decay # 2
Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 10:27AM 
1 week old wishbone • click to embiggenOne of the primary stumbling blocks to my Decay series is going to be the problem of breaking the wife of her filthy habit of not being filthy. Or, to be more accurate, of her habit of not wanting to keep decaying matter around the house. Even though there are times when I want her to be a dirty girl, this not one of them.
Case in point, yesterday's pepper had to be rescued from the garbage bin which I had already placed at the curb for pickup. In the wife's defense, the pepper was put in the garbage by our cleaning lady who said that she didn't realize that it was an 'art project' - an excuse I'll accept once and only once.
But the cleaning lady is not who I am worried about, she's only on the case 1 day a week. The wife on the other hand is on the case 24/7 (except, of course, for that time when she is out of the house making a living in order to support me in the manner to which I am accustomed). It will be interesting to see where the line gets drawn.
On a different line of thought, as I work my way through the first few picturing sessions, a number of considerations about the series are coming to mind. One that I have thought long and hard about (approx. 3-4 minutes), is that of 'light'. My first thought was to haul out the studio lighting equipment - power packs, strobes, umbrellas, soft boxes, scrims, snoots, diffusers, reflectors, etc. But, the more I thought about it (another 3-4 minutes), the more I liked the idea that, by utilizing window light, the light would NOT be a constant.
I like the idea that the characteristics of the light will be a variable. Contrast and color will be the primary variables. The series may end up having a 'direct sunlight' sub-category 
4 day old pepper #2 • click to embiggenas seen in the Pepper # 2 variation, which, by the way, is an HDR image - an HDR image that I worked on for quite a while so that it not look like and HDR image.
In any event, I'm not sure yet about the direct sunlight. Maybe yes, maybe no. The direct sunlight picture is very 'seductive' and, perhaps that why I might reject the idea. It's a bit too seductive - more like the advertising stuff I used to do. So. I'll let that particular wrestling match begin and determine over time whether it's a variable that works for or against the series as a whole.
FYI, I am also working on an Artist Statement for Decay. More on that later.
decay
Reader Comments (3)
Don't. Work on an "artist's statement", that is. What is this compulsion people have these days to provide such things? Take the picture, post the picture, let the viewer decide - what's wrong with that? If the photograph (or whatever) is good, the "artist's statement" is irrelevant. If the photograph stinks, well, ain't no statement gonna save it.
And, by the the by, the former applies here.
Sorry about the "the" stutter.
Dear Art World:
I apologize for throwing out the rotten banana I found on the back of my couch this morning. If Gravitas had not noticed my carelessness, and retreived it, think of the loss to the ouvre of decay.
Mea Culpa.
PS. Feel free to use this as your artist statement...