Pause. Stop. Play.

We're All Gonna Die

2010-07-11T10:28:00.000-07:00

We're All Gonna Die - 100 meters of existence. Love this too much, but it has to be viewed in its original presentation. Because I have crappy internet, a measure of how much something intrigues me is whether or not I can be bothered to wait for a page to load. And I waited for this one.

Simon Høgsberg (also spelt Simon Hoegsberg) - whose work reminds me of Julian Germain's if only because of its sheer simplicity and the intimacy it creates between the people being photographed and the viewer.

I really liked this project, and then I saw Faces of New York -- I felt like crying a little, but I'm not sure why.

letters from a jilted lover

2010-05-17T22:36:00.000-07:00

This is probably one of my favourite titles of a photo essay. I have grown slightly weary with poetic and lyrical writing from the subcontinent, but this one still resonates. Asim Rafiqui is a amazing, and I hope to meet him someday.

Quetta, 2007

Letters from a jilted lover
Asim Rafiqui

Pakistan is one of the most photographed but least seen countries in the world. Thousands of photographers have passed through here with eyes that are intense, sensationalist but narrow. As a consequence, it is also one of the least understood countries in the world.

Its citizens have a troubled and contradictory relationship with it. They lament the state of the country but never stop believing in a better tomorrow. They are frequently overcome by despair, and yet continue to find ways to speak of possibilities. It is a relationship that is heart breaking and yet always true.

Even those who leave or place themselves in a self-imposed exile elsewhere, cannot simply walk away, put away the feelings, stop the pain, or block the hopes. It is a turbulent love affair, and for some a destructive one.

We all keep coming back though. I keep coming back; looking, seeing, feeling and making small, personal pictures that are each like a letter to a callous lover; gentle, complaining, asking for nothing but always offering myself if I would just be given an opportunity.

before and after

2010-05-16T22:09:00.000-07:00

Hmm.

Thousands of young Iranians proclaimed "Death to America" as they celebrated the 28th anniversary of the storming of the US embassy in Tehran by student radicals. A massive crowd, composed mainly of school children bussed in to central Tehran, gathered outside the site of the former US embassy. Tehran, Iran - November 2007
© Alfred Yaghobzadeh, Iran 1979-2009

Iranian women passes by in front of former U.S. embassy during protest to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. Embassy when militant students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4, 1979, and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. Tehran, Iran, Nov. 4, 2003.
© Javad Montezeri / Drik / Majority World

Pieter Hugo

2010-05-15T21:26:00.000-07:00

Against my will, I've been completely drawn into this series of portraits by Pieter Hugo - soon to be shown at Michael Stevenson's gallery in S. Africa.

On a sidenote - my dreams of S. Africa has been postponed till next year. That's a (relatively) long time to wait for something that I want now.

Anyway.

Garuba Yawu with Mora, Ogere-Remo, Nigeria 2007

Mallam Galadima Ahmadu with Jamis, Abuja, Nigeria 2007

Abdullahi Mohammed with Mainasara, Ogere-Remo, Nigeria 2007

A brief search on Hugo's page made me realise that I may soon be obsessed with him and his work. First of all - there is no biography on his page. A photographer who doesn't want to reveal anything about himself? I think I'm in love.

There's a lot to be said about his work and the idea of representation. In his other work, portraits of people who have died of AIDS, portraits of people with albinism -- there seems to be such a raw, honest attempt to document, and in that process of documentation, to understand. The simplicity of his work leaves it uncoloured by all contemporary musings of the politics of representation, and thus somehow, above it all.

I'm not sure if I make sense.

And the way he writes about his work - just yesterday I had been banging the table trying to tell a young photographer here, stop creating work to please others, start doing things for yourself. An important part of that process, I feel, is in the writing. I enjoy self-awareness in writing, and that fine balance between confidence and humility.

The spectacle caused by this group walking down busy market streets was overwhelming. I tried photographing this but failed, perhaps because I wasn't interested in their performances. I realised that what I found fascinating was the hybridisation of the urban and the wild, and the paradoxical relationship that the handlers have with their animals - sometimes doting and affectionate, sometimes brutal and cruel.

I agreed to travel with the animal wranglers to Kanu in the northern part of the country. One of them set out to negotiate a fare with a taxi driver; everyone else, including myself and the hyenas, monkeys and rock pythons, hid in the bushes. When their companion signalled that he had agreed on a fare, the motley troupe of humans and animals leapt out from behind the bushes and jumped into the vehicle. The taxi driver was completely horrified. I sat upfront with a monkey and the driver. He drove like an absolute maniac. At one stage the monkey was terrified by his driving. It grabbed hold of my leg and stared into my eyes. I could see its fear.

Europeans invariably only ask about the welfare of the animals but this question misses the point. Instead, perhaps, we could ask why these performers need to catch wild animals to make a living. Or why they are economically marginalised. Or why Nigeria, the world's sixth largest exporter of oil, is in such a state of disarray.

Like I said, I think I'm in love.

above us only sky

2010-05-07T06:32:00.000-07:00

Slow steps.

2010-05-04T15:02:00.000-07:00

Not really a post about photos, but a post by an artist who has intrigued and engaged me all day.

Jan 11

I wrote this. I wrote this when I was twenty-two years old, right before I got married, right after my partner scraped together $400 to fly to California to live on a boat with me and drive all night to Las Vegas and drink hard drinks in Laguna Beach at ten in the morning and I posted it on Livejournal when I had a very public and alarmingly popular one. That was more than seven years ago and this past fall someone transcribed it, made it into a JPG and suddenly it was on ffffound and even more suddenly after that it was on thousands of people’s blogs. Literally thousands. But it was credited to Anonymous, which I guess is understandable since seven years is a long time to keep track of who wrote something on a Livejournal. My friend Erin found and told me about it, she had remember it all those years, and at first I was so embarrassed. Of everything I’ve made why did it have to be this melodramatic thing, made before I really knew anything at all? IT IS SO MELODRAMATIC. But my possessiveness is greater than my self-consciousness because when I see that some people weren’t even going along with Anonymous but saying they wrote it themselves I kind of want to claw their eyes out. It’s my melodrama. (Although one person credited it to Harvey Milk and that was the best)

Anyway, I wrote that.

A blog post by Helena Kvarnström, whose novella I really want to read.

usual suspects

2010-05-01T19:52:00.000-07:00

The Usual Suspects, by Karrin Anderson

never to young to learn how to kill

2010-04-27T07:27:00.000-07:00

Interesting take on the warrior child vs. the child-like warrior.

Ali Ali/EPA/WSJ

Craig F. Walker/Denver Post

Had really liked Walker's essay on this young American soldier. The boy's had a longer relationship with Fisher than his new bride!

Military Camp, Arpad Kurucz

time and space

2010-04-26T20:23:00.000-07:00

John Clang's exploration of shifting time in urban landscapes seems a lot less political - but then again may be I politicised Sam's work in my own head because the subject matter is a lot closer to my heart.

Which reminds me of of Sam Kang Li's work on Multipl-city:

But I would argue that the fragmented figures in Clang's work doesn't help evoke any intimacy - the jarring cut outs is anything but subtle perhaps. To that end, Sam's work technical execution is perhaps more successful in accomplishing that, although it does lack the layered depth of Clang's.

conscious seeds of this delight

2010-04-25T23:37:00.001-07:00

I have too much love for this Duane Michals photo right now.

Too much.

Artwork$

2010-04-25T23:36:00.001-07:00

Who says you can't put a price on art?

EUGÈNE ATGET (1857-1927)

Joueur d'Orgue, c. 1898-1899
USD$686,500 (Christie's)

EDWARD WESTON
1886-1958
NAUTILUS
USD$1,082,500 (Sotheby's)

DAVID LACHAPELLE
Last Supper (Jesus is my Homeboy), 2003
USD$134,500 (Phillips de Pury)

2010-03-15T02:24:00.000-07:00

Whenever I need a break, I just click through FFFFound!

Random loves.

Campaign by Big Ant International for Global Coalition for Peace

By Ben

By Karin Bubas

Oh Ripley.

Just found out that a friend of mine knows Gohar Dashti! I squealed too loud.

Gohar Dashti

2009-09-27T00:54:00.000-07:00

I'm in love.

First found off lensculture's write up on upcoming Photoquai festival directed by Anahita Ghabaian Etehadieh.

More here:

Iranian photographer Gohar Dashti was born in 1980 after the Islamic Revolution. Her photographs reflect a post-war generation couple in Iran who are symbolic of the times. Because the Revolution never resolved issues of social poverty and the ensuing war with Iraq derailed their social prospects, this was a time of isolation and unprecedented despair. Dashti’s generation has inherited the legacy of war and continues to be entangled in the memories and related realities. Her photographs represent this heritage of violence and how it permeates all aspects of contemporary society by depicting a couple in a fictionalized battlefield as they interact with the everyday—for instance, watching television, surfing on the Internet, or celebrating a wedding. While her couple does not visibly express emotion, the pair nevertheless has a sense of perseverance, determination and survival. Dashti creates moments that capture the irony and ongoing duality of life and war without precluding the possibility of hope.

Me Too

2009-09-25T22:22:00.000-07:00

Rich and Poor. 1982.

MAGNUM/Jim Goldberg

Magnum Print Room, London
23 September - 6 November 2009

Rich and Poor confronts the myth of the American dream with the harsh economic reality of the American class system. Yet this documentary is more complex than that, for by including the protagonists’ voices in the form of text on his images Goldberg represents not just the polarity of class but the particularity of human experience.

20 Years of Drik

2009-09-04T20:39:00.001-07:00

20 Years of Drik

Twenty years.

How does one articulate a history spanning two decades in a few lines? The truth is, you can’t. Which is why we are sharing with you some of our proudest moments in the best way we know how - with images.

Far Eastern Economic Review

Time Magazine

Care International Annual Report

OXFAM Annual Report

This exhibition is not about the number of years that have passed, but the milestones achieved and the battles won. It is about the new paths we have forged from the unlikely location of Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh.

While we try to show cherished snippets of our past, there are others that we have to keep in our memory. The people who have helped us, the mistakes we made, the things we had to believe in with all our heart - these things are more challenging to visualise, but just as important.

Drik was set up to be a platform for voices from the majority world, and on this special occasion, we are proud to introduce the first in the Golam Kasem Daddy Lecture Series.

Twenty years.

For some, it could seem like an eternity. For us, this is just the beginning.

All images by Shahidul Alam / Drik / Majority World

Perspective

2009-08-16T21:26:00.001-07:00

Many apologies for the lack of credits, but I can't seem to find the name of the photographer.

Came across another photo that seems to be extremely popular:

Laurent Dejente

First seen via Smashing Magazine

Considering the wide variety of websites that took the liberty of re-publishing the photo above, I couldn't believe how long it took for me to find out who the photographer was.

But ah, happy sleuthing indeed, as it turns out the photo is from Dejente's series Torticolis. Can't seem to find a good write-up in English, but his other series Stations is rather similar.

Images and biography from Galerie Le Réverbère, Lyon.

Laurent Dejente was born in Sedan on October 2, 1961. He lives and works between Lille and Marseille.

Having recently moved to Lille, Laurent Dejente took part in the 2005 edition of the Transphotographiques festival, then exhibited at Le Réverbère gallery during the Lyon Contemporary Art Biennale, presenting his new series, Stations, which revolutionizes conventional perception and destabilizes the perceptual framework of our organization of reality. "In this latest work, in addition to a critical reflection on the artificiality of nature and the dehumanization of the subject, Laurent Dejente's photography attains the status of a bewitching, fantastic tale—it becomes mythology. "

The $30 Cover Photo

2009-08-11T22:43:00.000-07:00

Photographer Robert Lam received a whopping US$30 when Time magazine purchased his photo for their cover (above) through iStockphoto. The irony is not lost on me.

More reactions found here and here. The folks at Visual Editors has a nice summary of links about this issue (including the Twitter bird).

I'm scared. Just a while back a client asked for a 50% discount on images to be used for an international MNC for a country-wide ad campaign. I guarantee you the first local company here which goes royalty-free is either going to be very, very successful, or/and have its office premises burnt down. Ho hum.

Brassai

2009-08-10T02:58:00.000-07:00

Brassai is regarded as the photographer whose pictures form the basis upon which many non-Parisians' ideas about Paris are formed. His best known work consists of night scenes of "the City of Lights" in the 1930s, including photographs of the architecture; people in cafes and bars; workers who kept the city going after dark; clochoards who lived under the bridges; and performers, artists, and writers of the period... Brassai became fascinated with the nightlife he saw around him, both on the streets and in public gathering places. He claimed that the images he saw haunted him; recording them became something of an obsession. Although he was a skilful painter, he found the medium too time consuming and lacking immediacy.

via Egodesign.ca

Gulistan

2009-08-07T23:05:00.000-07:00

Random scenes from Gulistan, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Found an interesting series of articles titled Gulistan in my mind by Jaffor Ullah. Gulistan,

2009-08-07T20:22:00.000-07:00

Grandma & Grandpa, 1945

Via FFFFound!

2009-08-07T09:13:00.000-07:00

Insight is a fashion lead surf label, born out of the northern beaches of Sydney, Australia. They come from a surf heritage yet lead a lifestyle that encompasses all that is surf, skate, street, art, music, fashion, and popular culture. Take a look at their newest and amazing surf campaigns called “Good Morning Pluto” and “Dopamine”. Photographer Dustin Humphrey.

Cannes Lion 2009

2009-08-01T19:05:00.000-07:00

My favourites.

“Trillion Dollar Posters” sets a strong message by using money as the medium for a series of posters for The Zimbabwean newspaper by TBWA\HUNT\LASCARIS.

Stationary and business cards for India-based cricket academy by Red Lion Publicis, using broken windows to evoke nostalgia for the beloved game.

Soft Spot

2009-07-29T23:14:00.000-07:00

Always had a thing for the apocalyptic.

via Pink Tentacle

Hisaharu Motoda’s “Neo-Ruins” series of lithographs depict the cityscape of a post-apocalyptic Tokyo, where familiar streets lie deserted, the buildings are crumbling and weeds grow from the broken pavement. The antique look of the lithographic medium effectively amps up the eeriness of the futuristic setting. “In Neo-Ruins I wanted to capture both a sense of the world’s past and of the world’s future,” says Motoda on his website.

[Link: Hisaharu Motoda]

Interesting

2009-07-26T21:23:00.000-07:00

I did find it strange that that the photos from the last post had been found on Corbis. Words to keep in mind as I, erm, handle the situation here. This was written in 2000, and I wonder what he thinks of the system now. From The Digital Journalist:

What Corbis Did to Sygma
(or, We Had to Destroy the Agency in Order to Save It)

by Allan Tannenbaum
an ex-Sygma photojournalist

... In addition, in order to gain market share against Getty and other competitors, Corbis is cutting prices it charges to license photos. This results in lower sales reports for all photographers. Despite the efficiencies of modern digital image transmission, Corbis still wants a third of foreign office sales, leaving photographers with only 33% of a sale in France, not 50%. Corbis is attempting to make mass deals with magazines like Time, where the magazine would get unlimited use of Corbis photographs for one yearly fee, thus saving both parties enormous accounting costs. The effect on photographers' income would be devastating. How long before there is a Corbis button on Microsoft Internet Explorer, where you can get free photographic wallpaper or screensavers? Corbis is trying to be a one-stop photo shopping mall for everything from $3.95 term paper illustrations, to royalty-free stock images, to cheap framed prints to photojournalism!

... In the short time since I left, I found that there are lots of options, such as agencies that are managed on a human scale, a more personal basis, run by people who respect photography and photographers. There are many at magazines who don't like the way Corbis does business, and who like to work directly with photographers. The Internet is as accessible to individual photographers willing to use it as it is to Corbis. There will be new alignments, organizations, and opportunities in this time of flux. The spin-doctors at Corbis try to infer that the photographers who are dissatisfied with Corbis aren't willing to change in the digital age. Many of us have been using computers for years - I've been online since 1985. We are all well versed in scanning and sending digital photo files, have worked with digital cameras, and use the Internet for everything. We photojournalists have always been adaptable - we just don't want to adapt to our own extinction.

2009-07-26T02:59:00.000-07:00

IVORY COAST, Bouaké : A picture taken 06 October 2002 by Agence France Presse French photographer Georges Gobet shows Ivory Coast rebels threatening a loyalist fighter they have just captured on a patrol on the perimeter of occupied Bouake. GEORGES GOBET/AFP

I think I came across this photo in 2002 or 2003. I'm not sure how I stumbled upon it, and it was only a while later that I found out it had won a prize in the WPP awards (Spot News, 1st Prize). I've always thought that to be unfortunate in the sense that the award usurped the original context of the image. Even now, when I search the internet, I find this photo being used in articles about WPP and not about the conflict in Ivory Coast -- apparently the award is more newsworthy than war.

I guess all photos that win a major award are destined for this fate, and I'm not sure how photographers feel about it.

I thought about this photo after watched Johnny Mad Dog yesterday, a film about child soldiers in an unnamed African country. I found out today out that the young actors were actually former child soldiers, adding to the realism of the film which was greatly enhanced by the photographs shown during the end credits - images of child soldiers in Liberia, taken by French photographer Patrick Robert.

I'm not sure if the last photo was placed last on purpose, but when I saw it I couldn't help but gasp:

What a fantastic way to reclaim the context of an image which had been utterly destroyed by United Colors of Benetton. The image had been used for one of their ads in 1992, and this is all the company's website says:

The image of a black soldier who, taken from behind with a Kalashnikov slung over his shoulder, claps a human thigh-bone represents a terrible vision that arouses anxious questions about colonialism, racism and cultural poverty

They were right. I did have anxious questions, such as: Who is the photographer? Where was this photo taken? And when? Who's the person in the photo? What the hell is going on? Questions, I suppose, I was encouraged to ask but not be given the answer to. Here's the original caption (more photos to be found on Corbis):

Civil War in Liberia - June 05, 1990, Gborplay, Liberia.
A young recruit for the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) grasps a human leg bone while at a training camp in Gborplay, Liberia. Responding to years of government corruption and oppression, in 1989 the NPFL launched a revolt against President Samuel Doe, seizing control of much of Liberia and plunging the country into massive civil war until 1996.

I seriously have no idea how UCB managed to render such an photograph into a stock image.

Assortments

2009-07-25T21:06:00.000-07:00

All from FFFFOUND!

People

2009-07-11T22:13:00.000-07:00

From latest issue of lens culture:

Women at Work
photographs and text by
Joel Gräfnings

All the chosen subjects are women who work in male-dominant environments and professions. The professions are also all of a nature that demands work uniforms in the form of protective clothing. I’ve taken two photos of each subject, one before the work-shift and one after...

The picture pairs play an important role in showing the change in the subjects, not only through the most obvious – the clothes getting dirty – but also through more subtle changes in expressions and so forth. I’m trying to grasp something that concerns the change in gender roles in our society. The uniforms of the male-dominant professions hide the femininity of these women and their appearance is quite androgynous.

Everyone My Brother Knows in Girdwood, Alaska
photographs and text by
Laura Domela

They say people live in Alaska for a variety of reasons – maybe they were raised there and they choose to stay close to home, maybe they go there to get closer to nature, perhaps they move there in an attempt to get off the grid, seeking refuge from some aspect of more mainstream society. Whatever their motivations, these people form a unique tribe – one with a quirky combination of self-imposed semi-isolation and worldly awareness.

Negatives Are To Be Stored
photographs by
Stefania Gurdowa

Eleven years ago, in the attic of a tenement house in the town of Debica, more than 1,000 damaged glass negative plates were discovered. Most of them depicted expressive portraits of anonymous individuals who lived in the neighborhood during the 20s and 30s...

Only a fragment of her art endures, together with a question without an answer: who hid a collection of glass plates behind a wall in the attic of her workshop in Debica? Perhaps it was her own decision to preserve them this way. As a responsible professional, she must have been aware of the rule that “negatives are to be stored”.

Antidote to Modern Living

2009-07-11T10:40:00.000-07:00

It is slightly embarassing, but I am rather obsessed with Julian Germain's work right now. I'm only mentioning one here, but I expect I'll be raving about the others soon.

I had the sheer dumb luck of spending a bit of time with Julian while he was here recently. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that a person of such gentle nature produced the most tender and affectionate work I've ever seen.

From 'For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness'- a beautiful book published by SteidlMack in 2005.

"I met Charles Albert Lucien Snelling on a Saturday in April, 1992. He lived in a typical two up two down terraced house amongst many other two up two down terraced houses… It was yellow and orange. In that respect it was totally different from every other house on the street…. ….Charlie was a simple, gentle, man. He loved flowers and the names of flowers. He loved colour and surrounded himself with colour. He loved his wife. Without ever trying or intending to, he showed me that the most important things in life cost nothing at all. He was my antidote to modern living."

Julian mentioned that Charlie was everyone's favourite. I'm sure that there's a good intellectual explanation for this, but I'll not particularly interested in that. For me, his work with Charlie is particularly painful and bittersweet. I have only one regret in my life so far -- not an exaggeration -- that I did not get around to photographing my great-grandmother before she passed. She was my antidote to modern living, and I had utterly failed to preserve the memory of her. She deserved that, at the very least.

Too much of a good thing

2009-07-10T23:53:00.001-07:00

I always liked the idea of using the same object in order to impose the idea of equality.

The Red Couch
Horst Wackerbarth

From Artlurker:

Billed as a gallery of mankind, the project (which has been in development some thirty years) presents a dynamic cross section of the human race with each subject photographed on or with some component of the couch in settings whose geography and manifest impact vary as much as their inhabitants’ respective careers or life stories.

Somehow I liked the project better in the earlier, smaller form of The Red Couch: A Portrait of America. Feels more intimate, in a way, and less vast.

And then there was the Pink Man series (1997-2004) by Manit Sriwanichpoom, although he used repetition for a totally different reason:

And Anay Mann used a foldable chair. The most politicised out of the three, it seems. But then again, what do I know. From Photoink gallery in New Delhi:

Equal Dreams: Portraits of Indians. (Photos from here)

There's another project lurking -- one which involved a pair of gold stilettos in various locations all over Europe, but for the life of me I simply cannot remember who did it or where I saw it.