Phony Campaigning

Posted on November 30, 2006 by Trent Nelson

I had an interesting experience about a month ago, before the election. My assignment was to photograph a candidate for one of Utah’s congressional seats campaigning door to door. He was supposed to be out in a suburban neighborhood knocking on doors to explain his views and ask people for their support on election day.

There was a little mix-up on the time and location, mainly the location, so by the time I found the candidate he was inside the last house of a cul-de-sac after having visited the other homes.

Before I could go in, one of his staffers met me on the sidewalk and had me wait for the candidate to come out. And then a photographer for the other newspaper in town came out. That’s why they were holding me back, they wanted her to get her photographs. No problem. I started talking to her and found out she had just photographed the candidate visiting each home in this cul-de-sac. She went on her way.

Now the campaign staffer started explaining to me what was going to happen. He said the candidate would like to re-visit the homes in the cul-de-sac so I could photograph him interacting with these people.

Can you hear the red flags snapping up to attention? We were here to photograph some real campaigning, and this staffer wants me to photograph some fake situations, set up and staged for the camera, with families they have handpicked for the situation. I stopped him and said that we were expecting to photograph the candidate actually campaigning, and that I couldn’t photograph a staged situation like this. It had to be real.

To my surprise, he didn’t get it. In my mind, his suggestion of having the candidate fake his way through a series of visits with selected families was a clear violation of standard journalistic ethics. There was just no way I could photograph this.

It took a good five minutes for me to explain to the staffer that his proposal wouldn’t work for me. I don’t know if he ever fully grasped what I was saying, or why I couldn’t shoot his plan, but the candidate had no problem knocking on some unfamiliar doors and meeting some voters. He was actually very friendly and accommodating, and to be clear, he never suggested anything untoward. That’s what we did and those are the photos you saw in our paper. A true situation.

This post also appeard on my work blog, on the Tribune’s website.

10.20.1986

Posted on November 30, 2006 by Trent Nelson

Note: My short-lived attendance at Ricks College in the small town of Rexburg, Idaho twenty years ago was a defining stage of my life. Mostly for unpleasant reasons. Taking an extremely impulsive anarchist skate punk from California and putting them in the Rexburg of 1986, what can you expect? My being an 18-year-old with the maturity of a 9-year-old didn’t help, either. But it was in Rexburg that I fell in love with photography and abandoned my academic career to follow my passion.

These entries are written from the journals I kept when I was 18. Of course, at 38 today, I do not advocate any of the illegal activity discussed here. -Trent

Monday, October 20, 1986

At night, Kay, Larry, Ray, Drake, and I went out. We took paint pens, spray paint, stencils, etc. Read the press release for details:

Richard Stallings Idaho’s Congressman

Contact: Melodie Rydalch Phone: 234-1986

For Immediate Release:

POCATELLO – Sallee Gasser, campaign manager for Congressman Richard Stallings, is joining representatives of other candidates in expressing disappointment in the number of political signs being damaged or destroyed by vandals.

Mrs. Gasser says Stallings signs in several counties have been damaged. “These signs are expensive, and community residents have volunteered many hours to put them in place. It’s disheartening to have them damaged.”

Mrs. Gasser says she believes the damage is not being done by representatives of other campaigns, but may be the work of pranksters of vandals.

1994: Undertow

Posted on November 30, 2006 by Trent Nelson

1994: Undertow, Gilman Street, Berkeley, California. Photos by Trent Nelson

As always, clicking on the images will take you to the original in the PhotoShelter photo archive, where prints are available.

10.19.1986

Posted on November 30, 2006 by Trent Nelson

These entries are written from the journals I kept when I was 18. Of course, at 38 today, I do not advocate any of the illegal activity discussed here. -Trent

Sunday, October 19, 1986

I was awakened early this morning to the sound of Tom and Charlie cheering maniacally to the football game on television. I was ready to kill. From the start of the day, I wanted to axe that TV.

When I first moved in over a month ago, I brought my TV from home. But I forgot the remote control, and roommate Larry also had a TV, so we loaned mine out to the guys in #19. I had my mom mail the remote to me and when it arrived I figured it would be a great gag to play on the guys in #19. We stood outside their window with the remote while they were watching TV and started raising the volume. They would get up and turn it down, then we would turn it down. After a couple of times it got boring so I changed the channel on them. That’s when they got up and starting pounding on my television. We ended the joke right there.

Now that I was awake, thanks to the sorry sport of football, I got up and made a bunch of Krusteaz pancakes. I wanted to go to Idaho Falls, but was talked out of it (luckily). I would have just wasted a bunch of money that I would soon need. We went to Kmart, browsed around, then to Dairy Queen for a free cone with a coupon we had. We got back and sat around for a while, trying to figure out how to get rid of Larry’s TV.

We ended up typing up a contract to lease Larry’s TV to Ray’s apartment (#13). We unplugged it right in the middle of another football game, interrupting Tom’s viewing pleasure. He was so pissed off. It was great, peace and quiet! I got my TV back from #19, and put it in my room.

Tensions between roommates Larry and Tom are growing. Even though they were high school friends, and drove out here thousands of miles in Larry’s car, and share a room together, the relationship is dissolving very quickly. The other day Larry was in the shower moaning loudly, taunting Tom who Larry claimed he caught rubbing one out. They got into a loud argument, Tom accusing Larry of the same thing. There are six people in our apartment’s three rooms. Bob and I now share a room after switching. But now there just aren’t enough rooms to separate people who are starting to hate each other. I’m lucky. Bob and I get a long very well.

Ray and I went to Sugar City. We filled up at the Maverik there. By filling up, I mean we filled up the gas tank and drove off quickly. If you’re going to stick it to the man, it might as well be a redneck.

At around 11pm, Kay (#19), Larry, Drake, and I walked down and looked at cars at the Pontiac dealer down the road. To our surprise, they keep the doors unlocked on all the new cars. We all picked our favorite color and sat in a new Fiero. It was pretty cool.

Gursky's "99 Cent" Prints Fetch Millions At Auction

Posted on November 30, 2006 by Trent Nelson

PDN:

Most recently, an anonymous bidder paid $2.48 million – with a sense of irony, one hopes – for Gursky’s “99 Cent II Diptychon” (2001), which shows the cluttered interior of a discount store.

The sale, made at a Nov. 16 auction at Phillips de Pury & Company in New York, set an auction record for a work by a living photographer. It fell short of the record for the highest price ever paid for a photo at auction, which was set in February when a 1904 Edward Steichen print sold for $2,928,000.

The work sold at Phillips consists of two chromogenic color prints displayed as a diptych that measures over 22 feet wide. The work is one of an edition of six.

Here.

Stikman Does 11 Spring

Posted on November 30, 2006 by Trent Nelson

Wooster Collective:

One of our favorite things about doing the Spring Street project, has been the amazing collection of Stikman images that have been appearing over the last few days on the outside of the building. Sara and I have been fans of Stikman’s work for years, so having him included in the Spring Street project is a great pleasure.

Here.