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DPChallenge Forums >> Side Challenges and Tournaments >> Team Suck Featured User: posthumous
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07/06/2009 10:56:06 PM · #1
El Presidente, posthumous!!

Kelli asks:
Why the screen name posthumous? Do you plan to become famous afer you die?


I went to Hell to find out how all the dead cliches were escaping. It turns out that Hades uses dead things to fuel the great eternal fire that warms the earth from within. The smoke of death infects our imaginations, leaving us with washed-out old rags of ideas. There was nothing I could do about it.

krnodil requests:
Tell us about one of your favorite poems - your own or another's.


It's by e. e. cummings and it begins "somewhere I have never travelled" (there's no title). Here was old e.e. faced with centuries of love poems, and what did he do? He wrote his own statement of love, the truest I ever read. Sometimes I'll forget what love is with any precision. I'll think about it for a while, start to sort things out, like how she touches me... and it will come back to me in the form of this poem... as though this poem were the definition of love waiting all these millennia to be discovered. But as with any great poem its greatest explanation is itself:

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the colour of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands

What image(s) at DPC do you think have come closest to being a visual poem? What makes it a visual poem?



What makes it a poem is that it doesn't quickly assemble itself for you. There are elements you recognize: the shadow of a hand, the little boy, the siding, the window, the door, the shadows of trees... but these come to you at different times. These are the words or phrases of the poem... actually we might call them "images" because we're still so influenced by Ezra Pound and his Imagism. (yes, images, we poets and photographers are not so different!)

Notice how it doesn't tell a story. Stories tell stories. Poems don't. Poems create an experience with language. This photo creates an experience with images. One of the most common tools of the poet is juxtaposition, like the shadow of a hand on top of a boy's arm, which is on top of a a boy's face. This is how metaphors work, by juxtaposing two disparate things, thus revitalizing both and helping you re-understand one in terms of the other... like in the poem above, where we are forced to think of the rain has having small hands. It makes us think of rain in a different way. It makes us think of love in a different way. It juxtaposes rain with hands. It juxtaposes love with rain.

Melethia interrogates:
how is it that meyers has met your wife, but not you? Hmmm?


My wife most certainly HAS met me, many times, and I'd appreciate you not spreading such rumors. As for why she met meyers, she has a more interesting career path than I do that takes her to exotic locales like Chicago.

NikonJeb inquires:
What gives you the most hope in seeing the growth & evolution of a photographer here at DPC?


When I see the portfolio of a photographer, I develop certain expectations about what their next photograph will be like. What gives me the most hope is when I'm wrong.

snaffles asks:
How'd you get into teaching? Why?


This is the old "When did you stop beating your wife?" question. I got into teaching by tricking someone into letting me because I want to feel like I'm helping somebody and not just nattering away. Hopefully someday.

How did you end up hearing about dpc and joining?

This wonderful photographer, kdkaboom, also happens to be an excellent poet. I knew her from poetry boards and she introduced me to this site.

quiet_observation asks:
Why photography? Have you had any formal photographic training?


Because it's the one purely creative outlet that my father allows himself, and I love his photos.

Because I like to draw, which gives me an interest in the visual arts.

Because it's passive and I like letting the Universe fill in the gaps.

I took an introductory course in black and white photography, including how to develop the film and make the prints.

Describe one of your most memorable photo shoots.

From my comments to this picture:



"It's Christmas. White Christmas is on the stereo and suddenly the rain turns into snow. If I weren't there myself I wouldn't have believed it. My niece is enthralled. skewsme and I followed her all over the house, catching her at every door and window."

How many photos do you take during a typical week?

I have no typical week. skewsme is much more devoted than I am. I daresay that an entire week goes by sometimes without me taking a photo. This week I've taken about a hundred. It's not atypical...

Do you pre-visualize your photographic compositions and do your photographs match your vision?

This is where I've grown as a photographer. More and more, I know what the photo will look like before or while I'm taking it. Rarely does a photo match my vision. I'm still a rank amateur.

Who have been your photographic inspirations?

Many inspirations just from this site alone. Some of the biggies are Ed Clarke, Robert Cook, Nick Hinch, J. J. Beguin... they are the street photographers. They've taught me about photography as capture.

On the other end of the spectrum are Svetlana Silverfox and Man Ray, those who know the art of setting up a shot without making it safe.

The first group wrest control from utter chaos. The latter group wrest chaos from complete control.

Oh and then there's this goatlover called pointandshoot. The Universe seems to be his studio.

You are leaving this morning on a 30-day road trip. Where are you going and where will you stop along the way?

I'm going to have a blast with my friends in New York City. Then I'm going to drive down the Jersey Shore. I'll stop at Asbury Park, Long Beach Island, Atlantic City, Wildwood, and Cape May. Heck I'll probably try to make it all the way down to DC and make krnodil buy me dinner.

If you are able to have one photograph that you have taken that represents your brief existance on earth, which one would it be?



If someone would like to start reading poetry, which authors do you consider "must" reads?

There are no must reads. The poets you read will determine what "poetry" means to you. HOWEVER, if I were to act as a tour guide, I would want you to know two major trends in poetry: the Romantic and the Classical.

To understand the Romantic, start with William Blake. Then William Wordsworth. Then Emily Dickinson. Finally, read the Snow Man by Wallace Stevens. If you're brave, read more by Wallace Stevens.

To understand the Classical, read Shakespeare and John Donne and T. S. Eliot and William Carlos Williams.

Sweet or sour?

More sour every year, and loving it.

meyers asks:
How did your namesake ribbons come about?


I had nothing to do with it. It was a conspiracy led by De Sousa. He knew that my tastes did nor run to the ribbon winners, and for some reason he wanted me to promote my taste, even though he was on an amazing stretch of ribbon winners at the time. Any influence I have on this site comes from De Sousa, who used his conventional power to give power to the unconventional. I admire such people.
07/07/2009 12:12:37 AM · #2
Kudos to all involved! A very nice read. I may have to investigate a bit of poetry.... :-)
07/07/2009 12:36:15 AM · #3
This is a brilliant interview... questions and answers. Very enlightening. Thanks.
07/07/2009 08:14:24 AM · #4
Very nice Don. We now know a little more about the life of 'The Donald'.
07/07/2009 08:51:56 AM · #5
What a great read, thanks for sharing.
07/07/2009 08:54:42 AM · #6
Loved the answer to Jeb's question. This was a great interview!
07/07/2009 09:28:43 AM · #7
nice interview, thanks
07/07/2009 09:29:16 AM · #8
very good interveiw!!
07/07/2009 10:01:32 AM · #9
Thanks Don! This was really a fun interview!
07/07/2009 10:24:08 AM · #10
Great interview! Thanks for sharing a little of yourself!
07/07/2009 07:07:40 PM · #11
Terrific interview,
love the way you paint with words
07/07/2009 09:03:49 PM · #12
I loved the questions, even though skewsme had to explain NikonJeb's question to me! ;D

Thanks, Team Suck, meyers and all the little people!! I'm getting into my limo now...

p.s. if anyone wants to learn more about poetry, drop me a pm. I'm sure I'll be deluged! hahaha
07/07/2009 09:58:14 PM · #13
Fitting tribute to the only poet who's middle name rhymes with both "orange" AND "opus".
07/08/2009 12:24:01 AM · #14
Fun fun fun. But who is this guy?
I'm still waiting for him to be discovered, Dickinson style.
07/08/2009 01:30:02 AM · #15
It's so much nicer (and faster!) to learn stuff when it's made fun and/or funny -- an excellent job by all involved. Thanks!

Message edited by author 2009-07-08 01:30:37.
07/08/2009 01:38:47 AM · #16
way beyond
07/08/2009 02:04:33 AM · #17
AND he met and went shooting with the world-famous reclusive Ed Clarke. I'm horribly and insanely envious.

More importantly, though, he's married to the incredibly beautiful and talented skewsme.
07/08/2009 05:41:24 AM · #18
excellent interview, don, and all questioners. and thank you very much, don, for including my boy here - greatly appreciated indeed.
07/08/2009 09:04:41 AM · #19
DonDon, I love that you and the skews made such a happy home on DPC! You both blow me away with the creative mojo.

Thanks for the fun read, you crazy old pooper, you!

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