{"id":833,"date":"2016-01-30T19:26:28","date_gmt":"2016-01-30T19:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/?p=833"},"modified":"2016-01-30T22:47:04","modified_gmt":"2016-01-30T22:47:04","slug":"finding-magic-behind-the-lens-in-your-backyard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/?p=833","title":{"rendered":"Finding magic behind the lens (in your backyard)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was really taken by Bradley\u2019s final anecdote about learning to take photos in your own backyard, and how humbling that can be. Often our everyday blurs into the mundane. Holding a camera, I think there\u2019s always an initial desire to capture something fresh and new; something you\u2019ve never seen before. But I believe the most empowering kind of photography requires using your lens to kindle the magic of your mundane.<\/p>\n

Robert Frank and Thomas Neff found beauty and truth within the unhygienic, unpolished realities of their everyday. This reminds me of all our conversations about how Shange adorns the mundane, creating magic out of everyday rituals.<\/p>\n

In \u201cSweet Breath of Life,\u201d Shange transforms a pregnant woman into a kind of ethereal angel in her choreopoem \u201cLord, I\u2019m Blossomin.\u201d She adorns the sky with descriptions like, \u201cthunderin\u201d and \u201cgleaming water on our skin\u201d; rainwater is \u201cleaving us without shame.\u201d She personifies the heavens as a woman, who has \u201cdecorated us\u201d by lending \u201cus her jewels of gentle defiance.\u201d A shower under rainwater transforms into a religious experience:<\/p>\n

pum\u2019kin we gotta sky full of blessings rainin \/ down on us & all we had was the courage to reveal our naked selves to the horizon & her wonders<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Water showers the body with courage as the sky empowers.<\/p>\n

Shange\u2019s words bring the photograph to life. Without the text, the photograph still stands alone beautifully. However, the poem provides texture, movement and breath. With words that adorn, Shange transforms a beautiful photograph into something that is holy and alive.<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a>\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*Sidenote: Photography is one of my hobbies; and now thinking about it, my favorite photograph I’ve taken I took in my house. I never really thought about that as more than a coincidence. Until today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was really taken by Bradley\u2019s final anecdote about learning to take photos in your own backyard, and how humbling that can be. Often our everyday blurs into the mundane. Holding a camera, I think there\u2019s always an initial desire to capture something fresh and new; something you\u2019ve never seen before. But I believe the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[291,292,290,286,288,289],"class_list":["post-833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogposts","tag-black-photography","tag-digital-storytelling","tag-magic-in-the-mundane","tag-robert-frank","tag-sweet-breath-of-life","tag-thomas-neff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=833"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":850,"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833\/revisions\/850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}