Photography Projects

while perusing the "artists" section of craigslist i came across an ad posted by a photographer named Vincent Lee Smith. mr. smith is looking for submissions to his website, PPL OF COLOR. interestingly, he is not looking for pictures of people of ethnic minorities, as his title implies. rather he's looking for photographers to "take a series of photographs that will in some way answer one question: 'What does it mean to be 'White' in America?'" while he proposes his project in a succinct and straightforward manner, mr. smith, perhaps unwittingly, describes it as "pretty simple." seriously.

coming up with a photo project of some kind of my own has been a real struggle for me. i can think of dozens of things i want to photograph, but actually forcing myself to do all the logistical, technical, emotional work of beginning any of these ideas has so far not been forthcoming. but i think i will hop a ride on mr. smith's train. it could be a very interesting and provocative collaboration with other photographers that might go in any number of conceivable and unforeseeable directions. and it raises a lot of issues: for one thing, is it possible for photographs to "answer" such a question? what does being "white" mean, anyway? what does it mean for ME (a man of african american descent) to approach such a question photographically? what's it like to try to deal with this topic in nyc as opposed to elsewhere in america? the mind reels!

wish me luck...