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james mckenna
{K:6535} 4/26/2004
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thanks for the encouragement, irma. i'm pretty committed to my work, but acceptance is coming slower than i had hoped. interesting you should remark about my work helping to make the site valuable to you. i spend most of my time on usefilm.com, and only drop in here occasionally. an early post of yours, just your head with the folds flowing behind, caught my eye as being by someone with an interesting vision. i'll put more in a comment on one of your more recent posts.
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Irma Vep
{K:1480} 4/26/2004
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Hi James,
I understand your frustration. What I always hope is that artists will keep doing their work even when it isn't commercially viable. Sometimes, you likely know, it just takes time. Nothing else, just time. I think your work is very strong and highly unique. Your work is one of the main reasons I am glad to have found this site!
Regards,
Irma.
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james mckenna
{K:6535} 4/25/2004
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Thanks for asking, Irma. I have shown work quite a few times, mostly here in Cincinnati, but also in Asheville, NC, and in New York. I'm in a group show in July, again in Cincinnati. Apparently I'm showing in the wrong places, though, because I hear lots of positive comments, but nothing sells.
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Irma Vep
{K:1480} 4/25/2004
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James,
Your work is fascinating. Do you ever show your prints?
Just curious,
Irma.
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Fabio Keiner
{K:81109} 10/15/2003
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yes
this is rescued from the deepest depth of collective subconsciousness
archaic tales of rape and slaughter mourning and offering
from the womb to the tomb
:)
so also the deliberate old daguerreotype-like processing and presentation fits exactly your aims
:
I am very happy that art like yours could be seen here
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Leo Solei
{K:339} 9/25/2003
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Ho, excellent, it is an uman sculpture!
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JULIANNE GRAHAM
{K:46} 9/25/2003
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makes me think of Rodin.
best wishes
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j w
{K:12641} 9/23/2003
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Well, how the heck did I manage to overlook your work completely, James? Head in the bushes, I guess ;)
I find this image stunning for many reasons. The emotional/mythological/historical implications are wonderful, and everything about it -- from the twisted man in the middle to the rough but beautiful tonalities, seem to work together seamlessly.
I was amused to read of the chaos and labor involved in this -- it looks absolutely natural and its beauty is very quiet.
Nicely done. Now I'll go look at something newer!
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Rick Mccawley
{K:2878} 6/18/2003
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I enjoy the symbolic nature of this image more than some other. i think because the figures faces are not as visible. This lets the figures be representaional rather than literal. Intrinsic beauty is not as noble as acuired beauty. You have brought the beauty to this image. As a poem.
"This is poetry man, If you don't like poetry, go home and watch TV with pictures of cowboys being tolerated by kind horses" Jack Kerorac (foward to the Americans by Robert Frank
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ana ribeiro
{K:21290} 6/18/2003
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i'm not going through old negatives,in the self of 1972 i use photoshop simply.
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ana ribeiro
{K:21290} 6/17/2003
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welcomed to usefilm!
i thank you for your clever comment actualy i was handling an image and this image was the portrait of a beloved person : we did quited.I was in great pain , so i invented stuff like this, i did take him of from the photo in ps.
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Paco Ferrer
{K:8586} 6/15/2003
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Incredibly Good! We'll Have to get together one of these days!
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Daniel Knutsen
{K:3871} 6/14/2003
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Excellent!!! Great work!!! I'm impressed!
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Elin M
{K:842} 6/12/2003
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i absolutly love this one!
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Bikas Das
{K:6544} 6/12/2003
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James,
Thanks for your email. You are right, my surname is_DAS and name_BIKAS. "the process you said is unknown to me" is the posted comment earlier. It is also unknown to many of us in India, I assume. The film you used supposed to be a panchromatic one and perhaps not available in our country (as usual). The picture reminds us of very old and earlier day photography. It is great that some of you are still patronizing and practice the old process and mesmerize the present world. Please feel free to send emails to me. Regards....Bikas.
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james mckenna
{K:6535} 6/11/2003
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mary, i was thinking again of your comments about composition and the idea of altering the pose made me smile. if only you knew the desperate circumstances in which most of these pictures are made. these are mostly ordinary people, not models, and i come in with only an intuitive sense of what i'm trying to achieve. i'm usually exhausted from late nights of planning and from the exertion of hauling in hundreds of pounds of equipment and support supplies, and every person there has a different reason for being there. it's chaos. i'm thrilled to hear that what i manage to bring back from a session like that has meaning to you and others.
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james mckenna
{K:6535} 6/11/2003
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thank you all so much. your praise is very encouraging.
mary, the loss of fine detail in some areas is deliberate. i am evolving a method of printing that blurs and expands darker areas of an image, while leaving lighter areas clear with delicate detail. you can see this fine detail in the young woman's face and (to a lesser extent in this smeary .jpg) in the wall behind the group, especially to the lower left. i do this with a combination of contrast and diffusion filters and with toning. i realize now that the veil i used a year ago when i shot "circe" was an early attempt to create this effect.
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MaryBell
{K:32791} 6/11/2003
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James,
We've discussed the difficulties of this forum for you before but I wonder did we lose a little detail due to the scan? The forms of the men bearing the woman lose a little of the fine detail and highlight that I associate with your work.
I like the different postures of the three men - gives us different views of the male form and the pose of the woman is just right.
I was wondering about the central position - very classic but I wonder about different crops one where they almost move out of the frame and one where they seem to be moving into the frame. A tryptych might be good...
Oh, I hope to see one with a veil over the group - perhaps with the men kneeling -
Your work is always good for thought and is well beyond me!!
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João Figueiredo
{K:7674} 6/11/2003
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...!!
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Jay Gumm
{K:3084} 6/10/2003
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This is FANTASTIC!!! - The mood and atmosphere you captured/created is wonderful. I am a new fan!
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Peter Burda
{K:4807} 6/10/2003
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great mystic moody, excellent concept, very strong
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Bikas Das
{K:6544} 6/10/2003
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Ki holo thhik bujhtey parlam na???
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Hakan Aker
{K:14146} 6/10/2003
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Excellent shot James with a great tone..i saw this,now i wanna see all your works.My best regards,Hakan
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![tara (detail of head [living])](http://thumbs.imageopolis.com/images/8/8/3/883/226276-Micro.jpg "tara (detail of head [living])")
