one of the great things about working in a library (in fact, there aren't many bad things) is the books. all the books. this is plainly obvious, but it often takes a while to actually thing about it and see the opportunity you've got there. it's like when you first realise that the sky is an inverted bottomless pit.
adrienne is studying photography as a degree away from uni - not open university, but i gather it's kind of a little like that; as her old college as a touchstone. she ordered in some books from another library that arrived today, and i was looking at them on the staff reserve shelf out the back, and it was like my obsession with light and 'light bleeds' in photographs (i don't know the technical term, sorry) was just made legitimate. i'm looking through this beautifully presented book, and there's photo after photo of overexposure and reel after reel of blocks of colour. the photo above is mine, and i've really struggled to find one of the photographer's pictures online to compare it with (for reasons that will become apparent in a moment), but the similarity to some of his stuff is amazing. it made me feel like i'm not just wasting my time, or that my stuff is too easy or lazy or something. i know you're not supposed to need validation and stuff...but, come on, it's encouraging. really encouraging.
when i finished my break, i told adrienne how much i loved the photo's, to which she replied, 'you know who did those, don't you?' in a non-agressive way; in a way that she knew i didn't, and wanted to tell me because she knew it was a really good fact. the same face when you tell someone that some starfish live forever. i'm not sure if that second fact is true, but i've heard it said from the staff at the sealife centre.
i had seen the name 'viggo mortensen' on the side of the book, but to be honest that name meant nothing to me. sure, i'm taking a degree in film, but i don't really base my knowledge on secondary characters in films that i didn't fall in love with. that's not meant to be elitist, it's just not something i know.
anyway, if you don't want to follow those links and know more actors than me, then you will know viggo played aragorn in lord of the rings, among other things like main performances in history of violence and hidalgo...in fact, he's been in a lot of stuff and i should have known him really.
anyway, i found it really comforting - i had completely overcome that feeling of embarassment when you discover you're admiring the art of an actor or similar. it's really elitist and childish, but i'm sure all of you know the feeling: the example that keeps coming to mind is when russel crowe released a single with his band. ok, it was shit, but what if it had been good? and good in a non-ironic way? would the community have acknowledged that, or ignored it? it's the white label syndrome - do i like this, or am i not supposed to like this?
anyway. this has gone on for long enough. viggo mortensen is probably my favourite photographer, and you would do well to seek out his books - especially 45301, which i will probably buy tomorrow. maybe you will get the same experience as i did, washing all trace of irony away from these photos. here is one of the only photos i could find online, and it's from 'Miyelo'. it's not one of my favourite's, but it could be one of yours. it's also longer in it's actual proportions.
i'll post some music with this a bit later, but right now i need some food to go with this wine.
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