Lest I Forget – Mission Viejo

I-5 Mission Viejo, CA photograph 2012 copyright Douglas Stockdale

A continuation of my investigation of memory and its preservation.

National Safey Council – my road side memorial photograph

National Safety Council – photograph copyright 2012 Douglas Stockdale

The National Safety Council (USA) has incorporated one of the photographs from my project “Lest I Forget” into a monthly safety campaigns. Editorial freedom; they have grayed down the photograph to keep the emphasis on their text.

Lest I Forget – Ferentino Italy

 

Ferentino, Italy copyright 2012 Douglas Stockdale

The attempt to preserve memories is more prevelant in Italy than I earlier thought. They can be very subtle and difficult to discern, but this one in Ferentino was very obvious.

Updating blogs

Somewhere over the MidWest USA, December 2011 by Douglas Stockdale

It seems like this blog is becoming my de-facto website as it much easier to incorporate updates. So today was a little bit of a housekeeping day for this blog, mostly to provide some links on the “Ciociaria” side bar, both for some of the bookstores which are carrying my book and other places to obtain book information.

Trubuco Canyon memorial

Trubuco Canyon, CA-241 copyright 2011 Douglas Stockdale

Ephemeral: transitory, lasting for only a short period of time and leaving no permanent trace

Memories – changing over time

Cheshire England, January 2012 copyright Douglas Stockdale

I continue to be intrigued by the various facets of memory and one that seems the most futile and vexing is the preservation of a memory. Sometimes no matter how hard I attempt to hold on to it, a memory can be elusive and like a fog, slips too easily through my fingers.

Duality of Roadside memorials

Colloferro, Italy copyright Douglas Stockdale 2012

Initially I visualized this project in black & white. I have come to understand that this project transcends a greater subject, one that in a way haunts me. Memory and its preservation.

In Passing – an Aftermath project?

In Passing – California 241 Copyright 2011 Douglas Stockdale

Some may call it serendipity, while Christians would say that this is the quiet voice of the Lord, but an odd chain of events started this last Saturday when I received a unsolicted photobook, Afterwards, edited by Nathalie Herschdorfer,  for a potential review on my blog The PhotoBook. As I stated in my review, I am not usually as interested in broad surveys that try to capture thematic concepts. But there was something about this particular subject and the photographers who participated that did ensnare my interest.

And I am glad that I did give it some consideration, as the broad range of projects that attempt to redefine the aftermath of a traumatic event, or as stated by Pascal Vrticka “to show human suffering indirectly through images displaying the aftermath of chaos rather than chaos itself“, lines up perfectly with my earlier In Passing project. I will be returning to this book’s essays very soon, probably after the dust settles with the current events of publishing my book Ciociaria.

One concern that I had with my project In Passing was the subjectivity of the photographs when displayed in color, thus I have converted all of the images to black and white, first with a warm hue and most recently to a more documentary straight black and white. Looking at the various projects in Afterwards that are illustrated with color photographs has captured my curiosity, such that I am now creating color JPEGs of all of the photographs of In Passing for further reevaluation (I don’t think Edward Weston could pull that feat off!). I just need more time to complete the color conversions than I have right now.

So more about this re-development later, eh?

Best regards, Doug