I’ve been delaying this week’s first blog post because I’ve been having a bit of writers block. Well, I guess not truly writers block, more like conception block, almost like a mental diaphragm, would be more accurate. It’s not that I am inhibited from writing, I just can’t think of a damn thing to write about.
Street shooting is visceral. Whether you are entering a foreign world or one with a lifespan of familiarities, your eyes must consume the setting with a desire to immortalise it, to preserve the buildings, the characters, the pavement, to establish them in history. It is something that, although ultimately spontaneous, still requires, like any photograph, a certain measure of thought, and of commitment.
To shoot from the hip is to err, to participate in an omission of thought. I don’t mean to say that the exploration of different angles and points of view, to extent the camera truly as a third eye to obtain a certain shot, is an omission of thought. Respectively, this demands much thought to create a photograph. The process of shooting from the hip however, more times than not, removes the element of constructive thought from the photograph.
In this practice, the photographer ultimately removes themselves from the scene. I think this is a grave mistake, and have touched on it recently from my post last week. For the photographer to escape the scene that they are attempting to capture, to attempt invisibility, they surrender any countenance they could have provided to the setting. They surrender the very support which is needed to complete the story which they are trying to depict.
The photographer must not be invisible, not be unseen. The photographer must enter the setting with strength and hunger, with ardor for the photograph they create, so it can develop a voice. It is the photographer which gives an image its identity, so if the photographer attempts to become unidentifiable, the photograph naturally follows suit.
I’m not including this necessarily as support for my argument, just stumbled across this earlier on youtube and wanted to share it.
Interviewer: “Can one learn to look?”
HCB: “Can one learn to have sex?”
I recently came across this webcast on foto8.com.
For the better part of college, the thought of being part of an iconic agency like Magnum or VII had been something that I dreamt of. While in my first semester I discovered the work of photographers such as Josef Koudelka, Paolo Pellegrin, Jonas Bendiksen and Christopher Morris. I spent the better part of most lectures scrolling through the multimedia essays on Magnum’s In Motion page, fixated and constantly inspired.
But what is the roll of agencies such as these in today’s climate? The webcast linked to above, discusses, in part, the roll of agencies today, and the pressure on photographers to adapt to new ways of self promotion and funding, i.e. Kickstarter and emphas.is.
Don’t get me wrong, I still think it would be cool to be a part of one of these agencies, but more for nostalgic reasons than anything. There are more important things to do than dream about a century past.
I moved to Vancouver about three years ago after finishing school, thinking that I would be heading to a city with great culture and appreciation for the arts. I had spent my entire life living less than two-hundred kilometres from Toronto, and really had no desire to stay in such a close proximity to everything that seemed so familiar to me and the idea of a Montreal winter wasn’t to appealing at the time. (After being through a few Vancouver winter’s now though, I am constantly weighing the options of pouring rain vs. snow banks.)
Unfortunately what I realized shortly after moving to Vancouver, is that the city suffers from a huge deficit of culture. There is one stark exception to this, and that is of film. As a lover of film I consider myself incredibly lucky to be within a 15-20 minute walk of three independent commercial theatres, along with the Pacific Cinematheque and the Vancity VIFF Theatre. But in regards to everything else, Vancouver is lacking. The music scene is incredibly small compared to other major North American cities and over-saturated by way to much terrible techno music, visual art (other than photography), has a minutely better standing, with a spackling of independent galleries.
Now for photography, which I originally began this rant for. Canada has never been the beholder of excellent photographic culture in the view of the world, but recently, huge events like the month long CONTACT Festival in Toronto are beginning to shine a global light on the wealth of talented Photographers residing in Canada, and bringing in some great international names to produce workshops such as Magnum Photos and Duckrabbit among others.
But why is there nothing of this nature in Vancouver?
For all of my discrepancies with the city, it is truly a beautiful place filled with amazing people. There are so many talented artists and creatives here, which, for me is one of the most perturbing aspects of this deficit of culture. Why, if there are so many talented individuals, is there such a small aspect of community? Is it because vancouver is a starkly individual city? Is it narcissism and envy, or is it apathy?
I have my reserved opinion about this, but what’s yours?
Inspiration is universal. The ability for artists, writers, photographers and musicians to find others work as abundant sources for their own creativity is absolutely fascinating and beautiful. While shooting for the National Broadcast Orchestra, being able to walk through the isles of musicians resulted in some of my favourite photographs. The same goes for when I visited the Conductor and Composer Alain Trudel at his home in Chambly, Quebec, outside of Montreal and photographed him reviewing his scores at his piano.
I have spent much time procrastinating while watching some of the great pieces on Vimeo, like this one I came across earlier by Visual Artist Quayola, and although I can’t deny that it is procrastination, the elements of inspiration make this time seem a little less so.
But ubiquitous inspiration isn’t just centered to that which is found across mediums. It goes so much further than that, inspiration is everywhere. I’ll place myself at the front window of the café I haunt daily, or fall into pensive thought while riding the bus or train and staring at the faces we pass or the blurry landscapes in the distance, to be forefront and immerse myself in that creative dialogue.
To watch the world spin before my eyes, and listen to the wall of sound and voices that exist in the surroundings of a busy street, are undeniable elements of my creative process, and something I don’t think I could ever completely separate myself from.
Yesterday was my first chance, in far to long, to get out into the streets and shoot. Street shooting is something that I have loved since my first year of art school when I became obsessed with the beautiful photographs of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Josef Koudelka, Jonas Bendikson and other Magnum greats. During that year I made sure to always have my camera strapped to my wrist as if it were replacing my hand. I shot thousands of images a week while out on the streets that year and those following while still in school. Street shooting became a secondary form of breathing to me.
Since finishing school and working however, I get so wrapped up in planning, branding and whatnot, that I rarely get out to shoot in the streets anymore. That, along with the fact that I currently live in Vancouver, and during the winter here I have seldom opportunity to do so. This is painful for me on a number of different levels, the first one selfishly, which I stated above, but the most detrimental is that I loose touch with many people in the larger community.
Yesterday, when I finally shut the lid of my tyrant of a laptop and headed out to Vancouver’s Chinatown and Downtown East-side neighbourhoods, I thought to myself about the last few times I had been out shooting in these areas and how I had become unnaturally introverted. I find this to be very debilitating because, as John Macpherson said in his post on Duckrabbit the other day;
“Photographers often say to their subjects “just ignore me, pretend I’m not here” in order to try to gain some ‘intimate’ fly-on-the-wall photographic opportunities. I’ve always hated that. In reality what they should say is “please accept me” – a somewhat different concept and for me a much more humane one; one that brings with it the need for interaction, and mutual respect…”
I’ve always hated the idea of being a ‘fly on the wall’ while shooting, but after I read that post I realised that I have been doing that inadvertently while recently shooting. So yesterday I made a conscious effort to shed that terrible habit I had developed my last few times out.
Then I met Sook, who had called out to me from across the street. He must have mistook me for a lost tourist and started pointing out a bunch of landmarks and buildings in the area that he though would make great photographs, and instead of just politely shaking him of and continuing to walk (which is an extremely distasteful ‘Vancouver’ habit I’ve acquired since living here) I listened to what he had to say. After he stopped I asked if I could photograph him, and after shouting ‘sure!’ excitedly he jumped back from me about four feet and stood at the sidewalk’s corner.
But if I had, like the last few times before, went out shooting and fell into an introvert’s daze, I would never have had the chance to make this portrait or met Sook, and been amazed at all the strange facts of Vancouver architecture that he knew so well.
So if you read my post from yesterday, you’ll know the story, and i not just go and read my previous post.
So I don’t know if any of you will recall, but shortly after moving to Vancouver, (actually, my first night) my hilarious and awesome cousin Andy decided to tattoo “fuck” on the inside of his leg and I posted the mini photo story here.
Anyways, this is the first time I’ve photographed him since. In mid December I asked him and my friend Mark Maurice to come hang out in the studio and have their portraits taken. This was the result.
Hello and a belated happy New Year!
So, I just checked up on my blog last night, for the first time in an embarrassingly long time, to discover that there are 172 people following my blog! More than anything I wanted to write this post this morning saying thanks to everyone who keeps up with my ill-attempts at blogging regularly.
To start off the year I have done a complete overall of my portfolio site. I’ve posted two new portfolios and redesigned the layout of the site, my first attempts at learning CSS and web dev, and I’m pretty happy with the results so far. Check it out @ http://www.tysnaden.com and let me know what you think through facebook, twitter or the comment section bellow.
Other than the site redesign, I have a whole bunch of rad things planned out for the beginning of 2012. If you check out my site you’ll notice at the bottom of the sidebar there is a subscription box. As of January 15th I will be rolling out a monthly news letter, so make sure to sign up to keep up-to-date with all my new projects coming up for this year! Also look out for a new blog design that I’ll be launching on February 1st.
Don’t forget to like my facebook page, scroll down on your right to find the widget!
Rehearsal on the set of BC Children’s Hospital Jeans Day 2012 PSA.
