Tag: essay

Foreclosed Dreams (the multi media piece)

Over the last three years I have been photographing inside foreclosed houses, right after the actual foreclosure and before they are cleaned up to be put back on the market. That is when I can photograph the “ghosts” of the families that used to be in those houses. While this project is based on the still photographs, I am also assembling an audio collage. Read More

What 9/11 did NOT change in my photography

Last week I blogged about how the terrible events of 9/11/01 changed photography. (Or maybe more accurately, how the photography that came out of that day highlighted the changes in the culture of photography that were just picking up speed at that moment.) That essay was written from the perspective of a blogger first and a photographer second. This week I approach the same topic the other way, as a photographer first and a blogger second. Read More

Books, ideas, frameworks

My recent road trip left me with a lot of time for thinking about, among other things, books. In the “old” days, which were not that long ago, such a trip would mean buying / reading a few books over the six weeks I was on the road. It also meant planning how to get the books while traveling, how to carry them and where to leave them (or who to give them to) when I was finished, This trip, that whole routine was gone. Read More

My favorite part of my favorite class

I recently wound up my time in Asia with a stop in Singapore, where I gave a few short presentations to large audiences as well as some longer workshops for smaller audiences. Everyone I worked with seemed happy with what I did, so I will be going back next year. So keep an eye on the workshops page of my website to see exactly when I will be going back and what I will be doing. The very last thing I did when I was there this year was to teach my favorite class. I ended that class with my favorite teaching exercise. Read More

The important process of naming a project

The members of a critique group that I head recently had an email dialogue about what to call one of the member’s ongoing projects. As the process unfolded, I thought about my own struggles naming my projects and how the naming of a photographic project is arguably the most important step in the process of defining and shaping such a project. Read More

The early photo-essays of David H. Wells (a video)

This podcast explores the evolution of my photo-essays, including many of my grant-funded projects, including my work on the pesticide poisoning of farm-workers in California, the Israeli and Palestinian conflict, fishermen in Gloucester , MA as well as the communities of South Asian immigrants in America Read More