Happy Holidays, © copyright 2008 Christy Marie Photographie
Monday, December 22, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
The Transition from Autumn to Winter
It's that time of year again; autumn blends into winter and I start wondering where the days have gone.
The holidays are almost upon us; it can be easy to get caught up in the frenzy of the season. The seemingly endless "to-do" lists and scheduling commitments. Remember to take a moment to look around at those nearest you... those you care about and those you pass everyday without much notice or thought. Then take a moment to show them you care. You will enrich your holiday and the lives of those around you; making the season a little less chilly.
A very special Happy Birthday to K, the Louise to my Thelma... or Thelma to my Louise... I'm never quite sure which of us is which. :) May your year be blessed with creativity, joy, and love. I am thinking of you! Enjoy your day.
Reminders of Autumn:
Hide and Seek, © Christy Marie Photographie 2008
Earthbound, © Christy Marie Photographie 2008
The holidays are almost upon us; it can be easy to get caught up in the frenzy of the season. The seemingly endless "to-do" lists and scheduling commitments. Remember to take a moment to look around at those nearest you... those you care about and those you pass everyday without much notice or thought. Then take a moment to show them you care. You will enrich your holiday and the lives of those around you; making the season a little less chilly.
A very special Happy Birthday to K, the Louise to my Thelma... or Thelma to my Louise... I'm never quite sure which of us is which. :) May your year be blessed with creativity, joy, and love. I am thinking of you! Enjoy your day.
Reminders of Autumn:
Hide and Seek, © Christy Marie Photographie 2008
Earthbound, © Christy Marie Photographie 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
'Snapshots from the Overlooked: A Photovoice Project'
Photovoice is a form of documentary photography that enables those that have traditionally been the subject of such work to become its creator. The Delaware State Housing Authority, in conjunction with Friendship House, has announced a unique Photovoice exhibit of images taken by 8 residents of Andrew's Place, a homeless shelter in Wilmington. Information about the exhibit is below.
I hope to see you there, December 18th!
PRESS RELEASE
In a joint venture, the Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA) and Friendship House, Inc of Wilmington, DE are pleased to present 'Snapshots from the Overlooked: A Photovoice Project'.
The project is a photo exhibit to be held December 18th, from 4pm to 7pm at 605 N. Market Street, Wilmington, DE 19801.
Photovoice is a participatory action research strategy that seeks to engage participants and facilitate their development of a level of critical consciousness so that they can identify life issues and communicate effectively with policy makers about their concerns. Photovoice is a grassroots approach to creating social and policy change. Participants are provided the necessary training in the Photovoice method and are sent off to capture their lives with only a camera.
DSHA has been working with eight residents of Andrew's Place, a homeless shelter for men over the age of 55 run by Friendship House in Saints Andrew and Matthew's Episcopal Church. The men have taken pictures for issues that they believe are most pertinent to their lives.
They will be sharing 36 of these images with captions for the general public at the opening art exhibit onDecember 18th, 4pm to 7pm, at 605 N. Market St, Wilmington, DE.
We are hoping to make people aware of the exhibit and hopefully create some interest in the results of the project. So often homeless individuals are told by those in power what is wrong with their lives and how to fix the problems. Photovoice is a unique mechanism because it offers the participants a chance to communicate with policy makers the issues they are confronted with on a daily basis. The power of these images is bound to change the perceptions that many of us have about homeless individuals. In these times of economic downturn and hardship, the plight of the homeless will only burgeon. It is at such points in time, when we must rally together as united front to develop new and innovative ways of tackling some of our most difficult social issues.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Valerie Miller of the Planning and Community Development Section at (302) 739-4263 or via email at Valerie@destatehousing.com.
The Story Behind "Migrant Mother"
Dorothea Lange's work is a source of great inspiration to me so I was excited to see the following article on CNN.com this morning. Lange greatly influenced documentary photography and gave the Great Depression a face... many in fact. I hope you are moved by the story behind Lange's portrait of Florence Owens Thompson, "Migrant Mother". I am.
Girl from iconic Great Depression photo: 'We were ashamed'
FROM CNN
Dorothea Lange snapped iconic Great Depression photo of "Migrant Mother" in 1936
By Thelma Gutierrez and Wayne Drash, CNN
MODESTO, California (CNN) -- The photograph became an icon of the Great Depression: a migrant mother with her children burying their faces in her shoulder. Katherine McIntosh was 4 years old when the photo was snapped. She said it brought shame -- and determination -- to her family.
"I wanted to make sure I never lived like that again," says McIntosh, who turns 77 on Saturday.
"We all worked hard and we all had good jobs and we all stayed with it. When we got a home, we stayed with it."
McIntosh is the girl to the left of her mother when you look at the photograph. The picture is best known as "Migrant Mother," a black-and-white photo taken in February or March 1936 by Dorothea Lange of Florence Owens Thompson, then 32, and her children.
Lange was traveling through Nipomo, California, taking photographs of migrant farm workers for the Resettlement Administration. At the time, Thompson had seven children who worked with her in the fields.
"She asked my mother if she could take her picture -- that ... her name would never be published, but it was to help the people in the plight that we were all in, the hard times," McIntosh says.
"So mother let her take the picture, because she thought it would help."
The next morning, the photo was printed in a local paper, but by then the family had already moved on to another farm, McIntosh says.
"The picture came out in the paper to show the people what hard times was. People was starving in that camp. There was no food," she says. "We were ashamed of it. We didn't want no one to know who we were."
The photograph helped define the Great Depression, yet McIntosh says her mom didn't let it define her, although the picture "was always talked about in our family."
"It always stayed with her. She always wanted a better life, you know."
Her mother, she says, was a "very strong lady" who liked to have a good time and listen to music, especially the yodeler named Montana Slim. She laughs when she recalls her brothers bringing home a skinny greyhound pooch. "Mom, Montana Slim is outside," they said.
Thompson rushed outside. The boys chuckled. They had named the dog after her favorite musician.
"She was the backbone of our family," McIntosh says of her mom. "We never had a lot, but she always made sure we had something. She didn't eat sometimes, but she made sure us children ate. That's one thing she did do."
Her memories of her youth are filled with about 50 percent good times, 50 percent hard times.
It was nearly impossible to get an education. Children worked the fields with their parents. As soon as they'd get settled at a school, it was time to pick up and move again.
Her mom would put newborns in cotton sacks and pull them along as she picked cotton. The older kids would stay in front, so mom could keep a close eye on them. "We would pick the cotton and pile it up in front of her, and she'd come along and pick it up and put it in her sack," McIntosh says.
They lived in tents or in a car. Local kids would tease them, telling them to clean up and bathe.
"They'd tell you, 'Go home and take a bath.' You couldn't very well take a bath when you're out in a car [with] nowhere to go."
She adds, "We'd go home and cry."
McIntosh now cleans homes in the Modesto, California, area. She's proud of the living she's been able to make -- that she has a roof over her head and has been able to maintain a job all these years. She says her obsession to keep things clean started in her youth when her chore was to keep the family tent clean. There were two white sheets that she cleaned each day.
"Even today, when it comes to cleaning, I make sure things are clean. I can't stand dirty things," she says with a laugh.
With the nation sinking into tough economic times and analysts saying the current economic crisis is the worst since the Great Depression, McIntosh says if there's a lesson to be learned from her experience it is to save your money and don't overextend yourself.
"People live from paycheck to paycheck, even people making good money," she says. "Do your best to make sure it doesn't happen again. Elect the people you think is going to do you good."
Her message for President-elect Barack Obama is simple: "Think of the middle-class people."
She says she'll never forget the lessons of her hard-working mother, who died at the age of 80 in 1983. Her gravestone says: "Migrant Mother: A Legend of the strength of American motherhood."
"She was very strict, but very loving and caring. She cared for us all," McIntosh says.
CNN's Traci Tamura and Gregg Canes contributed to this report.
Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/12/02/dustbowl.photo/index.html
Girl from iconic Great Depression photo: 'We were ashamed' FROM CNN
Dorothea Lange snapped iconic Great Depression photo of "Migrant Mother" in 1936
By Thelma Gutierrez and Wayne Drash, CNN
MODESTO, California (CNN) -- The photograph became an icon of the Great Depression: a migrant mother with her children burying their faces in her shoulder. Katherine McIntosh was 4 years old when the photo was snapped. She said it brought shame -- and determination -- to her family.
"I wanted to make sure I never lived like that again," says McIntosh, who turns 77 on Saturday.
"We all worked hard and we all had good jobs and we all stayed with it. When we got a home, we stayed with it."
McIntosh is the girl to the left of her mother when you look at the photograph. The picture is best known as "Migrant Mother," a black-and-white photo taken in February or March 1936 by Dorothea Lange of Florence Owens Thompson, then 32, and her children.
Lange was traveling through Nipomo, California, taking photographs of migrant farm workers for the Resettlement Administration. At the time, Thompson had seven children who worked with her in the fields.
"She asked my mother if she could take her picture -- that ... her name would never be published, but it was to help the people in the plight that we were all in, the hard times," McIntosh says.
"So mother let her take the picture, because she thought it would help."
The next morning, the photo was printed in a local paper, but by then the family had already moved on to another farm, McIntosh says.
"The picture came out in the paper to show the people what hard times was. People was starving in that camp. There was no food," she says. "We were ashamed of it. We didn't want no one to know who we were."
The photograph helped define the Great Depression, yet McIntosh says her mom didn't let it define her, although the picture "was always talked about in our family."
"It always stayed with her. She always wanted a better life, you know."
Her mother, she says, was a "very strong lady" who liked to have a good time and listen to music, especially the yodeler named Montana Slim. She laughs when she recalls her brothers bringing home a skinny greyhound pooch. "Mom, Montana Slim is outside," they said.
Thompson rushed outside. The boys chuckled. They had named the dog after her favorite musician.
"She was the backbone of our family," McIntosh says of her mom. "We never had a lot, but she always made sure we had something. She didn't eat sometimes, but she made sure us children ate. That's one thing she did do."
Her memories of her youth are filled with about 50 percent good times, 50 percent hard times.
It was nearly impossible to get an education. Children worked the fields with their parents. As soon as they'd get settled at a school, it was time to pick up and move again.
Her mom would put newborns in cotton sacks and pull them along as she picked cotton. The older kids would stay in front, so mom could keep a close eye on them. "We would pick the cotton and pile it up in front of her, and she'd come along and pick it up and put it in her sack," McIntosh says.
They lived in tents or in a car. Local kids would tease them, telling them to clean up and bathe.
"They'd tell you, 'Go home and take a bath.' You couldn't very well take a bath when you're out in a car [with] nowhere to go."
She adds, "We'd go home and cry."
McIntosh now cleans homes in the Modesto, California, area. She's proud of the living she's been able to make -- that she has a roof over her head and has been able to maintain a job all these years. She says her obsession to keep things clean started in her youth when her chore was to keep the family tent clean. There were two white sheets that she cleaned each day.
"Even today, when it comes to cleaning, I make sure things are clean. I can't stand dirty things," she says with a laugh.
With the nation sinking into tough economic times and analysts saying the current economic crisis is the worst since the Great Depression, McIntosh says if there's a lesson to be learned from her experience it is to save your money and don't overextend yourself.
"People live from paycheck to paycheck, even people making good money," she says. "Do your best to make sure it doesn't happen again. Elect the people you think is going to do you good."
Her message for President-elect Barack Obama is simple: "Think of the middle-class people."
She says she'll never forget the lessons of her hard-working mother, who died at the age of 80 in 1983. Her gravestone says: "Migrant Mother: A Legend of the strength of American motherhood."
"She was very strict, but very loving and caring. She cared for us all," McIntosh says.
CNN's Traci Tamura and Gregg Canes contributed to this report.
Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/12/02/dustbowl.photo/index.html
Monday, November 10, 2008
Burying the Hatchet: Return Day in Photographs
Obama, © Christy Marie Photographie 2008
Joe The Biden, © Christy Marie Photographie 2008
Change, © Christy Marie Photographie 2008
The Little Flag-Waver, © Christy Marie Photographie 2008
A Silent Voice for Change, © Christy Marie Photographie 2008
About Return Day in Delaware
Monday, November 3, 2008
Self Image
I spent last evening reviewing and submitting self portrait work to a second compilation of female self portrait artists. It dawned on me as I was pulling pieces together that I have not shared much of my latest work. I've been feeling especially creative lately and have been working on several new portraits. Two of my latest favorites follow.
étreindre, © Christy Marie Photographie 2008
Self Portrait
She, © Christy Marie Photographie 2008
Self Portrait
“She stood framed in the doorway, tall, mystic, silent, with strange, wistful face and deep soul shining in her dark questioning eyes. Nigel kissed the hand that she held out, and all his faith in woman and his reverence came back to him as he looked at her.” ~ Sir Nigel by Arthur Conan Doyle
She Took Her Own Picture: Selections from the Female Self Portrait Artists' Support Group
A reminder that some of my earlier self portrait work can be seen in She Took Her Own Picture. I am one of 44 female self portrait artists featured in the book. The book is available for purchase here.
The participants, both amateurs and professionals, range in age and origin and hail from North and Latin America, the UK and Ireland, Australia, the Caribbean, Oceania, and all over Europe. These 44 women however, are only a small percentage of over 1000 female self-portrait artists who congregate in the Female Self Portrait Artists’ Support Group, a group on Flickr started by Laurel Fiszer from Ireland, where the idea for a book of work first began. The group was set up to provide a “collective of women photographers who strengthen their friendship by sharing inspired, artistic, and well-executed photographs”.
Christy Marie Interviewed: Image is Everything
I was fortunate to be interviewed in the Fall 2008 issue of SisterDivas Magazine. Writer Shon Bacon was especially interested in my self portrait work and invited me to share a few of my favorite pieces. Read it here.
étreindre, © Christy Marie Photographie 2008
Self Portrait
She, © Christy Marie Photographie 2008
Self Portrait
“She stood framed in the doorway, tall, mystic, silent, with strange, wistful face and deep soul shining in her dark questioning eyes. Nigel kissed the hand that she held out, and all his faith in woman and his reverence came back to him as he looked at her.” ~ Sir Nigel by Arthur Conan Doyle
She Took Her Own Picture: Selections from the Female Self Portrait Artists' Support Group
A reminder that some of my earlier self portrait work can be seen in She Took Her Own Picture. I am one of 44 female self portrait artists featured in the book. The book is available for purchase here.
The participants, both amateurs and professionals, range in age and origin and hail from North and Latin America, the UK and Ireland, Australia, the Caribbean, Oceania, and all over Europe. These 44 women however, are only a small percentage of over 1000 female self-portrait artists who congregate in the Female Self Portrait Artists’ Support Group, a group on Flickr started by Laurel Fiszer from Ireland, where the idea for a book of work first began. The group was set up to provide a “collective of women photographers who strengthen their friendship by sharing inspired, artistic, and well-executed photographs”.Christy Marie Interviewed: Image is Everything
I was fortunate to be interviewed in the Fall 2008 issue of SisterDivas Magazine. Writer Shon Bacon was especially interested in my self portrait work and invited me to share a few of my favorite pieces. Read it here.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
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