First meeting with my artist mentor

My artist mentor is Christine Collins
We started talking about what I have been thinking about and researching.
Works that came up that I need to take a look at:
Martha Rosler's essay "In Around and Afterthoughts (on Documentary Photography)"
Photography At The Dock: Essays on Photographic History, Institutions, and Practices (Media and Society) two essays: "Who is Speaking Thus" and "Reconstructing Documentary"
Brian Schumat's photo series: "Grays the Mountain Sends" http://www.bryanschutmaat.com/  Mixture of landscapes and portraits sequenced to interact with each other.
When speaking about my older work, she said that I need to let the space to more work adding extra details to a portrait.  What is the tension?  Let the space speak.  I limit their story.  Color would have said more.
She gave me an assignment:  Find somebody I'm interested in and produce three images

1.  Make an environmental portrait that means something.  I need to be thoughtful about what the place means
2. Then photograph mid-distance with a little context
3. Then photograph with a simple backdrop or background.

I need to think not about what the person's experience is, but what I want to viewers experience to be.
I should pick the place or have them pick the place that is the most comfortable.  I need to control and decide everything.

We also talked through some of my ideas for my next project.  The place is important.  I will be totally giving myself up not controlling who is in the picture.  I still need to work out how exactly it will be enacted.  Should I have instructions to guide people?  Issues of privacy, surveillance and closed circuit TV come up.  We are photographed without consent whenever we are in a public urban environment.

She encouraged me to come up with a thesis for the project.  If I.........then I imagine.....to happen"
Thesis: If I set up a camera in a highly trafficked public space to take time lapse photos and post them to social media, then I imagine that people will respond to the camera in a large variety of ways from avoidance to exhibitionist.

She encouraged me to explore this in two veins:

1. Letting people know and give instructions
2. Not letting people know and see what happens in front of the camera.

She also suggested to just try out the project without worrying too much how the final visuals or exhibition would be worked out.

We spoke some about the legalities and about Arnes Svenson series, "The Neighbors"  http://arnesvenson.com/theneighbors.html and the following court case http://blogs.nppa.org/advocacy/2013/08/05/photographer-prevails-in-first-amendment-vs-privacy-case/
Other works that can up:
Michael Wolf's curation of google street view images. http://photomichaelwolf.com/#paris-street-view/1
documentary: "102 Minutes that Changed America" made from archival footage.
Hitchcock's "Rear window"  Take notes on when there is an exchange of power and how looking or photographing effects that.
http://www.paulgrahamarchive.com/possibility.html#a and his book "The present"  How little moments change with space and time.
Chauncey Hare, "Interior America" and "Corporate America"
Judith Joy Ross's portraits