THIS ESSAY CONTAINS NUDE CONTENT – VIEW AT YOUR OWN RISK
In Hot Water…
Water, the essential element within all living things… in perpetual motion.
Heat, from the core of the Earth… springs to the surface.
A journey of our body & our community in nature through an inherent interconnection with the sensual, transcendental, metaphysical and intrinsic.
These photographs were created primarily at Breitenbush Hot Springs, an intentional community deep within the forested mountains of Oregon.
This work in progress began in July 2008 and will continue to Incorporate a mélange of cameras, color film, b&w film and straight digital imagery in which several bodies of work are evolving.
This slideshow was created specifically for BURN.
Thank you,
Hillary
editors note: if nudity will offend either you or someone around you, please do not hit the play button for this essay. – david alan harvey
Photographs: Hillary Atiyeh
Website: http://hillaryatiyeh.com
Music: Alice Di Micele
I know a reporter who was doing a series on intentional communities a while back and visited there. He was amazed when he got there because he was led to believe it was an eco village type coummunity, but that the emphasis appeared to be on a nudist lifestyle. Clothing was in short supply.
HILARY – really enjoyed this work… just lovely. sadly i am on a bus (NYC to DC) and have the volume off – but will watch/listen to it again. there is one image in particular i may be interested in hanging on my wall…. lets talk. see you at LOOK???
ALL – had a great time in NYC this weekend and a mini-BURN reunion. DAH good to see you Thursday night – will call you to follow up on our talk… had a lovely dinner with Erica (McDonald) and Kerry (Payne). Looking forward to seeing many of you at LOOK next month too!!
Jim, not a challenge, just a clarification in the interest of accuracy …
So where’s the photographer? I wish more of the photographers would get more involved in the threads.
Just beautiful. I really enjoyed watching it!
Hillary,
the images look very familiar and I recognised the picture which was featured on burn as a single image in February.
It is really nice to see the progress. I enjoyed the mix of colour and bw and the beautiful composition, lines, forms and light of your images! It is always a pleasure!
There is this one picture with the stars in the skye and a torch that was moved. A nice image, but I would leave it out to keep a stronger consistency or add some more of this kind. Some images are similar so you can edit a little bit more tight and still have a great body of work.
Yes, I think it is a good idea to put a little warning to say that there are some nude images ahead. I know this is over the top and usually I am not fussy about this, but if the wrong person looks over your shoulder in the wrong moment, this can give you some real trouble.
In my note in February I wrote about Hillary’s single image: “Today I was at work and I had some spare time so I clicked on burn and this image came up. And right at this moment another photographer walked in and asked me: Reimar – what kind of images are you looking at? My reply was: A nice picture of beautiful women!”
Okay, no big deal and I didn’t get in any trouble, but I can see clearly a risk here. So, why not add a short note. Simply stay out of trouble.
A wondeful piece of work and I am absolutely sure these images will look great when you print them.
Thanks a lot!
Reimar
THIS ESSAY CONTAINS NUDE CONTENT – VIEW AT YOUR OWN RISK
I think that we can drop the view at your own risk: let’s not be too politically correct.
A friend of mine works in a nursing home. She is not allowed to kiss or cuddle the people in her care as it is seen as abuse.
She says that some obviously don’t want contact but many do. She tells people “kisses are free, cuddles are free” and lets them decide.
How about a label I saw recently on a packet of cheese “Allergy advice, contains milk”.
The world has gone mad!
Mike.
Mike R
My wife works with special needs kids in middle and high school settings. Hugs are not allowed, even though some of the kids desperately need them. Kisses would get you fired.
Jared: thanks for those references to those authors who have integrated various mediums. It was interesting to hear that someone like Salgado has gone towards digital after using film for the majority of his career.
David: it was great to hear about your own dilemmas with film and digital and realising that both can be used to your advantage. Please understand that nowhere did I condemn Hillary for moving away from this more traditional approach, quite the opposite. I wrote that her project came up trumps and thought it was a wonderful move to explore all mediums (I mean processes, refer to my reply to Jeff below). I did say that it may make some of the traditional photographers shocked, but I am not of that generation or mindset. But, through your post and your own example, I have learnt that even more traditional photographers are embracing new digital technology and mixing old with new. Consequently, with this project I envy her ability to utilise all of the photography processes artistically.
Jeff: I’m sure most people understood, but yes, you’re right. The medium is photography and I was mistaken by saying mixing mediums. I should have been referring to the use of processing a film image or digital image within the one project, as you rightly pointed out. Thanks for that clarification.
Thankyou,
Johan
First, I want to say thank you for all the generous responses and constructive criticism…it means a lot to me to hear your opinions and advice.
Before I began this project I thought deeply about what I wanted to create and explore, knowing that the process would lead me on a journey towards discovering new artistic territory and a reconnection with what inspired me about photography and art in the first place. I returned to a place that was my home and friends that supported me in exploring art and passion. Breitenbush is an amazing community, off the grid in the forests of Oregon, powered by the river, cabins heated geothermaly and the lives of its community members intertwined with nature. Clothing is optional only around the pools, sauna and the river, it is an intentional community, not a nudist colony.
At the moment, my photography is about being playful and free, finding the surreal in the reality of the natural world and to tap into something that lurks beneath the surface, opening doors of my own perceptions. Starting with an idea and finding something that emerges from the process that is familiar and also a new discovery.
For over a decade I have used primarily slide film and was careful and precise in what i captured in emulsion. For years I think I was rigid in what I photographed, the cost of film and development a real factor. I love photographing the natural world, both underwater and above. Concerned with environmental conservation and creating a direct representation of what I travel so many miles in the wilderness to capture and share, trying to evoke emotional responses in others to act care and about this planet, its ecosystems and endangered creatures.
A couple of years ago I bought my first digital camera and used it in the same way. However after several portfolio reviews…the same response…”wonderful use of color, composition, light, etc…seen hundreds of images like this…where are YOU in these images?”. I thought very hard about what that really meant and maybe now i am just beginning to grasp that concept…Digital capture has given me the freedom to experiment and make mistakes and I love and learn from the serendipitous events.
During this last year I wanted to push my own boundaries and leave my comfort zone…The start was photographing people which I shied away from entirely since my first experience photographing Native Americans, who were not so keen on me photographing them when I was young and even more naive. I took David’s workshop to explore these insecurities and found that stories can evolve from editing and form essays with literal or esoteric meaning.
I have sought out new ways, but really old ways, of seeing and returned to my favorite artists in the halls of the MET, reading and looking at art and photos, searching within to understand what I was excited about when I saw these works of art year after year since childhood…for me it is the surrealist and expressionist paintings and some of the impressionists and several photographers that encourage and inspire a passion that I am just now beginning to understand.
As for the mix of color, B&W, film and digital….I want to utilize all the tools available to me in the photographic medium and it is this experimentation that excites me at the moment. Maybe it is the indecision to commit to a certain film or digital capture but life encompasses everything and i want to explore life and photography to find in art and myself something different and which boundaries I can push to propel my artistic expression. A Hasselblad, a Minox and 15 rolls of B&W infrared film await me at home and I am excited to put them to use…as well as the digital camera and Nkonos V I have been using.
This submitted essay, in hot water…, started as a portfolio of images which I had planed to tightly edit. David suggested putting it to music or audio but I needed permission from the artist. Alice Di Micele is a close personal friend of mine for maybe 15 years now, we have rafted down the Grand Canyon/ Colorado rive together and many of her songs are about water. I did not have to look very hard to find a song that resonated with what I felt about this body of work. Alice gave me permission and I chose each image carefully to flow with the lyrics. Even though I work with photographs and created this piece for a photo web site, the music, as another art form, could not be separated if used together. I feel the lyrics had to be equal if used in conjunction with the images, which is why there are more than I would have used if i were to show just a solid portfolio of photographs…
Well, I hope this very long post explains a little bit more of my process and choices, I apologize for not responding sooner but I am at my brother’s college graduation this weekend and this was the first chance I have had to respond…again…THANK YOU!!!!!
Peace and Love,
Hillary
Gina…I will see you in C’ville….let’s trade prints…
much love,
xoxox hillary
HILLARY…
thank you for explaining your work and your reasoning so clearly….i think you are now ready for a book, or at least very close, and i want to work with you towards this end….
at first, i must admit i did feel you bent a bit too much towards illustrating the music….on the other hand, i totally see why you did it as a truly symbiotic exercise…and since i always feel that a slide show is its own medium, i think overall this works nicely….in a perfect world, i might have suggested trying to do the show with all horizontals as well…verticals in a slide show really jump out a bit awkward imo….as you point out, perhaps for your own portfolio of images for a book or for an exhibition, you would choose a slightly tweaked edit….
i am counting on you for some prints for our BURN gallery….you are certainly going to be quite collectible….
i look forward to seeing you in Charlottesville….
cheers, david
its so motivating to hear others like yourself Hillary, are enthusiastic about film and what it can add, as digital seems to be massing over everything.
Its also relieving to know that others are free enough in the actual process to be able to play with the idea of what you want it to show right up till the end.
once again I’ve been unexpectedly illuminated on whats possible.
Hillary,
Thanks for this work; beautiful, sensual, connecting…
You say that you are ‘trying to evoke emotional responses in others to act care and about this planet, its ecosystems and endangered creatures.’ There is no doubt, in my opinion, that you succeed and draw us to this response at a very visceral, primitive level.
A lovely piece of work. Congratulations.
Hillary
Excellent essay. Beautiful, classic. There is only one problem…. I need… I want more…. It should be a book or big exhibition. Very carefuly selected photos. One hundred photos.
Beautiful photos.
Hats off.
“Clothing is optional only around the pools, sauna and the river, it is an intentional community, not a nudist colony.”
Seriously, they need to work on their image, then. It’s highly rated on most nudist destination websites on the web.
I think your images work very well as fine art. I really don’t think they work well as an essay, especially one this long, though. I’m ambivalent about the music, but that’s a personal thing, I guess.
Put some of these in a book in the right sequence with some text – maybe poetry – and these would work very well.
David,
I sent you an email yesterday. Keep a look out for it please.
David ~
I knew you would say that about the verticals…can’t help it, I wanted to mix it up a bit…for me it was a conscious decision as it went with the feeling of an ebb and flow of bodies of water….but yes..tweaking awaits this body of work…
Thank you so much for, well, everything….Eric said it best on his last post…”you have acted as a catalyst for so many out there and you are still giving to so many that kick to get out and shoot, produce work…” I look forward to working with you whenever you get a moment….:~)
Like I said earlier, the 20×24 B&W print awaits you in NYC as well anything others you ask for….
h.
JIM ~
looking on nudist sites….can’t really find Breitenbush…not sure where you are getting your info…
BB is a cooperative of about 65 peeps that own and operate a retreat and conference center…hundreds of people come each week to stay as their guests.
again, this is a work in progress and the slideshow, my first attempt at showing these images to anyone.
FYI…http://www.breitenbush.com/
peace,
hilary
Hillary,
I remember seeing a few of these images in Portland and I loved them.
You have created some amazing images that center my spirit. Beautiful work.
I would love to see them printed. Best to you!
Angela
Hillary!
Your slide show is beautiful. Thank you for using my song. I recorded that song back in 1988 and I have to admit that I rarely listen to that album anymore. I sound like a little girl, but I think the innoncence of the song and the vulnerability of the images work well together. I’m honored to be included in your work.
I have always been a fan of your photos and look forward to seeing more from you.
love always,
alice
Wow, Hillary, this is just a beautiful piece. Luminous, innocent, evocative, sensual…I want to go to that place and swim in those hot springs, just feel the healing wash all over me. The photos have a marvelous abstract quality that really gives you a sense of the freedom and sensuality of the hot springs and the community there.
When you first mentioned this project to me, I had something much more mundane in mind, like some kind of public hot springs with guys in bathing caps something. This really is something special, and I hope you make a book out of it! Although, it almost feels like you’re letting us all in on a big secret, of some kind of magical place that only a select few should know about…
Anyway, congrats!!
chris
Chris ~
Thanx for your advice in the beginning, you helped more than you know…
Special places are everywhere and I for one would be grateful to know of them!
I think it’s those secret, magical places that need to be shared…
When I am in there, I am reminded that there is so much love and beauty in this world, amidst all the chaos…I am reminded that everything is connected on this planet…the more people that have that experience or their own, the better off we all will be in my opinion…
BB is a community but also a business and does have a max capacity…rustic, off the beaten path, only a select few will really find it…really love it…we all have a love for different things….but, like anything you discover that you are drawn to…you just go!
When will I see you there….
hillary
Good Job Hillary…:)))))
congratulations…. U R published… or should i say “Burned”…?
I like your pictures, very much.
Are you intresting for the next festival, may 2010 ?
Best Regards
Bruno Rédarès
President of Festival Européen de la photo de nu Arles/France
I like your pictures very much.
Are you intresting for the next Festival, May 2010 ?
Best Regards
Bruno rédarès
President of Festival Européen de la Photo de Nu – Arles / France
Hillary,
I’m happy for you !! Hope to meet you soon !
best, audrey
this set of pictures has the POWER to ease a toothache.
just wrote this to hillary
¨there is something about nakedness which really feels special to us all i guess..
i don´t mean sexiness nor titillation.. just nakedness..
photography misses that so very often.. the work either becomes twisted into sexual or darkly thought provoking meanings..
while what i felt when i looked at you work was.. well.. about 8 years old :ø)
seeing the skin without adult concerns.. without sexual intentions and with the most amazing relaxation and feeling of connectedness with people.¨
Bruno,
Oui! Bien sur….
s’il vous plaît envoyez-moi toutes les informations et votre adresse…
Je vais aussi chercher sur Internet pour la présentation des lignes directrices.
hillary@hughes.net
merci,
:~)…h.
et toi aussi, audrey……