Matthew Desmond
New member
This photograph is simply about the end of America’s agricultural life and on to the supposed bright future.
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The End
- Thread starter Matthew Desmond
- Start date
This photograph is simply about the end of America’s agricultural life and on to the supposed bright future.
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Matthew,
Is it the Walmart store that threatens this huge Freudian structure?
Understanding this is not hard, however, what is the reality? Yes, the industrial jobs go overseas, but surely not agriculture?
For the composition did you shoot wider?
Asher
Is it the Walmart store that threatens this huge Freudian structure?
Understanding this is not hard, however, what is the reality? Yes, the industrial jobs go overseas, but surely not agriculture?
For the composition did you shoot wider?
Asher
Matthew Desmond
New member
Well the silo is indicative of rural small town America...and Wal-Mart destroys that by moving in and undercutting the mom and pop shops by offering the same products at prices the mom and pop shops cant even dream of matching… they do this by bulling their suppliers into selling at lower costs.
ya I shot at a 28 focal length... would the image still work if I cropped it so that the top half of the silo cut off?
ya I shot at a 28 focal length... would the image still work if I cropped it so that the top half of the silo cut off?
Aaron Strasburg
New member
Yet for some reason people choose to shop at Wal-Mart. How terrible that they have the choice. Ah well, I haven't been successful at convincing my Grandmother (in rural Nebraska) that Wal-Mart isn't the spawn of the devil yet either. What exactly is it that Wal-Mart destroys? Rural small town America?
My first thougth from the title and the top of the silo was that you were somehow comparing this to a missile silo until I scrolled down further. The hazards of growing up during the cold war.
My first thougth from the title and the top of the silo was that you were somehow comparing this to a missile silo until I scrolled down further. The hazards of growing up during the cold war.
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi Matthew,
Walmarts destroy local Ma and Pa stores, but that is not necessarily rural America or is it since AFAIK, Grain stores, the huge trans-national grain companies control the seeds for many years, not Walmart, John Deer and other companies sell the tractors and so forth.
Mills in Massachusetts and the Steel places in Pittsburgh that are closed down, not, TTBOMK, the small farm.
For sure, the General Store, where one can get food and brooms and change checks etc probably do close down, but that is not what's shown with the silo, or is it meant to represent that?
The grain silo also reminded me of the missile silos except those things are below ground.
To the picture:
I didn't mention cropping. Rather I wanted to know if you took more pictures of the landscape. I asked that since it is an interesting area to me. I have never seen a silo of that shape. Is it isolated? What structures are there nearby? Are they in working state or rusty and in ruins?
I thought perhaps you had more of this fascinating area to share.
I do like the subject. Most important in an image is whether or not it engages. Here, the answer is yes. The huge thing cannot be ignored and the little store in the b.g. is a massive store, in reality, an irony.
I do wonder about the decision to frame with little sky. Where there objects you sought to exclude? Or was this your artisitc design to crop close.
One might choose to gain some frame of reference by adding sky above and landscape and a horizon.
This might bring out more clearly the clash of the two. The small town economies supporting and being ravaged by Walmart and each being inversely proportional in power to their physical side in the picture as you already have shown, but in a large context.
Thanks for taking me to somewhere new!
Asher
Walmarts destroy local Ma and Pa stores, but that is not necessarily rural America or is it since AFAIK, Grain stores, the huge trans-national grain companies control the seeds for many years, not Walmart, John Deer and other companies sell the tractors and so forth.
Mills in Massachusetts and the Steel places in Pittsburgh that are closed down, not, TTBOMK, the small farm.
For sure, the General Store, where one can get food and brooms and change checks etc probably do close down, but that is not what's shown with the silo, or is it meant to represent that?
The grain silo also reminded me of the missile silos except those things are below ground.
To the picture:
Matthew Desmond said:
I didn't mention cropping. Rather I wanted to know if you took more pictures of the landscape. I asked that since it is an interesting area to me. I have never seen a silo of that shape. Is it isolated? What structures are there nearby? Are they in working state or rusty and in ruins?
I thought perhaps you had more of this fascinating area to share.
I do like the subject. Most important in an image is whether or not it engages. Here, the answer is yes. The huge thing cannot be ignored and the little store in the b.g. is a massive store, in reality, an irony.
I do wonder about the decision to frame with little sky. Where there objects you sought to exclude? Or was this your artisitc design to crop close.
One might choose to gain some frame of reference by adding sky above and landscape and a horizon.
This might bring out more clearly the clash of the two. The small town economies supporting and being ravaged by Walmart and each being inversely proportional in power to their physical side in the picture as you already have shown, but in a large context.
Thanks for taking me to somewhere new!
Asher
Aaron Strasburg
New member
You'll get a lot more comments about ADM and the other huge ag companies from my family in Nebraska than you will about Wal-Mart. I think that's because they view the big ag companies as exerting undue influence on grain prices, true or not. Since WM is not a competitor to "us" we can be more objective?
The composition of this photo looks to me like the silo is standing strong against WM, not that it's being overwhelmed. Without the title and caption I'd have interpreted this image exactly backwards from what Matthew intended. Now we're perilously close to a discussion on conveying meaning through a photograph, so I'm going to stop....
The composition of this photo looks to me like the silo is standing strong against WM, not that it's being overwhelmed. Without the title and caption I'd have interpreted this image exactly backwards from what Matthew intended. Now we're perilously close to a discussion on conveying meaning through a photograph, so I'm going to stop....
Alain Briot
pro member
Either a mom & pa store next to a WalMart or an old time farm house next to a silo would make the point you are trying to make. Or again an old silo next to a more modern grain processing plant.
However, here, in my estimate, you are mixing two metaphors that do not directly relate to each other visually. Agreed, they can be made to relate through discourse, but as a photograph they do not make the point you are describing.
However, here, in my estimate, you are mixing two metaphors that do not directly relate to each other visually. Agreed, they can be made to relate through discourse, but as a photograph they do not make the point you are describing.
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Matthew,
I'm getting more attached to your image. Still would like to know if you took more pictures of that area?
This one photograph is in itself clearly a silo at an angle and a Wal-Mart store, small by perspective, in the b.g. would seem, at first glance, straightforward to interpret. "The End" as a title makes for a struggle with meaning. If there had been no title or perhaps just "Rural America 2007" we could explore the possible meanings ourselves, drawing on our huge library of experiences and cultural references to interpret your significant image.
Titles, like railway tracks, lead to a region of interest and away from all others. The title directs us in our internal mental library search for relevance, meaning and importance. If it is not chosen well, there may be no references to draw on where the title leads us and then we are confused. Now that might be, in itself, "so called, Performance Art", where one is sometimes challenged to understand things without an accepted frame of reference. However, with this picture, that for sure was not the intent.
I do like the picture, and again, I wish there were siblings in to what you have shown.
Alain,
In a rare moment of Anglo-French accord, I must but agree with your summary view!
Sometimes exhibits require a long histoire engraved on a piece of glass hanging from the ceiling or printed in a corridor approaching a exhibit just to prime us for the strangeness of art for which they think we need preparation.
Asher
I'm getting more attached to your image. Still would like to know if you took more pictures of that area?
This one photograph is in itself clearly a silo at an angle and a Wal-Mart store, small by perspective, in the b.g. would seem, at first glance, straightforward to interpret. "The End" as a title makes for a struggle with meaning. If there had been no title or perhaps just "Rural America 2007" we could explore the possible meanings ourselves, drawing on our huge library of experiences and cultural references to interpret your significant image.
Titles, like railway tracks, lead to a region of interest and away from all others. The title directs us in our internal mental library search for relevance, meaning and importance. If it is not chosen well, there may be no references to draw on where the title leads us and then we are confused. Now that might be, in itself, "so called, Performance Art", where one is sometimes challenged to understand things without an accepted frame of reference. However, with this picture, that for sure was not the intent.
I do like the picture, and again, I wish there were siblings in to what you have shown.
Alain,
In a rare moment of Anglo-French accord, I must but agree with your summary view!
Sometimes exhibits require a long histoire engraved on a piece of glass hanging from the ceiling or printed in a corridor approaching a exhibit just to prime us for the strangeness of art for which they think we need preparation.
Asher