tens... #2

she saw:

unknown

she said:

"this picture makes me want to be there. right now."


he saw:

josef koudelka

and:

josef sudek

he said:

yeah, i picked two for my #2. these are two czech-born photographers, one i found early and one i found a little later.

i found a book of Koudelka's titled 'Chaos' in a bookstore, and it's the only art book i've ever bought on impulse. i like to browse, and will occasionally see a volume i like, flip through it, put it back... and then maybe a few months later go back for it if i'm still thinking about the images i saw. but when i looked into 'Chaos' i was mesmerized. it was an over-sized book primarily of landscapes, and it was beautiful. there was rich contrast in the black and white photographs that looked lush and organic. i feel like i've always liked B&W on principal, but this was my first obsession with a person's aesthetic.

unfortunately, i couldn't find the best examples of this work to display here, so you if these aren't doing it for you, you'll simply have to take my word for it.

the second photographer i picked is josef sudek. he was a pioneer in the field of photography and image making, both in subject matter and process. one thing i found interesting about his work was the thick black borders he printed around his images. he did this to create a feeling of looking out through a window. the window was quite literally his 'eye.'

together, these two were the beginning of black & white photography for me, even though i discovered each of them long after i had started on my way.

short break

there's going to be a short break here before we finish up with the last two entries for this series. i'm out of town for the weekend and may or may not have internet access to get the posts up, so on sunday we'll resume, and after that get back to the original posts...

in the meantime, have a great weekend!

tens... #3

she saw:

Jim Nicholson

she said:

"i like this one because it reminds me of a ghost town."

he saw:

Walker Evans

he said:

i found it kind of difficult to write this entry. if you've looked at or followed my photo blog, then the work of Walker Evans should probably feel familiar. more than anyone else on this list, his style most closely resembles my own. it's not very complicated, nor predicated upon the basis of any particular theory. it's a style that's part documentary, part photo journalism, part... something else. i feel like his work is so akin to my natural inclinations with the camera that i'm really at a loss as to how to describe how i feel about it, other than to say i think we're a lot alike. minus the accolades, the museum presence, the historical significance, etc. but other than that.

i didn't really become aware of his work until after i had sort of developed my own "eye," but right away i could see that we shared a common interest in subject matter. he's the original street photographer, or man-in-the-crowd. each image is its own time capsule- the great depression, the rural countryside, the industrious cities. each fell beneath his watchful lens and today his work is an almost direct window to the past. he spent his time walking the streets, shooting the people and places that he came across. part graphic historian, part voyeur, part... something else.

i'd like to think of myself as the less talented, bastard love child of William Eggleston and Walker Evans.

tens... #4

she saw:

unknown

she said:

"i love this picture because i feel like it really captures human emotion. i also like that the focus of the picture is off to the left rather than in the center."

he saw:

David Levinthal

he said:

my love of things in miniature, shot in macro, comes directly from the work of David Levinthal. from portraits of army men to cowboys to sex slaves, he covers it all. even tiny dancers in blackface. the theatrical presentation jumped out at me- the position of the camera, the lighting, the depth of field were all things i've sought to replicate at one time or another, and let me tell you, it ain't easy.

it's not difficult to infer from his choice of subject matter and themes that he's having a bit of fun here. and by that, i mean more of the way the brits say "taking the piss" than i mean 'a good ol' time.' i'm sure he enjoys his work, but what he really seems to enjoy is telling a story and sticking uncomfortable ideas in your face using something as innocuous as green plastic army men, or porceline figures shot so out of focus they might be a miniature tea set for your doll house collection, or a raven-haired submissive bound with rope and simply left awaiting a command.

the idea of using children's toys to tackle more adult themes and experiences isn't a new, or even novel one these days (we've seen the story of anorexic Karen Carpenter told using Barbies for crying out loud), but Levinthal, if not the originator, is one of the true adepts at this style. you've seen his work aped on book covers, in print advertisements, album covers, and who knows where else. in his own fine art work he's replicated the black-face actors of early vaudeville scenes, the wild west, the third reich, allied troops from World Wars I and II- all in tiny, polished porcelain figurines that at first glance would probably look right at home on grandma's display shelves. until you got up close.

tens... #5

she saw:

unknown

she said:

"love the tones of this picture. it's peaceful to me."


he saw:

Peter Beard

he said:

Peter Beard. where to start? for one thing, he's a lot less controversial than sally mann. he's a fashion photographer, fine arts photographer, painter, assembler, collagist, conservationist, naturalist... artist. he's they type of person who could be The Most Interesting Man In The World: charming, handsome, fit, smart, sensitive, artistic, rustic, sophisticated, etc. you know the drill- women want him, men want to be him.

his photography is top notch, even before he begins smooshing it all together with animal bone fragments, scrapbook style ephemera, other photos, newspaper clippings... even his own blood. i don't know what it is about collage photography that flips my switch, but there's something there that really gets me going. maybe it's that on a large enough scale, the whole thing is a puzzle where someone has taken any number of seemingly random items and given you the task of deciding how it all fits together?

or maybe it's a 'bang for your buck' type of thing? it's fun to feel overwhelmed at first, and to jump in to the puzzle. i certainly don't feel the same impact that i would from a singular, strong image, but graphically i'm drawn to the collagists and enjoy the process of picking apart the larger image, dissecting each building block, and forming a narrative on my own. and maybe it goes a little deeper than that.

perhaps the single, straightforward image is like seeing your neighbor standing on his/her front steps- not confrontational, but direct. looking at a well put-together collage is like looking in that same neighbor's windows after they've gone inside for the night, and following them from room to room, window to window, and getting a lot of what's going on, but there's that time between rooms, between windows, where you have to use your imagination, and you wonder what's really going on...

i just like them, that's all.

tens... #6

she saw:

unknown

she said:

"love the red against the fog."


he saw:

Sally Mann

he said:

when i got to college and began studying photography in earnest, i had access to all kinds of work i hadn't seen before. this was the artsy, edgy stuff that barnes and noble wouldn't stock (or couldn't keep in stock). i'm sure that when i say artsy and edgy, you're thinking of the same kinds of artists i am- the kind that take lots of pictures of their own little kids naked. what? sounds terrible, doesn't it? i hope it does. who wants to see that? well, surprise, surprise, i did. that is to say that once i saw some of it, i wanted to see more. wait. that doesn't sound right either.

Sally Mann's photography more closely resembles a dream sequence from a Faulkner novel than anything lewd or naughty you were imagining. still, the fact that these are her children, or members of her family, and they are in fact nude for the most part, has led to claims of exploitation at one end, and just poor judgment on the other.

yes, there are small children, and some adolescents and even teens, as well as the occasional grown-up, but what her work often portrays is a kind of eden-inspired innocence, a pre-fall of man sensibility. the nudity itself is more a characteristic of this lifestyle she is capturing, something to be weighed against the impact of the entire image. she might say that she captures only innocence, and it's up to the viewer to corrupt it.

furthermore, the images are often spooky and unsettling, not titillating (unless you're into that sort of thing. people are, it's okay). the best thing to do, of course, is to let the images speak for themselves. but much like the mainstream maligned work of Jock Sturges, context is everything. when judging work of this nature, it's best to keep in mind that in the end, the intense and dreamy expressions on the faces of her subjects remind us as much of the abyss as they do of any heaven: you are looking, as something looks back at you.