Image: view from Cedar Hill (2008)

This is the view from what is known as Cedar Hill in Saunders County, Nebraska. The image was captured late in the afternoon on a very cold day in February. All that stands on this spot at the present is a Catholic church, which is where my Grandparents were married many years ago.

Book: The Face of Minnesota

As I've found myself a bit obsessed of late with the idea of regional history in photography, especially the work of William Christenberry, the reissue of John Szarkowski's look at 1950's Minnesota was a book that I was really looking forward to.

The book is very large and reads a bit like a text book, with images interspersed into chapters about different aspects of life in Minnesota. Szarkowski, better known as the man behind photography for years at the Museum Of Modern Art in New York and the author of the seminal photography text The Photographer's Eye, presents a sprawling overview of everything Minnesota, complete with images and essays about the state at the time of its centennial in 1958.

Those purchasing The Face of Minnesota for dynamic, thought-provoking photography will ultimately wind up disappointed. Szarkowski's photographs serve as little more than documentation, skillfully done, but without artistic pretension at all. The book's text book-esque format doesn't do much to hold the reader's interest, making it a bit of a chore to make it through the entire collection. That said, there was plenty to hold the interest of someone who is interested in exploring the history of place, in this case Minnesota. The fifty years since the original publication of the book lend the images a nostalgic glow, and Szarkowski's dedication to the project make up for much of what it may lack aesthetically.

To me, it's very important to document the places and times that may otherwise slip by unnoticed or remembered, deemed unremarkable by most observers. The Face of Minnesota accomplishes this in a very in depth manner and is a worthy addition to the collection of anyone who values this sort of effort.


Linkage:

The Face of Minnesota by John Szarkowski
The Photographer's Eye by John Szarkowski

Image: Chester, Thayer County (2007)

Much like most of my experience with the ninety-three project throughout Nebraska, this image from the small town of Chester was as random as possible. The mattress skeleton was leaning against a house just off of the town's main street for no particular reason. It's one of my favorite photographs from the entire series.

About the author

Welcome to my latest endeavor, a blog that will undoubtedly lay neglected far more than it is maintained. This is far from my first foray into web authorship, although it has been over two years since I worked on the website of my last project, the music-centric somedaynever. That experience defined me for over five years and lead to many accomplishments that I'm very proud of and quite a few disappointments that I have learned from. The last sdn event was in January of 2007, a rock show at a local dive bar that was a fitting end to a pretty good era for me.

As my interest in somedaynever waned, I found myself with the time to really delve into photography. While most art-minded people grow up with a creative mindset, most of my time in high school and my first two semesters at college (before inevitably dropping out) was spent on math and science classes. It wasn't until I was 23 that I picked up a camera artistically for the first time. By the time 2007 rolled around, I had completed most all of the commercial photography curriculum at Metropolitan Community College here in Elkhorn and found myself looking for a direction to focus all of my creative ideas and energy on.

Pushed by the writings of Jack Kerouac and photographers like Stephen Shore and Robert Frank, along with some coaxing from some very good friends, I hit the road and began to explore this country. The first revelation came in Glacier National Park, on the shore of Avalanche Lake in mid-May. There was this quiet beauty there, this isolation, that I hadn't considered to be important in my life or photography before.

A month after the Montana trip, I began a project that I envisioned for quite some time but found myself ill-prepared to really go out and create. After a few day trips to explore Nebraska, the idea evolved into a collection of ninety-three images, one for every county in the state. 8,000 miles later, I am nearing completion of the project and hope to self-publish a book in the coming months. The photographs that make up ninety-three are not meant to symbolize each part of this state, but stand as more of a collection of memories and places that I came across over the course of my travels. Some are beautiful, some may be humorous, but all are a snapshot of this place at this time as seen by this curious observer. Nebraska is as much a part of me as I am of it, and I've enjoyed nearly every moment spent exploring its smallest corners and widest spaces.

2008 finds me trying to balance what I need to do with what I want to do, attempting to find a way to continue my travels, move closer to finishing a bachelor's degree and exist in a world where art photography doesn't necessarily pay the bills. This web log will (hopefully) record my photo-related adventures in the coming months along with my thoughts and insights into all other things photographic.