"They're sure as hell not normal photographs!"

Betsy Catron, Untitled, 2009

"But what sort of photographs are they? One can hardly say, can one? One can only display a perfectly normal camera that photographs a dog which is apparently preparing to leap. And once it leaps, it will be gone from the frame of the picture. At that one point, one of three things may happen. The camera may start taking normal pictures, which is to say, pictures of the things it is aimed at; it may take no more pictures at all, it's one purpose, to photograph - to document, one might even say - that dog, completed; or it may simply go on taking pictures of that white fence and the ill-tended lawn behind it."

"Pardon me for saying so, Mr. Merrill, but you've shown me something that I thought I'd never see: an explicably and almost irrefutable paranormal occurrence that is really quite boring."

"It really is only a dog, as far as you can see?"

"Of course."

He Sighed.

Joseph Koudelka, Hound, 1987

The dog's face was no longer a recognizable thing at all. It had twisted and distorted into a carny freak-show thing that seemed have but a single dark and malevolent eye, neither round nor oval but some how runny, like the yolk of an egg that has been stabbed with the tines of a fork. its nose was a black beak with deep flared holes drilled into either side...Maybe - or maybe that part was just my imagination.

Nancy Rexroth, Boy and St. Bernard, Shawnee, Ohio, 1974

It's not a photographed dog, Kevin thought, and it doesn't belong in the world that cameras can capture pictures of. That's crazy, I know it is, but I also know it's true. So what does that mean? Why is my camera taking pictures of it over and over...and who is taking pictures of it? Does he or she even see it? If it IS a three dimensional dog in a two dimensional word, maybe he or she doesn't see it...can't see it. They say for us time is the fourth dimension, and we know it's there, but we can't see it. We can't even really feel it pass, although sometimes, especially when we're bored, I guess, it seems like we can.

But if the dog really IS three dimensional, maybe he sees out - maybe he sees who ever is using the camera. Maybe it's still not me, or not specifically me; maybe whoever is using the camera is its target.

Nathan Lewis, Untitled (Levee), 2007

"No," Kevin said.

"No ghost. I see who took the picture. Who really took the picture."

Margaret M DeLange, Daughters #19, 2000

Text borrowed (and slightly modified) from:

The Sun Dog, Stephen King

I wish my portraits to be of the people, not like them. Not having the look of the sitter...being them.

- Lucian Freud

Images by Michael Ackerman

At some point in life the world's beauty becomes enough. You don't need to photograph, paint or even remember it. It is enough. No record of it needs to be kept and you don't need someone to share it with or tell it to. When that happens — that letting go — you let go because you can.

– Toni Morrison, Tar Baby

Francesca Woodman, Self Portrait (Talking to Vince), 1975-1978

...Speaking of Stereocards, I found this interesting example while visiting Texas earlier in the month. It was too bizarre to not take home.

T.W. Ingersoll, 1899

No. 98. "HOLY MOSES! LOOK AT THE GHOST!"

What has such an old fashioned, out of date nonentity as a ghost to do with these three young women, children of the world, devoted to fashion and up to date in everything? Let that spook beware! After the first surprise is over, the girls will rally and will throw things at "it," whatever "it" may be, and if the things do not fly through the ghost, the girls will grow bolder and pull that sheet off him, to see what's inside.

Just wanted to share another exhibition Update, unfortunately it has already closed though.

I was thankful enough to be included in the "Water Rights" Exhibition at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

This exhibition:
"...investigates our relationship to water and the political, natural, and personal forces that influence it. MCAD is one of a dozen organizations and galleries working with the University of Minnesota Department of Art in support of its Women and Water Rights exhibition and related programming. Diane Katsiaficas, professor of art at the University of Minnesota and co-organizer of Women and Water Rights, is the juror for the MCAD Water Rights exhibition."

Here is a (horrible) install shot of the piece, I took it while the show was still being set up, so there weren't even labels yet. I was lucky enough to be next to Noelle again, her piece "Flood" was also featured.



The piece included was my Stereograph set "Off the Cliff..." made in 2007.

Off the cliff she jumped and fell...

Into the water she wished to dwell...


Deeper and deeper into the abyss...

She started to feel a weightlessness...


Sinking down straight through to the sky...

Had she fallen so far she began to fly?



Noelle McCleaf, Flood

Another Exhibition Update.

Once every 10 years the MIA (Minneapolis Institute of Arts) makes an open call for work, everyone who submits is guaranteed a spot, the only limitation is that the work is less than or equal to 12 inches squared.

This fantastic show is aptly titled "Foot in the Door!" Chris Atkins and the MAEP (Minnesota Artist Exhibition Program) portion of the MIA facilitated everything and it was all such an incredible experience. They processed over 4500 pieces of work!

To submit was an adventure in itself, people experienced 3 hour waits as thousands of people coiled around the museum eager to have a place in one of the most prominent museums in Minnesota. I was one of those eager people, though thankfully only spent about an hour and a half in line. The mood was not pushy or angry, everyone was happy to be there. It was like a big block party!

The opening was another unique event, jam packed 100% full. Just imagine, if less than half of the submitters showed up, we would still have 2000 people in attendance!

Admittedly, though I opted to wait until it was quiet to visit the show.

The show is as exciting as you could imagine, works of ALL different levels and types next to each other creating this beautiful dialogue and cross section of working artists in Minnesota.

Check out some images here!

You can even view every single piece submitted via their Foot in the Door home page.

The whole thing was an incredible experience, and I am honored to have been a part of it.

The piece I submitted was a sculpture. Not so much a sculpture I made, but one that I was given.

I don't want to divulge too many details, but the title is "Exorcised Spirit, Sauk Centre, 1988." I got this strange bottle in 2007 while in a city about 100 miles outsides of the Twin Cities. The person that gave it to me believed that there was a spirit inside this object. With her own eyes she had seen it "bottled," this was in 1988 and she was able to recall the story as if it just happened.

From what I can tell, the bottle had been dipped or painted with Pitch or heavy black paint. It appears to have twine wrapped around the top, with red wax on top of that. There are remnants of writing with white paint around the bottle, but nothing is legible.

What is most interesting is that there seems to be a repair in the one of the bottom corners. I can't be sure, but it looks like a newer modification with contact cement (or similar) and then paint on top of that.

What drives me crazy, is that as far you can tell there is nothing in the bottle, maybe a bit of dirt or grains of sand. Did the bottle get broken, and whatever inhabited it released? Maybe that's why she wasn't too concerned to loose it when she gave it to me.

I really don't know what it is, but it's a nice idea.

The MIA also has a great history of being haunted, so I figured another ghost wouldn't hurt! Read more here.

Here is a shot of the piece "installed."

Noelle also submitted a piece, and she was very lucky to have it be featured on the entrance, they must've thought it was that good. This is the first time a work from this series had been exhibited, so it was great to see it on a wall! Too see more of her work follow the links to the Right.

Installed

The pictures dont do the exhibit Justice, it's so overwhelming and inspiring.

Thanks to all the hard worker at the MIA and MAEP.

Update: They posted pictures from the Rayko Photo International Plastic Camera show in San Francisco, CA. I was fortunate enough to get my piece "In Between" in.

Robert Holmgren documented everything and you can see them all by clicking his link.

Robert Holmgren, Plastic Camera Show Documentation

Nathan Lewis, In Between, 2009

(As you can tell it's a re-cropped and edited version of a similar photo)

Thanks to Rayko and Mr. Holmgren!

Owatonna, MN

"I am hoping it is my ex-fiance"

This was the response a homeowner gave as I asked him who he thought may be present and responsible for the paranormal activity that he had been experiencing for some time.

I never asked him clarify, simply nodded and kept snapping photographs and baselines.

It was later in the evening that I learned his ex-fiance had committed suicide, sadly as a result of an overdose. Understandably he was still very distraught, and never had the answers he needed as to why; Was it accidental or intentional?

I wondered though, was it maybe him, the homeowner who kept calling the deceased in fruition? Was it perhaps his sense of loss and confusion that trapped her? Did she have no choice but to remain because he wished her there so bad.

Do we have the power to hold on to people, even after death?

Is Memory the Entity?

To me this gets at the route of almost every religion, if you believe hard enough, it will come true.

It is absolutely identical to prayer, do something enough times and eventually God will listen.

Without a doubt it calls to mind the "Philip Experiment" carried out by a Toronto based Psychical Research Society.

Drawing of "Philip"

To paraphrase the article:

The true story of ‘Philip’ is actually a remarkable experiment that was conducted in the early 1970’s by The Toronto Society Of Psychical Research. The purpose of the experiment was to see if a wholly fictious historical character - ghost could in fact manifest itself through the groups efforts of concentration on the bogus data....

The group would sit around a table and merely concentrate - much like the spiritualists of the 19th century. And then one day it just happened. There was a knock on the table, which at first was felt more than heard....

In conclusion the experimenters succeeded far beyond their wildest expectations. However, in the end they were never able to prove the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ behind Philip’s manifestation.Was Philip a direct result of the group’s collective subconscious or perhaps did they conjure an actual entity that simply latched onto the story?...

I have chosen to quote one source for this, but there are many other accounts and similar experiments that can be found here, here, here, and The Skippy Experiment.

To me parallels are obvious. Someone wanted something to happen, and with enough focus and commitment, forced it to. Again this not dissimilar to EVERY Ritual act. To sit and Concentrate is equal to meditation, prayer, chanting, singing, dancing, and more. It's all about giving energy and requesting energy in return.

It is not at all difficult for me to believe that a person who is so confused and hurt by their loss could have the power to call someone back from behind the veil.

The Memory Is the Entity.

Owatonna, MN

James Nasmyth

"...The appealing wit of their psuedo-documents and photographic conundrums undermined the presumed reliability of photographic fact, showing that we see always depends in part on what we expect to see."

-- Peter Galassi

Found Polaroid from the Savers Camera Bin. I put it in the frame with the intention to leave it, but in the end I had to take this photograph home with me.

It's been awhile since I've updated, the winter break was a busy one! Unfortunately I haven't made any new or exciting work, but I plan to resume regular updates.

As you may know, I am always on the look out for interesting photography things, especially when they have to do with Toy cameras. It's no doubt that the Holga/Diana have entered popular cultural vernacular...I see them everywhere now!

You know what I say to that!? Who cares!

More cameras = more photographers = more appreciation for the medium = more innovation!

Who could be mad at that? Let's give everyone a Holga!

Recent Holga sightings:

Slick Urban Outfitters Holga Shirt -

You've probably noticed their extensive collection of over priced Lomo gear...but hey, once again, at least someone is selling it!

I also saw this funny caption in the Evolution of the Hipster article from Paste Magazine!

2007: The Vintage Queen
She shops at retro boutiques and posts Holga photos on her blog. She has said that the koi fish cover-up tattoo on her arm symbolizes “nature and love and peace and stuff.”

Haha, it looks like we're only a few years late!!

Finally, this was on the cover of a local Magazine:

I have no doubt that these are all signs of the coming analog back swing! I couldn't be happier... People are sick of the clean, synthetic, cold and stale. They want to take things back into their hands, they want to connect with each other and their creations.

It will surely take a few more years of people giving away their enlargers and schools changing Darkrooms into the DPLs (*Digital Photo Labs)...but before long, people will yearn for some sort of tactile connection.

...who knows though, because to deny the beauty and power of new technology is to identify with those who scoffed at Galileo....it's equally as pointless to bury my head in the sand. I think it is possible for them to coexist and commingle, we're in the stage of Photo 2.0, Photography cannot be talked about or judged against traditional models.

There are two ways of looking at the world. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The second is as though everything is a miracle -- Einstein

Sir, - I beg to bring to your notice the serious harm likely to come from the increasing popularity of photography. Since Mr. Talbot and M. Daguerre perfected their processes for fixing a living image on paper a few years ago, there has been an alarming increase in the popularity of this unnatural pastime. The stage has now been reached when permanent damage is likely to be inflicted not only on painting, engraving, and the arts in general, but upon industry, manners, and the home itself.

-- Unnamed Commentator, 1851

Nathan Lewis, Untitled, 2009

A Wreath of white flowers....For She Who Sleeps

-- Excerpt from a letter to a deceased child

Nathan Lewis, Untitled, 2009

----

The Hennepin History Museum is putting on a fantastic exhibit dealing with Victorian Funerary traditions, that will thankfully run through May 2010.

Icons for the Bereaved: Traditions and Artifacts of Mourning

The current exhibit at the Hennepin History Museum (ends May 2010) gives patrons, guests and visitors a chance to examine something we sometimes forget: While traditions of the past might seem strangely different, people will always be the same. Then…as now…people want to honor and remember loved ones... Also on display are furnishings, mourning garments and jewelry from the museum’s collection, these artifacts from 1850 to now, show how mourning traditions have evolved over the decades. The museum presents the answers to such questions as why did people wear black for a year, and how did the expression of grief evolve in both Europe and America? This exhibit will bring you close-up to one of life’s most intimate topics; death.

It is an incredibly intimate show, with a long lasting impression. Contrasting the title, there is a great deal of humanity in the exhibit.

The mementos and artifacts are displayed in a most bizarre manner, it seems less curated and more hastily assembled. The lack of straight labels and track lighting have the opposite effect of what you might imagine, instead of creating a campy silly presentation devoid of serious contemplation...some how everything ends up looking more real and tangible.

It truly felt like this was created by a person in mourning concerned less with tidiness and more with loss.

The exhibit almost stands as a wake for a time past.

Exterminating the romanticization of the Victorian Gothic aesthetic, you see the objects as participants of true mourning, with very somber and honest purposes.

We are so familiar with seeing Post Mortem photographs in text books, reproductions, and as sensationalized Movie props that when viewing the Museum's particularly disturbing collection, the experience takes your breath away. Being a product of the Western death culture, I am more comfortable encountering it in a clinical and detached manner. To see the torn edges and handwritten notations was completely different than to read about it.

One must wonder if the souls of the tragically deceased are still inhabiting the images, locked behind a silver veil.

A remarkable show!

A particularly interesting photograph portraying a deceased mother holding her live baby.