| A. Ursyn Orchestra / Fiddle Lonnie_Arlene |
Colorblind Photographer's Manifesto
We walk the uneven ground between art and vacation photos, sight and blindness, success and living in a box behind Margie's Java Joint. We will not give in to those who say we can't do what we like. We will thumb our nose at authority figures and those who would seek to keep us from our goals. We will find our subject matter where we choose and where we can, and not abide questions as to its integrity. We will go into places where we shouldn't be and take pictures of the things no one wants seen. We will beg for bail money when we get caught. We will trick our friends and family into giving us rides to wherever it is we need to go. We will sell blood to buy film and get our equipment cleaned. We will clip coupons, brandish student IDs and dress up as senior citizens to get a discount, whatever it takes to save a dime. This does not mean we are cheap. We will stretch the truth when necessary. We will decide what "necessary" means. We will find color where others leave it, or where it grows. We will create our own colors and arrange them however we please, and not care how they look in the end. We will defy them all and shoot in black and white, so only we will know what the colors are.
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Back to Arlene |
Folk tales were always somewhat cruel, Lonnie thought. Maybe it was the roughness of the environment, poor hygiene, deaths, and constant war terror. Costumes, poses, and gestures were becoming symbols, and then metaphors, that would further unify cultures and beliefs, he thought. In dances, the rhythm is crucial. The same music can produce totally different elements and steps. He began experimenting by matching a story to a dance, while using the same music. Thus, his body was conveying a message, a tale expressed with one character’s gestures. How can one show cold, fear, happiness, or love, without the comfort of using facial expressions, he wondered. He developed a series of dances based on research he had done in a region that stretched along the Big River. He talked to old fiddlers and their family members to capture the music and hear the tales. This is how he began his new passion in a documentary filmmaking.