Eugene Atget's monograph collection from "I Grandi Fotografi" included woodland and seaside scenes and architectural photos. Both subjects are near and dear to me, especially the architectural ones. I can't tell you how many photos of churches, homes and businesses I have from my vacation in Nova Scotia last year. He also photographed people surrounded by the wares of their trade that were obviously posed, yet somehow natural. One of my goals at the beginning of this class was to do just this, especially when away on vacation. The fact that he did it, I guess, is what made me slow down and pay more attention to the photos.
Roger Fenton's series in "Aperture Masters of Photography" was my next stop. His compositional ability was superb but the way he wove people into them, without obstructing the grandeur of the scene was uncanny. I'm constantly taking photographs of scenery but always hesitate to include 'humans' as I think they will distract from the photo. I can see that is not always the case by looking at his work. He, too, had many architectural photos, especially churches. There was one of two churches, one in the near distant, almost next door, that reminded me of the closeness of the churches I saw, again, on my trip to our Canadian neighbors in NS. Different faiths with a different look in the same neighborhood.
My third stop was a female photographer, Jan Groover, "Photographs". She had many still lifes which I tend to find both pleasing and confusing....sometimes I just don't understand what the artist was trying to say. There were many of hers that caused this same head-scratching. The mix of materials didn't make sense no matter how much I opened my mind. However, she did have a couple of beach scenes, one was a very soft seaside scene where I could just imagine a person had, minutes before, stepped away from the table. Another was so natural that I could almost hear children's laughter as they ran beneath the canopy. I think the most creative of her photographs were the closeups of the people. Rarely did you see their faces; she shot their hands touching and grasping, their feet intertwined, legs crossed. My favorite of these is one of an aged hand holding an infant's; natural, protective, a very soothing photograph.
Walker Evans "First and Last" was stop number four. So many scenes of everyday life. I've spent many days just traipsing around Boston taking pictures of anything that caught my eye (thank God for digital!) and his monograph reminded me of this. The clotheslines with laundry drying, the photos of the bridges using shadow and angle, ordinary people doing ordinary things. He used the available architecture to frame his photos, something I try to be aware of myself. The facial expressions he captured are so real, I don't know how else to describe them. The despondency, the boredom, the feeling of being lost. His ability to get this from these people who knew they were being photographed shows a true talent. From the tenements adorned with fire escapes in New York City to the shanty shacks of Alabama, Evans captured the full range of life in America.
My final destination was W Eugene Smith. He believed in honesty in journalism, a trait that gave him grief in his endeavors as not everyone wants to know the truth. He had many stirring photos that showed a realism in life that few people will ever witness. The one that both saddened and angered me simultaneously was of the KKK. He had many of the KKK, some guys had no issue with pulling back their hoods and being photographed, many remained hidden. There was one that showed a burning cross in the foreground, and in the distance a blurred image of an American Flag centered among a group of KKK members at a rally. The whole photo was a bit out of focus, even the burning cross. Made sense as the backward thinking of these men was totally unclear to me. The American flag amongst the revelers is what made me choose this one. The land of the free and the brave muddied up by a racist mob. I didn't like that they stood behind the symbol of my country spouting hatred. Smith had many photos like this of the KKK. They bothered me because they remind me of the hatred and narrow-mindedness of so many people. The desegregation, the race riots. I attended a local high school where my second day of school in the ninth grade I bore witness to the hatred. It was unnerving, especially in a city where the racial mix was not that unbalanced. We are still there, but its more global, and more violent. My fear is that it will become so everyday that we become desensitized to it. Photographs such as Smith's, where he was willing to stick his neck out and show it like it is, are desperately needed so that we don't lose our ability to feel some empathy for our fellow man, no matter his race or religion. (I could not find the exact photo in the monograph but I did find another of his that is of the same idea.)
1 comment:
It's powerful stuff.
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