Its The Name of The Game
I work as a lab tech in photo lab at a camera store and I get to see a lot:
Having access to the forever changing spectrum of technology from the futuristic to vintage, professional to DIY, one would think Id be constantly inspired. Maybe that used to be the case, but it is no longer. My past inspiration had been to recognize the beauty and quirks around me, to appreciate the mundane as special and the special as worthy. When I look back on my photo career and schooling, that was THE theme with which I had started. My first thematic photo project in my well-appointed high school was photos of sculptures in hidden corners, emblazoned plaques in hallways, patterns and architectural aspects of our historic buildings. The purpose , in part, was to help my just as well-appointed peers appreciate the little pieces of heaven I seemed to find around every corner of the campus. But surprisingly enough to my generally lazy and half assed self, the attention to detail and finding pleasure in the mundane had become a lifelong project/goal in my personal sphere and professional career as well. Although I am certainly no Tibetan monk, these ideas brought me comfort and joy in my mostly solitary existence. Then something changed.
Now, I find the mundane bone crushingly boring.
The ‘everyday things’ are still just everyday things and unworthy of my special attention. It squashes my soul to see and experience uninspired actions or artistic endeavours and now I’m starting to feel like I have found a cure for this personal disease of vapidity, but I think the disease has spread to the general public and it maybe too late to save everybody.
Maybe it was the onslaught of reality television shows and YouTube videos that constantly reconfirms our conformity, the fact that we are not so different, that we live our lives pretty similarly and if that is not the case, it has become increasingly easier to make it so, to mimic your favorite character in every aspect imaginable. That character does not even have to be on television, it could be as simple as a magazine advertisement from which we mold our mentalities.
My inspiration has been re-sparked, however, by an Adbusters challenge entitled ‘The No Name Design Competition’ (Best Ideas of 2012) which challenges folks to think of the NEXT. It is a challenge to writers, philosophers,
artists, thinkers and do-ers.
In the timeline of ‘Us’, we were the same, then we struggled to be different, some were unique and most tried to emulate. Now, we are all unique in the same fucking ways. We harken back to not so far past trends, and we have become so ironic, there is nothing left to talk about or make fun of. Game Over.
So what now, this challenge asks? Where do we go from here? If you have an idea, I encourage you to send it in. In the meantime until I figure out what the next cultural meme will be, I decided to take the question on a more personal level. What is next for me?
The first step is to remember where you’ve been to figure out where your going while making sure to not retrace your steps or following in anyone elses. DUH
Next step: Figure out the name of the game and how to get to first base.
I had a lot of fun with this project. I used and Epson Scanner and a Nikon BC-5 Flash Bulb to achieve the photo.
Mercy Me Photography and Superlative Exploits 