#spectra's photojournal

[ghostbloodmothbones]

ghost notes vol.i

a fragmented collection of thoughts and feelings about my practice, art and teaching that I just want to get out

i.

Devany Amber Wolfe is an artist that I've followed for a long time, today she announced that she was stepping back from social media and honestly, her post resonated a lot. One of the biggest struggles I've found in trying to use platforms like instagram to share work is that it rewards content creation, not creativity because creativity takes time. To make something, to follow a project through its ebbs and flows is not quick, it's not a process that can resolve in time to please an ever hungry algorithm. Content creation, is inherently not creative because in this manner, it's simply reproducing that which is popular and formulaic. It doesn't actually require much thinking, just a bit of technical know how, but to do something really creative takes time, and a lot of that time is fucking stuff up so you eventually get to a finished product. I don't necessarily think social media is the cause of all the worlds ills, but I have noticed in the students I work with such defined subjects and trends that they stick to rigidly and don't think to push past them. I think that is certainly something that is caused by social media, and herein lies the issue. When you're making things to please an algorithm or to be brand/family friendly it automatically limits the spaces that you get to explore with your work. The boundaries you can push, because anything that pushes too far from easy consumption and makes people think about difficult things, it's hidden via shadow banning and straight out censorship. This is something that the Art Newspaper has written some interesting articles on too. Is Instagram censorship changing art itself? // Are you being 'shadowbanned'? // Censored: the exhibitions that Instagram doesn’t want you to see // Censorship on social media not only limits artists' online reach—it can prevent future opportunities, too // Invisible by numbers

You can see the whole post by Devany Amber Wolfe here

ii.

Finished assessing student work this week, and as much as I love my job it's also deeply depressing sometimes. It's a short unit but a lot of submissions felt so very half arsed and I just don't get it. Art school is a place where you get to fuck around for three years before you have to jump into the real world, and it's not exactly a career you can go in if you want to be really employable, so surely you should be doing an art degree because you're passionate about it? But, just no. It's like a lot of my students just don't really care, like they barely even like doing photography and it just seems a waste to me. I won't pretend I'm not jealous of the fact they get to have that freedom just to play and learn their craft so I guess I find it extra galling to see so little passion or enthusiasm for the medium they elected to study.

iii.

We live in an era of camera's so good at making images that often times you feel more like an operator that someone actually crafting an image. I used to have a Sony A7iii, and as a work horse camera it's brilliant. The eye/face af is incredible and it makes you really have to think less when you're shooting.

But apparently for me, that seems to be the problem. Nowadays I have a cropped sensor Fujifilm, with fine autofocus but not on part with the Sony's and honestly I actually enjoy using it more as a tool. It's got its quirks, and now I'm using a lot of cheap manual focus lenses nailing the shot is much harder and more involved but I actually feel like I'm making things again. Not relying on the camera to do the hard work for me. Think I finally crossed the threshold from being a photographer to being an artist and i feel 40% more pretentious.

[carmonaphotography]

Spectra. Artist: @newsubstance Coachella. Indio, California. This is my favorite art installation in my 20 years attending. #carmonaphotography #spectra #art #artsy #artinstallation #architecture #architecturephotography #architect #landscape #landscapephotography #landscapelovers #coachella #coachella2019 #insta #instablogger #music #musicfestival #photography #photographer #photojournalism #concert #concertphotography #selfie #palmsprings #fashion #follow #indio #artist #color (at Coachella, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwfa3Z4pXNx/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=evw2dnrmypfq

[newsdurham]

Allyson Polidano was the winner of the 7th annual Key to the TCC contest run by Spectra Venue Management, operators of the Tribute Communities Centre. The contest ran November 14 to December 23, 2016 and 19,584 fans from across Ontario entered to win a pair of tickets to every event at the Tribute Communities Centre in 2017. Jan. 11, 2017. Ryan Pfeiffer/Metroland #photography #photojournalism #oshawa #nikon (at Tribute Communities Centre)

[carmonaphotography]

Spectra. Artist: @newsubstance Coachella. Indio, California. This is my favorite art installation in my 20 years attending. #carmonaphotography #spectra #art #artsy #artinstallation #architecture #architecturephotography #architect #landscape #landscapephotography #landscapelovers #coachella #coachella2019 #insta #instablogger #music #musicfestival #photography #photographer #photojournalism #concert #concertphotography #selfie #palmsprings #fashion #follow #indio #artist # (at Coachella, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/BwcV3NDplw7/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1tf7gclqxu64s

[carmonaphotography]

The Golden Hour. Coachella, Indio, California. #sunset #carmonaphotography #spectra #art #artsy #artinstallation #architecture #architecturephotography #architect #landscape #landscapephotography #landscapelovers #coachella #coachella2019 #insta #instablogger #music #musicfestival #photography #photographer #photojournalism #concert #concertphotography #selfie #palmsprings #fashion #follow #indio #artist #color (at Coachella, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwh_ikap9ca/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=15s3h2ysv1e0o

[carmonaphotography]

Mismo. Artist: @sofiaenriquez Coachella. Indio, California. #sofiaenriquez #mismo #carmonaphotography #spectra #art #artsy #artinstallation #architecture #architecturephotography #architect #landscape #landscapephotography #landscapelovers #coachella #coachella2019 #insta #instablogger #music #musicfestival #photography #photographer #photojournalism #concert #concertphotography #selfie #palmsprings #fashion #follow #indio #artist #color (at Coachella, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/BwcXUUYptfr/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ema57ppm88m7

[carmonaphotography]

The Golden Hour. Coachella, Indio, California. #sunset #carmonaphotography #spectra #art #artsy #artinstallation #architecture #architecturephotography #architect #landscape #landscapephotography #landscapelovers #coachella #coachella2019 #insta #instablogger #music #musicfestival #photography #photographer #photojournalism #concert #concertphotography #selfie #palmsprings #fashion #follow #indio #artist #color (at Coachella, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/BwcWbn9pkLC/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=m24me6l00jjp