On the title of this blog entry: The following expression: "A picture is worth a thousand words," told and heard many times to remind us that a photograph is a story. Some photographs really can be explained in less words, (even by me who explains everything...) as other images tell a narrative of novel proportions. As a working photographer it is my primary objective to show work on this blog. This blog post, One Thousand Words is a departure from the galleries and instead offers discussion about photography. I will explore and share the experiences and works of others that have influenced my practice and application of the medium today as well as share more about the inspiration behind the imagery I create in future posts titled One Thousand Words. See 1000 Words #1
The day I discovered my medium in photography is still clear in my mind like the day you meet the love of your life. I was already challenging myself in an academic environment and on a course to tell my stories through written words. The day I fell for storytelling with imagery happened on a field trip to a museum dedicated to photography.
The effect the visit to the museum had on me was more than instrumental in changing my life plan, it was monumental in the way it inspired a passion in me I had not known existed.
It was not a single photograph or a genre of photography that swayed me, it was the exhibit in its totality that convinced me that photography had more influence than words in the art of communication.
Southeast Museum of Photography is located on the Daytona State College campus in beautiful Daytona Beach. Daytona is quite the town, perhaps more famous for Nascar, Bike Week, BCR and notorious spring breaks than anything else. Both my mothers' and fathers' grandparents had retired in Daytona from northern states, and both sets of my grandparents as well. My parents met, married, had two children and divorced one another in Daytona in the 1970s before moving on to other states... my mom returned to her hometown Bedford Hills NY with my brother and I, my Dad would move on to Hawaii. I was mostly raised in Bedford Hills with a few months to Hawaii to see my Dad, but vacations were often spent in Daytona to visit my grandparents, Daytona Beach has been rooted in my life although I hadn't actually spent a lot of time there. Of all the places I had traveled it didn't seem like I would find my destiny in central Florida... But the very block that the museum where I felt born again is the same block where I came into the world 25 years earlier; irony.
The life changing exhibit curated by Alison Nordstrom featured photography from 1968-1969. Dr Nordstrom taught in Daytona at the time and I feel very fortunate to have come to Daytona when she was there. She taught history and ethics regarding photography, she was not a photographer. Her objectivity and discussions gave me ideas and thoughts about the power of photography more so than any other professor.
As I walked somewhat aimlessly through the museum, I saw on one wall displayed work from the archives of the local newspaper, the Daytona of my parents and daily life in the small surf town that was the place I was born. Another wall had the "vernacular" everyday snapshots of informal life from the 110 point and shoot cameras at home along with the Olan Mills formal portraits of the times, simply lit studio graduation photos and simple wedding portraits taken in front of a church (with the bad lighting that the Florida sun at high noon can only give...)
Another wall featured photographs that prevailed in Fashion and Commercial photography. Whether a larger than life glamour of Twiggy by Steven Meisel or Cher by Richard Avedon. And then the world of Fine Art Photography was paid tribute to by the dreamscapes of Jerry Uelsmann. I couldn't even imagine how those surreal images were created looking at them for the first time, the magic of darkrooms was still unknown to me. The testimony and documentation of man's accomplishment were the biggest prints on display: huge images from NASA of the surface of our moon along with that iconic image of Buzz Aldrin planting our flag in an otherwise lifeless place.
Walking through the exhibit seeing the images was overwhelming me with the story of life during that time. It was such a diverse collection of types of photography and telling of so much that was happening at that time. The work that impacted me the most was the work of the photographers represented by Magnum. I was more than inspired by the power of those images, the emotions the work conveyed and left the museum different. I wasn't exactly on a mission, I was in a daze.
To be continued...
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Read: On Photo #1
Love&Lifestyle Photographer Heather Ransley lives on Kauai and owns Kauai Bliss Photography, based in Koloa Hawaii, on the south shore of Kauai. Kauai photographer Heather Ransley specializes in Kauai portrait and Kauai family photography, Kauai wedding photography, Kauai Fine Art Photography and Kauai lifestyle photography. Please visit kauaiblissphoto.com to see more Kauai photography, Aloha!
