Omaha Project - G9 Style

These are just a few of the pics for the Omaha Project taken with my new Canon G9. The G9 is sort of a "super" point-and-shoot that just so happens to be a fully-functional, manual 12 megapixel camera. In the right conditions, it simply rocks, and it fits in my pocket. I was able to take the first photo with a wider angle (35mm), but in a moment, without adding new lenses, I could step into the photo and do a close-up of the lock itself.

Very sweet.

I think most of the rest of this project just might be done with the G9 - a camera that will go everywhere with my wife and I, and I'll be able to capture anything I want without lugging around my gigantic and intimidating DSLR. Good stuff.

Shooting Blind

Experimented today with an infrared filter on the camera. This gives the photos a new look - something different than anything I've done before, although I had to shoot and unbelievably slow shutter speeds and without the ability to actually see the scene in the viewfinder.

Finally...

Went out this morning for a little more Omaha Project work. My photography students at school are working on a semester project that involves something in the community - and they have split up into four groups to work on this. Their ideas and their work have inspired me to get my act in gear and actually do something with this...


This "POLICE - caution" sign was about a half block away from a elementary school. I could imagine the students walking by this every day... and sadly there are three abandoned, boarded-up homes within one block of this school.

All of these photographs were taken within a ten minute driving range of my house, and I actually passed up far more houses that were obviously abandoned that I haven't taken photos of yet.



























The last house here is the most depressing of the lot. It could have been such a cool house, and probably was at one point in time. Today, it's a corner lot on a somewhat busy street. Fire damage. Boarded up windows. The door is also open wide...

Not done yet...

OK - It's summer time. I can finally breathe and work on this project more. More to come in the next few days and weeks.

Colors

I took over 100 photos in about an hour yesterday. It was sad that there were so many abandoned, boarded-up places just minutes from my home. But the photos, like the one above, didn't stand out for me.

This one did - and I did it by swinging my camera around with a slow shutter speed. I got back in my car and started shooting "from the hip" - experimenting with different shutter speeds, exposure, and angles.

I like the style... a bit chaotic. I think it matches the feel of driving down the streets, seeing the decay at the edges of our vision - only to look away and keep driving.

Exploration

This is going to be the personal photography project I'm working on over the next several months, maybe more. As a teacher of photography at my local high school, we've decided as a class to create documentary projects based on aspects of Omaha.

For me, I'm going to be documenting the way different neighborhoods of Omaha have different standards of what's acceptable and what's not. I want to discover some things about the city I've lived in all my life, but haven't really, truly, deeply looked at. I'm going to be looking at how we all "see" the world around us - and what that might mean to how we view the world. What are our hopes and dreams? Can the neighborhoods we live in factor in to how we view our own future?

For most of my life, I lived in the same house near what could be considered "west" Omaha (Omaha has changed so much, I'm not sure what's considered what anymore). My block was normally quiet - my car was broken into a few times, but it was only because my dumb self left my expensive car stereo in there too many times. For the most part, though, it really was a quiet, stereotypical "white" neighborhood. I can remember going to school with one black student as an elementary kid, and really didn't have any black friends until high school.

I remember being young and having a distant relative from Latvia visit us. He couldn't speak a word of English, but my father was intent in showing him Omaha. We drove all around, packed into a little red citation, my father eagerly showing him parts of Omaha I hadn't really experienced.

I remember we went North, near Ames street, and toured the neighborhood there. There, for the first time, I noticed that some of the houses were boarded up. And everyone was black. My father made it a point to tell us all that this was the "bad" part of town. At the time, it seemed to me to be true. I can't remember for sure, but I'm sure our car doors were locked. I didn't have a reference point to what I was seeing. I could understand living near empty houses with "for sale" signs in the lawn. But seeing "DANGER - CLOSED" signs in bright yellow on boarded up doors was something I just didn't have experience with.

Now, many years later, I live and teach near the area I once considered a "bad" part of Omaha. When I was younger I had no idea what socio-economic status was, or what urban decay meant. I only knew that I lived near mostly white neighborhoods with nice houses, and that most black people, at least in Omaha, lived in a much different type of neighborhood.

Needless to say, I didn't get out much, and stayed where I was comfortable.

Now, living in the area I once slightly feared has helped me establish my current world view. It's changed me.

I understand that abandoned homes and decaying neighborhoods have more to do with the socio-economics of the local community than race. But that doesn't let anyone off the hook. In Omaha, Nebraska, the minority neighborhoods are the areas with the most urban decay. From my travels, I'd have to say that it's much the same around the nation.

Yet everyone, most especially white people, simply look away. To be honest, I'm often times the same way.

These apartments are one block away from my house. Entire buildings are boarded up, locked up, and ignored. When I drive by, the uncomfortable feeling in my stomache leads me to focus on the road and "just drive." Noticing - really looking and thinking - would lead me to a crossroads. If you can ignore something, you don't have to deal with it. But focusing on this reality causes some conflicting emotions. Most importantly - "what should I do?"

As a photographer, what I can do, and what I should do - is take photographs. It's not getting my hands dirty, I know. Some might say I'm taking the easy way out. But I do believe in the power of photography. There is power in art - art can be a sort of resistance... a powerful one, not easily ignored. So - this project was born.

I'm going to attempt to photograph things in a different style than I'm used to. I want to let the viewer experience the photographs a bit differently. There will be over-exposed, blurry, out-of-focus shots with screwed-up colors. Doesn't that match this crazy world we're living in? Doesn't that simulate the experience of living in this city with it's thunderous wealth and stunning poverty? Maybe the style I'm going for will turn people off - but I hope it at least makes them think. If it does that, then this project will be a success.