movement, movement

Color Photography, 1930s

Posted in Historic, friends, life, photography by amoslanka on July 21, 2010

Quite a beautiful collection of images I’ve come upon today. Last night a friend stayed at our house. She and her travelling companions are from the area of Atlanta. Amidst conversation that lasted into the night, I described a love that I hold for the romanticizable South, which includes in many respects the aesthetic of simple lives and faded colors. Coming across these photographs today remind me directly of this sentiment that somehow resembles nostalgia.

(more…)

Parker Fitzgerald + Polaroid

Posted in friends, photography by amoslanka on June 15, 2010

Some of you may be followers of Parker’s project this year, combining a polaroid photo and quote for each day of this year. (see here on flickr) I remember a day at the beach well over a year ago when Parker first put a newly acquired Land Camera into use. It was a cold and windy day but the best part of the memory is remembering how that idea became a reality and in the last 6 months has become a success. I love seeing such movements happen, and I’ve even been fortunate enough to be the visual subject of a few small pieces of his project.

The Hasselblad photos below are from that first day, and the polaroids at the bottom are a few of my favorites of Parker’s work on this project so far this year.

Parker Fitzgerald + Polaroid

Parker Fitzgerald + Polaroid

Polaroids:

Parker Fitzgerald + Polaroid

Parker Fitzgerald + Polaroid

Parker Fitzgerald + Polaroid

Parker Fitzgerald + Polaroid

Parker Fitzgerald + Polaroid

Page 11

Posted in friends, life, people, photography by amoslanka on April 10, 2010

Page 11
“Her laugh was a question he wanted to spend the whole of his life answering.”

L

Posted in friends, people, photography by amoslanka on March 31, 2010

L

Oregon Coast, February 2010

Michal Angela Wilson

Posted in friends, people, photography, portland by amoslanka on March 3, 2010

Michal Angela Wilson, December 2009

Heart of mine! What strange surprises

Mount aloft on such a stair!

Some great vision upward rises,

Curving, bending, floating fair.

Michal Angela Wilson, December 2009

This is Michal Angela Wilson. Dear friend, genuine soul. Portland, Oregon, December 2009.

Andrew Stonestreet

Posted in friends, people, photography by amoslanka on November 23, 2009

Its fall again. I seem to have been seeing this guy every September for the last few years, and we always come away with some great photos. Last year we met up in Felton, CA, this year Andrew spent a few weeks with us here in Portland.

Andrew Stonestreet

Andrew Stonestreet

Laura Dart

Posted in friends, people, photography, poetry by amoslanka on October 21, 2009

Laura Dart

Listen! I will be honest with you;
I do not offer the old smooth prizes, but offer rough new prizes;
These are the days that must happen to you:

You shall not heap up what is call’d riches,
You shall scatter with lavish hand all that you earn or achieve,
You but arrive at the city to which you were destin’d—you hardly settle yourself to satisfaction, before you are call’d by an irresistible call to depart,
You shall be treated to the ironical smiles and mockings of those who remain behind you;
What beckonings of love you receive, you shall only answer with passionate kisses of parting,
You shall not allow the hold of those who spread their reach’d hands toward you.

- Walt Whitman, Song of the Open Road

Kingsley Althoff

Posted in friends, people, photography, portland by amoslanka on October 20, 2009

Greg Althoff

On a sunny day in Portland, August, 2009

more. more. more.

So It Goes

Posted in christianity, culture, friends, life, philosophy, religion by amoslanka on October 3, 2009

Wounds

Let no one hope to find in contemplation an escape from conflict, from anguish or from doubt. On the contrary, the deep, inexpressible certitude of the contemplative experience awakens a tragic anguish and opens many questions in the depths of the heart like wounds that cannot stop bleeding. For every gain in deep certitude there is a corresponding growth of superficial ‘doubt.’ This doubt is by no means opposed to genuine faith, but it mercilessly examines and questions the spurious ‘faith’ of everyday life, the human faith which is nothing but the passive acceptance of conventional opinion.
- Thomas Merton, From New Seeds of Contemplation

Sharing hand-rolled cigarettes, Daniel and I considered the path of those who’ve walked from the realms of contemporary church culture like a salty insect shell they would find somewhat discomforting in making any attempt to return to their shoulders. Our stories include us in this demographic, and we consider the heavy weight of this world left behind, but not as though shoulders were made only for burdons or for looking back over. It is the gift of a contemplative soul to shed the conventional in its falsehoods but its burdon to recognize that the only homes to be found are those that embrace the broken. Contemplation that considers the honest shape of the shell shed and the new home will recognize the cracks and scrapes and holes of any home but will continue the mendings. Like a cigarette that just won’t stay lit, only a bit of fire will bring new life, and with it, new impending death. In such a repetition, I can hear Vonnegut‘s chorus: “So it goes..”

You Are Camera Set In Motion

Posted in friends, photography by amoslanka on September 16, 2009

Bryan and Beth's wedding

Bryan and Beth’s wedding
Omaha, Nebraska, May 2009