saulzelan

In the book, Hockney on photography, DH talks about the influence of cubism on how we view the world, and the idea that cubism was not, in fact, all about abstraction, but instead picking up from where Cezanne left off and trying to develop a "truer" sense of realism based on a move away from the definition that was in relation to Renaissance perspective. (The other major way that "realism" was redefined in the early modern era being the sense that "reality" could also consist in the artist more fully expressing what he felt about the subject, rather than being so obsessed with surfaces, or versimilitude, as Hockney puts it. This trend having it's beginning in the work of Manet.)

 

So the "joiners," as Hockney called his work, were his way of confronting the reality of cubist/modernist painting once again in a different format, and his way of critiqueing what he felt was "wrong" with photography, in that the optical distortions of the lens and DOF did not reproduce how we really see. Also, a large complex "joiner" would take him several hours to shoot, thus compressing a large amount of time into one image, another idea that he posited coming from cubism.

 

The book is really wonderful, and contains so many of his absolutely brilliant collages. Now, digital techniques add another dimension, and I'm sure he has feelings on that subject as well!

 

Here is the reference:Hockney on Photography: Conversations with Paul Joyce New York: Harmony Books, 1988.

 

Here is one older article on Hockney

 

Here is a more recent one

 

Here's another article questioning the veracity and power of photography in the digital era.

 

It's interesting to compare his stance to Gerhard Richter's ideas about painting and modern image making in the interview with Robert Storr.

 

"People often declare the end of painting." (From "Interview with Gerhard Richter," in Gerhard Richter, Forty Years of Painting New York: Distrubuted Art Publishers, Inc. 2002, p.287.

very nice, i like how you've filled the frame with so much texture and wonderful detail, medium format is so great for that, well done, thanks for posting!

I've experimented with trying to duplicate the grey color that photo net puts your uploads against, not much success. Therefore, the best way to see these "dissembled" images is against a white background....Thanks, glad you enjoyed!

si, usted ha tenido buena fortuna de conocerla! sus fotos me encantan!

nice use of the holga, i like the contrast between the institutional quality of the furniture against the sensuality of the light and the dark open window. using the holga allowed you to experiment, with good results it seems. thanks!

 

very nice, i agree with the previous comment. it could possibly be helped by playing with density/ contrast to give more emphasis/definition to the upper part of the composition and then dodging the dark lamp. very well seen, however.

Nice moment capture. I don't mind the railings in the bottom left, they add balance to the composition.

That may be fixable with a high res scan, I'll have to look again to see how much detail is present in the negative. You're quite right about seeing things in the viewfinder that don't pan out, such is the elusive nature of photography, but also it's magic....

You could check out the comment I left on this image, perhaps that helps. Thanks!

The images in this folder that were desaturated in photoshop were done with the method described Here, by defining two "hue/saturation" layers, one which acts at the black and white "film" and the other as the "filter." An interesting approach.

 

Russell Brown seems to have an informative website.

 

Has anyone else had experience with this method - pros and cons? Or any of his other approaches?

 

 

No se si conoce las fotos de Mariana Yampolsky, o si le gustarian. Aqui se las encuentra:

1 article

2 una foto
3 una foto
4 una foto

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment! Impressions always welcome. This was originally in color and then there was a request to see it in b/w, so there you have it.

gracias!

"And she wore blue velvet..."

Yes, and what's there? A piece of machinery? Is that (and by inference or extension, the city, or the products of the industrial age) our reward in the modern age?

Are you familiar (you must be) with Richard Misrach's work in the desert, if so you'll probably know what pieces I'm thinking of....

An interesting result, and not the one I had in mind, but that's fine...

Figure, ground and reward.

Hi Andy, thanks for coming by and no worries, take your time, this is supposed to be fun, after all....I'm always adding bits here and there, trying to fit pieces together...

 

I think the strongest theme you will find, or the strongest "statement" of what I'm about is folder 1, clearly it has the largest number of images and represents the most sustained effort. Other folders contain other experiments, beginnings of ideas, things which may get added to, projects around the edges. I like try to keep working in several directions as I feel it keeps me thinking....

 

99% of the images in this folder and folder 1 were shot with a rolleiflex TLR ("2 1/4"), handheld. I do not like to travel with multiple cameras, lenses, or formats as I find it distracting, just as you described. Thus, the rollei TLR with one fixed, KA lens, is perfect for me. Lately, here at home, I've found myself breaking out some older equipment, like the Nikon, for variety and to try new ideas.

 

I rarely crop, as early on I fell into the hands of a teacher of sorts who convinced me to shoot by the "crop with the camera," principle, and leave it alone in the darkroom. This one, if I remember, is uncropped as you see it. Sometimes, I'll allow myself a small crop around the edges, and rarely will try to "pull out" an image from a portion of the negative - I always seem to make a mess of it and find that if I didn't hit it in the field, it's probably not happening. I guess what you learn early on stays with you and becomes comfortable.

 

 

I apologize that I speak VERY LITTLE French (one of the great failings of my education...) but I can work things out given enough time and a dictionary. Hablo mas Espanhol, e un po' di Italiano e Portugues. Tus fotos son muy bellas, voy a volver para ver mas de ellas en el futuro. Gracias!

Michael - I enjoyed your website very much. My favorite images were the polaroids and the color portraits in the butterfly effect project (also, it is a very moving project that you have undertaken, thank you for your honest and revealing description). I want to go back and look at the portraits again in a non sleep deprived state, but I found especially the two author portraits compelling, and the group portrait was very well captured. Thanks for sharing your work and your personal insights!

-what behel said

Great! The perfect depiction of our endless bureaucracy and the world that it forces us to live in, very well aestheticized (if that's a word... :) )

Not every image is about flexing our photographic muscles. Sometimes we just want to record and disseminate information or ideas. They need not even be "our own," ideas to form an important part of our photographic objective. Moreover, isn't "politics" always bound up to a certain extent, in the photographer's project?

 

"The most political decision you make is where you direct people's eyes. In other words, what you show people, day in and day out, is political....And the most politically indoctrinating thing you can do to a human being is to show him, every day, that there can be no change."

 

-Wim Wenders, The Act of Seeing , quoted in: David Levi Strauss, Between the Eyes: Essays on Photography and Politics, 2003:Aperture Foundation, Inc.

 

Just a little food for thought...

yeah, maybe i can cheat and use PS to correct the perspective... :)