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Early springtime is hitting Sweden as of now; it’s still a bit chilly but if you find the right spots, you can still take of your coat and sit for a while in the sunshine and enjoy the moment. This means that suddenly there’s actual daylight! Beautiful, sunny daylight! That means more hours per day of possible photography.
I really love to photograph people. I can not stress that enough. But I am always terrified of missing the moment, not being able enough, and loosing the shots. So, I’m in desperate need of practice, so that I start feel comfortable with it, you know, to get rid of the nerves.
So this weekend I had the fantastic opportunity to take a few shots of my friend Cecilia, an opportunity for which I am very grateful (Most people I know, while not very shy at all, do not want to have their picture taken).
Just being out in the sunshine was great, a big burst of energy, but also, it was a lot of fun just walking around finding new spot to shoot in, and I really got a lot of time to mess about with the settings on my SLR.
Below are two of my absolute favourite shots. I feel rather proud of them, and this is the reason: I have known Cecilia for ten years. She is a beautiful girl. And I feel that I have a caught a moment when she is feeling happy and beautiful herself. And that’s my favourite part of photographing people.
This post is cross posted at jenandtricks.com
As I’ve started learning my camera and have taken more pictures, my mind is more in picture mode ever day. I see more things I want to take photographs of, I see more things I find interesting in different ways, but I can’t always say why. What triggers that impulse to lift the camera and take a shot? Light, situation, contrast, patterns? Looks like my hard drive will soon be filled up with mundane photos that aren’t interesting to anyone else than me. But that’s why I do it, I suppose. I take the photos because I like them and the act itself fills me with childish joy. I take them for me. It makes me happy.
This was shot at Vasabron in Stockholm a couple of weekends ago. It was one of the first really bright winter days, took this picture from underneath the bridge.
Russian wild life photographer Sergey Gorshkov has spent six years following the bears in the forests around Kurile Lake in Kamchatka, Russia. He also visits the Okavango Delta in Africa several times every year. He likes to get really close the animals, my mind boggles at the thought. He says himself: “’I have got as close to the bears in the wild as you could in the zoo. It is only now, looking back I realise how dangerous it was” (quote from the Guardian, which has also published a series of the photographs).
The Russian Geographical Society has a nice translated interview with Gorshkov, that I found to be rather inspiring. he beliefs that photography can change minds, and talks about the impact a photograph can have, how some photographer’s work have actually lead to sensitive geographical areas being turned into a nature reserve. This is his advice to budding photographers:
“You shouldn’t seek popularity and fame. You should enjoy what you do, and then, when you start taking good pictures, you’ll certainly get noticed. You shouldn’t keep pictures which are of no photographic value. Out of a hundred shots you may keep just one, which is really worth it, which is the best. The rest should be deleted. Keep and show only your best photos. And you should learn to wait and be patient.”
“Sharpness is a bourgeois concept.”
Henri Cartier-Bresson
I’m partly writing this post to comfort myself, because I am an expert at taking un-sharp photos, and thus I’m preparing myself to maybe post the blurry photos I took yesterday (I really need to invest in a proper tripod). I’m also writing it because I’m getting more and more interested in the history of photography and this is a funny side note I found while surfing websites in search of some of famous photographs.
As mentioned before I’ve been watching a documentary on photographic history, and find myself fascinated, hence the scouring of The Internetz for the photos. I felt I wanted to follow up some of the things I thought was inspiring or appealing.
I stumbled on a picture in a blog called Iconic Photos, and felt rather pleased with myself that I actually recognised it, because I wouldn’t have just a week ago.
It was great reading a bit about Henri Cartier-Bresson, but what I’ve spent way to much time on this evening is the link it referred to at the end of the blog post.
At one point someone posted the picture in a Flickr group for public criticism, where people vote if it should be deleted or not. But it was posted without any mention of its background or who took it. The poster named it “Mario’s Bike”.
Of course, hilarity ensues when some of the members in the group votes for it to be deleted because it’s too out of focus and un-interesting and badly composed and what-not. Helpful comments suggest for the photographer to try and use a tripod next time, should he have the chance to get a hold of Mario and take the photo again.
I mean, imagine some of the greatest and most influential photographers in history getting their work critiqued on today’s various Internet forums… (clicky)
After a few comments like that of course it’s revealed that this is an early photo taken by Cartier-Bresson, considered a classic, and the people who voted for it to get deleted gets slapped on the fingers for not knowing this. War commences.
Now: the first thing that I find interesting is how the act of posting this photo on Flickr in the way that it was done inspires such a great debate on the old “What is art?”. It really goes in all directions; it’s as heated as a debate on democracy.
The second thing is that the critique towards the photograph is the same as it was back when it was first taken. As a pioneer of photojournalism and being an advancing figure within the snapshot aesthetics and street photography, he faced the same assessment from his contemporaries.
But no matter what you think of the photograph, Cartier-Bressons did have a style that has influenced generations of photographers. He was part of a paradigm shift. He very decisively approached photography differently from those before him, he said: “I suddenly understood that a photograph could fix eternity in an instant”. He was the man who defined the decisive moment.He is a part of the canon.
For me I suspect itbecome art when it makes me think and wonder: “This made me feel something, how did this affect me?”. Personally I like the photograph very much. It does impress me and it does make an impression on me, because it makes me imagine the moment when the picture is being shot. Did he take it accidentally, on his way down the stairs? Did he stand there waiting for the right time? I like all the motion and the curves of the railing and the cobble stones. I find the perspective pleasing. And I don’t mind that there are no specifically extraordinary sharp spot to rest your eyes on. As Jason Wilson says: “the beauty just has to be enough”. (<– It’s a very good article, go read it).
All this makes me want to get out of the house more often with my camera, and there is no question about it: I will spend a lot of time taking blurry pictures. But maybe, sometimes, I will also catch something that might be worth keeping, even though it’s a bit un-sharp. Because if you don’t even try, in fear of failing, you’ll end up with a lot of nothing. I also feel I need to read “The Decisive Moment”. I think I must.
“Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.”
Ansel Adams
I stumbled on a picture in a blog called Iconic Photos, and felt rather pleased with myself that I actually recognised it, because I wouldn’t have just a week ago. It was great reading a bit about Henri Cartier-Bresson, but what I’ve spent way to much time on this evening is the link it referred to at the end of the blog post.
First snow has fallen in Stockholm. It’s OCTOBER! It feels to soon, but lovely, it started getting really muddy and grey and boring, so snow is very hopeful. Yes, I remember last year; it was so cold I thought I would never get warm again, the end of winter seemed so far away, but I also met Jed, and life got brighter and warmer and more hopeful by default.
My apartment is getting colder every day, the cat is starting to preserve warmth (well, he found a new spot in the bed from which he scarcely move, and it seems more cosy than any other place in the apartment, and it’s on my side, just by my pillow, so I have to carefully crawl into bed from the other side of the bed every night, so I don’t disturbe the cat…).
I am making christmas cards. And I am planning christmas gifts. I just don’t want to be doing all that last minute again, this year. If I could wish for something it would be a really long, relaxed, heartfelt December and a nice and calm christmas with lot’s of joy and good little pressies for my family. It’s all about planning, peeps!
It’s autumn! For real! Pretty leafs everywhere, cool crisp air, windy days, vast numbers of cups of tea (or pints of beer in a cosy pub with my boo and friends) and loads of in-door projects just waiting to get done. It makes me feel like turning on Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries”, boost the volume and venture out with my crafty tools and DO stuff!
Maybe I should craft a Valkyrie outfit. I would look awesome…
It’s a bit of an overload now, the ideas keep comin’ and I don’t get things done because I can’t focus on one thing at the time. Plus of course, there is the thing with the thing and the job that I have to go to every day that sort of messes up my spare time ;) Anyway, I try to write things down, and cross some off now and then, which brings me to a couple of pics I took the other day.
Jed bought me a couple of magazines on photography at the airport, and one of them presented this really simple idea: Do you want to take some nice photos of leafs, really close, and get all the detail? Tape them to a window. Wait for some good light. Take the pic. Done.
Simple and fun! So here are some of mine:
Jag har haft en väldigt skön sommar då jag fått ovanligt mycket sol, ovanligt mycket färg och mycket semester. Men jag älskar att hösten är här. Folk är hemma nu, det är som att komma tillbaka från sommarlovet, mer liv och rörelse, mer saker som händer!
Hösten får mig alltid att vakna. Det behövs bara en enda morgon, den där första morgonen när man kliver utanför porten och luften känns krispig och färsk. Det är som att man haft fönstren stänga hela sommaren och ställer upp dem på vädring och plötsligt kan andas.
Man får en faslig lust att vara aktiv, helt enkelt, både socialt och kreativt.
Självklart kommer jag göra ett nytt NaNoWriMo-försök igen detta år. Hittills har jag aldrig lyckats. Men jag kommer aldrig sluta försöka!
Och så finns det saker att inspireras av! Som denna utställning av Shirin Neshat t.ex.
Den iranskfödda foto- och videokonstnären Shirin Neshat berättar om samhällets kontroll av den kvinnliga sexualiteten som maktvapen. Hennes storslagna och gripande episka drama handlar om okunskap och rädsla för sexualiteten, om tabun och förtryck.
Jag kommer definitivt gå, kommer du?
OK, today’s catch while surfing around:
Through Jonathan Carroll’s Twitter I found this, Paintalicious.org, a blog with loads of interesting graphics. One post mentions Michelle Arakujo, her webpage and her blog.
Her works draw heavily upon children’s stories, characters with fantastically imaginative narratives that depict the qualities that make people unique. She’s influenced by Tim Burton, Walt Disney, Miyazaki, Kay Nielsen, Klimt, fairytales, performance art, vintage photography, music, literature, animation, silent cinema and world cultures.
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