To finish or to abandon: that is the question
“A poem is never finished, only abandoned” - Paul ValeryMany have generalized this quote to apply to all artistic endeavors. On a video for current.tv, Ira Glass pointed out that all artists have excellent taste. They have a clear taste or vision of what work in a particular medium could be, and they create because they are driven to demonstrate that taste. But, there’s often a gap between the artist’s taste and his skill level. That gap causes endless frustration, and in part gets to the phenomenon behind the above quote. Often, an artist’s taste exceeds his skill (or materials), thus can never finish a particular work; only abandon it and move on to the next project.
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When I finished filming RAAM, I thought it was a dismal failure. On top of being sick, I had allowed myself to be made crew chief of the rider’s team part way through the race, knowing that I’d have to give up shooting. The first two thirds of my footage are only from the first third of the race. I thought I had missed all kinds of story elements - especially the competition with the Brazilian team which egged our team on through so much of the race. I have to admit that this cynicism is a big reason why I procrastinated on editing it.
I have been asked to review the past several years of photographic work and to choose 10 photos to publish in a book my photography group is putting together. I had been holding off as I’m not really interested in a book, but today to give it a whirl. Choosing only 10 images from several years of work is a great exercise. It forces me to make a lot of decisions about what I really like most in my work. It also shows me how my tastes have changed - or stayed the same - over time. Finally, it’s an interesting Rorschach test - I never know what patterns will turn up.
Today was my first day shooting my 
This June, I’ll be shooting my first documentary, recording the journey of a friend and three of his buddies riding their bikes from sea to shining sea for charity. Riding in relay 24/7, Team OC Quattro (as they call themselves) will start in Oceanside, CA on June 8 and will roll in to Atlantic City, NJ around eight days later. It’s going to be a great adventure for all of us and a huge learning experience for me.
A camera is nothing more than a rectangle and a little thing that records where you put the rectangle. That’s it. The true art of photography is figuring out where & when to place that rectangle. It doesn’t matter if it’s film or digital, 35mm, 6x9, or 12Mpix. I know this. Yet, sometimes, I allow myself to be seduced by the gear. Gotta stop that.
I loved claymation when I was a kid. I’d scour the TV guide for animation shows and watch them religiously. Finally, in junior high, I had to make one myself. I borrowed an 8mm camera from the school, sculpted a few creatures from plasticine, and started filming. I toiled for hours carefully placing the creatures for the opening scene, then proudly clicked the shutter for the first frame of my animation career. A half an hour of meticulous repositioning later, I clicked the shutter for the next 1/16th of a second of my masterpiece. More minuscule shifts of clay, more clicks of the shutter. After three hours of labor, I had nearly completed the first — and only — full second of claymation. I screamed and stormed out of the room, frustrated. Decades later, the 8mm stop-motion movie camera remains, for me, a symbol of infinite possibility and infinite frustration. All I wanted to do was make a funny little movie. But that was then, this is now.
OK, I 
