The Group Project #3: "Pause, Flash"

I invest way to much emotion and energy complaining about the evils of this western society that I willingly and guiltlessly patronize on a daily basis. It’s not the way this society is run, you see, that I am upset about. It’s our influence on the other varied cultures of the world that others me. More and more you see nations across the globe “westernizing” for one reason or another. I don’t think it’s right for the entire world to look to one culture as a role model and I likewise don’t agree with any country holding itself up in that manner as a representative of model behavior. What makes the world so beautiful is the diversity of it’s people and I just hope that an over-homogenizing and graying out of cultural influence is anywhere on mankind's horizon.

Truth be told, I love consumerism! It fits just right in this country and I take advantage of the opportunity to procure more stuff all the time. I’m in love with the idea of stuff. That’s not to say technology, mind you, but just stuff. I tend to see things that I deem as “must own” all the time. I've also several times in my life now shed great quantities of stuff in an effort to simplify. I love that action and look forward to doing it again in the future.

But in the meantime… ACCUMULATE!

There are a lot of things that I’ve had for huge portions of my life that I’m sure I’ll never want to part with. A stuffed Jack Russell Terrier comes to mind… a bass guitar that I rarely play… several movies I may never watch again, but can’t leave behind. I try to not form to many relationships with items and keep in perspective that all possessions are temporary… but nostalgia is a motherfucker. Memories are strong and can keep you coming back over and over again.

My camera is something I can’t see myself getting rid of anytime soon, either. I’ve only had it a couple of years, but it’s an integral part of my existence. I’ve always loved taking pictures and trying to freeze moments and images and having something at my side at all times that makes it so easy is a luxury I’m not about to give up.

I’ve fancied myself an artist of many mediums over the years and have always romanticized about the idea of creating art that changes the collective mindset. The truth, however, is that I simply think with an artistic point of view and wasn’t able to direct my creative energy in the proper way until I started writing after college. Turns out that words were the medium I had been searching for the whole time. I wasted so much energy talking about doing that I didn’t realize that the doing was in the talking. My camera gives me a whole separate way to emote through art. It’s the moments in life that I am obsessed with and always trying to recreate somehow. So how better to do that then through capturing an image as I see it? I’m not to interested in trying to create something that is necessarily open to intellectual interpretation… I’m simply trying to convey emotion. It’s that authentic emotion that I’ve always been after in all artistic endeavors. Nothing has helped me do that more then this little hunk of plastic and metal and glass that my lover bought for me a couple years back.