The Salt Student Blog » Madeleine http://blog.salt.edu Tue, 17 Aug 2010 16:19:19 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Salt, I can’t quit you! http://blog.salt.edu/salt-i-cant-quit-you http://blog.salt.edu/salt-i-cant-quit-you#comments Tue, 25 May 2010 19:08:22 +0000 Madeleine http://blog.salt.edu/?p=1659 - from my computer in the photo room…

]]> http://blog.salt.edu/salt-i-cant-quit-you/feed 0 hurry up and wait http://blog.salt.edu/hurry-up-and-wait http://blog.salt.edu/hurry-up-and-wait#comments Tue, 06 Apr 2010 19:00:15 +0000 Madeleine http://blog.salt.edu/?p=1600 I walk a fine line of ethical boundaries on a daily basis. This last week has tested my ability to decipher the lines and where they get blurry. When is it acceptable to help my subject and when do I become a part of her story? I can’t help but think that I am already a part of it just by being in this person’s life. I guess the idea is to not become the story. As I learned this week (after talking it through with Kate like three times), sometimes it’s okay to reach out a minor helping hand in a time of extreme need. Even just the action of reaching out might gain you more access. It could also ruin everything. So far, so good.

It all feels like a grand manipulation in order to get people to share with me the most intimate details of their lives. Is that what makes a good documentarian? All I know is that it’s working (sort of). Slowly but surely I am becoming trusted… only to be angrily pushed away again for a while. Two steps forward and one step back, right? I feel like I’m constantly waiting to plan and planning to wait, which sort of drives me up the wall. But I’ll continue to push and pray for a little more access and maybe at some point I can get to that sweet spot where I am all at once admitted, accepted and forgotten.

]]> http://blog.salt.edu/hurry-up-and-wait/feed 0 Macon and Tom http://blog.salt.edu/macon-and-tom http://blog.salt.edu/macon-and-tom#comments Mon, 05 Apr 2010 16:28:28 +0000 Madeleine http://blog.salt.edu/?p=1593 and more hairnets…and owl glasses. what more could you ask for, really?

]]> http://blog.salt.edu/macon-and-tom/feed 3 6 hours into the cannery tour… http://blog.salt.edu/6-hours-into-the-cannery-tour http://blog.salt.edu/6-hours-into-the-cannery-tour#comments Mon, 05 Apr 2010 16:18:45 +0000 Madeleine http://blog.salt.edu/?p=1585 Macon and Tom decided to let out their inner American Gothic and hairnet/beardnet nerdiness. Luckily, I was there with my camera.

]]> http://blog.salt.edu/6-hours-into-the-cannery-tour/feed 1 The mystery of Allen’s revealed http://blog.salt.edu/the-mystery-of-allens-revealed http://blog.salt.edu/the-mystery-of-allens-revealed#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:42 +0000 Madeleine http://blog.salt.edu/?p=1296

At the local pub in Birch Harbor, where we were busy doing some field research, Tom had almost convinced me and Jay to try some Allen’s Coffee Flavored Brandy. Neat. As in, not mixed with anything. Warm and straight up. As I stared at the bottle of dark brown rail liquor, I shuddered at the thought of actually drinking it, but was intrigued to figure out why it’s the top-selling liquor in Maine. Thankfully, we mentioned our intentions to one of the regulars, who laughed slightly as he explained that to drink Allen’s straight would be idiotic. Milk, he said, and rocks; that’s how it’s done. So, naturally we ordered three and found out what all the talk was about. Sugary and heavy and weaker than a true white russian, one can understand why the drink is called “fat ass in a glass.” I couldn’t imagine drinking more than one in a sitting, but was assured it happens all the time.

The next time we went into the Pub, we were greeted with “three fat asses?” Uhhh….

]]> http://blog.salt.edu/the-mystery-of-allens-revealed/feed 1 five images a day http://blog.salt.edu/five-images-a-day http://blog.salt.edu/five-images-a-day#comments Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:21:56 +0000 Madeleine http://blog.salt.edu/?p=1247 So we had to make five images a day this week and probably the only one that got props from Kate and Scott was of Andy, sweeping the exhibit room…even though it’s a dreaded “vertical shot.” Check it out, Andy. You look very serious about your work.

]]> http://blog.salt.edu/five-images-a-day/feed 1 penis envy http://blog.salt.edu/penis-envy http://blog.salt.edu/penis-envy#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:24:09 +0000 Madeleine http://blog.salt.edu/?p=1184
Over the last two days a frustration has been brewing inside me. As I look around at the cameras and lenses of my peers, I notice that some of their equipment is much more sophisticated, advanced and expensive than my own. What beautiful images they will capture with their full-frame sensors; what incredible spot-metering capabilities they will have!

Practically watering at the mouth today while eyeing a Canon 5D Mark II, I compared it’s size and girth to my own Rebel and as I thought “that lens is so large!” it dawned on me that I am harboring some bizarre form of penis envy. I wondered what Freud would say.

What happened today is that I became aware of this envy and I am determined to stop comparing the size of my tools. I want to spend my time at Salt focused on producing the best work that I can. I’ve seen incredible photos come out of pinhole cameras and what is a photographer but someone who draws with light, regardless of the instrument?

Bring it on, Freud. Bring it.

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