Shooting Wide Open

I was taking photos at the newly reopened Academy of Sciences, trying to incorporate people into pictures of the stuffed creatures in the African Hall a la… who? There’s a woman who did shots of kids and aquarium creatures, and a man who was approached by a somewhat large company for an ad after they saw his pictures of stuffed museum creatures. Their names escape me… who are they?! (That’s the trouble with a visual memory – you remember the images but have no efficient way of searching for them. If only I could plug my brain into the USB port. Maybe rubbing my forehead on the google homepage will do?)

Anyhow, I didn’t really succeed, but I do have a new appreciation of the surreal combination of the natural and cheesy man-made replicas of the natural that are thrown together in the dioramas and live enclosures (to wit lizard tank).

On that note, Ville Lenkkeri has some great photos of people in museums:

Joel-Peter Witkin
(Totally in no way not even close to safe for work alert!)

From Wikipedia:

Witkin claims that his vision and sensibility were initiated by an episode he witnessed when he was just a small child, a car accident that occurred in front of his house in which a little girl was decapitated.

“It happened on a Sunday when my mother was escorting my twin brother and me down the steps of the tenement where we lived. We were going to church. While walking down the hallway to the entrance of the building, we heard an incredible crash mixed with screaming and cries for help. The accident involved three cars, all with families in them. Somehow, in the confusion, I was no longer holding my mother’s hand. At the place where I stood at the curb, I could see something rolling from one of the overturned cars. It stopped at the curb where I stood. It was the head of a little girl. I bent down to touch the face, to speak to it — but before I could touch it someone carried me away.”

His work often deals with such themes as death, corpses (or pieces of them), and various outsiders such as dwarfs, transsexuals, hermaphrodites, and physically deformed people. His complex tableaux often recall religious episodes or famous classical paintings. Because of the transgressive nature of the contents of his pictures, his works have been labeled exploitative and have sometimes shocked public opinion. His art was often marginalized because of this challenging aspect.

He employs a highly intuitive approach to the physical process of making the photograph, including scratching the negative, bleaching or toning the print, and an actual hands-in-the-chemicals printing technique.

Mark Power has some amazing shots of construction on the London Millenium Dome.

I decided to try working with models for the very first time, to see if that’s a road I want to go down for a few project shots I have in mind. The SU photo club had found a few models and set up a beach shoot, and allowed me to tag along. It was a great chance to shoot with others, which I usually don’t get to do at all and wish I could do more of.

The guys were aiming for a SI/Maxim style swimsuit shoot, which is not the type of photography I ultimately want to be doing, to say the least, but it was important to me to take it seriously and try to get good results that the models would be happy with. I approached it as if it was an assignment. After a few early moments of awkwardness, photographer mode kicked in and I just focused on getting the shots. Directing the models went well, to my surprise – it’s like looking through shots after a shoot but being able to fix what you didn’t like instantly. Also, as much as I hate to say it, I have to admit I picked up a little something from the direction given to the models on America’s Next Top Model, which I’ve been putting on in the background while post-processing batches.

The other photogs were much more adept at studio lighting than I was, so it was eye-opening, even though eventually I decided to revert to my preferred mode of shooting in natural midday light for a harsher, contrastier look. I’m a bit embarassed to admit that I’m actually quite happy with a couple of them, for what they are. I’m looking forward to seeing some of their shots too.

I had a great time. I feel that the mood of the photos is very different from the mood of the actual shoot, which was light and relaxed. (At least on my end – I think the models were freezing in the cold water and chilly wind!) This style of shooting is not necessarily any different from shooting someone’s grandma in a winter jacket and snowpants… except models are more patient, easier to direct and motivated to follow your instructions! So although I won’t be pursuing this style of photography, I’ll definitely be looking to find models to work out a few project ideas.

On a tangent, I’ve been so looking forward to getting a full frame digital camera so I can shoot true 35mm perspective and FOV that a few days ago I actually found myself visualizing putting the 35 onto a 5D camera body. I imagined the clink of metal to metal contact and that little click when the lens locks into place… I think it’s time to go full frame.

Matthieu Gafsou

Sarah Sudhoff

Mark Brautigam

Maziar Moradi

Simon Hoegsberg’s The Thought Project is a collection of headshots of passerbys on the street side by side with a transcript of what they were thinking the moment he approached them. It’s a great little sample of what people tend to think about – work stress, their love life, meeting friends, buying things, stuff they just saw on the street, and some thoughtful ideas too. There’s even one guy who was thinking about colonial Virginian law!

The only thing is, looking at the other work on his site, I think he also took full length portraits, and I wish he had used those instead.

35 Magnum photographers on when they became excited about photography, and suggestions for beginning photographers: Advice to Young Photographers. Some recommend never looking at the work of others, some recommend immersing yourself in the work of others. Some embrace theory, others say just go out and do. But the common thread throughout was “follow interest, not income,” and “photography is not easy; do it cuz you have to, not because:

- Photograph because you love doing it, because you absolutely have to do it, because the chief reward is going to be the process of doing it. Other rewards — recognition, financial remuneration — come to so few and are so fleeting. And even if you are somewhat successful, there will almost inevitably be stretches of time when you will be ignored, have little income, or — often — both. Certainly there are many other easier ways to make a living in this society. Take photography on as a passion, not a career.

- First be a photographer and maybe the profession will come after. Don’t be in a rush to make pay your rent with your camera. Jimi Hendrix didn’t decide on the career of professional musician before he learned to play guitar. No, he loved music and and created something beautiful and that THEN became a profession. Make the pictures you feel compelled to make and perhaps that will lead to a career. But if you try to make the career first, you will just make shitty pictures that you don’t care about.

- Many young photographers come to me and tell me their motivation for being a photographer is to “travel the world” or to “make a name” for themselves. Wrong answers in my opinion. Those are collateral incidentals or perhaps even the disadvantages of being a photographer. Without having tangible ideas, thoughts, feelings, and something almost “literary” to contribute to “the discussion”, today’s photographer will become lost in the sea of mediocrity.

In fact, this strain of advice is so prevalent that after reading that, a reader would be convinced there is not much of a living or money in photos at all. Of course, Magnum skews toward street and documentary, for which this is probably true.

The other interesting bit of advice for me? Work hard for a long time and look beyond photography:

- Work everyday even without assignments or money, work, work, work with discipline for yourself and not for editors or awards. And also collaborate with people not necessary photographers but people you admire.

- Visit as many museums as you possibly can. The images you see (painted, drawn, etched or photographed) will stay with you for the rest of your life. They will help you to discover good pictures in real life. Suppress any silly ambitions of becoming a great artist. Being a good photographer is difficult enough.

Richard Billingham