Comments on: Oh, Alison, my aim is true.

Oh, Alison, my aim is true.

dersins — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:42:29 -0800

"When my daughter Alison was born, in the tradition of a new parent, I began to photograph her, initially in a separate and private body of work. However, in the process of documenting Alison's growth, I developed a passionate interest in human relationships and capturing intimate moments in the lives of family and friends...." A haunting photographic essay from Jack Radcliffe.

By: dersins

dersins — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:48:29 -0800

By: tadellin

tadellin — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:50:42 -0800

That was pretty interesting. It was slightly creepy, though.

By: stupidsexyFlanders

stupidsexyFlanders — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:51:31 -0800

I wonder how much of the "haunting" quality of this is the photographer's eye. It appears this girl was never happy.

By: fiercecupcake

fiercecupcake — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:00:09 -0800

Intriguing site, brilliant post title. Good job. I can't wait to look through the rest of his galleries.

By: The Gooch

The Gooch — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:07:09 -0800

My photographs of Alison, because of the nature of our relationship, are very much a father-daughter collaboration-Alison permitting me access to private moments of our life, which might, under different circumstances, be off-limits to a parent No kidding. If my parents caught me smoking like that I'd have been dead.

By: scody

scody — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:13:44 -0800

I'd have been dead just for all the scowling.

By: zia

zia — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:18:40 -0800

Wow. Really the evolution of a smoker. Its depressing to see she still hasn't quit. Can't wait for the chemo series

By: Forktine

Forktine — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:20:55 -0800

It appears this girl was never happy. Really? She looked somber to me, but not unhappy.

By: harperpitt

harperpitt — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:22:12 -0800

Here she is singing at an exhibition of her father's photography. She has one of the deepest voices I've ever heard from a woman.

By: rooftop secrets

rooftop secrets — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:38:00 -0800

She did not seem happy. Hard to tell if that was just a result of the picture selection, but girl had sad eyes.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:45:45 -0800

Some people are just naturally melancholy. I mean seriously, she dressed like a Goth and grew up in what appears to be Glen Burnie! Anyway she smiles at the end of the harperpitt video.

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:50:21 -0800

It appears this girl was never happy. "You're so pretty, why don't you smile more?"

By: poe

poe — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:07:02 -0800

I miss smoking sometimes. I was never good at it. Or maybe i never expressed myself with cigarettes in this way. I like breathing, though.

By: chuckdarwin

chuckdarwin — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:11:33 -0800

I hope that my own series with my daughters turns out as well as this.

By: DU

DU — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:15:05 -0800

She has one of the deepest voices I've ever heard from a woman. Apparently YouTube deletes all Venture Bros clips.

By: Halloween Jack

Halloween Jack — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:17:02 -0800

I'm often characterized by strangers as looking angry or unhappy, even when I'm not... it's just the way that some people's faces are made. I borrowed the phrase "walking frown" from Star Trek (used to describe Worf) to sum it up.

By: katillathehun

katillathehun — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:20:22 -0800

I can't possibly know anything about the true nature of their relationship, but you know she must have been happy at some points in her life. Nevertheless, these photographs - photos always taken by her father - don't show this. Is she never happy around her father?

By: cmoj

cmoj — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:24:07 -0800

The photographs are sort of interesting in a documentary way (although I have my own relations to watch grow up), but the photographs are mediocre. Conceptually one-dimensional with ultra-conservative composition. They'd be stock photos if anyone ever smiled.

By: sir_rubixalot

sir_rubixalot — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:26:56 -0800

DU: http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episodeID=1073501cc214b0b07a4fd00d42eb21bd I did enjoy this photographic series, although I do agree the photos aren't all that interesting, the process and idea is more interesting than the photographs themselves.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:27:13 -0800

She smiles nicely at the end of this fine performance too. Did you "she doesn't smile" folks really spend your teenage years grinning? She looked like a normal, neurotic kid to me. And hell, she became a musician, what do you want?

By: forallmankind

forallmankind — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:27:39 -0800

whoa - that is one weird voice from a lady.

By: padraigin

padraigin — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:51:36 -0800

Wow, those pictures of her in the late 80s and early 90s look uncannily like pictures of me from around the same time. No wonder my mom was always so stressed.

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:52:38 -0800

Vagaries of neutral facial structure, mood, etc. all notwithstanding, it's hard to imagine the daughter of a photographer being anything less than hyperaware of how a whole lot of people tend to react to photographs: by mugging like loons, or, worse, putting on a Camera Smile. There could easily be an aspect of refusal to go down that road in play here. Quietly, even just subconciously refusing to smile for the camera may not be any more candid than insisting on posing, but it's a breath of fresh air. And a girl with alto pipes who can play keys is a goddam asset, on the musical side of things.

By: dabitch

dabitch — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:56:42 -0800

padraigin - I was thinking exactly the same thing. Also - she did great eye makeup, if I had known her I'd be borrowing her liner, and cigs.

By: xod

xod — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:06:42 -0800

She did not seem happy. They'd be stock photos if anyone ever smiled. I disagree.

By: Belle O'Cosity

Belle O'Cosity — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:53:27 -0800

If you look at the other photo sets on the website, all his subjects seem to have that same expression. I wonder what the photographer is going for with this.

By: xod

xod — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:28:20 -0800

This expression equals this one?

By: Belle O'Cosity

Belle O'Cosity — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:39:10 -0800

OK, I should have said what seems to be a majority, or very many, or a lot, many seem quite similar although they may not to you. And seriously, what is the photographer trying to go for. I see a theme, I'm not trying to be a jerk. Is he trying to capture something specific in this expression.

By: desuetude

desuetude — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:56:22 -0800

She's just a bit younger than me, and we grew up in the same area, and wow, does she look like a lot of me and my friends at that time. Huh. Weird to see how other people saw us. I agree that she doesn't necessarily look unhappy, just not SMILING! For the CAMERA!

By: xod

xod — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:58:32 -0800

Belle, For me, he seems to be trying to get as close as possible to his subjects, including the capture of transparently intimate moments as well as opaque, inner reflection.

By: dasheekeejones

dasheekeejones — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:33:25 -0800

Looks like she hung with real "winners". No wonder she looks rode hard and put away wet.

By: dersins

dersins — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:38:16 -0800

Looks like she hung with real "winners". No wonder she looks rode hard and put away wet. Thanks for dropping by to class up the joint with your witty observations, dasheekeejones.

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:41:21 -0800

Nice. That's a really solid contribution there.

By: dasheekeejones

dasheekeejones — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:04:43 -0800

Cortex, obviously you haven't read Metafilter long enough to see that it's full of "solid contributions" after each and every post. Dersins, lighten up. The point is that she was a beautiful girl and something happened where she aged a little too much. Was it depression, poverty, her smoking, or her relationships? Sorry if you are too sensitive to hear a blunt observation.

By: dasheekeejones

dasheekeejones — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:05:40 -0800

Oh and Dersins, your avatar in your profile--way classier than a "rode hard" comment.

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:16:42 -0800

It's not so much the bluntness as it is the presumptuousness. You basically shat on this girl's friends and life based on something that I think folks are far from even agreeing is there. Which, I mean, say what you will, but it comes off pretty shitty.

By: desuetude

desuetude — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:30:45 -0800

Sorry if you are too sensitive to hear a blunt observation. Ah, dersins is a weakling for taking offense to your "blunt," classless, insulting, sexist opinion. Cortex is merely is to be chided on how Metafilter works.

By: dasheekeejones

dasheekeejones — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:54:32 -0800

Cortex, point taken. But from people far from even agreeing, no one ever said that she looked sad/depressed (thus her features have changed significantly over the years). Desuetude, not sure how my comment is sexist. Men and women can be rode hard and put away wet. Take Pete Doherty, for instance.

By: rtha

rtha — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:51:09 -0800

She looks like some of my friends from high school, yeah. Except it was the 80s, so they were punks or hippies, not goth-y. (Not that there weren't any Back in the Day, but really not any I can think of at my h.s.) She doesn't look....like what dasheekejones said. She looks like a slightly disaffected teenager who's trying to seem grown-up and serious/cool, or is (or is pretending to be) irritated at Dad for following her around with a camera.

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:19:50 -0800

She looks like a slightly disaffected teenager who's trying to seem grown-up and serious/cool, or is (or is pretending to be) irritated at Dad for following her around with a camera. Yes. This reminds me of what would happen if you printed out all the pictures of my sister that my dad has taken. She gets a very specific expression when he's taking a picture of her -- it's an expression that says "oh for the love of mike, stop stop stop stop don't take my damn picture why can't you stop it with the pictures already when you see that I hate it".

By: dersins

dersins — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:17:34 -0800

Oh and Dersins, your avatar in your profile--way classier than a "rode hard" comment. I can't tell if you're actually so tone deaf that you think a playful sketch of a barfing kitty is equivalent to criticizing the appearance of a woman you've never met by saying she looks "rode hard and put up wet," or if you're just being disingenuous. Please advise.

By: whoaali

whoaali — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:02:57 -0800

I don't necessarily think any of the photos individually are great, but that doesn't mean this isn't a great photo essay. Sometimes the whole is great than the sum of its parts and I think that is very true hear. You definitely get a sense of who she is, hard to say how accurate, but given that she seems to support it and it was done by his father, I think there is at least a good chance he hit it pretty close to the mark.