I’m cracking up at this book I just created, which contains photos of Jen. Jen is my long-time friend: my co-conspirator, confidant, and partner in crimes against normalcy.
I imported a set I created for this purpose from flickr into Qoop’s book-making engine. It’s pretty cool. But the book also costs $90.59 before markup (well– there is actually no markup now). Hey, get it while it’s hot!
Jen really is my muse. She’s inspired me since I became friends with her in early college. We actually went to high school together, but never talked because we were in very different social circles (and I think also because she was busy dealing with cancer).
Jen is the only one I know who will do crazy things if I come up with an idea– “Hey Jen, lay down in the grass and let me squash a blackberry on your face and it will look like the blackberry killed you! It’ll be awesome!” “Okay!” She’s sort of a conduit for some of the weirdness that I’m unable to express personally. I just realized that she is due much more thanks for this than I have given her.
Anyway– it was fun to put together a book about Jen. There are no words in the book, but there is certainly a story.
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There’s something odd about being able to buy a book of 200 photos of someone I’ve never met, but followed indirectly by way of your flickr stream.
Clicking through the preview of the book I see pictures I’ve seen come through my RSS feed over time, and it’s a similar feeling of looking at old photos of hanging out with friends of mine; yet it’s someone I’ve never met.
Much like a book without words telling a story, so does your flickr stream. As someone that spends a lot of time thinking of the social implications and possibilities of the internet connecting humanity, I find that pretty interesting to ponder.
Is Richard not also subjected to these same artistic whims? Or have the ones you’ve captured been all his doing?
Bryan– you totally get it! I’ve always thought that it seems like someone could know a little too much about me if they actually followed my flickr stream for a while. (But I decided it’s okay and interesting. I used to be super private.) I have a feeling if you hung out with Jen in person, you would realize that you already know her (in the sense that you get the Jen-gestalt) more than some people she sees regularly. Which is totally bizzare.
I guess it depends on what type of data you absorb and retain best, too… for me, it’s visual information, but I wouldn’t say the same for Richard. We’re just different that way.
If I get sucked into flickr and start looking at the photos of some of my international contacts, I’m pretty much on the verge of tears the whole time, because the photos feel so real to me, and it’s like seeing a glimpse of a home that belongs to me, but isn’t really mine. Through the eyes of a photographer, it is home… so I can feel nostalgic about something I’ve never experienced…
The whole thing is weird to think about…
And Jope– Richard is totally subjected to these artistic whims! But, he’s a shy person, and he kind of clammed up around the camera once he realized most of the photos would go online. Now I always check with him before I post anything questionable or that could possibly be construed as embarrassing.
And actually, some the photos of him that I think are the most awesome are some that he really, really hates– so I feel compelled to respect his need for privacy (but internally bemoan the fact that I have to hide his awesomeness from the internet).
It’s just weird, being a photographer and naturally wanting to share, and having something to share that is awesome, but not being allowed to… I guess it’s a life lesson. Maybe I will learn to enjoy the awesomeness of Richard without feeling a deep need to proclaim it to the world/internet.
But I’m backing everything up to secret data center in an undisclosed country to be published posthumously. :P
Are you really? Does this mean I don’t have to figure out a good backup solution? ;)
I can’t reveal this information; just continue with your obsessive search for secure backup, please. :D
OH. WOW. I had no idea. Perhaps I, too, should be backing up these Richard gems to a secure location for later blackma… urmmm… enjoyment. I totally meant to say enjoyment. Sorry, multitasking bleed. You understand, of course.
Today’s ReCaptcha: “domestic ants”
*taps on laptop screen/ant farm glass*
*makes hungry giant face at them*
Oh, how rad would an iPhone ant farm app be? And if you shook it, all the sand would go everywhere and the ants would get mad and try to carry their eggs away to a separate place… into a friend’s iPhone! And for extra fun, you could drop an ant from a “foreign colony” inside and make the ants swarm. Oh no, now I just gave away my million dollar app idea.
So anyway, the really blackmail-worthy ones have never made it onto the internet. Not that Richard ever does anything that could be used as good blackmail fodder. At least uh… in most states.
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