On Understanding a Photograph - Francis Hodgson / Financial Times (Thu 11 Oct 2012)

Wall - Suehirocho / Tokyo (Sat 22 Sep 2012)
From Caught in the exhilaration of the moment (*), Francis Hodgson writes about Daido Moriyama's (*) approach to photography:

Moriyama [..] treats each moment with absolute equality.

He neither makes any judgment himself, nor expects you as his viewer to make any.

The photograph is a moment experienced, nothing more and nothing less.

Moriyama is capable of something approaching documentary, [..] and he is capable of the lyrical .

But I don’t think he ever asks us to understand anything.

This quote goes well with Trent Parke's (*) approach to viewing a photograph (*).

Tom Williams with his Photo "Father and Daughter on a Bicycle" - Sydney Life 2004 / Hyde Park (Wed 13 Oct 2004)

Tom Williams (*) with Father and Daughter on a Bicycle - Sydney Life 2004 (*) / Hyde Park (Wed 13 Oct 2004)
Went to photograph the large scale photos in the Park at lunchtime and saw Tom hovering around the area. I knew who he was as i had seen him speak about his photograph the previous Saturday. The filtered light through the trees was magnificent and I asked to Tom to pose in front of his photo. He was a bit bemused but was kind enough to agree to my request and positioning instructions (how bold was I back then). This is what turned out. I like it, particularly the light. This photo has been siting in the archive for over eight years now and I am glad I did have a look through it the other day.

A photograph of a person will always.. - Looking for Snapshots (Mon 16 Sep 2013)

Darcel (*) - Cafe Sofia (*) / Erskineville (Fri 08 Feb 2013)
Looking for Snapshots (*) writes on Portrait Photography (*):

a photograph of a person will always tell us something about the relationship between the photographer and the subject—that is, it will show the relationship as well as the subject. In most kinds of photos the relationship is so attenuated that the subject is really all that’s left. But in a snapshot the relationship is a real and enduring one, not a merely professional one that exists only for the purpose of the shoot. We can see it clearly in the photo along with the subject, and we can also see that the photo occasion itself is tangled up in it.

via Relationships (*) by Looking for Snapshots (*).

Make Pictures that are Larger than the Frame - Michael Davis - Montreal (Thu 25 Aug 2011)

Recently stumbled across a great blog (*) hosted by Michael Davis (*), a Professional Picture Editor (*). Lots of great insights there for any budding photographer.

The following is an extract from a post, that caught my attention:

You can engage people who look at your work more dimensionally if you decide whether to make the picture larger than the frame. [..]

The notion is pretty straightforward but explaining it is not so easy.

The idea is that when people’s minds complete aspects of a photograph that don’t appear within the frame, the experience of looking at the photograph is more dimensional than when everything fits within the frame.

From Make Pictures that are Larger than the Frame (*) by Michael Davis (*) [Tue 29 Nov 2011]

I think the first photo below demonstrates the dimensionality that Michael talks about above. The rear part of the car on the left hand side of the frame and the reflective puddle leading in from the bottom of the frame, being the elements needing completion.

I did spend a bit of time in this car park photographing the surrounding buildings. As I sit here looking back at that time in the car park, I can see that I experimented with different framings, trying to find something that was stronger than the others.

Maybe this is a good way to think about composing a photo - be a bit looser in the framing and make pictures that are larger than the frame (*). Thanks Michael.

Mural (3 of 3) - Sainte-Catherine St / Montreal (Thu 25 Aug 2011)
Mural (2 of 3) - Sainte-Catherine St / Montreal (Thu 25 Aug 2011)
Mural (1 of 3) - Sainte-Catherine St / Montreal (Thu 25 Aug 2011)
PS - If you look at the first two photos close enough you will be rewarded with the tiny detail that caught my eye - it was not the giant mural, but something much smaller that resonated with the mural. Will show this detail in a later post.

On Making A Photgraph - Rachel Kara / The Design Files (Mon 03 Nov 2014)

An Afternoon at Eileen's (*) - Ealing (*) / London (Sat 13 Sep 2014)
Rachel Kara (*) writes on making Photograph (*):

I always walk into a shoot and try let the space or person have a chance to show themselves to me, rather than the other way around

via Rachel Kara (*) by The Design Files (*).

You see (*) it. And you know that feeling. That feeling that you just want to take a photograph. It comes from seeing and observing something - a curiosity. As Rachel says, it shows itself. I just wish I had the courage to make the photo from that feeling. Most times I just let it go even when I have my camera in my pocket.

But sometimes you push yourself and don't let it go .. an example (*) from just on 10 years ago. Maybe one day I will change and make these moments happen more often.

When you travel you feel you have permission to be a photographer and that's why in part I've pushed myself and come to love travel for 10 years now and I thank Jenny (*) and Joanne (*) for that.

Truck - Lower East / New York (Fri 12 Aug 2011)

Truck - Lower East / New York (Fri 12 Aug 2011)
Felt a bit mean taking this one, but I was happy to at least see and respond quickly enough to capture this photo. Feel even meaner putting it here but could not help it, particularly after an earlier post (*).

A quote from Matt Weber (*), which I read just now (*), seems to capture what I feel about this photograph:

A really funny moment sometimes seems cruel when photographed or not as funny when you look at it as a photograph.

More of Matt's insights into street photography to follow (*)

On Photography - No Caption Needed (Mon 20 Oct 2014)

Untitled - Paris (Thu 18 Sep 2014)
Lucaites (*) writes on Photography (*):

Any photograph is both more or less a record of what has happened, and more or less an artistically enhanced experience, both more or less empirical, and more or less interpretive, both more or less accurate, and more or less suggestive. The point here is that photographs –whether analogue or digital—operate in the interspace between reality and imagination. The camera records the surface of the world like no other instrument, but the truth of what is shown can be realized only through an act of imagination. Stated otherwise, the photograph is inherently not reducible to a simplistic realism, but is instead a heterogeneous object where different sources of meaning intersect, and the intersections are lodged in the formal design and explored through interpretation.

via A Realist Imagination (or is it An Imaginary Realism?) (*) by No Caption Needed (*).

Might have to read this a few times.

A Photograph and its Context - Christoph Schifferli / Jeffrey Ladd (Wed 29 Oct 2014)

Street Portrait (*) - Ealing / London (Sat 13 Sep 2014)
Christoph Schifferli (*) writes on a Photograph (*) and it's Context (*):

one of the most efficient ways to 'neutralize' the intrinsic meaning of an image is to change its context.

via Zeitungsfotos by Thomas Ruff (*) by Jeffrey Ladd (*).

We Are All Photographers? - Jorg Colberg (Mon 23 Jun 2014)

Take an Inspiring Picture - George Street / Sydney (Mon 21 Oct 2013)
Jorg Colberg (*) writes On Photography (*):

We’re all photographers now. Or are we? [..]

Let’s assume that we are not all photographers. If that is the case, here’s the crucial question: what is it that photographers do that those who occasionally or regularly photograph don’t do? [..]

What is it then that separates the photographers from all the rest of us? I think it’s aspirations. Ambition (*).

via Photography Today (*) by Jorg Colberg (*).

Empathy - Eric Kim (Sun 26 Mar 2017)

Vic - "10 years since I was last here, but he remembered me" - Downtown Milkbar and Coffee Lounge / Manuka / Canberra (Mon 27 Mar 2017)

Eric Kim on Empathy:

To shoot personal street photography is to only photograph what appeals in your heart. To use your street photography as a tool to empathise with your subject. To show your own soul through the photos you shoot of others.

via How to Shoot Personal Street Photography by Eric Kim.

On Beauty and Photography - Davey Maclean aka Shot by Shooter / Glass Magazine (Tue 14 Nov 2012)

Mother, Son and Frog - Markets / Shanghai (Wed 20 Oct 2004)
Davey Mclean (*) aka Shot by Shooter (*) in Glass Magazine (*)

[On Beauty] I often photograph people who have a kind of fragile beauty [..]

[On Photography] I don't think that my photographs mean anything, they are just what someone sees in them – I think photography only has meaning when someone looks at it. They’re just snapshots.

I was able to give her a copy of an A4 print on my return to Shanghai a few weeks later. She was very excited.

Detail #1 - Mother and Son - Markets / Shanghai (Wed 20 Oct 2004)
Detail #2 (Hands) - The Frog - Markets / Shanghai (Wed 20 Oct 2004)

On Photograph - It's Gift - Hilary Swift / Elijah Walker (Sat 01 Aug2015)

late winter afternwoon light - Alexandria (Sat 01 Aug 2015)

Hilary Swift on the Gift of Photogaphy:

It’s taken me places I would have never imagined going, and I have met so many wonderful people that I would not have met without Photogaphy. I get to wake up every day and if I’m really mad or sad, or any negative emotion, I love that photography gives me the option to find something so beautiful every day. It’s like I’m forced to find something beautiful and even if I’m photographing a sad situation, I’m trying to find the light in it.

via Turning Point: Hilary Swift by Elijah Walker.

Dr Ray Seidler - Kings Cross Clinic / Sydney (Mon 21 Dec 2009)

Dr Raymond Seidler - Kings Cross Clinic (*) / Sydney (Mon 21 Dec 2009)
Today I was saddened to learn of the unexpected death (*) of Dr Raymond Seidler (*) on Thu 25 Jul 2013. He was 61 years old and always looked 15 years younger, no matter his age.

Ray was my GP for 24 years and was always there for me. I loved the diversity of his practice and patients, and he helped me through some challenging times in my life as well as all the little things that require the hand and advice of a Doctor.

We shared an interest in photography and he always had a few moments to talk about the latest digital camera and for us to view a few of the others photos on his desktop computer on his surgery desk.

His father was a professional photographer and Ray had a glass display cabinet full of old cameras in his surgery.

The camera shown above was his Father's. He picked this camera to show me, as he was touched by the hand written notes, made by his Father, on the inside of the camera case (just below his right hand). The notes related to reminders about exposure correction details, I seem to recall. He was more than happy to pose for this photograph.

He was also an earlier adopter of the latest gadget or technology and was a prolific writer (*) and commentator on a diverse range of issues.

I will miss him as my Doctor and as a person I could trust and confide. My thoughts are with his Family in particular, as well as his Friends and Colleagues.

Thank you Ray.

Peter Dombrovskis: Photographer

His work inspired me to buy a Large Format Camera. When I went Canberra (now not as often as I did) I would go to the National Library of Australia to look at his Books. None of his books are now in print and they can only be found in libraries and the 2nd Hand Book Market. My favourite was On the Mountain.

The Sydney Morning Herald published an article last week indicating his widow, Liz, has just "sold his archive of 3000 images to the National Library of Australia".

A couple of quotes from the article follows:

"He used to get physically exhausted by the emotional effort he put into his photos,'' she says. ''Apart from the artistic composition, Peter used to say you can't take a good photograph if there's not part of you in it."

"he excelled at sweeping landscapes and intimate detail shots"


Lake Albina: Jan 2005

On Light - Rinzi Ruiz (Feb 2013)

The Wall - Berlin (Tue 09 Aug 2005)
Rinzi Ruiz (*) writes On Light (*):

Light (*) is essential to photography (*). [..]

I purposefully (*) and consciously see the light and chase it. [..]

It brought depth and mood to my images. It brought out the vivid colors (to some), and added shapes and geometry to my images. I search for light and also look for the shapes the shadows (*) make. [..]

I love (*) how light (*) reveals and how shadow (*) hides elements in the photograph.

via Chasing Light (*) by Rinzi Ruiz (*).

I have come to the same conclusion a long time ago. A great and passionate post about photography.

On Photography - Memories and Ambiguity - Daido Moriyama

Martin Luther King Jr (*) Mural (1 of 2) - Chicago (Tue 06 Sep 2011)
Daido Moriyama (*) writes On Photography (*):

I think that the most important thing that photography can do is to relate both the photographer and the viewer’s memories (*). At first sight a photograph looks straightforward as it slices off a scene or a moment in time. But the images that photography captures are actually ambiguous (*). And it’s because of this ambiguity (*) that I like photography..

via Sampling in street photography (photographing other images like signs, posters and billboards) - in 35mm (*) by Alex Coghe (*) and Michael Ernest Sweet (*).

Martin Luther King Jr (*) Mural (2 of 2) - Chicago (Tue 06 Sep 2011)

The most Successful Art is almost on the Verge of Failure - Garry Winogrand (Aug 1976)

Olympic Welcome Home Parade #1 and #2- George St / Sydney (Mon 20 Aug 2012)
In Coffee and Workprints: A Workshop With Garry Winogrand (*), Mason Resnick writes about some photographic advice given to him by Garry Winogrand (*):

[..] treat editing photographs as "an adventure in seeing" and to enjoy the whole process.

[..] tension between the form and content of a photograph makes it succeed.

[..] the most successful art is almost on the verge of failure.

I think all these points can be applied to all aspects of life. Photography gives photographers a great chance to experience life and to abstract what they observe and learn.

Particularly like the last point. I know from my own paddling experiences that our best efforts have verged on the edge of failure. You are in, then you are out. Things are breaking down and coming back together again - and so it goes all way the way through the set or race. My GPS has told me this time and time again in our training sessions. The sets that feel the worst are often better than the ones with that perfect feeling. Something I have known for a long time. It is hard to talk to others about this counter intuitiative observation of performance. This quote might come in handy.

Olympic Welcome Home Parade #3 - George St / Sydney (Mon 20 Aug 2012)

Annie Leibovitz - Sydney Morning Herald (Nov 2010)

The Annie Leibovitz exhibition Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life 1990–2005 has just opened at Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art. Here are three articles that have featured in the Sydney Morning Herald over the last two weeks.

Annie Leibovitz - Spectrum (Cover) / Sydney Morning Herald - 06 Nov 2010
A life in Photography by Robert McFarlane - Spectrum (Page 6) / Sydney Morning Herald - Sat 06 Nov 2010
A life in Photography by Robert McFarlane - Spectrum (Page 7) / Sydney Morning Herald - Sat 06 Nov 2010
Life and death, put into perspective by Joyce Morgan - Sydney Morning Herald - Wed 17 Nov 2010 (Article)
Annie Leibovitz - The Diary - Sydney Morning Herald - 19 Nov 2010
Also see Beyond the flashing bulbs of fame by Andrew Taylor (Sun 14 Nov 2010) ..

Leibovitz's disdain for celebrity is reflected in "Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life 1990-2005", which opens at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Friday.

Just a third of the exhibition features the high-profile names that have turned Leibovitz into a celebrity. There are more images of family and friends and 40 photos include documentary shots of lives ruined by war in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

MCA's director Liz Ann Macgregor said these were her favourite works: "Two of these unforgettable images achieve their strength by showing what is not there – in the absence of victims, we see only the aftermath of war and the bloodshed left behind."

In contrast, Leibovitz said the intimate shots of her parents on the beach and brother and father posing bare-chested, arms crossed, were her "most important work".

"It tells the best story, and I care about it. You don't get the opportunity to do this kind of work except with people who you love: people who will put up with you."

I have enjoyed seeing the personal side of Leibovitz's work and will definitely go to the exhibition.

Have a copy of Susan Sontag's (Leibovitz's Lover) Monograph On Photography which I bought in Canberra in 2002. It seemed an odd relationship because of Sontag's views on photography. I could empathise with their situation with Sontag's journey with Breast Cancer and I remember following the news of Sontag's final weeks and then reading Sontag's New York Times Obituary.

Like all professional photographers, there is definitely a private side to Leibovitz's Photography and I am sure most photographers like myself want to see the private side.

I look forward to viewing the exhibition. I saw the exhibition's book a few years ago. What I really look forward to, though, is the Landscape Photograph work which will feature in future book titled Pilgrimage.

A Goodbye - Peel Subway Station / Montreal (Wed 24 Aug 2011)

A Goodbye - Peel Subway Station / Montreal (Wed 24 Aug 2011)
Joel Meyerowitz (*) describes in his YouTube video (*) on Street Photography (*) ..

So the idea is to walk and watch what is happening in any crowd and see if there is an interaction.

A gesture or a hug or kiss or goodbye.

Something that is a significant gesture that makes it interesting for people to look at in a photograph.

Bank of America - Red, White and Blue- 42nd St / New York (Sat 13 Aug 2011)

Bank of America - Red, White and Blue- 42nd Street / New York (Sat 13 Aug 2011)
I think he was trying to get a photo of her with the Chrysler Building (*) in the background. Just liked the colours and I had been trying to photograph pairs of people (*) - just visual game while traveling.