point of departure: the elements

tonight is my first night of the much dreaded yet anticipated 'point of departure'. i'm dreading this class because i'm supposed to clarify what my 'style' is. that word makes me squirm. the word on the street, or at least from my friend, august, is this teacher rocks so i am alternately excited yet terrified about getting my ass kicked. so what does kitty joe do to impress the teacher on the first day of class? you guys have all heard tales of the stomach turning extent of my teacher's pet syndrome. this is a good one. way to impress your teacher on the first day of class: just don't show up. yup. that's what i did. in my worst blunder of my new school career, i really, truly believed, all summer long, that my 'pod' class would meet monday nights. tailored my work schedule around it. it seems, however, i must have been suffering from a bout of temporary dislexia because that M was really a W! wednesday nights?! naturally, i discovered this fact on a thursday, a day too late, and i'm only now emerging from the depression and self loathing this incident produced. ugh! rocks in my head, bugs in my bed. yes, i'm blaming the bugs. it's cheap, but they deserve it. i corresponded with my teacher and he was understanding, though i've probably cemented my reputation as an airhead. he forwarded me the first class assignment, which is to photograph the four elements. earth, wind, fire and water. remember now, this is 'point of departure' so creativity is a must here. one thing i already love about the class is that we are supposed to keep a journal detailing our ideas and experiences completing the assignments. just say the word 'journal', and i'm there. so here we go.... reverb please....EXCERPT FROM KITTY'S CLASS JOURNAL

'the four elements. earth, air, fire and water. hmm. stumped on this one for days. then a piece of inspiration hit me, bounced off the floor and started to slowly unfurl. i was at work, setting up for a rosh hashana celebration on the fortieth floor of 7 world trade center. the view was incredible. the atmosphere was so clear. buildings were stacked like blocks all around me. the bridges over the east river looked like toy models i could reach out and pluck with my fingers, plop down somewhere else. the land was covered with this amazing network of buildings all the way to the horizon. 'wow!' i thought. 'look how we've covered the earth!' from that vantage point i did feel like i was looking down on a sphere and new york city was the whole world. i'd been thinking a lot about the elements, due to this impending assignment. i started thinking about how the elements affect our lives in new york, or how we as humans affect the natural elements, or what elements translate into in our urban setting.

urban elements.

earth.
there it stretched out below me. our earth carpeted with our dwellings, apartments, offices, businesses, places of worship, bombed out war zones, storage. steel, concrete, wood, poles. even central park, artificially constructed like a train model landscape. tree here, lake there.

fortunately, i had my camera with me.
unfortunately, i was a work. these people had the nerve to expect me to boss waiters around rather than shoot to my heart's content?! so i itched and ached until finally i stole away into an empty conference room and took some shots.

nikon D70s. 50mm 1.4 lens. i had a terrible time with window reflections. couldn't control the lights in the room. also, i know i'm overdue for a polarizing filter. i had one for two fun-filled weeks. then i left my nikon n90s on the roof of a rental car in new mexico (another one of my fine, brainy moments). drove off obliviously, camera clinging to the roof until about 50 mph, at which speed i heard an ominous scraping above and saw a black ufo out the rear view mirror. it took an entire tear filled hour to find that camera in the roadside shrubs, during which time i berated myself, insisting i don't deserve nice equipment. the camera was shockingly resilient, with 'only' $450 worth of damage. but that polarizing filter seemed to be the lens' hero, absorbing the impact of the fall, completely shattered, so the lens didn't have to.
okay, so as i struggled to photograph through that reflection-ful glass, i yearned for a polarizer. but i also wonder, as far as sky goes, how much is too much? past teacher of mine told me i 'over polarized' the sky on that trip. hmmm. reflections aside, though, i'm happy with the image. it conveys what i want.

earth. adapted into human environment.

started thinking of the other elements in similar context. wind. i see air conditioning, fans. artificial wind. but then i'm walking through mc carren park and i see astounding imprints of leaves in the asphalt. wow. i am struck by the power of nature. wind has left its imprint on the urban landscape, blown that leaf right into the (albeit wet) pavement. i ran home to fetch my camera, delighted. it was an overcast day. i was shooting the grey sidewalk. blah. got extremely close up (as close as i could without macro!) to make the shots look interesting. had to mess with the levels in photoshop, though, to coax some contrast out of the blah images.
had fun kneeling on the sidewalk, people walking by only noticing the imprints because i was there photographing them. people oohing and ahhing. toddlers running to me to pose. some shots just of imprints. some shots with imprints plus a real leaf. the latter are beautiful, but i think the lone imprints are more appropriate for my idea. runner up is here: i love the diagonal pavement lines which look so much like wind. but alas, i chose the first image because the imprint is so powerfully deep...

on to fire.
i immediately think of my industry-ringed neighbhorhood. i live in greenpoint, brooklyn--factory worker's houses turned into homes for polish families and hipsters. under our soil the aquifer is filled with black oil from a spill back in the 50's larger than the exxon valdez disaster. nothing is done to clean it up. litigation drags on for decades. cancer and asthma rates soar. and we still live here, eat our pierogis and delight in the new ice cream shop down the street.
but the newton creek sewage treatment plant is impossible to ignore. some nights that awful smell wafts just a little too far into unwelcoming territory and i laugh as old factories are converted to million dollar lofts in that zone. it seems almost every time i drive over the pulaski bridge i am greeted by the neighborhood's volcanos--fire spewing from smoke stacks. always fire.
for two nights i've gone out with the tripod, whose mechanics allude me. nighttime. must use tripod--check!
and where the hell is the fire? no fire! 8pm. 10pm. 2am for chrissakes! i've ventured into the no man's land, the industrial wasteland surrounding the plant. i've choked on the hideous fumes, hoofed it over the pulaski bridge, greenpoint avenue drawbridge, for a better view, and still NO FIRE!!! time is running out. i'm becoming frantic and disappointed. my mind finds no alternative. i want my neighborly urban volcano!

and i, the bold nyc adventurer, drag my boyfriend along to "carry the tripod" because it's pretty deserted out there!

tonight, another try. printed my first 3 images today. earth, wind, water.
oh yeah, at least something came of one of my fire walks. stumbled on an "urban river" on a dark, deserted block. surprisingly, hand held the shot, just after sunset. editing between 3 very similar shots. level, level plus truck back lights, and tilted horizon. i love the tilt. i know i have to be careful with it because it's some yesterday's overused fad. but it comes so naturally to me. always has. i love the tilt. it's like sufjan's noise guitar adding edge to a folk song. tilt.

i'm having trouble abandonning this particular tilted image, though, because it allows you to see the tip of a building which is reflected in the 'urban river'. just love that composition more.

18 september 2007
another unsuccessful night stalking the sewage plant. my sister takes a photography class and hangs out shooting at wineries and the lake. i take a photography class and find myself nightly at the foul smelling (is that description even necessary?) sewage plant. hmmm....
got into a lengthy converstation with the security guard (after showing student id) about how unusual it is there's been no spewing fire this week. funny, he said. yeah, funny.
so, heartbroken i must go with plan b. emre actually thinks this idea is stronger, but my heart is all volcano. my next idea is merely the radiator--this city's version of the fireplace anymore. i know there were once fireplaces, but they've been bricked up.