Lack of Vision

I am currently proctoring my final exam, and I have time to write in my blog. I don't want to obviously be the least interesting person in the universe, so I won't apologize. I will note that there is a competing blog spurring me into action.

My current leisure activity is taking pictures for Boston.com's amateur photo contest. This month's theme is architecture. If you want to see some of the entries, go to flickr, and search for the following tags: boston.com august2009 architecture contest.

I find the contest frustrating. Manchester, NH, has stacks of dramatic architecture. The mill yard was the largest industrial complex in the world at the beginning of the 20th century. The neighborhoods jumble together in a mix of private homes, company housing, and three-family apartments. The banks, city hall, and library display the pride and wealth of the Amoskeag Corporation. Everything crashed with the Depression, so hard times added a layer of grit which should heighten the visual impact.

I have some pictures which I kind of like, although I think they are derivative, but I don't have a picture which tells the whole story, or even a compelling part of Manchester's story. I don't have the artistic vision or technical skill (yet?) to make a single image be anything more than a (hopefully) pretty picture. Contrast this with my two favorite works of art, En Brie and the Pieta. These single images tell a complete story and drag emotions from the observer.

I should not compare my work for a contest with a first prize value of $100 in a medium in which I dabble to masterworks of two of the preeminent geniuses in their chosen medium, but I wonder why I can't convey what I see and feel. I wonder if motion and narrative would allow me to show what I want.

I want to show not just a low slung brick building with a children's furniture store and an upscale pizzeria, I want to show the home of the Amoskeag Locomotive Works. A company which also built fire engines and even self-propelled steam-driven fire engines. This was massive industry and tremendous innovation. I want to put together a Flash animation or movie showing the history hidden behind the brick and rows of windows. At least I could write the story behind the pictures in this blog.

I want to show the falcons and hawks swooping through the building. The pigeons startle when the see them, and the sky is filled with fleeing birds. The crows attack the raptors and the shrieks of the falcon and the cries of the crows bounce off the rows of brick buildings. The sparrows swarm through the Rose of Sharon that line the streets in the mill yard, and the ruby throated sparrows match the Dig Safe signs scattered through the construction sites. I am tempted to buy the Nikon D90 which can take video, so that I can capture all of this motion and sound.

But there are people of genius who don't need props. Guernica or The Cowboys or Migrant Mother provide story and motion with single, unmoving, unnarrated images.

I don't have a lifetime to spare to develop an artistic vision, and genius is pure happenstance. I should be able to achieve technical competence with enough dabbling. Hopefully, a well-focused camera, properly aligned with Manchester's dramatic mill buildings should allow me to do better in this month's contest.