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.  

#

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.