West Africa Gallery

Cape Town to Dakar, see it here: http://homepage.mac.com/keithphilpott/WestAfricaGallery/index.html

Keith

Little thin people

Humor is hard to achieve in a photograph. Photos that sound funny often aren’t when you see them and things that sound mundane can sometimes get the biggest laugh. The best are visual jokes that defy description…they’re just funny to see. When I saw these carved pieces in Senegal I immediately chuckled. I quickly fired off a few frames using a 200mm lens to isolate the dark shapes against the light sand. As I walked past the shop owner quickly rearranged them.

Keith

HDR meets the Zone

Check out these amazing High Dynamic Range photos:

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/03/10/35-fantastic-hdr-pictures/

HDR images are created with multiple captures of the same subject but with optimum exposure for each dynamic range in the scene. The captures are then combined into one image using stitching software like Photoshop. This gives you perfect shadow detail in the same frame as perfect highlight detail.

I’m sure I’m not the first person to notice similarities between HDR and the Zone System. Ansel Adams and Fred Archer created the Zone System for processing B/W sheet film in the 1940’s. The system was based on the need for a systematic method of bringing exposure times, development and the photographer’s vision together. The process became Adam’s trademark and his name became linked to B/W nature photography. In theory, the Zone works for color too…except that exposure changes affect color shifts in film. HDR gives us the power to practice the Zone with color imagery and still easily control the color.

k

The third rail of photography

Every time someone messes with a photo and gets caught telling a visual fib it seems to re-ignite the debate about digital manipulation. Most recently a Chinese photographer was caught touching the third rail of photography.

A Chinese photographer (see WSJ Feb.22, 2008 p1A) has combined two images, one showing the new, $4 billion Qinghai-Xizang train and the other, Tibetan antelope galloping through the tundra. By combining these two images the photo depicts an alpine wilderness undisturbed by the shiny, high altitude train with the pressurized cabins.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-02/19/content_6464965.htm

The photo ran in newspapers first then won an award and was exhibited publicly. All hell broke loose when a curious student began to notice the footprints of Photoshop. Now the photographer has fallen on his tripod and gone to that place disgraced shooters go, presumed never to be heard from again.

I’m pretty familiar with the arguments about digital manipulation from a photographer’s perspective. But after seeing this story I wondered what other people might be thinking…photographic evidence in the courtroom for example.

There’re some interesting observations on attorney Rod McCarvel’s websitehttp://www.seanet.com/~rod/digiphot.html

Basically he says that although the photographic print looks pretty much the way it always has the fundamental process of creating it could not have changed more radically in the last few years. In the beginning, the expectation was that a scene had to exist somewhere if it was depicted in a photograph. Compared to the more subjective painting or drawing the photograph was perceived to be immune from interpretation. But with the advent of digital imaging technology, photography is much closer to the subjective painting and drawing because a scene doesn’t have to exist to be represented in a photo.

So if you take this argument into, say, the world of photojournalism photographers are now sent out to “draw and paint” the world as it is. Most journalists will try to remain objective but their photographic reportage will be subjected to more and more interpretation.

Escalating the discussion is the continued advent of user-friendly, image manipulating technology. People in the photography business have squabbling about this for the last decade but the biggest change is that consumers of imagery are beginning to see how easy it is to manipulate images by experiencing it themselves. This affects how they view all photographs.

I predict consumers of photography will grow more skeptical of the images they see. The more amazing the images appear, the more skeptical viewers will be.

But what’s really bothering me is that I seemed to have missed the part about the Chinese starting to worry about propaganda.

k

The flow of it all

Many years ago I was traveling through South Korea and had the opportunity to visit one of the country’s national treasures. This particular treasure was an actual person and the thing he did that made him treasure worthy was Chinese calligraphy (or, at least a Korean version of it).

I’ve mentally revisited the old guy several times over the years and last week during the Sundance photographers series I was back in the land of the morning calm. I was transported after hearing Henry Cartier-Bresson talk about his photography work. Although I believe Bresson cared about the photographs he created I had the feeling he cared more about the process of photography. The thing that really rocked Henry’s world was the act of making pictures…the take.
Which is why I thought of the Korean calligrapher. This man said the real joy for him was the process of creating. I had the feeling there were no production goals rather, the goal was to stay in production.

Although ink and brush are different than silver halide and glass the mental state the creators achieve is similar. Time stands still. There is a merging of action and awareness. There is a balance between ability level and challenge.

Or, as Bresson says, “The eye, mind and heart have to be aligned.”

Another word for this is flow. Coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentimihalyi, flow “is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing, characterized by a feeling or energized focus, full involvement and success in the process of activity.”

I like flow. I’m a big believer in finding your flow and going there often. Live there if you can. I can’t imagine a more satisfying pursuit…except maybe learning how to pronounce Csikszentimihalyi.

Keith

HCB: We share his photographic DNA

One of the first things I did today was log on to my Amazon account and buy “Henry Cartier-Bresson: Photographer”. During last night’s week-long Sundance series on photographers, HCB was one of two featured photographers.

I hadn’t really looked at any of his photos in a few years and at first I thought, hey, his stuff kind of looks like mine. As one of my old professors used to say, “that’s exactly right…except you’ve got it backwards.” Backwards is a little bit of an understatement as I would never place myself on the same stage with Bresson…not even in the same room.

I watched an old Bresson hold up print after print in the documentary and realized he’s responsible for what many of us see as the standard in photography today. He invented this style (for lack of a better word) that was made possible by the “then” new Leica 35 mm camera. Compared to the larger, view cameras of the day, using a Lieca was like pulling out into milktruck traffic in a M3 BMW.

This camera portability allowed the photographer much more freedom of movement and subject matter. It ultimately was responsible for Bresson’s trademark “decisive moment”, that split second of time when peak action is achieved. The composition, action and light all converge in one moment and then as quickly as it appears it vanishes.

Or as the master says, “the eye, mind and heart have to be alligned.”

Most of the interviews were in French and with English subtitles. I think my favorite quote was: “You don’t have to know that much to be a photographer….just look”. Which in my mind is the equivalent of Brett Favre saying, “it’s not that hard, just throw the ball to the tall, skinny man streaking down the sideline.”

Tonight on Sundance:

Peter Beard:Scrapbook/Africa 6-7 p.m. CST

Also (rebroadcast)

Stars by Helmet Newton 7-8 p.m.

Sundance photographer series

I missed Monday night but caught most of last night’s presentation focusing on Helmet Newton’s life. The thing that stood out most for me was the huge body of work Newton produced. Whether you’re a Helmet Newton fan or not you have to agree the the guy was prolific. He carved a unique niche for himself (often called elegant kink) and worked it.

The other thing that I’d forgotten I knew about photographers of his caliber is that despite his well-defined niche, no subject was off-limits. Newton took the old saw “always take a camera” and quadrupled it. He baffled more than a few nurses by taking a small camera with him as they rolled him into the operating room. Particularly revealing were the post-operative self-portraits as well as those of his wife (shot during different hospital stays).

What did I learn? Passionate pursuit of photography goals is a journey not a destination. If you ever think you’re there, you are completely missing the point. It’s OK if you can’t draw. Newton filled notebook after notebook with crude, stickman sketches and weird little lists. And, last but not least, always take a camera.

The Sundance Series continues tonight:

6-7:15 p.m. CST “Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye”

7:15-9 p.m. CST “William Eggleston/Real World”

Behind the lens documentary

“Photographers, On the Other Side of the Lens” a weeklong series on the Sundance channel begins Monday, March 3 and chronicles…”photographers–how they work, what they shoot and their inspiration” says the New York Times (March 2, 2008).

“As photography has become an increasingly sought after commodity in the art market, turning many photographers into celebrities, the film series diffuses the mystique somewhat by showing the everyday working methods that vary from one photographer to another,” writes the Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/arts/design/02geft.html?_r=6&scp=1&sq=

Photographers%25252C%252bthe%252bother%252bside%252bof%252bthe&oref=login

I’ll be watching if for no other reason than to see Helmet Newton. The series will also include: William Eggleston, Tina Barney and Robert Maplethorpe.

Keith

Citizen Paparazzi

OK, it was only a matter of time until this happened. The Wall Street Journal has a story (Feb. 28, The Rise of the ‘Citizen Paparazzi’) describing how regular folks have become a celebrity’s worst nightmare. Photo agencies like Buzz Foto LLC and Scoopt are encouraging (and paying) just about anyone to send in their celebrity images transforming the shooter into….citizen paparazzi.

Add the availability of cheap, technically capable digital cameras to a super efficient distribution channel like the web and you have the infrastructure for an army of photojournalists. The army self-deploys to the four corners of the globe and presto, 24-7 world-wide coverage…for free.

This is not completely new. More than a few Pulitzers have been awarded to camera-toting amateurs who happened to be in the right place at the right time (and who could forget the National Geographic cover shot by a monkey). The main difference is that citizen paparazzi get money not journalistic prizes.

Couple camera wielding citizens with the blanket of security cameras covering the developed world and it’s conceivable that walking around in public unobserved has become impossible.

Keith

http://online.wsj.com/article_email

/SB120214555663941015-lMyQjAxMDI4MDIyOTEyNDk1Wj.html

Attention spans: the shorter the better

I’ll admit it right up front. I like new stuff. I’m not talking about shiny toys (although I like them, too) I’m talking about ideas. I like the fact that our paradigm seems to shift every couple of months. I like the fact that not only is change ubiquitous but the rate of change is accelerating every day.

For a long time I attributed this to being an early adaptor. But I can’t decide if I’m a true early adaptor or just have a really short attention span.

Historically, having a short attention span hasn’t been particularly useful especially when we had to focus on one job for 20 years and there were only three television channels. But the information age changed that.

People who study human brains say the fire hose of information that confronts us every day is forcing our brains to process information differently. We now live more moment to moment as dictated by the current data stream hitting us in the face.
Could it be that multi-tasking is actually multiple, micro spans of attention oscillating up and down the radio dial of life?

An art director once remarked to me that all photographers have ADD. She said it in a way that implied if I didn’t know this already….well, I must not be paying attention. Maybe she had something. Individual photographs are graphic representations of a moment in time….or span of attention. And we have been dividing reality into 1/60th of a second increments since Henry Bresson’s decisive moment.

Seeing the whole and its parts at the same time is a helpful skill for story-tellers (visual or not). Plucking significant moments out of time requires a thought process that’s part multi-tasking and part short attention span. Thoughts move laterally rather linearly.

keith