Missing Scanner

It saddens me to report that someone has stolen the photography areas Imacon film scanner. Unfortunately the only individuals who have access to the room it was stolen out of, are photography undergraduate and graduate students. The theft of the scanner (which is 6 years old, only works on older Macs, and is limping along after many years of use ) is bad enough in terms of material loss. What is equally troubling is the TRUST that has been breached in the photo area and fine arts in general.

Imacon Scanner with 4 film holders.

 If you have any knowledge of this scanner, please contact Jeff Olmsted, WSU Campus Police. A cash reward is being offered for the recovery.  

Recently I applied for a residency with the Backlight Photography Festival in Finland. The theme for the residency is trust. PhD Nina Lavine writes on the Backlight website:

  "Trust is an invisible commodity. Though trust is not a material substance, it can move mountains. Trust affects human behaviour. When a group of people believe in what they are doing and in each other, their efforts can change the world — at least their part of it. Trust is always future-oriented and hence a progressive force that brings one forward.

   Trust is like an intangible asset that we lend to those we deem creditworthy. When people trust each other, they have faith in each other’s words and promises. A person who is trusted can easily get along with others. Trusted people have the effect of getting other people to believe in them and to do things on their behalf. Where there is trust, the ‘daily grind’ begins to flow without friction, both at home and in the workplace. Trust is important for that very reason: it gets things to flow more freely, whether the issue is one’s daily duties or personal relationships." You can read more: http://www.backlight.fi/

At this point, no one is a suspect, and yet everyone is a suspect. The trust, respect, and culture of the photography area has been damaged. This feels unfair! Until further notice, the lock boxes and keys to all the studios will be removed, and access only permitted by permission of myself.

My hope is that this trust can be rebuilt in the photography area. I think the first step in building this trust back would be the return of the scanner. Please return the scanner-no questions asked. If you have any information about the theft,  please contact the WSU campus police.

Sincerely,
Dennis DeHart

Samples of Grid Images: Jules Spinatsch and Stu Levy

From the exhibit The Shaping of New Visions: Photography, Film, and the Photobook

Jules Spinatsch. Panorama: World Economic Forum, Davos 2003. Camera A, Congress-Center North and Middle Entry, 2176 Still Shots, 24.01.03, 06h35-09h30. Hotspots: World Economic Forum, Davos. Hotspot A4.1, Promenade; Hotspot A1.1, North and Middle Entry; Hotspot A2/3/5/6.1, Parking, Congress Hotel, Carlton, Congress Center. 2003

This installation documents the preparations for the January 2003 World Economic Forum, in which the entire valley of Davos, Switzerland, was temporarily transformed into a high-security zone. In the period leading up to the forum, Spinatsch installed three remote-controlled cameras outside different buildings. One was programmed to record up to 2,500 images over three hours, from 6:35 to 9:30 a.m., while slowly rotating vertically and horizontally. Spinatsch assembled the shots in a high-resolution panorama that shows random moments captured frame by frame as well as the transition from dawn to early morning. Instead of a photojournalistic account of the event, the artist presents the leadup to the forum, revealed as meticulously planned and tightly controlled.

Pigmented inkjet print, 7' 2 5/8" x 18' 4 1/2" (220 x 560 cm), and 3 videos (color, silent), 7:28 min. each. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

http://jules-spinatsch.ch/

http://www.stulevyphoto.com/

   My photographs often involve fragile landscapes in which I feel a sense of timelessness. The landscape, however, is only my stimulus or point of departure. I ask the question, "What else is the landscape," and it is the "what else" that I try to photograph.

   I also create "Grid-Portraits" of artists and craftsmen. Using several images contact printed together, a space and time scan is made of the subjects in their environments. In addition, references are made to the making of the photograph and to my own interaction with the subjects as I explore the process of perception and visual synthesis. A monograph has been published by Nazraeli Press.

   In 1995 I printed 82 vintage Minor White negatives of two Victorian houses for the permanent collection of the Portland Art Museum and for publication in the book "Heritage Lost", published by the Oregon Historical Society and the Portland Art Museum.

Powerful Photographs in Black and White from Critique Today

 Nick, FA 382, Word Play Project

Jordan, FA 483, Explorations of Gender, Sexuality, and Power

Steal Like An Artist

Andy picked up this book while visiting the Tacoma Art museum. He recommended I take a look at it. Interesting stuff! Thanks Andy!

"Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one is listening, everything must be said again."-Andre Gide

Steal Like An Artist: Austin Kleon at TEDxKC

http://youtu.be/oww7oB9rjgw

Sample Student Works in Progress

Cat, Candy Wrappers (Inspired by Penelope Umbrico) 16x20 

Andy, Faceless/Shapes, Digital Capture, Composite (Inspired by Surrealism) 

Brittany, Self Portraits inspired by Archimbalado, 16x20

Jerry Uelsmann Faking It at the Met

Photo Classes in Full Swing; Critiques Feb. 8 & Feb. 11

It is week 5 and critiques are this week and next. Busy, busy.

NASA-NOAA Satellite Reveals New Views of Earth at Night

This image of the continental United States at night is a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi NPP satellite in April and October 2012. The image was made possible by the satellite's "day-night band" of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe dim signals such as city lights, gas flares, auroras, wildfires and reflected moonlight.

Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/NOAA NGDC

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/NPP/news/earth-at-night.html

Class 4x5 Study

4x5 film capture, hand processed in the darkroom, group shoot, 1.2013

Nan Goldin Documentary

Thanks Andy Adams/Flakphoto for re-posting this on Facebook.