Out of compulsion, habit, and seemingly an extension of her own life, of her own being, Angela Singer is a daily dedicated photographer who has captured photographs every day of her life for the past 30 years. Singer herself even admits to and wonders at this peculiarity of decades upon decades of diligent photo documenting, she concludes that it is just what she does, something that she must do. In her granddaughter's short film documentary, we explore that Angela Singer has not only been snapping pictures, at least ten to twelve daily, for the past three decades, but she was also videotaping and documenting her life and surroundings that she knew. All in all, Angela Singer is a peculiar photographer, and an artist in her own right, amasing such a vast collection of photographs that can hardly be believed.
Having never left a radius of twenty miles of her hometown, Joelton, Tennessee, Angela Singer is a mother of nine and a grandmother of many, and seemingly a "typical southern woman." On the outside, Singer raised her nine children, was a steadfast wife to her alcoholic husband, a God-fearing Christian woman, and caring, warm woman. She found the idea of travel and novelty strange and even frightening, was diligent to be home before dark, yet she always had her camera at her side, she would even take it to the mailbox with her on her daily walk to check the mail. This is what gives Angela Singer a distinguishable nature and being, she is such a careful documentor of her life, her surroundings, and her memories, that her camera can easily be considered an external brain, an aid and companion to help her remember, percieve, and document her life.
Angela Singer's photographs are incredibly important because they allow photography to all at once be a love, a hobby, a devotion, a necessity, and an artform. Because they include a vast variety of aspects, including consistency, truth, honesty, and even artistry, Singer's body of work has powerful impact. Her diligence is the most astounding aspect of her work, and in it, there is no escaping from the truth that is and surrounds Singer's life. While her lens is almost constantly pointed outwards, what i find most peculiar and astonishing is when her lens is pointed at herself. Singer's self portraits to me are the most compelling aspect of her body of work, and when put into perspective with the rest of her images, is almost a completely different realm. Yet we can see Singer is the same person in her self portraits, where she dresses herself as a Native American, as the person behind the camera. She is constantly finding nuances, finding adventure and an escape in her twenty mile radius, and when she transforms herself into a southern woman wearing Native American clothing, that is when she flies away.
As a photographer, i am often in the midst of an adventure or some sort of escap when i find myself with my camera. In many ways, i find average and ordinary life to be unworthy of documenting, however dear many aspects of it are to me. When i see new, and when i am challenged as a person with something that i do not recognize is when i lift my camera. Perhaps i feel as though a camera to me is a box, a box with which to store and conquer images, ideas, thoughts, dreams, imaginations, and after that is boxed, it is stowed away, and something new is searched out. Perhaps i am not so different from Singer, constantly looking for something new, searching for an escape, however, i am not so diligent.
good response.
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