“It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the extraordinary.” David Bailey Today was an open session and Jim Staub presented his essay on this years "Chalk Festival" here in Pasadena. Jim's focus of this essay was not so much on the festivals chalk drawings but on the creators as they worked and the people who came to watch them. As usual his composition prompted comment and discussion. Below is a gallery of some of his images. We discussed two websites... Aline Smithson's "Lens/Scratch".... http://lenscratch.com The second website was sent by Carel earlier this week... "The Anonymous Project" Ever growing collection of curated slides from around the world: http://www.anonymous-project.com/photos/ There is also a video in which the collector explains what they are doing: https://vimeo.com/254176222 Bill noted a new book.. "Old in Art School" by Nell Painter...an older academic woman of color tries to have a second career in art. Her book is about her adventures at the Rhode Island School of Design
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abstraction requires top down processing in the brain and requires memory, emotion, empathy without the constraints of familiar identity of things Today was an open session after a two week hiatus from f8 Pasadena. The conversation went from the artistic to the technical. First, Joe showed his images from Valley Lumber & Millwork...his narrative and a few of his images are below: "Valley Lumber & Millwork, formally J.H Jorgensen & Sons is a hardware, lumber and millwork shop in Ferndale California that has been in business since the 1940’s and possibly earlier. Want makes it special is the how in the early days of operation, the millwork equipment was powered from a central power source thru a system of overhead belts and pulleys that can still be observed in the back of the store. As a hardware and lumber store it still provides vast amount hardware and lumber needs to the local dairy, farming and ranching communities near by." Recently Cyndi visited Ellis Island and took the “Hard Hat Tour” of the abandoned General Hospital medical facility. Her narrative and images are below "The General Hospital on Ellis Island was one of the most prestigious in the country at the time. Quarantine wards, a morgue, operating rooms, and staff housing made up the complex. The hospital treated an “incredible range of diseases including tuberculosis, cholera, trachoma, and diphtheria, to tropical diseases imported from the opposite side of the earth. Over 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island. Arriving in a less-than-ideal state of health, physically or mentally, meant being subject to potential deportation. How did someone get admitted to Ellis Island’s hospital? On-the-spot medical exams took place for all incoming immigrants in the Registry Room of the main building across the channel. The Ellis Island General Hospital went out of commission in the mid 50’s and was neglected for years, Today, the Historically Landmarked buildings cannot be torn down, yet there is no money for restoration and repairs. The goal of the Save Ellis Island Foundation, in part by running the “Hard Hat Tour” is to raise this money for these preservation efforts." Bill showed several new abstracts....no narrative necessary Rod shared two items of gear for previsualization and lens selection for 4x5 shooters. one was a Fred Picker viewing filter. The delicate series 90 wratten gel filter is encased in durable plastic. It allows one to frame a 4x5 image and moves colors in the scene toward the tones that would appear in a black and white print. The other item, was a Linhof adjustable multifocal viewfinder for 4x5 cameras. Howard talked about "Blindspot"...Teju Cole's newest book...we previously had discussed this work several months ago. Coles work as a conceptual photographer is remarkable
Still Life - A Discussion Today we tackled the issue of still life photography...first with a definition Still life photography is a genre of photography used for the depiction of inanimate subject matter, typically a small group of objects. It is the application of photography to the still life artistic style. An arrangement of objects or single object Then we added some caveats ... Inanimate means not alive, especially not in the manner of animals and humans. We contrasted found vs created still life We then talked of the necessity of juxtaposition Putting bounds on the photographers vision In the end, we agreed it was easy to identify "still life" photographs using the adage "you know it when you see it"...and with that we reviewed the images brought to the meeting today. Trying my best as curator and interpreter of the definition, I am presenting one image from all who contributed to the meeting Below are two links
You Tube Lecture on Still Life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6bnfOOYYNA Joel Myerwitz still life in Czanne’s studio https://hyperallergic.com/409248/cezannes-objects-joel-meyerowitz/ |
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