It's a cold, grey, dreary day here in Louisville today so I'm hiding inside enjoying the warmth and playing with photos from warmer days earlier this year. I'm in the process of applying for an award/grant that's for the less than professional level creators out there, they're giving out a bit of money to help with finishing a project. I figured talking out what I want to say for that would also work as a blog post, plus any feedback from y'all would be greatly appreciated.
One of the criteria for the award is social purpose, they want to know what change you are trying to effect in the world. Narrowing it down to one cause or purpose is much of what has me a bit hung up, I just want to gesture in the general direction of the protests and just say 'All of this" but somehow I doubt that will do the trick. For the time being I'm going with the purpose being educational and documentary.
I have often taken photos standing beside local and national media this year, yet their coverage has rarely seemed to do justice to what I saw, heard, and experienced. This disparity is one of the things I seek to address with my work, both the photos and the words that accompany them.
To me the stuff you see on the news is sterile, reduced to sound bites and video clips, difficult to relate to and giving only the barest understanding of events. I have found it impossible to separate the roles of protester and photographer, so I make no attempt to do so. I want the viewer not only to see and read but to understand what it felt like, what it sounded like, all that went into the experience of that moment.
I am sure that there are plenty who don't agree with me but I feel like a lack of understanding of how things are here is at least partially to blame. Hopefully my work does some small part to rectify this.
Anyways, that's enough randomness out of me. First and second photos are from Derby Day (Sept 5th), third is from the last day of May (and fourth day of protests), and the last two are only a few moments apart on Sept 23, immediately after the attorney general's announcement. If any of y'all saw that 'uhaul full of weapons' stuff that some people were passing around the interwebs earlier, that is where those signs came from.
