We Have Morals

The circus is in town.

Ever since seeing Stanly Kubrick's photographs of an American circus in the 1940s I have wanted to photograph a circus myself. I finally got the chance to do so this past weekend photographing Webers Circus as it is performing in Canberra over the next few weeks.

The only thing the circus is missing are the typical circus animals, this is because, as I explained to my parents, the ACT has banned all circuses with animals in their show, "Prostitutes are ok but animals in circuses aren't", to which Andrew quickly replied, "Yea, we have morals". Even without the animals it was a great show and a fun chance to relive part of my childhood.

I know there are a lot here but I took over 700 so trust me when I say that I narrowed this down. My favourite two are down at the bottom so I can finish with the best.

They did have a few animals but I don't think dogs and miniature ponies count

I just love the shadow following her on the wall, it makes me think of Peter Pan

This I had to include because the guy was pulled from the audience to follow along with what the clown told him to do and as soon as she left the ring he started dancing around and didn't notice her return

Book Review: The Volcano Lover

If you're a photographer then you've read Susan Sontag's On Photography, which is why I couldn't pass by The Volcano Lover without buying it.

It reminds me of a Jane Austen novel, set in the late 1700s it follows a collector and British ambassador to Naples for around 25 years of his life. He gains and loses art and wives, studies a volcano, flees the invading French as their revolution takes hold, meets with Kings and Queens, travels the sea, befriends Admiral Nelson and lives through so much history. What I find very interesting about this book is the lack of names. There are some times when a person is referred to as Duke *** instead of putting the actual name in, it's almost like a test to see if you can deduce who everyone is, Nelson himself is never named, it's simply through a knowledge of history that you realize what is going on. (I'd tell you who everyone is but I think it's more entertaining to let everyone work it out for themselves)

When I am reading a novel the last thing I want is to be pulled back into my own time by the writer and therefore reminded that it is fiction and I am where I actually am. It drove me crazy that Sontag repeatedly did this, continuously making modern day analoges that nearly made me put the book away until I finally realized that Sontag was doing this to draw us into the story more, not push us away. She was trying to help us relating to the characters feeling and state of mind, she gave us modern situations before throwing us back into the character's own peril to get us to understand the emotions and reactions the character had. It still drives me a bit up the wall but I can understand and appreciate what she was doing.

Sontag is very true to details with this work, as she is in everything she does. And since the main character, simply known as the Cavaliere, is a great lover and collector or art and various artifacts it allows Sontag to do what she does best and impart artist knowledge subtly to the reader. I have many pages that have been earmarked and written on for future reference for their simple truth that applies to life and art.

Collectors show the world what has gone "unappreciated, neglected, forgotten. Too much to call this a discovery; call it a recognition" (pg 71). When you think about it, photographers are collectors, they collect memories, moments in time, which is, according to Sontag, and the Cavaliere, what art is all about, the significant moment. That is photography, a moment of feeling, of a look, something frozen in time and truthful, well, some of the time.

I took so many notes in this book that I cannot not recommend it, there is too much it has given me to think about. There are definitely slow parts, and it took me 2 days to get through the last 50 pages but it was worth it in the end when you come across quotes like the one I'll leave you to consider.

"To collect is by definition to collect the past" (pg 268) (I feel like it could be an essay question for school

Royal Canberra Show

On Sunday I worked for ARF at the Royal Canberra Show. Once I was done for the day I thought I'd take a look around and here is some of what I saw:

Gregory Crewdson

Gregory Crewdson is one of the most elaborate photographs I have come across. He spends days building sets and uses thousands of lights to get his images just right. For a while he took over an entire town in Massachusettes to make photographs. His work is large, detailed and very mysterious. That is what draws me in to his photographs, there is something in each one that is not quite right and some times you have to look around the image for a while before you discover what exactly it is that seems out of place.

There is something captivating about each image, I think part of it for me is the unknown story. Each photograph is a glimpse of some story but we don't know what it is, we are given hints and are left to our own imagination to create from there.

Enjoy some of Crewdson's photographs below and see what story you come up with.

Birds of a Feather

One of our neighbors has birds, not nice, sit in a cage birds, ones that live on his roof in a pack (pack?). Every now and then you see and hear them race past (it makes this soft wooshing noise like a breeze coming through trees, very peaceful).

It amazed me when I began photographing them to see that they created this beautiful choreography as they go, weaving in and out of each other, creating patterns in the sky that can't be seen until I froze them on my screen (totally didn't mean to rhym there, please don't judge me).

 

I just like how here they look like old school fighter planes

These two were watching the birds in formation chattering away

11,711

On my studio wall is a postcard with a quote from Henri Cartier-Bresson which says 'Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst' (I actually did a rough count because I got curious of where I'm at, well, it's more than 11,711, suppose that means I'll be good soon). I leave it there as inspiration, not just for the words but the postcard itself. It came from Project Basho back in 2008, back when it was still new and I was allowed to thrive in the middle of this every growing creative life force.


I remember the first day I went to Project Basho, I was sure I had the wrong address because all I saw was boared up rowhomes in the wrong part of town. But then Tsuyoshi opened the door and welcomed me into what became my second home in Philadelphia.

I decided to ease into life there so I signed up for a medium format class. I was nervous because I had never shot bigger than 120 film before, and I didn't do that well to be honest. I'm used to shooting fast and don't have enough patients to painstakingly create the perfect image on those giant screens. But that didn't matter, I could tell this was a place I needed to be, as much as possible.

I threw myself into any work they would give me, updating the website, learning coding and about metadata, helping with the darkroom, assisting with framing, events and emails. In return I found a home and a family. I was allowed unlimited late night access while Yoshi visited his family in Japan. I was given my own key and made friends with another artist, Al, who shared my late night darkroom tendencies. We sang, we dance and printed into all hours of the night.

Yoshi taught me colour printing, introduced me to classic photography films and made me appreciate good Japaneses tea and classic mochi. One night we had shared a dinner of Indian food with a gentleman from the Ivory Coast who had to flee the country because rebels were going to kill him because he worked as a security job in the city. It was a fascinating time in my life and I am so proud to see how much Project Basho has grown over the past few years.

And that is what I think of whenever I look at that postcard, the wonder that is Project Basho and the amazing impact it had on my life.

If you're near Philadelphia stop into this hidden art gem, the 2011 Onward Show is on now until March 27.

Mitra Tabrizian

I was lucky enough to have Mitra as one of my professors while doing my masters program at the University of Westminster. To be honest I don't know if I would have heard of her otherwise.

Mitra is a British-Iranian photographer currently based in London. She has exhibited throughout Europe, the UK and the USA. She spoke to us in class of identity, and she is one to deal with this well since her identity is split between her life in the UK and Iran. An incredibly mysterious, intelligent and talented woman and I hope you will enjoy her work as much as I have.

This was one of the first images I saw of hers:

Photograph by Mitra Tabrizian from series Terhan 2006

The above and below are part of her incredibly detailed, and well staged tableaux.

Photograph by Mitra Tabrizian Untitled 2009

Her work over the past few years has been very moving and engaging, you could spend ages staring into these images, trying to make sure you see every little detail that she has carefully arranged. I am drawn to one of her first series, Correct Distance. It has a film noir style, so brilliant that I am waiting for Humphrey Bogart to appear around the corner at any moment. As a romantic, film noir to me always manifests into Casablanca and long lost loves, there is always a story behind images like these, and Mitra chooses not to share what that is.

 

All Photographs Above Copyright of Mitra Tabrizian