December 25th, 2007
(Kind of lazy to write a real post so here’s an email I sent out)
Hello all,
Hope you all are having a fantastic holiday. I am currently in Hong Kong for winter break and just got back from my vacation in Thailand. The five days in Thailand was a great vacation for me to take a break from photography. Not one roll shot; instead, I gave the digital point and shoot to my mother so the whole vacation is recorded by my technologically-challenged mom. So now back in Hong Kong and hopefully get a lot more rolls shot of my family and everything Hong Kong.
Anyways, I got a great email stating that I got the scholarship to go to SPE Nationals in Denver, Colorado in March! I am super excited and very anxious about the news. There will be lots of new work to show since the last SPE Regional conference.
Many many thanks to those who have supported me and I will keep you all posted!
Happy Holidays!
December 9th, 2007
Going to Pick Ginkgo Nuts at Fort Greene Park © Jane Tam
The semester is finally over (…still have one 8-page paper to write though). I will be going to Hong Kong for the majority of my winter break. It will be a great little break from the claustrophobic Syracuse. Although it was first intended to be a vacation, there’s also a major agenda to make work there. I’ll be bringing a 4×5 field camera and a Mamiya 7 so that’ll be a blast going through security at airports.
Hope everyone has a great winter holiday and I’m sure I’ll be able to blog from there.
December 1st, 2007
Their First Murder, 1941 © Weegee
Whilst roaming around the campus library, searching for a topic to write a 5-page paper on for my Art-in-America class, I came across Weegee by Weegee, An Autobiography in the 4th Floor Limited Art Access Collection. The first chapter, titled Tintype drew me in with a simple and honest introduction.
My typewriter is broken. I own no dictionary, and I never claimed that I could spell, and if Shakespeare, Balzac and Dostoyevsky could do it the hard way, in longhand, so can I. Not having been a drug addict, an alcoholic or a psycho, I don’t need a ghost writer.
I have no inhibitions, neither has my camera. I have lived a full life and have tried everything. What may be abnormal to you is normal. If I had to live my life over again, I would do it all the same… only more so.
Everything I write about is true… and I have the pictures, the checks, the memories and the scars to prove it.
© Weegee
I am always interested in literature about New York City so when this was my chance to learn more about Weegee’s NYC of the 1920s-40s, it instantly caught my attention. From his father sending fake money to Austria to his mother to the nights he spent practicing his fiddle-playing in the Acme darkrooms, it is told with the utmost honesty and never a ounce of pity. Though still only through the beginning of autobiography, this is a page turner, and if you can get your hands on this rare book, read it.
Thinking I can purchase a copy on Amazon or Half.com, I was surprised to see this book wasn’t reproduced in multiple editions. Currently, a copy on Amazon is being sold for $490. I’d really love a copy to keep.