another lonely man
This is a tumblelog, kinda like a blog but with short-form, mixed-media posts with stuff I like. Scroll down a bit to start reading, or a bit more to read more about me.
Tomona Hayashi, the most recent member of the artist-run Third District Gallery in Shinjuku is holding an exhibition entitled 「消える前に」Before it Vanishes until May 5th.
At my show last month she stopped by with a stack of 5x7’s and her Konica Hexar, and it was interesting to see how she put this show together from the images we looked at a few weeks ago. Tomona approaches and engages in life with her camera. I feel like I say a variation of that sentence every time I talk about an exhibition on this site but it’s true, and honest. And interesting, which is the point of everything, I think. Tomona is an interesting person and good friend. Her pictures are hers, and that’s all they or anyone elses’ need to be. Some photographers like to moan “oh well everything’s already been photographed”- but you know what, it hasn’t. No one has ever photographed something that hasn’t happened yet. I’ll personally be photographing tomorrow, and next week, and long into the foreseeable future. Stuff is going to happen because that is how life works.
On the LBM Tumblr (which you really ought to follow) Alec Soth posted a question he recently asked William Eggleston:
*********************
Alec Soth: A few years ago Robert Frank said, “There are too many images, too many cameras now. We’re all being watched. It gets sillier and sillier. As if all action is meaningful. Nothing is really all that special. It’s just life. If all moments are recorded, then nothing is beautiful and maybe photography isn’t an art any more. Maybe it never was.” What do you think about this?
William Eggleston: I don’t disagree with any part of that statement.
*********************
Neither do I - and since our lives and the world around us is still continuing and because we all have all these cameras then why not keep on looking and living? I am convinced that this whole deal really is less about Art and more about Living. Or at least the Art is best when it follows life.
Pictures are the byproducts, the proof.
The fact that they look pretty sharp matted and framed is indeed a happy fact.
The fact that Tomona’s are so good is even better.
—————————-
What: 「消える前に」Before it Vanishes
Who: Tomona Hayashi
Where: Third District Gallery, Shinjuku
When: April 23 - May 5, open 1pm-8pm
See Through - a set of photos
Hi everyone I have a new set of photos called “See Through”. The idea is that I’m not directly looking for or at the subject, its being seen through something else. Whether it be a window of a street car, alleyway, ect. It was the perfect balance of planning a shot out and having things happen by chance. It was a difficult challenge but It was fun and rewarding. Hope you like it!
James Ellis
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrelllis/sets/72157632928375462/show/
攝影的政治性
文 / 郭力昕 (原文出自VOP攝影之聲#6 {再寫攝影} 專欄)
怎樣的攝影具有政治性？這是一個難以清楚界定的問題，因為對「政治性」的定義或理解，可以嚴謹或寬鬆，而通過攝影表現政治話語的方式，則包羅萬象。不過，針對政治事件或者政治題材的照片，卻不一定有政治性。談到攝影的政治性時，我經常援引蘇珊‧桑塔格《論攝影》的首篇文字〈在柏拉圖的洞穴裡〉，對攝影與理解或認識（understanding）之間的尖銳看法。我於此不厭其煩地再引述一次她的立論：攝影暗示，如果我們按攝影所紀錄的世界來接受世界，則我們就理解世界。但這恰恰是理解的反面，因為理解始於不把表面上的世界當作世界來接受。理解的一切可能都根植於有能力說不。嚴格地講，我們永遠無法從一張照片理解任何事情。當然，照片填補我們腦中現在和過去的諸多畫面裡的空白…。然而，相機所表述的現實必然總是隱藏多於暴露。…只有敘述的東西才能使我們理解。具有意義的政治性訊息，必須來自對事物的理解，而非對事物的籠統印象或情緒反應。理解通常得通過敘述（narration），而非只是「畫面」本身的視覺感染。而當攝影――搶快門的抓拍攝影――如羅蘭‧巴特所認為的，並非一種敘事（narrative）形式、而是一種「魔術」時，理解即比較難以通過攝影達成。這是桑塔格早期的寫作裡，如此斷然地認為攝影只能看到世界的表象、無法深入真實的複雜紋理之故。桑塔格的意見也許過於斷然，尤其當今日的許多攝影實踐裡，可以充分看到影像符號表徵真實的穿透力或分析力，並非毫無政治話語的可能。但是，她早年的尖銳洞見，於我們思索攝影的政治性時，仍提供了有價值的參照。
