“Pin-up Girls, Coney Island, Brooklyn” by Valery Rizzo
website: www.valeryrizzo.com
Monthly Archive for December, 2008
Self portraits are strange animals. For most photographers being at the wrong end of the lens is not our first choice. Besides wasn’t it Narcissus who was so mesmerized by his own reflection in the pond that he forgot to eat and pined away and died? Too much self-absorption can be dangerous.
But there can come a time when the only person who can tell your story is yourself.
That’s where I was when I started this self portrait project six months ago. I call this essay “Falling Into Place” because, in some strange way, I feel this IS my place, to see the world waist-high rather than face-to-face. Besides, it all started with a fall, a knee-buckling ankle-spraining fall onto an unyielding sidewalk one cold January day.
After the fifth unexplained fall in six months, I saw a neurologist who put me through a series of tests. Two months later he gave me a “75% certain” diagnosis of chronic progressive multiple sclerosis. Within the year he’d changed it to 100%.
Twenty years later I wonder who I’d be and what I’d be doing were it not for this unexpected assault on my body. I’m not going to say I’m glad it happened. Sure I’d love to be able to run another marathon, or bike another 200-mile weekend tour, or even open a flip-top can by myself. It’s a real pain to take a half hour to change into my swimsuit, to wet my dress because I couldn’t make it to the toilet in time, to ask for help opening every door that pulls rather than pushes. And more. Much more. Being disabled can really suck.
And it can teach too. Patience, humility, determination, even gratitude. How much I appreciate small things like being able to pick up my camera’s memory card when I drop it (again and again) on the floor. How proud I was last August when I drove by myself the 1300 miles to and from New York City. How pleased I am that my claw-like fingers can still hit the shutter release button.
So much of what I show in these portraits is private, the side of my life that no one sees. Until now, that is. And the strange thing about opening my bedroom, my bathroom, my nakedness to view is that my former sense of shame and embarrassment is gone.
I now see my life as a disabled woman is normal in its own way.
-Patricia Lay-Dorsey
“Jim Morrison” himself once told me:
“…there is no way in hell you can go CLOSE to the flame and not get burned…
go close, closer, get BURNED feel the pain, feel the devil breathing on your neck…
pay your dues… “
That was the thought that kept me sane while i was sweating at the back seat of that police car… those words kept my brain in order when i was struggling with those handcuffs… The “either my wrist is too big or the cuffs too tight” thought wasn’t really helping me at all…
Go CLOSE, “if you hands are free, you ain’t close enough”, i thought and then i passed out….
It took me a while, quite a few visits to Venice Beach to realize that there is more than the eye can see…
There is the MORNING, welcoming Venice Beach, rollerblades, beautiful one speed beach bicycles, hot girls with bikinis, studs with their ipods strapped on their bare arm… tourists, kids, little dogs, big dogs, INNOCENCE….
As the sun dives into the pacific, as the noon passes quickly, there is another
“cast” waking up, slowly… the “unfortunate”, the drunks, the homeless, THE UNSTABLE…. you can hear the beer pouring & smell the “mary-jane” burning…
SUNSET comes, the vampires now are really up…
the FREAK SHOW begins…
The TRANSITION from light to darkness comes through the Venice Sunset.. the golden lights,
the MAGIC begins…
The “innocent families” are heading home… Another beautiful day in the Beach is over…
Over ??????… Hmmm , i dont think so…
When the darkness comes, a whole another Venice wakes up…
Sirens, handcuffs, pain, suffering, BLOOD…. lot’s of blood…
Ladies & Gentlemen,
Welcome to Venice Beach… to my venice world….
relax, enjoy and remember : ” …if you don’t feel the pain, you ain’t CLOSE enough….”
ok, next Corona on me !!!
peace
panos skoulidas
Bangkok, November 28, 2008:
Nat , 22, a prostitute and single mother, poses in a short-time hotel.
photograph by katharina hesse
This is the first chapter of my long term project called “Maybe Tomorrow”.
The project aims to reflect upon the perception man has of his own future in relation to his life on Earth, but mostly in relation to the idea of a possible life after death.
In this manner, I’ve tried to find all the elements that create not only a visual continuity but mostly a conceptual continuity with very strong symbols and cultural references. I have, thus created a link with the theme of hope and the theme of doubt and fear, for the weight of life and death.
Walking through the streets of Oaxaca or its countryside, I felt a strange emotion in seeing the moments of daily life of “campesinos”, artisans, workers, old and young people. There was an incredible power, nearly like that of magic, to their faces. In spite of the heavy work, there was a serenity and a limpid hope in their eyes.
I immediately understood that that was what i really wanted to represent with my photography. I also understood that I did not want to give answers in a journalistic manner, but would alternatively try to create questions.
I simply wanted to catch that innate suffering every man has because of being human, one who lives with a conscience in his own existence on Earth. At the same time, by living this life with effort and sacrifice, he can hope for a new life, perhaps not today, “maybe tomorrow”, maybe after the death.
Angelo Guarracino
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This is a story about Birgit, a six year old sweet kiddo. She’s been diagnosed with diabetes about a year ago. Incurable. This story is about how, through her, I myself am being confronted with the fact that her illness is much more of an issue to me than it is to her. She taught me a lesson there… The things that are on top of a kid’s list, should in fact be on top of anyone’s list:
Life is about playing with friends and family and having fun as much as you possibly can…
These intimate, close images, are freeze-frames out of her daily life. Random. Lots of different moments. Almost no visual context. Bare essentials. More about feeling the moment than looking at the moment.
There is no beginning and no end. A collection without order. You’ll recognise inside, outside, darkness, light, a bike, a bed or even a beach. But they are all irrelevant…
Just try to hear the laughter, hear the playing… Remember your own childhood… Feel like you’re there up close with her, her brother and her sister. Sometimes she will notice you and say hi. Sometimes she will play and laugh with you until her stomach aches. Sometimes you feel like you need to let her be, dreaming.
She stares into the sea.
—
anton kusters, december 21, 2008
Turkish style bath party in Budapest, Hungary…
photographer Gyula Sopronyi writes:
It's a taking place in a bath from Turkish-ages, call Rudas- thermal bath, and the name of event is Cinetrip. The most important feature of this happening is the following: young people occupy historical territories for themselves, lots of dj-s mix transcendent-music during the night, while the mass is dancing in swimming dresses, under colorful, lightened arches. Those who get slow in the stream are fascinated by Turkish music and dancers. Taking photos of faces and figures getting long in lights of Cinetrip - which is mentioned as a hungaricum in partyculture nowdays - a special, local subculture, an underground community gathering together strictly for one night. The twilight ashes together all externals - conquering, and making similar to space remaining from past.....Date: 2008
my favorite holiday card by one of my favorite humorists..
self-portrait by Elliott “I hate Photoshop” Erwitt
now , this feels strange…
why??
i just cannot tell you…for one thing i felt more than a little bit of sentiment as i closed down “road trips” and our old blog platform…i mean, we all hung out there for almost two years and she served us well…we all made new friends , got a lot of work done and, well moving out of an old house and into a new one always leaves one with mixed feelings…
however, i feel we will easily continue our community here…the most obvious thing is that you will now have a real venue…a place to be published….and with many more watching than you may realize…it will take us some time before we will have a significant amount of content of yours up, but that really is just a matter of YOU getting us material we request…
there is a new e-mail for you under “submissions”…this will be used primarily for you to submit for our ever changing “selected photographs”…..
instructions will come soonest for how “work in progress” will be applied…basically, i will take on up to 5 photographers as a special mentored group….just as i have mentored online with Patricia, Panos, and Rafal …..we will use PhotoShelter as a place to “hang” , edit your stories etc…
“photographic essays” will be the place for final finished stories, text, videos etc etc..this will be THE place to aspire as well as will “selected photographs” which may change daily in the very near future…your .”photographic essays” will be on the “front page” for probably one week each and will always be easily accessible…these essays will also evolve….for example, “Sugar” could end up with a video component at some future point as could Patricia’s “Falling Into Place” and so on…
the nature of our forum has always been like a darkroom print in the developing tray…we have always watched the print develop so to speak…our new Burn will be no exception….
if you do not see your name on the “photographic essays” to come list, do not despair….i know there are several others coming…some are just more ready than others….you know who you are, so get your material together please!!!!
yup , Anton has his story up first….damn right…the boy deserves to be up first (please DO NOT MISS THE RED BUTTON right hand corner for full screen viewing and turn your speakers up)…for one thing, he and i have been working nonstop for days and days…..there is no time of day or night when Anton has not been available for my questions and has not been willing to work and to tweak things out…plus, i just love starting with “Sugar” …..Birgit is a light burning bright….inspiration for us all….
concept and photograph by Patricia Lay-Dorsey
the man is a teddy bear….a family man…he would much rather talk about his teenage daughter Nina and French wife Sophie than about photography…honesty is his best policy…. you never never have to worry about what he “really thinks”…i live in Brooklyn…..but, Bruce Gilden is Brooklyn….
many think Bruce “attacks”…i do not know this for sure, but i am imagining Bruce has had a least one of his subjects “attack back”…but, Bruce and i are as much on the “same page” as anyone i know in Magnum …we surely have opposite personalities and ways of working, yet we have exactly the same “code” for life regarding fairness, transparency, and family….
Bruce is now working on a project on foreclosures in the U.S….a hardball look at one of the primary reasons for the financial collapse in America and the folks who “lost it all”…
his new Magnum in Motion digs in deep and gives us a vision of a side of this country that most ignore…
when Bruce went to Florida for the opening series on foreclosures, he showed us a certain kind of sympathy that i just do not recall in his previous work…
my first impression of Bruce came with his book on “Coney Island”…then “Haiti”, then “Go”….i thought Bruce harsh , but irresistibly fascinating…and funny…i can never take my eyes off of Bruce’s pictures even though i might feel a bit guilty for “intruding”, even as the viewer….if Bruce appears somewhat cynical with his work , when you know him personally , he is more “realist” than cynic….there is a difference…..the man’s work reveals a part of his personality, but not all…there is a straight up kindness in Bruce Gilden..and nobody but nobody has a better sense of humor…
please keep your eye out for Bruce’s continued work with foreclosures….anybody can smell a book in the making…
i am only hoping that i do not become one of his subjects…..
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