Yesterday I was raving to someone at work about the Torridon workshop, and in the course of the conversation I described my ‘art’ on RedBubble.  I paused, and felt quite self-conscious about describing what I do as ‘art’ – but it is!  Serendipitously, Bruce Percy posted some questions about art on his blog yesterday, which is eliciting some really interesting comments (ok, you might not think much of mine, but other people are writing very stimulating stuff!).

I assume Bruce’s questions connect to a beautiful film about Michael Kenna that appeared on his blog a few days ago.

I bumped again this morning on the work of a photographer I had discovered a couple of years ago and whose work is just AMAZING: Michael Kenna.
He is definitely the master of black and white and the texture of his photos is just perfect. While browsing through his recent work, I especially enjoyed the gallery about Chinese mountains which definitely reminded me of the work of Chinese painters.
All his photos are shot in medium format and I have to admit it gives a specific touch to the photos, whereas this format has become more and more confidential these days. It is pretty funny I (re)discovered his photos today, since yesterday I had the opportunity to use for the first time a very old Hasselblad camera a friend had borrowed from his uncle (!)… a very vintage and interesting experience of times when photography wasn’t that easy!

Here’s my tribute to Michael Kenna (even if it’s not a medium format nor black and white photo…)

… and incidently I discovered there was a retrospective in Paris of Michael Kenna’s work

Paris – BNF until 28/11/2009 Bibliothe’que Nationale de France, A retrospective of his photos shall be showing simultaneously at the “Bibliothe’que Nationale de France”.  Landscape and architecture are Michael Kenna’s prefered themes; he has found in New York a city of mineral landscape whose proportions are closer to canyons and mountains than to man-made constructions, a perfect bringing together of his two passions.  In these New York photos we find the formal rigor characteristic of his work, but far from a cold representation of architecture, it is Kenna’s whole fascination for the city, it’s lights and mythology, that comes through these images.  In choosing the theme of New York, he naturally confronts the history of photography’s big names whose work has constructed our vision of this city. He adds his own stone to the edifice, with here and there a discreet homage to his masters, but with his own trade-mark, a remarkable sense of light and an extraordinary sensitivity revealed through the printing.  In this same exhibition we are also showing about twenty recent photos drawn from work in progress in Japan, China and elsewhere. Landscapes of sky and water, portraits of trees, in these Michael Kenna pursues his long quest of translating into his language of images the beauty of the world.  Image: Full Moonset, Chausey Islands, France, 2008

“Ao concentrar toda sua atenção ao momento presente, uma inteligência muito superior à inte- ligência da mente autocentrada entra no comando da sua vida. Sua ação presente se torna não só muito mais eficaz, como infinitamente mais satisfatória e gratificante.

Ao viver através do ego, você faz do momento presente apenas um meio para atingir um fim. Você vive em função do futuro, mas quando atinge seus objetivos eles não te satisfazem. Ou pelo menos não por muito tempo.

Quase todo ego tem o que podemos chamar de “identidade da vítima”. Muitas pessoas se vêem de tal forma como vítimas, que essa imagem se torna o ponto central de seu ego. Mesmo que as mágoas sejam muito “justas”, ao assumir a identidade de vítima, você cria uma prisão cujas grades são feitas de formas obsessivas de pensar. Veja o que você está fazendo com você mesmo, ou melhor: Veja o que sua mente está fazendo com você. Sinta a ligação emocional que você tem com sua história de vítima e perceba sua compulsão de pensar e falar a respeito dela. Ao perceber isso, a trans- formação e a liberdade virão.

Reclamar e reagir são as formas preferidas da mente para fortalecer o ego. O eu autocentrado precisa do conflito para fortalecer sua identidade. Ao lutar contra algo ou alguém, ele demonstra pra si mesmo que “isto sou eu” e “aquilo não sou eu”. É comum que países procurem fortalecer sua sensação de identidade coletiva colocando-se em oposição aos seus inimigos.

A inveja é um subproduto do ego que se sente diminuído quando algo de bom acontece com outra pessoa, ou ela possui mais, sabe mais, ou tem mais poder do que ele. A identidade do ego depende da comparação. Ela se agarra a qualquer coisa buscando o “mais”, e quando nada disso funciona, a mente fortalece seu ego considerando-se “mais” injustamente tratada pela vida, “mais” doente ou “mais” infeliz do que os outros.

O ego precisa estar em conflito com alguém ou com alguma coisa. Isso explica por que, apesar de você querer paz, alegria e amor, não consegue suportá-los por muito tempo. Você diz que quer ser feliz, mas está viciado em ser infeliz. Essa infelicidade não vem dos fatos da sua vida, mas do condicionamento da sua mente.

A culpa é outra maneira que o ego tem para criar uma identidade, mesmo que essa identidade seja negativa. O que você fez ou deixou de fazer foi uma manifestaçao da sua inconsciência na época, o que é natural da condição humana. Mas o ego personifica a situação e diz “Eu fiz tal coisa”, e assim cria uma imagem de si mesmo como ruim, falho e insuficiente. As palavras de Cristo: “Perdoai-os, Senhor, pois eles não sabem o que fazem” podem ser usadas em relação a você.”

texto por Eckhart Tolle

fotos por Michael Kenna

trechos 4

todos os trechos de Eckhart Tolle aqui

“Sempre que houver silêncio à sua volta, ouça-o. Isso significa apenas percebê-lo. Ouvir o silêncio desperta a dimensão de calma que já existe dentro de você, porque é só através da calma que se pode perceber o silêncio. Nesses momentos você se liberta de milhares de anos de condicionamento humano coletivo.”

“Qualquer barulho perturbador pode ser tão útil quanto o silêncio. Basta abolir sua resistência interior ao barulho, deixando-o ser como é. Essa aceitação também leva você ao reino da paz interior que é a calma.”

“A calma é o lugar onde a criatividade e a solução dos problemas são encontrados”

“A calma e o silêncio são a própria inteligência. A consciência básica da qual provêm todas as formas de vida. A forma de vida que você pensa que é, vem dessa consciência e é sustentada por ela”.

“Quando você olha num estado de calma para uma árvore ou uma pessoa, quem está olhando? É algo mais profundo do que você. A consciência está olhando para a sua própria criaçao. A Bíblia diz que Deus criou o mundo e viu que era bom. É isso que você vê quando olha num estado de calma, sem pensar em nada.”

“Você precisa saber mais coisas do que já sabe? Você acha que o mundo será salvo se tiver mais informações, se os computadores se tornarem mais rápidos ou se forem feitas mais análises intelectuais e científicas? O que a humanidade precisa hoje é de mais sabedoria pra viver. A sabedoria vem da capacidade de manter a calma e o silêncio interior. Veja e ouça apenas. Não é preciso mais nada além disso. Manter a calma, olhando e ouvindo, ativa a inteligência real que existe dentro de você. Deixe que a calma interior oriente suas palavras e ações.”

“A maioria das pessoas passa a vida toda aprisionada nos limites os próprios pensamentos. Nunca vai além das idéias estreitas já fabricadas. Nunca vai além do “eu” condicionado pelo passado.”

“Se você consegue reconhecer, mesmo espora- dicamente, que os pensamentos que passam por sua cabeça são meros pensamentos; Se você consegue se dar conta dos padrões que se repetem em suas ações mentais e emocionais, é sinal de que a Consciência está emergindo. Ela é o espaço onde o conteúdo da sua vida se desborda.”

“Cada pensamento quer sugar sua completa atenção. Eis um novo exercício para praticar: Não leve seus pensamentos muito a sério.”

texto por Eckhart Tolle, fotos de Michael Kenna

trechos 2

Michael Kenna deals with light, structure, time, and the real depicted as fantasy.  His photography is unique in many ways.  The fact that he has such a passion for doing what he is doing shows in the work.

His photographs place the viewer in a world they know but have no actual real life experience in them.  Many of his photographs are done at night with really long exposures which allows for things to happen, as Michael explains.  What is interesting is that the same sort of visual affects can be done with the day time.  Marc Herrold goes after the relationship of the light and shadow.

Both look really painterly and are intense in depicting the landscape above what we usually know it as.  Something greater.

http://www.photography-now.info/marc_harrold/

http://photography-now.info/michael_kenna/

Image © Harry Callahan

There are some photographers who have a certain way of working and never deviate. A great example is Michael Kenna. He shoots with a square format camera in black and white and creates 7 inch square prints. He has been doing this for decades. There are other photographers, like Harry Callahan who are always switching formats, films and subjects. Harry Callahan was extremely eloquent in whatever he explored. He was verbal in the language of black and white as well as color. He could wield a 35mm camera on the street and also and 8×10 in Chicago. I hope I am at least a fraction as eloquent and talented as Mr. Callahan.

My practice is somewhere in between. I’ll stick with a subject, camera, film for years and then at one point I’ll have an itch to do something different. Sometimes I’ll go back to a subject I was exploring previously and have a different angle or better technique or even something new to say. For the past six or seven years I have been a street photographer in the classic mold, wandering the streets and reacting to what I saw. Lately I have been in a more contemplative mood (which may be a direct reaction to my somewhat chaotic family life at the moment). So I have been making images for my series, Up, which  are not only more serene than my street photography but it’s in black and white.

I am also dusting off my Hasselblad (I just bought a new lens shade for the 80mm Hasselblad lens) and creating urban landscapes like I did years ago. Hopefully my craft and eye have matured to the point where I can say something significant. And again I will be exploring this subject in black and white.

Central Park, NY, 1995

]]> http://49ken.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/ken-photo-by-michael-kenna/ Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:20:45 +0000 KENZ http://49ken.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/ken-photo-by-michael-kenna/

Silent Beauty

A few things for your Monday…

¶ I swear that everytime Bruce Percy says something, I find it interesting. In an article entitled Verbatim on his “Art of Adventure Photography” blog, he pulled out another electric quote that just makes me feel good about Monday and what you have to do on them. To whit:

“I see many sites which state that the photographer likes to capture ‘truth’ and then goes on to say that no manipulation was done to the image…. blah, blah, blah. It’s all a bit misleading if you ask me. Nothing, absolutely nothing in photography is ‘real’ except how we feel about an image.”

That sums up my thoughts precisely but then he pulls out another gem, quoting another photographer, Michael Kenna, who’s scary good. Kenna sums it up one sentence:

“If you can’t make the image bigger or more important than what you see, then don’t push the button.”

That’s eat-it-up yummy and really makes you think about the stuff you shoot. It is, in a nutshell, a wonderful encapsulation of my philosophy – summed up in one sentence. I can work with that.

¶ There’s a tentative schedule for fall Peoria Art Guild Photography classes, which will start around October 12. Ann Conver will be teaching an “Intro” class. This is not the standard intro class that we teach together but it definitely is good for true newbies. If you’re reading this post you probably don’t need this class. If someone pointed this post OUT to you, then you might be a candidate. I’ll be teaching the Flash Lighting class – on Wednesdays for six weeks. I’ll also be teaching an “Expedition” class – six sessions on landscape photography that includes three in-class workshops and three field-trips. More on that in a few weeks when it’s set in stone. Ann and I will also be teaching a new class – what we call “Low Light/No Light” Photography. Six classes with trips at or before sunrise, at or after sunset, and in the still of the night when we can make star trails and eerie landscapes. And Jeff McSweeney will be doing Photoshop classes. More details as they become available.

¶ And you’ll hear more about this as the week moves on but this Saturday and Sunday is the Washington (IL) Fine Art Fair. Head over to the square and check out the artists – including me. In only its second year, the Washington Fair got some rave reviews last year for quality of art and for being a well run show. Hope to see you out there.

¶ And again we’ll have more in a day or two on this, but the Peoria Flickr group’s August photowalk through Springdale Cemetery is set in stone: August 22, 2009 at 9am. This is not just a photowalk, but also a photo scavenger hunt. We’ll have a PDF download up here in the next few days – and we promise to challenge you.

¶ The folks at ci|creative are hosting a workshop on August 17 entitled “Entering the Stock Photography Biz” (Link is on Facebook – this is a facebook organization). The workshop will be taught by Gene Seaman, who has worked for stock agency Jupiter Images.  The class is “an introduction to the world of stock photography that includes examples of stock photography, introductions to stock photo websites, and how-tos on getting your images online – the perfect class for anyone interested in learning about stock photography as a possible means to sell their images.” The class will roll from 7pm—8pm and costs just $15. You can contact Amy Lambert (cicreative at yahoo.com) for more info – or just check ‘em out if you are on Facebook.

¶ And don’t let anyone tell you that Farmer’s Markets are not good places to find images – and vegetables. The colors are kinda wow at the Farmer’s Market on State Street in Madison, WI – in the photo above. But you know what. Check out many of the local markets here in Central Illinois – like at the Metro Center or on the Peoria Riverfront.

]]> http://rachelbusmanrosen.wordpress.com/2009/07/20/thinking-about-things-in-fl/ Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:59:53 +0000 sleepless http://rachelbusmanrosen.wordpress.com/2009/07/20/thinking-about-things-in-fl/

Alexis likes to write in numbered bullets. Maybe that’s less demanding and intimidating to me. There is a guilt associated with not writing for so long. I don’t have access to my picture library, so I can’t add a picture to accompany this post– but I’ll try to add some image during this blog.

I’ve been visiting Alexis for the weekend. It’s now Monday, which doesn’t actually qualify as the weekend. But, given that we stayed up late and I slept in, I think that counts. It’s wonderful to get away from everyday life from time to time, but there is something to be said for being where you are and liking it. I miss home. I don’t like the idea of suitcase subsistence. It’s unsettling. I love the idea of travel, so I can’t reconcile these two ideas. Maybe I just like my stuff and have a hard time not having choices. I think that may be my problem– too many choices. I’d like to pare things down to what’s necessary, but I’m all about the extra stuff.

I also am thinking about transitions. I am flying home and will hopefully get in by 9. I’ll get home by 10 and need to work in the AM. I much rather have an extra day to transition, even if it means sacrificing part of my trip. I’m a settler– I know people who can go right to work off the red-eye. I somehow admire that, but can’t do it. I need time to put all the toiletries away, pet the cat, and separate the clothing.

I put this picture in because 1) I love Michael Kenna 2) Alexis and I were supposed to see something by him during my trip 3) it shows togetherness and solitude

Click on the following link to view some of the work

from today’s Quote of the Day Photographer,

Michael Kenna:

#mce_temp_url#

I gravitate towards places

where humans have been

and are no more, to the edge

of man’s influence, where

the elements are taking over

or covering man’s traces.

Michael Kenna

(1953-    )

English Photographer

by Bianca Rossini with photographs by Michael Kenna

Ensaio fotográfico Silent World, de Michael Kenna.

Para ver todo o trabalho de Michael Kenna: http://www.michaelkenna.net

POst: André

A detail from Michael Kenna’s “Cold Dog Decembrist Square, St. Petersburg, Russia, 1999″. “One of the foremost landscape photographers in the world”, according to Artworks magazine, Kenna is known for his use of hours-long exposures and his patient approach to understanding his subjects:

I am not a paparazzi photographer. I don’t run out to a landscape and snap a picture and run away again. I like to know a tree, quite closely. I’ll often spend a long time circling the tree, getting to know it. In a sense I talk to the tree. I try to be very respectful and I like to go back to that same tree two years later, five years later, or as often as I can.

- Michael Kenna, interview in Artworks (June 2007)

Michael Kenna, "Cold Dog Decembrist Square, St. Petersburg, Russia, 1999"

World-renowned, British-born photographer Michael Kenna and Brazilian-born Hollywood author and actress Bianca Rossini worked together  to create a book of 45 black and white photographs and poetry titled “Love in black and white” which will be published by Nazraeli Press in the Summer of 2009. It will include 45 of Rossini’s original poems, accompanied by selected photographs of Kenna’s landscapes taken in many locations around the world.

Here’s a video taste of Michael’s haunting images and Bianca’s sensual sound:

In my photographic work I’m generally attracted to places that contain memories, history, atmospheres and stories. I’m interested in the places where people have lived, worked and played. I look for traces of the past, visual fingerprints, evidence of activities – they fire my imagination and connect into my own personal experiences. Using the analogy of the theater, I would say that I like to photograph the empty stage, before or after the performance, even in between acts. I love the

atmosphere of anticipation, the feeling in the air that events have happened, or will happen soon…

 Michael Kenna

(1953 -       )

English Landscape Photographer

See more from Michael Kenna.

Via FFFFound.

I’ve been looking at the work of Michael Kenna. I saw a book of his Japanese landscapes years ago and I recently stumbled upon more of his stuff. What’s amazing about his photos have this lonely haunting feel no matter what the subject matter. His photos of New York city are in the same style as his shots of natural landscapes.

His website can be seen here

A more simple/organized page of his work here