“On which side of the platform is my train?” asked a stranger in a Jersey City depot the other day. “Well, my friend,” replied a gentleman,, “if you take the left you’ll be right; if you take the right you’ll be left.” — Weekly Mountaineer, The Dales, Oregon, January 6, 1877 " Kevin is no foamer" Today. Kevin Hass led the group and showed all the pictures that are part of his exhibit at the National Railroad Museum in Wisconsin. Kevin's exhibit has been up for almost a year and due to be removed in a few weeks. He will be donating the entire collection to the museum. There were more than 50 images both at the museum and shown today at f8. He and we discussed... how a photograph can convey power the punctums of each image his techniques in capturing trains and the environment of the genre his aesthetic the pattern of the railroad tracks themselves We learned what the term "foamer" means....a foamer is an undesirable photographer who stalks railroads and thos who work in railroads in an unrelenting way...Clearly Kevin is no foamer. The first several pictures are of the exhibit As editor, I choose 8 images either Kevin or the group esp liked or discussed at length
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“A good photograph is knowing where to stand” Ansel Adams Today's project, the last of this year was inspired by the series "The Various Lives of a Soup Can by Rene Sheret. The images showed a Campbell soup can in different states of use and non-use. This lead us to define this project to photograph just one object from different visual points of view or different states. Below are the examples shot by some of our f8'ers John started us off with his iPhone series entitled "Telegraph Poles" his narrative follows “In 1843, U.S. Congress granted American inventor Samuel Morse $30,000 to complete an experimental project. Officials wanted Morse to prove that he could transmit information at a faster rate than anyone had previously achieved, which he claimed. To accomplish this, Morse laid underground telegraph wires from the Washington D.C. Capitol Building to a Baltimore railroad station. The two buildings were about 40 miles apart.” Joe who was not present sent his images entitled "Old Metal Toy" His narrative is below “As I was walking thru my yard up north today looking at all the fallen maple leaves on the ground, I noticed one of my oldest son’s old metal toy front end loaders from Christmas 18 years ago siting on a table cover with spider webs and leaves. With the wore and chipped paint and spider webs, I thought shooting with my 40mm macro lens I could get some interesting images that at first examination could look like a real abandon loader deep out in the forest.” Jim showed his series "Coil"...a metal coil used to stir liquids in the lab Cyndi showed a series of shots of a soccer ball we entitled "Soccer Mom" since the balls were used by her children and left abandoned in her backyard Steve shot a series from one site "Lynching Memorial" in Alabama Howard showed two series of two images...the first is an "Exit Only Sign" the second a random leaf. I chosed to show the exit sign images today Kevin showed 2 images from the side of a railcar ...one in color the other B&W Finally, Bill showed images from the Norton Simon ...
Rodin / Study of Pierre De Wissant 1884-1895 for Burghers of Calais / Norton Simon (Pasadena) Today Steve Lewis led the discussion...below is his narrative
You know what they say, “when the cat’s away, the mice will play…” And so it was that in the absence of our fearless leader, those f8’rs who showed up Saturday took advantage of being without a laptop computer to set aside our usual visual presentations in favor of rich conversation and storytelling. Steve played the role of provocateur, but not before our “warm-up” conversations were extended into the session. Jim bought with him several books to offer to anyone interested in adding to our respective collections. This led to a discussion about the importance of books vs. digital print material, and a general agreement about the value of a tactile interaction with material. Rod shared experiences from his 1967-68 military tour in Korea. Steve noted the common innocence of children that he’s observed in places where poverty prevails but has not yet dampened the spirit of kids who play, laugh, and express hope before their awareness awakens. John noted the irony of how wealth and poverty/homelessness are juxtaposed in Los Angeles (as in many other places). Cyndi shared stories about her work in Japan, where she broadcast a radio show for 1-1/2 years. While in Japan, she experienced a cultural bias directed against foreign women of which she was one. This led Howard to tell the most compelling story of the day. Howard was drafted into the Army and sent to Thailand with orders to perform a certain function, but upon arrival and presentation of such orders, he was informed that there was, in fact, no need for that service. He was, instead, told he would report for ship loading and unloading. Howard, in a true Oliver Twist moment, pushed back on that possibility by stating he was college educated and could not see his talents being wasted loading ships. The order-giver looked over Howard’s papers and exclaimed, “your test scores are higher than the Base Commander’s!” Howard was told to report for an interview the next morning with the Sargent-Major (highest enlisted rank). When he arrived, he was taken in to meet the S-M, who was a big Black guy with lots of stripes and medals adorning his uniform. After listening (or pretending to) Howard for a while, he looked at him and asked, “what is your favorite song?” Howard, who was more into Rock, thought for a moment and remembered the #1 song in the States when he left was “Up, Up, and Away” by the Fifth Dimension. So that’s the song Howard offered. The S-M smiled and told Howard he could have the job as a radio host, adding that his daughter was the Florence LaRue, famous member of the Fifth Dimension. Sure enough, Howard looked at the S-M’s name badge and he was in fact LaRue. Howard proceeded to broadcast a program to 8 bases in the region. Steve then went around the room and asked members if they could name a single photograph they’d taken that remains their #1 favorite. This led to some really interesting reflection. Here is a sampling: “There is a vast difference between taking a picture and making a photograph.” Robert Heinecken First up was Howard discussing his wife's (Dr Ellen Landau's) new catalog / book on an exhibit starting next week in New York... 'SPACE POETRY:THE ACTION PAINTINGS OF MICHAEL WEST—born Corinne Michelle West—is recognized by art historians as a vocal and active participant in the development of Abstract Expressionism, bringing a highly developed personal philosophy and vision to her work. Congrats Ellen ...An example of her work is below Howard showed two abstract images he shot in New York...the image on left is a window with reflection / on right is a shot down to a roof top Joe presented some newly processed shots...he also provide some narrative which I hope will be a template we all could use as we present and I post "The bridge shots are of the bridge on highway154, San Marcos Pass Road between Santa Barbara and Solvang. The photos were taken from Stagecoach Rd, which passes under the bridge. The detailed photo of the bridge structure was to bring out the detail of the bridge while at the same time have the viewer think about just what it was they are looking at. The second image was more about the thinness of the bridge shooting across the foggy sky." "The color shot of the building with the pier in the background, and the image of the bench next to the metal gate on the pier, were shot in Capitola, CA. In the building shot I wanted to bring out the pre-dusk glow of the lavender building by both increasing the saturation of the building color and de-saturating the adjacent sand and water. The bench was shot at night using a flash, something I rarely do. I liked the emptiness of the shot, empty bench looking out into complete empty blackness and a gate opening also into blackness." Kevin talked about and showed a video about Edgar Angelone a musician and photographer ...worth 15 minutes of your time to watch...the link to the video is below and below that is an example of one of his platinum prints https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSfBNrjb6ro Bill showed several things...he passed around a print he showed electronically last week entitled "No Answer"... it prompted a discussion on the importance of the print in photography...the print should be the endpoint of all of us at f8 Bill also showed his new book "De/Faced" released at the reception for his exhibit at Girdner Studio & Gallery...image of the cover is below. It's $40 either at the gallery or directly from me. Here is a link to Bill's updated website.... / billwishner.com
"I embrace the abstract in photography and exist on a few bits of order extracted from the chaos of reality." Ralph Gibson Today we were lucky to have as a guest Bart Ross (and his son) a local photographer we all know. Bart's unique approach to processing his images that transforms them to new visual entities. Here is a short two minute video describing his technique https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uSIxTQlZDk Steve Lewis talked about the visual underpinning of Bart's work... Euclidean Plane Isometry Below is a wikipedia link to the description https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclidean_plane_isometry Bart showed numerous examples of his art creations that prompted group discussion of interpretation of the final images....below are 4 examples of his final transformations Check out Bart's website
BartRoss.com “There is some mysterious process at work here which I don’t even want to understand” Philip Guston Before we discuss and see our images today, two things: Philip Guston was a painter, not a photographer; the abstract photographic image on our homepage is from Bill Wishner...more of both as the blog today unfolds. First, Philip Guston who was a prolific painter and a muralist for the WPA. Hauser & Wurth Gallery in the ArtsDistrict has an extensive retrospective on Guston on display. Bill became aware of Guston's work while he and Kathy worked at City of Hope Medical Center in the 70's. On the grounds of the center was a synagogue in which was a mural by Guston that was in need of restoration and ready to be painted over...it was ultimately saved by a generous donor, restored and remains there to this very day. Today the synagogue is used as a visitor center. While the picture below is of the almost entire mural...the greatness is in the detail which I could not capture. Some of Guston's paintings and caricatures Richard Nixon are below His daughter wrote a biography entitled "Night Studio" Now a bit of our own works...first are several images by Cyndi the fist is from a Judy Chicago exhibit the second from a Halloween event at the Nethercutt Collection in Sylmar Finally two contributions fro Bill...the first is an single image of telephone from an earlier time. The second is a before (on left) and after (on right) image derived from a wall image converted to abstract by a bit of computer wizardry
Today's meeting was an open session...lots of photography and discussion Charley showed some street photography images...two images of his set are below Joe showed some images he shot at the Huntington Library's exhibit on light bulbs...after discussion we renamed the images as a Rorschach test..judge for yourself The last image from this series is side by side with an image Bill did of the light bulbs several years ago...Bill's image was in color and done as a watercolor rendition Next to show was John who had set of nudes he did several years ago and his collages done on his iphone..unfortunately don't have the nudes at the time I posted this blog post Kevin brought in several framed pieces from hie always growing railroad series...one of which is below This image is from a mailcar...Keving described how this car was used while traveling the rails Steve show an abstract and discussed the accidental way he captued the image....side by side with the non-abstract of the same scene...they may not show well on blog site Lastly...remember the new exhibit at The Perfect Exposure Gallery in Alhambra...see below
“A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart and leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it. It is, in a word, effective.” Irving Penn Each week I usually start the meeting with some comment about our current president and his administration although I generally make no mention of our discussion in these blog pages. But today there were many comments abut this picture and its many levels of meaning to us as Americans Enough said. Thank you Cyndi for bringing this image to f8. John Holmes continues to amaze us in f8 and today was no exception...the images below were produced at PCC as part of a class John was taking. John describes the process below "This technique uses liquid silver emulsion which can be applied to a variety of surfaces. I chose water color paper because I like the texture of it. I soak the paper in hot water for an hour or so then let it dry for a couple of days. Once the paper has dried I apply a layer of Knox unflavored gelatin to the surface of the paper. These last two steps ensure that the emulsion resides on the papers surface and not absorbed into the paper. The silver emulsion can now be applied to the papers surface under a safe light and then used as any other photographic paper." Scott showed a few of his Blaine WA sunsets... Bill went to the Getty and saw Gordon Parks exhibit "Flavio" and another exhibit "Series." The Gordon Parks series was controversial with Brazil taking exception to be singled out as having slums. In fact, Brazil sent a photographer to US to photograph slums in our country as well...thos images are represented in the exhibit. We also mentioned the photographer Pedro Guerrero who famously photographed for Frank Lloyd Wright as well as Calder and Louise Nevelson. Great documentary on his career on Amazon Prime Finally, Bill showed several images from Street Photography Magazine October Issue...below is one image from the best of street photography for the month
"Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That's because they were able to connect experiences they've had and synthesize new things." Steve Jobs Today we had the pleasure of having Charles Edwards (an f8'er) and his wife, Zofia talk about their recent work as part of a group show in the Arts District they both participated in a few weeks ago. While we know about Charles' photography, we never quite understood the artistic talents of his wife Zofia.. Below are images from the group show. Charles discussed the making of the set of images using a rice paper to print then applying a copper leaf application to the image...to get the unique look to these images. Zofia discussed the creative process surrounding the pieces she made and showed. These pieces represented social, and political ideas in both the materials used and the creative outcomes. Just one example is below from her work. Check out Zofia's website and her extensive artistic career and bio: https://www.zofiah.com Cyndi has her images up at Jones...they will be there until January 1st We talked about a photographer from the UK and has agoraphobia (fear of crowds) and cannot go outside her home to use her camera...instead she trolls the internet, specifically uses Google Earth / Street View to gather pictures she now calls her own and sells them...with Google's approval it seems. Instagram @streetview.portraits From her website "Agoraphobia & anxiety limit my ability to travel, so I’ve found another way to see the world. I found a surprising and unique refuge in the creative possibilities of Google Street View. I began clicking through Google Maps to navigate to faraway countries like Mongolia, Senegal, and Chile. I found remote towns and dusty landscapes, vibrant architectural gems, and anonymous people, all frozen in time. I was intrigued by the strange and expansive parallel universe of Street View, and took screen shots to capture and preserve its hidden, magical realms." Lastly, Bill mentioned Ara Gular, called the "Eye of Istanbul"...Gular is an award winning photographer who was also a Magnum Photographer. A documentary entitled The Eye of Istanbul is well worth watching...it is available on Amazon Prime and other places on the internet. Personally I think Gular was a master of street photography and environmental portraiture. He died in 2018.
“Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshot from the photograph.” Matt Hardy Today was truly an open session with contributions from most of the folks who attended... So lets start with Chris...our analog photographer and printer who show some great digital prints on a new paper he is experimenting with...the image is entitled "New Century" see below Cyndi brought some images from the South Pasadena Car Show and also told us about the Nethercutt Collection of cars in Sylmar...below is link to site and one or two of her images from South Pas. https://www.nethercuttcollection.org The Nethercutt Collection is a multi-storied museum located in Sylmar, California, USA. Its centerpiece is its automobile collection, which has led Autoweek to call the Nethercutt Collection one of America's five greatest automobile museums. John brought in two books that contained "autochrome" images...below is the link to the Wikipedia discussion of what autochrome is...good luck in deciphering the actual process https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autochrome_Lumière The next images and narratives are about the photographers and books...the first about Heinrich Kuhn the second Jacques Lartique “German scientist and photographer Heinrich Kühn (1866-1944) was one of the central figures in the establishment of international art photography at the turn of the twentieth century. Having studied botany and medicine, Kühn made his first photograph in the late 1870s, dedicating himself solely to the medium within a decade. He achieved this dedication through the support of American photographers Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen and others” “Jacques-Henri Lartigue (1894-1986), celebrated photographer, and one of the greatest practitioners the medium has ever known, discovered the Riviera with his first camera in the company of his wealthy family when he was just eleven years old. For the rest of his life Lartigue was a regular visitor to the Cote d'Azur, taking many of his finest pictures in Nice, Cannes, Cap d'Ail, Antibes, Menton, and Monaco.” Jim brought in the current issue of Westways Magazine published by AAA...and their annual travel photography awards...we all agreed that the images were less than stellar but fit in nicely with consumer photography genre. Steve brought in several images taken at a local railyard Rene brought in a series he did 10-15 years ago on film entitled "The Various Lives of a Campbell Soup Can"...the series was 15 or so images but only two are below Bill brought in several articles including the magazine section from the New York Times that continues to support photojournalism...kudos to them. He also noted the imagery of Harry Chalfant a New York photographer who documented graffiti on the subway cars...now all but gone from these classic cars Bill also noted the exhibit at the Marian Goodman Gallery in New York of Hiroshi Sugimoto that must be the height of appropriation...Sugimoto photographed art in museums and now has an exhibit...below is an example from Marcel Duchamp's readymades...urinal Lastly in today's session, Bill noted the newest work and publication of Jessica Lange...actress and long standing photographer. Her newest work "Highway 61" just published....remember she lived with and was mentored by Robert Frank. Below the link is an image from the book.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/25/arts/design/jessica-lange-photography.html?searchResultPosition=1 |
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