Review: Istanbul Photography Museum

I had the good fortune this month to visit the Istanbul Photography Museum, located in what looks like a middle-class neighborhood only a few blocks from the major tourist sites in Sultan Ahmet.  The museum maintains an informative website with details concerning its sponsors, leadership, and supporters, and appears to be a joint effort between art enthusiasts and government offices responsible for the promotion of the same.  Opened in November 2011, it defines its mission as “providing exhibitions, collections, publications, photography archives, electronic and standard libraries, activities, and educational projects to further develop the Turkish art of photography.”  

We arrived just as one of the staff was unlocking the front door and were welcomed in without fuss or hesitation, directed up a flight up stairs and into a lobby with a display of books for sale.  A long corridor led off this space, with doors opening into five separate galleries.  During our 40 minute stay we had the facility entirely to ourselves (something of a departure from many of the city’s often crowded museums).  

P&P: Exercise 2: Thinking About Location

Portrait Hunting

I've been engaged lately with work on my MA and haven't had much enthusiasm for shooting portraits.  I have managed, though, to find the nerve to begin approaching people and asking for photos.  A few of these are included here.  As with most things of this kind, I found my fear to be greater than the reality.  No one has yet turned me down.  On the other hand, you may note there is only one image of a woman, and this I took without permission.

P&P: Exercise 1: Scale and Setting

I signed up for P&P in July.  I finally took my first portrait yesterday.  It has taken me that long to find someone I felt comfortable asking.

VJ is a nice guy, easily approachable, and I felt if anyone would agree it would be him.  He didn't exactly jump at the chance, but he agreed, and I got my first images.  While photographing he appeared self-conscious.  Other people were around and may have noticed.  The same was true of SH.  I've seen him about before, but I don’t believe we've ever spoken.  I approached and chatted him up a bit, flattered him on his dress, and then asked if I could take his photo.  Here is a good reason I don’t like this:  I would never have mentioned his appearance except as an inducement to get him to agree to being photographed.  Not that I was dishonest about his appearance,  I genuinely did appreciate it.  But it's not something I typically mention to anyone.  SH laughed nervously and ignored my request.  He relented after I requested a second time, but he was obviously uncomfortable, perhaps especially so as three women were off to the left chatting and paying attention.

However - after showing the images to the subjects, they both asked for copies!  Hopefully they will approve of the processed results.

Review: Dark Light (2009) and Everybody Street (2013)

I went out yesterday determined to start shooting portraits and came home with everything but.  I can't seem to find the courage to ask strangers to model.  I can't because I don't see myself giving that permission to a stranger asking the same.  I know there are people who wouldn't mind, who might be happy for the attention, or just curious about me or the situation.  It's getting to them through all those likely to say no that seems daunting.  It seems denial is one of my fears.  How to get over it?  I guess just to get out there and do it.

After returning home I tried fortifying myself with a couple of films.  Dark Light is 30-min HBO short about the most unlikely photographers, those with little or no sight.  Two of the photographers featured grew up sighted and gradually lost most or all of their vision in adulthood.  Their practice seems to be a means of coming to grips with loss, of in fact denying loss at all.  The third photographer was born blind and seems to practice more out of curiosity and exploration of the world.  He seemed genuinely more happy than the other two, who though they produced great work seemed tense, anxious, and fearful.

Everybody Street is a 90-minute review of New York street photography featuring interviews with living practitioners, as well as reminiscences of some of those past.  What struck me most was the difference in approaches between Jamel Shabbazz, who always asked permission from his subjects, and Bruce Gilden, whose practice involves ambushing strangers, not only with a camera but often with a handheld strobe.  I could not personally do what Gilden does, and he himself acknowledges the world would be a worse place if there were more like him.  The results, though, are obvious - many of Shabazz's images appear vernacular, as if taken by the very people who are their subjects.  Gilden's are more electric and idosyncratic.

Other take-aways ES:

Review: Uncommon Places, Stephen Shore, 2005; Stephen Shore : New American Photography, dir. Ralph Goertz, 2010

Uncommon Places is the book that said, yes, you’ve been here.

Not the places, mind you, though I may have been to a few.  But the mindset of the photographer.  Here is someone who did what I’ve been doing, practiced as I practice.  I intuitively get what Shore was doing, because I’ve been doing the same.  (And I wonder now why none of my tutors, coursemates, or fellow enthusiasts referred me to this earlier.)

Here is how Shore describes his work at this time:

Vienna: Frustrated Exhibit Visits

One of the pleasures of being a teacher is long vacations.  Unfortunately, the longest one is always in summer, a time of year when lots of other people vacation and so not much seems to happen culturally wherever you might visit during June, July or August.

Case in point, I've spent the last week in one of Europe's, if not the world's, cultural capitals but have been frustrated in my efforts to view photography exhibits.

I was excited to find the city has a dedicated photo gallery/musuem and that it was exhibiting the 2014 World Press Awards.  On closer inspection I found not only does that exhibit not begin until September, but that the gallery is closed for the summer.  Damn.  A sister gallery + library has remained open for the summer, but  1. I'm not much interested in the current exhibit, and 2. it's a bit of a hike from my hotel.  The city hosts a Month of Photography event with numerous exhibits - beginning the end of October!

Walking through the city I found a small gallery with a collection of mid-20th photos representing Austrian children (pictured here) and also - closed for summer!

Once I get back to Dubai I'll probably find a few interesting exhibits, but by then I'll be so deep in work and assignments that there won't be time.  

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Review: Wynn Bullock: Revelations (Atlanta High Museum of Art, until 2015.01.08)

I had never heard of Wynn Bullock before checking the scheduled exhibits for Atlanta's High Museum of Art.  A bit of online research revealed him as one of the masters of mid-century West Coast movement, along with Adams and Weston.  It was in fact his meeting with the latter that convinced him to give up an acting career to pursue photography.  But where Weston and Adams are well-known, Bullock is largely forgotten, even though one of his two images in The Family of Man was chosen by exhibit visitors as their favourite of the collection's 500+ photos.

Scott suggests Bullock may have been ignored because he was difficult to classify, working in several genres, from early experiments inspired by Man Ray, to straight, to commercial, to late period color abstracts.   It may also be that he was ignored because he was interested primarily in exploration of experience, especially ideas of space and time, and less in particular kinds of subjects.

The last major exhibit of his work was nearly 40 years ago, presumably near the end his life, or shortly after his death in 1975.  So why an exhibit now?  And why in Atlanta?

Review: Angier, R. (2007). Train your gaze. Introduction & Chapter One: About Looking

Angier, R. (2007). Train your gaze. 1st ed. Lausanne: AVA.

Nothing in the book itself regarding the author.  I found the following at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where Angier appears to teach.

Roswell Angier (photography, Studio at Tufts) was educated at Harvard University and University of California, Berkeley. Angier has worked for commercial magazines and on numerous documentary projects. Books include A Kind of Life: Conversations in the Combat Zone (Addison House, NH, 1976), and Train Your Gaze: A Practical and Theoretical Introduction to Portrait Photography (AVA Books, 2007). His work is in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Fogg Museum, Cambridge, MA. Angier's exhibitions include solo shows at Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, and Gitterman Gallery, New York. Current interests are landscape and narrative. He is currently working on Revere Beach Boulevard, a project about the sea wall.

Angier is currently represented by the Gitterman Gallery in New York City. A substantial amount of his work can be seen on the gallery's web site, www.gittermangallery.com.

P&P: Getting Started

For the first time since enrolling with OCA, I have spoken with a tutor.  On two previous courses communication was entirely by email. I was expecting the same for People and Place so was a bit surprised when I was asked for a skype call.  It turned out to be a simple meet-and-greet, a chance to to see and hear who we will be working with over the course of the next 12-18 months.  It was actually a welcome change.

DPP Reflection

DPP has been a productive course.  Among the changes and improvements in my practice are some of the following.

Greater awareness of workflow. Much of what I did in DPP I learned how to do in TAOP.  The difference was in making assumptions explicit and working through justifications for how the work is accomplished.   

Greater confidence.  Feelings of adequacy vary from project to project, or even day to day, but having now completed 10 assignments and 50 exercises across two courses, I feel I have more confidence in the ability to produce good, if not brilliant, photographs. 

More experience.  On DPP I began using Photoshop, as well as Illustrator and In Design. I’ve also explored Silver Efex Pro.  I have put a bit of time into printing and now have a working relationship with three area printers.   

Lighter wallet.  The course required a substantial financial investment.  I spent nearly £700 on software and training, £200 on prints and shipping, and £100 on books. 

What a job: Shooting a Magazine Cover

Amusing cover on the latest Bloomberg Businessweek Middle East, including a collection of behind-the-scenes snaps.  I'm sure every photography student can appreciate getting paid to do this!

Assignment 5: Personal Project: Being a Tree in Dubai

Feedback is in and it's all good. My reflection is posted right (as a jpg). The original submission can be found after the break.

DPP is done.

DPP: Exercise 25: Gallery Review

This exercise calls for a review of online photography galleries.  I've taken this to mean the websites of professional photographers, which quite naturally feature image galleries.  The purpose of this review is preparation for establishing my own website, an optional activity that I am forgoing for reasons explained below. 

For the review, I have chosen to look at the websites of four professionals discovered while researching my latest assignment on trees.  All are engaged in some type of nature photography:  Clive Nichols is known for his garden and flower images;  James Balog most recently for his work on the disappearing ice of Antarctica;  Edward Parker for his travel and nature images; and Charlie Waite for his landscapes. 

Review: Reynaud, Francoise. The tree in photographs. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2010. Print.

This slim volume is the product of a 2011 exhibit at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.  In Focus: The Tree was jointly curated by Anne Lyden, associate curator in the Department of Photographs at the Getty Museum, and Françoise Reynaud, curator of the photographic department of the Musée Carnavalet.  Book authorship is credited to the latter as she produced the essay with which it opens. Unfortunately this is rather less a reflection on trees as it is a collection of descriptions that would have been more helpfully placed in some proximity to the images.  As designed and edited, the reader is left to flip back and forth between the essay and the plates.

According to Reynauld, the selection process was based on “the power of the image, the beauty of the compositions, the interest of the represented scene, and the quality of the original print.”  [p7]  In an article at the Getty Center’s online magazine, she writes:

Review: Wells, Photography: A Critical Introduction: Ch 6: On and beyond the white walls: Photography as Art , 4th ed, 2009

An example of Etienne-Jules Marey's 
chronophotography

This chapter looks at photography as Art, which Wells defines as “the web of practices relating to the Arts establishment (galleries, museums, public and private sponsorship, auction houses...) by contrast with more general understandings of photogrpahy as an ‘art’ or expressive skill.”  p259

From its inception there has been debate about the nature of photography.  Technology and art were considered distinct categories and photography successfully blurred the line.  Initially the emphasis was on the science, but as those trained in traditional art techniques began to produce photographs, the scope of photography widened.

Review: Master Photographers: Ansel Adams, BBC, 1983

Master Photographers is a 1983 series from the BBC profiling six photographers:  Alfred Eisenstaedt, Bill Brandt, Andreas Feininger, Jacques Henri Lartigue, Andre Kertesz, Ansel Adams.   The series format has the subject in his studio or office with a stack of preselected printed images.  Interviewer Peter Adam (not identified in the films or the credits) asks questions while the subject discusses the photos he has prepared.

I began this series more than a year ago (in February 2013) and thought, with only six 30-minute episodes, I would finish it rather quickly.  It seems there were other things to do along the way.

DPP Assignment 5: First edit and first print

After shooting at least a couple hundred images of trees, plants, and bushes in the Jumeirah, Satwa, and Zabeel neighborhoods, I selected approximately 30 images to post-process in Ps.  This was my first effort to do this entirely in Ps.  The workflow went something like this:

DPP: Exercise 24: Sharpening for Print

This exercise is intended as an experiment in sharpening, both for screen and print.  I expect I will be adding to this over the next two weeks as I experiment with new software, but for now I present the results of my first trial.

Review: Parker, Edward. Photographing trees. Richmond, Surrey, England: Kew Pub., 2012. Print.

This is a beautiful book as much about the love of trees as it is about how to photograph them.  The author is a well-regarded photographer whose images have been published in many well known publications such as National Geographic. He has also written a book on ancient trees, and contributed photos to a survey of some of the most important plants in human culture.  Here he looks back on three decades of nature photography, offering a collection of some of his best images as well as tips on how you, too, can produce beautiful tree photographs.

This is not, however, a book for photography professionals, but more an every-man’s guide to making good photos and appreciating the beauty of trees.  Parker says that used correctly, the compact point-and-shoot can produce similar quality images to equipment costing thousands of dollars.

Examples of DPP Assignment Five

As the only stipulation for the assignment is to produce 10-12 images on a theme of choice, the variety of subjects is to be expected, but what is surprising are the variety of approaches.  Here we have a student who decided to limit his shooting to one location on one day.  His presentation is as bare bones as his approach.  At the other extreme, we have this student who spent fours months revisiting the same location, this student who has created a narrative with descriptions and poetry, and this student who seems to have curated her assignment from a 12-month collection of images.

Here are a few more at which I had a look:

     Link       Link       Link

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Perspectives on Trees

Myoung Ho Lee, from a gallery at NYTimes

Following on from my last post reviewing tips and techniques for photographing trees, I have found a few articles reviewing photographic projects focused on trees, two of them specifically in New York City.

Photographing Trees: A Review of Advice Found on the Internet

Having begun my project of photographing trees in my Dubai neighborhood, I was interested in advice from fellow photographers.  A search of the internet returned a number of articles offering much the same tips and hints, outlined below. Their implied approach seems to be creating beautiful images.  Not one of them considers the possible work of botanists or landscape documentarians.  The emphasis is on using trees to create aesthetic products, rather than learning about nature or the environment.  Only one of the photographers included here mentions learning something about botany, but is quick to remind readers beautiful photos can be made without it.  

Book Review: Pakenham, T. (2003). Meetings with remarkable trees. 1st ed. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson Illustrated.

This is a lovely book, a collection of 60 photographs of the UK’s biggest and most ancient trees.  Each photo includes a brief essay with anecdotes about the tree’s history and current condition.  There is quite a lot of botanical lore, including how many of these species found their way to the British Isles.

I was looking at the text mostly from a photographer’s point of view to get ideas about my own project on trees in my Dubai neighborhood.  Some observations about the images here.  There appear to be three main compositions:

Assignment 5: Planning

I've been in touch with the tutor with several possible themes and he's given his approval to all, leaving the decision to me.  He did note, however, a preference for color to monochrome.

I live on Dubai's main thoroughfare, a 10-lane highway, and had thought to do a series on the billboards that take up huge amounts of space and flash commercial messages to the thousands of drivers flying past.  The idea was to Photoshop in oppositional readings in the form of graffiti.  I still like the idea, and while shooting the images will be fairly straightforward, the manipulation will take more time than I've got if I wish to finish this course before July.  I'm also afraid of having to force certain images in order to meet a deadline, instead of waiting for just the right bit of text to run with an image.

I've therefore decided to follow on with a series of tree portraits.  Some of the stronger images from Assignment Three were of trees and this has inspired me to carry on.  I would dearly love to drive around the country and shoot all kinds of trees, but because of time I'm going to focus on my neighborhood and the adjoining areas, places I can get to - and get back to - easily.  So far I"ve shot a couple of strong images, so I'm already on my way.

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Assignment 4: Reality and Intervention

Included in this blog post in reverse order are copies of three documents:  1) the original assignment report;  2) reflection on tutor notes;  and 3) revised assignment report.  

Revised Submission

Photoshop Training Examples

I've been on the course for three weeks, 2 hours a day twice a week.  Here are some examples of the skills and materials we have been working on.

Filter effects

I can't figure it out

That's what the man said as he was getting in his car. What are you photographing?

The tree, I said.

Is it so interesting?

That's what I'm hoping to find out.

And he drove away.

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Review: Wells, Photography: A Critical Introduction: Ch 7: Photography in the age of electronic imaging , 4th ed, 2009

http://www.whattheduck.net/

Chapter author Martin Lister, professor Visual Culture at University of the West of England, Bristol (same institution as Michelle Henning, chapter four author on Photography and the Human Body).

Lister notes that in this book’s many editions this chapter has been most heavily edited, reflecting the rapidly changing nature of digital imaging technology.  When digital first arrived there was some question as to how it would affect photography.  Today digital is the norm, completely supplanting analog, while film has become a niche practice.  Among the changes he observes:

The Syngenta Photography Award

Putting this here to remind myself:  http://www3.syngenta.com/global/photo2014/en/open-competition/Pages/open-competition.aspx

Review: BBC: Vivian Maier: Who Took Nanny's Pictures? (2013)

Maier, Self-portrait

A 70-minute introduction to the life and work (of what is so far known) of the American-born, French-raised photographer who left behind 100,000 negatives and who in her lifetime never published or exhibited.  In fact, almost no one ever saw her photographs until she was near dead and she wasn’t recognized as an auteur until she was. 

Joel Meyerowitz observes that not publishing her work is after all not so surprising.  He believes that after years of regular practice, capturing images for oneself is enough.  This is the way one comes to relate to the world and the opinion or praise of outsiders is no longer necessary.

What remains so remarkable and fascinating is the commitment to visual documentation, to day after day, year after year, seeking out the world’s detail, not only in the world where she found herself, but in far flung locations she sought out. In my own work it sometimes seems difficult to raise the energy to get out there for another day of shooting.  Perhaps Vivian had those days, too.  Her perseverance is inspiring.  

So, too, is her independence.  She apparently never married, but in her job kept surrogate families.  It seems what she may have valued most was her freedom, the ability to move around, to have a relationship, but also to walk away.  

The film can be viewed online here:  http://www.veoh.com/watch/v70590131KFPFjY7N

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Review: Wells, Photography: A Critical Introduction: Ch 5: Photography and Commodity Culture , 4th ed, 2009, CONT

From Posner's Spray It Loud

Ramamurthy reviews Barthes on denoted and connoted messages.  Denotation is the most obvious reading, the surface reading, the fact of the photo.  The connotation is inferred, is symbolic, and is also, for the advertiser, the more important level of meaning.  Stuart Hall (1993) reflects on how messages are encoded and decoded, observing that for images to be successful, producers and consumers have to share a common frame of reference, a similar schemata.  This is why corporations most always craft their advertising locally, in order to be able to speak to consumers effectively.  Ramamurthy cites Posner’s Spray it Loud for examples of oppositional readings (trying to find a copy of this now).

Notable: Dude, Who Took My Photograph? Curating Automated Photography

New technology is coming that will allow individuals to wear cameras that can record an entire day's worth of activities.  The job thereafter becomes one of curating, of picking out what might be interesting, and then perhaps of editing, of enhancing the images.  Is such a person still a photographer?

http://petapixel.com/2014/05/01/dude-took-photograph-curating-automated-photography/

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Review: Wells, Photography: A Critical Introduction: Ch 5: Photography and Commodity Culture , 4th ed, 2009

Chapter author Anandi Ramamurthy is a lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies, Central Lancashire University.

Starts with a great quote from Debord (1967):

In societies dominated by modern conditions of production, life is presented as an immense accumulation of spectacles.  Everything that directly lived has receded into a representation. 

Media messages present a glamorous world of sensual experience crafted to minimize conflict.  The camera and photography support the global economic order in two ways:  through creation of presentation of spectacle, and as a tool for surveillance.  Images prod
uce a ruling ideology.  The freedom to consume these images is imagined as freedom itself.   (Sontag 1979: 178-79)

Cites Tagg (1988) on development of portrait photography as part of the development of commodity culture.  The mid-19th century boom in portraiture tapped into the desire to emulate the wealthy and eventually spread across all levels of society.  The demand for portraits possibly stifled creative use of the camera.  President Lincoln used a carte-de-viste as a campaign tool and credited it with his electoral success.

Photo:  Mathew B. Brady. Abraham Lincoln on the day of his speech at the Cooper Union, February, 27, 1860. Carte-de-visite photograph. James Wadsworth Family Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (046) Digital ID # al0046

Photographer Mathew Brady took this portrait of Abraham Lincoln at his studio in New York City on the same day that Lincoln gave his now-famous Cooper Union address. Brady retouched the photograph, smoothing facial lines and straightening his subject’s “roving” left eye. The effect was striking, and what Lincoln jokingly referred to as his “shadow” later appeared on hundreds of campaign buttons, posters, and small printed cartes-de-visite. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/lincoln/the-run-for-president.html

Started: 36 hour Graphic Design course

While looking around for some basic training in Ps, I happened upon a computer training center in Karama offering 36 hours of small group training in Ps, Illustrator, and In Design.  At approximately US$500 it seems like a decent bargain, depending of course on the quality of instruction.  I started this morning with a young man from Kerala who does freelance design work as well as teaching at this institute.  We started out using Ps as a design tool and right away he was kicking my ass with stuff I had never tried nor seen taught in beginning Ps classes.  The first day wasn't so productive as I was prepared for his teaching style, which is:  show you a bunch of stuff, then say, ok, you do it, and walk away.  I will need to take more notes and ask more questions, but I think we can manage to get along.

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An Introduction to Adobe Photoshop

Symmetry

I attended a weekend workshop at Gulf Photo Plus conducted by Alex Jeffries (from whom I did a similar Lr course about a year ago).  Topics covered included the workspace, menus, palettes, tool bars, review and practice with different selection tools, use of layers in the editing process, color filters, and masking.  As usual, I learned a lot!  Alex is a great teacher, patient and responsive to student needs.  If you're in Dubai ...

More examples below.

Why practice?

You practice the piano not in order to perform but for the sake of practicing the piano. With music, you don’t practice and then one day become a concert pianist. You are that. Practice is as much an expression of that as of practice itself. — Philip Glass

Assignment 4: Planning

Assignment 4 calls for the creation of a book cover, imaginary or real, in which adjustment or manipulation is employed. The written description calls for something as simple as shading one area of the image where a title might be inserted.

The brief is similar to exercises in TAOP:

1.  Juxtaposition:  http://freedomtolook.blogspot.ae/2013/06/exercise-juxtuaposition.html

2.  Rain:  http://freedomtolook.blogspot.ae/2013/06/exercise-42-rain.html

In preparation I have been considering returning to a Buddhist theme.  The Pali suttas are full of wonderful similes, a list of some of them can be found here:  http://www.accesstoinsight.org/index-similes.html

I'd love to do the arrow, but the parable involves an impaled body, which might also include a bit of blood.  Maybe a bit beyond my abilities at present.

The raft is also a classic, but will require a bit of searching.  Perhaps on my Friday morning bicycle ride I'll visit the beach and marina and see if there's anything useable. 

One that seems easily doable is a set of six hooks (the six senses), arranged into a nice geometric pattern, or perhaps dug into a surface of some kind.  An alternative could be a coat hanger with six hooks, each holding something representative of each of the senses.  

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DPP: Exercise 23: Alteration

In this last exercise in Part Four, we are asked to alter an image through the removal of an object.  The finished image should not reveal retouching to the average viewer seeing the image for the first time.

Book Review: Five Atgets

When I started off I intended to write a single review of the five Atget books I owned or borrowed.  I wrote and posted about each separately and now don't have much left in me to write a separate review covering all five.  Fortunately, I do have a few photos, and so can summarize in image rather than word.

Notable: Smeggy's Dubai 1986

View from Hyatt Regency Dubai, 23 Feb 1986

I'm not entirely sure who Smeggy is.  There is no About page or bio data at his bulletin board. It seems he was a member of a pop band that did a couple of tours of the UAE in the mid-late 1980's.  Smeggy was also apparently a decent photographer and has posted galleries of several hundred photos from these tours.  The images are well scanned and cleaned-up and for anyone who has visited Dubai in the last five years something of an eye-opener.  I spent at least an hour mesmerized by these images.  Usually I flip through something like this quickly, but something about these image kept me click-click-clicking one after the other.

Dubai 1986 Gallery

Dubai 1988 Gallery

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Book Review: Books on Books 1: Eugene Atget: Photographe de Paris (1930), Errata Editions, NY, 2008

This volume represents a poorly executed great idea:  reproductions of classic rare photography books.  In this case we have the first monograph of Eugene Atget, published internationally in 1930 in copies of 1000 each in France, Germany and America.  One of these is currently available from a rare book dealer on Amazon for USD500.  The Errata reproduction is USD30.

None of the photos in this collection, so far as I know, are rare, and are most probably all found in the Gingko edition.  What makes this book particularly interesting is that it is essentially a collection of photographs of photographs, a document of a document.  A few of the essay pages appear to have been left out, but everything else is included here, but unfortunately in reduced scale.