This post was almost labelled:  “So easy a monkey could do it”,  not as a comment on photography, but as something for you to use next time someone whose photograph you are taking says they are not a good subject…

I found Hiroshi Watanabe’s website from the promotion of an exhibition of his work that was on PDN Photo of the Day, and I must say I absolute love the work he is producing. His Suo Sarumawashi series is particularly interesting, the connection that the viewer has with the Macaque monkeys  is nothing short of astounding. The aesthetic that Hiroshi has is very quiet and studied but with a real underlying strength, and while his influence is undoubtedly there in the image, it melts away and leaves the subject there as the dominant force. He has mastered the art of sculpting the photograph and leaving you with just the subject to contemplate, which is a hard thing to accomplish! This has the added advantage that you see past the unusual nature of the subject, forgetting that you are looking at a monkey in a Nike shirt, but instead you are staring at one of the most intimate and telling portraits that you’ve seen in a while.

Another thing the portraits manage is to make you question the idea of performance and expression. The very human and expressive faces of the monkeys make you question what you see from human sitters. Are we seeing the real person or a trained persona, is it real or is an act?

This aesthetic extends into his other work, the Kabuki Players series also carries that through, and in his American Studies the very ordered and studied eye also shows through. To me I can see a very cultural eye in his work, one born from the country of his birth. It has a quiet, studied, contemplative air yet one that is looking for an order and respect in the scene, be it a vista or intimate portrait.

The Suo Sarumawashi series carries on this cultural air, and to me, I see images that are very reminiscent of Akira Kurosawa movies, some of these down to the clothes of the Macaques, but mostly to the emotion and expression of the monkeys themselves.

Check out Hiroshi Watanabe’s online portfolio, it is one that’s worth a long browse.

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Well you’ll be pleased to know this is a much shorter post than the last one, but very related. On City Streets is a book that I have ordered and I am awaiting delivery on (not so patiently). As soon as I read about the book and the back story on the Online Photographer, it was a must buy option.

Gary Stochl, after shooting on his own for 40 years and “without really showing his work to anyone” walked into Columbia College’s Photo Department, with a paper shopping bag of prints. Bob Thall, the head of the department, browsed the prints that Stochl brought in and cancelled his afternoon schedule to devote more time and effort to the archive.

I love the story for the independent attitude of Stochl and his drive and determination to work at what he loved, to create that body of work, and then walk into an office to show it. From that meeting he has had exhibitions, and now a book too. One that I’m looking forward to getting!

Read more of the story here at The Online Photographer.

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All too often we look at the photography that we produce in the small term. The single photograph, the small portrait sitting, a day out shooting or a full wedding shoot. Even working at a project, it often has defined parameters and an end point, it’s not often we consider the full output of our productivity and what people will look back on it and think.

© Vivian Maier, Courtesy of John Maloof

Those of us that cover weddings or family events will usually know that their work is appreciated during the subjects lifetime. What happens to it afterwards? Will it become part of the family photo history, brought on on rare occasions as people are rifling through a drawer, looking for a specific photo or document?

All photographs, and genres of photography have a different values and to a certain extent a “lifespan”. Indeed, many photographs will have their value fluctuate as time passes. Take for example, wedding photographs. These will be immediately valuable to the couple and their immediate family, but once they have passed on the value will drop, apart from maybe one or two of the photos held dear by their children. Once we have passed that generation their value will more be of a record of the “times” in which the photo was taken, the styles of dress, fashion and rituals of the time. This is not to make light of wedding photography in any way (I have and do cover those events), but merely an observation and musings on the lifespan of  photographs.

What brought me to this? Well I recently stumbled upon the works of Vivian Maier. The blog of her work is run by John Maloof who acquired her work in an auction, some 30-40,000 negatives,  many of them undeveloped. He’s had a great and inspirational experience looking through, and developing the films in the collection.

To see such a large body of work, devoid of a commercial angle or bent is interesting. You are seeing through the photographer’s eye without the wishes of the client having any impact. This appeals to me, mainly as I have had several discussion with family and friends over the years, about what I’m “Going to do with my photography”. With a lot of it centering around people not understanding my reluctance to make money from what I do. It’s not from a lack of aptitude, or from a lack of confidence, but from what I want to cover/show and how I feel, mainly that the work I want to cover  is not something that’s going to be commercially viable, and a commercial aspect could get in the way of the meaning behind those photographs.

© Vivian Maier, Courtesy of John Maloof

I’m interested in the non-commercial aspect of photography, the documentary and telling of a story unfettered by commercial concerns.  This comes back to looking at the parameters to your work. There is the real danger that without any parameters or goals a life’s work can become formless and hard to manage. 40,000 negs is a lot of images to catalogue, edit and narrow down! Imagine how bad it can be these days with the numbers of digital images that we take! Vivian Maier’s work appears to have avoided this, she has a strong vision and central theme, one that is communicated excellently through her archive. Her work centers around the streets of Chicago and New York, and the people that inhabit them.  It is a good example to look at as inspiration for work driven by a vision and goal.

Looking back at the shots you have taken, will you be happy with your “life’s work”? Are you happy with what you have shot to date? I feel I’m on the right tracks, in a few cases I’m shooting what I want to shoot and, where possible, working to doing more of that. Do I want fame and money? Surprisingly, no.

Ok, an exhibition in a major gallery would be nice, it’s always nice to have your ego boosted like that, but it’s not why I do what I do. I enjoy the act of photography, and I like the idea of a comprehensive and impressive body of work* that’s driven by what I want to cover.That is what I’m aiming for, with a few side goals where individual projects are concerned of course.!

*it still needs some work admittedly

If you have yet to browse Vivian’s work then do so, there’s a lot of inspiration to be had there.

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Yashica are realeasing a digicam they are branding as a digital Holga, looks interesting enough and a bit of cheap fun (for digital).   The camera looks like it might have got the stripped down handling of the Holga, but I’d be interested to see what the images are like, see if they retain any of the look and feel of a Holga image which, after all, is the other half of the appeal to them.

Via The Online Photographer

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