Five: Films with Photographers

Blow-Up (1966)

Take the consummate swingin' 1960's photographer with his womanizing too-cool-for-you lifestyle and put him right in the middle of a murder mystery. Then give it the kind of symbolic ending that makes a great majority of people hate European films.

The best scenes in Blow-Up find the photographer endlessly enlarging negatives to better see the evidence of a crime that may or may not have happened.


City Of God (2002)

A young man chooses between a life as a gang member in a violence-plagued slum in Rio De Janeiro or something more. He is drawn to a camera, ultimate choosing to document the tragedies around him as a means to rise above the poverty and hopelessness of his situation.

City Of God is a powerful statement of perseverance and one of the best movies that many have never seen.


One Hour Photo (2002)

A lonely and psychotic man works in the photo lab at a big box retailer. His obsession with one of his customers gets out of hand, causing him to lose his job and embark on what he sees as a noble mission to punish a husband for his infidelities.

Robin Williams plays as convincing of a psychopath as you'll ever see. He's remarkably creepy and unsettling, but somehow we feel compelled to empathize with him.


Pecker (1998)

A wide-eyed kid from Baltimore takes some photographs of the people in his neighborhood. A snooty New York art dealer discovers his work at the local deli and turns him to a star in the art world. And John Waters directs, so there's a good dose of filthy humor and outright bizarre characters.

Pecker is a love-hate sort of film. Either you laugh and eat it up or you sit and think about how much you despise everything about it for two hours. I think it's brilliant.


Rear Window (1954)

What's a photographer to do when he is confined to a bed in his apartment? Spy on the neighbors across the courtyard with a telephoto lens, find one of the neighbors attempting to cover up a crime, and end up face to face with the murderer himself after he knows he has been discovered.

I'm a huge Hitchcock fan, and Rear Window is one of his best. It's brilliant how the entire film is shot within one apartment and its view across a courtyard.

Iowa: Day Four

With nothing but rain in sight, I headed home from Burlington. I'm looking forward to getting back to central Iowa to continue working on the family project. Most of the ride home was spent trying to figure out just how to approach it. It's daunting to try to work in a different way, but I think it'll make for a stronger series in the end.

The photograph above is from downtown Burlington. There were four bikes hanging on wires above an intersection.

Iowa: Day Three

I've made it down to Burlington, in the south-eastern corner of the state. It's an old river town on the bluffs of the Mississippi.

The photograph is a detail of one of the buildings downtown.

Also visited: Gulfport and Hamilton, Illinois; Fort Madison, Montrose and Keokuk.

Iowa: Day Two

Today was spent meandering all over the countryside in Iowa and Poweshiek counties with my grandparents. We covered a lot of ground and family history, many places that are almost non-existent today. I had forgotten how beautiful it is out here, rolling hills and valleys with green as far as the eye can see.

Pictured is what remains of the country school that my grandmother first taught in after getting her teaching degree. It's very nearly gone forever.

Also visited: Brooklyn, Carnforth, Victor, Ladora, Millersburg, Hartwick, Deep River, Montezuma and Malcom