Comments for The Frailest Thing

Comment on Temps de Flor in Girona by Michael Sacasas

Michael Sacasas — Thu, 31 May 2012 21:09:38 +0000

It was definitely a great trip. And thanks for the tip. I know the photos in the following post could definitely have used a little tweaking.

Comment on Temps de Flor in Girona by Michael Sacasas

Michael Sacasas — Thu, 31 May 2012 21:08:06 +0000

Yes, that was the city’s cathedral. The whole city was lovely, it invited a photo around every corner.

Comment on Temps de Flor in Girona by atomicgeography

atomicgeography — Thu, 31 May 2012 20:18:04 +0000

Looks and sounds like a great trip!

Hope you don’t mind – I’m always saying this to my daughter – using whatever photo software that’s on you computer can improve many pics just by darkening them a little and increasing the contrast a little. No need for fancy stuff, but doing these 2 things will bring out a lot of detail otherwise lost.

Comment on Temps de Flor in Girona by Cheri Lucas

Cheri Lucas — Thu, 31 May 2012 05:43:45 +0000

Girona looks wonderful — how great you found yourself there during a flower festival! Love the design on the steps in front of (what looks like) a cathedral.

Comment on Temps de Flor in Girona by Michael Sacasas

Michael Sacasas — Tue, 29 May 2012 20:47:14 +0000

Kathleen, thank you on all counts!

Comment on Temps de Flor in Girona by Kathleen Schmitt

Kathleen Schmitt — Tue, 29 May 2012 20:40:51 +0000

Michael, for a self-proclaimed amateur photographer, these photos are delightful. The flower additions sometimes seem a bit incongruous with the old buildings, but fun, too.

Best wishes to you on your travel and research.

Kathleen

Comment on The Self in the Age of Digital Reproduction by Technology in America « Insomniac memos

Technology in America « Insomniac memos — Tue, 29 May 2012 19:20:44 +0000

[...] blog, The Frailest Thing, which looks interesting too. For example, there’s a post on The Self in the Age of Digital Reproduction. And much more. Like this:LikeBe the first to like this [...]

Comment on Towers, Needles, and Wheels: Architectural Spectacles at World’s Fairs and Expositions by Michael Sacasas

Michael Sacasas — Tue, 29 May 2012 11:06:40 +0000

You’re right, I did not intend that connection, but true nonetheless. Thanks for pointing that out. World’s fairs were certainly vehicles of modernism.

Comment on Towers, Needles, and Wheels: Architectural Spectacles at World’s Fairs and Expositions by Will Rinehart (@WillRinehart)

Will Rinehart (@WillRinehart) — Wed, 23 May 2012 21:41:37 +0000

Perhaps you did not intend this, but there seems to be a “wirey-ness” to each of these structures. Thin, exposed and largely stripped of frills, the buildings are exemplars of modern architecture—utilitarian and profane in the oldest sense.

Comment on The Self in the Age of Digital Reproduction by Michael Sacasas

Michael Sacasas — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:07:01 +0000

Okay, that helps me see where you’re coming from. I wouldn’t disagree, and I’m not sure Benjamin would either. I would just say that in this particular essay he is using the term “optical unconscious” to refer to something more narrow and specific than what you mean by the term. Perhaps the confusion lies with the use of “unconscious”. He was explicitly drawing an analogy to Freud, but his elaboration points to a distinction in perception grounded in the objective capabilities of the camera rather than the (cyborg-) subjectivity of the photographer. So Benjamin is tying his sense of the optical unconscious to the camera’s capabilities, but in your sense all work with a medium implies some level of distributed agency, perhaps simply the technological unconscious.