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Laura El-Tantawy
Fervent Spirits
Fervent Spirits is about faith. Believing in the invisible.
A power only heard of, but never quiet seen.
I started this project in the holy Land in Jerusalem, inspired by a 60-year-old conflict that has cost so many lives and tormented generation upon generation. In the Old City, I saw Muslims, Jews and Christians literally rubbing shoulders with each other. Not uttering a word as they walked in separate paths. Not even making eye contact. Some say the 60-year-old conflict is a battle in the name of religion. Borrowing from that concept I decided to take myself on a voyage with religion, to question and try to understand.
This is what I have so far come across.
Photographer’s note:
none of these images were manipulated digitally or on Photoshop. They were photographed as presented.
Related links
Oh man, too big of questions for my head now (there’s a baby to be played with). Just wanted to say I found Laura’s photography really compelling and fresh. Maybe not 100% successful (but what is?) but very “new.” I would rather just take her photos for what they are versus trying to fit them into some sort of bigger theme or social political manifesto. They speak to faith in Jerusalem, yes, but just as much if not more to the vividness and variety of life in this world we live in.
My favorite is #15 – and when I say favorite I usually mean a photograph I really really wish I had of taken.
Charles
LAURA – hello my friend. man – you know i love your work. you are such an amazing talent. your passion and soul shows in every frame you take. thank you for sharing this beautiful work…. (and no, i have not done the eye thing yet… i know you know what i am referring to… ha ha) xo
Laura,
i cant believe my eyes….
the second photo, that second one…. JOAN MIRO…
i so want a print for my wall ( not that i have a wall anymore,and i cant hang it in my car either … but i will sent it to my sister in greece ) …and the Jesus one, with one eye closed… and the one opens the page… with all the “believers” looking like legos… melted .. nothing sharp… melted… no individuality , “personalities” are gone, melted…
An army of THE FAITHFULL… like little pawns, like little legos on the hands of “GOD”…
impressive… The power of religion… totally negative and destructive for me but who cares…what i think..
You perfectly managed to capture the loss of personality… i always thought of it like “this” but i never knew that is possible to be captured and photographed like that…
bravo
not driving
peace & hugs….
DAVID!
ok, im pissed that I cant write under Laura’s magisterial howl…..but that is my problem…;)))…
you beautiful bastard, now you choose the time to consolidate all the comments…after 2 photographs, 2 essays and a question about history?….what the hell do you have in the Corncob?????….
i knew if was coming (not being able to write under people’s work) and I know i would feel caged like Rilke’s panther and i knew, graving-me, that I would resist and hate it with my stupid long-winded being ;)), but i have no choice….after John vink’s eloquent comments and links and then Reimar’s story and now Laura’s howl, i feel boxed in ;)))….i dont know where to begin…and no way (having just returned from meditation and unable to harness words at all) will i ever be able to follow up on so much that’s occurred in the last 4 hours and top of which to delve into our question ;)))))….god damn, you young man, you totally fucked up my head ;)))…ok, so I am going to ignore you and your question for the night and get to Laura’s essay…..
LAURA EL-TANTAWY:
“See the child. He is pale and thin, he wears a thin and ragged linen shirt. He stokes the scullery fire.”-Blood Meridian, Cormac Mccarthy
“The judge wrote on and then he folded the ledger shut and laid it to one side and pressed his hands together and passed them down over his nose and mouth and placed them palm down on his knees.
Whatever exists, he said. Whatever in creation exists without my knowledge exists without my consent.
He looked about at the dark forest in which they were bivouacked. He nodded toward the specimens he’d collected. These anonymous creatures, he said, may seem little or nothing in the world. Yet the smallest crumb can devour us. Any smallest thing beneath yon rock out of men’s knowing. Only nature can enslave man and only then the existence of each last entity is routed out and made to stand naked before him will he be properly suzerain of the earth. What’s a suzerain? A keeper. A keeper or overlord.
Why not say keeper then? Because he is a special kind of keeper. A suzerain rules even where there are other rulers. His authority countermands local judgments. Toadvine spat. The judge placed his hands on the ground. He looked at his inquisitor. This is my claim, he said. And yet everywhere upon it are pockets of autonomous life. Autonomous. In order for it to be mine nothing must be permitted to occur upon it save by my dispensation. Toadvine sat with his boots crossed before the fire. No man can acquaint himself with everyting on this earth, he said. The judge titled his great head. The man who believes the secrets of the world are forever hidden lives in mystery and fear. Superstition will drag him down. The rain will erode the deeds of his life. But that man who sets himself the task of singling out the thread of order from the tapestry will by the decision alone have taken charge of the world and it is only by such taking charge that he will effect a way to disctate the terms of his own fate.
I dont see what that has to do with catchin birds.
The freedom of birds is an insult to me. I’d have them all in zoos.
That would be a hell of a zoo.
The judge smiled. Yes, he said. Even so.”–blood meridian….
” could have not seen Damascus or Cairo
the Louvre or the magical towns
And had I been a slow walker
a rifle might have severed
my shadow from the sleepless cedar
And had I been a fast walker
I might have become shrapnel
and a passing whim
And had I been an excessive dreamer
I could have lost my memory
It’s my good fortune that I sleep alone
and that I listen to my body
and believe my talent in discovering
pain in time to call the doctor
ten minutes before dying . . .
ten minutes, enough for me to live by chance
and disappoint the void
Who am I to disappoint the void
who am I, who am I?”
–Mahmoud Darwish
“Well, my definition of a tragedy is a clash between right and right. “-amos oz
a fierce fierce how that has set me aflame….if there is but one question, one question upon which each of us and each of our lives wobbles and bobbles it is that: who are we, from where have we come and from what are we made and to where we shall go….all carved upon our ablaze bones and white-flashed lives….red is the color of the memory of what came before, the whitening of the bone snapped around an iris of dream, the broken eye that refuses to turn downward, the green seraph that breaks wide over us like a sea, we are devoured upon our unknowing and we torture and orient ourselves and others as a way to make sense of this broken grammar of meaning….how does one begin to attest to that, but with either a howl or a sob….
at the moment, i wish to write fiercely against the back-swallow of the night as to why this gorgeous and fierce and firery essay is so explosive and important, but i shall save that for a day to two to allow words to amble up….
a magisterial ache and a loss, a dream-loss of reconciliation, once we were brethren of the same house, long we shall perish toward the same, and yet, that eclipsed distance, from house of birth to house of death which houses each and all of us the same, is always most often lost and forgotten….
the banyards and halyards of our toiling and tolling…how resistant we are to see, we are always, perishing perishing, one and the same….
the silence is inside each of us, and we all, muslim, christian, jew, buddhist, hindu, shinto, sharman, agnostic, atheist, stretch out against the outreach of the silence….
in that, pinpoint of the needle, we are ineluctably the same….
thanks laura…..breaking…
b
p.s. Laura: you know the extraordinary work of the Israeli artist (photographer/filmmaker) Michal Rovner?…one of my heros…
http://www.michalrovner.com/
Without a doubt, bar none, my favorite essay so far. Not meant to compare others work (I loathe
Laura, great and beautiful work and for me a profoundly interesting comment you are making about the abstraction of religion. I wish I had time to write more at the moment, but I will tonight!
David, timing indeed… did you get the email I just sent that touches on several similar issues that Laura has raised about Islam except about Aboriginal communities?
Bob, just to paraphrase your quote
‘the silence is inside each of us, and we all, muslim, christian, jew, buddhist, hindu, shinto, sharman, agnostic, atheist, aborigine stretch out against the outreach of the silence….’
LAURA
your images were dreamy..
layer
upon layer..
personal..
they have a painterly quality about them…
collage-like..
really pretty..
for some reason,
some of them feel like stills pulled from an old movie,
and converted to color…
**
salam..
XX
Laura:
I think your project is very worthy and clearly heart-felt. i like about half the images a LOT. i wonder whether others would translate well from monitor to print, specifically #’s 2,7,17. #’s 9, 10 and 12 are superb. Altogether they do express the theme of your project which is a tricky one to approach because religion is often deeply personal while also heavily institutionalized. It’s one thing i think to shoot members of your own religion but something else to shoot other religions. Thank you for sharing your vision and also these deeply spiritual moments.
kat~
My head is spinning and now I am having trouble beginning…to respond…
Yes, indeed it makes sense to pose a forum/critique/question+answer period on the 3 pieces unveiled today. I am mentally exhausted after going over all the pieces and all the comments presented. For this, I am smiling cheek to cheek because I always want and need to now more, but (sorry-no religious connotation here) goddamn! I feel like I am in class…and I don’t know where to start because I want to respond to everyone…simultaneously…
(Now, I know I’ve been commenting for awhile here on BuRN, but I haven’t actually met any of you…this will change shortly, of this, I am sure…as it seems like a group with many interpersonal relationships…I am on my way to meeting some of you now…you just don’t know it yet…)
As far as reactions go…my own to Cathy Scholl’s comment on wanting feedback about DAH’s process…I agree, it would be of much assistance…I feel like I learn from all his posts here, getting my brain to consider new facets and angles of discussion, (and we are familiar with his work), but it would be nice to hear about the process post-shooting, or should I say, his process, since we all work differently…I’m commenting on this because when I studied photography at FIT, and many of the professors didn’t share their work, much less how they handled their images and/or presented them (but it was an amazing program; I’m not negating that by wanting to know more about those who teach/have taught me…)
As for the work posted today…obviously amazing… what a powerful triad…and amazing to present together…or side by side, I should say. The subject matter is universal…and has to do with the oldest debate in the book…how did we get here, why are we here, how must we live and continue on (by being respectful/obedient/worthy/truthful/knowledge-seeking to the gods/beings that brought us into this world…according to them.)…and why are rights removed from us by men, when we are all born equal, despite our religious background/beliefs?
I put a bit of a lengthy comment (shocker) about the Auswchwitz photo. Now I would like to comment on “Enlightened” and “Fervent Spirits.” Enlightened was interesting for me because of the disparity brought forth between the photographer, Chiara Tocci, and the commenter, Laura El-Tantawy. Just from the written introduction, pairing written message and the photograph, I thought I was learning something I had previously had not…that is, about the Islam Nation not being allowed to be photographed, and if such occurrence happened, it would trigger as part their damnation, punishable by Allah. Now, I really didn’t have time to delve into the research concerning this when BuRn went all crazy and decided to put up all 3 three posts…ummm, 4 including “Times and Timing…”…sooo, I just kept reading…. and seeing…
I appreciated “Enlightened” for its approach…I thought that it would have obviously been more effective if the statement accompanying the image rang true…that said, the image by itself, I feel, is powerful, because it lends itself to the mystery that surrounds Islam religion for most of us. We’ve all seen the women dressed in non-form-fitting attire, flowing fabric head to feet (almost encompassing hands, as well), scarves/fabric upon their heads, hair and half their faces covered. This image, focused on the lower half, with only hands showing, represents what many of us have been witness to, but don’t understand. For that simple reason, it remains an image with impact. It does leave me wanting more, and I want to know about how the religion works…(I also draw this conclusion from the written statement and the photograph together, but the written statement piques my interest in a whole new, challenging way, i.e. how can the photographer succeed and not be punished by Allah?)
As far as “Fervent Spirits,” I agree that it is a belief in “a power only heard of, but never quite seen.” This is cornerstone of every religious argument ever recorded…where is the tangible proof? Taking Christianity, for example, the Bible was written by men who were “divinely inspired.” So, we as creatures looking for a common thread of belief/grounding/stability/sense of the world are supposed to gather together and be preached at and be made to just believe what is told us to be true? That is my problem with religion right there. I’m not negating it’s importance to people, but I’m just asking what so many others have before me, why should I be led blindfully to believe? And why should I gather with a bunch of other sheep to be hoisted like easily-led automotons into this type of strict cult-like mentality? Okay, maybe that was a bit harsh, and I don’t mean to offend, but why live a life according to fear (as with Catholicism and all the evils it ensures if strict diligence isn’t adhered to…we’ll all burn in hell if we have premarital sex…give me f**king break…literally). Anyhow, I digress, and my tiredness is getting the best of me… I do agree with Panos that this imagery represents
“An army of THE FAITHFULL… like little pawns, like little legos on the hands of “GOD”…”
As for my attempt to answer some of DAH’s questions…I absolutely feel that photography can editorialize the way that words do. A picture is worth a thousand words and is up to the interpretation of the viewer…I feel that documents and facts alike are also up for debate and discussion…there are certainly biased views and persuasive writing and photography, but we, as viewers, are the judges…and it is our responsibility to consider the information, ask questions, and determine our interpretation of it. (I’m not saying that a bit of text doesn’t help to clarify said information, but that many photographs can and do stand on their own, as their own statements.)
As far as “does “news” affect the way you think about history?” I have to say that by the time we receive the news, it’s already history. The present is NOW, NOW, NOW. There is a saying that goes “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift…that’s why we call it the present.” I believe that the power of the moment and the news, which reports history, is certainly a strong proponent of how we think about history and the events that take place. What we need to be careful of, however, is believing everything told to us and knowing that information relayed to us is, most of the time, biased in some way. Research and knowledge thirst is everything…knowledge is power…the power of the mind to be the most informed, unbiased, freedom thinking people we can be. Oh, I hope to be knowlegable some day. This is why I ask sooo many questions. That’s all I got for now. I am exhausted. See y’all on the BuRNt tracks of this discussion tomorrow…or later today, I should say ;)
Laura, this is a great piece of work! You blew me away with these images. This is certainly a new level of photography! You have my deepest respect and admiration! You somehow managed to make the invisible a bit more visible.
More soon!
Reimar
Laura, a very interesting treatment of the subject of faith. Your almost abstract vision works very well.
Hope to see more!
Mike.
WOW Chiara’s photograph is as warm as Christopher one is cold. Christopher achieved a dark movie look and Chiara an intimate mood and amazing light. I don’t feel them related in my mind even if religion is “behind” them. I don’t sense neither of them as religious. One is light in a Caravaggio’s way (Chiara’s) and the other one reminds me of sufferance no matter which was the “justification” for it.
Laura’s essays, IMHO has very good stills but doesn’t work for me as a whole. The mix of abstract and realistic images just breaks (as always IMHP) what I think she tried to achieved: one God too many religions that throw people apart when they should be united. I thought of this idea mainly because of the tone’s differences between religion’s she shows. Perhaps that was always her intention.
So many questions David…for the past days I have one question hammering my mind: what to submit to the EMG after all such quality essays I’ve seen displayed in Burn? It seems I have nothing worth while being part of this grant. At the same time with all this diversity I feel richer visually. I think the visual diversity in Burn is the core of it and a good starting point for the lack of visual culture someone mention a time ago. It’s this diversity that makes me live and love photography, this baby craft we all have in common and use to communicate.
My 2 cents…
I couldn’t find the Harlem essay that my feed reader was pointing. Where is it?
Hello, this is Bruno, photographer in Japan.
DAVID: Thank you for your work and generosity. I’ve been visiting Burn magazine for about a week now. I am not very good at putting my thoughts into words, especially in a foreign language. About your simple questions, I’m don’t think I can articulate even the beginning of an answer, but Laura’s work made me want to share some thoughts.
LAURA: I feel close to your visual language. I didn’t get your statement at first, but reading and reading again, I think I understood what you meant (voyage with religion). I really liked “encounters” on your website! I think there’s a lot of interesting and powerful subjectivity in your photographs.
Something kind of spoiled my pleasure though… I am talking about your note mentioning that you did not manipulate digitally your images. Unfortunately, I read it before seeing your essay. Instead of letting myself go into the flow of the sequence, I kept thinking ” here is a talented photographer who thinks that optical/ chemical manipulation is ok but digital manipulation is bad”. Obviously, you are aware that your images look manipulated. And I think they are. And I think you’re good at it. But for me, as a photographer who also wants to explore how the new possibilities of digital technology can express the realty of my surroundings, I thought that this “photographer’s note” was a bit patronizing.
I found it ironic that this note raised the old and now unnecessary analog/digital conflict in a statement about religious conflict.
Thanks to all for the interesting work in progress that is Burn magazine.
Bruno
I meant “reality of my surroundings”.
Please excuse my english…
Thanks to everyone who has insightfully responded to my work. Your words mean so much.
GINA m. – Next time I see you, I will give you one of the “things” I use and will help you do the “eye thing” myself. That’s a deal.
PANOS – I’ll send you a print, just tell me where.
BOB b. – you are exceptionally generous in your commentary and I am simply humbled.
BRUNO Quinquet – I am a bit hesitant to answer your note on “manipulation” because I am not so sure I understand what you are trying to say. To put things in perspective, let me explain that I started out as a newspaper photographer and I have immense respect for journalistic purity. Since I quit the newspaper world, I have consciously taken my photography into a different direction, but I have never compromised on my journalistic integrity and the basic ethics of photography which I strongly believe in. My comment in the summary above is intended to say that I did not use Photoshop or any other means to make the picture into what it is (Overexpose, blur, etc). Any “effect” you see was achieved while photographing. I only added the note because I knew this may/would be one of the first things people may ask and I didn’t want the viewing of my images blocked by questions on their integrity or truthfulness.
I am not sure if our minds have met but please discuss any issues you may have. I am a very good listener.
Finally, this work evolved during a workshop in Jerusalem where I wanted to produce something very different from what I had been doing at the time. All the images are from Jerusalem with the exception of the title image, which was shot last December in India. It is very much a work in progress, both in editing and photographing terms and I will soon be continuing this work in Rome (Vatican).
Laura.
laura! so wonderful to see you on this. its about time! this work is amazing. i love it. its true and i see allot of you in this. your work has always inspired me. great stuff. i cant wait to see more. i hope you are well.
Laura…
Ohhhh thanks thanks thanks..
Here is my brother in law’s address in
the desert ( same address I received Charles P’s
CYPHER… my lucky address..:)
panos skoulidas
31640 Stockton st
Winchester , California
92596
usa
( it doesn’t have to be a huge print
But it has to be signed…
:))))
Beautiful essay Laura! I’ve been itching to get to Jerusalem- haven’t been there since my honeymoon in 1994. I suspect much has changed… and much hasn’t.
cheers,
Asher
LAURA
You show what happens when a brilliant photographer/artist bares her soul in her work. It becomes an expression of the Universal for believer and nonbeliever alike. I can’t remember ever before seeing a body of work that so transcends the limits of the medium. How grateful I am that you allowed your visionary and earthly natures to come together in this way. I want your book in my hands right now!
Patricia
Ok,
I do not generally like to critique someone else’s work and vision, but I have a question….
First I want to preface this with, I like the essay overall. There are some really compelling images that make you look at them for a long time. I also think it all works and flows together well… with three exceptions.
Image 6, 12 and 17.
And I say 17 mainly because it is too much like 2 and I agree with Panos… 2 is very cool.
Now being a photojournalist that has more of a literal interpretation of what I see. And although I rarely explore the abstract… and David is trying to change this… I do find that I can appreciate it.
But with 6 and 12, when is an out of focus photo just that… out of focus? Whether by mistake or on purpose. I remember years ago picking up a huge, and I mean really big and heavy, book of Richard Avedon’s work. And to be honest, I found it full of a lot of what I call crap out of focus images. And I am a fan of much of his work.
As I sat there and flipped though it, all I could think is… Damn, I have thrown a lot of really great work away!
So really, when is it something that should go in an essay or on a wall and when does it go in the trash? And I am really interested in what others on burn think about this subject.
Number 12 just hurts my eyes. I mean that in the literal sense. It hurts as they search for a point to focus on. I think i get what Laura is trying to do with this image, but I am not sure it works.
Laura, again, please understand that I do really like the essay. I would have just liked it more without those images.
Pete Marovich – thanks for your honesty in commenting on my work.
I actually agree with what you are saying about blurry pictures. In fact, this was and still remains the biggest challenge for me while working on this project. I feel very repetitive sometimes and while you see 17 or so pictures here, there are at least 50 you are not seeing because they are just what you described, blurry pictures and not successful. That’s why this is not a body of work I can work on constantly, because I find myself getting stuck with clichés. I want to reflect on a particular feeling and in many cases, taking an out of focus picture seems like an easy way out.
Having said that, I do stand by the work I am showing in the essay now because I feel it goes beyond that. This may change in the future, because like I said, this continues to be a work in progress in both editing and shooting terms. I am looking forward to shooting in Rome and seeing what will happen.
As for the change of format here, I don’t like it at all. Since my essay is among the work featured now, I feel it puts me at a disadvantage because: (1) I have to sift through many comments to get to something that is even somewhat relevant to my work (2) I don’t like not being able to comment to people personally under their thread, good example is my response to Pete above, which he may or may not ever see!
Thanks, Laura.
laura – i like your style in answering pete there..
for me things have gone in a slightly different manor – always crisp photos which i seek and as with pete, the more impressionistic and textural work has normally ended up on the cutting room floor.. in part because i have been working to the requirements of picture desks..
now though, being able to look back and rescan much of the work i can find the gems within the out-takes which are required to tell the story with atmosphere.. like making a tune.. allowing the story to take the images which it demands and weave it´s own way to an extent. in this respect it really doesn´t matter to me what type of photograph i am looking at, only that the editing shows some conscious thought and direction – something which i think your essay truly has.. i really enjoyed it and felt that i was looking at a new perspective, especially with the context of words.. which have provoked quite a debate of late with the single photo as well..
i´m getting to grips with the last 4 weeks of editing a project now and it would be great to get your impression of how things are going – will post something here soon to canvass for comments..
BOB
have you seen this?
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x26lol_national-geographic-vietnams-unseen_news
tim page returns to vietnam in order to explore the war through north vietnams photographers.. it´s extraordinary and to be frank a real relief to see something for the perspective of the 4 000 000 who died in their resistance to the u.s.
you are bang on – when people think of vietnam it is always the u.s. solider.. in photographs.. in films.. while the numbers of dead were so insanely biased towards the vietnamese.
thinking now of contemporary wars.. has anything changed? not in the slightest.
DAVID ALAN HARVEY
the format of the comments right now is a little brain frying for me – it´s taken 1/2 hour to sift through and find what i´d like to add to..
i think having the 3 comment threads (here and under each new essay / photo) is different from the 4 threads on roadtrip because there is a photograph for context under each chat.. it was easier for me to get stuck into talking to laura about her work when it was directly underneath her work..
always changing and always evolving of course.. it´s a pleasure to be writing somewhere that actually ASKS for feedback on the format :ø)
david
Laura, fuzzy photos aside, I get the feeling that you want to say something about faith and spirituality, but you don’t know what you want to say. It seems like you have taken a bunch of pictures and are hoping they will somehow coalesce into some unified statement. It rarely works that way.
David Bowen – you know, what you are describing is exactly a process I went through when doing the transition from newspapers to freelance. I believe that anytime you are “working to the requirements of….” Be it picture desks as you mentioned, or a particular publication or assignment, your thought process and approach as a photographer is very different. When a photographer is out on assignment, he/she is consciously thinking within the lines of style that particular publication adheres to. This doesn’t mean their personality as a visual storyteller is suppressed; I think it’s just different. Give the same photographer the camera and have him/her shoot the same project, same location but without the assignment and I guarantee the work will be different.
It took me a long time to come to grips with what I want to do photographically and how I wanted myself represented. I don’t take pictures to have them published, I take them because I want to. Once I came to grips with that idea I really felt a huge weight get lifted. What I do doesn’t always work but at least I can always say it is what I wanted to do.
Are you in the UK? I would love to look at your pics and contribute what I can if that’s what you want? If you are near or around London or Oxford, let’s meet face to face.
Jim Powers – I have been waiting to hear from you in particular. You say:
“Laura, fuzzy photos aside, I get the feeling that you want to say something about faith and spirituality, but you don’t know what you want to say. “
You are so right because spirituality and faith are not an easy subject for me to tackle. Given my upbringing as a Muslim and my exposure to Western culture at a relatively young age, I have always been amazed at how my faith has maintained a grip on me. I don’t do everything I am supposed to do in terms of religious practice but this power of the invisible has maintained a very dominant role in my life. I can’t explain it, except that to me it is mysterious, scary, lonely, dark but beautiful all at once. Those are the feelings I am trying to reflect in this work.
As to the second part of your comment:
“It seems like you have taken a bunch of pictures and are hoping they will somehow coalesce into some unified statement. It rarely works that way.”
Again, you are right, but only if you are thinking of this work within the constraints of a newspaper or magazine. I think no approach is ever the wrong approach. We are all different people and our minds and the way they take in and decipher information are all very unique. My approach generally is to take every picture as a single, standalone picture. When I edit my pictures into a story I always do it by color palette and composition. I try to have my edit allude to a mood or feeling and I don’t ever have a beginning, middle and end, so to speak.
Laura.
laura
i neglected to mention that one of the points i enjoyed about your work was your personal perspective.. and that the work has been developing over time..
i guess the start to an interesting folio is to have grown from an interesting life, and for me the words added the full stops and commas to your photographs.. that is to say that i think your work exists alongside the text.. like bobs bones essay.. and both are much stronger for the association.
david
Laura,
I always liked your photography. You have your style and your own view of the world. I will learn from you.
But I think there should be not photos nr 10 in your essay. It is in other style. Besides somehow I have to agree with Jim (??? :) For me this is sequence or extraordinary photos but I am not sure what you try to say. Or you try say nothing just show beautiful images, do you? for me pictures nr 14 is the best.
Great works.
peace
LAURA!
Sorry I have to shout but I really did want to say this about your take on religion…wow how do you shoot ‘soul’?
I reckon that its such a long, long term project- I mean you are ‘inside’ a culture and religion (I don’t think you can separate them can you?) which has been endlessly vilified by mostly ignorant and unsophisticated people (right back to the middle ages, where it is obvious Islam was a far more beautiful and enlightened way of being than a bunch of smelly Englishmen in armor-now David B its just a joke in Monty Python ok!) so I am thinking that this is really an enormous self examination as well.
Now thats a really tough call and I admire the fact you have taken loads of risks with this, you have escaped the rampant cliches of photojournalism and gone for it and yep not all of it is some ‘finished’ piece of perfection but it does have real heart and thats the core item in any artwork I like.
Do you know the work of Mark Rothko? Our Bob (not being ‘clubby’ Ben, just love the man and his family to bits and we have never met) abstracts his stuff completely as well and while different to Rothko both of them give me a sense of their almost shamanistic view of the world, I kind of think they extract the religious-osity (if I can make a new word) from their abstractions and open themselves completely to the soul.
I sense thats what you are trying to get at and I reckon you are certainly on the way. Its the most interesting essay I have seen for a while… You go for it girl!
PANOS
Now my dear and gorgeous friend- not pseudo, but a part of my life now- you know I love you and you know I love your ability to puncture the bullshit balloons, but I do think the teenage pregnancy essay is really important and while I know what you mean about the ‘laziness’ of photojournalism I don’t believe for a second that Lisa was being lazy with this. And yes I do know Lisa from Sydney (she is not born in Oz, not that it matters) but I am not saying that because she is a friend. I am saying it because I think its important work, we have way too many people on the planet and a bit of sex education and some prophylactics and proper safety and options for young women might decrease the amount of human beings on the planet and not leave the next generations with such a F***ed up place they may as well not be alive anyway! Which is pretty much what Lisa has captured- sometimes photography is about trying to change people’s perceptions and I think showing just how pissed off the teenagers are is a great way of telling the story. Its not like the sanitised western version where kids are (hopefully) given some sort of education and this ‘oh I will stand by my baby and my man it was just a youthful mistake’ kind of crap. Babies are beautiful and joyous, I am not AGAINST them but having them can really stuff some people up. And if you are poverty stricken and unsupported and way too young then I am sorry its just gonna make life suck. And Panos you know that…
Now while touched I was mentioned in your ‘people who have slagged me off’ post, I didn’t mean to ‘crucify’ you and I am upset you thought that I did but I wouldn’t hurt your feelings at all knowingly. However I disagree with you in the case of Lisa’s essay because I don’t think you really thought out the other side of the use of photography. But don’t take my comment too hard bru, it could be worse… You could be beached!
BEN
You are already in the club, I have made an official ‘aside’ to you!
DAVID
I am not sure I wouldn’t prefer the comments back under the essays either… I am confused ‘cos I want to get into your questions about news etc, but I really wanted to comment on Laura’s essay and now I really can’t do both ‘cos everyone will go to sleep reading my comment before I get it all written about! Its 1.10am in Yuendumu and if there were separate threads I feel I could come back later and discuss the questions, but I have a pyschological block about it now… Sorry I hope this doesn’t make life more hectic or miserable for you, just how I feel…
LAURA….
my apologies to you….i closed the comments on this essay thinking we were going to a new system of response….if we had stayed with it , all would have made sense in the long run, but the readers here seem to prefer comments on everything….i will try to cut and paste as many comments as i can back here as i can and maybe other readers will do the same…you certainly received some interesting ones…
just remember that for the moment , all of your comments on this essay are on “Times and Timing”…
cheers, david
ah ha.. okay.
ANTON
back from japan.. hit me on skype when you can..
DAH AND ANTON
any help needed here.. filtering emails.. releasing moderated comments.. a couple of hours a day would be fine.. please ask.
WENDY
thanks again..
3 song rule stinks, although with electronic music things are much freer.. in many ways :o)
now.. will it show?
panos skoulidas
March 3, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Laura,
i cant believe my eyes….
the second photo, that second one…. JOAN MIRO…
i so want a print for my wall ( not that i have a wall anymore,and i cant hang it in my car either … but i will sent it to my sister in greece ) …and the Jesus one, with one eye closed… and the one opens the page… with all the “believers” looking like legos… melted .. nothing sharp… melted… no individuality , “personalities” are gone, melted…
An army of THE FAITHFULL… like little pawns, like little legos on the hands of “GOD”…
impressive… The power of religion… totally negative and destructive for me but who cares…what i think..
You perfectly managed to capture the loss of personality… i always thought of it like “this” but i never knew that is possible to be captured and photographed like that…
bravo
not driving
peace & hugs….
( copied & pasted )
LAURA…
i apologized already (first comment) for the change in format that just happened to come on your essay…i think by the time we all cut and paste etc. you should have a pretty good idea what the readers thought of your story..
cheers, david
ALL
moved the posts related to laura’s essay over here…. and deleted the duplicate copy-pasting (sorry david b :-)
please shout out if you see that i have missed some, i will bring them over as well…
cheers,
no sweat.. was only 2 mins to do and i do keep wandering back through the essays..
never mind magazine – this place will make an interesting book.. i’d buy it..
d
LAURA-
I thought that your note was an attack on digital, analog bearing more “authenticity”.
Maybe the fact of deciding for an effect in the moment (in camera) and live with it is the important difference you wanted to stress. From a photographer point of view, I understand that. But I think that the end viewer doesn’t know/care about the image making process.
But you’re right, this is burn magazine. You’re showing your photos to photographers. I just happened to be the person who had a reaction opposite than you expected : )
About me:
I just completed a 2 year photo course in Tokyo. We’ve been told not to take images for granted but to put things in perspective concerning photos and reality. I realize I don’t know what are the basic ethics of photography. I thought that a person with basic ethics in life would approach photography with the same ethics. And of course, cultural differences affect all that. Personally, I am more sensitive to portrait rights issues than the photography/reality issue.
I don’t think I have the qualities or motivation to become a photo journalist working on assignment, but I think that my self assigned projects have a documentary value.
All the best for your projects,
Bruno
Laura, my dear friend, great to see your work featured here!
I still remember the first time I saw the pictures and how they blew me away with their soul. Your soul.
They still do now.
Keep up the great work and hope to see you soon.
Hugs,
Wendy
Hi Laura!
I love the variety of vocabulary you use to explore this topic and the topic itself which is one of my favourites. Images 12, 2, 4, and 15 speak loudest to me and I especially like how you make the point about ‘division’ in image 2 (totally inspired!). To me, 12 speaks of ‘unity’ rather than a loss of ‘individual personality’ and ‘the blurred image’ in this context makes total sense to me.. losing the boundaries that divide us.
Perhaps a day will come in the course of history where the collective consciousness is more aware of what unites rather than divides us… hopefully!!!
Thank you!!!
Jenny : )