Dirt: tstsy

The sh*t that surrounds you

Dirt:

The sh*t that surrounds you

Dirt: tstsy

is an anti-collaborative magazine. While most magazines will ask other writers or artists to contribute to their pages, this magazine is an invitation for you to fill the pages. The name is copyright so no one can claim ownership, the content is copyright by the creator, and the concept is yours alone to fill. There is no issue deadline or date. There is no limit on how many magazines can be in electronic ‘print’ at any time. This magazine is for you, and you alone to present to the world.

The tagline can be whatever you want. I have choen The Sh*t that surrounds you because of the format of the photography I do. I photograph the stuff that surrounds the world I live in, and sometimes those photos are not pretty. Choose the tagline that you want, and try to include an asterix.

My name is Gerry Straathof, and I am a student attending the Alberta College of Art and Design. I am currently in transition between programs from Photography to Madt.

Madt stands for Media and Digital Technologies, adn this allows for larger projects than the limited scope assignments I faced in Photography. I am trying to decide if the photos I take are a final

product or only a step along the way to the completion of projects. I have taken photographs of various linens and materials to build other digital and material projects, so those photos are not in

themselves a complete element. I have also taken photographs that were crimes of opportunity (I was there, and I had a camera at just the right time) Those are complete pieces by themselves.

Many times the photographs I take are more about an emotional response, taken on a whim, but developing into something else the more I look at them. They fulfill a desire to say something

about the spaces I inhabit, and sometimes those statements are enriching for others. Sometimes the images are obsessivley perfected, with all vertical and horizontal lines square and elements balanced.

Sometimes the elements are off balance or skewed on purpose. The exploration of how these images affect others in the spaces they find them is half of my intent. So far my projects have only been in bound or hung formats, but there have been others which are left lying around and the participants reactions captured in an image.

Getting a reaction to the printed or displayed image is part of the projects I intend to complete over the next few years.

Those projects will include multiple images taken from locations varying only in angle, height or enlargement (zooming on different features without moving the camera). The method of display may change to encompass the locations more specifically, replicating the locations the images were taken, or hanging them in reverse order vertically.

Whatever the case, there will be a significant amount of preparation and research on the projects to reach completion.

The images in this magazine are from the month of December, from projects for school, personal explorations, and larger contextual projects which have yet to be realized. Since most of my work is from personal experience, I spend a lot of my time exploring the spaces I live in.

My personal goal is to create one of these issues for every month in the past year.

Please feel free to comment on this issue, as shared on issuu.com. You may visit my collection of photography on Flickr to see what else has been seen in my city.

I hope you enjoyed the read and that it inspires you to build something unique with your photographs.

Gerry Straathof gerry.straathof@acad.ca Faculty of Art.