THURSDAY MORNING PHOTOGRAPHY CORNER

By Debbie Bulloch



After our last exploration of photographer Man Ray's avant-garde work, it is fitting to now take a look at a photographer whose work is more accessible.

Man Ray grabs the viewer's attention by presenting him with unsettling images of vaguely familiar objects; our featured photographer, Edward Weston, just wants the viewer to see what the lens itself sees. As Weston himself put it, "I want the stark beauty that a lens can so exactly render presented without interference of artistic effect."

Edward Henry Weston (March 24, 1886 – January 1, 1958) was an American photographer. For his 16th birthday, Weston’s father gave the future great photographer his first camera, a Kodak Bull's-Eye #2. From that moment on, a life-long love affair with photography began. During his early years, Weston’s favorite hangouts were Chicago parks and a farm owned by his aunt. Weston’s work met with quick success. In 1903, when he was only 17 years old, the Chicago Art Institute exhibited his photographs

In 1906, Weston moved to California, where he decided to stay and pursue a career in photography. In 1910, Weston opened his first photographic studio in Tropico, California (now Glendale). In addition to his photo work, Weston wrote articles about his unconventional methods of portraiture for several high-circulation magazines.

In 1922, Weston experienced a transition from pictorialism to straight photography, becoming "the pioneer of precise and sharp presentation." His pictures included the human figure as well as items of nature, including seaside wildlife, plants, and landscapes. Tina Modotti, his professional (and romantic) partner, often accompanied him to Mexico, creating much gossip in the media.

After 1927, Weston worked mainly with nudes, still life — his shells and vegetable studies were especially important — and landscape subjects. In his photography Weston liked to use the smallest lens opening, usually as small as f/64. The small lens opening, or f-stop, resulted in great depth of field, making a photograph appear evenly sharp from foreground to background. Weston also achieved great sharpness by not enlarging the negative. In order to be able to avoid having to enlarge the negative, Weston did most of his work using a 4 by 5 inch or an 8 by 10 inch view camera; he then contact prints from his 4x5 or 8x10 negatives.

8X10 View Camera



4X5 View Camera



In 1932, Weston co-founded Group f/64 with Ansel Adams, Willard Van Dyke and others. The detailed, straight photography that the group espoused was in opposition to the pictorialist soft-edged methods that were still in fashion at the time.

Edward Weston was one of the true regenerative artist: an awakener of the eye and the evolving mind it serves. Regeneration was a quality that Weston brought to photography for more than three decades, defining both the limits and the generosities of his medium.

Point Lobos, in the Monterey Peninsula was one of Weston’s many subjects. The grand natural beauty of the Monterey Peninsula in general, and Point Lobos in particular, held a powerful attraction for Weston. He returned to it again and again. In 1948, stricken with Parkinson's Disease, Weston made his last photographs at Point Lobos State Reserve.

I frequently travel to the Monterey Peninsula, including Monterey, Carmel-by-the-Sea and Big Sur (which is not technically in the Monterey Peninsula, but close enough to share many of its characteristics). The rugged beauty of the area is awe-inspiring. The deep dark woods, the craggy shoreline and the roaring ocean are the muse that has inspired many great American artists including novelist John Steinbeck (East of Eden and Cannery Row), poet Robinson Jeffers (Tamar and Roan Stallion) and of course photographers Ansel Adams and Edward Weston.

In 1937 the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation awarded Weston a fellowship, the first given to a photographer. In the year 1937 America was still struggling through the Great Depression. Weston himself was struggling economically. During this time Weston survived by selling his photos for he humble price of $7-10 each. (Now they have gone up a staggering 1,000,000% in value.) The $2,000.00 fellowship (which was a lot of money at that time) allowed Weston to engage in a photo-odyssey through California. During that time, Weston travelled all over California capturing the state’s raw essence and unmatched beauty in the nearly 1,400 negatives that he created.

Edward Weston died in his house on Wildcat Hill in Carmel Highlands in Big Sur, California on January 1, 1958, at age 71.

Weston’s career spanned crucial years in American photography; a restless pursuit of his art created a body of work that ranged over nudes, still lifes, industrial scenes, portraiture, landscapes, and any other subject that touched Weston’s visual imagination. He is generally recognized as one of the greatest photographic artists of the 20th century. Weston’s pioneering photographic vision has been the inspiration of countless professional and amateur (like me) photographers.

Here is a gallery of some of my favorite Weston's photographs.



















All Edward Weston photographs are protected by copyright. The copyright owner(s) fully reserve all rights to the photographs.

Here are my attempts at capturing Weston's "vision"



















© Copyright 2008 - 2009, DB. All Rights Reserved.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT PHOTOGRAPHER'S CORNER

By Debbie Bulloch



Over the past few weeks we have been exploring the writings of several poets. We have also explored the works of singers and composers of popular music. Thanks to Monsieur Odriscoll we have even read about French poets and French popular music.

Now it is time for us to explore the third “P” of this creative triumvirate: Photography. For our first featured photographer I have chosen of America’s most talented photographers: Man Ray.

Man Ray, was born Emmanuel Radnitzky (August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976), in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the oldest child of recent Russian-Jewish immigrants. In early 1912, the Radnitzky family changed their surname to Ray, a name selected by Man Ray's brother, in reaction to the ethnic discrimination and anti-Semitism prevalent at that time

Man Ray's father was a garment factory worker who also ran a small tailoring business out of the family home. Man Ray's mother enjoyed making the family's clothes from her own designs and inventing patchwork items from scraps of fabric. Despite Man Ray's desire to disassociate himself from his family background, this experience left an enduring mark on his art. Tailor's dummies, flat irons, sewing machines, needles, pins, threads, swatches of fabric, and other items related to clothing and sewing appear at every stage of his work and in almost every medium. Art historians have also noted similarity in his collage and painting techniques to those used in making clothing.

MAN RAY - SELF PORTRAIT



Man Ray was a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements. Best known in the art world for his avant-garde photography, Man Ray produced major works in a variety of media, including painting and photography. He was once quoted as saying, "I paint what cannot be photographed, that which comes from the imagination or from dreams, or from an unconscious drive. I photograph the things that I do not wish to paint, the things which already have an existence."

Man Ray’s most significant work comes from the time he spent in Paris. In July 1921, Man Ray went to live and work in Paris, France, and soon settled in the Montparnasse quarter favored by many artists. Shortly after arriving in Paris, he met and fell in love with Kiki de Montparnasse an artists' model and celebrated character in Paris bohemian circles. Kiki was Man Ray's companion for most of the 1920s. She became the subject of some of his most famous photographic images and starred in his experimental films.

For the next 20 years in Montparnasse, Man Ray made his mark on the art of photography. Great artists of the day such as James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Jean Cocteau, Bridget Bate Tichenor, and Antonin Artaud posed for his camera. With Jean Arp, Max Ernst, André Masson, Joan Miró, and Pablo Picasso, Man Ray was represented in the first Surrealist exhibition at the Galerie Pierre in Paris in 1925. Works from this period include a metronome with an eye, originally titled Object to Be Destroyed. Another important work from this part of Man Ray's life is known as the Violin D'Ingres, a stunning photograph of Kiki de Montparnasse, styled after the painter/musician, Ingres. This work is a popular example of how Man Ray could juxtapose disparate elements in his photography in order to generate meaning. Together with Lee Miller, who was his photography assistant and lover, Man Ray reinvented the photographic technique of solarization.

During this time in Paris, Man Ray developed a technique using photograms he called rayographs and which he described as "pure dadaism.” A photogram is a photographic image made without a camera by placing objects directly onto the surface of a photo-sensitive material such as photographic paper and then exposing it to light. The result is a negative shadow image varying in tone, depending on the transparency of the objects used. Areas of the paper that have received no light appear white; those exposed through transparent or semi-transparent objects appear grey.

This method of imaging is perhaps most prominently attributed to Man Ray and his exploration of rayographs. Others who have experimented with the technique include László Moholy-Nagy, Christian Schad (who called them "Schadographs"), Imogen Cunningham and even Pablo Picasso.

The events of World War II, including Germany’s occupation of France, forced Man Ray to leave his beloved Paris. He lived in Los Angeles, California from 1940 until 1951. During that time he lived 2 blocks from the famous intersection of Hollywood and Vine at Villa Elaine. During that time Villa Elaine was full of vibrant characters like Orson Welles and Henry Miller. (Editor’s Note: I have been to visit the Villa Elaine. Although no longer the residence of famous people, Villa Elaine is a charming place. You can go there, as I have, and imagine that you can see famous Hollywood stars. The Villa Elaine is now officially named the "Man Ray Residences" and is a Los Angeles Historical Landmark.)

VILLA ELAINE - HOLLYWOOD, CA - INSIDE COURTYARD



A few days after arriving in Los Angeles, Man Ray met Juliet Browner, a trained dancer and experienced artists' model. He began a long love affair with Juliet that lasted until his death.

During his stay in Los Angeles, Man Ray became involved in the movie business by painting a portrait of Ava Gardner for the film Pandora and the Flying Dutchman by Albert Lewin. Man Ray longed to create his own film production company, but Hollywood never warmed up to him. Man Ray soon became disgruntled with the film industry which only saw him as a “glorified” crew member. In 1951, when his landlord dramatically raised his rent he purchased two tickets for Paris and left Los Angeles for good. He had always called Montparnasse home.

Man Ray died in Paris on November 18, 1976; he was interred in the Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris. His epitaph reads: unconcerned, but not indifferent. When Juliet Browner died in 1991, she was interred in the same tomb. Her epitaph reads, together again. Juliet set up a trust for his work and made many donations of his work to museums.

Here is a small “gallery” of Man Ray’s work – the most iconic photographer of the 20th century.

A SAMPLE OF A PHOTOGRAM



THIS IS PERHAPS ONE OF MAN RAY'S BEST KNOWN PHOTOGRAPH



ANOTHER TAKE ON THE FEMALE FIGURE



WITH MAN RAY ORDINARY OBJECTS, LIKE THIS METRONOME, TAKE ON A NEW "LIFE"



Hope you enjoyed this tour through the work of one of my favorite photographers. Next week, Ansel Adams.

NOTE: The photographs reproduced here are the sole property of the copyright holder(s). All rights are fully reserved by the copyright holder(s). Any questions, please contact this blog's publisher.

Now for something a tad different. Last Saturday, April 11, a previously unknown singer burst into the music scene with her stunning performance at Britain's Got Talent.

For your listening pleasure, please click the link below. Enjoy!

Susan Boyle

Here are the lyrics, so that you may follow along:

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving.

Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used
And wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung
No wine untasted.

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
As they turn your dream to shame.

And still
I dream he'll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms
We cannot weather...

I had a dream my life would be
So different form this hell I'm living
so different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed
The dream I dreamed.

Thank you Buccaneer Braveheart for the link and the suggestion that I post it on the BH blog. Gracias!

I AM A ROCK

By Debbie Bulloch




Last Sunday I was riding my bike along the beach when I came across “rock art.” No, I am not talking about some rock musician strumming her guitar belting out tunes to the incoming waves. I am referring to the secret artists in our community who take ordinary rocks and stack them up to make “rock art.”

Here are some pictures of some rock art that I saw last Sunday. What these photographs fail to capture, however, is the complex interaction between the different rocks on the “pile.” No camera lens, no matter how sharp it may be, can possibly capture the interplay between rocks - the sharp angles, the soft curves, the different hues, and the changing textures.











OK, this photograph has nothing to do with rocks. But the sight of this dog, joyfully following its surfing buddy into the water made me feel happy inside so I decided to include it here.

In this day of color, digital photography our senses are often assaulted with splashes of bright color photographs. I decided to “play around” with Photoshop to see what would happen if I removed the color from a couple of the photographs. The photos below are my weak attempt at emulating Ansel Adam’s brilliant black and white photographs of some of the West’s most beautiful scenery.



This last photograph reminds me of one of my favorite Simon and Garfunkel songs. I will post the lyrics to the song here, so you can savor the poetry of Paul Simon’s words.

I AM A ROCK

A winter's day
In a deep and dark December;
I am alone,
Gazing from my window to the streets below
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

I've built walls,
A fortress deep and mighty,
That none may penetrate.
I have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain.
It's laughter and it's loving I disdain.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

Don't talk of love,
Well I've heard the word before;
It's sleeping in my memory.
I won't disturb the slumber of feelings that have died.
If I never loved I never would have cried.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

I have my books
And my poetry to protect me;
I am shielded in my armor,
Hiding in my room, safe within my womb.
I touch no one and no one touches me.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

And a rock feels no pain;
And an island never cries.
- lyrics by Paul Simon

One final note; my computer is acting kaput, so I am going to take it in for repairs. That means that I may not be around for a few days. Until then, have a wonderful weekend and a wonderful week.