Brooke's MFA Blog

March

2008-03-10T20:43:00.004-04:00

Experiment 2/25/08 with Aunt

2008-02-24T20:53:00.005-05:00

Meeting with Jesseca Ferguson February 17, 2008

2008-02-24T19:50:00.001-05:00

I would like my photography to touch, engage provoke emotion; I would like the viewer to identify with it. In other words I would like there to be universality in my work.

At this time it is hard to peg what my images are. It is clear that I like to put myself in these images so there is a performance aspect to them. I do this because this work is personal, about me and at this time I feel it is I to be in them, as it is myself who is experiencing this life.

I notice that light and movement entrance me. I believe this is why I have been wearing my mother’s white wedding dress and using white materials to create almost an ethereal feeling. I believe this is a start for bringing universality to my work because of its ghostly qualities can take the viewer to another place.

Guiding this work is the death of my mom. How do I feel 10 years after her passing away? I initially went down this road because I wanted to bring intimacy to my work.

This event of my mother dying was extremely tragic and altered my life. Because she was sick during my adolescent years, I feel that it shaped me as a person more than other events. But, that is the thing. I don’t know that for sure. Maybe I would be the same person I am if she didn’t die. Questions like these make me search for an identity or aspects of me that is without being completely tainted from the death of my mom. Does this identity exist? Can I separate them?

Below are the lists of ideas addressing topics, integration of content, books, artists and finally ‘assignments’ to experiment with to see where the successes lie and what the work reveals.

Representing loss:
Appear to perform for camera.
How to do a portrait of someone who is not here anymore?
How do we remember someone?
What keeps someone alive for me?
Memorialize
Experience past memory

Rimma and Valery Gerlovina Russians who incorporate text within photographs.
Think about how to incorporate text into image so that it is in harmony with the subject.

Universality:
How to make image appeal to people?
Not apparent time or place, this is shown in location and setting.
Location and settings that are obscure.

Francesca Woodman, universal in her work. Her use of framing is very deliberate.
Cig Harvey, performance, universality, commercial, Maine landscape

Assignment:
Trace: flour, white dandelion, inside from milkweed pods, soapsuds
10 images of old house, forgotten, abandoned
Aunt: her feet and mine on bed
Fragments, parts
Who was she?: Revisit who was mom was to me, who she was to other people. Interviews: How do you remember my mother?
Text
Time: sand, snow
Cairn on heart
Project small version of mom on my heart
Afghan water, found body
Playing with artificial and natural light and low exposure times.

Think of some Final forms:
Diptych, Triptych, (mom, both, me)
Slideshow, series of 5

Artists and Literature:
Jim Goldberg- Rich or Poor
Geoffrey Bach- Forget Me Not
Camera Lucida- p. 67 Wintergarden photo
Rebecca Solnit, “A field Guide to Getting Lost”
Impression of something that used to be there. A mark that remains.
Jo Spence and Joan Solomn. What can a woman do with a camera
Lorie Novak, projects on to outside things
Robo Kocan- use of light and environment

Feb 08 photos

2008-02-18T10:13:00.004-05:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43643740@N00/sets/72157603823049784/

Residency Summary Fall 2008

2008-02-18T10:11:00.000-05:00

Suggestions from critiques

• Be careful of writing and lights how it adds to you photos.
• Research from women and marriage project will inform work with my mom more. Don’t see any conflict or tension in the work. Tension is only phone in documentary photography
• Who are you in this environment of Maine
• Look at feminist work. Research everything about gender between now and next residency. Notion of Identity and family relationships. Inform yourself about your universe.
• Find your position in relations to all of these issues.
• Internal Journey
• You can’t just make happy art. This is what media does. Ideal happiness, why can’t happiness be in art?

• Views of marriage: Interior, cultural, historic
• Look into the larger cultural aspects of marriage.
• Do more work just to see where it goes.
• Look at your own family snapshots for research and inspiration.
• Resolve the form and content issue.
1. Look at your loss for inspiration.
2. What are you trying to say with your work?
• Use an “unloaded” visual link in images.

• Don’t worry about finding diversity in my women and marriage project. Asking people who aren’t white to be interviewed about marriage would be a greater insult.
• Women and Marriage. Interview and Photograph women who are: undertakers, marriage councilors, same sex marriage, arranged marriage, nun etc. . .

• Bigger Prints
• Showing white is distracting
• The multi image content in compelling
• The two “horizontal” images have a darker/tragic emotional appeal.
• The family marriage shots are less impressive then the single subject.

• Less David Hockney style. More layers blending in. Small detail information begins to look like a painting.
• Photograph the environment that these women lived in.
• If you use a light box be prepared to defend the use of one.

• Stronger sense of light and place.
• Create a self-portrait in the style of my women and marriage series. Combine the two ideas of movement, light and place
• Is your point about other people or yourself?*
• Nice for your viewer to decode, revisit, and decode again.
• Do things that make you uncomfortable.
• Slow down, tripod, Portraits without person but objects.
• Photograph mother’s objects without being nostalgic because the pieces will already be nostalgic
• Layer the audio. Still have every voice be distinctive and understandable.

• Make a physical collage. Use different size snapshots, try foam core.
• If you want to experiment more with this I would definitely try not to make it happen in one picture.

Artist suggestions
Anna Gaskell Jacques Serges Sally Mann Reneke Dijkastra
Cindy Sherman Lalla Essaydi Tierney Gurnom Patrick Sullivan
Tina Barney Lou Jones Shimon Attie Cecily Brown
Mona Hatum Rene Cox Annette Menzr Anna Medita
Loretta Lucx Katy Grannan Laura McPhee Julie Blackmon
John Cage Winkur Dawoud Bay Josh Gleason
Olivia Parker SA Bachman Denise Markia Wangetchi Mutu
Starn Twins David Hockney Jenny Holzer Gillian Wearing

Mom ideas generated at the residency
• Picture to sum up my entire relationship to me mother. (Triptych, collage,)
Feelings Before:
1. Humor
2. Love, support, encouragement
3. Best Friends
4. Level Headed.
5. Confident
6. Faith

Feelings After:
1. Abandonment
2. Without guidance,
3. Loss of childhood, onset of adulthood at an early age.
4. Loss of unconditional love, acceptance, support.
5. Uncertainty
6. Resilient

• Use “unloaded” objects of mom and photography.
• Collage photographs of my mother with images of me.
• Photograph of my mom, allow to disintegrate outdoors.
• Using the inside of a milkweed pod, release as I was releasing her ashes.
• Family framed photographs like gravestones.

Reflection

After my fall residency I feel that I have two directions in which to proceed this semester. I brought to AIB two projects that I wanted to take further; the first is a mix of documentary and fine art. I interviewed women on marriage and using collage with digital images in Photoshop recreated a David Hockney influence collage that represented what each of these women thought of marriage. The second project is drawn from the death of my mom. I have experimented taking images revolving around my feelings of her loss and what it means to me not only in my past, and current life but my future.

Identity
As I went into the residency I almost didn’t put up the images I had taken revolving around the death of my mom as I thought they were trivial and elementary because of the wedding dress. My first critique was with Oscar Palacio and his first response surprised me.

“I am drawn to the series revolving your mother. There are culturally ingrained stereotypes of women. The composites are interesting but things really come together with work with the mother. The wedding dress is loaded, cultural stereotypes, feminist. Be careful of writing and lights and how it adds to your photos. Research with the women and marriage will inform you work with mom.”

I was taken back with the interest in my images from my mom. I believe the women and marriage project which; I began after taking pictures about my mom allowed me to step back and give myself perspective to this personal work. But instead of using the women and marriage as a means of self discovery I really would like to dig deeper into the mother project and find out why I am compelled to do it. What am I to discover about myself and better understand?

“Load yourself with feminist work. It is about gender. You need to read everything about gender between now and next residency. Notions of identity and family relationships. Fine your position in relation to all of these issues.”

My reaction to Oscar’s group critique was one where I was please and defeated at the same time. I was glad that he had liked the photos revolving around my mom but at the same time. I abandoned that project, left it, because I felt that it was cliché. I thought about what people said in the past that it is a very loaded project to do and that most people aren’t successful with subjects that are so personal to them. I think I need to stop worrying about what people say and just create. See what happens. The following is feedback on the same project from my critique with Jan Avgikos.

“I like this project a lot. I love the text on the body it is visually very beautiful. It’s not specific as to where we are in the world. There is a lot of work where you can go here. Experiment with different times of day, dawn and twilight.”

The positive feedback on this project was like an adrenalin shot to me and as I contemplated it I feel that I have a better idea what this project is about. I addressed the project as “images revolving around the loss of my mom” but I believe this is more about my identity. A significant portion I have associated to my identity is the fact that I am a motherless daughter (and that I am from Joisey). It shaped me at a very young age and traces of it are all over me. The question is: is this project really about not having a mother or is it about my identity? I believe the first images that I produce, relate being motherless and as I progress in this work, they will evolve into my identity. Will the loss of my mom still be ingrained in these photos? Of course, but I there will be more depth into the imagery because, I am more than a motherless daughter. With that said this project should be renamed to a working name of “identity”.

Women and Marriage

Regarding the women and marriage project I feel that at this time, it is a better basis for a thesis, as that it relates to many people throughout the world both male and female. There is also a large history regarding women and marriage. Despite this, I feel I should just go straight to the source and discover the issues of identity in my mother project. If I do choose to go forth and develop a thesis on women and marriage how do I make the portraits more compelling and draw people in?

I met with Sunanda who was my old advisor and we didn’t really talk about the mother project, he did say however, that he did not know where it could go in terms of my thesis. Not that is impossible to rework but I would have to be careful. He saw the women and marriage project as a more solid direction for my thesis as long as I combined audio.

“With the digital manipulation it has been done but, to add sound then that will take it to the next step. It will make it more than a formal experiment, using the audio, listen and strategize your visual. By doing this the mode of display the medium changes.”

In a way to incorporate the audio and echo the layered images Deborah suggested the idea of layering.

“Maybe edit the audio so it is bit and pieces of various voices. Layer the audio, mix it up but, make it clear.”

Deborah Davidson spoke of choosing women for that project who are most interesting to me. This was after having a conversation both with her and Sunanda on the lack of diversity within my subjects. The reality is that I live in rural Maine and I am not claiming to represent a diverse population of women. I am guided in choosing people I know and what peaks my interest in these individuals.

Another challenge that Deborah along with other faculty and students was to figure out how to get the effective image in the younger women portraits that I have in the older. The key elements appear to be one person within the shot and within their home environment in addition to focusing on the mementos in their homes. In the same regard Deborah said that she didn’t think audio was essential if I had images as convincing as these (older women).

To shake things up for me on my women and marriage project was Jan. She was not shy about what she saw.

“I don’t like them. I don’t like the concept of putting all of these photographs together in a collage but still holding on to the snapshot. There are too many dead zones and I feel that I have to edit a lot out. Things that are clear in the collage are not that interesting. There is too much unusable information and that does not serve the subject.”

“I think you are a documentary photographer. That is the substance as to what you are dealing with here. And you are experimenting different ways to present it. If anything go back to the Hockney mode and use in a more literal sense.”

When I asked Jan for a direction to go in she suggested experimenting with physical collage cutting and using different size snap shots; try placing things on foam core. These were suggestions and of course no promise for success but worth experimenting.

Leaving the residency the general consensus was that the images revolving around my mother were more compelling to people in my critiques than the images having to do with my women and marriage project. The caveat is that the women and marriage project was better for developing a thesis. Marriage is common in most cultures and addressed in different ways, this has been a record throughout centuries.

I see the two projects related. They both involve feminine issues in general and with a focus on women and marriage. The personal one of mine does incorporate marriage but it is united under the umbrella of issues that represents the identity of myself as a motherless daughter in her late 20’s. I believe at my age and especially living in rural Maine the thought of marriage does indeed occupy my mind. Part of me could see the two projects uniting but I am not sure where it would come together.

When I talked to Deborah Davidson, my new advisor, about pursuing both of these projects this semester she said, just make sure I have the time because I will have to do a lot of work. She also said by creating more work on the mother project that I might come to some revelations. The possibility of that is greatly satisfying and I intend to evolve in this work.

Project Proposal on Marriage

2007-12-03T07:36:00.000-05:00

What is marriage to the female population from all ages and backgrounds?

For many women marriage is understood as being part of life, something that will happen. Once it does there is lots of pomp and circumstance around the ceremony event and then it ends.

Afterwards the crescendo of what love and marriage dies down and the partnership takes its own life. What is that life? What is a view of a woman in a loveless, a happy, or a controlling marriage like?

What if you have never been married? How do you view a union? How does your cultural or social economic background influence your opinion on marriage? Does it?
How does a parents’ marriage affect the future relationships or marriage of their children?

This endeavor it see what the female’s perception of marriage is unveiled by asking several simple questions on marriage and recording their responses. In their own words how does a child comprehend marriage, a single woman in her 30’s, a divorcée, a same sex union, and a marriage lasting generations?

How will these submissions on marriage lay upon me or anyone who experiences this project?

The second component of this project is the portrait of these females. When presenting the project to these women, I ask them to think about something that makes them think of marriage and go from their on photographing them. At this time I am taking full portraits as well as partial portraits in the style of David Hockney where I would use many images to make one portrait.

It is my hope to build these images of the individual in a slide show format as their audio on the idea of marriage runs until the end when you have a full portrait of them.

This documentary is currently a work in progress.

November 14th

2007-11-14T16:56:00.000-05:00

Okay, new direction for Brooke. I am going to interview females of all ages and backgrounds on marriage. From little girls to women in their 90's.

Now for photos . . . I have some ideas and I want your feedback. Should I do portraits of these women in their wedding dresses, my mom's wedding dress, no dress when they don't have their own, a veil? Or let them choose their pose and attire?

Same background, cloth back drop (I think I might do some at school here) how do I light it?

I was also thinking of presenting in an audio slide show like a David Hockney piece with various pictures of them materializing one at a time to create their complete portrait as their audio on what marriage is to them runs.

I hope to do some over this Thanksgiving week and will post some of the results.

Conference with Christopher James 9/25

2007-10-10T14:41:00.000-04:00

My conference with Christopher was directed to the photography that I wanted to focus on which is: memory, loss and more with the emphasis of the passing of my mother at the age of 18. We addressed several ideas on how to convey these topics along with his suggestions on directing those ideas.

When I asked Christopher for ideas of incorporating my mom writings of letters and a journal to me. I thought of photographing them with an image of her projected on the writings or audio of her words with a slide show of pictures. He offered another suggestion and that was taking those words and writing them on my body. Thinking about her words and where they affect me, how they fall on me and write them in those areas. By making it personal, I bring passion to the image, weight to her words.

Further ideas:

Create a diptych of myself wearing my mother’s wedding dress. A photograph from the front and one from the back. The strength in this image that Christopher noted was that the back does not zip up all the way, that would show that one life does not fit all.

The diptych idea actually evolved from a triptych idea I had that would photograph my life from the past, present and future. The Present could pull from the wedding dress photo. The Past would involve wearing clothes that are too big for me, thus my childhood dress up and the future could be represented in my wanting to be a mother one day. Christopher mentioned using the idea of the doll, as practice for motherhood but then he suggested an idea I like more and that would be using an African fetish, tying and doll to hang around my back to ward off evil spirits. I feel this would be more fitting with me and have a cultural backbone that would add depth to the piece.

Another aspect is taking family images and coping them on to laser tran or a similar transparent material, arranging them on me and photographing that.

Use fabric to create a photogram of my mom’s belongings on fabric and then sewn to fit me, photograph that.

There are other ideas to explore with the regard of the projection of images and layering of images on top of each other however, these didn’t excite Christopher as much as the previous ideas. To myself the above ideas seem more directed and the later mentioned ones are ones that I want to experiment with but not sure when I would have the opportunity.

My exploration since the conference:

Reaction to Workshop, Stepping In Front of the Lens with Sean Kernan

2007-08-01T08:37:00.001-04:00

Stepping in Front of the Lens is a class that I took at the Maine Media Workshops in Rockport, Maine with Sean Kernan. I took the class to help myself think in a way I have not thought about before and then photograph in a way that transcends my old work and my old habits as a photographer.

Sean Kernan integrates various theater exercises within the class to raise awareness about each other and the world that surrounds us.. As a participant I became very intimate with the other students in my class. From staring at each other’s face, writing about each other, performing in front of each other, it lifted a veil of shyness to reveal acceptance and intimacy.

Kernan believes that good work comes out of discomfort. These exercises dealt with discomfort and led to connections with our selves and with people in our group. Photo exercises consisted of the following: light on the human body, taking a photograph evokes a person with out having to show that person and extending the photograph by presenting an image in a different way.

I took Kernan’s class to find a different way to approach photography. I have been photographing family business and decided I wanted to keep focusing on one family business and began a project dealing with the loss of my mother.

Photographing loss, feeling, memory or the absence of someone can be difficult to do if not impossible though traditional documentary. So when I took Kernan’s class I wanted to begin with ideas I had in showing different aspects of my mom and my feelings that surround her.

I began photographing myself as I had not attempted to do before and I thought that it might be helpful later on in my work. Next I photographed myself thinking of thoughts and feelings related to the sickness and absence of my mom. This practice felt like acting as I was recalling emotions but I think some images surprised me.

Finally, we needed to extend a photograph. This was something I was looking forward to trying. My last mentor, Jan Rosenbaum had incorporated two photographs into a landscape and I found the affect very interesting. I felt this could be a stepping-stone for me because I could use images from my childhood combined with current images revisited in the childhood photographs. Layering the photographs on top of each other and matching up components of the image would be one way to combine the past with the present.

I approached this by taking a photograph of myself I created in a hammock. The hammock felt appropriate because of its interconnectedness, restful, enclosing feelings that could mirror a mother daughter relationship. I tied my digital camera to the hammock, placed it on time and continued to shoot myself while in the hammock. Finally, I took one more photograph of the hammock from afar using my Holga. After I developed the film and printed the two images I arranged them together and matched the smaller picture of myself to the larger picture.

I was pleased with the results and took the image one step further by photographing myself with the new images, again recalling emotions from my past. These images were appealing to me and I feel that I could push further.

Another benefit of the workshops is the opportunity to attend the artists’ slide show. Among the many that stood out to me and I found relevant to my work was Duane Michaels. Michaels posed the question, “How do you photograph something you don’t see? - Disappointment, Loss, Memory, I don’t know.” But Michaels has made the attempt to try to photograph these things through photographs that build a visual story, incorporating hand written text, using wit and humor. It was refreshing for me to see is approach and attack this with such frankness.

Another photographer that was mentioned to me to look at was Cig Harvey. In the fact that she uses herself in her portraits and her work often addresses what has occurred in her personal life. Her approach might be appealing to me.

This week with Sean Kernan and my classmates gave me an accepting environment to push my work in directions I feel it has needed to go to. So I have jumped into the water after taking a long contemplative look at it. Now I need to swim and explore within it.

Residency Summary Spring 2007

2007-08-01T08:33:00.000-04:00

Suggestions from critiques:
• Document family and children who have loss.
• Why shoot in black and white and not color.
• Who is seeing this work, audience, how to display it, apple books
• Who do you want to become familiar with this work
• Combination of large images and slideshow
• Is there a way to present the work and get money for it
• Want visual consistency
• You may be editing things out because you have lived it or done it. Where is the boat? Sense of place, what would an outsider want to see.
• What is the story about what are you trying to tell?
• All different angles, zooming in and out a little distracting. Leave your lens set at 50mm, makes you move more give s a different energy to your pictures.
• How many times do you go back? How much do you push?
• Why soft focus
• What is your way of making a connection? You have to make a connection in order for them to reveal more to you.
• What is subject getting out of it? You have to get them to participate in the project or you will lose emotion. When you meet with them. Talk to them what they would get out of it. A set of beautiful prints, book.
• Really analyze what you are shooting and figure out what you are trying to say.
• Schooner shots are much more successful because you feel their relationships because they are letting you into the intimacy. There is a lot more going in these.
• Stronger analytical approach. What does it mean to be running a traditional schooner these days? Tape the conversation; stay only for a little while. Listen to the interview and go back into photographing with a synthesis of what you want to do. I don’t feel as much of the specificity of the family. As you are taking the pictures in subtle ways you can pose them. Portraiture.
• Send blog to Judith.
• Really work with schooner family, if your not being a pest.
• Read, history of documentary photography. Rick Bolton, the contest of meaning, structuralist of photography. Where is your work in straight documentary photography or more art based. Thesis Johnathon Fletcher, Rob Gephart, shalis copy from Louise, Patty Arnold. We now want these to be more subitive in terms of defending the work. Work of Gerskey and Bechers, artists who happen to be working with photography.
• Need to do readings on family and mother and daughter. Barbara Eiright, “nicked and Dimed” living on min. wage. Look at artists whose work inspires you. Read the catalog of the work. Project based element, you need to read about family in general. What do these pictures do, where do they lead you, what are they trying to say. Research and be voiced in your subject matter. Will need to do this for your thesis.
• Read about feminism.
• If you are going for intimacy you have to be with them. You don’t want to fake it. You don’t want to be disingenuous. The kids ones are in a relationship. They don’t have to fake it.
• You have the action but you are not in the right spot to take the picture. I want to see their faces, see what is going on.
• You could do sub series, mother and daughters, sisters.
• Better printing. Show us that you know how to do that. Different papers, you don’t have to print them all like that. At least 11x14, what would the finished prints look like.
• I think the pictures should tell the story. Gallery, you don’t expect to listen to audio when you are looking at photographs.
• Breaks the stereotype, that families who run business are not always so close.
• You have a clear direction. Families that run business. It is a great thing to explore. There is nostalgia. Families in Maine, whether you can frame it in an argument, stuck in the past kind of image, “Maine the way life should be” separates the look from that cliché. How do you separate it? In 2007 if you are not critical about it. The ”should” separate yourself in the tourism cliché. If you stick with this genre, it will come. I don’t want it to be all Norman Rockwell. Non “Maine” families. Ethnic families that are moving into Maine. Get out of your own culture to look at your culture, it will give you subjectivity. One of the ways that is going to be Norman Rockwell, that it is very “white”. Find an ethnic family that runs a business.
• When you have a personal connection, yearning for family atmosphere. Be aware of pitfalls. You have to experience subjectivity when you are creating artwork about your mother. Tear does not make art. Stand back from this subject so you can talk about it properly. Red flag, be aware. How do you introduce work about your mother with out it being so sentimental? People are not critiquing relationship with my mother but my work. How are you going to see your personal story in social portraiture on other people?
• Stepping in front of the camera may or may not work for you but it is worth trying.
• I don’t see this happening only in image. In my head along with issue of your personal family, slideshow with voice, your voice. That is the only way you should be presenting. Along with images of visual clues. Make sure the audience understands that this is the artwork. Make sure the audience understands that the slideshow is the work, not a demonstration of the work. Still slides with writing. You will have to work on the voice yourself, intonation, like a slideshow drama. I see this as the most viable and strongest way you can communicate.

Artist suggestions:
• Nicholas Nixon, works with family and death dealing with aids
• Emmet Gowin pictures of his children and wife
• Harry Callahan
• Justine Kurland, show: another girl, another planet 1997. She started out doing these set up photos of events. Pictures of young girls in the woods. Direct slightly, give them a sinero and have them act it out. Girl pic more successful because she is related more, she is now doing communes.
• Anna Gaskell, series, Alice in wonderland
• Sam Seymour
• Nan Goldin, sister’s suicide
• Earl Morris, documentary films, Thin Red Line,
• You are dealing with documentary and it is across many genres Project specific work is often documentary. Andrea Frazier, Hans Hockas,
• Look at history of conceptual art. Frame what you are doing, figure out where you want to fit in the art world.

Overall, I felt this past residency affirmed the work I'm pursing is right for me. Faculty and students alike have helped with synapses of connections that were in my work, but I didn’t bridge. This awakening happened within my first critique.

My photographs of small family businesses had been focused, which I felt was reassuring to faculty. I will be “rocking the boat” in my next residency, because it's my last semester to experiment prior to having to narrow my focus.

What I will attempt is broad and personal, therefore it will be heavily critiqued.

This past residency opened my eyes to how my personal life is intertwined in my art. I believe in strong families, that there are families that are successful (in my definition) in that they live happily together. I came from one of these families; I want to prove to others these families exist.

I want to do this because I have been in relationships, and have had friends, that have not had this upbringing. Because of this, they have had relationship problems or doubts. I realize the notion they can have a loving marriage or relationship after seeing my photography is naïve, but I wish to offer hope, by showing it through a family similar to my upbringing and what I know brought me happiness.

This slice of family life shown through my images appeals to me, but I know it won’t to everyone.

I recognize my work of photographing small family businesses, I was looking for a family that would exemplify mine. This work was about honoring their families, thus honoring the family that I once had.

The business was an interest because it's a clear example of a family working together, not only in private life, but also in their public, which, I thought, would guarantee a strong healthy family. I realize now intact marriages and families take different forms.

Of the family businesses I have photographed, the family I feel most connected to and emulates my family (and therefore I have spent the most time photographing) is the Finger and Mahle family, which owns and operates a schooner on the coast of Maine.

Feedback from the residency that resonates within the family business documentary addressed the globalness of this project, as well as particular families within this project.

“You have a clear direction, families that run business. It is a great thing to explore, there is nostalgia. Families in Maine, whether you can frame it in an argument, stuck in the past kind of image, “Maine the Way Life Should be” separates the look from that cliché. How do you separate it? In 2007 if you are not critical about it. The ”should” separate yourself in the tourism cliché. If you stick with this genre, it will come.

I don’t want it to be all Norman Rockwell. Look for non “Maine” families. Ethnic families that are moving into Maine. Get out of your own culture to look at your culture, it will give you subjectivity. One of the ways that is going to be Norman Rockwell, that it is very “white.” Find an ethnic family that runs a business.”

This advice for this project is crucial, because it will give me the subjectivity I need in my work and hopefully make the project more credible, because it shows a true diversity of Maine family businesses.

Although Maine is one of the most homogeneous states, it is changing and contemporary work in documentary has to show this in order to be respected.

Along with subjectivity, it was also suggested to investigate the background and history of the individual family business I am documenting, to bring an investigative insight to this work.

“There is a need to bring a stronger analytical approach to your work. What does it mean to be running a traditional schooner these days? Tape the conversation; stay only for a little while. Listen to the interview and go back into photographing with a synthesis of what you want to do. I don’t feel as much of the specificity to the family. As you are taking the pictures in subtle ways you can pose them. Portraiture.”

Interviewing the family about their business will give me an insight as to how they see their world, as opposed to how I think they see themselves. Once I find out more about their thoughts and concerns it will allow for further exploration within my work, to show them through the means they see themselves. I feel this will bring more intimacy to the project, because the collaboration will be among the family and I, not just through my eyes alone.

The Finger and Mahle family represents the family I once had. My family changed, because I lost my mom when I was 18 to a three-year battle with cancer. I want to try to put that experience into my next work; I now realize her loss was the catalyst to the small family business photo essays.

I want to explore this time, and produce intimate meaningful work while discovering more about myself.

This next work is daunting, because I have heard this can hardly be done successfully. This attempt might be a train wreck, but one that I need to experience because it has been prodding me for sometime now. If not successful visually, hopefully it will be successful emotionally and help in my next endeavor as a photographer.

“When you have a personal connection, yearning for family atmosphere. Be aware of pitfalls. You have to experience subjectivity when you are creating artwork about your mother. Tear does not make art. Stand back from this subject so you can talk about it properly. Red flag, be aware. How do you introduce work about your mother with out it being so sentimental? People are not critiquing relationship with your mother but your work. How are you going to see your personal story in social portraiture on other people?”

There are several options I have been considering to how I want to address this topic of my mother through photography. Some ingredients I've begun to play with are: family photographs, journals of both my own and my mother, letters, family interpretations, memories and present-day emotions. The question remains of bringing these together to produce successful work. Using an audio slideshow as a means of conveying some of these ideas was suggested at the residency.

“I don’t see this happening only in image. In my head along with issue of your personal family, slideshow with voice, your voice. That is the only way you should be presenting. Along with images of visual clues. Make sure the audience understands that this is the artwork. Make sure the audience understands that the slideshow is the work, not a demonstration of the work. Still slides with writing. You will have to work on the voice yourself, intonation, like a slideshow drama. I see this as the most viable and strongest way you can communicate.“

I felt the residency opened my eyes to what's obvious in my work. Sometimes you become so involved in your work, that you miss the obvious. I feel fortunate to have this veil lifted; it has enabled me to talk about my work and communicate these connections, now that I understand them better.

And after I show my work from this semester at my next residency, I am sure I will have the veil lifted again.