWAYS wanted to do that and I am really glad we were given that opportunity!

Rodeo:

So I went to the rodeo to see both Lady A and Jason Aldean- and it reminded me of our trip to reliant! I decided that the rodeo (and motocross) were the two exceptions to my new rule that sports are much better when viewed from the press box! I love all the events- especially bull riding, bareback, and the one where they jump off the horse to rope the calf! I don't think those events would be nearly as cool in the press box as they are up close and personal. These feelings were strengthened when we went out to Tomball to watch a friend's cousin do her barrel race at a local rodeo. I don't know why I felt this was relevant but I thought it was random that I was thinking about school while I was at the rodeo!

Creative Camera Quote:

The quote made me think of some of the issues brought up during critique. As photographers, just like with other artists, it is important for us to be aware of any associations certain colors, words, or shapes have. I know that during one of the critiques the feminine aspects of the triangle were discussed, as well as masonic symbolism. It is so easy to slip up and use something without knowing the background or history, and it can completely alter the message being portrayed. This can be extremely frustrating and is a good thing to know and get used to before we graduate and start our careers as photographers and/or artists.

Journals-Claudia M.

Just on a side Note: All of my images dont necessarily relate to my journals. =] Some were just experimental and for fun.

Journal #1

Frank White

Neat guy. I honestly enjoyed our time in his studio space/ house. Which on a side note, I love the way his house is connected with his work space, I have always hoped I would have that type of space for myself some day and be able to invite people to see my house/loft looking studio. But anyways, back to White, he is an experienced photographer that I now admire for his hard work. He gave me a reality check when saying that sometimes we will have to do other type of photography such as commercial work in order to pay the bills, etc. Which is totally true we cant always have a dream like life where everything is like we imagine it. We don’t live in a fairy tale so unfortunately we cant have a fairy tale life. I realized that he has worked hard and carefully for a long time, and he learns from his experiences, good or bad. His conceptual work was comical, simple, very clean, and well put together. Sometimes in school we think that our work has to be the deepest thoughts from la la land and we take it too extremely serious. But what I saw from his work is that it was something he saw and liked so he produced the work, like the “run over” items.

Journal #2

Reliant Stadium

I’ve never been to Reliant Stadium to watch a Football game, although Im sure Im not missing out very much on anything, but, I have been for other events. So the fact that we were going to go where not very many people get to go was exciting to me. Im such a kid when it comes to things like this (being “behind the scenes”). The structure of the place is very photogenic in my opinion. There were many good spots to shoot that looked neat; nothing more really. When we were on the actual field I wanted to run all over it and let loose but obviously we couldn’t. I felt like such an outsider even though we were in the places insiders go threw. I felt like we went through an entire maze and with out our tour guide Im sure we would all be lost. There were doors leading to all kinds of random places, which was fun because you didn’t know what to expect next. But all in all it was a great experience. I cant believe I actually considered working for Reliant as a photographer, but if it pays the bills, I’m there. Ha!

Journal #3

69^th Street Waste Water Treatment Plant

Yuck! I have to give props to the people that work directly with these machines or on the actual treatment grounds. At the first sight of waste I almost threw up in Brittney’s car. It was interesting and neat to see the way the water is cleaned and then released back to the bayou. It is not an easy task to accomplish if the machines decide not to work properly or break down. There was something that our tour guide said that caught my attention and that was, “we just speed up the process of water treatment that nature already does on its own.” It was fascinating to hear that nature already does this for us, but since we are so over populated, we have to speed it up to function according to our time and needs. Just like many things in society, we as humans, every day want access or demand things faster and faster. We are a society that is growing out of patience, but so much that in some areas we HAVE to do it because of the way we have already been raised; like the treatment plant. The photo I selected for this field trip is one of Os taking pics of the nasty waste and Brittney C and Danielle are watching, and it just made me think of why we waste time watching/photographing/consuming waste in the world in general; figuratively speaking.

Journal #4

IAH Trip

Since I found out we would be going to IAH I was already excited for that trip. I was looking forward to it and hoped it was worth the time. And it TOTALLY WAS! This was one of the best field trips ever. We had the awesomest, nicest, smartest guys in the whole place to show us around. I still cant believe we actually got to go up on the tower. In all my life of living in Houston, I had never stood in a place where I could walk and see nearly all of Houston in a 360 degree walkway or catwalk as they call it. The best part was, well all of it. I really love the structure of planes and enjoy photographing them in all types of angles. I’ve been to the Houston Air Show the past two years and have become attached a bit to capturing the planes in action. Anyways, the experiences, conversations and knowledge shared to us was definitely inspiring to me and allowed me to see (literally) another side of the mechanics it takes to run this place.

Journal #5

One for One!

This year, for the second time, I joined the TOMS shoes campaign of “One for One” or one day with out shoes, which is to raise awareness about other people around the world that don’t have shoes. Last year I did it for a little bit, but this year I set a goal and stuck to it of how long or which places I would NOT wear shoes at. For the most part I didn’t wear shoes unless I had to walk in the parking lot at school or from our building to the satellite. It was weird but not very hard. I was uncomfortable being dirty and so exposed to the “cleanliness” we have in our building, specially the chemical labs. Yuck! But even then, I stuck to it. It was definitely a mind opener of how fortunate we are to have something so simple yet so scarce in other countries. I recommend anyone try this, even if its just while you drive, or walking from your car to the front door. Just do it!

I was reluctant to post pages from my actual journal here, but this is where I was this weekend when I was still reworking that video for Stephan. My interest in the subject matter/source material goes deeper than what's on these two pages, but I'm not posting that online in a public journal, because no.

good luck reading my handwriting?