.gov wonders: Why mix color and monochrome?

Went by the range today to drop off the cute little promo cards I had printed, and the first reaction was, “‘A Declaration of Arms?’ I bet you’re on a watch-list somewhere.”

I hadn’t thought about that.

For the record, I should note (again) that the Declaration of Arms is a historical document, part of our nation’s history, and naming my project after it certainly doesn’t mean that I’m declaring arms against anyone. I’m no more a threat than Tom Clancy is when he names a novel “Clear and Present Danger.” So, you guys in the van across the street can go through someone else’s mail.

Anyway, I had some lofty ideas to talk about, what with Castro’s resignation and all. But, as I look back over the site after a few edits (thanks, inner circle of faithful editors!), I’m more compelled to discuss the images.

They are in no particular order. This will change. The site was rushed together so that I can promote it at the upcoming gun show (I’ve got a booth right in the loophole). So the order will change, and there are images yet to come.

I’m not sure yet what to do with the images I produce as the project goes alone. There are already 30 in the gallery, with another 8-10 in the editing stage. I worry that the work will lose its clarity, but I also want to provide thorough reporting.

There’s also the color/monochrome thing. Yes, I know that’s a faux pas, and no, I don’t really care. The difference is greater than just aesthetics, it also represents the capture medium.

I was trained in the documentary tradition, whose heroes shot film, because that was their only option. The older images here were shot on my Pentax K1000, and I have since made the digital leap. Part of my reasoning was backed up in a talk by Jeff Whetstone, about how he uses an 8x10 for its unbelievable quality, but it takes 20 minutes to take a picture. Yes, film is film, and better in some magic way no one can name. But, as I’ve discussed on the DarkTopo blog, this is not about capital-A Art. The digital images capture more information, and the technology allows me to present more photos, faster. That’s what it’s all about.

I still take some pride in the fact that I shot the entire “On Target” series with that K1000. Looking back on it now, I can remember watching the negatives come off the reel in the darkroom and feeling like a real photographer. That’s not a feeling you get when you pop the CF card into the card reader.



Another issue that keeps me up at night is how to incorporate the work I’ve shot at places other than On Target. Perhaps this will all lead to separate galleries for each series of images; the original “On Target,” the Super Tuesday-Election day series, and the photos of informal shoots in the woods. What else? I’d love to do portraits of gun owners at the range, and I’m considering a series on “No Concealed Weapons” signs.

The reason I’m telling you all this, instead of keeping stoically quiet about it, is that this is journalism, not Art. An Artist is in control of a project from start to finish, and, consequently, Art loses its documentary value. I am at the mercy of what’s put before my lens, and it would be a lie to say I’ve got the rest of this project planned out. This is a luxury I enjoy, working independently. So I’m doing my best to leave out any pretense of artistic convention, and to keep my processes as transparent as possible. There are no smoke and mirrors here.