Anyone can participate, amateur or professional, in letting these pages reflect, or even create, a common vision.
SEEN used to be just one photo, encouraging local photographers, in the front of the paper. Come to find out former editors were just grabbing one off of Flickr. That is one thing we have tried to remedy, and we are now getting photo submissions from local photographers with great regularity.
Here are the rules--there aren’t really any. You can be your own social-goingson publisher, but no mugshots please.
We would rather see the true life of the party. The publications that show nothing but posed shots remind me of that other tabloid I see when I stop for gas on the way from Athens that shows all the recent arrestees. Now that is irony.
It should also be easy to send in photos from the coolest concerts. You don’t need a Nikon D3000 now that everyone has a cell phone that can take a photo and also email it to bhamweekly@gmail.com with SEEN in the subject line. You can also give it a brief description and, of course, your byline. Go ahead and make us feel the flicks of spit and sweat in the mosh pit.
Otherwise, SEEN is what it has always been (sorry, that would only really rhyme in England). It can be a pure art shot, though it does not have to be photoshopped. Personally, I eschew computer manipulations, and only use the natural light in which my favorite Bunny shines anyway, though she pretends she needs to coiffe.
At the opposite extreme, published photos can simply depict funny situations.
Going for Victory at teh Bama Cross Race. Photo by Stephen Humphreys.
It can be posed, though I personally prefer to capture the natural flow (believing the transcendental universe will show us what it wants us to see, but that is a digression into art criticism and philosophy). We had one contributor set up a campsite with goats. It reminds me of those little German trolls some people collect and put in their gardens. What are they called? My mind appears to be blocking out its inner nerd (well, maybe not with total success, but at least that sounds better than admitting early senility). It starts with an H but it isn’t hummus. Write in to remind me, replace the word missing from my absent-minded crown, and you can win a gift certificate to eat at Mudtown.
Speaking of hummus, I know what that is, and it will be served at the next wine tapas dinner at Cosmos. I know because I will be there, if I possibly can, to tell you about the Chardonnay-Viura that goes with it. And the dinner from last week is one of the little gatherings you can peruse in SEEN. Yes, SEEN can be about happenings in the flux about town, but try not to pose like you are in the throes of a DUI arrest after the charity event in your tux.
Unless, of course, that is really what is going on. Just like fantasty, there are no limits on reality. So don’t let me stop you. Catch the country girl in a lie or photograph a county commissioner taking a bribe, if you can. Well, on a happier note, we still have the Arlington Belles and people are coming back to Avondale. And that reminds me, I still need to pick out the best music show shot sent in to date for another Mudtown gift certificate, so it is not too late.
As a matter of fact, there are plenty of cool things going on in town, out in public and behind the veil. No need to limit SEEN to a single shot every week, or even two pages, if all you would-be Peter Parkers will get busy. That is just one of the many changes around here and, though the country girl likes to stay in her desultory rut, recognizing that you are free to change is liberating. No need to watch the old man sit all night in his chair. You can unleash that inner lion and you won’t have to listen hard to hear it roar.
In addition to photographers, we can always use willing models to facilitate our look. Who knows, you may get lucky like that girl on the carousel and graduate to the cover. Just promise not to sue me.