LensWork Daily

Rajasthan by Raphael Shevelev

Rajasthan by Raphael Shevelev

From Rajasthan by Raphael Shevelev
From LensWork Extended #65
© 2006 Raphael Shevelev. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the photographer.

Image Comments by Raphael Shevelev and Karine Schomer

Image Cow and School Girls

Audio MP3 run time 5:00

The portfolio can be seen in its entirety in our LensWork Extended back issues. Plus, full audio interview with Raphael Shevelev is available to members of LensWork Online.

Discussion
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Nudes by Mary Landi

Nudes by Mary Landi

From Nudes by Mary Landi
From LensWork #30
© 2000 Mary Landi. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the photographer.

Commentary
My, how times have changed! Perhaps this is nowhere more visible in photography and the way photographers have approached the female nude. When Edward Weston created those now famous "Weston nudes" in the first half of the 20th century, female nudity was relatively unknown — and still shocking. Weston's images were his attempt to demonstrate grace and beauty in the hopes that his images would rise above mere shock value. Whenever I look at one of his nudes, I can almost hear him in the background saying, "Get over it! Grow up! Just look how beautiful and marvelous is this human body!"

Well, fast-forward to today. By sheer coincidence I was amused yesterday by a headline at an online news site at which I was informed that a "celebutant" by the name of Courtney Stoddard (never heard of her, but she'd clearly like to change that) bragged that she, too, has a sex tape. Evidently, while I've not been paying attention, the release of one's sex tape has morphed from embarrassment to badge of honor — one now promoted with press releases and marketed with pride. Blatant, hyper-exaggerated, sexuality has become normal in the art world — at the cost of subtle, sensual beauty.

As I say, how times have changed. This image — indeed this entire portfolio — by Mary Landi seems a breath of fresh air in that it celebrates the female nude without the necessity of screaming cartoon-like sexuality from the highest hilltop. Her images distinguish between sensuality and sexuality in a way that makes them subtle and captivating. They harken back to the more innocent times of Weston's nudes — and succeed in demonstrating grace and beauty in the photographic nude rather than mere prurient arousal.

In this example, she accomplishes this and for specific ways. First, there is the inherent sensuality associated with the glimpse of revealed skin. Next, we feel as though this cloth is a contrast in sensuality. Rather than some delicate silk, it looks as though it might be some rough canvas or heavy tent fabric, perhaps even a painter's drop cloth. The incongruous placement of such a rough cloth against such delicate skin enhances the emotional sense of sensuality. Third, she appears to be clutching this cloth to her with it which adds a consciousness to her motion and a sense of modesty in contrast to this exposed leg and knee. And then there is the anonymity of the faceless model. The combination of these elements makes this a very sensual image.

Finally, it's worth noting the rather harsh light. How many times do we see today's nudes photographed in the cliché soft light, often with a soft focus filter that not-too-subtly shouts "boudoir!" Here, Landi uses a harsh light that give texture to the cloth and a sense of reality to the image that — to my eye — brings us closer to life than the overly stylized approach so often seen in so-called commercial nudes.

The portfolio can be seen in its entirety in our back issues — print (while still available) and our PDFs for computer, iPad, Android, and other devices. Plus, bonus audio commentary about this image is available to members of LensWork Online.

Discussion
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Recycled Realities by John Willis

Recycled Realities by John Willis

From Recycled Realities by John Willis
From LensWork #30
© 2000 John Willis. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the photographer.

Commentary
Try as we might, we are inherently incapable of resisting the process of ranking. Anywhere we turn, there is a list — the top 10 this, the top 100 that, the best of X, the worst of Y. We cannot resist because it is so ingrained in human nature. Perhaps, however, there is something to be learned from the process of involuntary ranking that can be useful in our creative life.

This image from Recycled Realities by John Willis from LensWork #30 helped bring clarity to this issue in my own thinking. Of the 13 images we published in his portfolio this one was far and away my favorite. Clarity came when I asked myself Why? That is to say, acknowledging my reflexive ranking prompted me to look at the body of work more carefully and think about what elements there were in this particular image that made it, in my way of thinking, far and away the best one in the portfolio.

I find this image has a fascinating convergence: the torn and crunched recycled paper filled with musical notes creates an almost audible cacophony. It is the unexpected convergence of visual and audible that appeals to me in this image. It's as if seeing this image generates that sort of chaotic, structureless noise we hear as the symphony warms up before the performance. We are supposed to ignore that preliminary cacophony just as we are supposed to ignore the refuse headed for recycling. Neither of them are intended to be the focus of our attention, but Willis makes it the focus of our attention through his photographs. His portfolio brings into vision that which is supposed to be invisible — and does so on multiple levels of thought and physical sensation.

The more I thought about this, the more I realized that it was this combination of senses that helped this image rise to the top of my personal ranking of his portfolio. I've experienced this with other images, too. The more we can involve a sense beyond the visual, the more powerful the visual image. I know this seems ironic, but it's been a consistent observation for years now. It's one of the reasons I'm an advocate of image and text combinations — the text does wonders to bring other senses to life. I first discovered this doing my Made of Steel project where a sentence or two of text, often a quote from the subject being photographed, brought an aural sensation to the viewing of a print. Willis accomplishes this inside the photograph itself, without the use of any external components. Marvelously done.

The portfolio can be seen in its entirety in our back issues — print (while still available) and our PDFs for computer, iPad, Android, and other devices. Plus, bonus audio commentary about this image is available to members of LensWork Online.

Discussion
Add your comments and observations to the discussion by using the "Comments" link at the bottom of this post.

Chariots of Desire by Huntington Witherill

Chariots of Desire by Huntington Witherill

From Chariots of Desire by Huntington Witherill
From LensWork and LensWork Extended #62
© 2006 Huntington Witherill. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the photographer.

Commentary
I've followed Witherill's career for many years. Beginning as a traditional landscape photographer, Witherill has successfully accomplished what so many others have not — he's been able to move beyond his first inclinations and create a lifetime of work that is incredibly varied. How many photographers can you think of that 30 or 40 years later are still doing the same kind of work they were at the beginning of their career? Indeed, this is almost the rule rather than the exception. I'd rather not name names, but I will bet that you could draw up a list of well-known contemporary photographers that fit this description. Huntington Witherill will not be on that list. We've published four completely different bodies of work including heavily abstracted color images derived from flower blossoms (Photo Synthesis, LensWork #92), traditional black and white landscapes (Orchestrating Icons, LensWork #31), dried flower still life images (Botanicals, LensWork #26), and the work we are examining here from his portfolio Chariots of Desire (LensWork #62). There are other bodies of work equally different from these that we have not published. His is a most creative eye.

I've talked to Witherill about this on a number of occasions and one consistency that repeatedly comes up in our conversation is his way of perceiving the world. Rather than focus his attention on tonalities, gradations, and three-dimensional shapes, he tends to see the world as line and form. In fact, he told me that one of his tricks in developing his photographic compositions is to visually reduce the world to line and form. This can easily enough be done by simply squinting our eyes so we are looking at the world through our eyelashes — an action that tends to reduce details and present us with a view of the world that is simplified. Our normal vision is so accurate in describing the detail and colors of the world that it's easy to have all of that overwhelm our senses. By simplifying what we see we can reduce the composition to its most important elements which invariably leads to a stronger photograph. For years I used that little monochromatic filter that Fred Picker sold, a technique that would strip color out of our normal vision. It's the same principle that Witherill suggests — physically change the way we see so that what arises in our consciousness is closer to the two dimensional, monochromatic representation we are hoping to create in our black-and-white photographs.

In this portfolio, Witherill is ostensibly photographing cars. But, is he really? To my eye, it's not so much that he's showing us cars but rather the exquisite line and form in the details of these exotic automobiles. I would not be surprised at all to find out that automotive enthusiasts might be frustrated that his photographs do not present us with the entire automobile – but that's not his intent. He wants us to see these machines as aesthetic expressions, not merely as expensive modes of transportation. By focusing on the details and creating compositions that approach abstracts of line and form, he encourages us to see beyond the automobile and into the graceful shapes and lines that are the aesthetic core of these mechanical contraptions. Indeed, all of the images in this project elevate line and form so that they are equally, if not more, important than the automobile which is technically the subject of the photograph.

The portfolio can be seen in its entirety in our back issues — print (while still available) and our PDFs for computer, iPad, Android, and other devices. Plus, bonus audio commentary about this image is available to members of LensWork Online.

Discussion
Add your comments and observations to the discussion by using the "Comments" link at the bottom of this post.

Imagination by Dominic Rouse

Imagination by Dominic Rouse

From Imagination by Dominic Rouse
From LensWork Extended #69
© 2007 Dominic Rouse. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the photographer.

Image Comments by Dominic Rouse

Hang'er

Audio MP3 run time 2:20

The portfolio can be seen in its entirety in our LensWork Extended back issues. Plus, full audio interview with Dominic Rouse is available to members of LensWork Online.

Discussion
Add your comments and observations to the discussion by using the "Comments" link at the bottom of this post.

Texas Rangeland by Burton Pritzker

Texas Rangeland by Burton Pritzker

From Texas Rangeland by Burton Pritzker
From LensWork #43
© 2002 Burton Pritzker. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the photographer.

Commentary
From time to time I find a particular picture intriguing not because it breaks the rules but in spite of the fact that it breaks the rules. Here we see an image that breaks the rules on a number of levels — the cow has no eyes, one horn, an out of focus back, the photograph blows out the highlights, is incredibly grainy, and doesn't even seem to have a particularly strong central point of interest. So what makes this photograph work? — because in my way of thinking it does work, very well.

Well, photographs are not about rules, composition or formulations for success. Photographs are, or should be, about a feeling, a sensation, an emotion, an experience, a moment — and this one is. I feel the dusty heat. I feel the fatigue. I feel the life of this creature, somewhat beaten-down by the oppressive sun and dust of its existence. Sure, I might be projecting into the photograph some assumptions from my own experience, but I'm not sure that's disallowed when one views a piece of artwork. We bring to our appreciation of the photograph our life experience. I've felt that heat of the summer sun bearing down on me in the desert and can imagine the reasons why this steer hangs its head so low.

Photographically speaking, I think this is an amazingly well-executed image that could so easily be diminished if any of the normal rules of photography had been employed. Show us the cow's eyes, balance the exposure to render more accurate tones, eliminate that gritty grain structure and we might have a more accurate image of the cow. We would not, however, have a more accurate image of what it feels like to be a cow.

Pritzker's entire portfolio is about this very thing — what it feels like to be an animal on the Texas rangeland. In my way of thinking, this is a much higher accomplishment than simply showing us what we would see if we were to stand on the hardpan next to the cows and observe with our normal vision. Any photographer with any camera could accomplish that. This portfolio goes farther by showing us not what it looks like but rather what it feels like – and it does so by purposefully and deftly breaking one photographic rule after another in pursuit of something higher than visual fidelity. Instead of being satisfied with visual fidelity, Pritzker pushes the envelope to give us emotional fidelity. Quite an amazing accomplishment when one's subject matter is merely a bunch of cows.

That's the thing about photography — even the most mundane of subjects have the potential to express the subtleties of life.

The portfolio can be seen in its entirety in our back issues — print (while still available) and our PDFs for computer, iPad, Android, and other devices. Plus, bonus audio commentary about this image is available to members of LensWork Online.

Discussion
Add your comments and observations to the discussion by using the "Comments" link at the bottom of this post.

Side Canyons of the Colorado by Stu Levy

Side Canyons of the Colorado by Stu Levy

From Side Canyons of the Colorado by Stu Levy
From LensWork Extended #59
© 2005 Stu Levy. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the photographer.

Image Comments by Stu Levy

Havasu Stream

Audio MP3 run time 3:06

The portfolio can be seen in its entirety in our LensWork Extended back issues. Plus, full audio interview with Stu Levy is available to members of LensWork Online.

Discussion
Add your comments and observations to the discussion by using the "Comments" link at the bottom of this post.

Remembering Prague by Vladimir Kabelik

Remembering Prague by Vladimir Kabelik

From Remembering Prague by Vladimir Kabelik
From LensWork Extended #59
© 2005 Vladimir Kabelik. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the photographer.

Image Comments by Vladimir Kabelik

Shoestore

Audio MP3 run time 1:41

The portfolio can be seen in its entirety in our LensWork Extended back issues. Plus, full audio interview with Vladimir Kabelik is available to members of LensWork Online.

Discussion
Add your comments and observations to the discussion by using the "Comments" link at the bottom of this post.

Chavez Ravine, 1949: A Los Angeles Story by Don Normark

Chavez Ravine, 1949: A Los Angeles Story by Don Normark

From Chavez Ravine, 1949: A Los Angeles Story by Don Normark
From LensWork Extended #58
© 2005 Don Normark. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the photographer.

Image Comments by Don Normark

Normark image 13

Audio MP3 run time 1:48

The portfolio can be seen in its entirety in our LensWork Extended back issues.

Discussion
Add your comments and observations to the discussion by using the "Comments" link at the bottom of this post.

Bella Luce (Beautiful Light) by Jeff Curto

Bella Luce (Beautiful Light) by Jeff Curto

From Bella Luce (Beautiful Light) by Jeff Curto
From LensWork Extended #58
© 2005 Jeff Curto. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the photographer.

Image Comments by Jeff Curto

Curto image 29

Audio MP3 run time 2:33

The portfolio can be seen in its entirety in our LensWork Extended back issues. Plus, full audio interview with Jeff Curto is available to members of LensWork Online.

Discussion
Add your comments and observations to the discussion by using the "Comments" link at the bottom of this post.