I pulled ten photos from my archive where something felt not quite right. Not dramatic, just off. This week's Process is short on words and long on looking. These are the pictures that made me stop and stay.
That reflection remembered me of when I was first shooting with a Pentax Spotmatic that I found at a thrift store. It was working just fine, but I didn't check the fastest speed curtain synch, and it was croping the images at 1/1000s. I made some portraits and one of them was of a group of friends at the beach. One of them was cropped on the photo and it bothers me that time. A few years later we discovered some terrible stories about that guy personality and we stop meeting him. Then that photo became a poetic memory about someone who isn't our friend anymore.
I dug this one a lot, Wesley. Allowing myself to just make pictures without overly intellectualizing why, tends to make either bafflingly uninteresting or deeply satisfying photos that stick with me. 99% of the time I'm making pictures I'm getting paid to fulfill a client's need instead of my own curiosity. That's not a bad thing by any means but the rare times where I do allow myself to make something a little different me AND it happens to be compelling; that's the stuff. Anyhoo, this is photo I made on an assignment out of town. It has a quality I haven't replicated a million times and something about those sad rocks really gets me. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/1zfsy6zxq4tw1njkbbwmc/11_nh_20230509_1814.jpg?rlkey=jwx0uvxh6lw3siehcgmj4ce79&dl=0
Hey Wesley, I do have such a photograph. At least for me it has the same effect as watching your examples. I was in Paris, walking along the Seine, and suddenly my eye was drawn to a piece of paper on the ground. Probably a newspaper or a magazine. It showed a head of a person but somehow it was cut or torn in a way that his eyes weren’t visible anymore. A second after taking the photograph the piece of paper was lifted by the wind and flew off. You can find it here
There is the challenge. Creating images that spur questions, not merely provide answers. Thank you.
Thanks for reading!
They definitely made me look twice, and even forced me to look at them longer than I usually would. Such incredible work!
Thanks so much Brett!
That reflection remembered me of when I was first shooting with a Pentax Spotmatic that I found at a thrift store. It was working just fine, but I didn't check the fastest speed curtain synch, and it was croping the images at 1/1000s. I made some portraits and one of them was of a group of friends at the beach. One of them was cropped on the photo and it bothers me that time. A few years later we discovered some terrible stories about that guy personality and we stop meeting him. Then that photo became a poetic memory about someone who isn't our friend anymore.
oh wow that’s almost poetic!
I dug this one a lot, Wesley. Allowing myself to just make pictures without overly intellectualizing why, tends to make either bafflingly uninteresting or deeply satisfying photos that stick with me. 99% of the time I'm making pictures I'm getting paid to fulfill a client's need instead of my own curiosity. That's not a bad thing by any means but the rare times where I do allow myself to make something a little different me AND it happens to be compelling; that's the stuff. Anyhoo, this is photo I made on an assignment out of town. It has a quality I haven't replicated a million times and something about those sad rocks really gets me. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/1zfsy6zxq4tw1njkbbwmc/11_nh_20230509_1814.jpg?rlkey=jwx0uvxh6lw3siehcgmj4ce79&dl=0
oh man that’s a whole story in one shot! and a mysterious one too!
Love he self-refelction. Time dies cause us to see and feel images differently. They just land in our spirit differently as life is lived. Onward.
thanks for the kind words Juan!
This one is very strange without using Photoshop !
https://www.instagram.com/p/C5Q_I1NNwoR/?img_index=5
gotta love a good reflection :)
Great images, all!
thanks Kevin!!
Hey Wesley, I do have such a photograph. At least for me it has the same effect as watching your examples. I was in Paris, walking along the Seine, and suddenly my eye was drawn to a piece of paper on the ground. Probably a newspaper or a magazine. It showed a head of a person but somehow it was cut or torn in a way that his eyes weren’t visible anymore. A second after taking the photograph the piece of paper was lifted by the wind and flew off. You can find it here
https://www.instagram.com/p/DNoSnHYtqt5/?igsh=NjhoZTI1YzRkcTQ=
Jop! Excellent news, you were picked randomly as this week's winner! Please email me your mailing address!
ooh that's such a good one!!