Mollie Chapman grew up in a small college town on the Eastern side of Washington, where there are more lentils than rain. She is a Senior at Stanford University, majoring in Anthropological Sciences, with a concentration in Population and the Environment. She loves to travel, and knows the US State Department travel warning website by heart, as she often finds herself traveling to "dangerous" countries, such as Indonesia and Israel, though she has also been to Central America and Europe. Her current interests include: using narratives to resolve conflict, watersheds, and a village in rural Costa Rica, as well as photography, backpacking, campfires, and freelance writing. Her current post-graduation plans are to travel the world and write a book profiling the different communities that she visits.

I have recently become fascinated with a few places on Santa Cruz Avenue, in Menlo Park. There is Ann's CoffeeHouse, which appears to not have changed in the past several decades, customers included. Nearby is the Golden Sheers, a barber shop maintaining a similar level of obscurity. I am interested in exploring these living relics, using both old and new technology. I want to examine two things. First, how do these historical remnants survive and maintain their image? Why have they chosen not to change? At what point did they make this decision? How do they interact with their surroundings? Second, I would like to present these relics using different technology. How does the format affect how the viewer approaches an image? Digital v. Analog. B/W v. Color. Small, medium, large format. Different perspectives. Art shots to give a gereral impression versus strict formalist shots. What does each approach say about the place?

I have choosen to focus my project on Ann's CoffeeHouse: Through What Lens?

I've come across some interesting readings. One is a review in Harper's Magazine of The Ongoing Moment by Geoff Dyer. It's written by John Berger and is much more than a simple book review, as Berger puts his own commentary into the writing.

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Posted at Feb 14/2006 09:54AM:
[chris witmore]: instrumentalites, the camera as mode of engagement, when photography is not photography, time, photography and location, media archaeology (old cameras and photographs)