# How I keep you away



## Jon M (Sep 6, 2012)

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## Nemesis (Sep 6, 2012)

The title intrigues me more than anything, I keep reading the title out loud while looking at the picture pondering how it relates ^^


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## Jon M (Sep 6, 2012)

Probably better at dreaming up titles than photography anyway. I may have to fashion a story out of this one, I like it so much.


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## Nemesis (Sep 6, 2012)

Take more and make it into a story lol


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## Deleted member 49710 (Sep 6, 2012)

Prickliness, burntness, boundness? And a very deliberate, symmetrical composition of those elements.

Is the book blank and the spine broken, or are the pages torn out?

I know approximately zero about photography in practice.


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## Jon M (Sep 7, 2012)

lasm said:


> Is the book blank and the spine broken, or are the pages torn out?


Both. I did a whole series of images like this, intended to be sort of a personal narrative. Shot on film and developed it myself. Kind of getting the itch to do it again, only with a digital camera, so it looks a little cleaner. 

I used to call this _Defense Mechanisms_. I dunno. Makes sense to me. 

Photography's fun. I'd love to get back into it, when I can afford it and don't have as much going on in life.


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## Kyle R (Sep 7, 2012)

I like it.

It looks like something I'd see at the Museum of Art, framed, on the wall.

Something I'd stand and peer at for a few minutes while scrunching up my face and tilting my head and trying to figure out just what the heck it is I'm looking at.

But sometimes I feel like that's the point, right? To inspire the viewer to create his or her own meaning. To give the audience the power to create their own art out of your work.

Good stuff.


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## Isis (Sep 7, 2012)

I like how gritty the film is - it feels very appropriate for this photograph, at least, though I'm sure this would also be intriguing if it were clean and digital. I also like the deliberate and symmetrical composition. It makes me think of a few things: stuff arranged in the aftermath of something, a display in a museum (either in a case on the floor for view or in a drawer in the back), objects placed a certain way to tell the future or to create something magic. I also like how the objects you've chosen call up abstract painting for me. Each has its own texture, and I can tell what each is (burned wood, rope, a rock) but each object is also a shape that kind of defies explanation. Like the shapes in a Miro painting.

I'd love to see more of these - I think the series would be full of interesting conversations and possibilities, and would invite the viewer to imagine the narrative much more than any individual photograph does.


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## Jon M (Sep 7, 2012)

Appreciate the discussion and kind words, friends.


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## Deleted member 49710 (Sep 7, 2012)

It's interesting, the first one you posted is much more aggressive and menacing, also more controlled since the rope/rock object is manmade (did you find that or make it? nasty kinda thing to leave lying around for somebody to step on). The later ones show more about fragility, natural forms and their destruction. Except for the nails, which don't quite fit the little progression in my head. Can definitely see the "Defense Mechanisms" title for the first one and for the nails. The others seem maybe more about what's being defended.

Is there a specific order?


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## Jon M (Sep 8, 2012)

Yeah, there was an order, but it doesn't really make sense with the other pieces missing. 

Man, the more I think about it the more I want to redo this digitally. Make more of these ... create an entire book. I did this two years ago, and it was the most fun I ever had shooting pictures. Wasn't writing back then, but should've known I was a storyteller. I just remember getting excited about this series ... sketched thumbnails, planned it and everything.


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## Deleted member 49710 (Sep 8, 2012)

Jon M said:


> Yeah, there was an order, but it doesn't really make sense with the other pieces missing.


well, don't be frowny - a) because I might just be dense, happens often; b) even if I'm not, you can't control reception, your reader/looker will get what s/he will get, possibly of equal value to what you hope; it's an interaction, you to medium and medium to spectator; imperfect but maybe better than one person alone can do; and c) I like it, for whatever that's worth.



> Man, the more I think about it the more I want to redo this digitally. Make more of these ... create an entire book. I did this two years ago, and it was the most fun I ever had shooting pictures. Wasn't writing back then, but should've known I was a storyteller. I just remember getting excited about this series ... sketched thumbnails, planned it and everything.


Then you should redo, if you want to, rethink it and expand or condense, depending. Interesting to me that you weren't writing then, because there's the open book behind everything here.

Edit, not to fix, but to say: you see how I love semicolons. Gah.


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## Jon M (Sep 8, 2012)

lasm said:


> I like it, for whatever that's worth.


:tickled_pink:



> Interesting to me that you weren't writing then, because there's the open book behind everything here.


Didn't really put that one together until you mentioned it. See how quick I am? (not very) 

But that sort of stuff happens a lot, especially now with my writing. Seems like half the time I'm writing with my subconscious. Stories just come together, connections are made, and I'll be looking at the screen like a dummy, wondering what the hell just happened.



> Edit, not to fix, but to say: you see how I love semicolons. Gah.


Yes, well, I do not share your love of these mutant comma ... things. So unpretty.


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## Isis (Sep 8, 2012)

I especially like the one with the curved grass (or is it a green onion? the stalk of a flower without the flower? reeds from the lake?) and the nails: I think it sets up a similar kind of dichotomy as the first one: natural versus man made, irregular shapes versus regular shapes. The other ones have that quality as well, but it's more removed: the destroyed/burned leaves could be thought of as effected and damaged by man, if not made.


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## Deleted member 49710 (Sep 8, 2012)

Jon M said:


> Seems like half the time I'm writing with my subconscious. Stories just come together, connections are made, and I'll be looking at the screen like a dummy, wondering what the hell just happened.


That's happened to me a couple times, I'll reread something I wrote and think, wait, this actually makes _sense!_ Unfortunately the opposite happens sometimes, too...


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## TinyDancer (Sep 8, 2012)

really cool pieces, very...creepy...witchy...dark...endings, explosions and...coffins? I liked it. have not seen something like this before and it makes you...feel, which is nice.


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## Whisper (Sep 8, 2012)

right question wrong tools?

damn, tried to upload a photo of a 10-foot pole...failed. You'll just have to use your imagination.


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## Jon M (Sep 8, 2012)

Whisper said:


> right question wrong tools?
> 
> damn, tried to upload a photo of a 10-foot pole...failed. You'll just have to use your imagination.


Don't know what this means, but ... ok.


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