The most important points I took away from the weekend are these: To make anything happen with a private archive, you need to know what you have. Thus taking inventory, and thereby getting familiar with the materials so you can locate and retrieve them, becomes the necessary first step. Second, to borrow a concept from general systems theory, you have to convert it from a heap to a whole, establishing some kind of order. […]
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In the last analysis, whether working in black & white in the urban social environment or isolating the particulars of a flower or shell insect in their distinctive coloration, Feinstein is still showing us a world filtered through his own inimitable sensibility. Animated by the same spirit, the works of his earlier years and these more recent projects actively enrich and amplify each other. A profound awe in the presence of living things manifests itself in all his pictures. […] Wearing Sadakichi’s Hat Last week I finally got to do something I’ve planned for years: have some pictures made of myself wearing Sadakichi Hartmann’s hat. That calls for some explanation. Scion of a German father and a Japanese mother, Sadakichi Hartmann (1867-1944) was born on an island in Nagasaki harbor. His mother died […] We’ve become the first culture to produce substantially more artists with professional aspirations than our system can possibly absorb. Though more egalitarian than most gatekeeping systems, the photo portfolio review system enables entry to a few while feeding the hopes of the many — “American Idol” writ small, if you will. No harm done, I suppose, and it keeps them off the streets. […] |
 SPJ Research Award 2014 |
The Image of the Prophet
We kuffar who stand outside the faith do those moderate Muslims no service when, like Ben Affleck and other well-meaning white liberals, we parrot the lie that ISIS/ISIL is not an accurate reflection of Islam, when in fact it represents a fundamentalist form of the faith practiced by people who have studied the Qur’an and the hadiths, and who follow to the letter procedures and plans approved by high-ranking religious figures. It may not be the whole picture, but it’s unquestionably part of it. […]