User:Chris D. McDonald

Chris D. McDonald is a character that comes about through the amalgamation of two people's personal responses to the following questions along with an attempt to reflect on the current state of photography. The interview was conducted between two students of the University of Southern California in the Fall term of 2011.The purpose of this page is for others to have the ability to edit the interview, interjecting their thoughts on the questions in attempt to create a greater definition of what the photographic practice consist of today. In one way, Chris D. McDonald is a literary character like any other, comprised of real material as well as the projection of the reader, in another way Chris D. McDonald is a definition of the photographic practice, like any other definition, in a constant state of flux.

Chris D. McDonald
What sort of things/events haven’t been photographed in your life? Hasn’t everything been photographed. Well, at least if the photography has not been actualized it seems that we all share some sort of ‘total recall’ ability which allows us to create an image in our mind that is produced based on the millions of images we see in our lives. An answer to this question then could be that no one has taken a photograph of myself working at my desk, thinking, or using the restroom. These moments are seemingly uninteresting and perhaps evoke some voyeuristic affect that deems them uncomfortable to photograph. Yet, if I think of myself working, I can come up with an image, using this ‘total recall’ ability that most call "the mind’s eye." This image is an idealized notion of the image I would create if I were to photograph myself at that moment. However, the formal qualities of that image are based in the pre-existing aesthetic structure created by the photographic visual stimuli we see every day. So in that sense the photograph I would create would be a combination of many photographs that already exist, I am only placing into the formal structure my own personal memories and experiences, (the toilette, myself, the room, the sink, the window etc.) So I guess then, in a way, everything has already been photographed.

Why do you think that is? We’ve been documenting people, objects, and places, for as long as we’ve been able to. Somewhere, very early on in the evolution of photography, someone or many people realized the power of a photograph to produce desire. This desire, often manifests itself in an affect that causes us to enjoy the formal qualities of a photograph. So in that sense what is being produced now is a mirror of what has been produced in the past and we have experienced as aesthetically pleasing. One could go against this structure of what is aesthetically pleasing, and people have, but it is, in a way, similar to going from playing connect four to playing checkers. One system uses the yellow structure where you are dropping colored checkers in, and the other is played on an entirely different plain following entirely different rules, yet both employ the same pieces of visual stimuli (checkers) and are in fact just as connected to the other's structure through their evasion. It is difficult to say how many of these structures exist and how they manifest, they could be art historical periods or simply trends and fashions, but what is more easily to understood is their relation to the goal, both games have a goal and when that goal is met both games provide an equal sense of enjoyment. What seems to be a more interesting focus of contemporary photography, for me at least, is a shifting focus towards the rules of the game. What I attempt to accomplish in my own practice is an understanding of how these rules, which are often not so apparent, come into play when someone say "jumps" or "connects four."

Are there times when you refused to be photographed, or are evasive of a camera?Yes, though less often then in the past. I guess, with the influx of social media it becomes difficult to know when someone is taking a photograph of you until it shows up on the Internet. Our image then becomes something that is no longer under our control, if it ever was in the first place. Somehow this has shaped in what moments I feel uncomfortable to be photographed. It is often awkward to pose for a photograph now, unless you really trust the photographer. Chances are a great deal more people will view the image now than in the days of Polaroids and family photo albums.

Do you ever destroy or hide photographs? Yes, both.

How secretive are you of some of the images of your past you keep? I’ll share them with close friends if they come up in conversation, but that doesn’t happen often.

Do you have a “secret life” in your photographs? Yes, in the sense you mean…I think yes, we all do. We walk around all day projecting an image of ourselves in our mind based on mirrors, our state of mind and personal self esteem. Other people’s relationship with our appearance is equally dependant on these factors. I think most people in one form or another are conscious of this, they may not articulate it in the same way I do but people are ‘self-conscious.’ So when people are given any editing ability or any control over the representation of their image they will manipulate it, creating an alternate image or even a character in some ways. So in the manner that my life outside the photograph and my life inside them may not line up, then yes I do.

What sort of things would you have liked to be photographed since you grew up, but never got around to it? A series of portraits of close family and friends that abstracts their identity by a chemical process, leaving them unrecognizable. I wish I would have photographed the town and house of my parents in New Jersey while they lived there the past 4 years. Now they have moved and everything I always thought I would shoot next time I was in town exists undocumented by me.

'''What sorts of pictures would you take if they were for you alone? Important to photograph yourself?'''I would take more self-exploitive/exploratory images. I do consider it important to photograph yourself (depending on your intent in doing so). It’s a way to come to know yourself and reconsider your approach to making work and your approach to your own process of making work.

What do you mean by exploitative? I guess I mean, images that exploit my desire to be who I am not whether that be an idealized representation of myself or one that resists that image. I have not photographed myself all that much, maybe on one or two separate occasions. I guess I would like to explore it as a way to recognize thoughts of my own representational image.

'''Is it important to have pictures of your working life? Or some of the conflicting/oppressive situations you have passed through?''' It seems important to have photos of your working live, though I can not decide why that it… Perhaps it’s a way to remind yourself that you have accomplished

Are there things that you are banned from looking at that you would like to see/photograph? I can’t imagine anything that I am unable to look at. Even the most disturbing of images is available to look at online. Yet there are images that I am ‘banned’ from looking or photographing. It is not so different from what we were just talking about in terms of one’s ability to create a ‘secret life’ in their photographs. When one has any control they will censor to shape the perception of the viewer. I would like to photograph certain areas in airports as well as museums. I enjoy sitting in airports and watching people go by, seeing what they do and photographing it. I think an airport is an interesting place where people alter their ‘normal’ mode of behavior and enter a quasi-performative space. In some ways this performance is a playing into the power the airport has over our bodies and in some ways the gate and resting areas are a forced respite from everyday life. That is what makes airports so interesting I guess, that they have both sides of the spectrum, one that is created by the structure of everyday life, and one that attempts to evade it. I think this is true, maybe they are jut interesting. I would also like to photograph museum spaces. Both airports and museum spaces are somewhat “off limits” to the photographer, in the fact that quite literally I have been pulled aside at an airport and told to hand over my film.

Can you envisage taking photographs now that you could use as a way of opening up different types of conversations from those we usually have with family and people we are in close relationships with? Absolutely, this has happened to me several times. My father has this fascination with the humdrum and the mundane, he enjoys William Eggelston because he says he takes the everyday and makes it interesting, for him it is through a projection of the political but I am not sure I always see that in Eggelston’s work. Regardless, I think photography can spark profoundly interesting conversations when you begin to analyze it. It gets interesting when you are thinking about a specific viewer when you create a photograph. If I make a photograph to play devil’s advocate to one of my father’s ideas it can be very amusing to discuss with him and to hear what others say about it.

Could you imagine re-staging something for the camera after it has already happened? Yes, if it was necessary to recreate. Id prefer to keep it authentic, but don’t see much harm in restaging if it better communicated what your trying to get across…but then again how could one photograph be more authentic than another. They both start in the same place, our head, and they both crate the same outcome. I guess re-staging then can even at some times become more authentic than not doing so because it does have the ability to capture that thought in the most idealized way.

'''Do you think that the photographs you have taken say enough about your life as an adult? How could you alter that? Is it important to have more/different images?''' Could they ever say enough about anyone’s life as an adult? Can an entire life be summed up in images alone? Well, no I don’t think so. But a perception can be created through images. It is really question that I think everyone would answer differently. I guess that is no different from any of these questions, but it all depends on your image of yourself and how you think your photographs will build that image for someone else. I think mine needs a lot of work, as I am not even sure what characters I am trying to build at this point.

It is important to take different pictures for your children? Ah, see there you go. Pushing my buttons. This is getting at what I was just saying with this idea of building an overall image. I myself would like to have a document of my life to show my children. Things I’ve done, people I’ve had relationships with, places of been, etc. does that allow them to know my past, or to see what I have chosen not to show them…No, but it does do a pretty good job of sparking a conversation and of allowing them some perspective on my life.

If there is something you want to say to someone you love, could you make a visual representation of it? Yes.

How would you go about giving yourself permission to say something you usually censor? Just do it. Visual art is a platform to say what we might usually be censored. We can still say it but in a less blatant form. I guess that still plays into the censorship, by being somewhat clandestine but there is something appealing in sneaking something by the censor.

'''If you could make a public image (in fantasy) of what you feel about your family life where would you start? Where would you put it? Are you clear about who you would be addressing it to?''' I would start by ridding the image of anything representational of a “family” (ie human figures, etc), and focus on the feelings I get from my own familial relationship. I would want form and color to communicate the sense of support, comfort, and contentment I get, while still having a smaller intrusive area representative of the long term issues and personality traits that don’t seem to change. I would place it in the sand on a cliff overlooking the beach where we always used to walk our dogs. It would address myself and my family, though others might encounter it. I guess in that way it would be a project for myself and my family, but by placing it in a somewhat public space others would encounter it. I am not sure then how it functions, in a way it is sort of like projecting a home video onto the wall of a public library. The film functions for my family members to see and to recall any and all feelings but for others it does not function the same way.

If you have been involved in study recently has it helped/hindered your thinking process? Have your taboo thresh-holds gone up, or come down? BOTH. I think its always helping, even if it presents itself as a hindrance at first, working through the problem helps in the long run. But becoming more aware of the work and ideas that are already out there make me question my own work in those new contexts. Taboo thresholds have come way down, but also gone up in a different direction. I guess personally I don’t care what other people think about my work but at the same time I try to be conscious about what is accepted and what isn’t…and ya sure it is nice to have people like my work.

Do you find it harder or easier to say the things you want to say visually, or to write? Visually. Even though I sometimes feel like neither is adequate. The reality is it is difficult to get someone else to see where you are coming from.

'''When you make a piece of writing or visual work do you tend to hide the production process? Do you keep drafts, wip? Is what is kept also what is shown?''' I’ve done both. I’ve revealed the entire process before by exhibiting a video of that process next to the result of the image. It depends on the project. Currently something I’m struggling with is how my work changes when the process or details are reveled vs. concealed. What I have been interested in and continue to be interested in is the idea that your process can reflect the subject matter of your work. I am very interested in working with this idea.

'''Are there pictures you have taken which give you a lot of pleasure or grief? Annoy you? Are totally inadequate?''' Yes. Yes. Yes.