photographs of human interactions with the environment

Monday

22Jun

Ragged Mountain Natural Area

Monday, June 22, 2009 at 06:34PM

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It's unusual to find water projects such a subject of controversy here in the eastern U.S. But this 980 acre parkland is the site of a county/city reservoir, with a proposed upgrade to the dam, to the tune of some $143 million, has understandably stirred up a lot of emotion. The proposed modifications will increase the lake size substantially in the hopes that it will be adequate for the coming fifty years. BUT it will require pumping the water through a new nine mile pipeline from another lower county reservoir, which will be abandoned instead of being dredged because consultants (for the dam project) have estimated the cost of that remediation at some $200 million. Meanwhile, local business people and dredging experts have proposed the work might only cost $20 - 40 million, still a hefty chunk of change. The increased dam and lake will necessitate the loss of 180 acres of mature hardwoods in the Ragged Mountain reserve - along with the trail visible above, and be spanned by an interstate highway.

The issue seems to be whether conservation and dredging can provide adequate sources of water for years to come. Or whether plans need to be made to increase the storage capacity to meet disputed growth needs. A typical controversy that involves disputed numbers, conflicts of interest, hidden information. At least the details seem to be out in the open now, so that all the trade offs can be considered reasonably. Will the debate continue for another 25 years, as the Meadowcreek Parkway debate has?

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manmadewilderness

Saturday

20Jun

something graphic - part 10,987

Saturday, June 20, 2009 at 03:30PM

Whenever there doesn't seem to be much else at hand, there is always the commonplace. It being one of those days when I feel like going nowhere, but there is a powerful need to capture some images, I've got to walk 'round the yard and find what there is that presents itself. But the documentarian is not very strong. What then becomes obvious is some simple arrangement of objects of modern life. It's an exercise in looking.

KMW |

an appropriation or an homage - pt. 6

Saturday, June 13, 2009 at 05:08PM

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David Plowden's fabulous images in A Handful of Dust are evidence of the changes taking place throughout our land, a country constantly in search of the "next great thing." His travels and photographs for this book concentrate on the Midwestern states. One doesn't have to go nearly that far to find the same effects on small towns here in the east. In pursuit of my courthouse project, I've been through a lot of small Virginia towns, and many suffer the same neglect that Plowden documents in his book.

In fact on our main street here in Charlottesville, a pedestrian mall with $7.5 million in recent renovations, a quarter to a third of all retail space are vacant store fronts. How the ones that are active manage to hang on is rather a mystery. It's an area of restaurants and botiquey shops, but due to its inaccessibility there is nothing of actual necessity along its 8 - 10 block length. Instead it's become an entertainment destination.

But in fact, it feels like this is old news. It's a trend that probably began after WW2, as globalization and urbanization driven by the North American need for efficiency in all areas - agriculture being a primary one - has pushed people out of their rural communities into a WalMart conglomerate. The wars and suffering reported from distant lands are sad reminders of the human condition. But in our own land Plowden's pictures from the rear lines in our own personal war with commodification (of everything) are important reminders of an innocence lost.

KMW |

3rd annual photo fest

Friday, June 5, 2009 at 11:22AM

The third version comes to town later this month. Lots of exhibits, talks, displays, even some workshops with big names. Check out the full schedule here.

KMW |

Zizek

Saturday, May 30, 2009 at 11:30AM

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Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic Slavoj Zizek is the subject of the hagiographic documentary Zizek! This is not the place to learn or understand what this provocative gadfly really believes, other than snippets of his contrarian personality. The film plays mostly like a comedy as it follows the hyperactive Zizek from a lecture in Buenos Aires to his hometown of Ljubljana to New York for more lecturing and adulation. He claims to be a "card carrying Lacanian," which someone more knowledgeable than I could explain. But as near as I can tell that translates as someone who has combined the teachings of Freud and Lacan with a Marxist perspective to derive a psychoanalytic critique of capitalism and modern life.

While this documentary may not be the place to understand Zizek, a quick perusal of the Wikipedia article will yield much jargon and opaque language:

It can be argued however that Žižek's most original aspect comes from its insistence that a Lacanian model of the barred or split subject, because of its stipulation that individuals' deepest motives are unconscious, can be used to demonstrate that ideology has less become irrelevant today than revealed its deeper truth...

To him, the Real names points within the ontological fabric knitted by the hegemonic systems of representation and reproduction that nevertheless resist full inscription into its terms, and which may as such attempt to generate sites of active political resistance...

The basis of the Imaginary order is the formation of the ego in the "mirror stage". Since the ego is formed by identifying with the counterpart or specular image, "identification" is an important aspect of the imaginary. The relationship whereby the ego is constituted by identification is a locus of "alienation", which is another feature of the imaginary, and is fundamentally narcissistic. The imaginary, a realm of surface appearances which are deceptive, is structured by the symbolic order. It also involves a linguistic dimension: whereas the signifier is the foundation of the symbolic, the "signified" and "signification" belong to the imaginary. Thus language has both symbolic and imaginary aspects. Based on the specular image, the imaginary is rooted in the subject's relationship to the body (the image of the body).

Probably the better place to get a sense of what Zizek is about is to read him here, where he contributes regularly, and somewhat more clearly. It is his critique of capitalism and the consumer society that makes him someone important to read.

Why am I writing about a philosopher in a photography blog? To show off some intellectual acumen? To process some of the ideas? To give myself a theoretical underpinning? The opacity and specialized language are a serious hindrance, which lead me to feel even stronger that my unexamined modus operandi are all I am capable of. Let me take my pictures. Don't ask me to examine my motives.

But from time to time, I will...

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philosophy?,

world cinema