Still Streaming

 

We tend to associate excessive screen time with our current state of affairs, and of course it is undeniably an issue. But for most of us alive today, the fact of the matter is that screens have been a fact of life since we arrived into this world. I remember going over to friends’s houses and seeing televisions in every room running in the background all the time. Back at my own home, the television my parents could afford was barely larger than one of today’s jumbo iPads. When I moved into my first apartment, one of their old sets came with me. 

Some things never seem to change. There simply is no beating deep heating. 

That’s so meta…

In the midst of a career, there will be certain periods of time when you focus exclusively on your work, and your experience of the culture at large is essentially nil. Later, when the slope of your career trajectory drops off a bit (and it will), you may notice these gaps and may even want to fill them in. I’ve heard it said by many pundits that the 1970s were the peak of modern cinema, but I don’t believe it for a minute. I’m finding good stuff from every decade.

Watching the detectives

I sure do enjoy me a good detective show. Frankly, I tend to like 'em all, but if pressed, I'd say that I often like the ones from across the pond just a little more. The quality of the photography and acting is usually better. I like to experience good cinematography and watch good actors work, its as simple as that. The plot doesn't matter that much to me, so it's not a problem that the story arcs are all so similar. I also like to make photographs of the screen during these shows, dragging the shutter, doing multiple exposures, that kind of thing. Then I like to play with the files in photoshop, adding lens flares, blur, and playing with the color grade. Every once in a while, something cool happens. Just personal stuff, really. That said, there is a long history of photographers engaging with the television. The work of Lee Friedlander, Ernst Haas, and Harry Gruyaert comes to mind.

Streaming landscapes

We've been streaming a lot of movies and television shows during the past 10 pandemic months. It was only a matter of time before I would start photographing the screen, right? I mean, one of the attractions of streaming in the first place is as a substitute for travel in a time of restricted movement. So, I have started a little series of streaming landscapes. I doubt I will do anything too serious with it, but perhaps I will feel a bit different once we are on the other side of the pandemic.

Traveling back to what I imagine were the 1960s. Leica R9, 135 mm f/2.8. Lomo Berlin 400 film.