September 11th, 2016
September morning walk. Not enough sleep. I could blame Little Edie and her melancholic dance, but I won’t. A pained fade to black. A wrong choice before bed. We should have slept with the windows open.
These winds. Behind them Autumn drags her loose gown over the dry ground. I’m beginning to feel her critique. Last night in the twilight, I photographed bats from our plastic Adirondack chairs. A futile attempt. As usual, though, failure’s often my preference of success.
A man in bed clothes grabs his newspaper at the end of the drive, never stepping off his golf cart. I lose myself in the minutiae. I pass Shantz farm falling down. I find many golf balls beside the creek. It’d be my luck to get struck by one. I pick a few up for the kids.
Back on Spinnerstown Road I find myself saying prayers for the wooly bear caterpillars crossing the road. Indian Summer moths. I toss one into the soybean edge. More fleeting thoughts. I pull my Homburg hat down tighter, shielding the sun under wool brim. Sunday takes shape.
May 16th, 2016
One of the greatest honors that I have ever received is the respect and insight that artist and writer Mark Alice Durant shared in his afterword essay in my first photobook. I learned things about my particular use of the camera and my psychology with photography that I had never thought about. Mark offers that up with each artist and the art he writes about. Donating to the publication of his book here, and his Saint Lucy Books imprint, goes without the slightest hesitation. His essays and interviews alone, found on his plentiful arts-based website “Saint Lucy”, is a testament to his skilled examination, let alone the numerous writings he’s penned for the industry’s most aesthetically provoking magazines and monographs. The education he brings forth is something that few writers can offer, in a language and style that is convincing, tangible and inspiring. Get ready for good things to come with Mark at the helm. If you aren’t already familiar with his writings, be sure to visit SAINT LUCY. I’m certain you’ll find the experience stimulating and consider donating to this promise of a brilliant publishing endeavor.
See Mark’s Kickstart project -> Mark Alice Durant, 27 Contexts, Saint Lucy Books
© Mark Alice Durant, 2016
March 24th, 2016
Bucks County (silver gelatin prints)
Feels good to return to old work . . . been looking back at photographs and prints I made from @ 1998 – 2006 in my maternal home of Bucks County. I might begin to pick up where I left off, documenting the changing landscape from a rural one to a nonsensical, suburban one. If there was one positive thing to come out of the recession, it was the local pause in the housing boom, poor residential design and the greed of developers.
More images on my Instagram feed, HERE
March 11th, 2016
Here’s what I like about the first warm week of nights in the new year. I like the long drag of the trash can crescendoing down the driveway to its overnight resting place. The periphery of neighborhood sounds directly after. The tire hiss off a ways descending down to Limeport. The plane lights blinking, yellow white, red, way up above, its engine hum far behind the flicker. The stars. Orion. The spotlight on the dry dead grass. Bleached beige. The quiet billowing behind twilight. The silhouette of our cat coming from across the street. The dead wind. The dying down of humanity after their meaningless day working for what? The acute ear has its way of leveling pertinence for a tiny glimpse of perfection. How silly that’s all some have come to need before next day’s dawn. Others, not even that. I sit on the sidewalk beside the trash, smiling. Bowing. Drinking a beer.
(3.9.16)
February 19th, 2016
Winter fatigue in the northeast led me to California earlier in the month . . . A sum of some parts.
