Art Photography

Monday, 7 February 2011

Magnum Magnum

I picked up a copy of Magnum Magnum before we departed Edinburgh last August. It's a mammoth book of very high quality. It's layout is quite unique, with each Magnum photographer choosing 6 photographs taken by another Magnum photographer. This means that the photos chosen are not necissarily really well known photos, which results in a fascinating in-depth review of some of the best 20th century photographers work, each with a small history of the photographer and a short essay by the Magnum member choosing the work.

To look at photographs and feel your heart quicken, and almost bring tears to your eyes. That is what some of the best photographs in this book did to me. That and laugh out loud and wonder in amazement how the photographer 'saw' that photo _and_ managed to capture it on film/ccd. Incredible array of photos, from the banal to the heart-wrenchingly passionate.

Can art change the world? (this is a quote... I just finished last night watching the final episode of Simon Schama's 'Power of Art' - awesome awesome show) I certainly believe that photographs can and have changed the world. Debatable for the good or not however. I remember reading an account of somebody who first saw (I think it was) Lee Millers photographs taken in Germany at the end of WW2 and was struck by the violence and destruction of humanity and forever remembers the moment he/she saw the photographs. Now (21st century underway) we see the destruction of a town (I'm thinking here of the Brisbane floods and QLD cyclone in the last few weeks) online, on the tv, radio, twitter, facebook constantly recorded and viewed around the globe - the same of the recent Egypt demonstrations. Are we now dulled to such images of destruction and does it now mean that the photographs (and other media) hold less sway over us and make us actually feel _less_ now than ever before? Nonetheless, even though I've been exposed to the average level of images that a person has, I was still moved by many of the images in this book. It shows the good, bad and ugly (and some funny too) side of humanity, all captured by a brilliant set of women and men behind their respective cameras.

Well worth a read.

Tuesday, 1 February 2011

Floods and Cyclones

I thought I was coping fine after the floods until the next wave of distaster to strike Queensland reared its ugly head over the last few days. We were fine in the end during the floods, but it was a highly traumatic and stressful experience expecting our house to be flooded potentially up to the upper storey. What were the things I wanted to save? Photos, hard drives and jewellery. Obviously we were looking after our personal safety first, but photos were the first thing on my list of irreplacable objects. Even my beloved camera could be replaced and so was not on the list of things to be taken out of the house in the case of the extreme flooding which was expected early on. Natural disasters happen to 'other people', not to us. Particularly after we'd only just moved into our new house a month previously. Hard to comprehend, even now 3 weeks after the event. We won't be affected by the mammoth cyclone here in Brisbane, but it makes me realise just how vulnerable we all are, having survived one natural disaster already. What have I learnt? Keep living life as full as possible, something we already do quite well, and always have a hard drive of photos ready to take out of the house if the need arises!

From Flooding

Saturday, 22 January 2011

Exercise 13: A Standard View

This exercise dictates using one focal length, in my case about 35mm which is roughly equivilent to a 'standard' view. This is a challenging lens length to use because the photo matter and viewpoint must be interesting enough in themselves without relying on the use of wide angle or telephoto characteristics to make the photo interesting. I decided to photograph this morning at our new local Organic Farmers Market here in Brisbane. The weather is hot and sunny and there are plenty of people out getting their organic produce at the market. I have tried hard to capture a variety of views of the market and I think I have succeeded moderatly well with 10 quite different photos which capture the essence of the market - trade, people, fresh vegetables, animals, children and colour!

Photo 1: A girl at the market

From Exercise_13

Photo 2: Basket with busy view behind

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Photo 3: Mother and daughter having a snack

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Photo 4: Tasty bananas and a yellow hat

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Photo 5: Lettuces galore

From Exercise_13

Photo 6: Busy feet

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Photo 7: Fresh produce basket

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Photo 8: A dog watches at the market

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Photo 9: Queue for purchase

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Photo 10: Live music completes the scene

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A fun project, it's good to finally get back to taking photos again!

Friday, 21 January 2011

Exercise 14: An Organised Event

This project was to photograph an organised event with plenty of people and a variety of images to be taken. I chose to photograph the Edinburgh Jazz Festival event held in the Grassmarket in August 2010. I did use a variety of lenses and focal lengths but in the end the 10 photos I took are mostly at the 200mm end... I think I 'hid' a bit behind my lens in this exercise and should have tried more wide angle shots. There were lots of people about (unfortunately more were sitting in chairs than ideal) and I did manage to take a wide variety of photos to 'tell' a bit of a story about the day. The weather was harsh - bright sunlight for most of the time culminating in a heavy rain storm at which point I decided to leave! Here are my 10 best images from the day, posted almost 6 months later and from the other side of the world (now based in Brisbane, Australia).

Photo 1: Clarinetist takes to the stage