Gloomy, depressing, and not necessarily with much of a point to it.
Eventually as I reported earlier I decided to interview younger people and see what they had to say, maybe build a more optimistic counter-narrative to go with the gloomy essay.
These are the results of those interviews, and the book is now in production. An edition of TWENTY FIVE which is a record for me. I'm going big.
Speaking of cars, it seems that they lose popularity with young folk here in Germany. I recently read that nowadays only about 75% of the 18 year old go for a driving license, whereas in my generation (b. 1966) this was more than 90%. Especially these huge SUV's seem to be a thing of the older generation (they're easier to enter since the seats are higher).
ReplyDeleteIn my company (we're part of the car industry), the picture is quite divided. We've got a small number of car nuts who drive high powered Audi's and BMW's, but a bigger number of colleagues owns modest cars and even junkers (moi). About 20% of my colleagues commute by bicycle or public transport. Some of them do not own a car at all, or refuse to drive.
Re guns: I think there is also a historical perspective to it. In good old absolutist Europe, the common public was forbidden to bear arms since the rulers feared insurrections. So it was probably a big deal of equality that in the US everybody was allowed to carry a gun. But this, of course, was a long time ago.
Best, Thomas
I find it perfectly delightful that there are people in the car industry that commute by bicycle. Maybe the world will turn out OK after all.
DeleteThat is certainly the story I am constructing with these pictures. It IS a construct, although it is based in the literal words spoken by the subjects. Those are quotations, but (like a photograph) they are clipped out of context and presented alone, which emphasizes some things, eliminates others, and presents the picture I want, which is related to objective reality, but not the same as objective reality.
OK, I just looked at the pictures on a bigger screen and was finally able to read the hand-written text. Let's hope that these fine young people do not succumb to cynicism and consumerism; this is often caused by a life which is perceived as boring and alienated ("entfremdet"?). I've got to questions:
Delete1. Do you have more pictures in this series? If so, I'd be curious to see them - it is the most interesting work you've shown here so far.
2. You talked about 25 copies. So this is not going to be a Blurb book? Are you going to produce and bind these copies yourself?
Best, Thomas
Thank you!
DeleteThis is all the pictures there are, although I might continue to interview people. I'm not sure. It's been very interesting, and frankly uplifting. The format is very fun to do, and fairly fun to look at.
This IS a blurb book, and it's not really editioned as such. I just bought 25 copies initially. I'll be doing a little "launch party" for the various people who helped me out (the six young people above, and a couple people who let me photograph some objects they owned for the other part of the book). Each collaborator gets a copy of the book.
When that "launch" is done, I'll set the book itself up for sale at some Very Small markup. I hope some day to make enough money on blurb for them to actually cut me a check (I think I have to make something like $25 US before it turns in to real money).
Honestly, I was surprised that 100% of the interviews/pictures I took were usable. I mean, I took more photos of each subject, but in each case I ended up with a single adequate photograph, and a few lines of very usable text.
DeleteI was expecting at least a few complete duds, but basically everyone I talked to was on the same page in broad strokes, and my photographic skills and their modeling skills were adequate to the minimal needs of the work!
buy me a copy, neh
ReplyDelete