Contest times is pretty much over. Now I focus on the new year, a time of introspection for the mind and examination of the work. Yesterday I spoke to a wonderful group of high school students from the readership area in a program Sun reporters John-John Williams and Laura McCandlish have put together with some of our fellow staffers. It was a complete hoot, and I loved it.

And now I slip into a quick photographic funk for no reason other than pure envy. This is after a week of feeling good about myself and the work I am doing. It seems, apparently, I am going in the right direction. But after the presentation I reviewed my contest entries. I also looked at some of the other blogs and pages by people I know or have worked with: Rob Finch's Pictures, Chris Detrick's My Life at f/22, Scott Strazzante's The Season. Also Alison V. Smith's Superficial Snapshots and Todd Heisler's amazing page.

There's no comparison. These brothers and sister of the lens love photography as I do, but they seem to be in a place, an enlightened space, that I cannot seem to find, no matter how hard I try. Their pictures are them and they are their pictures. They seem to have the balance I am looking for and make it work with family and the photography.

In Chicago we had such a strong group of people who "talked photo" and shared their thoughts and ideas freely, making each other better, intellectualizing the discussions on the work and how it fit in the world at large. Here at The Sun we get it at times, but not in the same way. I really miss it.

Somehow, after riding so high all week about photography, it seems my wheels are stuck and the wings have heavy ice. Are my photographs any better? Have I grown? Can I still attain the next level?

In any case, I am having my role change at The Sun. For the next six months I will be part of the team working on the new pagination system that will encompass words, design, editing and photography. It is the foundation that brings them all together so the printed page can be made and shipped from Sun Park to the masses. Throughout this time I will continue to blog but in a more general sense and not so much about my work but that of others.

Also, I created a flickr Photo Edge group where Photo Edge readers can share their photographs and comments. Soon it will be linked with the blog itself. Look for some new and exciting features in the next week or two. Keep reading, send in your questions and let me know what you think.

Posted by Christopher Assaf at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

Covering the General Assembly's special session can be lightly tedious at times, standing in badly lit rooms as people sit in chairs and drone (some but not all) on about some amendment or proposal, or meaningfully listen, or earnestly ask questions. It is hard work looking for little subtleties and persistently keeping an eye open for anything remotely interesting.

Many years ago, while in college, if my memory serves me correctly, I happened upon a coffee-table photo (an early strike in what has now become a lip-chomping obsession) in a used-books store. David Douglas Duncan's Self-Portrait USA. caught my attention for the two party symbols on the front which resembled the heads of two ceramic whiskey decanters, dressed as clowns with styrofoam hats, that sat on a bookshelf in my childhood bedroom for many years. The store name and location escape me, but somehow I came upon a second copy a few years later and gave it to one of my best friends from high school. We worked together on the school paper and yearbook, and he also is a photojournalist.

Duncan covered the 1968 party conventions (ironically the same year as the decanters) and made the book. The reproduction is a little dated but of high quality. The words are all Duncan, a little over the top with such phrase turns as "Secret Service agent: laser-beam eyes boring holes through everybody with a single glance..." but still entertaining. For some reason, the political poetry of many boring situations, often relying upon extreme closeups capturing slight facial gesticulation to convey his message. (Tight is right!)

The book is a foundation for much of my coverage, even though I have not turned its pages in a decade or more — the book resides somewhere in the Mississippi house of my mother and her husband. But its latent strength still holds me, and I can remember many of the pages and the images in my mind.

(Nikon D2Xs, Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm, 1/80th sec. @ f/2.8, ISO 1600) 

(Nikon D2Xs, Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm, 1/60th sec. @ f/2.8, ISO 1600)

(Nikon D2Xs, Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 @ 125mm, 1/80th sec. @ f/2.8, ISO 1600)<>

(Nikon D2Xs, Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm, 1/60th sec. @ f/2.8, ISO 1600)

It is not the most exciting work, and it is a mental hammer, constantly striking as my laser-beam eyes constantly survey the scene. It is fulfilling in some way. More will come as I have time.

Posted by Christopher Assaf at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

Not much gets me really excited. I try to keep an even keel most of the time (unless my passion gets the best of me) and not move really high or really low. But my blood began to rush while seeing an image slowly load and its familiarity quickly pop the synapses in my murky mind.

I love movies (due with little doubt to my father) and some titles really click with me; The Hustler, Apocalypse Now, Sweet Smell of Success, North by Northwest, High Noon, Fargo, To Kill Mockingbird, Dr. Zhivago, Patton, 12 Angry Men, Fantasia, Bringing Up Baby, Brazil, The Graduate, Paths of Glory, Pollock, Citizen Kane, House of Sand and Fog, Casino, Raising Arizona, Rear Window, The Searchers, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Jaws, Full Metal Jacket, Night of the Hunter.

All of these films will keep me up late if I am clicking through the channels just before I plan on going to bed. But only one nearly obsesses me, and I own more books concerning it than any other film.

Blade Runner. 

So it was with great excitement I realized a story (which I am going to read after writing this) at NYTimes.com concerned another release — and another version — of the 1982 sci-fi classic. Derived from the scintillating Philip K. Dick novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" the movie has fascinated me since the early '80s when I accidentally caught most of it during its network television debut.

I became more intrigued after seeing a director's cut re-release in 1991, my only big-screen viewing of any incarnation to date. (And I sat in the balcony for the only time at a movie. It was great.)

So as the 25th anniversary of its release passed, with little fanfare but a few blurbs, I figured it was still caught in a legal morass as it had throughout its history. No additional viewings for me but the disappointing (with little extra material and an average transfer) director's cut DVD version that is no longer available.

So now I wait once again, but with anticipation. Even if it is only for the amazing 5-disc DVD set. But check out this future noir film with amazing special effects and cinematogrophy. You will not be disappointed.

Posted by Christopher Assaf at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)