i feel the bar band drumbeat beat shaking the floor and it flows through my body up from my toes… so i slide in close…physically close, in their space… total strangers …and somehow quickly, inexplicably , become "one" with them….for a few moments i am "transported"…they do not know me..i have not spoken to them…and yet, an instant "relationship" has been established and exists in real time and space , but only for a precious minute or less…but, i know something is "happening"…
we have written a lot here about being the "fly on the wall" and not being "noticed" when photographing people…. and then we have also spoken much about the other extreme… the making of long term friendships/relationships associated with any truly extended photo essay involving interaction with people over the long haul…
but what about the intermediate interconnection??? the "fast hookup" , photographically speaking….where circumstances allow us to move quickly into situations that might have otherwise seemed impossible…this sort of "speed shooting" is most likely to happen at events, fiestas, weddings and parties…places not likely to cause alarm at someone with a camera…generally friendly atmospheres from the get go…
yet there is still a "ballet" for doing this type of shooting….and how to move confidently but politely is the key to moving in fast..
i was in a live music bar with some of my weekend seminar students the other night in Venice Beach…i had spoken with the owner, so my students had clear permission to shoot freely…it was an alcohol enhanced assemblage of the "best and brightest" from the Venice Beach boardwalk scene where total strangers who can barely talk from over imbibing want to rattle off their life bio..my oh my, everyone wants to be "famous" here one way or the other…very annoying…nevertheless these folks do not mind being photographed….that is, if you do it the right way…
i held back from shooting right away, just to watch my students work…what struck me was how tentative they tended to be and how quickly they would turn away from what i saw as picture opportunities…they would "lose interest" quickly or just not anticipate that what was going on in front of them, albeit "temporarily boring", was about to turn into a true "photo op"…still they were having fun and doing well and it was great fun to be shooting "side by side" with them….this was all happening after our final slide show and we were not "officially gathered"..
so, rather than go in and coach each student, which i had already been doing for two days , i decided to move in a make a few photographs for myself…just for fun..no project intended…right after i made the photograph above, one of my students, Dallas, told me she learned more from watching me shoot than in the entirety of presentations in the classroom…i could not have been "on" for more than a minute or two …fast in, fast out…..
i was not aware of doing anything unusual,but she told me she could not believe how i moved in so close so quickly to the dancing, beer drinking young women… they seemed to be totally aware of me, yet unusually tolerant as well…later, when talking to my students during our after the shoot let's get a beer and talk it all over meeting , i allowed a few observations….
how did i move so fast??? first, as i mentioned before , i was known by the owner from the day before…i had also earlier befriended the lead singer in the band, so standing almost on stage was not a problem …i made sure that i spoke to and shook hands with the two or three customers who were front row to the band and in whose way i was standing ..i got their implied " permission"….most importantly, i think the young women, who i am sure were not averse to being photographed anyway, were particularly accepting of my extreme aggressiveness because i think they could sense i was serious…i was obviously "in the zone" intent on doing something even though they surely could not imagine what that something was!! this manifested itself in a nice hug (always welcome) by both young women after their dance who i think realized that we had all three been in some kind of unidentified collaboration….but no questions asked…
obviously, i am the type of person/photographer who enjoys close contact, either attained quickly or after weeks of growing relationships…i do not think that is a mantra for photographers at all…it just happens to be my way….so, i have a question for you…how large a role does "public relations" play in your work??? do you spend lots of time building rapport with your subjects, or do you prefer to be the more dispassionate objective observer???
Yes sir, heavily armed stoned celebrities are wandering the streets of the big city! And people wonder why I dont go down there more often than I do.
DAVID,ALL..
While just surfing around I came by an article at large swedish photo community. It was about the Scanpix big photo price that went to Lars Tunbjörk. Many of the comments about him getting it were kind of negative and probably came from people who maybe not have dwelved very deeply in to photography. But do they maybe have a point? I can look at it from their perspective, because a couple of years ago I would probably have thought the same. They think highly of beauty and high technical quality, but they miss the content and emotion. Or maybe is it just the eye of the beholder? of course it is, but it’s amazing how easy it is for anybody to be a judge on the internet. Of course this is a good thing, living in a democracy, but at times maybe a bit negative as well.
David, you have probably written blog posts about the eye of the beholder, but if you haven’t a post about that would be interesting.
Oh, yes you can see Tunbjörk’s essay here http://www.scanpix.se/pbWebapp/info/fotograf/scanpix_stora_fotopris.do
Cheers
MARTIN B,
that is SUPER DOPE !!!!!!!!
TO ALL-
I am just back after one week in Colorado for my “day” work… Missed a great discussion on the importance of books… The insights from all of you and David have been particularly interested.
Separately, this is no longer on topic but, as I came back, I found an e-mail from James’s mother, the yound boxer who was killed last month (story that David was very kind to relate on the blog) . I thought I would share it with all of you who have reacted to James’s tragic loss…
Hello Eric,
My name is Tonia Mason and I am the mother of James Perkins.I had e-mailed you last month and believe that I might done it wrong.On behalf of my family and I,we want to thank you for your tribute to James.Your tribute brought much joy and comfort to our lives in this sad time.James only being 19 years old and so full of life being taken from us has been such an terrible lost.I would also like to thank the people who wrote such nice e-mails to you on James` behalf.Once again thank you Eric.
Tonia Mason
Thanks to all!
Eric
Thank you, dear Eric, for sharing James’ mother’s message with us. James and all his family remain in our hearts. We are grateful to you and your “Lord of the Rings” essay for bringing him into our lives. I anticipate the day when I will hold your book dedicated to James, with its powerful depiction of life among these young boxers, in my hands.
Patricia
CHARLES…
i just received CYPHER yesterday…many many thanks, and i will send you a signed Living Proof in return…your book looks just terrific, the medium format really shows…breakers are hard to shoot…you did an amazing job with the trickiest of action subjects…i had some art directors etc over last night and CYPHER was sitting on my coffee table , so you got some good reviews and nobody spilled a beer on it either..
again, many thanks and congratulations on a fine fine book…
cheers, david
Aaah thanks David. Sounds like it was good timing too!
Yeah, there’s something about nailing it with medium format that gives you a totally different feeling than with 35. I’ve been out shooting bboys since with digital but it’s just not as satisfying an experience (but a whole lot cheaper!)
FYI for those of you out there that are curious about these things: I used Mamiya 6 and 7II cameras (with 50, 65, and 75, 80 lenses) and a Hasselblad SWC ,all with flash (Quantum and Vivitar 285) and Neopan 400. I scanned everything myself with an Imacon. There are three 35 shots with a Leica.
And I looked through the viewfinder not so much (esp with the Superwide)! Talk about dancing with your subject!
Take care,
Charles
Here’s a great way to present a portfolio which I’ve used to showcase my book. If any of you would like to do this, I’d be more than happy to help on the technicalities. This is just keeping it real simple.
It’s a BOOK trailer…
http://vimeo.com/2446485
Cheers,
Paulyman.
Akaky IRL: So, are you doing a book?
Akaky: What?
Akaky IRL: Are you doing a book?
Akaky: No, not that I know of. Why do you ask?
Akaky IRL: Apparently all your DAH blog friends have book projects.
Akaky: Really? How do you know that?
Akaky IRL: I’ve been reading the DAH blog, dumbass. How the hell do you think I know, for crying out loud? I’m not the Amazing Kreskin, you know; that whole mind reading thing is way past me.
Akaky: I’m sorry, it’s just the idea of your reading the blog at all amazes me. You have to admit, it’s pretty unusual for you.
Akaky IRL: I had nothing else to do. Keeping up with the Kardashians wasn’t on yet.
Akaky: Why do you watch that swill, anyway?
Akaky IRL: I have low tastes. And Kim Kardashian looks like a Hittite fertility goddess.
Akaky: And you’re too cheap to pay for the Playboy Channel.
Akaky IRL: That too. All of which brings us back to the original question: why aren’t you doing a book project?
Akaky: Books are for people with something to say.
Akaky IRL: Yeah, and? You’ve never let not having anything to say stop you from running off at the mouth before.
Akaky: I don’t have any good pictures and I would just as soon not have everyone in the world know it.
Akaky IRL: Well, that makes sense. No one likes being humiliated…well, almost no one. You have to wonder about the car company guys. Begging for money just after you get off the corporate jet is just asking for it.
Akaky: No argument about that here, guy.
CHRIS H…
i still will have a tough time to edit this work…i think you suggested a password??…or better, please please just cut this down to something that makes more practical sense…you have given me 117 photos!! that is way way more than any editor would view even for a magazine story that was shot over several weeks..most editors look at around 40 or so pictures from the photographer’s edit…and yours is a fairly simple story..actually, i have now looked at this a few times and it feels like about an 8-10 picture story max..a strong story by the way…what do you envision???
cheers, david
AKAKY & AKAKY IRL
You crack me up… car executives hehehehe…
HEY PANOS
Nice to know you missed me. I am generally here but not always talking (strangely enough I can be quiet sometimes!)
MARTIN BRINK…
Lars is a well established art photographer in Sweden and with an international following…his work definitely falls into the Scandinavian school of eliminating what many would describe as”emotion”..it is all definitely in the “eye of the beholder” and we have discussed this “school” of photography quite a bit several weeks ago..personally , i find much of it quite intriguing and some of it just flat, but i think that about all styles of photography..but all together, there is something there in Lars’ work..the power of it seems to be in its totality rather than in each individual picture..it sure seems to fit the culture i think…surely Lars would not have been the same photographer had he been working in Mexico for example..
cheers, david
MARTIN BRINK
I just looked at the Swedish guys pics and its interesting as I also saw Trent Parke’s latest show yesterday ‘The Christmas Tree Bucket’
I think they have a similiar kind of concept behind them but well I think Trent’s work is just breathtakingly brilliant…
DAVID
What do you think contributes to that fine line between very good and genius? Its the hardest of all things to define but what is it that makes some images sing and others just whisper…
Or is it just that indefinable magic that some people can just inhabit their images with?
I would really love to know what you thought about this…
DAVID,
Sorry if I missed that discussion..
You may be right about that Lars eliminates emotion. What I meant about emotion in my earlier comment was more that I gives me emotions when I see the pics.
The totality is the power of these images… I don’t personally think so, because I usually just love some singles and think there’s a bit of mediocre images in there, but who am I to decide.. it’s the eye of the beholder I guess..
I like a lot of Lars work from abroad, but his strongest might come from Sweden.. hard to say.. His work wouldn’t have been the same in Mexico, but on the other hand I’d thought it would be a lot more interesting if your next project was in Sweden and Lars next in Mexico :)
LISA,
I like Trent’s work and think it’s more beautiful than Lars’s. However I prefer the content and find Lars’s images more enjoyable. HOWEVER! If I was an aussie I would probably prefer Trent’s work. I think it’s easier to appreciate Tunbjörk’s work if you are from Sweden, because it reminds so much of what you’ve seen and been through yourself.
My first comment wasn’t meant to be about Lars. More about the eye of the beholder..
David -
Thanks for the feedback…I agree, I mean I had 4x6s printed and I also come down to about 8-10 when I start weeding it out…I guess I envisioned it as a more in depth thing…I’m sitting here in PDX right now trying to take it a little further this weekend and the next weekend is in KC and the final…so maybe I have to go to Belgium? where the sport started to make it truly a large project? next year that is…guess I was hoping to squeeze more out of it in the US…more culture/crowd/emotion, “dirty” non-constructed portraits to go side-by-side with the “clean” portraits of the select riders…I can definitely weed it down to 20-25 photos to help you out…would you have any recommendations on how to expand it or break it down for tomorrow and next weekend…as far as focus that is?
thanks -
Chris
MARTIN…
laughing…yes, yes …i should shoot Sweden!!
LISA…
pretty hard to define artistic genius…but, yes the difference between damn good and truly great is that little “undefinable magic”…not just in photography, but in everything!!!
CHRIS…
i sure wish i was with you in person…what seems a bit daunting on line, we could knock out in about half an hour and one cold beer…
you have truly the best attitude…if you would be kind enough to just get it down to 30 or 40 i can handle it…besides, you really need to force yourself to do that much of an edit anyway….since your story is quite obvious , if i were you i would just go for the gut..graphic edgy pictures is what i want to see here…no need to over-explain…anyone “gets it” right away…
here is what we can do and this will work on line…you get it down as tight as you can…i will take it down tighter…then, i can compare my selects with your whole wider take…that gives us at least a starting point..make sense??
cheers, david
AKAKY…
please do not be afraid to come to the city…we will take care of you…nobody has a gun within a hundred yards of my building..so you will be fine…everybody in my building is a leftist artist wimpy democrat…no guns…you might find a joint or two, but that makes everyone smile…c’mon man, make the jump from Connecticut, or wherever you are, to the “real world”….put down those pruning shears and “get down” with the folks who make this country what it is today…and do not worry about language problems either…i can translate…and you should know that i used to live “out there” too…was once a good clay court guy with a Gucci t-shirt..that is, until i saw the light…and haven’t we always said here that it is all about the light??
cheers, david
Always about the light…
David has always reminded me to work on a project, one that is more than the usual two hour paper assignment. So here is one that took a couple of days.
Road trip to my birthplace.
http://www.lightstalkers.org/galleries/slideshow/17093
Feedback appreciated…but only if it is about the light…
Nancy
NANCY…
well, i have mixed feelings about this work…while i was not blown away by single images, i really got into the feeling of it all…the overall experience of looking at these photographs made me feel like i was going home too…so, i guess that means it works…taken together there is a sentimental draw and a consistency of you just not being too self conscious at any point…
thank you for sharing this experience…
cheers, david
NANCY
You took me “home” too even though I grew up in an area that was nothing like what you showed. Even so, there was a pretty deep tug on the old heartstrings with this essay and its accompanying music. Not that it was overly sentimental, simply that it harkened back to my ancestor’s lives in places such as this. I loved it!
Patricia
ALL/ DAH
have been feeling unusually blog-silent, though I am reading your words and am very much still actively shooting this Brooklyn project..it has morphed a bit, and though I can see how the two phases marry and I understand my own intention, I am hoping that the two aspects will make sense to you all and other viewing eyes…there are the street ‘studio’ medium format portraits taken against the white backdrop (I think I have edited out the 4×5′s for now) that were made throughout july and august, and there are the 35mm street life images which I am hard at work making now..I see these two very different pieces as complimentary and integral, and I hope they make sense together.
DAH, not sure how I am going to show you all these, I don’t think I can make little prints that will make any sense, hopefully online will work..I see them integrated, a portrait here, a street shot there..and not as separate entities..but they are different not only in format but in surface, am shooting 3200 for the 35mm, gritty moody..
Not sure what my question is, I guess I will keep shooting, editing, scanning for now and see where I am come the epf deadline.
This whole thing about books, I confess, I am love with books, am terrifically old fashioned that way and they have been my primary source of learning about photography all along (beyond personal discovery, meaning I never went to photo school)but I love and revere them so much that I have not seen how I could do one..I think of books as a place amazing amazing works, a permanent record..but for the first time am starting to see how it would be okay to think my brooklyn efforts could translate into a printed memory..but every time I think I have done enough I feel the hole and I feel I haven’t done anything at all.
Hello everyone,
Pnom penh proves to be the perfect embodiment of the “önion layer” concept, whereas what you see is not exactly what it is, and one fact, one “truth” can and must be interpreted only in light of all the others. I always felt an underlying tension in cambodian life, mostly absent in Thailand. One week is way too short to do serious work to attempt to put this in pictures, save the seredenpitous single shot, many weeks would be more like it. One feels conflicts within oneself (as in India), but there is no denying the emotional embrace the place has on you. I think the real difference with other developping countries is that the whole country had to rebuild itself after the Khmer rouge debacle, and by country, i do not mean so much things and places, but the whole psyche of the nation. And this truly happening as of this writing.
I may very well come back with that intent, staying much longer.
For now, as I just wrote David, you might want to express regrets at not being able to share with me the acquired taste for one of the local delicacies,when fried that is!, a specialty of Skon, a city a couple hours (no freeway here!) away from Pnom penh… Fried tarentulas:
http://www.pbase.com/update_image/106784132
here too:
http://www.pbase.com/uc/image/106784132/original
DAH
Quick greeting from the frozen great white north. Not sure if you got my email from last week but would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks as always David
ERICA…
i have been planning to work with you this month and we can view your prints any way you have them…please call and we can set up a time…
MARC…
yes, i did receive your email and am trying to think of a way to respond…i felt like your questions were almost the same as from your first letter, so i really did not know what else to say..but, i read it very quickly , so i will give it another read and see how i can be of help..
cheers, david
HERVE:
Oh man, I never could bring myself to eat one one of those. I have had deep fried beetles and ants in Thailand and Vietnam. Crispy and excellent with beer!
Charles
Hi everyone!
I almost missed a cracker of a thread here — this blog runs in dog years, I’m sure!
I’ve just arrived home in Australia and am reminded again what a gorgeous place this ‘lucky country’ is…
DAH…what do you think about an ‘on the road’ workshop Down Under in 09?
****
On the subject of CONNECTING…. for me that makes the difference between taking a photo and and preserving a moment. Be it a glance, a smile or a meaningful exchange, it’s all a form of flirting, and isn’t that just plain fun!
The second I feel that connection between me and my subject, my heart rate jumps, the adrenalin surges and it is surely one of the best natural highs I’ve ever experienced –
when I look at the best of my own images I’m immediately transported back to that place – the sounds, the smell, the way I felt when I was taking that picture.
… now, I just need to learn to transmit all that to the OTHER people who view my pictures.
****
On the subject of BOOKS, before I became a corporate suit I ran a book store for 6 years…. there’s no better smell in my opinion, than when you first walk into a well stocked bookstore. Well, that and puppies…
David, your coffee table library is a thing of beauty…. please keep the beer spilling crowd away from it!
Perhaps I am getting old, but when I look at Amazon’s KINDLE one part of me loves it, and the other is secretly hoping it does not succeed.
I’m sure many people felt the same way about the DVD a decade ago…
****
MARINA BLACK / LANCE / DAVE KEENAN / KYUNGHEE
Big congratulations to you all for your personal victories this past month!
ALL :))))))
BOOKS!!!
I’VE just received in the mail Khung-hee’s remarkable and beautiful book ISLAND:
YOU CAN PURCHASE IT HERE:
http://bookweb.kinokuniya.co.jp/guest/cgi-bin/wshosea.cgi?KEYWORD=%69%73%6C%61%6E%64
You MUST RUSH OUT AND BUY A COPY FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!
Oh, so yesterday a very large golden-tanned envelope arrived upon our door steps, and I couldnt wait (with both nervousness and joy) to open up the package…..
and out came a white dream!….
such an extraordinarily beautiful beautiful book, a dream really!!!!…Kyung-Hee Lee’s ISLAND!….
….I am so thankful and grateful to have already spend a dozen reads through it….already memorized it….so many of my favorite photographs from this series are there and it has jumped immediately to the place of honor on our coffee table :”)))))…..i love so much the gorgeous design (the Japanese sure know how to make a photography book!!!!), the huge photos, the white space surrounding the pictures and of course her magnificent photographs….
It opens with one of my favorite of her Dream images….a giant, black poem along the sea of the sky…the body of a Rock! )))….i have always always loved this photo and i think it’s a brilliant way to begin the book!!!…it’s one of my favorite images….the book as if a kafka parable, like Ozymandias”, like Borges story, like haiku…..like the film 2000, this beautiful, strange monolith is a brilliant way to open this Dream…in truth, the book is not so much a book of photographs but a book of nocturnal dreams, poem-dreams, a meditation on the negotiation of land and sky and sea and wind….of sorrow, on memory….on the wind…of time….. :)))))
and the book also has a brilliant and poetic coda, written by David…moving and insightful, beautifully and lyrically written, and bang-on about Khung-hee’s work, and a finer written tribute is not possible….a wise and thoughtful tribute to her by a wise and thoughtful writer, and i cann’t imagine another photographer asking for a finer essay about such abstract and yet concrete work as contained in this book…
it’s a perfect combiination, the 2 of you, in this magnificent book….
and the DESIGN IS FUCKING AWESOME!!! :)))…those japanese book makers…..
just only this:
the whisper of night along the collar of your bones….
buy it!
hugs
bob
PAUL.
Cool concept. Enjoyed the photos and hearing your voice!
Bob — and all –
no need to go to a japanese website to buy Kyunghee’s book -
you can get one here, from photoeye –
http://www.photoeye.com/bookstore/mShowDetailsbyCatAmazon.cfm?Catalog=ZD591&CFID=7546429&CFTOKEN=75264348
they had SIGNED copies but not anymore… item is backordered but available!!!
:)))))))
;-)
HELLO ALL…. remember me? sorry i have been MIA lately. this is my BUSY time for LOOK3 and have been dealing with some family stuff in California. but i have not forgotten you all…
i will be in austin this weekend for work and will be seeing Kelly and Lance. Kim Reireson came to DC for a visit this weekend. we were going to check out exhibits – but it was so damn cold – we went to a movie instead.
since i have been gone a little while – someone want to give me the cliff notes on the last 2 postings… ha ha
GINA
You have been missed! I’ve been thinking of you lately and had figured that LOOK3 was probably at a crucial stage of development. So, we understand your absences, but just know we love you ;~)
Patricia
I’ve become inspired by all this talk about making books that I’ve decided to try and make one myself. I am just going to play around with it and make prints on some good paper like Hannemuhle and make a japanese style bound book.
Just a little experient but could be very rewarding.
Srini
DAH..
talk to you tonite..