May 30
0

the layered photograph

By | photography

When talking about my photographic work to a group of photographers I mentioned that in my view a “good” photograph should be more than ” just an image”, more than just a rendering of  “what was there”. After all, why call any photograph art, if a machine could do the job… I came up with the term a “layered” photograph, that I had come across. But of course, this led to the question, what were these layers, could I identify some of them. At that moment I discussed some of these aspects that constitute a good photograph starting from the pictures that I had. The challenge, however, was to make a total scheme, encompassing all the “layers” that I discern in a picture. The scheme, which will follows here has been used by me to explain the idea of the layering of photographs. Hopefully, it may serve to deepen your insight when applied to your own photography (or in judging the work of others)

1. cognitive aspects

2. psychological impact

3. symbols and associations

4. combination of pictorial elements

5. graphic aspects, framing, textures etc.

6. light and dark (I am discussing b&w photography)

The order of these layers is from sophisticated to “primitive”, or from intellectual to instinctive if you like. See if this is of any help to you; if not just keep taking those photographs, good luck!

May 27
0

woman reaching for merchandise on a street vendor’s cart in Arlington, Virginia

By | street photography

“Woman reaching for merchandise on a street vendor’s cart in Arlington, Virginia”  is the well-documenting title (pity there’s no date ! …) of a shockingly insignificant photograph. This ridiculous photograph has to be seen to be believed as it is about nothing at all; yet it is given as an example of  “street photography” ! See the equally hopeless article at Wikipedia, screaming out for revision, or in fact: rewriting … Who will have a go at it ?

May 15
0

what a waste

By | photography

Hypes and changing fashions can lead to stagnant sales and overproduction, as can declining consumer spending, we all know that better than ever. This may happen just as easily to clothes as to photographic film material. A tv-documentary showed the containers and shiploads of fashionable clothes that had become superfluous and – after the labels had painstakingly been hand removed – were now sent far away, hopefully never to be seen again so they might not be linked to their makers and not be competing. The documentary showed yesterday’s computers and never-used printers being disassembled for the valuable gold of their contacts that had served no purpose. The photographic films had been sold to another company that would take out the unused silver. The many big boxes with all the bulk film were opened by a patient man, who took out the single films one by one , calmly pulling them out of their cassettes, the whole length. Perfect film, not obsolete. Never used. Heartbreaking. The commenting voice said that mentally handicapped people were good for this job because it was repetitive, and they weren’t bothered by all the waisting that was going on. Indeed, the man said he liked what he did.  Come to think of it, I probably would go mental.

May 05
0

old world, new world

By | photography

I went to see the photographs Robert Frank took when he visited Paris in the 1950’s after he had moved to the United States. Even though I have seen much of his work, including some of his exhibited photographs, I was impressed again by the intensity of his vision which makes the technical imperfections of some of his small prints completely irrelevant. Photography from the heart, the way it should be. And Paris, impoverished after the war, has become a silent, shy old lady in his pictures, tired, scarred and wrinkled, of another time and full of memories. Frank, expatriate, reminded of his own past, sees himself in its inhabitants, survivors of the hard years, picking up their inglorious lives amidst the remnants of history. Soft trembling greys fill out these photographs, lots of empty space in the suburbs where an old horse endures the playful children, walls, cobblestones, old building in the morning mist. In the park the chairs await sunnier days, the stuff that chansons are made of, a few flowers in an improvised vase, left alone, Paris stuck in its past, the fifties.

The Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, added a smaller series from its collection of Ed van der Elsken photographs, also Paris in the 1950’s. Worlds apart from Robert Frank. Ed, who was a friend of mine, wasn’t looking for the past, but found a new freedom in the group of rebellious young outcasts that hung around in the cafés and jazz joints of the rive gauche. He was fascinated by Vali Myers, who was an excentric free soul from Australia. Ed built her a monument in photographs (“Love on the Left Bank”), which also became a portrait of Paris. His photographs are noisier, wildly romantic and printed in dark contrasts, celebrating youth and the promise of the new freedom that was in the air. Both Ed and Vali have died, but they live on.

Apr 29
0

fast shot

By | photography

I like images that are filled with visual information, images that do not give easy answers, but rather ask questions. About reality, that is, and what my framing does to it. I prefer thought-provoking work to cheap thrills. I’m aiming for iconic qualities by balancing form and content, beauty and meaning. But since these decisions have to be made in a split second, I have to be a really fast shot. To my surprise it works.

Apr 28
0

giclée snobs

By | photography

The term “inkjet print”, which is very matter-of-fact, sounds really plain and is no money-jerker obviously. The galleries liked “gelatin silver print” much better I suppose. After trying “Iris print” (better already, but has the annotation of industrial tryout or proof print, not the big seller either), someone must have thought of the beauty and snob appeal of the French language. He came up with the new name for the good old inkjet print and called it “giclée”… Genius. Giclée (notice the exotic accent adding some noblesse) means “squirt” in French. They have beautiful words for almost everything, I love French, and beautiful things. Having said that, I go for the gelatin silver if you don’t mind (no matter what you call it).

Apr 28
0

can’t believe my eyes sometimes…

By | photography

…when I see what subtle details there are in many photographs that I have taken in a split second. Have I really seen all of those details or are they just coincidental. It’s hard to imagine you can notice so many things in such a short moment, and put them to work in a chosen frame while taking care of the technicalities as well in – say – 2 seconds. Still it works time after time!

Apr 26
0

refill (still can)

By | photography

Yesterday, when photographing in a crowded street, I noticed some youngsters’ curious looks when I opened the back of my Contax, took out the cassette by the film end sticking out and put in an undeveloped film from my pocket stock. Is this already becoming an exotic sight in this digital world, I thought. And would they consider it old school, nerdy, maybe cool… Anyway I love working with these Leica, Contax or Nikon cameras and hope that film will stay around, so I can keep doing my photography the way I like.

As my film was nearing the number of 36 exposures I always hoped that I would not be running out of film at the very moment it “got interesting”. I also remember the horror of a camera malfunctioning or a film breaking inside because of the winter temperatures once. Good thing I often take a lot, and it happens very fast, so that I do not remember every lost picture. Those are the risks of analog photography, but I love working on film. Sometimes, when you want to make sure you don’t miss any opportunities, it helps to work with 2 cameras. It gives more certainty and you have another 36 to go before you have to reload. Winogrand’s remark “There’s nothing happening when I’m reloading” may sound silly but the fact is that the photograph you haven’t made does not exist, except maybe in your imagination. Better to concentrate on what must be done, i.e. reloading! To every other photographer who likes analog, I’d like to say, keep pushing that film.

Apr 25
0

illusions & phantasies

By | photography

“I look at the pictures I have done up to now, and they make me feel that who we are and how we feel and what is to become of us just doesn’t matter. Our aspirations and successes have been cheap and petty. I read the newspapers, the columnists, some books, I look at some magazines (our press). They all deal in illusions and phantasies. I can only conclude that we have lost ourselves […..], we have not loved life.”

© Garry Winogrand, quote from Guggenheim grant application 1964.

Apr 25
0

collective memory

By | photography

When there was only “film” photography, as it is nowadays called, it was normal to have every good negative printed. Only the negatives that were no good, i.e. blurred, out of focus, completely black or transparent were not included with the prints that most people got from the photo shop. So almost every person, and certainly every family had their albums with annotated or anonymous pictures. Many had shoeboxes full of unsorted photographs. And there were the professional archives with still more. Many millions of tiny documents, mostly with the only intention of keeping memories alive of family and relatives, children, women and men in their daily surroundings, but mostly on holidays. But in this unimaginably big mass of images lies the collective memory of a people, of peoples, towns, countries, in fact the whole world.

Even when most of this material will never be seen by others, and in fact simply disappears from the face of the earth together with the people it depicts, there is a growing interest for the preservation of at least a selection of the photographic material that is available from various sources. These sources should cover both low culture and high culture for a broader insight. Cultural historians and sociologists (present and future) will be grateful for this. In many parts of the world institutions, museums, libraries and archives are active in the field of collecting and preserving our photographic heritage and a lot of good work in studying and analyzing has already been done.

With digital photography almost completely taking over amateur photography and large sections of professional and let’s say “art” photography, the print is not so self-evident anymore. Few people keep albums with prints; and the image, with all its historical/sociological/whatever importance, only exists in its virtual form. And when photo albums may survive, and may even go all the way from the fleamarket to the museum or archive, and thus be saved, the virtual image stored away on disks or in other ways practically invisible and inaccessible to others will disappear with its owner. This age might be a lot less well-documented photographically than the previous one in spite of the fact that everybody seems to be taking photographs. But where are the photographs?