Let Facebook Keep the Story

For the past year the chalkboard in Paterson 421 has been home to a number of doodles and puns about bees. Towards the end of the year the fun of the puns grew wearisome as calls to “pollinate the board with a new theme” grew louder. However, no one wanted to erase it. In September I took a picture of it and posted it on Facebook. Later it was tagged with the names of contributors to the board, perhaps suggesting that the creator of the image was present in the image itself? Finally, two brave souls took the initiative to erase the board a week or two later. (No hasty decisions were made)A photograph of the board allowed the chalk creation to be erased. I wonder if it was it the act of photographing it allowed for it to be erased or its dissemination on Facebook?

Not everything was documented. The photo did not capture the thuggish evil looking bee behind the calendar which was hidden from view most of the time. Now the hidden bee is lost forever.

Do you believe in fairies?

In 1917, Elsie Wright (age 10) and Frances Griffiths (age 16) took photographs of fairies at the bottom of their garden after having been scolded by their mothers for getting dirty when playing down in the "beck." The photographs caused controversy in 1920 when author and Spiritualist, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published these photographs as evidence of the existence of fairies in an article for The Strand.Public debate over the authenticity of the photographs ensued. Years later, the girls admitted they had faked all except one of the photographs. Looking at the photographs today, its hard to understand how these photographs could have convinced anyone. Yet, as I mentioned in class, when you take into consideration the close association of photography and science in the Victorian and Edwardian era as illustrated in James R. Ryan's Picturing Empire , it is easier to comprehend the acceptance of these photographs as hard evidence.

This video of the Frances Griffiths' daughter and granddaughter on the Antique Roadshow was posted on youtube as proof of the existence of fairies by a modern-day spiritualist.

The Cottingley Fairies - The Proof That The Photos Captured Fairies.

Art, sport, or science? Camera hunting in the age of technology.

As I mentioned in class, two brothers took a trip to Africa to photograph "big game" at a new angle. They built the remote controlled BeetleCam, to get right up close to elephants, African buffalo and lions. Check out the "The Adventures of Beetlecam" on their blog here.

Photography Workshop at the CMC

Earlier this semester I attended a photography workshop at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. They gave us some basic photography tips, show us examples of their work and let us "backstage" to look at their studio where they do artifact photography. Afterwards they let us loose on the museum to take what photographs we could. I made friends with a retired engineer named Rick who has made photography his hobby. He's part of the Ottawa Camera Club, an organization that has been in existence for over 100 years. Being very much a beginner, he took it upon himself to teach me a thing or two about taking pictures.

It fascinated me what he chose to observe and what he chose to photograph. We walked through Canada Hall, my new friend took the trouble to let me know that he doesn't take snapshots, he makes art. He took pictures of a trellis of roses in Upper Canada, an anachronistic metal box in New France and some paint cans in British Columbia. By the time we reached the recreated Ukrainian church he began to engage with the exhibits as something other than a photographic subject. He was struck by the beauty of the church. "I'm not going to photograph this, I'm just going to put it in my memories." He closed his eyes and took a moment. The camera to him was not a tool to record reality but one of the imagination. No box was going to store his memories for him.

Throughout the afternoon. The language he used was right out of Sontag. "It time to pull out the guns," he said, when we started off to take pictures for ourselves. At a map of fur trade routes he pointed out places where he used to hunt and later on detailed a photographic safari he planned to take in the next year or so. A hunter turned photographer... now where have I heard that before? While I might not have taken the best shots that day myself, I was able to witness photography in action and another perspective on why its done.

These shots were taken imitating Rick... unfortunately I don't have his stunning images to show you.