Molly Des Jardin's photostream  

Simply put, I love to take pictures of interesting or weird things to save them for later. Along the way I started to love taking pictures for their own sake too. And now I can't stop taking them. I have caught photographer disease and it turns out there's no cure.

I consider my body of work to be one gigantic self-portrait. Thinking about it, I consider others' to be the same.

Aside from photography, I am an artist in traditional get-your-hands-dirty media, and I'm currently a PhD student in Japanese literature (specifically Meiji book history - how's that for arcane) and also getting an MSI in Library & Information Services.

I'm in residence in Michigan finishing up these degrees and live in Ypsilanti, near Ann Arbor. I'm originally from Rochester, NY. Rochester makes Michigan seem sunny and balmy; is my work imbued with dark, rusty subjects and deliberate underexposure because of that twilight landscape that chills to the bone year-round? Who knows. Honestly my favorite subject is trees, but I have to take photos of what's in front of me.


My photos reflect my recent rootlessness - they are from all over! I know my work in Japan overwhelms what I've taken in the US, so here's a quick rundown of my time there:

* 2009-2010: Arakawa-ku, Tokyo; Japan Foundation Dissertation Research Fellow affiliated with Nihon Daigaku.
* 2007-2008: Kotobuki-cho, Naka-ku, Yokohama; Inter-University Center for Japanese Langauge Studies.
* 2003-2004: Shime-machi, Fukuoka; JET Programme ALT at Sue Prefectural High School.

Contact:

I have a professional web site, which includes a photo blog that I should certainly be more on top of. In addition I finally registered www.non-euclidean.com which I am dubbing non-euclidean atelier (how fancy. how I have been in Japan too long). Nothing exciting up yet, but at least it has its own welcome picture and no longer redirects straight here!

By the way, that professional site - it's www.mollydesjardin.com. I have information about my career trajectory, background, dissertation (abstract and mapped out), and increasing number of blog posts.

If you want to talk about photography, art, commissions, prints, academics, or just whatever, get at me: mdesjardin@gmail.com.

NEWS:

I finally made good on my promise to get all them 2009 photos up even if it killed me. They're up. Now I have to move on to either getting the 2010s online (starting in January 2011, that's reasonable right? sigh), AND/OR making a best-of set for 2009. We'll see. Please pressure me a little if you'd like to. I kind of need it.


I used to have a more complete Japanese section but it's hopelessly out of date. Here's what remains.

好きな場面は、このようなものやことです。山、返照、モノの形、木、木の葉と太陽の光、さびていた波形板金、団地、商店街、民家、古い建物、廃墟、電車、隅田川、インフラ、変なモノ、明暗。

いろいろな人と友達になりたいです。よろしくお願いします！