Give Me -
The sketch board and editing process for a current project inspired the image selection and usage for a new series of personal work. The words, from Sean Porter; who said to me last week “What do you have to feel bad for? You own your own business, you have pretty friends and you take photos of rock stars…” He probably said some other things to try to cheer me up and rouse me at the same time. But the point he made stuck with me.
These images aren’t autobiographical – or at least not literal in the personal sense. I began to think about the luxury of being able to complain, to have the time and cognition to be so aware of all the things and people so many of us have – and then still yearn for something more, newer, different. Let’s face it, if you are reading this, you have a computer to read it, a job that does not require manual labor, and the time to click on this post. Feel free to feel unsatisfied, but it can’t be that bad. The recent loss of a old friend and the radio news reports the current devastation in Haiti certainly helped crystallize my thoughts.
This project is not cynical nor meant to be a guilt-trip necessarily. It is a wry attempt at a reminder to stay honest. These images are a reminder that we have many good things and people, and while I should be critical, of myself and my tendencies, humility and humor applied to self analysis can be an embarrassingly good thing.
Posted by Todd Roeth on January 20th, 2010