Photographic Sustenance
The image to the right is Etienne-Jules Marey's "photographic gun". When Eadweard Muybridge showed his pictures of horses in motion to Marey, Marey asked him if it was possible to photograph birds in flight. Muybridge answered that he hadn't been able to so far, and Marey responded by inventing his photographic gun. The "gun" had a rifle-like sight and a clock-mechanism so that when the shutter was tripped it made twelve exposures of 1/72nd of a second each. This gun is a good metaphor for how we use our cameras.
At our cores, photographers are both hunters and gatherers—we need variety in our photographic diets. We hunt around, sniffing out the good light and proper gestures—then shoot to kill. But we are also gatherers, the subtler, more patient accumulators than those quick-triggered hunters. The low-level, always-on hum of our photographic radars is the essential gatherer's tool—a constant frequency, a SETI of the eyes.
While it has been my observation that art photography is more about presenting the collected (hunting) while photojournalism is more about collecting the presented (gathering), this may be an overly simplistic reduction; I do not mean to imply that art photographers only hunt and photojournalists only gather. Such a statement would be ignoring some of the best photography out there, as some of my favorite photographers possess the distinct ability to marry the two.
Labels: diet, photo food, photo guns
Stephen Gill - Flower Photographs, Kind of
British artist Stephen Gill is working with/on/around the photograph. Gill is using images from Hackney and then uses different flowers found in Hackney to create a kind of new, fictional landscape. He then re-photographs the final product and returns the physical disruption to the good old fashion, flat photograph. His pictures of Hackney Flowers have an interesting mix of whimsy and the subversive and are a unique way to also speak about Hackney as place itself. Stephen never lets a photograph get away with just being a photograph.
On a side note, another series of works of Stephen's was referenced in the blog I Heart PHotograph which is a blog i check frequently. It consistenly shows fresh, interesting and definately unique photographic work from around the world. Laurel, i like your style.
Dashwood Books
It is of little surprise to me that the majority of photographers I am aware of has much to do with the exceptional relationship between photography and books. I often find, although not always, that the presentation of artwork in books is sometimes stronger and more effective than a series sequenced on a gallery or museum wall. Everyone can attest not only to the invaluable privacy provided by books, but also to their endless inventiveness in presenting artists and promoting their projects.
Recently, on a relatively cold weekend spent in Manhattan, my girlfriend and i stumbled upon a warm, wooden enclave of monographs at 33 Bond Street. Dashwood Books, situated in the East Village, inevitably casts shame upon all other like-minded shops that proclaim to have an eclectic and substantial inventory. Although Robert Frank's "The Americans" can be found, it will most likely be situated between some obscure saddlestiched collectible, and a brilliant Japanese hardcover. Both of which will blow your socks off. After some time spent browsing the shelves, you'll notice that the titles you don't know far outnumber the ones that you do.
Hopefully, any visitors to this wonderful basement shop will find themselves inspired by their supporting of artists big and small, as well as the realization that there exists in the world a wealth of photographers making remarkable work.
Checkout:
www.dashwoodbooks.com
Photographic Time-Travelling
Lately, I’ve been considering and working with the concept and nature of time. I have a few different kinds of clocks scattered around my living space and love hearing the older mechanical one spin around, the sweeping second hand allowing for an audible representation of the dissolution of time. It reminds me of how photography and motion pictures are the closest we have come to time-travel. As photographers, we deal in time and the many divisions and fractions that we create of it. We broker out miniscule fractions of seconds and their larger, looming minutes. 1/125, 4s, 1/8000---these are all familiar numbers to us. Of course, the same could be argued for almost any other genre of art or other collection of empirical evidence such as sculpture, literature, etc.
Yet in photography, the creator's hand exerts much less of an influence than, say, the writer's hand. Photography literally and figuratively takes a slice of time and imprints it permanently on a fixed record. Even in the most highly orchestrated tableaux, a picture is still a literal, light-based translation of that particular scene. Even the most well-written, richly illustrative story is still much more highly subjective than a simple light-etched photograph.
In addition to being time studies, photography and motion pictures are also studies of concentrated, purposeful details---be they assembled by the photographer or simply captured. In my abnormal psychology class, we were watching the film "A Beautiful Mind" and I started to notice all of the nuanced details and time-hints that make up the background in many of the scenes and how these manage to effectively frame the film within a specific time period even if the viewer doesn't know that it took place in the middle of the 20th century.
These detail studies are also closely related to time-travel in that they allow us to experience a different era in time simply by planting visual cues and creating the associations within our minds between objects and time periods. Photographs are firstly visual objects, but the more we study and think about them, the more apparent it becomes that they can function as microcosms and catalysts for the larger themes in our lives.
Labels: details, time travel
Photo Echo
Photo Echo
Aperture Magazine
“Do you have an idea for Photo Echo? If so we’d love to hear about it” reads page 88 of the current issue of Aperture Magazine. I regret to inform you that originally I passed right by, and if it hadn’t been for the combination of Julia Roberts and George Clooney, I wouldn’t have given Photo Echo so much as a second glance. The unfortunate truth about advertisements is they too often get overlooked, especially when placed toward the back of the magazine.
As a senior in the art department at Lamar University, professors here are supportive and constantly encourage students to enter competitions. As both a student and an artist, I am always looking for ways to be involved in the art community.
Photo Echo is a competition sponsored by Aperture to gain readers and support. The prize of this competition is a free one year subscription to Aperture. (Students love “free”!) From a graphic design viewpoint, Aperture is utilizing this strategy to gain readers and support, I don’t feel the annoying pressure experienced when bombarded by internet pop-up ads for magazine subscriptions. Actually, quite the opposite occurs, my interest has been piqued.
Photo Echo is a comparison of one historical photograph with one contemporary photograph. Not only does this approach benefit Aperture but it also promotes awareness of Art History and familiarity with Contemporary Art, thereby, benefiting the readers as well.
That said, I am interested in submitting to this competition, however, I am confused. How often is this feature published? I noticed in Aperture Magazine, Issue no. 185 that Photo Echo was not included. What is the deadline? Also in the current Aperture, Issue no. 186, the published comparison is of both a book and a magazine cover: What are the criteria? Obviously submissions should be mailed, but I am unclear as to exactly what should be included (tear sheets, jpegs, tiffs). I have searched online to no avail for more detailed information. If there is more information online this should be stated with the address information in the excerpt.
This is a wonderful idea, and I might add a lovely layout, however I would like to participate but remain confused.
