I just finished reading Karl Mannheim’s 1925 sociological writings regarding ideologies and utopias (no, that’s not a joke, I really read them). From what I gathered in all the rhetoric that academicians liked to write with in his day, and still do for that matter, was that utopias, those ideal realities we all yearn for but never quite realize, are a result of somewhat massive changes from one historical epoch to another. Societies have such a desire to obtain and advance past the status quo that parts of their ideal notions actually trump existing thought and poof, there they are. Well, I wouldn’t say poof, they’re instantly there (since some epoch shifts took a lot of people going to war), but you get what I mean.

I tried thinking about this in means that make sense to the world we live in, and to terms that are more readily activated, like paradigm shifts. In some ways, what Mannheim was describing could be applied to paradigms of thought, particularly in the realm of technology. I started looking around the counter where I was sitting, and there was an iPhone, an iPhone charger, a set of keys with a “clicker” attached, and even a key with the “clicker” built in, and going further, there was a yet-to-be-deposited check with I’m sure some sort of electronic security strip built in to the paper. This sounds a little nerdy, but that really put life today in to perspective, and how far society in general has made it since the days when these examples of rock art were created.

Now, think about all the camera gear and other photography equipment we lug around our shoulders and backs, day in and day out, and all the advancements this industry has made in the last 180 years. I’m sure ol’ Niepce would marvel in what our relatively small cameras could do today, and Daguerre would be proud (he did, after all, essentially predict the creation of color photography while laying out the monochromatic world).

At the same time, though, we can really ask ourselves: has it really changed that much? Sure, the technology has taken leaps and bounds, HD video as the latest paradigmatic leap, just like digital capabilities before that, and auto-focus before that. Yet, what are we doing with the technology so easily acquired? Have we really deviated that much from the purpose of photography in the first place? When the ability to capture story in some visual form was made known, we’ve used camera technology, in whatever shape or form that was, to do so. We still do, and we always will. We cannot deny the advantages the technology gives us now, but at the same time, this is not what tells us how to produce narrative or aesthetic, they are just parts of the means to an end. I’m a fan of technology, but I’m a bigger fan of photography and the story contained.

This is not my gear/vision spill (although it would be a lie if I said I didn’t agree with David duChemin’s mantra of late). This is just a spill on utopias, and while utopias, or paradigms, come and go evidently (according to our friend, Mannheim), there’s still a core that survives each revolution. In this case, it’s not in the reverse engineering either. It’s just there, in the frame.

By the way, both images are of some of the oldest rock art in Texas, created by the Lower Pecos people in what’s now known as Rattlesnake Canyon, near Langtry, along the border with Mexico.

The June desktop calendar is now available! Just right click the image above and save it do your designated folder! This shot was actually taken from a location that one of my students came upon during a shoot on one of the most beautiful stretches of the Sabinal River in Utopia, Texas! Several of us came away with nice images. Good find Brent!

I was just down in the Hill Country for a show with the Hogg Maulies, and it was refreshing to see some of the rivers coming back to level! Here’s a take from the Sabinal River running through a beautiful ranch in Utopia, Texas. This has been the site of a lot of great photography!

It’s not like me to take photographs of a cemetery (maybe it’s just getting close to Halloween, no offense). I feel that cemeteries are shot quite enough (mostly in black in white for that matter), however, when a particular cemetery is old enough to sport some pretty interesting heritage, it’s always worth looking in to!

One of the locations that we took our past Junction Intersession photography students was to the Waresville Cemetery in Utopia, Texas (Uvalde County). The founder of the town that the cemetery is named after, Captain William Ware, was a Texas revolutionary, and shortly after he built his house in the area, he passed away. He became the first resident of the cemetery in 1853! That’s an old cemetery in Texas! The cemetery has since grown, but the original allocation of plots is still surrounded by a rock fence, indicative of rock fences of the area.

Like I said, it’s not necessarily my style to photograph cemeteries, but I do have some neat images from years past of this particular one, and this year, I decided to isolate head stones with lights. It’s not common you get a chance to do this, and it was almost like photographing figurative portraits, of course, of the head stones.

I especially like the newer head stones that include a photograph of those that have passed away. This tells so much about this particular person, and if you think, this is what will be viewed as ancient one of these days!

More to come!