Website Map

ParisTexasPhotos.com

The website map includes:

1. Home- Artist Statement
2. Signs of Paris - Invitation to Show and Examples of Photographs
3. Portfolio - Examples of Work
4. Services - List of Photographic Services available
5. Contact - Page to send an email and contact photographer

Plays well by self.

Picasso Ginger

I'm a little embarrassed to publish this post especially after complaining in class last Wednesday that I had taken enough pictures of myself.

Well, David and I went to Dallas on Sunday and I stayed in the car while he went into REI and Plano Bike Mart to shop. I opened up my laptop and just started playing with one of my pictures from the Self-Portrait assignment. Using bits and pieces I tried to do a cube-like picture from the David Hockney assignment.

I'm not an artist but I sure had fun playing all by myself.

Artist Statement

Ginger Cook
Artist Statement & Explanation of Bodies of work

When the Paris, Texas City Council passed a sign ordinance in the fall of 2005 requiring all signs from businesses no longer in operation to be taken down, I decided to document and take pictures of the signs in Paris before they were gone.

My first picture was of the Grand Theater sign on Lamar Avenue. One night from way in the back of the room, my photography teacher at Paris Junior College, Marvin Gorley, saw the picture of the Grand and asked if I might be willing to donate a copy of the picture to a fund raiser for Downtown Paris. The 1920’s porcelain with neon sign is on a building that has been vacant since 1998. The picture sold, funds were raised for downtown and I have taken over 250 pictures of Paris signs since.

From May 18 through May 30, 2009, an exhibit of the Signs of Paris will be on display at the Plaza Art Gallery, 8 West Plaza, Paris, Texas (903.737.9699). A reception is planned on May 21, 2009 from 5 to 7 pm. Please come and see the pictures and have some tasty treats.

Other bodies of work include:

• People of Paris
• Landscapes of Lamar County
• Cancer Survivors
• Buildings around Paris designed by architect, Bill Lightfoot

Currently, I am taking Photo 111 at Texas A & M Commerce with Vaughn Wascovich.

Fav Websites

Favorite Photographer Websites:

1. http://andrzejdragan.com/

My favorite by far. This is one of the photographers chosen for the Photographing Strangers project.

2. http://www.linnealenkus.com/

The simplicity, the quality of the pictures, the blog link and the ease of finding the contact information is appealing.

3. http://www.richardbrownphoto.com/

Again, the simplicity, the dark grey and light blue holds my interest. The client list is a nice touch.

4. http://www.joshnorrisphotography.com/

Great picture on the pop-up. The music is nice too.

5. http://www.herbritts.com/

The picture made me stop and look.

6. http://www.denisreggie.com/

The flash at startup is well done.

7. http://www.tomhoops.com/

The website makes it compelling to look at the picture.

8. http://www.krijtenberg.nl/

The way the links are in the picture is really creative.

9. http://www.jeremycowart.com/

The six pictures representing the types of services are well chosen.

10. http://www.markvelasquez.com/

I like the idea of the photo of the week. It might make people visit the website often.

Wow.

I want a Vook for Christmas. Did you read the article in the New York Times about Bradley Inman and his new platform for e-books? This handy-dandy thing has text, videos and twitter all rolled into one.

Times are changing and apparently books are not immune from progress. Gutenburg and his 1440 press will soon be like the rotary dial phones from a couple of decades ago. The information freeway is under construction once again.

I know, people want to be able to hold a book and experience the feel of turning the pages. I like to hold a newspaper in my hands, so I really do understand. But I also think this platform opens up a whole new realm of possibilities for writers and for readers.

This gives a whole new meaning for bedtime stories!

Double images assignment.

In the style of Kelli Connell.

I can not even begin to tell you how much I don't want to put these images up on this blog site.

But I am here to stretch my comfort zone. Well, consider my zone stretched.

Some people from class did a GREAT job on this assignment. Although my pictures didn't turn out all that great, I did learn how to use masks in PhotoShop. This little skill in and of itself was worth the time on the project.

It won't take you long to see that lately I am either at home or at work. With the economic stimulus packages coming down the pipes, we are busy, busy, busy. I go to work about 6 am and don't quit until after midnight even on the weekends. I am so tired that I took pictures of me cooking supper so that I could get my assignment done and my husband could have something to eat.

David Hockney-ish class photos

Eddie and his cat.

These pictures are from a park full of all different colors of trailers in Paris, Texas.

Eddie, from next door watched my every step as I took his neighbor, Betty's trailer house for about 3 or 4 days.

When I went back over to the trailer park after photography class to ask Eddie if I could take a picture of him and his trailer house, he was ready for me. He had already gone through all the neighbor's trash cans until he found a doll so that I could put it in his picture. He also chased his cat around for about 30 minutes until he caught it so it could be included. Betty had her dog in her picture. However, the cat did not want any part of having some strange fat lady take his picture. I snapped the picture and the cat was gone to watch from under the light green trailer across the way.

Because I had to go back to Betty's trailer several times to get just the right pictures, I brought her a geranium as a thank you gift for her trouble. Eddie was even ready for this possibility. When I asked him if I could get him a thank you gift, he handed me a small torn piece of notebook paper that had two things on it. 1. Rose Fertilizer. 2. Okra seeds. He had apparently thought long and hard about just what he needed. Practical.

Eddie is kind of the leader of the trailer park. He is the go-to guy of the neighborhood. I haven't gotten back my final print that I turned in yet. But when I do, I am going to take it over to show Eddie. I think I'll pick up some Miracle Grow to take along with me.

Tricia, my son's ex-girlfriend

This is going to sound like a potential Jerry Springer show. When my son and his girlfriend broke up several years ago, she and I remained friends. In fact, when I opened up my business she worked for me for about 8 or 9 years.

When I first learned about this assignment I asked Tricia if she would mind helping. I wanted to take some nude photos of my ex-secretary who was my son's ex-girlfriend. She said agreed and we took the photos. I paid her $50 for being willing take her clothes off during her lunch hour and sit on the table in my office.

The shoot turned out to not be quite what Vaughn wanted for the assignment. Well, I had to call her back and ask her if she would be willing to do it again. She was willing but her husband was not. This time we had to cover her with a black scarf.

I can only imagine what he was thinking when I called her back for a second time!

Helen Levett

The photographer who froze New York street life on film.

The obituary in the New York Times on March 30, 2009 for Helen Levett is impressive and long. She was a native of New York and it looks as if they really loved her and payed homage to her. She was 95.

Ms. Levett was popular for capturing vignettes of New York street scenes. There is a quote from William Butler Yeats in the obit that reads, "Ms. Levitt captured instances of a cinematic and delightfully guileless form of street choreography that held at its heart, the ceremony of innocence."
The obit author, Margret Loke, writes that "the masterpieces in Ms. Levitt's oeuvre are her photographs of children living their zesty, improvised lives. A white girl and a black boy twirl in a dance of their own imagining.

Her best known picture is one of three children who are very well dressed and are getting ready to go trick-or-treating on Halloween in 1939. This picture was included in the inaugural exhibition of the Museum of Modern Art's photography department.

She photographed Spanish Harlem and the Lower East Side showing an unerring instinct for a street drama's perfect pitch.

Ms. Levitt's major influences included friends Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, Shahn and James Agee.

Gianni Giansanti

The Pope's Photographer

I never realized just how much I read the obituaries until we started blogging about articles in the New York Times for this class. For some reason the obituaries in the NYT just fascinate me. It struck me as interesting that the pictures that this person had taken during his lifetime were included with his obituary.

Gianni Giansanti photographed Pope John Paul II for almost three decades. He was there when he was named Pontiff and there on the day he died. He was one of the few photographers who had access to the Pope and was allowed to photograph him in private moments as well as following him around the globe photographing him on the world stage.

Mr. Giansanti's more famous photographs include the 1978 image of Aldo Moro, the Italian Prime Minister who was kidnapped, shot and left in the trunk of a car by a terrorist group. He was well known for the "stolen moment" shot. Giansanti used a silent shutter and available light in order to capture people in candid shots.

His other famous photographs include images of Valenino, Mikhail Gorbachev, the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, and the famine in Somalia in the early 1990s.


He published several photograph books including "John Paul II, Portrait of a Pontiff" (1996) and "Vanishing Africa" (2004).

Gianni Giansanti was born in Rome, Italy in 1956 and died March 18, 2009 of bone cancer.

I wonder if pictures we have taken will be on our obituary page instead of a picture of ourselves when we die.

Go fly a kite

Museum of Red River to host kite festival

Published March 25, 2009IDABEL — Kiters: Grab your lines and spars for the fourth annual Mary Herron Memorial Kite Festival at the Museum of the Red River, an official event of the American Kitefliers Association.The action is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. April 4 in the Mary H. Herron Community Conference Center (812 E. Lincoln Road) and includes a full day of workshops and demonstrations.

Kite artist Janene Evard will be a featured guest at the festival. The Ardmore artist will be showcasing more than 20 of her works, including one kite that was the product of a workshop at this past year’s festival.

The schedule for the 2009 festival is as follows:
• 9:30 a.m. — Registration and tour of the kite exhibit (Conference Center lobby)
• 10 a.m. — Kite making workshops: Sled kite
• 11:30 a.m. — Kite-related activites
• Noon — Sack lunch (participants should bring their own meals, no lunch will be provided)
• 1 p.m. — Sled kite flying (three blocks east of the Museum, across from the hospital)
• 2 p.m. — Kite flying demonstration by American Kitefliers Association representatives
• 2:30-4:30 p.m. — All fly: your kites and some of ours.

The cost of the program is $5 per family. All children must be accompanied by an adult. In case of rain, participants will make small kites and fly indoors.The Fourth Annual Mary Herron Memorial Kite Festival is sponsored in part by WalMart Supercenter No. 38 in Idabel and James Hodge Ford-Lincoln-Mercury Inc. of Idabel.

For more information, log on to http://www.museumoftheredriver.org/, call Paulette LaGasse at the Museum at (580) 286-3616 or e-mail motrr(at)hotmail.com.