Monoliths

There are a bunch of wind generators about to go online near my home in Illinois, and I went to take photos of them while i was home, and while they were still pointed in different directions. Once they go online, they will always be pointed the same direction, into the wind. They have quite an incredible effect on the landscape. Somehow, though they are a good change from the coal power that is typical in Illinois, the landscape will never be the same. The flat horizon line will always be interrupted from now on, and any home within sight will never see sun rise or set quite the same ever again. It is a changing of the times.

-Mark Andrew Fenton

Shots from Mennonite Convention

A July Swing Set

Kari, Kathryn, and myself went over to the swing set at Park View Mennonite and connected with our youth, pondered a few things, and enjoyed a cool July evening.

The home video made into art…Jonthan Johansson music video for “En hand i himlen”

The artful snapshot has been around in the photography world for a while now, but I have discovered a that in the world of film, the home video can also become a unique and powerful art form.  In his music video for the song “En hand i himlen” or “A Hand in the Sky,” Jonathan Johansson simply sings and dances  to the music, which seems to be straight out of the 80s.  The entire video looks like it was shot from a sony handycam or some similar tiny consumer video camera, but the art is in the edit.  Frame by frame detailed choices, using light, composition, and beat driven editing makes this video top notch in the artful music video world, at least in my book.  After finding this, I realized that I’ve seen it before some years back, so aparently I’m not the only who likes the song.  It seems to me that in difference between a home video and art is the care and choice put into every cut, and I would venture as far as to say that in your typical music video there is far less care taken in the edit than in this video.  Anyways, take a look and enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-TIba-dw5A&feature=related

Brainwashing Children: A response to “Jesus Camp”

Yesterday, over an extended lunch break, I watched the documentary “Jesus Camp,” a long exposé on a Missouri woman’s quest to save the souls of America, starting with the young children.  No age seemed off limits as she preached fire and brimstone to the youngest of elementary age children.  The cameras follow the preacher, Becky Fischer and  several children from the point of recruitment into the summer camp to the end of a week of preaching, speaking in tongues, condemning of abortion, and many more acts that seem typical of the Christian Right.  The shocking part of the whole film was the fact that the children were so unbelievably young.  The filmmakers provided a contrasting opinion to the mix by following radio talk show host Mike Papantonio, who’s flabbergasted response to the extremism could be viewed as the film’s only sensible commentary, or as the antagonist fighting against Fischer and her goals, depending on your viewpoint.  Papantonio was a quite clever device set up by the directors in that role.

Throughout the film I constantly squirmed as such young and impressionable minds were ruined with half truths and even lies about the Bible, humanity, and the world beyond the United States.  Again and again the children were told  that the world was a hopeless place, lost and unredeemable and the only hope left was the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, who was supposed to be their free ride to heaven.  Escapist theology, in a nutshell.  Several times Fischer mentions just wanting to get out of this “sick ol’ world,” both to the camera and then telling the children that they should not desire to be in the “sick ol’ world.”

As a child, I went to a summer camp somewhere from age 8 till age 18, and I spent a number of weeks throughout a few summers as a staff member and counselor at various Christian camps.  Much like the camp in “Jesus Camp,” theology was boiled down a bit for the children, depending on the age, but never was I scared into any belief.  I treasure my times at those camps, regardless of my growth away from the theology and teachings there, because I was loved there above all else.  I never had an out loud conversion experience at any of the camps I went to, but I was still loved.  The teachers and counselors at those camps loved the children above all else, but in “Jesus Camp” the sole point was conversion of children into “warriors for Christ.”  Quoting Becky during one of her many sermons to the children, “This means war!  This means war!  This means war…”  And so on and so forth.  The children were nothing more than spiritual cannon fodder in a war against Satan.  Those poor children never had a chance to believe in the hope and love that God has for humanity, and that is the saddest thing I can imagine.

test 2

another test…

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Flock Test

Due to the nature of summer, I’m wasting time and messing with new web apps, especially flock and twitter.  While I’m fully aware that I’m probably signing a contract with the devil, I have finally gave into twitter and putting my life on the web, or at least a censored version. 

Things I’m thinking about:
-tearing apart old broken things and making them new
-Regina Spektor
-Iron & Wine
-Donald Miller

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Graphiti

During my summer travels last May through August I encountered a lot of interesting graffiti in all sorts of curious places, and ever since I have had a great appreciation for all things graffiti.  I recently ran across an incredible artist who goes by the name of Banksy.  The works displayed on the website are non-traditional, provoking, and very well crafted.  I am quite inspired.

 

http://www.banksy.co.uk/

 

~ma

Photoshop

At the end of the semester, I have finished my Photoshop class, finally.  While taking on the rigors of the program, I tended to stick in the photo-realistic world, and in the end I made 6 images designed to critique technology in different forms, anywhere from cameras, to light, to computers and communication.  Here is the statement I wrote about the project for the class.  The project was titled “Connections.”

            ”The use and misuse of technology has become a common dependence among the average college student, and as I thought about this issue in relation to my art and beliefs, Photoshop became an obvious medium through which I could critique my dependence.  It is of course ironic that I was in a sense critiquing the very medium I was using, and I find this irony to humorous as well as intriguing.  As I thought about creating these images, I went through several thought processes, resulting in the conclusion to work in a photo-realistic manner. 

I worked with the idea of constantly being connected to technology, through cell phones, wireless Internet, and the endless snake of wires that covers my desk at home.  On average, I can have anywhere from 2 to 10 devices connected to my laptop, all in use at once on some occasions.  I look at wild conceptions of this in Connection.  Without these connections and computers of various kinds, my life as a photographer would be quite different, and very difficult in some ways, and I explore this in Disconnection.  My work as a photographer sometimes pushes my mind to the point where I only see as a camera sees, and this idea gave birth to Voyeur, which is a harsh critique of myself and my profession, thus I chose to use myself as a subject.  The rest of the images circled around use of computer, and my final image comes full circle to return to one of the most basic forms of technology we are dependant on; artificial light.  Light seeks to describe the relationship we have with artificial light, and as a society, we are addicted to this seductress of a character.  In many ways, artificial light can act like an amphetamine, allowing us to produce and work for longer and longer, into the night.

Although I have no plans to sell all my technological possessions and move into the dark ages, I do think it is quite valuable to think about how much we use technology, and to question our motivations for getting the newest best things. ”

Mark Andrew Fenton

This about wraps it up…

Here are the last of the photos from the project.  While I am done shooting, I still need to look at the images at a larger scale and do final touch-ups in photoshop and then go into after effects and set up my final presentation, with text and narration.  Again, that will be up in a week or so.  These are also not in their final order.

Mark