George Forss has never had the money to buy new computer equipment, he has built his own computer “system,” for lack of a better term from discarded parts, thrift store sales and prowling through garbage cans. He is a wizard with anything electronic, as he is with anything photographic. After some time, I have persuaded him to start work on his own Kickstarter project, “The Way We Were,” a self-published book, a collection of his legendary photographs taken before 911, a brilliant collection that captures another world, another time, a world before so much worry, security, anger and angst.
As technical genius as he is, the Internet still baffles him, he and Kickstarter are worlds apart yet in many ways meant for one another. George is the whole point of Kickstarter, no corporation would fund him, people who see his work will be eager to help him out.
If you look at George’s photos, you can see just how much damage 911 really did to our sense of ourselves, as reflected through the grand and poignant landscapes and towers of New York City. Today, I went over to George’s and we spent the afternoon beginning the process of starting a Kickstarter project. Kickstarter, as many of you know, is the very democratic crowdsourcing site that is funding thousands of art projects all over the world, including mine, “Talking To Animals.”
George and I spent a couple of hours getting started, choosing and uploading some images, figuring out the rewards. This isn’t like working on an Apple computer, it will take awhile, George has his very own system, including a 25 year-old spinning disc drive – I have never seen anything like it – he found in the trash in New York. His monitor cost $10, Donna gave him an old computer, I can’t imagine where the keyboard came from, or the system required for him to get online. It took us about an hour to get the profile image ad title down. Tomorrow we move the effort to my house, I have cable and we can move a bit faster. George is excited about the project, he can hardly believe people will contribute money to help him publish a book that the world truly needs to see.
Our culture can be cruel to the brilliant and the artistic. George was one of the most famous photographers in the world, he was hailed by Ansel Adams, David Douglas Duncan, Henry Cartier-Bresson, on the Today Show, in Time, profiled by the BBC. Then 911 happened, stalling his work, and then the digital photography revolution. Everybody became a photographer, the masters were pushed to the side. George moved upstate, opened his gallery, he continues to be creative every day of his life. I think this project is important, he is asking for roughly $10,000 to publish a book of his best New York photos – “The Way We Were.” I think we’ll have it in shape by the end of the week, it is a privilege to work with George on this kind of book.
You can meet George (and me) and see his amazing photos Thursday, the 20th at the Round House Cafe, 1 Washington Street, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.
And it is quite amazing to see the wizard up there on his home-made computing system, flipping dials, clicking on discs, scurrying through desks for old passwords. Tomorrow we write the project description. My house, my Apple, my cable.