Looking at paintings: French impressionists from the Clark

Théodore Rousseau, Farm in Les Landes, 1844–67

Perhaps the last time I went to an art museum was in 2007 during a visit to Atlanta.  An old friend took my wife and I, as well as some Thai friends then studying in Savannah, to the Atlanta High for the Annie Leibovitz exhibit, A Photographer's Life.  It wasn't long after that I began studying in Nepal, and thereafter moved to the UAE.

But here I am in Japan.  My wife is on a two-day whirlwind visit to Kyushu, and the in-laws felt obliged to show me a good time.  There isn't a whole lot to see or do in Kobe, but fortunately a special collection was on at the Hyogo Prefectural Museum.

Emirates Photography Club: Supermoon Meetup

ISO100, f11, 1sec; Lightroom: reduced exposure 2 stops, applied graduated filter with
increased exposure to bottom half to bring out beach and water.

Yesterday evening I took the long drive out to the Palm Jumeirah to take part in an event organized by the Emirates Photography Club.  About one hundred shooters showed up to capture the full moon, including a few guys with mammoth lenses.  I was able to borrow an 80-300mm lens from a colleague. While it wasn't of much use shooting the moon, it did help in capturing the Burj Al Arab.  Unfortunately, the spot chosen for this even produced a rather undramatic background.  Still, it was good to meet new enthusiasts and to take the challenge of shooting the moon.

Exercise 42: Rain

It seems rather unfair to have two exercises about rain and none about other types of weather or climatic conditions, especially when living in a place like Dubai.  I considered myself fortunate to run into the first rain exercise at a time of year when Dubai actually sees dark clouds and wet streets, but now it's midsummer and it's nothing but heat and haze likely lasting until about October.

Exercise 41: Juxtaposition

The brief for this exercise is to create a book cover using opposition to suggest conflict.  I really had no idea what to do so started browsing through fiction at Amazon.  I came across an interesting looking book that I haven't read, about a Japanese priest morally compromised by an affair with his mother-in-law. The blurb at Amazon didn't provide enough detail, so I went in search of a fuller summary, which you can read here.

Review: Clarke, The Photograph, Chapter 11: The Cabinet of Infinite Curiosities, 1997

Winograd, Woman with Ice Cream Cone, 1968

Clarke's conclusion is really no conclusion at all.

“...the photograph is, in the end, open to endless meanings.”   

If you've been following along it’s really not so surprising.  He finds portraiture ambiguous, the nude contentious, documentary misleading, urban photography unclassifiable.  How could he possibly hope to finish except by asking the reader, perhaps with a wink, isn't photography mysterious, “a cabinet of infinite curiosities”?

Clarke is obviously well-read with an extensive grasp of photographic history.  He relates some interesting ideas and through his examples shows how photographs can be read.  Unfortunately he seems incapable of moderating his communication style in order to convey his ideas simply and clearly.  I can understand what he writes.  That is not my issue.  The problem is is that his writing style seems to push the reader away, rather than invite him in.  The reader is asked to deal with Clarke on his own academic terms.  How much better this book could have been if Clarke had shown some concern for his audience.

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What were you thinking while the monk was on fire?

This month marks the 50th anniversary of a demonstration in Vietnam which resulted in one of the 20th century's most enduring images, a monk seated in meditation in the middle of the street engulfed in flame, a protest again the war raging in that country.  

Time Lightbox has published a short interview with the photographer, Malcom Browne, who in his response to the question of what he was thinking was refreshingly candid and honest.

Review: The Hasselblad Award 1998: William Eggleston

Inspired by In The Real World, I went looking for a book of Eggleston photos and found that all of the UAE’s university and college libraries together carry only one volume, a book published in conjunction with a major photography award presented to Eggleston in 1998.  The book features 61 images, two essays (by Walter Hopps, Curator of the Menil Collection, Houston, Texas; and Thomas Weski, Curator of Photography and Media, Sprengel Museum, Hanover), and a transcribed interview (by Ute Eskildsen, Director of the Department of Photography, Museum Folkwang, Essen).  Also included is what appears to be a useful Bibliography of portfolios, monographs, catalogs, articles and essays.