INSPRTN: Gordon Parks

I saw an exhibition of Gordon Parks' work around 2012 at the Studio Museum of Harlem. It was centered around an impoverished Harlem family and the hardships that they faced.  It was striking, moving, and completely made me want to take more pictures and push my creativity as a photographer. I mean, the man is a legend in his own right: a true renaissance when it comes to expressing deep compassion. His work is something that I aspire to be: visually arresting, yet yields a soft emotional core.  

Untitled, Harlem, 1948 - Gordon Parks 

Untitled, Harlem, 1948 - Gordon Parks 


Cognitive Patterns

I am always thinking in textures, which I am realizing is not a normal state of being. I notice them wherever I go. Maybe it is because I have always had a sense of not really rooted in reality, constantly daydreaming, ruminating in narratives, designs, colors, and, of course, textures. Is that what makes some people brilliant? Their disconnect from the literal world and in touch with their lofty imagination? 

Anyways, this is what I noticed at work: a wet-erase board, a scaffold, and a tip of a tree. 
 

At the end of the day....

Working on commercials can be very, very sporadic, but the thrill of something different each time (the people, the environment, the commercial itself...) keeps the blood going and my life feeling fresh, which is something I haven't experienced in a really long time.  

Mount Tammy and the soleil. 

Mount Tammy and the soleil. 


SF

Moving to a new city gives you new eyes to explore the commonplace. The novelty of it all is terrifying, of course, but it breaks open a creativity that hasn't been examined before.