I was lucky enough to get my copy of Half Life by Michael Ackerman a few months back. A good friend let me know about the book and the fact there were a small number of them available from VU. He said that I had to buy it, simple as that... It was sound advice and shows how much this friend knows my style of photography. I have contemplated the book for these few months and each time I pick it up I find some new reason to love it more and more.
Read MoreI have had this one listed as a place holder for sometime now. Its daunting to even think about writing about the book for a few reasons. 1. Its a massive collection of some of the most famous works from Daido Moriyama. Such a prolific worker, so such a large volume.
2. I idolise his work in many ways, so I am a little hesitant to write about what I think is the most complete collection of his finest photos.
3. I take photos of some of the images in the books that I review, and honestly... as I cant show you every page I feel like this review will be a little unfinished. The book should be enjoyed in its entirety.
Read MoreSome may know I have recently published a small zine from a series of images from a trip to Tokyo. Truth be told its a process that I almost fell into in some ways. I had no intention of publishing a series of images before leaving, but the end to end process of shooting, processing, and printing didnt seem complete when I had finished the work.
Read MoreMy name is Chris Trigaux; I’m born and raised in Connecticut in the US. During high school, photography became one of my biggest interests. I would double up on photo classes and spend my free periods in the black and white darkroom at school. I also spent a ton of time googling stuff about cameras when I was home (still do). I’m a total tech nerd when it comes to gear. I just graduated with my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Photography from Syracuse University. I took a class there on photo books from master Doug DuBois, which really changed my whole outlook on images and art.
Read MoreI have recently been going through the process of designing my own zine from the images that I shot while in Japan with the intent to print a limited run of maybe 50 copies. Part of this process has involved picking the brains of a few guys that I have been following for a while online. Guys who have had some experience in the publishing side of things as far as these little self published photo zines go. I think the self publishing of small print run photo publications in this day and age of the internet and social media is a special thing, and I would like to try and feature the work of some of the artists here. One such guy is Chris Leskovsek. A Chilean living in Aukland. He has been kind enough to spend some time answering some questions about his work and his great little zine series, Øbservations. Below is the teaser video of issue number 1. I am posting issue number 1 as the video for the post for two reasons. First, its number 1. Second, its the one I am missing so I like to look at it this way as I dont have a hard copy and Chris doesnt have any copies left.
Read MoreWe all fall prey of the camera and the strange yet powerful hold that it has on us. Whats this about? Its a lust, its one of the sins in the history of many religions... Dont get me wrong, Im not religious. I just know from experience that this is what drives the obsession with the camera. Its also what drives modern society to want better cars, bigger houses, better whats its, and so on. If its not lust then its greed, I dont know if one is better than the other, but I am going to say lust... I know this as its something that I need to fight to control myself as well. The answer to the question is quite simple really. The camera is a tool. The camera is the same sort of tool as a painters brush, a sculptors clay, and a woodworkers saws. It is however one that has been much abused by society, and has hence lost some of its bygone allure and mystery.
Read MoreI have been in a bit of an artistic rut lately. I dont know the pin point reason for this, and I guess I dont even know if there is a single reason, or if there are few things that have come together to result in the lull in productivity. Since I started to get back into making images with a camera about 12 months ago now, I havent had this happen yet, so its causing me a little stress. When I remove myself from the situation and sit back and try to be objective about the scenario I am not overly concerned. I know deep down that I will come back again. But its sometimes hard to be removed and objective, so I thought that I would write about it in the hope that maybe penning these thoughts would act as the conduit that I needed to return to some form of productivity.
Read MoreAs the topic title says, we are going to have a look at street photography without people. A lot of the street photography at the moment is centred on people. People doing things out of the norm. People in the right light. People who have an interesting look. A majority of the work of the masters of Street Photography also contained a people element, but I think at that point there was more of a trend of telling a story and showing a snapshot of society. Maybe the trend of the moment of seeking out and capturing the weird and wonderful says something about us as a society in the modern era, but that is likely the topic for future conversations. But... Is there a need to have a person in a shot, or is it possible to shoot street work of high quality without shooting people?
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