I know I keep repeating this, but lawdy it's so true: you guys always surprise me. I mean...wire? A shirt and a busy background? The TFD potential here was titanic (if you'll pardon the expression). But you guys? Pffft, y'all just made it look easy. And strangely beautiful.
Martin is solidifying his status as Iron Photographer Extraordinaire with this photograph of his
hand holding his head. There's something almost rapturous about that pose. Pete's background may not be entirely busy, but who cares? This is
a completely charming portrait. And I totally love Carol's
fistful of wire. It looks like a cross between those brilliant Maoist Worker Celebration paintings and a sort of Dadaist Ode to an Electical Plug.
I could go on (I really could), but it's now time to slog ahead to Iron Photographer 142. We thought about making this IP project all about Shakespeare's Sonnet #142—you know, the one that begins
Love is my sin and mentions
profaned...scarlet ornaments as well as an admonition to
Root pity in thy heart. We figured y'all could do all sorts of wonderful things with roots, sin and scarlet.
And then we came to our senses. Briefly. And in that brief moment we came up with the following elements:
1 - a bottle
2 - a winter accessory
3 - portrait orientation
The first element needs no real explanation; y'all know what
a bottle is. But just in case, a bottle is a rigid container with a neck narrower than its body (as opposed to a jar}. We don't care if the bottle is empty or full (or somewhere in between). We don't care if it's glass or plastic or stone or made out that stuff that Han Solo was encased in. All we care about is that—oh, carbonite, that's what it's called, the stuff Han Solo was encased in, in case you were wondering—it's a bottle.
The second element is
a winter accessory. We're talking fashion accessory here, not an accessory to a crime. We DO NOT want any photographs depicting winter crimes committed with the assistance of a member of Utata (although we may amend that, depending on the crime involved—write us before committing the crime, just in case). The accessory can be any item of clothing or apparel worn primarily during the winter season. Hats, gloves, scarfs, snowshoes, things of that sort.
The artistic element is that the photograph must be shot in
portrait orientation. The Jamelah and I took turns complaining about this element, because neither of us shoots that way naturally. We decided if we both felt uncomfortable with the format, then it was probably a good idea to try it. Don't ask me to explain any more than that.
As customary, Jamelah was a major factor in the IP element selection process. She made a rather rushed and somewhat incoherent suggestion involving Daniel Craig, some orange jello and a pair of pinking shears, but when I asked her to clarify she said it would be best if she just took a short nap.
That brings us to the part where I ask if anybody has any questions. Does anybody have any questions? If so, please ask them here. I mean, if you can't keep your questions to yourself, then what the hell—ask them here. I suppose you can email me at
editor@utata.org and ask them direct. In either case, there's a good chance I'll make fun of your question in public. Just so you know.
Some basic housekeeping points to remember: 1) Photos submitted to Iron Photographer must be NEW images. 2) Limit yourself to tagging no more than six photos for this project. 3) Post only one (1) small-size image in this thread. 3a) Okay, you can post a second image IF it's materially different from the first.
Iron Photographer 142 will be published approximately two weeks from today on Wednesday,
January 18, 2012.
Tag the photos in the following way:
utata:project=ip142.
I think that's it. Is that it? Yes, I believe so. IP 142, in which we all get to play Tim Gunn. You know you want to.
