20x24 Polaroid

I was very fortunate enough to have a session with the Polaroid 20x24 camera that Mass. Art owns. This was a rare opportunity that many people do not get the chance to have. I purchased 5 sheets at $75 a pop. Four of them came out and I got to say, I am very very happy with them. My goal was to make images that were visually pleasing and that partially mirrored some of the photogram work that I do. The quality of the images below do not do justice to the creamy and warm quality that these polaroids possess, not to mention the fact that they lost a good amount of the soft contrast they have. I hope at one point to have them displayed somewhere for people to see in person. More to come on that down the road hopefully. I also attached my blueprint of the ideas for the shots, to see a little of the thought process and how that can change when faced with different obstacles. I also attached a photo of when I was prepping for the fruit and of the actual session itself. Enjoy.

Polaroids: You Are Not Forgotten

I just found out today that my great uncle Eddie past away. It had been expected soon since he was not recovering from his cancer treatments, but the cancer itself was not expected when he was diagnosed just less than two years ago. I didn't know Uncle Eddie extremely well, but I did know that he was a wonderful and simple person.

I only got to see uncle Eddie twice since his diagnosis, and this photograph below was from the first time. We had talked about drawing and photography for over an hour that day, and I took this photograph because I didn't want that great moment to be forgotten. Now with his passing, I don't want his existence to ever be forgotten.

These are three photographs of relatives who have within the last three years passed away. I show these photographs in the utmost respect to them as individuals and their wonderful existence. They will never be forgotten.

Uncle Eddie 2008


Grandma Walker 2008


Aunt Annie 2005

Polaroids: Process of the Process.

These are older Polaroids taken in 2005-2006 for self-portraits I did for my graduating portfolio at the New England School of Photography. At the time I was doing this series, it was always very difficult for me to talk about the work and to really know what I wanted to say with it. I showed this series a few time within the last 2 years, either in classes I was a teacher assistant for or as a guest speaker for classes a friend of mine was teaching. It was through those showings that I was finally able to really understand the work myself, and to figure out what it meant for me.

In the end, it was simply just about being comfortable in my own skin. Whether through metaphors or the everyday mundane situations I went through, these images show the start of someone who was slowly becoming a man. There are a lot of images to this series but I thought it would be interesting to show the Polaroids for them, since these are a major part of the photographic process, I thought they would juxtapose nicely to the idea of my process as a person.

Polaroids: Chicago 2005-2008

Twenty Polaroids taken from three different visits to Chicago in 2005, 2007 and 2008. Each visit presented different kinds of monuments for me to shoot, but all relating to my own personal disconnection from my home town along with any traces I tried to dig up.

Though my recent project Learning Something New has been a new way through photography to reconnect with my past, these earlier Polaroids were an unconscious path that lead me to that idea. They lend to the concepts and visuals of my newer project, and have taught me many things along the way. Though I wouldn't quite group these Polaroids in that newer series, I would say that they represent my need for that nostalgia.

Polaroids: Cambridge & Somerville 2005

Select images from early 2005 taken in Cambridge and Somerville.

Polaroids: Niagara Falls 2005

Four Polaroids taken during a bone chilling winter at Niagara Falls in 2005.

Polaroids: Three People leaving Los Angeles

Three people arrive in Los Angeles on three different days in December 2006. They then all leave at three different times in January 2007. Ariele leaves first. The next day Trevor attempts to leave but misses his flight, he then catches an even longer flight home later that afternoon. I leave later that evening. These are our goodbyes.

The Six wonders of Jamaica Pond

So today I decided to hop on my bicycle and ride to Jamaica Pond, in hopes on maybe taking a few Polaroids of the area for a project I am working on for my History of Landscape, Place and Space in Art class. I am doing a long term journal project for the class where I keep frequent journal entries on the space, and how it changes, develops, etc. along with bi-weekly assignment s for the journal.

I figured I would do an entire loop of the pond and just see what comes to me. My goal was to capture five interesting pictures, but to not look so hard for them. As a photographer, I tend to over think the visuals I want, and try too much to find the perfect scenario for my images. this time around, I just wanted to observe as I wondered around, and really take in the space for once, something I had not done in Jamaica Pond since about 2007 when I was running frequently there.

The six images below are my experience at Jamaica Pond, on this slightly chilly night. They are what I was able to observe and appreciate about the space without having to look for it. If this was any other night, these images would be completely different, representing a complete different experience. I am learning more and more to understand each encounter and interaction with the people and spaces around me differently, treating each uniquely. These images, though not the best quality since Polaroid does not cooperate well at dusk/night, are just a brief encounter of my curiosity with the spaces I may sometimes take for granted.



















Hard to tell from this photo above, but that tree laying on the ground has been cut up into several sections then laid together to look intact. I thought that was kind of strange. Also that apartment building is the only one that hangs over the pond, sitting on our shoulders. From some views, you can also see the Prudential off in the distance. Enough to remind us that were still in the city.



















That white glow in-between the trunks of that tree is an Albino Squirrel. It was really strange cause just last night I had googled Jamaica Pond +Art to see if I could find any artwork or maybe poetry about the pond itself. After stumbling upon an article about a sculpture installed (without permission) by Matthew Henceman in Jamaica Pond, I found a link to his Blog that had a post on it with a picture of the Albino Squirrel from Jamaica Pond. For some reason, I thought it was photo-shopped and therefore not real. Sometimes I don't know why I'm so quick to be so close minded. But sure enough, I'm not even there five minutes and here comes this adorable little critter, scurrying around the branches and such. There was one moment where he sort of spazzed out and jetted right towards me, running just past my feet and up the a tree. I was literally scared for my life momentarily.



















Normally there is nothing too unusual about the mark of where a tree was chopped down, but for some reason this stuck out to me. It's not something you see too often at the Pond, or at least for a tree this size. Maybe part of what was strange was there seemed to be no reason for the park to need that space clear of a large tree. But who knows, it could of been knocked down by lightening. These things happen.



















Somethings are better left as visuals memories, and should be left to represent just that.



















Graffiti on a tree is another strange thing to me. From the ages of 14-19 I was heavily into graffiti when I lived in Chicago. There, it was considered "wack" if you tagged in the alleys. I can't imagine the word that would be used to describe someone tagging on a tree. or maybe I can imagine such a word.



















this sign, bolted to the ground, was just adjacent to the actual water. It's also upside down so that you would not really be able to read it anyways unless you got on the rocks that lead into the water. Its to old to and rusted to make sense of it anyways.