Credit Card Bills, Photography, and Memory

On NPR yesterday there was an interview with an author who used her credit card bills as the catalyst for telling stories of her life. A pretty exciting idea actually. I was curious and dug through some of my old bills and was surprised by what I remembered. On my first trip to Thailand I kept a small journal of events and impressions, when I read the journal my memories return. I have many photographs of my youth, cute kid with a stuffed elephant, kid with lawn mower, etc.. When I think of my youth I remember the photographs! I do not think I recover my actual memories, but that could be because I was too young. I wonder though, I would tentatively say that photographs can become memories in a way that is different from written notes, or even credit card statements. I know our national memory is one of photography. As I was writing I was remembering having breakfast at my grandmothers house, there was no picture, but the photograph stimulated the memory of her house, it was a visual memory. I think this whole area deserves much more exploration.

Wandering in the 70's: Stephen Cysewski

Wandering in the 70's: Stephen Cysewski

I have made major additions to the entire site. These are images that I like. I took them in the 70's and 80's. They are images that have lasted. I selected them from many negatives, chose to print them. chose to scan them, and chose to share them. Since the scans are old the image quality is not high. Each image could be rescanned and cleaned up with Photoshop. If I did that though I would never get around to share them. Anyway, here the are.....

Nixon Selected Images "25 years of the Brown sisters"

Nixon Selected Images "25 years of the Brown sisters"
The more I look at these pictures the more I appreciate the power of photography to document places in time.

Trying to Find My Photograph by Jim Gehrz- The Digital Journalist

Trying to Find My Photograph by Jim Gehrz- The Digital Journalist
I think the idea of "My Photograph" applies to amature photography to. The concept provides a focus and motivation when in a photographic situation. This article is well worth reading.

Photography Gallery "Hiroshima"

Photography Gallery "Hiroshima"
Photography as documentation can be very powerful. It is only with time that we recognize what we have lost. Without photographs, sometimes, we lose our memory.

AutoWeek - Salute to Tradition: Indy 500 in Black & White
I love auto racing. I love photography. Almost all current auto racing photography is in color. At the Indy 500 Autoweek sponsored a photographer to document the event in black and white. The emotional and intellectual change is amazing. I am almost dismissive of color pictures, mostly I use them to gather information. The black and white pictures are full of information, meaning, and emotion. Here is the link to the photo gallery.