twitter
.....hello.....
ejlbio.png
Welcome to the :e: picture journal. Within these walls you'll find a mix of commissioned and personal work so feel free to subscribe or to just swing by whenever you're seeking... [hint: click on a big image and then use the L and R arrows on your keyboard to navigate through the rest]

::
March 26, 2011

with the most sincerest of apologies to George Carlin

We're a modern bunch aren't we? A modern bunch seemingly searching for something timeless and instead finding something old. But hey, we're digital and we're going over 100 miles an hour. We're plugged in, tuned out, turned off, logged on, cutting edge, state of the art, bi-coastal multitaskers and we can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond. Doesn't matter if it's uplinked or downloaded, inputted or outsourced 'cause we know the upside of downsizing and the downside of upgrading and trading in depth of soul for depth of field. We're a new breed of the old school and our inner artist is outward bound. We interface with our database and our database is in cyberspace. It's interactive, we're hyperactive, and no one blogs the unattractive. We are on point, on task, on brand, and off put; we are out of range, and in focus.

We get lit and shoot raw: bigger is hotter and faster is cooler. We close our eyes and shoot wide open.  We're tireless and we're wireless and we see dead pixels and live streams in photoshop and camera stores. The sales are up, the site is down so we spray and pray, scoot and shoot, grip and grin, and drag and drop. Our inbox is out of control and the software on our hard drive is Lightroom in a dark space [and you know your second shooter just blogged it first.] We write in HTML 5 during our 4 hour work week, shoot the rule of 3rds with our mark II's, and we wonder. Forget the feed back, we want Fast Track and an action pack, a shootsac, and the app for that, the Purple Cow and we want it now. We're stuck in this metafiction and we've traded in metaphor for metadata, just stop tweeting on my facebook. So think outside the softbox and waylay hard knocks because some are making images even if the rest of us are taking photos. It's full frame, with a long lens, high iso and large format. Mini sessions, on a tiny budget, with little kids in a small space. The middle of the oreo isn't included in the package anymore and someone took the cereal out of the box. The middle is gone and we complain there's no left left but there's no right, right? So we retreat, re-brand, re-blog, re-tweet, re-calibrate, re-touch, and re-compose. We don't snooze, so we can't lose and we all know P is for Professional and 1.2 is an aperture, not a style.  A disc of digital files is included though, right? Nope.

We read about A-listers in the B-School using C-Stands and a D3 over E-Mails about F-Stops on our G-Drives  in HD and it's all on our I-Phones. [Which sync with shootQ]  You can buy megapixels at a mini mall, micro thirds in a mega store but maybe instead of buying that prime new zoom lens, we could all just get off our asses and take a couple steps closer. We buy pre-sets and we pre-sell, pre-screen, pre-design, pre-package, and pre-approve the post-process.  Our output is down, but income is up. So go ahead and take a short position on the long bond because our revenue stream has its own cash flow and the truth of the matter is that there are no rules for good photographs, just good photographs. All this has very little to do with what we see and everything to do with how we see it.

We're a modern bunch aren't we? You can go ahead and drag your couch out to the middle of a field and surround it with old non-working cameras and typewriters, shoot it with lens flare and a tilt shift. We're this modern bunch seemingly searching for something timeless and instead finding something old. But hey, we're digital and for better or for worse we're going over 100 miles an hour.

Intro to my Inspire Boston 2011 talk on Storytelling and being OK with doing things the way you feel is right, not the way the industry says that you should.

seek the joy

eric

image credits Grazier Photography, Bruce Plotkin, Athena Blude

facebook

Comments
Dawn McKinstry says:

I love this. Thank you for it.

(03.26.11 @ 08:57 PM)
Elena Hernandez says:

I loved George Carlin and your twist adding photography in to the 'old' mix is fabulous! Great humor is always a good way to make a point.
Blessings,
Elena

(03.26.11 @ 10:16 PM)
Emilie says:

Weehooo!!! I felt like I was there, could hear your voice saying this out loud. You're the best, e. xoxox

(03.26.11 @ 10:22 PM)
Nicole Taylor says:

Thank you for posting this Eric. It's funny because as I read it, I can HEAR you saying it. GREAT stuff!

(03.27.11 @ 09:55 AM)
Robert says:

Love it. Please record a video and post to the YouTubes so I can do a lipdub.

(03.29.11 @ 01:23 PM)
kelly says:

thanks eric. this just got its own bookmark, because i know i will read it again and again :)

(03.31.11 @ 10:01 PM)
jennifer armstrong says:

hey, eric. It's a long way from vancouver but distance is a funny thing. Great post. Truly. A joy to discover & read. Have fun out there (i can sense you are, my friend). :O)

(04.10.11 @ 07:37 PM)
Leon says:

This is fantastic, like the others, I really wish I could hear it in your own voice.

(04.11.11 @ 05:49 AM)
Karen Lee says:

As always, so well put. This won't be the last time I read it - thank you for the dose of perspective. xoxo

(04.14.11 @ 03:10 PM)
Tanya Malott says:

Well thought and well said. Refreshing to read. Definitely worth re-posting. Thank you for sharing.

(07.07.11 @ 03:36 PM)