Ocular Octopus
Todd Walker’s photography ephemera: theory, craft, failure, success, learning. Read, enjoy, share, discard.

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I’m Done Here

For more than a year I’ve been considering whether to put this blog on hiatus or give it up altogether. Since I shuttered my previous blog, Gallery Hopper, the effort I put into blogging has gotten smaller and smaller. Tumblr’s structure let me keep going with a minimum of effort while fooling myself that I was producing something useful or worthwhile.

I want to grow more as a photographer. The time I have available for that seems to get more limited by the day. I need to simplify. I need to remove distraction. I need to focus. I need to make work.

 |   January 21 2012  

(Source: blindspot.com)

 |   January 20 2012  

eyecurious:

Great initiative by the Fotomuseum Winterthur in Switzerland: the blog Still Searching which has just launched. The blog will be run by a series of 6 guest bloggers, each with a 6-week slot. The German photo  historian and theorist Bernd Stiegler will kick off the blog (January 15  to February 29), the Indian writer Aveek Sen, (March 1 to April 14), US  artist Walead Beshty (April 15 to May 31), and Dutch photo theorist  Hilde van Gelder (June 1 to July 14, 2012) will follow until the summer  break. Geoffrey Batchen, the photo historian and theorist currently  working in New Zealand, will initiate the autumn season (September 15 to  October 31).

eyecurious:

Great initiative by the Fotomuseum Winterthur in Switzerland: the blog Still Searching which has just launched. The blog will be run by a series of 6 guest bloggers, each with a 6-week slot. The German photo historian and theorist Bernd Stiegler will kick off the blog (January 15 to February 29), the Indian writer Aveek Sen, (March 1 to April 14), US artist Walead Beshty (April 15 to May 31), and Dutch photo theorist Hilde van Gelder (June 1 to July 14, 2012) will follow until the summer break. Geoffrey Batchen, the photo historian and theorist currently working in New Zealand, will initiate the autumn season (September 15 to October 31).

 |   January 16 2012   |  3 notes  

Lucky me. Just arrived. “Redheaded Peckerwood” by Christian Patterson.

Lucky me. Just arrived. “Redheaded Peckerwood” by Christian Patterson.

 |   January 14 2012   |  1 note  

Little Brown Miscellanea: Advice

littlebrownmushroom:

From Nick Hornby in the The Believer (December, 2011):

One of the things that did me no good at all in the formative years of my career was prescriptive advice from established writers, even though I craved it at the time. You know the sort of thing: “Write a minimum of 15 drafts.” “A good…

there are no magic tricks or short cuts. Just work and work and work.

(via photographsonthebrain)

 |   January 7 2012   |  40 notes  

Explore Old S.F.

heymiki:

Really slick interface for exploring old photos of San Francisco :)

 |   January 4 2012   |  1 note  

eyecurious:

A terrific resource: No Layout is a digital library for independent publishers, focusing on art books and fashion magazines. It lets you digitally flick through a ton of great content. Check out their 2011 annual report for some headline numbers.

eyecurious:

A terrific resource: No Layout is a digital library for independent publishers, focusing on art books and fashion magazines. It lets you digitally flick through a ton of great content. Check out their 2011 annual report for some headline numbers.

 |   January 4 2012   |  7 notes  

The gulf between practitioner and public taste

From A Photo Editor, here’s the list of top selling photo books from 2011. Where’s Redheaded Peckerwood?

  1. Simply Beautiful Photographs (National Geographic)
  2. The Great LIFE Photographers (Little, Brown & Co.)
  3. The Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton (LIFE)
  4. One Nation: America Remembers September 11, 2001, 10 Years Later (Little, Brown & Co.)
  5. Portraits of Camelot: A Thousand Days in the Kennedy White House (Abrams)

(Originally from EyeCurious)

     |   January 2 2012  

    Windsor, CO, December 2011

    Windsor, CO, December 2011

     |   January 2 2012   |  10 notes  

    Windsor, CO, December 2011

    Windsor, CO, December 2011

     |   January 2 2012   |  1 note  

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