Archive for April, 2009

Therapeutic Properties

Deep End © Jim Korpi

“When I’m photographing with digital I’m thinking about the photographs I’ve made. When I’m photographing with film I’m thinking about the photographs I will make.” Jim Nachtwey said in a conversation with National Geographic’s Director of Photography David Griffin when they were discussing whether or not Mr. Nachtwey would photograph the story Military Medicine in digital or film.
The process of photography has been both my therapy and my disorder. Currently film has brought about rejuvenation in the therapeutic properties of the process. The agility and quickness of digital was revolutionary, but has taken away some visceral connection I once had with photography. One is not better than the other. One is only more applicable for one personality or application over another.
Film and digital have been playing tug of war in the minds of consumers and professionals alike. With the assistance of a market driven economy it’s inevitable that digital will win the war. A Wal-Mart employee told me the other day they are going completely film-free next month. No more film processing done in-house at Wal-Marts throughout the country. This comes as a shock to a small community that lost all of it’s camera stores due to the arrival of Wal-Mart in the first place. In a market of plenty there are few options.

American Made

Patriotism © Jim Korpi


“Patriotism is a arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles.” – George Jean Nathan
Patriotism seems so much more empty when American flags are draped over foreign cars at a dealership.

Aging

Falling Water © Jim Korpi

Annah took me away on my birthday for a weekend retreat near Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Falling Water” home in Pennsylvania. The home is everything I had imagined and more. It is proof that residential architecture can be done right if only time and thought are considered (not to mention money).

Journal Entry April 15, 2009
Turning 33 didn’t happen overnight. The day, this birthday, falls on the calendar as most do. There was the cool quiet morning before the sun rose. It’s April. Then the gradual glow. For the individual the birthday is a selfish reflection. A why? A now what?
Thirty-three is a transformational age. Physically the body is changing. Growth has all but stopped. Decline has not quite begun, but it’s patiently waiting. Ideally it’s a midpoint.
It’s a mental marker you arrive at when you begin to think of the world moving forward if you were to cease moving. These thoughts keep you up at night, but you calmly fall back to sleep. Your life is suddenly shifted into perspective. You are surrounded by familiar others but are frighteningly alone. This coming of age gives clairvoyance. Age becomes more familiar. Wrinkles are signs of wear where a smile may have too often worn.

Sign of Times

Clearance © Jim Korpi

“Most imports are from outside of the country.”

“The thing that’s wrong with the French is that they don’t have a word for entrepreneur.”

“A tax cut is really one of the anecdotes to coming out of an economic illness.”
-George W. Bush