BOOK – OFFCAMERA – INSTALLATION

Off-Camera, is an autobiographical photo diary of a specific time and place; downtown Manhattan, 1973 to 2001. This period spans from the high points of a disappearing urban culture, to the September 11th end of an era. The photos and text present a celebration of downtown culture flourishing and impacting world culture. The Twin Towers, as permanent as they seem in the backgrounds, prove as fragile as the unfolding culture enveloping the city.

Below are 21 web-rendered pages out of over 50 ‘photopages’ from Volume One 1973-84. The work consist of re-tracing past photographic projects and re-creating a journal. It is “an artist’s re-structuring”, juxtaposing downtown images with texts from and reflective of the times. Also rendered in this site arefifteen pages of
Volume Two 1985 – 2001.

COVER

INTRODUCTION

INTROROAD
OFF CAMERA cover, David Schmidlapp Schmidlapp's introduction There was a calling downtown
new york 1973-2001 – image life down town – (c) schmidlapp 2005 My photography was mimicking memory… a dreaming of times… People and businesses were leaving New York. The air was charged

1973

1974

CONFESSION
Became a village person. In fact became a village people. Rents are going down. Photography as play.
Wasn’t a real photographer. Made reg. 8mm films. And always borrowed girlfriend’s Nikomatic camera. Third apt: a funky two bedroom with toilet in the hall and tub in kitchen, @ $125 a month. Photography as play. Cool and Detached. The body then disappears off – camera.

1975

DESIRE

BICENTENNIAL
David Schmidlapp's conceptual period David Schmidlapp's Grenwich Village BiCentennial New York City
Took a lot of bad photographs – but what the hell – it was a conceptual period. Was lucky enough to photograph Allen Ginsburg with his mouth open. Was innocent, all were, and ignorant, processing images in an unforeseeable family album.

SOHO WEEKLY NEWS

1978

FASGAS
Soho Weekly News West Side Highway, New York City Fashion, Terrorism, and Oil
Had to be cool to be hip. More shoe stores started to move in. WestSide HighWay, Tar RoofTop, Lower BroadWay, Mudd Club Fashion, Terrorism, and Oil-Location: an abandoned gas station on Canal St.

ECCO SHOES

FAILED ARTISTS

CLEAR NIGHTS
Ecco Shoes and the World Trade Center Failed Artists and the World Trade Center Actress-Models
A boomtown has prevailed all of Soho My talents have been ignored like the plague. How dare failed artists sleep out in the landfill without a grant in sight, let alone an ad agency. a time when actress-models suffered acute insomnia from the pressures of life

SLIDE BAND

PARTY TAR

1982
Schmidlapp's Slide Band Schmidlapp's Party Tar The Anticipation of Loose Money
The work was the show, the show the work. We were living film. The Reagan era was upon us. The aids crisis was about to happen. The Anticipation of Loose Money. For they were the bottom-line philosophers.

LOWER EAST SIDE

1983

IGTIMES
Lower East Side, New York City Homesteading, Lower East Side interview with David Schmidlapp and Phase 2
Soon construction crews, and higher rents will pave the way for a better set of immigrants – NYU students. They couldn’t give the buildings away. We named it Twice Over Towers. The whole city was bombed. Immediately, IGT became a writer’s paper.

“off camera” installation model

Volume Two 1985 – 2001