Sunday, June 20, 2010

"Father In Exile" - A Snapshot Aesthetic Journal



This short film [and the photos taken] was inspired by a late night (and early into Father's Day morning) discussion with Paul Robinett about art, inspiration and a trend in fine art photography that started in the early sixties called 'snapshot aesthetic'. Admittedly, this isn't the most peppy of Father's Day videos... (I wish I didn't have this footage frankly) - But I hope you gain something from watching me embrace new ways to explore creativity and [maybe more importantly] pushing myself towards honest self-expression.

  • Ok! moving on... (sorry, it's the psych class i just took... recently I've become psychoanalytical & introspective about everything! and I already have a bit of a melancholy bent to begin with... but anyway...)

As for the whole 'snapshot aesthetic' theory - holy SH!T - am I excited!!! (Thanks for your blog post about this Rita!).  I feel like I've added a new superpower weapon to my creative tool-belt! The main lesson I'm learning here is to LET GO - to stop controlling (something I need to apply to my art and in relationships if I'm being honest!) - but rather being alive in the moment and allowing the lens to be more of a 'loose' third eye - documenting the moment (and I just become a conduit of the energy I'm trying to capture, not the master of it). It's just freeing! Make sense?

If you'd like to see more snapshots from this night check out the Fickr Set.

4 comments:

Rita Finn said...

Hey, thanks for the call-out, Darrin! I must say, these images are really inspiring. First, the video with all the shots pulled together ... inspire a bit of a lonely feeling. Intentional? But the cricket sound at the end with the porch shot; strangely comforting and familiar, so "home." I have some favorites. The garage picture has this wonderful abstract quality. You don't know what you're looking at and you don't care because the light has this warm, silky quality. The light switch has an ominous, spooky feel to it, but in a good way. The door knobs are my favorite - can't say I know why, they just are. The angle? Keep going, keep going!

Darrin Maxwell said...

You're welcome for the HUGE shout-out (to all 4 people who read my blog haha)! As for 'was the lonely feeling intentional': well... the whole concept (as I'm understanding it) of snapshot aesthetic is to capture little moments of unaltered reality (none of those images were altered in any way) - and allow the images to speak the honest truth. The truth is when I looked at those images the next morning they spoke of isolation & loneliness so I edited the video to compliment. So to answer your question: Yes. The Garage image was Paul's fav too. And those crickets ARE so comforting aren't they? Thank you for reading and commenting so thoughtfully. I really appreciate it!

Rita Finn said...

So, okay, I'm still on this snapshot aesthetic kick, and I've looked at so much of it in the past few days. It seems I'm trying to come up with some guidelines or basic tenets for myself to determine what is good and bad 'snapshot', or just better wrap my head around it. All movements in art have had some basic ideas that they stood for – or against, right?
I’ve noticed that focus vs. blur is a real element. It occurs to me that sometimes (though not always) the blurred focus itself makes me feel lonely, as though the person or thing out of focus creates a visual effect of being emotionally remote, which is really great if that's what one is trying to achieve. But depending on the light, angle, composition, etc., the blur could also seem menacing, or sweet and dreamy. But it never seems to mean NOTHING. Am I right? Still, while I try to understand what qualifies as snapshot aesthetics photography, it’s hard to not fall back on the safety net of following the rules …

Darrin Maxwell said...

I think it's good to force yourself to adhere to certain rules of a theory for the purpose of learning and stretching (but at the end of the day it's all relative). i look at this lesson as a new tool in my arsenal... if I'm painting with brushes and feel that I need to break out a pallet knife to capture what i feel, I'll do so. make sense? for me the larger lesson learned through snapshot aesthetic has been capturing (and accepting as it is) unadulterated truth.