Kevin's Theory: Raw or Cooked?

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TONIGHT'S class, for those of you not in attendance, brought a guest visitor: Kevin McCollister. His images brought a mixture of emotions. The variety of portraits and other scenes from the city only reasserted what I found to be his most compelling words: LA seems to be one of two things, “raw or cooked.” Before he even began to explain, images began forming in my mind. Raw = no effort, no makeup, no money, no designer handbags, no designer jeans. Cooked = Hollywood, video cameras, editing equipment, touch-ups. There is certainly a divide in people’s interests here, yet why are there not more magazines with all of these “raw” images if so many people seem to be interested in it, like I feel (at least I think I feel) so many of us were with Kevin’s images this evening? Why do we still feel the urge to buy a Glamour magazine rather than one located perhaps on the bottom shelf of a newsstand, one that would most certainly project these untouched images that would send us “ooohing” and “aahing” instead of photo shopped pictures of Olivia Wilde throughout the pages of Cosmopolitan.

Los Angeles, as we have studied, is divided in more ways than one. This metaphor for the division: raw vs. cooked is particularly intriguing to me. We always say, “natural is better” yet do we really mean that? Do we act on that instinct? It seems hard to hear in this city, the City of Lights, like we just read about. This city that is one giant movie set. How will we ever fit in if we are not cooked? I too, am unsure of this contest, this pressing question. Some of you might be more resolute, more stuck in your raw ways. But, I am hoping, there are others who are confused by this as well. Who would have thought we would be asked to compare the City of Angels using kitchen vocabulary? Today, we see people whose Facebook pages boast more than 2,000 pictures of themselves. Would you say those are raw or cooked? Are your pictures raw or cooked, and are you o.k. with that? Would Kevin find you someone he would want to take a picture of? Like professors always say after asking this sort of probing question: “there are no wrong answers.” And, there aren’t. Just a thought to ponder on before the much needed Cesar Chavez break tomorrow…

--Katie Mollica

Photos:
http://beverlyhillshoneys.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Olivia-Wilde-Cosmopolitan-april-2011-Magazine.jpg
Kevin McCollister - http://eastofwestla.com/