“Break, break, break, On thy cold gray stones, O sea! And I would that my tongue could utter the thoughts that arise in me”

when i was 18 or 19, i remember randomly purchasing a copy of blind spot magazine, the fine art photo resource. i'm not sure if i had set my heart on the pursuit of photography in school yet (i did attend art school, but with the initial desire to be a graphic designer. it seems to me that the world has a comfortable supply of both designers and photographers, but i have to fit in somewhere!) anyhow, the cover of the particular issue that i got resonated with me in a way that i don't believe any image had up to that moment.



this image, or rather, this style of imagery, this mode of working...doesn't really look that contemporary anymore, but at the time of my first viewing, i couldn't get the awkward shape of the boys legs in contrast with the remote beauty of the seascape out of my mind. i think it was the first time that i had ever been able to readily acknowledge the poetry in a work of art, or at least in photography. people freely throw around words like "poetry", "lyricism", "beauty" and "history" when talking about any art in particular, but so often i feel that those words ring hollow, or function as blanket qualifiers for work that really isn't anything remarkable. it's no longer of such crucial importance that art embody the traditional ideas of poetry, beauty, etc. especially since really contemporary artists have taken work to a position where ideas trump objects. but i will admit that i like beautiful things, and if they can communicate something more emotionally stirring, then i think the artist has achieved something rare.



i know that people curate favorite things in their lives, and that those cherished items/idols wax and wane with age and experience. for example, when i was a child i adored bubble gum ice cream, unicorns and new kids on the block. now i can't imagine why i would want to take bite after bite of ice cream studded with chicklets, unicorns are still a vice and nkotb induces nausea. however, i feel that i can say that this image of the girl in the green swimsuit will remain a fundamental part of my love for the photographic image. I love the way that she is mirroring the birth of venus by botticelli, the way the the bottom of her swinsuit is still wet from the ocean, as if she has just walked out of the water, the way that the seascape looks like a painting itself. this is the kind of beauty that you don't grow out of.