[p] Walking before Chinese New Year, February 2015
Taipei, Taiwan around the Guandu, Hongshulin, Beitou, and Daqiaotou districts.
The flea markets I've encountered in Taiwan are, for the most part, rather dingy. A lot is due to the source of their goods, often recycle centers and garbage. Additionally, Taiwan's climate, including the incredible and constant humidity, assures that paper and other things which can support mold or mildew colonies invariably will. You truly need to make a choice of what to save and take great care to protect the things you want to preserve.
The garbage here, as anywhere, can contain valuable things in terms of use, but not in terms of what most Taiwanese (and others) would desire. For some, it's the spirits that may lurk in them (this can be especially true for photos), for others it may be the lack of reliability in a used item's performance...among many other reasons. In most major cities here, there are hundreds of people trying to sell those things that at least once in their life were wanted and then unwanted. Death, divorce, debt, theft, or simply "cleaning house" are some of the stories that lie in between. The sellers are trying to find a new "wanter."
While the variety of things sold varies greatly, I am mostly concentrated on finding things on paper, mostly photos. The majority of the vendors are trying to sell photos one at a time and at exorbitant prices. Some ask for ~$10/photo. Photos from the Japanese occupation (1895-1945) sell for the most. I've had the good fortune to find a good man who seems to understand my inspiration and sells to me at about $0.06/photo. As I'm not a dealer, it allows me to have a meaningful collection without spending an irresponsible amount of money. A small selection of my finds are scattered throughout this entry.
To post them here in such a confused profusion seems cheap, especially if you spend any real time with the photos. These photos are mostly from family albums and capture moments that were extremely precious, especially considering the cost of a camera and developing its film in Taiwan 30+ years ago. And yet, the scattered profusion above is just a shadow of the profusion that attends these markets. I oftentimes go through thousands at a time, all mixed up, some decaying, some faded, some perfect. I discovered long ago that, after looking for a while, I start to unconsciously connect photos and imagine/create stories. After a while, some of the photos, with unimaginable differences, can slowly start to look the same.
While seemingly vulgar, I sometimes choose photos for their aesthetic qualities alone, not their suggested content. But oftentimes the real/imagined connections draws me in.
It does not escape me that these come, most likely, from someone who has died. While they were in that person's possession, they referred to stories, aided memories, meant something. In their current state, because they are disconnected from their source's and subject's hands, they are simply an illustration of something that once existed. There is practically zero context...only the images' superficial surface can suggest connections to our collective consciousness or recognizable places. And yet, these connections that I consciously and unconsciously make can have some strength.
In the process of an afternoon, I realized that a good many of the photos were of this couple...young and old, ping ponging back and forth. Pictures of them before having children, their wedding ceremony, after many years of marriage, with their children... When this happens, especially when I find a sort of sympathetic vibration between me and their faces, I feel a bond develop. And it's a strange feeling to contemplate - a one-way bond.
But really, most things without a beating heart, if not all things, are a "one-way bond." The process of collecting "aesthetically pleasing" photos, can reinforce the seemingly obvious fact that items carry no soul. But there are certainly some that seem to come with more, no matter how much I rationally realize that it's only in my relation to it that it has that "something."
As a brief aside, looking at these photos one evening, one of the men's face seemed very familiar. On a whim, I checked my photos I found last year, and sure enough, the photo I remembered picking up in 2014 was a picture of the same man...with the same camera as he holds, sitting with his lady, above.
Of course, there's the issue of who's on the other side of that camera. However unknown that person is, we know how they see that moment. In some ways, we look at it through their eyes.
While the main thrust of my photography for "creation" sake is done for my lexicon, Self-Portrait and a number of other projects, I have also loved taking photos of things I want to remember. I don't really see these as compositions, but more as what "taking" photographs suggest they are - captured moments, taken to hold on to.
The ones included on What's Out There are a selection that is representative of what I have seen and how I have seen them. They also make a good case for my interests, though in a more conscious way than those images in my lexicon. The photographs, taken starting in 2006, are from work travel, personal travel, friends, family, and many many miles of wandering/walking. Here are a few that can serve as an introduction:
As a quick item of trivia, "What's Out There" is a small nod to the "first" website, which can be seen at: http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html
You will also notice that I took a lot of cues for the design of my [index] page from that "first" page.
The work that has occupied me the most in the past few years is my lexicon and the compositions I make with them. It's a work in progress that is still growing, but I have added some finished works. Follow the new link Lex + Compositions to see the few others I selected for this site, in addition to the two below.
Starting in 2011, I started taking my little Canon QL-17 almost everywhere with me to work on a new project I envisioned as a running "Self-portrait." The idea was that through approaching friends, family and strangers alike, and asking them to take a photo of me, I could have one aspect of this self-portrait work - namely, how an other sees me. In addition, I would take one of them, which details how I see an other. I envisioned putting them side-by-side, in succession, and the growing work would serve as non-static self-portrait.
Besides being a personal project, it's rather emotional, photos of friends who became strangers, strangers who became friends and loved ones. My aging (and fattening-up) also becomes more apparent as the project goes on. There's a lot more to it, for me, but I will just put it out there in the wish to share. Please click the link S.P. to see a small selection. Below is one of my favorites.
While wandering around urban Singapore, I stumbled into a small graveyard where colonialists are interred. Marveling at some of the ages and names, I bumped into two gentleman, and despite the odd setting, I felt appropriate asking for one of them to be involved with my self-portrait. Happily, he agreed. Here we are above.