This is going to contain a little fun stuff, but there's some heavy stuff in it to, so be warned.I'll start with the heavy to get it out of the way.
Here's a post I wrote on Daily Kos the other day, suggesting that we might be a bit closer to fascism than most of us are willing to acknowledge:
Read my thoughts on fascism here
I don't know if I'm right or not, but I sadly suspect I am.
Here's something I wrote the next day, which was a bit more optimistic, about Rosa Parks, how she really lived, and how she was a lot more of an activist than people often give her credit for:
Read my thoughts on Rosa Parks here
I know a lot of people try to keep their politics separate from their lives, etc. I don't see it that way. Politics affect me in a very direct and clear fashion. The politics of hate have, at times, done me tangible harm. The politics of ignorance equally so. What I'm trying to sort out how to talk to people more directly about politics without turning them off or pushing them to tune out. I'm not sure how to do this yet, but I'm working on it.
Okay, so... that's the heavy stuff. Here's the fun stuff:
First, I'll be performing live on WOOL tomorrow (Tuesday) night. You'll be able to listen live from 8:00 - 8:40 pm a WOOL.FM.
Second, I got some amazing pictures of an unusual visitor to the East coast-- a Rufous Hummingbird. You can see them at this link
The third is about photography as well, but it takes a little explanation. There's an artist named Eric Staller that I first discovered when I was a kid. I recently rediscovered his work, and you can see what I wrote about him on my blog.
I've been thinking a lot about light sculptures and the work he did and I think I have some ideas for experiments of my own. I do night photography which involves long exposure work. You can the best of it here.
Everything I do with night photography is based on what happens in the course of things; I don't use models and ask them to do specific things in order to photograph them the way I want the image to come out. Similarly, I don't deliberately introduce patterns or shapes into my night photography. I just get things as they come. Stars, traffic, fire, fireworks, etc... I'm quite -good- at this. I can see the patterns of how things are moving and plan some very nice shots to capture the light well, and I've got great equipment for doing it, but I want to try something different.
But I've been thinking: what if I tried doing what Staller did but in a different way? What if I deliberately made specific patterns in light that the camera could capture? Staller called these light sculptures. But I'm thinking: what if instead of doing what he did, I got large groups of people involved, having them do coordinated movements across the screen using hand-held light sources of various types and colors, creating patterns in the air that are like Brownian motion? What if I get groups of people, all dressed in black, creating waves of light across the streets in downtown Brattleboro, Putney or Bellows Falls and capture them with my camera?
But all these questions come to mind. Will people be interested? Will I get a sufficient number of participants to make for an interesting project? Will people be willing to come out to do this on a cold November night? How do I publicize this sort of thing and what do I say? "Participate in an avant-garde photography project! Create sculptures out of light! Meet outside Bellows Falls movie theater at 9pm!"
Other projects come to mind:. Can I find a sculpture and photograph it at night by repeatedly moving a laser light pen across it, creating an image not of the sculpture, but of the lines of light that move across the thing, creating a lattice of 3-d patterning that does the opposite of Plato: not reflecting the truth in shadow, as he claimed we all did, but reflecting the reality in light?
Can I find someone who juggles fire and photograph the patterns and arcs of light as flames dance through the air?
Can I find a way to get above a group of people as they carry lights around in an infinity pattern, creating a floating infinity above the pavement?
Thoughts? Ideas?
--julie
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More info:
Julie's photography:
http://juliesmagiclightshow.com/
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Upcoming events for Julie Waters
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Tuesday, October 30th Halloween Howl at WOOL.fm; Bellows Falls, VT
Sunday, November 11th 2nd Sundays Song Circle (tentative) at RAMP Gallery; Bellows Falls, VT
Sunday, December 9th 2nd Sundays Song Circle (tentative) at RAMP Gallery; Bellows Falls, VT
Sunday, January 13th 2nd Sundays Song Circle (tentative) at RAMP Gallery; Bellows Falls, VT
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