Photography
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Virtually experienced, hardly seen
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1 min read
We record events, to realize that they’re happening — not necessarily that we want to experience them. The aperture opens the lens to reality, the touch of technology comes before sight. The light beams onto the subject, probing for a source of security. Is this even a tangible object? The mind’s eye sticks onto an…
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More than a job
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1 min read
The photographer’s job is to capture. They get a pass on intrusion despite a face of expressive flesh. So too does the scientist who uses their more elusive hands to dabble in a dangerous experiment. The maker needs no excuse to have skin in the game, as they should feel free to explore via an…
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The vast but empty spaces of Andreas Gursky
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2 min read
German photographer Andreas Gursky’s photograph “99 Cent II Diptych” (see above) was once the world’s most expensive photo. In it, the Dusseldorf School photographer stitched together a two-part photograph (also called a ‘diptych’) of a vast but empty grocery store in Los Angeles. Taking another contemporary digitally manipulated view of everyday objects, Gursky’s “Rhein II” sold for $4.3m…
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How we decode reality
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1 min read
We are not born with information. The severity of an illusion lies within its shadow of a doubt. Objects as artifice are as credible as our eyes make them out to be. The gut loves to sensationalize fear. The beating heart frustrates under the tick-tock of boredom. The mind interprets thoughts that drive reality. What…
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From your mouth
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2 min read
Words signify a consciousness, of which a newborn or pet can only hear. The baby goes on to break a word up into its individual sounds, eventually coalescing into a communicative language of memes while your dog relies on its own form of internal narrative. There is some form of mental awareness in all creatures.…
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Camera obscura
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2 min read
Sometimes it’s the written word. Other times, it’s a still photo. If the camera is too revealing, we can communicate via video or sound. Said filmmaker Robert Bresson’s in his 1975 book Notes on the Cinematograph: “A locomotive’s whistle imprints in us a whole railroad station.” Communication is a game of elements. Film is the art of combining…
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Robert Frank, photo poetry
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1 min read
When people look at my pictures, I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice. Robert Frank
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Robert Frank, one of the most prominent photographers of the 20th century, passed away at the age of 94. He documented American society while on his cross country road trips in the 1950s, eventually publishing a 1958 black and white photobook The Americans. “With that little camera that he raises and snaps with one hand…
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Speaking through pixels
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1 min read
We take pictures intending to show someone else — whether it’s our Instagram followers or our family and friends. But the illusion of infinite shelf space keeps so many pictures on the phone, gone and long forgotten. Photos should not be stashed away in the closet or hoarded on the hard drive for safekeeping. Even…
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Vladimir Lagrange, photo artist
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1 min read
Vladimir Lagrange took artistic photos of ordinary Russians for the “Soviet Union” Magazine. He also captured a bunch of personal photos that never saw the day of light because of Moscow’s censorship. In reading up on Vladimir and looking at some of his pictures, it reminded me of this Bertolt Brecht line from War Primer…
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Be brave, clench fists
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1 min read
The quietest people have the loudest minds. That’s why introverts are more active than extroverts on social media. It’s easier to speak through screens than it is face-to-face. But showing up offline is the only way to get anywhere. No one’s going to marry or hire you because you speak well on screen but not…