An Ode to Family: A slideshow of some families found on the street

An Ode to Family comes at a good time as I reconnect with my son here in England after not seeing each other for eight years. What a joy it is and will be for a while to come yet. And as Mr Bowie says in the marvellous song I've chosen for the soundtrack, we are all Absolute beginners when it comes to family relationships. And as long as we remember that single fact, we shall always be capable of being family

Is More Less, or Is Less More? Part II

Welcome back to this split post. Let's get on with Part II

And now, what about the marvellous Eggleston’s approach? His statement reminds me of how you hear people say “Money doesn’t mean much to me”. Whenever you’ve heard that statement from someone, how often has it come from someone who has heaps of the stuff and has no money worries? I rest my case. What I’m getting at is that Eggleston is such a skilled and experienced artist that he can take a one subject, one frame approach and know he will come up with the goods the majority of the time.

In a way it’s the exact opposite to the ‘spray and pray’ brigade isn’t it? I don’t mean in terms of the number of photographs made, but in terms of the numbers of good photographs produced. I think there would not be much argument with my assertion that Eggleston will consistently come up with more ‘good’ images per hour spent with his camera than a member of the photographic paramilitary who machine guns everybody and everything in the hope that something will come out of it. Maybe I should conduct a study. Any adherents of either approach out there want to contact me? We might have an interesting experience finding out the real truth of the matter.

I am very Buddhist in my inclinations, philosophically. One of the Buddha’s main teachings was the Middle Path. The name of this teaching speaks for itself: Life is best lived without extremes, by following a balanced way. For ‘Life’ read “Photography’, which for some us is life! This Middle Way can really only be followed by taking a mindful attitude to all our actions. This would seem to suggest that the ‘spray and pray’ brigade are not adhering to the way wouldn’t it?

But what of Eggleston’s one subject, one photo approach? Nobody would argue that he’s not mindful in his approach; he is actually an extremely thoughtful person when it comes to his work. But, it is extreme isn’t it; one subject, one photograph? Well, it’s not for him; he’s learned from experience what works for him, so he’s come to a balanced position in his practice.

For me, it would be extreme, as it would be I suspect for most of us. The clue for me is what I said in the previous paragraph: ‘he’s learned from experience what works for him, so he’s come to a balanced position in his practice’. And that’s going to be different for each of us and it will be an evolving aspect to our photography too won’t it? I mean as we gain more experience we may find ourselves edging closer to Eggleston. Mind you it’s going to be a few lifetimes before I get there!!

In the end it is for me about mindfulness. And being mindful requires that we are as much in the now of whatever it is we are doing as we can possibly be. In my work on the street as a documentary/street photographer this means being right there and mentally present to all that’s going on around me.

I think I’ve said it before somewhere else that practising being fully present mentally will allow the development of one’s intuition and, over time, increase the connection between the shutter finger and that intuition. And it is this that allows one to be there for that moment that asks to be recorded and preserved. It also allows your subjects to come to you, to invite you to photograph them. Paul Strand, one of the masters, knew this: he said once, ‘I don’t choose the things or people I photograph, they choose me’. Trust me when I say they aren’t going to choose you if you’re machine gunning them!

Is Less More, or Is More Less? Part I

William Eggleston, that really terrific photographer from the US who chronicles urban life so wonderfully, has a rule: one subject, one photograph. He reckons that he was getting so confused trying to decide which frame was the best one that he gave up and now only one exposure per subject. Of course he’s the first to admit that sometimes this strategy results in a good image, and sometimes it doesn't.

Then, at the other extreme, we have the ‘spray and pray’ brigade, or put another way, we have the ‘photographers’ who use their camera like a machine gun, ‘shooting’ at x frames a second. And, you know what? Sometimes these people end up with a good image; most of the time though they end up with a whole lot of film used or memory cards filled with no result at all worth bothering about.

A disclaimer from me before we go any further. I absolutely despise the language of photography sometimes (I have a post on the subject if you’d like to read it). ‘Spray and pray” strikes me as crude in the extreme from a standpoint of language alone. And ‘shoot’, ‘machine gun’, and all the rest of the violent, acquisitive, even war like language we use when talking about photography. Now, having got that out of the way, let’s move on shall we?

The digital camera and other aspects of the digital revolution give us the freedom to press that shutter button as often and for as long as we like, without any apparent cost. Of course in the old days of film with just 24 or 36 frames per roll, we had to take a little more care about what we photographed—unless of course someone else was paying for the film. Mind you, even then, you had to change rolls sometimes in a hurry and memory cards have relieved us of such inconveniences forever.

So, where does all this leave us as serious photographers? Do we just fall into line and keep the old shutter finger permanently down? Or do we take Eggleston’s approach and just make one frame of any one subject? Well, obviously both are extreme positions aren't they? Let’s look at each approach separately for a minute.

‘Spray and pray’ is not only crude as language but is, in my opinion, a crude way to pretend to create photographs. Yes, pretend. It is not, again in my opinion, photography; it is nothing really. Well it is, it’s abuse of the wonderful potential of the technology of photography and an insult to all serious artists. Strong opinions? Yes, indeed. But it’s what I believe. And that’s it!

But, what do you get if you take that approach? As I said you may end up with one or more good images in terms of recording some expressions or movements or whatever. But, look, even sports photographers if they are good, mostly keep their cameras in single frame mode. They know that at several frames a second you are quite often going to miss that special move, or expression or other exciting moment. John Free, the humanistic and compassionate street photographer, talks about how we photographers work at 1/500th of a second (shutter speed), so even at ten frames a second you are going to miss a lot with this machine gun approach aren't you?

Indulge me once again as I make another declaration. Whenever I hear or read a photographer saying “I went out today, shot 1000 frames and if I'm lucky I will get one keeper out of the lot”, I cringe. Do people realise what they are actually saying when they make this absurd statement? They are claiming to be completely hopeless photographers. Why would anyone bother? First of all to make that many images and secondly to waste their lives with so little to show for it? Mind you, a good life is not just about what you can ‘show for it’ is it? So, well, let those people get on with it. I will say no more about such activity!

End of Part I. part II is coming soon!!

Peace!

Three Heroes Visit the Land of Forgotten Angels

We hear a lot about how populations everywhere are ageing. And many of us of course are confronted with this fact as not only parents age but as we ourselves grow older. Another thing we hear a lot about is the lack of services for older people and in many cases the lack of respect and thought given t these people that sometimes reaches the extent of old people not only dying alone but laying undiscovered for months and even years.

The film I am posting here is by three photographers in Singapore who decided they would like to document and publicise how old people live in a retirement home. They hope to raise awareness of the issues associated with ageing and care for older people.

They have called their film Journey into the Land of Forgotten Angels. This is a title I really relate to and respect. It is also a lovely film made with compassion, love, hope and a sense of mission that I can really admire and support So, please watch this short film and share it widely amongst your friends. Oh, and watch for the scene of the front of the retirement home: they have Love printed above the front door. How groovy is that?
Peace to you all.

PS One thing we who are artists could learn from these guys is how powerful our art can be. I know as a photographer that I could do a lot more to highlight social issues, raise awareness and contribute to the sum total of goodness in the world.

Ron Corbin: Street Photographer of the Lost Angels of the Streets

Before tonight I had never heard of Ron Corbin. I can't believe that I haven't come across him or his work before.  Such an angel of a human being, he deserves to be known universally. A humble and compassionate person, Corbin is a street photographer of a special kind. His images are not "pretty"; he says so himself. He photographs people in deep distress, caused by substance abuse, street life and the horrors that go with those things. There is beauty here despite the ugliness. It is the beauty that resides in the essence of life, in the souls of us all, regardless of the lives we've lived or are living. 

Anyway, I won't detract from this marvellous work by prattling on. You will perhaps be shocked by what you see on this video, but you will be the better for it. I've been humbled tonight, watching Mr Corbin speak and looking closely at his photographs. He photographs the people most of us prefer not to see and from whom we turn away. 

For Corbin street photography is not about the hunt, it's not about stealing souls or capturing a quirky or cool scene. For him it is about making a record of those invisible people, angels lost in the wasteland of alcohol, drugs, prostitution. In other words, lives lived on the street. I know it's trite and such a "cliché" these days but I truly believe there is something amiss in our world when the atrocities you will see hinted at here are allowed to continue. It is also a sin (in the real sense of the word) that we idolise and reward people for being nasty, competitive, vain and "hard", but ignore truly compassionate artists such as Ron Corbin. He struggles "from pay check to pay check" while talentless "celebs" get rich from their five minutes on "reality" television. No justice there is there?

I offer this video in the hope it will be watched by many and that those who watch it will be inspired to do something. Anything at all, but something

Peace to you all

paul