for example

my favorite kind of travel photos are of awkward people standing awkwardly in front of huge, monumental things. it's a funny thing, no? to place yourself there? and snap? as if there were some connection between that thing and you? it's almost instinctual, too, to be moved to stand in front of something like the eiffel tower, or the taj mahal, or the rosebowl(?), the gg bridge, that bull with the bollz down on wall street, etc...it differs completely from the idea of how the hot shots at 'nat geo' or even of the '24 hours in charlotesville, n.c.' section of the times would shoot a place, but...i guess that's what makes us amateur webcammers...as of late this idea of pedestrian has been tapped into by FINE artists, and there is now a lot of 'casual' / 'snap shots' / 'me flipping off the great wall of china' hanging on the porcelain walls of some chelsea galleries...recently, i went to one of those...the walls were covered in glossy 4x6 walgreens prints...i tried, i tried very hard to find the magical in the mundane, but it wasn't there...i even stared at a piece of shit (in the grass - dog shit on grass - glossy print - thanks) for a few minutes wondering what was wrong with me that i couldn't find the 'cool' in this situation...(answer: 'cause we hot shit???). i couldn't find the cool.

...anyway, two things that are tricky about photography: it can and does lie...but it also cannot transpose feeling onto an image/situation where there is none...it does not create intent, character, innocence, talent - where there is none. it remains transparent, or as obvious as the image.

here is young jay in front of the taj mahal in 2001. it is nothing more (and all that) than him here. it is so far removed from pretense that it becomes a gorgeous thing. he is, in fact, quite connected to the huge, stately monument...it was with awkward affection that he gave me this photo when he returned from his sojourn to india. i love it less awkwardly than i do straight preciously...