Cartier Bresson: A Question of Colour

I went to the Cartier Bresson: A Question of Colour exhibition at Somerset House this week featuring 15 of Bresson's images (some never seen before in the UK) and another 75 by other photographers of the "Street Photography" genre.  A very exciting exhibition, I was thrilled to see works by Melanie Einzig and Joel Meyerowitz - in fact more thrilled than seeing Bresson's work.  (sorry...).  The objective of the exhibition was to make the point about the "decisive moment".  I think of Bresson as the founder of street/urban photography, and modern monochrome images.  However, the exhibition showed that the evolution of street photography to include colour is to the genre's advantage.  Many images work better in colour, as colour is one of the themes that street photographers seek.  In addition the size and quality of modern printed images is outstanding, compared with the Bresson era, so these modern images overshadowed Bresson's works considerably.  I wonder why the curator did not mount the Bresson's in one section so that they would not look overwhelmed by later works.

Images that really intrigued me by photographers new to me:

Sozio, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2010 by Karl Baden (and all Baden's images that had been included) - I loved the theme of photographing through the car window - like driving through madness!  The fact that the images were shot through the window gave a sense of detachment which highlighted the eccentricity of his subjects. 

Untitled (Chihuahua, NYC), 1993 by Jeff Mermelstein - dogs seem to be very powerful in street photography.  In this it's as if the street belongs to the dog.  The dog is the only subject actually looking at the camera - everyone else is just getting on with what they need to do!

Sharkbay, 2006 by Trent Parke- this is wonderful.  A line of emus walking towards some houses - incredible brilliant white but not blown out against stunning blue.  The sense of heat is really captured.

Bombardopolis, Haiti, 1986 by Alex Webb - as above - stunning use of colour and light - I like the unusual viewpoint in this image - over the donkey's head with the image framed on each side by people.

I might just pop back and look at this exhibition again!

For more information on the exhibition see:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/nov/07/henri-cartier-bresson-photography

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/bab40ff0-28de-11e2-9591-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2Bwy9weZs

Light

The afternoon light today over the Barbican was stunning - dark sky with bright patches lighting up the different buildings in turn - it was a spectacular sequence of slow moving flashes. I was stuck in an office doing some training but really wish I had been out in the street or even on top of a building (like James Burns!). The iPad photo doesn't do it justice and it seems to have lightened the sky - but I know exactly what I mean when I see it! This kind of light is also incredible in the Lake District lighting up entire fellsides.

Light, mist and frost

7.20am - beautiful light, mist and frost - even in Feltham! Pity about having to go to work...had pocket camera with me but no time fish it out...just a quick iPad shot! Time to follow Matt Stuart's example and always have a camera out ready! I would really like to see these conditions at Castlerigg Stone Circle - the sky was the faintest of pinks - almost ethereal.

Photography Monthly - Special Issue 2012

I found the article on Landscapes forming part of the series on the Landscape Recipe Book very informative.  Written by Mark Bauer the article describes how to mark foregrounds interesting.  The key features are:

• Enlarged rocks (wide-angle)
• Paths leading into the background
• Rocks framing the edges
• Plants providing an effect frame (although at Camera Club I was warned against this by a judge....)
• Smoky water
• Converging lines
• Empty foreground
• Pointers from the corners of the frame

The whole series of the Landscape Recipe Book has been very helpful - I shoot a lot in the Lake District and am very interested in creating different landscapes - I think I now need to go back through my previous editions and piece it all together.

2012 KCC Exhibition

I entered ten images into the Nature catogory for the 2012 Kingston Camera Club exhibition.  All images entered were accepted for the exhibition, however, two of the images recieved an Honorary Mention from the judge Ken Scott.  This felt like the first significant recognition of my work, so I was thrilled!  The category didn't distinguish between Standard and Advanced level; I am in the Standard class, so I was really pleased to get this given the competition :-).  The photos were in 4th and 5th places out of 27.  The two images receiving the Honorary Mention are:

Best Foot Forward

Birds Eye

Seduced by Art: Photography Past and Present

I went to the Seduced by Art exhibition at the National Gallery on Friday evening.  The point of the exhibition was to display the links between the art classics and photography, e.g. in portraiture.  I found the exhibition interesting, but thought that the connections were a little contrived.  I couldn't always see the connection clearly, although in same cases I could see some similarity.  I think photography is an art in its own right and doesn't need to be compared with classical art.  

What was significantly more interesting was the film showing the exploding flowers: a vase of flowers, with charges attached had been frozen with nitrogen and then detonated from a distance, creating a spectacular image Blow Up by Ori Gersht.  I was also pleased to see two Delahaye images in the exhibition, one of which I had previously seen at the Prix Pictet exhibition - 132nd Meeting of the Ordinary Conference - and one I hadn't previously seen named Detail From US Bombing on Taliban Positions which was compared with Battle of Jemappes by Vernet.

I also liked the chaotic bedroom pictures - my friends who came with me commented that these resembled their teenage daughter's room, and I found the poster image of the Man with Octopuss Tattoo by Richard Learoyd interesting: this image works on many levels - limited colour pallette, central composition with diagonal tattoo, subject matter.

For more information see:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/nov/04/seduced-art-photography-national-gallery

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/oct/30/seduced-by-art-national-gallery

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/interactive/2012/oct/30/seduced-by-art-national-gallery-audio-interactive?intcmp=239

Matt Stuart

I am a big fan of Matt Stuart - I love the comedy in his work - and have previously commented on him in my post about Street Photography Now.  I was fortunate enough to meet him a couple of days ago and a presentation he gave at Richmond and Twickenham Photographic Society.  Matt spoke about how he started out as a photographer, what motivates him and interests him, the camera/lens he uses and what he looks for.  The points I noted from the evening are:

• Either see the moment and take it - or fish out a context and wait for something to happen
• When approached by angry subjects, comment "like the ...." - always works
• Look for repetition of shapes and patterns, and people replicating them
• Look for funny slogans and captions
• Measure the exposure of the location beforehand, e.g. certain distances on the tube, so that you can then be prepared when the moment strikes
• Keep your eyes and ears open at all times
• Learn to predict what will happen
• 1/500s shutter speed will stop motion (so use Shutter priority) - good for capturing facial expressions
• 1/250s shutter speed won't stop motion dead in its tracks
• Look for single features within busy crowd shots
• Get your subject familiar with the clicking noise so that you blend into the background
• Look for places with lots of people - natural situations and unexpected situations
• Follow your subjects
• Always carry a camera whatever the conditions and however small the camera
• The more you do the luckier you will get
• Give yourself a brief or a project
• Mirror colours (e.g. Matt's photo of a lady with an orange turban looking at a picture of three wilson basketballs in the Tate)
• Look for scenes where a few things are happening within a busy picture
• Tune in to detail - be alert
• Locations with wide pavements are good locations for street photography
• Aim for about 12ft of distance from the subject or focal point
• Learn to walk backwards
• Keep elbows in

Matt also mentioned his montor Joel Meyerowitz several times, which got me thinking that I need a mentor too.  Where do I get one?