Photography is an art of observation, Elliott Erwitt

Every second of our day we are seeing things. There is a lot of visual information entering our heads all the time and our minds keep very busy processing that information. Indeed our minds never stop processing; it is active all day and all night.

With photography however, you are only seeing when you slow or stop the mind from processing and allow the image before you speak. Its like going out for a beer with friends and one of those friends cannot stop talking. You might say something, and then a second later this friend has taken your thought and is running with it and talking all sorts of gibberish. Thankfully, perhaps unlike the friend, we can stop our minds and allow the image to speak. I think that is when we develop a connection with what we see and the photograph that we take of that image fully expresses that connection.

“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” – Elliott Erwitt

Love!

Who am I anyway? by Helen Levitt

When you take a photograph, you are expressing yourself, often unknowingly, and it shows in the final image. I am a zoologist and am certain that interest itself in the images I shoot, whether they are of wildlife or of people on the street. But people are complex beings and all of what makes you who you are, shows in the final image. Images, then, are mirrors of who we are.

“Since I’m inarticulate, I express myself with images.”- Helen Levitt

Japan-53

Street photography and quotes – Edward Weston on Time

 

“Very often people looking at my pictures say, ‘You must have had to wait a long time to get that cloud just right (or that shadow, or the light).’ As a matter of fact, I almost never wait, that is, unless I can see that the thing will be right in a few minutes. But if I must wait an hour for the shadow to move, or the light to change, or the cow to graze in the other direction, then I put up my camera and go on, knowing that I am likely to find three subjects just as good in the same hour.” -Edward Weston

Halifax Pride Parade 2012

 

Art in everyday life

ART IN EVERYDAY LIFE

Every moment we might be doing the same things—brushing our teeth every day, combing our hair every day, cooking our dinner every day. But that seeming repetitiveness becomes unique every day. A kind of intimacy takes place with the daily habits that you go through and the art involved in it. That is what is called art in everyday life.

in Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche True Perception: The Path of Dharma Art, page 27.

This quote describes well the wonderful sights that are around us everyday, and that paying some attention to that reality allows one to see the beauty in our world.

 

 

Japan!

Here is the fourth series of images from my trip to Japan in July. These images were taken from the region within and around Kyoto and close to the Japanese Alps. We hiked in the Alps for four days; those images will appear next week.

Japan!! Pt.2

Here is the second series of images from my recent trip to Japan in July. I have noticed that these images are very fresh to me. This really helps with choosing the images that really speak. So, for me, it absolutely pays to let images sit. These images were taken from the region within and around Kyoto.

Japan!

In July I spent a couple of weeks in Japan and of course my camera was with me. This is the first of a series of images from that trip.

 

 

What is a photograph?

I recently spent a coupe of weeks in Japan and visited a photography museum in Tokyo. There was an exhibit showing the winners of an international journalist competition. There was also an exhibit showing the progression in the techniques for printing photographs. As I walked around the two exhibits I began to think about what a photograph really is, and this came to mind:

“A photograph captures moments that are an expression of daily life or emotion. Through form, colour and light it captures style , form , architecture, an expression of something made (nudes, buildings, shadows). It can be a reflection of oneself.”

Street Photography week Fifty-Two

This is the fifty-second and final ‘Instruction’ for the Street Photography Now Project, written to inspire fresh ways of looking at and documenting the world we all live in.

After spending 52 weeks posting images from my library to meet the requirements of the instruction, I should have lots of drive to post images that I see during my week. So keep checking in! So here is the last street photography instruction:

“If you have talent, find your own way” – Cristóbal Hara

Street photography: week fifty-one

This is the fifty-first ‘Instruction’ for the Street Photography Now Project, written to inspire fresh ways of looking at and documenting the world we all live in.

“Buildings are like humans and have their own character” – Alexey Titarenko