2005-03-30 - 10:52 a.m.
What I'm listening to: Skin on the Drum by Michael Franti and Spearhead.
So I'm burning out. Did a presentation yesterday, and was not pleased with the results, or rather since my presentation was second, I found it difficult to link the two together, which I shouldn't have been worried about anyway, but at this point I just wanted to get the thing done and move on. The course is done, and now I can move on to other things like making coffee now that the kettle has popped.
Anyway, after the presentation yesterday I had assembled all of my class notes and handouts, things that I know I won't need anymore, and was well prepared to set them ablaze, wood matches and lighter fluid nearby. But, being relatively new to Montreal, I'm not really familiar with the good locations for bonfires that wish to go undetected. Now Ottawa on the other hand....
So since this was a dead issue, I decided to venture out into the nocturnal city again. I've been meaning to photograph the metro for some time now. I took the digital camera, for stealth and simplicity. This may be a good stress reliever, I thought. I was right, but, as I was about to leave the apartment, one of my best friends called from out west.
It was so nice to talk to him again. He might be moving to Edinburgh, because he has a job interview there. Apparently, they want him pretty quickly, maybe even May as a start date. So basically he said that if the job in Edinburgh comes through, he wants to come out east again to see his family and friends before moving. And, he also offered me his car, free. "Just buy a one way ticket out here, help me drive the car out east, and keep it". His wife wants to fly out east, not drive, so that will be great because I'm not her biggest fan, but that's another story for another time. But, I will leave you with this: I helped them move out west, and did the road trip out west with them. She's so fucking lazy, after Winnipeg she wouldn't drive anymore, because apparently she was having back trouble and didn't want to clutch anymore, and also couldn't put up any tents, etc. Nice fucking excuse, but your back is good enough to go hiking in the tourist spots that YOU wanted to see....riiight.....besides, why worry about clutching after Winnipeg??? It's the fucking praries for god's sake!! Just put it in fifth and hit cruise!!!!!!! By around Banff, I had had enough of these shenanigans and every time I had to fart real big, I closed the sunroof and the windows on purpose so that she would be grossed out by the stench of sonic boom. The car was a coupe, so she couldn't open the windows from the back. Haahhahahhaa, the pungent scent of sweet revenge.
My friend's mother told me privately, about a year ago, that his family really didn't approve of his marriage choice. I know his sisters can't stand her, but then again they aren't as diplomatic as his mother is. I should totally trust my first instincts when it comes to people...
However, when I think about it, I can't help but be thankful for the wonderful friends that I've made over the years. Even the 'networking' shtick, I will only network with the people that I would befriend, who will make good long term allies and who will return my loyalty. I've noticed that usually the people who network just for the sake of networking are usually in it for the here and now, and are more self driven than anything else. Well, I guess all networking is, but the key seems to be to look for the people who are more interested in making relationships for the long term rather than the short term. Kinda like the difference between investing in real estate over the stock market. The people who invest in real estate usually have more to offer and have thought things through more, hence making better long term allies than someone who deals in stocks, with a you win some you lose some attitude.
I really like the way that Don Corleone does business in The Godfather. He will bend over backwards for a friend, and he almost exclusively does business with his friends. But then again, I'm not a crime boss. But, I read a horoscope once that Aquarians make the best criminals. Mmmmm...organized crime.....
Back to the metro shots...I spent a good couple of hours just training around and checking out the various stations. I walked around Jean-Talon market at nighttime, just to feel the space when it's empty. I've never been there during the day, but have heard that it's a pretty interesting place. Then walked over to little India, and it felt wonderful. The sights, the scents, the feel at midnight, of a public life. I looked in a restaurant window and saw three potbellied, balding, middle-aged men sitting around, 'wasting time'. "That could be my dad", I thought.
I've also been meaning to do a series of back alleys at night time, a la Brassai, photographing nocturnal Paris in the 1930s. But then again he used to walk around with Henry Miller I think, kinda like a companion but also a bodyguard, in so many ways. Interesting way to map the narrative of the city.
The seminar that I gave yesterday had to do with Islam after the World Trade Center fell (I avoid as always the convienent catch phrase 9/11-911 is a fast German car, or the number you call for emergency, but isolating and identifying one event with those numbers, or those days, is absurd because it opaques all the other references that date and numbers can have).
Anyway, by the end of the presentation I was reminded, as unfortuanate as it is, that the boundary between 'us' and 'them' is getting bigger, so I felt at home at Jean-Talon. Even though there were police cars circulating around everwhere, when I saw other South Asian faces walking around, I felt safe.
In my photographic practice, I adopt the creed that 'don't ever think it's all been done before'. The reason for this is that the photographer will always bring their own identity to the subject, hence almost always being able to produce something different. Well, that's the mark of a seasoned photographer anyway. So I know that the metro has been done, but I wanted to extend my eye to it to see what will happen. Quite pleased with the results, as I did mostly a formal study. Some nice lines in there, and it was made to be photographed in black and white. I was thinking about the structure of the system as communications technology at times, but that's another project for another time. (On a side note, I've been thinking about PhD projects, among might be the photographs of the Indian royal families, and perhaps a history of the Nargileh pipe-the blending of art and craft, form and function, social history of smoking, etc. Hey, when you're passionate about something...I could smoke and think about smoking for 3-5 years easy)
Also, I wanted to photograph late at night because I didn't want any people to be in the photos, getting in the way and things, cluttering up the space. I wanted pure cold form. It's way more interesting to look at the negative space around the structure and feel the ghosts rather than see living human forms running around. Besides, I generally avoid taking photographs of people that I don't know.
Coffee done, pipe calls. Tube amplifier should be arriving today or Friday.
