A Commitment to Becoming: Back in Stride Again

Cuba 2015

Images from Cuba 2015

Images from Church

I am back at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) for the senior year of my MFA degree in photography.  I took this summer off  from SCAD, took pictures of my summer travels and made images of the ministry at our church.  It was fun and it was in this off period that I could appreciate what I am learning at SCAD and what I am becoming.  It is hard for me to claim this but I will: I am becoming a professional photographer.  Well what is a professional photographer? 

True professionals have purpose behind the work they create; whether a photographer is fulfilling an assignment or producing art, the intention is guiding the work. The work is deliberate, the craft is honed, and the results are delivered. This work cycle is repeated with passion and persistence.

When I review this definition it reflects how I see my work.  I have a clear purpose and I am always working to achieve that purpose in my work as I am moved by the visual world.  I found this summer as I was “taking pictures for fun” that I was purposeful in my work and I couldn’t help but produce art.  The work is deliberate as I continue to work on my craft by making work, reading and following the artist who inspire me.  This isn’t a haphazard process but rather it is a routine that has become a habit that is developing me into a professional artist.

I am convinced that the key to becoming that thing you want to become you have commit to a continuos cycle that takes your game to the next level.  At the core this is about having clear purpose, a commitment to professionalism, professional development, honing your skill and  continuing to produce work and share it with the world.  When we go this process something happens to us, in us and through us.  We become that which we dreamt of.

While I am still dreaming of completing my MFA I am committed to the process.  I am progressing as the process does what it is intended to do.  As you look at yourself the question I put to you is the following:  What is the process you are engaged in that is taking you and your work to the next level?  What is your course professional development  and what is the end intended to be? Can you see what you are becoming?

The Photography of Koo Sung Soo: How Do We See The World

I am convinced that how we are shaped culturally influences what we shoot and how we frame the world.  While much our influences in the West have been that of white male photographers and as a result this has skewed how we appreciate photography produced by other cultures.   In my recent research I have sought to answer this burning question:  How does who we are from a cultural and ethnic perspective influence the images we create?  In my quest to answer this question I have expanded the photographer’s work I look at to go beyond that of the canon prescribed to us via western dominance and hegemony in the world of photography.  To this end I have found the work of Koo Sung Soo to be very refreshing and eye opening.

Koo Sung Soo was born in Seoul, Korea in 1970.  He creates large-scale photographs that have the canny ability to make see the familiar in new and interesting ways.  He has a creative edge to his framing and use of color.  He shoots with a large format 8” x 10” camera and I am sure this choice of camera influence how he shoots and what he shoots.  You can see that his images are well composed and thoughtful.  His use of color and light are exquisite.  The images present a tension that mesmerizes invites the viewer.  His work clearly has a deeper message than appears at first glance.  His work demands that you sit with it.   His images are thoughtful, visual strong and intriguing.  The compositions use light, symbols and color to create relationships that begs further reflection. 

You can see in Soo’s work the influences of his culture as he interrogates his culture like only he can.  His familiarity with his culture empowers him to see it in unique ways and his work exhibits this uniqueness.  What is your thing?  What do you bring to your work?  What makes your work stand out?  How does your cultural / socialization influence your work in a good way?  Are you conscious of how your cultural background frames what you see and what you shoot?

Reframing the Future: The Power and Purpose of Sabbatical

“I believe in living with the camera, and not using the camera.  Suddenly, if you are working a lot, it takes over and then you see meaning in everything.  You don’t have to push for it.  That’s what I mean by visual life.  Very rare.”

Dorothea Lange

I just finished a year long sabbatical.  I returned to the classroom at Columbia Theological Seminary this July and I realized how much I missed this place that I love.  I missed my colleagues and students more than words can say.   I return seeing the world differently after spending this past year working fulltime on my MFA in photography at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

The faculty and my student colleagues at SCAD pushed me to live in the visual world.  For one year I was immersed in a world that demanded that I see and experience the world like I had never done.  My eyes were opened and I now see my world, the classroom and my teaching vocation in a totally different light.  It was through the viewfinder that I saw the world and myself in a new light.

I return to the classroom as an artist who teaches.  Teaching is not what I do but rather the classroom becomes a darkroom where light enters and we see what emerges from the developing process.  I come back to CTS and I am approaching my teaching as an art and my students and I are the artists. SCAD helped me own my calling as an artist.  I was forced to look inside and ask hard question about the stories I was called to tell through still images, video and my blog.  This was hard work but work well worth it.

I had never had the privilege in all my years of higher education to be able to focus fulltime on my studies and not also have fulltime job responsibilities. My sabbatical allowed me to focus fulltime on my work at SCAD and as I result I was transformed.  I also saw what an advantage it is for students to be able to commit fulltime to their schoolwork and not have to worry about how they are going to eat.

I return to Columbia Theological Seminary sharing what I have learned at SCAD.  I return to teach Evangelism, Photography and Social Media.  I have an energetic class who has jumped right in and they doing great work.  My sabbatical served to help me reframe my future at CTS and my work as a socio-theologian who is also a visual storyteller.  SCAD help me see the world and myself in new ways and I am eternally grateful to my professors who pushed me in each and every class. I will take what they taught me and share it with my students. 

What about you?  Where are you going at this phase in your life?  What is that thing or experience that has the possibility of helping you reframe your future?  As hard as the work has been at SCAD, and the party isn’t over yet, it was worth every minute.  What challenge awaits you with the promise of transformation?

You Can Change: Do the Work and the Work Will Create a New YOU!

Ricci de Forest - Curator and Artistic Director, Madame CJ Walker Museum

The journey of a long term project is overly rewarding.  It is rewarding because you see the changes in you and the very thing you are working on.  I have been working on a trans-media project on the revitalization of Auburn Avenue here in Atlanta Georgia for over two years now (it is a ten year project).  I have been a witness to the change that is in process along this street and it has been something to see.  I have also changed over time.  My photography and storytelling has improved along with my growing relationship with the people I am photographing.  To commit to something and stick with it has the power to change your life and perspective.  You can look back and see what you are becoming as you do the work because the work does something in you. I want to encourage you today to find that thing(s) and stick to it.

Life is a longterm project.  We live the lives we create.  We have to take care to nurture the type of life and relationship we want to make sure we spend our days doing those things we enjoy and that we were created to do.  The joy in life is rooted in our living a life that lines up with the gifts the creator put in us.  It is doing the very things that we do well and enjoy doing that will bring us joy.  To do and be that thing you enjoy takes courage and handwork.  I have never worked so hard than I have in the past two years being a student at fifty-three.  I completed my PhD in 1997...that is almost ten years ago and  I have not been a full-time for a long time.  While I have done tons of continuing education stuff none of it was as difficult and demanding as the MFA program at Savannah College of Art and Design.  While this journey has been and is challenging it has been one of the most rewarding times of my career.  I love every minute of it and I am becoming that artist that I know is in me.  It is so worth it!!!!  What is it that you need to work on in your life to be what the Creator wants you to be at this stage in your life?  Are you willing to put the work in to have the joy of doing you each and everyday?  What do you have to do in order to do what you want to do?

You can follow my project at:
http://www.faithinsweetauburn.org

Up Your Game or Become Irrelevant

Gordon Parks - an example of one who always saw and prepared for the future of his field. 

The world is changing rapidly.  The one thing that is certain is change.  The days of the secure job, the tenured positions are things of the past.  The key for anyone in the workforce today is to learn how to live in this world of change and navigate the ever-changing terrain of your chosen career field.

The key here is doing what you love and continuing to make yourself a leader in your field.  To be a leader in your field is not based on what or how a leader is defined in the field today but rather how will leader be defined tomorrow.  Leaders for tomorrow will be misunderstood today because those at the top will judge you based on the rules for today because in many cases they don’t realize that the rules have changed.

You have to recognize that the rules have changed and this takes vision.  You must see what’s next and be prepared for it when it comes.  To see what is next you have to live in the future while surviving in the present.  This means you must be good at playing the game as it is played today while simultaneously preparing yourself for the game as it will be played tomorrow.

To play and prepare means you are going to have to do two things at once. You are going to have work while you play.  To work while you play in essence is to do the task as they come at you today and then enjoy the process of preparation for what’s next.  It is this preparation that must be fun for you.  If you don’t enjoy the process of becoming you probably will not enjoy what it is you are preparing to do.  

Do you se the future in your field?  Are you ahead of the game or you playing a game that is dead, dying and changing?  How do you judge your preparation for the future while excelling in the present? What are you doing on the daily to prepare you for tomorrow?

To learn more about Mr. Parks I recommend the book and documentary "Half Past Autumn"

The Documentary

The Book

Do You See You? The Revolutionary Artist!

“You should be able to look at me and see my work.  You should be able to look at my work and see me.”

Roy DeCarava

Thru Black Eyes

In sociology we have something we call reference groups.  Reference groups are those groups of people you look up to and aspire to become.  As a budding photographer I have found it so important to find those photographers whose work can inspire and inform my work.  What I’ve found in my studies, just like in my former academic journeys, there are few African Americans put in front of us in the classroom.

When the roll of great photographers are called they very rarely look like me or see as I do. The eye of the photographer is focused via his or her socialization.  The background from which one comes informs how he or she views the world through the view finder.  Moreover when the world of photography has primarily been defined by the eyes of those who don’t look like and don’t see as I see then the question becomes how is the work of the African American photographers viewed in a world that is defined by the “masters”?

When I think of the roll call that is laid out in photography programs we get all the usual suspects. The Life  magazine photographers and the  Magnum photographers and VII are the names we here.  But if I were to call the names:

The Kamoinge Workshop

Louis Draper

Thomas Askew

Jim Alexander

Albert Fennar

Moneta Sleet

Michael Cheers

Vandell Cobb

Kenneth Coleman

Lacey Crawford

Todd Duncan

Bill Gillohm

Bob Johnson

Herbert Randall

John Shearer

Ozar Muhamad

G. Marshall Wilson

Just to name a few….the room would go silent. These names aren’t called.  The work of these photographers is not on the contact sheet of important photographers.  How do I see the group I want to be part of when the group isn’t presented to me in the classroom?  As an African American who holds a camera and views the world through the viewfinder how do I connect with those who have been socialized as I have, especially those, who like me, considers themselves activist photographers?  When the work of those who look like me and see like me have been ignored by the institutions that shape photographers the question becomes how are these institutions teaching me to see and can I see myself and my work in a world that doesn’t see those who came before me?

The answer to my dilemma is it is up to me, it is up to you to find your group.  Your group is that group of artist, thinkers, game changers that you want to be part of and you have to study them. Follow them and find out how you might become part of that group.  Don’t wait for or expect others to show you the road to artistic freedom and expression.  It is your responsibility to find yourself.

Required Reading - Not Assigned - This is my reading list over the winter break.

Let me be clear this is not a personal attack but rather an institutional critique.  This is not about the teachers in the classroom but rather I am talking about how institutions systemically embrace, nurture and support systems of oppression. Masters aren’t trained to nurture revolutionaries.  Masters are trained to break revolutionaries. Institutions that award you master degrees aren’t preparing you to become a master but rather to submit to the master. You have to reflect on Audre Lorde question:  “Can we use the masters tools to dismantle the master’s house.”  The master will never give you the tools for freedom.  The tools to secure your freedom is constructed in the heart, mind and eye of the revolutionary artist.  Go find your group and in-turn you will find yourself and create revolutionary art.  Where are you looking?  What are you seeing?  What are you creating?

Who are you looking at? Looking at Euguene Richards

One of the many things I have learned in school at Savannah College of Art and Design is the importance of finding artist who you admire and can also inform your work.  To look at their work and to follow their careers has away of influencing your work.  Your eyes are trained to see in new and different ways as you engage their work.  You are not inclined to copy them but rather to see your work in new ways as your work engages their work in the process of your creating work.

Eugene Richards inspires me in so many ways.  One of the things I really enjoy about his work is his sharing his journey as he creates his work.  He allows you to walk with him as he creates because he so transparent.  His images are paired with his writings and his writings are a combination of diary, commentary on his pictures and his engagement with his subjects.  

Richards takes time with his projects and builds relationship with his subjects.  One thing I have learned from him is to take your time.  I am always in hurry, trying to accomplish as much as I can in the time that I have. Richards has taught me to slow down.  Take time to see the light; be conscious about your composition; think about what you are seeing and what you want to show via the image you create. I hear Richards as I seek to see what I hope to capture as I make photos. Who are you listening to?  Who is guiding you?  Whose in your head and eye?  Whose is inspiring you not to recreate them but to become you? 

http://www.eugenerichards.com

Deciding on What's Next: This Is Your Journey!

Yesterday, after worship, one my fellow church members who sits next to Vanessa and I asked, “So where have you been this summer, we’ve missed you.”  I replied, “I have been shooting pictures and making videos working on my degree at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).”  He replied, “I thought you already had your doctorate.” “I do but I am doing an MFA in photography.” It was as if he were implying that I should be done with school because I have a PhD and DMin.   Degree completion(s) are only a part of the journey they are not the end of the journey.  I firmly believe that we should be life long learners.  This doesn’t mean we have to keep enrolling in degree programs but it does mean that we should continue to advance our knowledge, skills and passions in some kind of formal sustained process.

Tonight I will present my summer work for my class at SCAD.  This will be the official end to my first year of studies at SCAD.  Being trained as an artist has been both challenging yet very rewarding.  When I think back over the year I am reminded how I have grown as an artist.  From the very first quarter I have been pushed.  The professors at SCAD have made me look inward in search of my creative sources.  It has been an inward journey to produce art that is created with the intent of being shared publicly.

At SCAD we are constantly creating art to be critiqued by our peers and professors. This isn’t writing the paper, turn it in and get the grade.  The private dialogue between professor and student is not what happens at SCAD.  What I appreciate most about SCAD is that leaning, developing and growing, as an artist is truly a communal project.  I have enjoyed being apart of my new community because in this community I have found new life, new energy and an excitement about the demands of my work. 

I would wish that everyone could experience what I have experienced this past year.  This isn’t new to me because I have committed my life to navigating my journey. This thing is about the journey; the joy of the journey is challenging you to become yourself.  This is a process of constant discovery, hard work and never resting on what you did yesterday.  What we did yesterday is a part of the journey and informs the next leg of the journey but if we stop to long to read what we wrote we might never write again. 

I choose to continue to write my story.  The journey isn’t over yet and I thank God for leading me to SCAD.  Where are you being led?  What is that next stop on your journey that will help you see more, be more and do more of what is in you that is trying to get out?