About Visual Satisfaction

There are sometimes pictures where you feel that, although they are technically not bad, they are not completely satisfying your visual needs. I am writing about an image where exactly that happened to me.

I had taken this pictures at Oreti Beach in Invercargill New Zealand. It was a picture in a series of ICM (intentional camera movement) pictures of a sunset at the sea. When using ICM in sunsets you can create pictures with quite sharp and prominent lines in the sky that blend with the light and colour of the sunset which gives overall a nice visual effect.

In this picture I happened to feel during the editing process that something was “wrong”. Although colours and light were nice and although the contrasts were good too, I had the feeling that something is missing or, as I sad before, “wrong”.

If we take a closer look we see that the upper line of light does not converge in a visually satisfying way. I tried to help that by cropping the picture in many different ways. Eventually I settled with a crop that cuts off the very abrupt end of this line in the dark sky. However I still have the feeling that my eye does not find the satisfaction of a completely pleasing composition. There is some tension left at the end of that line. You don’t lean back in your chair with this sigh of aesthetical satisfaction that you have in an overall pleasing composition.

I have posted this picture to my Flickr gallery because on the one hand I like the colours and tones and on the other hand because I find it a good example of a “not satisfying” nature shot. Particularly shooting the sky means that we need to handle what we got. When curating our pictures we should just be aware of the limitations of our work that sometimes don’t have to do anything with our photographic abilities. Nature just throws them at us. :-)

Leica Q2 - a huge disappointment (but then....)

It’s good that I didn’t write my article about the Leica Q2 right after my first experience with it. Content and verdict would have been very different from what I am writing now. And it would not have been very flattering.

I bought a new Leica Q2 three months ago. I had been salivating for this camera for years. First I wanted the original Q, then after the release of the Q2 I desired the camera even more due to all the improvements that had been implemented. The price is steep, and that was the reason why I hesitated for so many years. But eventually I could not resist.

The timing of my purchase was a little unlucky. I bought the camera right before I started my first shootings for the “Inner Core Project”. This project requires me to be extremely swift and flexible with my camera because I leave it completely up to my “models” how they move and what they do during the shooting.

My little Ricoh GR III camera fulfills all requirements for this type of photo shoot. It is light, easy to use, I can handle it with just one hand and the menus and buttons are very intuitive. It’s the perfect camera for that purpose.

I then tried out the Q2 in this shooting environment. It was a disaster. The camera was too heavy (800 g in comparison to 420 g of the GR III), it felt clumsy and I was far too slow because I didn’t know the camera and it’s functions well enough. So I used the GR III as my main camera during the shootings and only used the Q2 for some top up pictures just to try it out.

I was pretty disappointed. I bought my dream camera and I couldn’t handle it. I found that all the raving reviews had hopelessly overrated the camera.

Then I used it for some street shots. Still I wasn’t happy, exactly for the same reasons. Too heavy, too slow, too cumbersome. Yes, nice pictures and versatile files in pp but after all a huge waste of money.

And then I took the Q2 for a whole day outdoors into nature where I used it for long exposure work with intentional camera movement (ICM) to take landscape pictures. I visited the Emsland region in Northern Germany and there particularly some moors. I had a whole day, could do things at a slow pace, could expose pictures to my liking and play with the functions of the camera. And for the first time it felt as if this camera belonged into my hands. I learned how to move it intentionally according to my needs for blur effects. I changed exposure times, used the pop up menus on the screen and found that I could create a well working workflow.

And when I started processing the files some days later it was a revelation. It’s the best ICM pictures I have ever taken. The colors that I found in the RAW files are amazing. I only need to process them slightly in Lightroom and maybe give them some touch ups in Photoshop. I am a black and white photographer and in the past I found colour files difficult to handle. But that’s not the case with these Leica files. They shine and the colors pop in a beautiful way. It’s actually a joy to work with them.

ICM landscape picture shot with Leica Q2

The details in these pictures are absolutely amazing. I can create effects that I was not able to bring about with any other camera. I would call these pictures “dense”. There is so much information in them that they have an amazing expression.

So I was able to create a series that is to my full satisfaction. I love the ICM aspect, I love the colors and I was able to create a consistent series.

ICM landscape picture taken with Leica Q2

After that weekend I have changed my mind. This camera does live up to its expectations. You only need to be able to define the best use for it. And as with all tools you need to be able to handle it. Any camera is only as good as the person that uses it. I will certainly try again to use it for shooting people. Maybe with a little more experience with my new tool the results will be more satisfying.

My first disappointment has disappeared. I am keen on using the Q2 again. Next weekend I will be going to the Teufelsmoor (devil’s moore) and shoot like hell....

Photographer and "Model" Interaction - some insights from the Inner Core Project

Inner Core Project

The “Inner Core Project” is the attempt of showing the deeper inner layer of a person’s personality in photographs. I think this is a very ambitious idea and I am still not really certain if this is possible at all.

During the photoshoots of the past four weeks with five different collaborators I have made some discoveries that I would like to share with you. And maybe some of these discoveries can be transferred to “normal” portrait photography.

Connecting to the “Inner Core”

The starting point of every photo shoot is that I ask my “model”/collaborator how they think they are able to connect the best way to their inner core, to themselves, to the deepest part of their personality. And depending on their character, the professional work that they do and their temperament they have chosen different ways of of approaching their inner core.

I worked with two dancers. Marine wanted to find herself by moving her body in a spontaneous way on the ground and by dancing. Neven chose a natural environment outside where he just rested and let himself fall into the feeling of connecting to nature. Surya, who is a Yoga teacher did not (as expected by me) want to meditate to focus on her inner being but decided to dance wildly and use her body intensely to get the connection to herself. Bettina decided to use a pose where she laid down on the floor in a comfortable position on her side. She rested and tried to feel herself. And Tania just sat down on the ground and tried to look inside without doing anything specific. So everyone had a different way of connecting to their “inner core”, to themselves.

I also asked my collaborators to choose the place where they wanted to have the photo shoot. The assumption is that the more comfortable a person is with her or his environment the easier it is to connect to themselves.

Asking my “models” not to wear cloths during the photo shooting was another aspect of the project. My assumption is that cloths are another outside layer that prevent seeing deeper into a person’s inner core. So I asked if they could not wear any cloths apart from a slip. The purpose of the slip is to avoid any sexualization of the photo shoot or even more importantly not to distract viewers from the statement of the pictures by drawing their glances to the genitalia of my “models”. Three participants could agree to this request, two chose to wear underwear or a T-shirt on the upper body.

Technical Aspects

From a technical perspective I use a small and light camera, mainly my RICOH GR III that I can easily hold in one hand. I also tried using my Leica M Monochrom and a Leica Q2 which is a new camera for me. I will write a separate article about my experience with the Q2 in the near future. The two Leicas are much heavier than the GR III (approx. 800g vs. 260g for the GR III) which clearly limits their usability for this specific purpose.

Choosing long exposure times of approximately 1/6 of a second, sometimes much longer up to 5 or even 10 seconds is another part of the project. With the Leica MM and Q2 I have used 6 stop ND filters to make shooting with long exposure in daylight possible. The GR III can’t attach a ND filter which limits its use in very bright environments. As I have already mentioned in previous articles I am assuming that with longer exposure times it is easier to get a glance into the Inner Core of a person.

I had also decided that I would process the pictures in b&w under the assumption that colour would most likely distract from the purpose of this project.

The idea of the shooting process is that the photographer does nothing but follow his collaborators with his camera. I don’t speak, I am not asking them to pose or to make certain movements. I try to adapt entirely to the wishes and needs of my “models”. Of course this makes taking photos much more difficult from a technical perspective. I cannot influence the angle of light, the way they move, the background that I catch together with the person that I am shooting.

One shooting happened in the evening so that I had to use a handheld LED light. Holding the camera with one hand and taking pictures, holding the light in the other hand and following my “model” and her movements and coordinating all this to get reasonable photos was a very challenging task.

And now I would like to come to the most interesting aspect of this whole project. There are actually two aspects. One is the question if I can really show and document the Inner Core, the inner being of a person in a photograph. And the other aspect is that of the interaction between “model” and photographer.

Showing the “Inner Core”?

Is it possible to show the “inner Core” in a photograph? Photography deals with two-dimensional recordings of shape, light, texture and colour if it is a colour picture. They “see” a person from outside. So a photograph completely depends on what a person shows in their facial expression and body posture. The camera can’t “look inside”. So the question is if my “models” show something outside that could be perceived as the Inner Core.

I can certainly confirm that during these sessions my collaborators were in a state of more or less deep self-immersion which was clearly visible on their faces and also in their postures. Interestingly I found out that later when processing the pictures I could find features in their faces and their postures that I had not seen or discovered during the shooting process. But is that a representation of the “Inner Core”? I really don’t know. I don’t have an answer to the question.

Do we see the Inner Core?

The Interaction

The interaction between photographer and “model” is a crucial aspect in this project and of course in portrait photography in general. An important question is if the presence of the photographer changes the ability of a “model” to connect to herself or himself. My answers are mixed. My feeling during the sessions of my two dancing models was that they were so focussed on their own movements that the presence of the photographer did not faze them. The ones who wehere resting tended more towards getting in contact with me by looking into the camera or even talking to me. If that distracted them is difficult to tell, my feeling was that this was the case.

All five “models” told me that they were able to connect to their deeper inner self and that the presence of a photographer did not really affect this connection very much.

I can clearly say that the nudity of my “models” did not distract me nor did it have an impact on the atmosphere of the shootings.

Another aspect of interaction is my way of shooting my participants. Depending on how much they move I need to follow my “models” with my camera and try to improvise with every picture I take. That leads to a lot of intuitive shooting where I don’t have the time or opportunity to plan or compose a picture purposefully. But even though this aspect is limited I do have an influence on how the pictures eventually look by choosing the frame and roughly composing the picture which leads to the question if my personal approach has an influence on how the Inner Core becomes visible or not. So the outcome does not only depend on what the participant is able or willing to reveal but also on how the photographer chooses to shoot the frame.

Particularly this aspect of “model” and photographer behaviour and interaction has a big impact on the outcome not only in my little project but also on outcomes of portrait photography in general. I believe that both “behaviours” decide as to how the eventual outcome of a picture is like. I have to admit that I loathe pictures where it is obvious that the photographer has urged his model into a pose without realising the comfort zone nor the personality of his model. My project goes into the other extreme by trying to minimise the influence of the photographer on the outcome and to let the person shine from inside. But I would assume that working with what a model brings to the shooting is always an essential part the looks and the success of portrait photographs. (Maybe one day I should write an article about the difference of portrait pictures with and without “posing”).

No posing….

Post-Processing

As we all know a picture is not done by the end of the photo shoot. Post-processing is an essential part of the process of picture creation. And of cause this is the case in my little project.

I have discovered that every photoshoot requires a different workflow because of the different set-ups and characters of the person I shoot. I convert the pictures to black and white, change the lighting, add grain and if necessary crop the pictures. Every picture goes through a workflow in Lightroom, Photoshop and Nik Silver Efex.

Of cause my perception of the picture, my memories of the shooting and my decision as to how to develop the picture has an impact on the final outcome of the picture. Considering the goal of wanting to show the Inner Core of a person you may ask how much this developing process alters or even “falsifies” the picture. At least does my perception of the picture, does my aesthetical decision making have an influence on the final outcome. I take the liberty to enhance the picture according to what I think is visible and needs to be emphasised.

Post-processing as the final step of a photographic workflow has been discussed a million times. And the question if we have “the right” to alter a picture once it has been taken has still not been answered. And I don’t want to go into the depth of this discussion. But what I want to say is that I am aware that my decision making during the development of the pictures on the computer has an impact on how the project is shaped. It is my subjective perception and my awareness that decide how a picture shows the Inner Core of a person in my photographs.

The Journey

I find the it fascinating to deal with something so intimate as the inner being of a person and that I get permission to try to reveal it in photographs. I find it fascinating that the interaction of photographer and “model” influence the process. And I am aware of the limitations of my own judgement with regard to my decision making during the development process of these pictures.

Not only do I get the opportunity of working with human beings so closely, its also gives me the opportunity of thinking about the creation process of photographs and the interaction between the photographer and his models. All this is much more than I had ever expected before I started the first photo shoot. It is a fascinating journey into the discovery of human beings, their behaviour and myself as a photographer.

Will I ever find an answer? Is it possible to show the “Inner Core” in a photograph? Maybe this is completely unimportant. Maybe it is the journey that counts, the journey and the human interaction.

Thank you very much Herr Schlattner (or - the planning of a photo shoot)

When you want to do a photo shoot with a person, a “model” as we say and as I really don’t like saying, things are slightly different from going out on the street or into nature. As you have a certain goal you also need to plan the shooting. And that means you need to find a “model”, the right time and of course a suitable place.

I don’t own or rent a studio. (It would be completely useless in my case as I am traveling from Greece to New Zealand to Australia and back. Where would I have my studio then?) So I need to find a place where I can shoot. It turned out that I was very lucky in Osnabrück. Marine, my first “model” knew the owner of a Yoga place in town who was willing to let us shoot at his premises.

But I wanted a second session at a different place. And on my mind I had an industrial place, possible abandoned and in it’s original state. Such a place is really hard to find, particularly if you don’t know the city, it’s environment and the options it gives you.

So I started driving around and I came to an old harbour area where they had started refurbishing storage buildings and halls. Regrettably none of those buildings was in the original state anymore and the ones that I found were already refurbished and turned into relatively small office spaces which where not suitable for a photo shoot.

But then I discovered a large storage hall where the refurbishment works were just on their way. With a little bit of chuzpe I drove into the building site and right in front of me a grey haired chap was walking on the street blocking me from continuing. He actually looked like the foreman of this building site.

So I started talking to him asking him if he knew if the place could be used for a photo shoot. And immediately he said that yes, this would be possible and I could take a look at the hall and decide if it was suitable for my purposes. He came across as a very assertive and cooperative foreman indeed.

We walked around on the site where builders were working and creating a lot of dust. The hall was gorgeous. Approximately 60 meters long, 30 meters wide and at least 10 meters high with large windows all around the top of the walls. A huge photo studio!

Our “Photo Studio”

I said “yes!”, that place I would love to use. And he told me that I could use it over the weekend when works were interrupted, he just needed to know when exactly because he would need to open the building site for us. He gave me his cell phone number and told me his name. “Schlattner” he grumbled with a typical Austrian accent.

So I contacted Marine, my dancer and we arranged for our shooting for the following Saturday. And Herr Schlattner told me that he would be in his office on the building site the whole day anyway. “Hm”, I was thinking by myself, “a foreman who works at his office the whole weekend?”

So I googled him as soon as I returned back home. And of course I discovered that my assertive foreman was the owner of the building company that was doing the work at that storage hall. And for whatever reason he had a heart for the arts and for a poor photographer. I was really incredibly lucky.

Herr Schlattner, you were very generous and I thank you very much for the wonderful opportunity that you gave us for our photo shoot!

Destiny (is a very big word)

I am still marveling about the shooting session with Thekla that happened one month ago. The spirit of this session has lingered on as I have been processing and posting the pictures. And from that moment something amazing has been developing. I have been in touch with people that have helped me finding what I want to do in photography. Really, it is that big!

I have been looking around and searching for what I want to express in photography for the past six years. It has been a meandering through subjects, techniques, aspirations, disappointments and endeavors. And though I never had the feeling that I was really going wrong it also never felt entirely right, never complete, never as if I was on the path I wanted to be.

The first big step was that last year I started to shoot portraits. It was the first time that I worked with human beings and the first time that I dared exposing myself to them as a photographer. It was a huge step.

There was always the aspiration of working with people, taking their pictures and finding a way to develop my photography into that direction. I just did not have the courage. Accomplished portrait and nude photographers might smile about this impediment (or maybe some might nod as they know this feeling of fear from their own experience).

Whatever, for me it was the first time that I got in touch with people that were willing to work with me and that I felt comfortable to work with. I am really grateful to Io and her fellow musicians for this experience.

From there I shot more portraits and I gained some more experience. But it still felt sometimes clumsy and as if I was not doing quite what I wanted or should do.

And then two things happened. I met Thekla and had this amazing creative experience with her. And I also met Nanni. Nanni is an artistic photographer in Germany who I approached via Flickr because her pictures fascinated me. And via email we started talking about photography, about how our brains work and process information and reality and about what defines the core of us as human beings.

Picture from the photo shooting with Thekla in October. Picture processed with textures.

And all of a sudden it clicked. All this together starts giving me the feeling, I would even say certainty what I want to do and express and depict in photography. It is as if my photographic destiny is gradually opening up. I am not there yet. I will need to try things out. I know it is a path and not a place.

But essentially I want to explore what lies under the surface of us as human beings. What defines us, what makes us behave the way we do, what makes us human and what brings us together as human beings. And I wand to find the expression of this human essence in the faces and (nude) bodies of people that I depict.

Well, that’s kind of big, isn’t it? Very big. Maybe stupid. Maybe preposterous. And maybe hopeless and destined to fail. But it feels right! And I need to go there.

Thank you to all my companions over the past years, thank you to my new friends. Thank you to Thekla, Nanni, Marilena, Io, Tracy, Alistair, Frank, Jay (Vulture Labs) and Ioanna. Thank you for going with me, for your ideas, teachings, readiness and support.

And I will write more about this as it evolves. Who knows how the journey will be. And if it will be a journey at all. But at least I want to take the first few steps now.

Working with models

After having worked with portrait models for a little less than a year I would like to write about my approach and my experiences. 

When I shoot portraits I am currently limited to outdoor areas because I don’t have a studio and no lighting equipment. Apart from depending on the weather this does not seem a major disadvantage to me. I can work with natural light and using the streets and parks for shooting certainly works for me.  I would still like to have a place where I can create light and where I can set the atmosphere and have shooting conditions that I can determine myself. Maybe a little later,  currently I travel so much between Greece and New Zealand that it does not make sense to have a studio in one place anyway. 

But I mainly wanted to write about working with models. I currently only work with people that are no professional models. They are people that I either find in the streets or friends or acquaintances of mine. In other words, my models have only limited or no shooting experience which means that I should direct them and tell them what to do and how to pose.  And exactly that I don’t do. Very purposefully I don’t give them directions as to how to move, to strike a pose or to show a certain facial expression.   The reason is that I am interested in finding out who my models are as a person and I am trying to capture this person when I shoot. Poses or directions would only distract and lead us away from my goal. 

I tell my models before the shooting that I am not going to tell them what to do and how to behave. Instead of giving instructions I start having a talk with them. I ask them about their lives, about ideas, attitudes, things that they love or dislike. And I tell my story, tell them who I am, what I do, how I have developed my photography. It often develops into an exchange of experiences, of life stories and opinions. I learn a lot about my models and I love getting to know them a little. 

I do tell my models where I want us to go, where I think the light is good and what kind of backdrop I like and want to shoot them in. But from the moment we find a place it is mainly a situation of interaction and shooting the model during this interaction. A disadvantage is that during talking faces are very difficult to shoot, often features are distorted or eyes half closed. So I need to wait for little breaks between the interaction. This is actually nice because often I find that emotions from the last topic or sentences remain in the faces of my models which enhances their facial expression.  

It often is also interesting to watch with the camera what a person is doing with a certain situation. A few days ago I went with my model Ioanna to a long open air stairs in the neighborhood of Exarchia in Athens. From the stairs you have a look from above over a part of Athens. Ioanna sat down on the stairs spontaneously and watched the city with a kind of far away glance in her eyes. This coincided nicely with the talk we had about her traveling and living in many different places. And the pictures that I could take had a very special and particular mood.

Ioanna with the “far away glance” in her eyes

Keeping the situation open and letting the model develop within this situation is something that I like very much. We create a little human laboratory situation where the interaction between photographer and model and the environment become the basis for visual story telling. 

Is it possible to grasp “the essence” of a person in a single picture? The question is more if we can even talk about “the “ essence of a human being. Every situation, every social interaction evokes a particular atmosphere which influences the mood of a model and his or her facial expression. Yes, there are recurring traits of character that we can try to find and to depict. But reducing a person on one single picture appears to be very difficult and even a bold task to me.  However, maybe that will change if I develop more experience over the time. 

During one photo shoot I take between 200 and 300 pictures of my model in different locations. I take about two hours for this task, a time that my (unpaid) models are usually willing to dedicate to the experience. Later when culling, curating and processing the pictures I reduce the number to 10 to 15 pictures that I process. After the processing I send the final JPEG versions of the images to my models via WeTransfer, together with a big thank you. 

I find the human interaction between myself and my models interesting and fascinating. This allows me to dip into the lives of people that I don’t know and have never met before. And it appears that even sometimes some lasting relationships or friendships can develop. This experience is at least as important as the photographic one and the pictures that we can create together.  

Motion blur (revised version)

I have been experimenting with motion blur (or intentional camera movement, ICM as it is called) for a while. You achieve this effect by using a relatively long exposure time (1/25 second or slower) and moving your camera in a planned and coordinated way when pressing the shutter release. Technically it is not easy to produce meaningful pictures because you need to calculate the visual path of the camera and the position of the object that you are aiming at. So consequently you often get pictures that do not show what you have envisaged. 

And to be clear. Motion blur does not mean that you shoot randomly into a crowd or at still objects. In order to achieve good pictures you should have a clear idea or vision of what you want to capture, which expression to achieve and how to move your camera to obtain your result. Otherwise you end up with chaotic pictures that don’t have any meaning or good visual impact. 

It took me a few attempts to get this ensemble right. Particularly the ducks posed a challenge.

In Tokyo I returned to the technique of motion blur. An important reason was that I was not overly happy with the expression of my “still pictures” that I had taken in the first two days in the city. So I decided to take the plunge and shoot ICM only for the rest of my stay. That gave me the opportunity of trying out this style in many shots and to improve my technique. 

To my mind motion blur pictures have a deeper, a different expression than still photos. I find that they reveal a “reality behind the reality” that you can hardly find in the usual images with quick shutter release. Particularly when shooting people I find that their faces show treats that express something of their character that you only find when you use long exposure. 

Signs and gestures. Serendipity certainly plays a role, particularly in situations when you have “one shot” only. Here it played out very nicely for me.

I believe that motion blur is more demanding (and revealing) for the viewer too. As the viewer of these pictures you need to take more time.  A motion blur picture does not reveal its whole meaning at first glance, it requires the viewer to look longer and deeper.  As not all details are clearly visible the viewer’s imagination needs to add missing pieces. The missing clarity or details need to be filled up and this can only be done by the viewer’s mind.  In that way the viewer continues the story of the picture on his own mind.  Letting the overall impression sink in, letting the subconscious process what the eye sees may indeed reveal a deeper reality.

Of course any good or meaningful photograph requires the viewer to take time and to be present. And it makes him or her telling a story on their mind. However do I think that in motion blur pictures patience on the side of the viewer reveals more details and more meaning. The viewer actually needs to immerse himself deeper into what is happening in the picture. 

I know that motion blur “is not for everyone”. But this holds good for any type of artistic expression. You will always find people loving and others disliking a certain way of expressing something artistically. From that perspective motion blur is not different from any other photographic or artistic style. It is one way of expressing yourself. And to me it is a very appropriate way.

Flickr is regrettably not the ideal medium for motion blur. Viewers “flick” through the pictures very rapidly, spending hardly longer than 3 seconds on one image. Like any other social media platform Flickr is made for instant consumption and we as the producers and consumers at the same time usually  comply with this intention. I tend not to show all my ICM work on Flickr as it feels not always appropriate. Some pieces I show on my website only and I hope that the different, more private environment helps viewers to slow down and to take time for the work.

ICM is a very interesting and “different” way of making photographs. I will certainly continue following this path.

Motion Blur

I have been experimenting with motion blur (or intentional camera movement, ICM as it is called) in the past. You achieve this effect by using a relatively long exposure time (1/25 second or slower) and moving your camera in a planned and coordinated way when pressing the shutter release. Technically it is not easy to produce meaningful pictures because you need to calculate the visual path of the camera and the position of the object that you are aiming at. So consequently you often get pictures that do not show what you have envisaged. 

And to be clear. Motion blur does not mean that you shoot randomly into a crowd or at still objects. In order to achieve good pictures you should have a clear idea of what you want to capture and how to move your camera. Otherwise you end up with chaotic pictures that don’t have any meaning or good visual impact. 

In Tokyo I returned to the technique of motion blur. An important reason was that I was not overly happy with the expression of my “still pictures” that I had taken in the first two days in the city. So I decided to take the plunge and shoot ICM only for the rest of my stay. That gave me the opportunity of trying out this technique in many shots and to improve my technique. 

To my mind motion blur pictures have a deeper, a different expression than still photos. I find that they reveal a “reality behind the reality” that you can hardly find in the usual images with quick shutter release. Particularly when shooting people I find that their faces show treats that express something of their character that you only find when you use long exposure. 

As the viewer of these pictures you need to take more time too. Following the lines, looking into each corner of the picture helps you getting the full expression of the picture. Letting the overall impression sink in, letting your subconscious process what you see may indeed reveal a deeper reality. Of course this applies on any photograph, however do I think that in motion blur pictures, patience on the side of the viewer reveals more details and more meaning. It feels as if I as the viewer immerse myself deeper into what is happening in the picture. 

Flickr is not the ideal medium for motion blur. We “flick” through the pictures very rapidly, spending hardly longer than 3 seconds on one image. But maybe sometimes it would be good to slow down and to force ourselves into a deeper experience with the pictures that we regard. Motion blur is a good occasion to start this attempt.

From Snapshot to Metaphor

Recently I went to a party in Invercargill where parents and their children around the age of 15 to 20 celebrated together. It was a nice party and everybody had a lot of fun. I had my iPhone with me and started shooting some pictures of people dancing and I caught a few shots that were a little blurry and grainy due to the low light. All in all they were average party pictures that I did not pay very much attention to.

Some weeks later I bumped into these pictures again when reviewing the iPhone shots on my computer. And here I realised that at least some of the pictures had a quality that I had not observed when skimming them superficially. To me it appeared that some of these pictures exuded the essence of what being young means. Being free, being oblivious of the surroundings, just captivated by music and the own movements. The pictures were still not very good snapshots but I could see something deeper in them.

So I took one of these pictures and started processing it. And step by step it changed into what I had seen in it before. To me it became the humble epitome of what being young can mean. Technically this picture has plenty of flaws and I am not even convinced that it is a “good” picture. But to me it has the quality of elevating a mundane scene into a metaphorical quality.

I certainly admit that this is just me, the way my own mind works and that I would not sell this image as a piece of major art. But to me it is a nice example of what we see in a picture and how we are able to transform our vision into something real existing.

Shooting Musicians

In the past few months I got involved into taking pictures of musicians. Starting point was that I met a group of street musicians in the streets of Athens. I asked them if they were ok with me taking some pictures of them. They agreed and subsequently I met them again, attended some of their scheduled concerts and took some portraits of some of them.

From there on it snowballed and I got deeper involved in the scene with a few musicians being interested in me taking their pictures. A week ago I could attend a radio contest show with the blues guitarist and singer Tom Yosi and his band. I could take pictures of their preparation for the concert and of the event itself. Here is the link to Tom’s Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/thanasis.klabanos

Taking pictures of musicians is special. It is artistically satisfying. And I will tell you why. Musicians live their passion. They love what they do. They love their music and they love the social interaction that ensues from it. And all this shows in their faces. Musicians are people that are ‘easy’ to shoot because they have a lot of expression on their faces.

Tom Yosi in concert at red fm in Athens

I have made the experience that during concerts musicians live their music. They dive into it. And every twist and turn of the music often shows in their faces. So it is an adventure to follow them during a concert and to capture what the music does to them and to their facial expression.

Ηώ Δάδα singing at Dafni café in Athens

Shooting during concerts in cafes and bars (and that is what I do mainly at the moment) is photographically a big challenge. The light is crap (as you see in the picture above), most of the time there is no stage light at all and you can be glad if you find a ceiling light that illuminates the scene in a random way. Not easy to shoot good pictures that way.

With the radio concert it was a little different. This happened on a stage at the broadcast centre where they had professional equipment and also stage light. However the lighting was actually far away from anything you could call professional. This was radio and not a TV show.

Anyway - the experience of getting involved into Athen’s music scene, of having the opportunity of taking pictures of musicians on stage and privately and of encountering their love and passion for their art is providing big joy to me. I hope that this will continue and that I will be able to expand on it. And I also hope that the interruptions by me working (I need to earn money, and I can’t do this with my photography) will not have too bad an influence on this development.

I have been waiting for this kind of photography for years. Now it is happening and I am very happy.

Becoming Pro

I have become Pro. Flickr Pro. This means that I am going to pay 50,- Dollars per year (and a discounted 35,- for the first year) to prevent Flickr from deleting my images that are above the maximum of 1000 that Flickr allows for a free account.

I have been thinking about this for a while. And considering that I am so critical of Flickrs new policy and that I have just written a rant about this a few days ago, you may wonder how this happened. Am I a hypocrite?

Well, I decided to stay with Flickr because it is my social basis for photography. I have met many people here that I communicate with via Flickr. I love the exchange of comments and ideas about pictures. I use Flickr to test my pictures and to see how the response of my followers is (although I have to admit that I often don’t understand their reasoning for faving and not faving pictures, but that is another topic). And I want to maintain the opportunity of interacting with certain people that I like and whose work I want to follow.

Are there alternatives? Yes, theoretically there are alternatives. 500 px provide a very nice platform with high quality photographers posting their pictures there. Instagram has a huge base of people showing their work and posting social news. But on these platforms (that I actually have subscribed to as a free member) I don’t have the social interaction with the people that I “collected” over the past 5 years. And that is the main reason to stay with Flickr.

From a photographic perspective quality is probably better on 500 px. From a social perspective Instagram has probably more diversity. But I won’t find my “old Flickr friends” there. And that is the reason why I am staying.

I still don’t agree with Flickr’s random change of policies. I loathe the fact that they are threatening to delete art. I am worried that my beloved ****Contrasted Gallery is going to die or at least take a severe blow because hundreds of pictures will be deleted from it. And I find it ridiculous that I need to pay a ransom in order to prevent Flickr from deleting parts of my own collection (although I can afford the amount, this is not the reason).

But I am going to stay for at least the next year. I will observe how Flickr develops. I will see if the change of policy causes the expected further drain of creativity from it. And I will re-consider things after one year. I am still pissed off. And I don’t think I am a hypocrite.

Flickr Kills Art

For the last year and a half I have been one of the curators of ****Contrasted Gallery. ****CG is an online project, founded more than 10 years ago by Manuel Diumenjó. He and his co-curators invite on a monthly basis interesting artists to exhibit a collection of their Flickr pictures at ****CG.

Technically ****CG is a Flickr group where only curators have the right to ‘admit’ pictures. We invite artists, discuss with them their work and ask them to chose up to 50 pictures that they want to exhibit for one month. After the show the pictures remain in the gallery so that interested people always have the opportunity of reviewing artistic work that has been accumulated in over 10 years. So it has become a fascinating place where artistic photography is shown.

And now comes Flickr. And threatens to delete all pictures above 1000 of all its members that have not become Pro. Do you have an idea what that means? According to Manuel’s estimation between 60 and 70% of all pictures that have been accumulated at ****CG over the years will be deleted. Gone! Forever!

So Flickr is not only urging people to decide if they want their own collection of pictures to be deleted if they don’t pay the ransom, they also destroy pro-actively art and the work people have put into this over the last decade. This is a scandal!

Art needs to be protected from barbarians of all kind. Art cannot be “deleted”. The attitude behind this is awful. This is close to fascist behaviour. A company that is deleting art has not understood its responsibility.

Here is the link to ****Contrasted Gallery. If you click the links on the left han side you get to the respective exhibition of an artist. https://www.flickr.com/groups/contrasted_gallery/discuss/

If you think that Flickr’s new policy needs a change, particularly in order to prevent the destruction of art, write them, swamp them with requests! Here is the link to the Flickr help page for this topic: www.flickr.com/help/forum/en-us/72157702923034264/ 

About Re-Interpreting Art in Photography

You have a walk through an art exhibition. Let's say the big documenta14 exhibition in Athens. And graciously they allow you to take pictures. "No flash lights!" Of course.

And you take some pictures of work that you find interesting. You take pictures the way you think it represents this art the best way. You chose the POV (point of view), the angle, the exposure to complement the oeuvre.

The Chess Society by Bili Bidjocka  documenta14, Athens School of Fine Arts

And whilst you are taking these pictures the piece of art is doing something with you. It makes you aware of its presence. It occupies your mind. You start thinking about the meaning of this piece of art. You start asking how the picture that you are taking interacts with this piece of art. You start interpreting this piece of art by taking a picture. You are getting involved into the process of creating a little piece of art yourself. You create art about art. With the help of photography. With the help of your mind and your camera. So it becomes a little piece of your own. Your own creation.

Does it? Is this picture your own? Do you become the creator of art? By just taking a picture of a piece of art? Can you call yourself an artist because you interpret somebody else's art? I am not sure.

I personally feel that I am changing the perception of this particular piece of art by taking a picture my way. I get into a dialogue with this piece of art. I try to find answers to its message. So from that perspective I regard myself as the creator of a new piece of art.

But am I really? I don't know. I will leave this to you to decide. And maybe you comment on it and tell me your opinion. 

About Darkness in Photography

Shooting light is not possible. Only darkness makes us see. And yet there is the question how much darkness there should be. Do we want light darkness or in other words light greys if we talk about black and white photography? Or do we want deep darkness or in other words strong contrast? Or do we even chose a darkness that leaves barely any light, a darkness that swallows nearly everything? 

What do we want to express? How is our mood? How dark or bright do we perceive our lives and ourselves? Is the use of darkness in photography an expression of how we see life, how we judge the quality of life? Light is life. But darkness is too.

Does darkness represent the demons in us, tamed when we approach them in photography? Or is light in deep darkness maybe the expression of the slightest subtleties of hope and so an expression of vitality and deep positive feelings?

I work with darkness in my photography. I am fascinated by it. I find tiny little bits of light in deep darkness highly attractive. My heart opens when I watch the minimal subtle light that makes us see not more than just the shapes of forms. It makes my phantasy rave, gives me the thrill of the unknown that I can fill with my own thoughts and feelings.

Yes, darkness also has a scary aspect. The darkness of the unknown can be terrorizing. Maybe something evil hides in the darkness that I cannot discern and that jeopardizes me and my life? Maybe the darkness in a picture represents the dark side within myself, in my soul? Maybe I can see the abyss but not gaze to its ground? Darkness can make me shudder. Darkness can be threatening. But by inflicting this threat on us, darkness also exudes a thrill.

It is a game. An experiment. An experiment with our own nature and personality when we take pictures. When we impose our own taste on the frame and what it expresses.

And that is the fascination of processing pictures. When taking the picture with my camera I have a real environment, a scene that allows a limited number of interpretations. Processing a picture gives me the opportunity of widening my options, of adding new meaning by interpreting what I find in my original image. 

Processing is interpretation. Is enhancement. Is adding meaning. And that is when I process a picture into dark. I imprint on this picture my interpretation of a meaning of darkness. And I give others the opportunity of reading me through my picture.

Yes, please read the darkness in my soul. But be aware of the gate keeper.

CURATING

I have been asked to become one of the curators of the online photographic gallery ****Contrasted Gallery on Flickr.  https://www.flickr.com/groups/contrasted_gallery/pool/

Contrasted Gallery is an exhibition project founded by Manuel Diumenjó in 2007. The gallery exhibits interesting artistic pictures by photographers that post their pictures on a Flickr stream. Currently three curators share the task of finding artists and asking them if they are interested in showing their pictures in this online gallery. The curators are free to decide who they invite and which criteria they apply with regard to their choice.

So all of a sudden I find myself in the situation that I need not only to find an artist every three months who wants to exhibit his work but I also (and that is the trickier part) need to define my own criteria of quality that make me approach a photographer and ask him or her.

It is similar to my question in my last blog. What are the criteria for taking or processing a picture? In this case it is the question how I define "artistry" and "well taken" and "interesting". And honestly - I don't know. I have likings and dislikes. I have moments when a picture or a picture gallery appeals to me, speaks to me and other moments when this doesn't happen. As a decision making criteria this doesn't seem very strong.

Yes, criteria like composition and use of light I take into account. Is it a picture that tells a story? Is the whole gallery able to captivate the viewer? Am I interested in watching the next picture and discover what t is all about? Does the photographer communicate with his subjects (and if it is even on a remote and virtual basis)? Does he or she communicate with his viewers?

What I don't apply are criteria of so called "modern photography". I made once in New Zealand an experience with a gallerist that I had approached with the question if he was interested in exhibiting some of my pictures. He declined my request with the reasoning that my pictures did not exude the feel of modern photography and that it was stuck in the 80s. I pondered about this for a long time and I could really, really not find out what exactly he meant. Sure, some photography deals with the latest social and political dvelopments. The photographers that are represented by the Magnum group work that way, and they do it brilliantly. But other photography is timeless, does not refer to certain new socio-geographical developments. I have come to the conclusion that this criterium is nonsense, at least for my own decision making.

So I approach artists whose pictures "speak to me". I apply my subjective criteria. I get into an dialogue with the artist and his work. And if I am able to maintain this dialogue for a while and if the overall work communicates a message that captivates me I invite them.

I am currently working with the Brazilian photographer Zé Lobarto. Zé creates beautiful street photography where each single picture tells a story of light, lines and drama. But I don't want to ramble. I want to attract your attention to this amazing artist and make you follow this link to his Flickr stream. Yes, exactly this one. Click!  https://www.flickr.com/photos/ze_lobato/

And on 10 June, when the exhibition opens I will add here the link to his work at ****Contrasted Gallery.

The first exhibition that I have curated was with pictures of the German photographer Stefan Speidel who has been living in Tokyo for the past 30 years. His strong black and white pictures of Japan and Japanese life and culture give an impression of how life shapes the view of expats who have to embrace their new environment. And external view from inside. I find it fascinating.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rifugio_bobo

I am captivated. By them. By their work. And by choosing artists and applying my own very subjective criteria. I love it!