Tenma #3

Tenjinbashi suji shotengai is the longest shopping mall in all of

Japan. It's a typical blue collar-Osaka shopping street always

crowded with people looking for bargains or just window shopping.

You won't find any Gucci, Prada or Louis Vuitton stores here but

there are hundreds of small shops, restaurants and pachinko parlors.

It's a great place for picture taking..

Good work, Jack. Would like to see more such series from you. 

Good to see that you're still hanging around; I appreciate the comment. One of the things I most admire about your work is its thematic coherency. My work seems to wander off in myriad directions which, of course, reflects pretty much how I approach life. The phrase "Jack of all trades, master of none" fits me to a T, even to the name. My work reflects this and tends to be as eclectic as I am, myself. In itself this isn't a bad quality, especially as a teacher, since it gives me the flexibility to engage my students according to their individual interests. But in photography, it's another story. I feel I need to either find a good editor (a long, sad refrain of mine) or develop the discipline to group pictures into a somewhat cohesive series. This series was at least a stab in that direction. I'm pleased that you recognized what I was after. Best wishes for the new year. Regards, Jack

I hear you, Jack. I'm not much good at creating series - sustaining a long-term, substantial project requires serious dedication, time & skill. But I've found it necessary to set out some kinds of parameters (with middling success) for myself in order to group images together. Working with a series ought ultimately to serve you & your images, so my suggestion is that it's a matter of you defining what type of series is that going to be for you. Whether or not it is someway arbitrary isn't so important, the point is that you have set yourself limits - this creates a tension & forces you to work within parameters, instead of the scenario where there are no borders & the thing sprawls endlessly. Personally, I find it of great importance to come from a real place - the work must reflect the vital questions you are asking of yourself. What am I experiencing here? How does it feel? The challenge is to translate it into images. I write this out at length because I am also trying to figure out how to do this & am 'thinking aloud'. Cheers, B.