#photogs: David Burnett
A few weeks ago I made an announcement about blogging more and having a collection of posts called #photogs. Although I have a clear and growing list of photographers/visual artists that I want to blog about, I have been having a hard time choosing the One who should launch the series. After some soul searching (yes I do that sometimes) I choose David.
One may wonder why choosing David Burnett? He’s not a typical classical master, he’s not celebrity photographer of our time, he’s certainly not the most popular one nor even the less known one. So why would I want to start with him? Well, I guess I can blame it on my story with his art. My story with Burnett’s photography is kind of a love one. I fell in love with (it/him?) at first sight while browsing the magazine aisle at a bookstore and stumbling upon his “100 photographs for the freedoom of the press”, and there it happened, probably the most compulsive buy I ever made. The cover drew me in, and I was in awe at every single page. David Images looked to me the way a beetles album sounds like.
Burnett’s photography is powerful yet very calm and somehow soothing. He records action, motion, yet in in his images there’s silence, stillness and introspection. The kind of images that make you wonder along the frame and feel the moment like if you completely present in the moment. I can David is a reflective person, hence a reflective photographer. As he reflects, it seems to me that he observes without judgement. He lets himself be seduced, by the moment, the shapes and the people that he is photographing. His compositions are static (just enough) and impeccable.
Technically Burnett’s is audacious. He would a political campaign with a Holga and a sporting event with a large format or a tilt shift lens. Looking at David’s work always reminds that in photography rules are only guidelines and one should bend from time to time. One should be able to feel, and adapt with his available tools and restrictions, give himself space to experiment and create.
David is to me spiritual young uncle or an older cousin (he actually reminds me of a cousin of my mom) . You know the guy who teaches us stuff by influence. The guy we want imitate and by doing so we find something utterly personnal about ourselves.
So to David, if ever you are reading this, Thank you! I am and my photography is glad that you exist.
#NoteToSelf: The camera & Responsibility
“Reality has become more and more like what are shown by cameras.”
I have came across this quote by Susan Sontag, while looking her up on the web. I have been very keen to read her book On Photography.
I am noting the quote to remind me that as a visual artist , or a visual craftsman, I have a responsibility. The things that I choose to record, and most importantly the way I choose to record them are shaping reality.
Images, still and moving are so common in today’s urban and virtual environment that camera handlers are shaping people visual imagination hence are playing a vital role into forming social opinion ultimately affecting people behaviors. A lot of today’s aesthetic, political and consumerist behaviors are direct effects of the imagery we are exposed to.
So next time your handling the camera, be conscious of the power of your shots.
Getting Back to it ( call it a letter)
Hello People,
I just drafted a blog entry, but before publishing it I realized that I should probably introduce some of the things that are to come. As you’ve probably realized, actually maybe you didn’t, I have been on social media diet, except maybe instagram. I decided to come back to it, slowly thou. It was overwhelming and disturbing my pursuit of online attention, was greatly affecting my creative process. I had to stop, breathe and calmly resume my “education”. It did me good and I hope to this time around i’ll be able keep a lean social media behavior.
That said, I am hoping to be more active on this space. After all I created this blog, to share erything inspirational. Yes I did say erything. In order to make it an adventure I decided to create tags. There are 3 for now. I hope that they will become a substantial series of entries their own rights.
The first tag being #notetoself, pretty explanatory name, they are suppose to be notes to my self. They will usually be based quotes or ideas I found in books, movies, music, anywhere really that triggered some kind of parallel idea. The first #notetoself will be posted as early as tomorrow. ( see first sentance of this entry)
The second will #eyeeat. Word play on “I eat” will be a food photography series. It’s a brain child of mine trying whose aim t is to coincide my love of food and photography. It will be a instagram/tumblr series. Entries will start when Montreal will decide to get warmer.
The third one #photo-G is basically a hommage to the masters of the craft ( classical and contemporary). All the ones that will be featured are teachers of mine. I go back to them very often. I hope that by sharing them with you all , I’ll be able to further understand my vision.
To the pursuit of happiness.
Cheers.
Layers
It’s important to appreciate all the different layers.
Taste how each layer has it’s own strength, it’s own texture , it’s own structure and most of all it’s own flavor.
Get to the heart. That’s where the meat is where you understand the meaning of it all. Bite it hard, savour it, let the explosions happen.
Call it a process…
Q: wow! your photographs are bloody amazing!!! thanks for the follow!
uniquecauseihavetobe
Thanks man, I really enjoy your posts! Hence the follow ;)
Photographing with the senses. I am a sucker for natural light. On Winter afternoons around the office the light is so beautiful, warm and contrasty. That particular afternoon I couldn’t resist recording it. So I pulled out my mobile phone and framed a shot, chose the desired exposure and shot. As i finished I heard the chair of a colleague move. I then paid attention to her footsteps and predicted when she would pass, and right at that moment, that decisive moment, Clicked. Boom the picture is made. Photographing is all about aligning not only line and shapes but also senses. This time my ears led me to the moment, some other time it might be smell or the touch of the wind. Whatever it will be, I know that great photography happens when one is PRESENT.
The artist seeks contact with his intuitive sense of the gods, but in order to create his work, he cannot stay in this seductive and incorporeal realm. He must return to the material world in order to do his work. It’s the artist resposibility to balance mystical communication and the labor of creation.
Just Kids ~ Patti Smith
I took the jump! It’s been probably 3 months now. I joined the trend and bought a real camera that can also make phone calls. This elegant little device that now tightly lives in my pocket has quickly become my creative notebook. It brought the fun back to creating! No more fuss hence no more creative blocks. Creating with it is not a creative endeavor. It’s rather living everyday and have the convenience to create when the inspiration comes. Quite magical if you ask me.
Anyways, here are a few samples, you can always follow my instagram: @clopix hoping that I’ll keep the creative momentum.
