Gratitude, again and again

You told me with your stars and hearts, despite my churlish blocking of comments, that you thought the portrait of JoAnn was good enough, despite the low light. You are a generous group of people. Thank you. JoAnn is not only beautiful but brave and wise. She perseveres in running for office despite daily death threats, intimidation, media smears, outright lies, and virulent hatred from the moneyed crowd that hates her because they can’t control her, and from the ignorant who believe the propaganda that money can buy and would hate her anyway because she's Black. She is awareness, courage, strength of conviction. I wanted the portrait to include that.

I was going to turn comments back on today, but I received a gift certificate to Powells from a generous friend (lapsed Blipper), and there I found what I need. 

Joel Meyerowitz says it for me (again): 

“When I look at these [photography] books, it’s like entering a dream. The experiences of these photographers, the locations and identities of the people and places…. It’s not about making photographs that look similar to theirs; rather, it’s a case of recognizing and tapping into your particular instincts and responses to the incredible generosity of experience that the world offers.” (Emphasis mine.)

Here’s what I brought home with me:

How I Make Photographs, by Joel Meyerowitz (2019).

Helen Levitt. Thames & Hudson Photofile (2021).

Women Street Photographers. Edited by Gulnara Samoilova (2021).

I add, about that last (and largest) volume, it’s not feminist chauvinism that makes me want to see what women have done; it’s that too often, women are not included in books about street photography. Women can more easily photograph other women and children, while men with cameras may be perceived as predators; but women are subject to predation in the streets, in circumstances where men have freedom. So gender sometimes limits or enables what we can see. 

Now all I want to do is hunker down and gaze into the genius of these photographers. I need to get off screen more than I do. I need to get off screen and out into the world to receive “the incredible generosity of experience that the world offers.”