Hey, Hot Shot! Contender: Eve Morgenstern
Abandoned Houses, Berkeley, CA, 2008 by HHS entrant Eve Morgenstern
I lived in over 10 houses before I was 20, so as soon as I saw these images of abandoned homes, I was pierced by their ability to speak not of comfort and safety, but of the delicateness and transience of life.
Then I remembered a song by The Smiths:
The passing of time
Leaves empty lives
Waiting to be filled
Sigh.
July 1st, 2008 at 10:29 am
Sigh indeed. Art indeed not. Why bother? This looks like it should be on a Bank Owned property list (foreclosure). I really hope this goes 20×200 as I’m sure it’ll sell like hotcakes. I mean who doesn’t want a snapshot of a boarded up house?
Next time I’ll make sure to submit photos utilizing a long exposure of my cat in front of my house with his medication, spinning on a turntable with a cement mixer in the foreground and a dried up flower picked from my grandmother’s garden laying beside it.
July 1st, 2008 at 12:25 pm
I find this photo interesting on many levels. It has very strong geometric shapes (triangle and rectangles) and symmetry. The light blue color draws attention to the interesting Victorian woodwork in contrast with the neutral white/gray/tan of the bland features of the rest of the house and sky. The triangles that frame the Victorian woodwork also contrasts with the rectangles of that make up the rest of the house. The house and sky provide a very graphic two dimensional quality juxtaposed to the surrounding three dimensional grass/trees/houses/car. In the context with the current foreclosure/financial crisis, I wonder if the house is worth saving. The woodwork is gorgeous and the windows look new, but is the building structurally sound? Does the roof leak?
July 1st, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Have you ever had the feeling you’ve said too much ‘SoWhat?”. Perhaps you were a little harsh here. I think this photo has merit and I believe that the photographer has properly managed to tell a story; maybe one you would never read, but a story all the same.
“Binko” brought up several excellent points about the photo, I think you’d be well served to at least look them over and then reconsider your diatribe.
Your description of a “long exposure of my cat in front of my house with his medication, spinning on a turntable with a cement mixer in the foreground and a dried up flower picked from my grandmother’s garden laying beside it.” actually sounds pretty good as well. Go grab your camera and tripod in an effort to avoid the old standby “Those who can’t, teach” or in this case “Those who won’t, critique”.
If you did like this photo, check out:
http://www.filemagazine.com/thecollection/archives/images/astica3.jpg
July 1st, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Oh or
http://www.kevinbauman.com
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:00 pm
This is a bore. Miss Bekman’s taste is very suspect. Marketing Genius = Of Course. Scholar/Authority on Photography = hardly.
I bet $20 (x200) that she doesn’t know who Stieglitz is.
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:26 pm
You just lost a bet Flannigan. And while I’m reticent to dignify your comments since they clearly weren’t made with the intention of engaging in substantive conversation, I feel compelled to clarify a couple of things:
Thing one: I make no claims whatsoever to being a scholar and only claim to be an expert in deciding what I like.
Thing two: If you’ve ever read anything about me, you’ll notice that I am totally upfront about the fact that I did not come to own a gallery via a traditional path.
Thank you and have a fantastic weekend!
July 5th, 2008 at 1:26 am
Indeed, I am going to be disagreeing with both Flanagan and SoWhat on their points and address the more profound concerns with the photo itself. I see Morgenstern’s photo a venerable tradition of shooting a lovely piece of architecture in the vein of New Topographics and urban photography at its finest.
I think that most superficial people tend to dismiss conceptual photography as being too ‘easy’ or not ’storytelling’ enough. Put it this way, not everything has to be a World Press Photo or a Capa war photo to be surely effective.
What grabbed me about this particular work more than some of the others was the use of light and the transforming of the house into a personality. If one perceives it as being a ‘friend’ or a ‘family member,’ there is a certain friendliness and deference expressed within the woodwork and Victorian stylings which seem to be at odds with the rather unusual blue hue. For me, the ‘narrative’ is less in fulfilling a plot line and more in the configuration, the sociological implications, and the masterful use of light.
I think that one needs to look beyond the mere representation and look at the photo from a more literary standpoint. If one were to stand in front of this particular house, shouldn’t we be asking ourselves what is the history behind this? What family abandoned this? What is the surrounding property and does it relate to its low socio-economic status?
Kudos to Morgenstern and Lewis Baltz would be proud of her.
July 7th, 2008 at 11:13 am
go Jen!