Like many of today’s generation (although I am definitely not a part of this generation) , I tend to multitask. I don’t mean that when I am watching television I am also on my phone with a friend and texting my wife (or vice versa). I mean that I can’t and don’t read one book at a time, for example. I tend to read several at once, alternating between fiction and non fiction and photo criticism.
Likewise when I photograph, I work on several ideas at one time, over several months or years. This seems to be a common thing. When I take workshops as I have with Rinko Kawauchi and Takashi Homma as well as when I am at a photographer’s presentation I tend to ask whether they concentrate on one project at a time or do they have several burners going at once (yeah, my son is a cook thus this phrase). Almost all say that they work on several projects/ideas at at time.
For me, it lets me work out ideas or solve problems over an extended period of time. If I get tired of trying to resolve an issue I can go on to something else and then return to the problem refreshed. One project or exploratory path might also inform another.
Currently I am working on my Reflected Landscape series as well as a newer one I am tentatively calling Roulette. Chance is the theme of this series. Usually one goes out into the world in search of images or if you are a studio photographer you build a world in which to photograph. In both there is intention. There is the process of choosing. In Roulette I take away the choice. I ride the train into the city for work everyday and at all different times. If I photograph out of the train window only when it stops, I am letting the train make the choice of what I can photograph.
Seems like something worth exploring. We’ll see.
Force Of Seeing 