I don’t have a purpose behind this post beyond tossing a few images of meat from my image archive. Food images have become a ubiquitous item on social media. Some of these probably made it onto one of my accounts. I have been looking through 20+ years of imagery and I grabbed a random sampling of meat photos. There are other foods, but grilling protein is a definate theme in my archive.
These images dovetail into my larger exploration of suburban culture and identity. There are many opportunities for interaction among neighbors, but none are as significant as the cookout. I produced these photographs with simple motives. They are formal compositions built with food that can be consumed at a outdoor gathering. Clarity and intimacy was my primary concern. They are still life set ups of something real, monumental and vibrant. The colors and shapes matter as much as food itself.
Cookouts are not exclusive to a suburban environment. That said, amongst the various activities that take place in a neighborhood, a cookout is one of the scarce opportunities that the suburban citizen willingly partakes in to build community with his fellow neighbors. An art exhibit about a cookout is certainly removed from the real experience. There is no fire and no outside. In the context of an exhibit, these elements cannot be directly appreciated and consumed, yet the idea remains. Like a barbecue, an opening is a ritual gathering.
As a title “Pleased to Meat You” operates on several levels. It is an obvious play on words. It is an affirmation of my carnivorous ways. It is a pure and truthful statement about my time as a grad student, friend and neighbor to the many people I have met along the way. This is a salutation to everyone who comes to look and share some time, and if they bring a dish to pass, all the better.
One of the most important elements of a cookout is the food. It is what puts the ‘cook’ into cookout. Cookout food is not fancy. It does not need to be on fine china in seven courses. Never the less it is universally understood as something special. Much of it can be enjoyed with minimal utensils. These are everyday meals that probably should not be enjoyed everyday. Once in a while though, it is acceptable to indulge in excess calories and alcohol in the name of celebrating friendship and the weekend.
In our last episode of digging up photos of unremarkable places, I started to explore some images that I hadn’t looked at closely in many years. The images I am going to share are from 2006 – 2011 if the metadata is to be believed.
After taking the initial black and white film images, I started to notice that the thing I was interested in was often occurring on the horizon line. This view is facing south from Egre road in Sun Prairie, WI. Some of the compositions really work. The above image almost becomes symbolic and less about the place and more about the different parts. Water, houses, fields.
I don’t think this image is particularly successful. I don’t remember taking it, or stitching together. Why I am sharing it is this – Just beyond the weeds, grass and empty fields is Walnut Hill Lane. This is West Prairie Village, where I currently live. I didn’t know it at the time, but this photo was taken from what could be my current lot. The street I live on was not constructed yet, but in a few years, this would change. The subdivision was started prior to the housing bubble crash that occurred in 2006. In this images there are about 12 houses. This view was captured in 2010. Today (2025) There are now around 120 households.
I didn’t really settle on a standard length. My methodology was this – Stop, park, set up a tripod, level it, attach my DSLR and telephoto lens. Take a series of frames that contained the area of interest. Vinyl houses, old barn, cornfield.
A majority of these are combined in Photoshop by carefully lining up each frame and then cleaning up the seams. Effective panoramic software hadn’t really been perfected yet. I just had to make sure there was sufficient overlap between frames and pick which layer would blend over another. The way I am displaying these images doesn’t really lend to seeing the details. Right now, that’s not the point.
Outskirts of Middleton, WI. Another baby subdivision. So many planned communities. So generic. Little boxes of made of ticky tacky. Places for your stuff. Places to raise a family.
This one has an ephemeral feel to it. It was take near Lake Geneva, WI. I should get back into the habit of keeping some photo gear with me. Smart phones have changed the way I think about using a camera. A pocket computer with a camera and internet was right around the corner. I lost something in the transition.
One last selection. I have about a dozen more. The images I have presented here are what I would consider to be the most successful. Looking back on this work, I have a different perspective and it’s easier to see what worked and what didn’t. Perspective.
Should I revisit some of these places or is it ok to let go of an idea? Is the place still interesting if it’s not on the edge? Time moves forward, places change. When dealing with a liminal spaces, what needs to be remembered?
Commitment is a daunting concept. I have given myself permission to break some long term but loosely maintained commitments. This is mostly in regards to projects and related materials. During my 44 years on this earth, I have had many interests. I can’t point to any one of them and say “That’s what I am about.” I collect materials and brainstorm. I write down ideas and start things. This iteration of my web presence is a great example. I’m telling myself that I need to put some content out into the world and revisit what it means to be a creator.
In the context of our current time, there’s definitely a formula and there are right and wrong ways to put your work out into the world. An idea can go viral and snowball into a life of its own. I am intentionally not putting my efforts into social media platforms. The current landscape for content creation is a little alien to me. I understand what could be involved. I see people making it work. I don’t see myself as a person that needs to be a part of the attention economy. I’m probably sealing my fate. Maybe next year I will be producing stunts and asking you to like and subscribe. I doubt it, that sounds like a lot of work.
I decided to include the image above because it was the start of something. In grad school, I explored my identity, because that seemed to be the thing to do. I imitated what I saw as a contemporary style of expression. It felt self indulgent, and it is. A lot of creative endeavors start with things one enjoys. I had been mining the idea of living a suburban middle class existence. I had some inspirations, but my attempts to adopt a style felt a little anemic. I didn’t know what I was trying to say, and I don’t think I had enough experiences to solidify my identity and express my ideas.
The photo collage is something I made after grad school. It was an exploration of a visual language. It was also an experiment. I like to experiment. Experimentation is a big part of who I am. It’s basically my hobby. The image is a print from a negative that was a photo of a collage of prints that I arranged. I photographed these objects, printed them in the darkroom and them arranged the printed objects into a pattern which I photographed again. I have a few versions of this image. I solarized this print and liked the result. At the time, I felt like the process making the image was important. I was spending a lot of time editing images in Photoshop at my day job, so I wanted to step away from digital process.
Back to commitment. I submitted this image as a proposal for an exhibit at a local gallery. My proposal was chosen and a date was set. If I remember correctly, they planned out 3 years of exhibits. My date was a couple years out. I had a reason to continue the project. I had time to make the work. At the time, my wife and I were parents to 3 grade school aged kids and a new baby. Making a living was obviously a priority. So that’s what happened. I made a noble attempt at using my photographic knowledge to make money. I freelanced, taught workshops and pulled together enough work to feel like I could truly make a living being creative. I was miserable for a multitude of reasons.
As I got closer to my exhibition opening, I took a corporate job. Insurance. It as certainly not the direction I was trying to go, but 12 years later, I’m still engaged in the industry. It’s not a labor of love, but stability is a really magical thing. As I got started in my career as a insurance professional, the deadline crept closer. I wasn’t going to be able to make the work I had planned on doing in the darkroom. My aversion to spending my after hours in Photoshop after spending my day in Photoshop was gone. Instead I was spending my day calling clients, answering emails and attending meetings. So the work evolved, because my life had evolved. I had committed to this exhibit and the opening day was rapidly approaching. I spent hours playing with compositions and came up with some images that tied up a lot of loose ends.
Commitment is hard. Below is the final series of images for the series call “Anatomy of a Weekend”. They saw the light of day in 2013 at the James Watrous Gallery in Madison, WI. This is the last time I exhibited a creative project in a gallery setting. Other commitments became a priority. Some of the commitments have grown up to be amazing people who have their own work and commitments. That feels like a sappy way to end this post, but I’m ok with that.
Today’s post is my way of committing to something new and giving myself space to let go of old commitments. It’s a blog post in the age of influencers and social media. Baby steps.
