9/30/10

It's very easy, as a photographer outside of a supportive artistic environment, to lose sight of the fact that you don't know everything about your work, even though you are the one who made it. I recently had the opportunity for critique of my work by a good friend whom I hold in high regard on the subjects of art and art criticism. Being very active in the contemporary San Diego art scene, and someone who is not entirely a photographer or photographic critic, his input from a general contemporary art perspective, was given with great value to me and my work.

Working on my own, without the support or critique of other photographers or artists, I've come to see my work in a very 2 dimensional light. That is, I see my photos as either this one thing, or this other thing, sometimes both, but never anything else. This is a problem, especially because those two categories are both based on very surface characteristics. I've lost any sense of what my photos are about or what motivates them on a subconscious level.


There is another problem I have as a result of not having other artists to show my work to on a regular basis. I know, as a photographer who has been shooting for 7+ years, what I want my photos to look like, and consequently, which photos I believe to be successful and which ones are not. Strictly based on the experiences I have had, I can look at a photo and say yes, that is awesome, or eh, that's just ok, or no, that's terrible. However, when I asked the aforementioned friend visiting from California to pick out his favorite photos, he picked a few that I would never have, and by doing so, shared with me a perspective of my work I would not have otherwise been aware of.

Both he and my roommate insisted that some of the photos I had edited out of the blog-worthy pile, were actually quite blog-worthy. With this viewpoint backing up my decision, I'm going to share some of my photos with you that I would not have otherwise shared, and I am going to ask you, my viewer, to let me know what you think of them.

So, friends and neighbors, what do you think of these? Should they, or should they not, be on my blog?

And for that matter, go ahead and let me know if there are any photos anywhere on this blog, in past posts as well as this one, that should not be featured.

9/19/10

Sometimes when I'm out looking for photographs, no matter how badly I want a dynamic space or intriguing situation to capture on film, I can't help but feel compelled to act as a documentarian and capture a specific location strictly for purposes of contributing to the historic record. Such was the case with the photograph of the empty landscape featuring the Cincinnati skyline in the background.

Where this photo was taken used to be apartments, specifically low income apartments. The apartments were torn down so that luxury condominiums could be built in their place. Sort of an old, "out with the riff raff, in with the money," type situation. Anyway, I was riding my bike on the now abandoned street in the photo, when looking around, it occurred to me that at this particular point in time I had in front of me the remnants of one neighborhood awaiting a new one to take its place, with the skyline of the "big city" behind it, complete with its newest addition, the Great American Insurance Building. It seemed at the time I took the photo to be a sort of critical point in history. In eighty years someone will see my photo and realize that there was a time between what used to be there, what is there now, and what was happening across the river at that time, and it's all captured in this one photo. It's like when I look at photos of what my neighborhood looked like when the railroad still ran down the middle of Saratoga St., and thinking in my mind about how it exists today. I find it all incredibly fascinating, and I love that I can be contributing to that.

So, as someone who considers themself an artist, I still have an obligation to make sure such a photo as the one in question is still well made and compositionally strong. I approached the situation with a considered balance of art and informative documentation. I knew the photo was primarily about what existed in the space at the time, but I still wanted it to look good. With this in mind I made sure all elements of the photo were in balance, and only complimented each other.

As for the rest of the photos in this post, I could talk as much about them as I did about the Cincinnati picture. But that would make for entirely too long of a post.

I ask that you offer any criticisms you may have, about any of my photos. I am looking for all the feedback I can get.

My Last Pack of Polaroid Film

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I shot my last ever pack of Polaroid film while I was in Chicago back in August of this year. Here I present that last pack of film, in its entirety, for you to see and critique.

I've had people ask my why this is the last pack of Polaroid film I'll have ever shot. Some of them simply don't know that Polaroid has ceased producing instant film. Others don't understand why I don't just buy more. Well, the last time I checked eBay, packs of Polaroid 600 film were going for upwards of $75, and I just don't have that kind of money to spend, and even if I did, by now they would all be out of date or close to it. No, this pack of film I put away a couple of years ago, about the time I was graduating college, when I found out Polaroid was going to stop making the film. I put it in my refrigerator to prolong its life as much as possible. I held onto it thinking that someday I would find an occasion worthy of my last pack of Polaroid film.

The day before I left for Chicago I decided I had better shoot the film before it gets any further out of date (it was a year and a half expired when I shot it), and what better subject matter than my favorite place to visit?

As for the end product, I am satisfied, but these are by no means my best Polaroids ever. The color is a little dull due to the age of the film, and that was to be expected, but it's not horrible. The sense of urgency that surrounded this pack of film effected my judgment. I'm pleased with my compositions, but I felt rushed, and probably could have been more discriminatory about what situations or locations I chose to capture. There are a couple of photos I used my Fuji to capture that I wish I had used the Polaroid on instead. For instance, the stuffed animals looking out the window at night, or the rolled up hose on the sidewalk by the window would have made better Polaroids than Instax shots.

More Instax

Just a few more photos to keep the blog active. Taken in West Chester, OH, Covington and Dayton, KY.

Chicago, Newport, Cincinnati

The last photo, of the statue with an orange perched atop the vessel it is holding, was taken in Chicago, along with the photos from the previous post. All of the others were taken around Newport, where I live now, and Cincinnati, just across the river.

I have a fascination with spaces. I love the interactions between structures, trees, or land formations, and the empty spaces they create around them. I try to capture those spaces in my photographs, but don't feel like I am always successful about it.

Apart from making photos of interesting spaces, I like to document strange and interesting objects or locations I may find. For instance, the statue with an orange atop its vessel, or the bridge which seems to come from and go nowhere. Sometimes, as with the bridge photo, the strange or interesting location only exists because it is a photograph, with certain parts included, and other parts left out of the frame of the photo.

Perhaps the most successful photos I make are the ones which combine both an interesting space, and a peculiar detail of note. These would be photos like the tire tracks in the dirt or the expanse of grass and trees leading the viewer's eye right up to what logically has no place in the photo, an interstate expressway. Of course I try my hardest to make these successful photos, but I simply cannot allow myself to pass up a photo of a space which has no strange features, or of a strange object presented without any great contextual space around it.

Chicago 8/3/10 - 8/10/10

From August 3rd through the 10th of this year, I visited my friend Amy in Chicago. It was the first time I did not take my fancy DSLR on a trip, but instead took my Fuji Instax 210 and Polaroid 600 cameras. I shot my last ever pack of Polaroid film on the trip, and that post will be forthcoming, featuring all ten photos from said pack.

For now, here are a few of my favorite Instax shots from the trip.


Overall I like the subject matter of the images, but feel the compositions could all benefit from a square format. The reason I feel this way stems largely from my love of Polaroid's square format, but also from the fact that if you cover the images with your hands in such a way as to make them square, they look a hundred times better. However, I love instant photography more than I hate the format of these photos, so I will continue to work with what is commercially available (and to my liking). I realize the folks at Impossible Project have issued their first film packs for Polaroid cameras, but after looking at what they've made available for the 600, well, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that someday they'll have something that looks like Polaroid 600, and I'll bide my time until that product arrives.

Explanation

My name is Joseph Koehl. I graduated from Northern Kentucky University in 2008 with a Bachelor of Fine Art degree in photography. I love instant photography, and work almost exclusively with it. I used to use a Polaroid 600 camera, and absolutely loved everything about it. Since the end of Polaroid's instant film manufacture, I have switched to Fujifilm's Instax photo system. I do not love the Instax as much as I did the Polaroid, and for a number of reasons, but I will save all of that for another post.

I have created this blog to showcase my work in instant photography, and discuss my ideas, viewpoints, and opinions of the art. Feel free to offer me criticisms and/or comments. I would prefer you email me directly, but using the blog's comment feature would also be acceptable.

Thank you, and I hope you enjoy.