Art Here and Now » Photography

Color Photographs of Russia – Before Color Film Exists

Trout Monfalco — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 06:16:13 +0000

Today, photographs are taken from devices in our pockets, then beamed to a worldwide audience in a matter of moments. At the dawn of photography, the equipment was large and cumbersome, developing glass plates to reveal images was an intense process, and color, of course, didn’t exist. To take photos required an expedition of many to haul all this equipment, often at great expense. Simple black and white photos involved lots of labor to produce.

So add to this a great invention – shooting in color, before the invention of color film. This was accomplished by shooting three images, one quickly after the other, each with a red, blue and green filter over the lens. After the film was developed, they could be projected using three magic lanterns, also with red, green and blue filters, overlapping to recreate the color image. This is the screen plate color process. Prokudin-Gorskii had studied the technology in Germany, but invented his own camera and projectors for his photographs.

From 1909 to 1915, before the invention of color film, photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii won the support of Tsar Nicholas II to set out on an expedition to photograph the Russian Empire. By 1918, the Empire had fallen, and Prokudin-Gorskii was living in Paris. In 1948, after his death, the Library of Congress bought the entire collection from Prokudin-Gorskii’s heirs.

Here are some examples of the collection. To view the entire collection, visit The Library of Congress – The Empire that was Russia, The Prokudin-Gorskii Photographic Record Recreated.

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Haiti’s Only Film School Keeps Filming

Ten Contemporary Indian Artists

Trout Monfalco — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:57:54 +0000

At this Ted Talk, Ravin Agrawai presents an overview of 10 upcoming contemporary Indian artists. Below is the talk, and more in depth information about each artist.

More about the artists

Bharti Kher at Hauser & Wirth
Alwar Balasubramaniam
Chitra Ganesh
Excerpt from Rabbithole
Jitish Kallat
Perspectives on contemporary art, interview with The Economist
N.S. Harsha
Dhruvi Acharya
Raqib Shah
A group show including the work of Raqib Shah where ornamentation is given voice.
Raqs Media Collective
Subodh Gupta
Show from the Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
Ranjani Shettar

Indian culture found in the artist’s work

amar chitra kathas – “Immortal Captivating (or Picture) Stories”, is one of India’s largest selling comic book series, with more than 90 million copies sold in 20 Indian languages. Founded in 1967, the imprint has more than 400 titles that retell stories from the great Indian epics, mythology, history, folklore, and fables in a comic book format. (wikipedia)
bindi (as used by Bharti Kher) – is a forehead decoration worn in South Asia (particularly India) and Southeast Asia… Traditionally it is a dot of red colour applied in the center of the forehead close to the eyebrows, but it can also consist of a sign or piece of jewelry worn at this location. The bindi has become a decorative item and is no longer restricted in colour or shape. Self-adhesive bindis (also known as sticker bindis) are available, usually made of felt or thin metal and adhesive on the other side. These are simple to apply, disposable substitutes for older tilak bindis. Sticker bindis come in many colors, designs, materials, and sizes. Fancier sticker bindis are decorated with sequins, glass beads, or rhinestones. (wikipedia)

Photographers Produce Onè Respe to Benefit Haitian Relief

Trout Monfalco — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 06:44:37 +0000

San Francisco Bay Area photographer Lane Hartwell gathered photographers to publish a special magazine titled Onè Respe to benefit Haiti. The images celebrate life in Haiti, all taken before the earthquake. Other participating photographers include Mary Ellen Mark, Chet Gordon and Peter Pereira. The magazine was printed through HP’s MagCloud service. HP has decided to donate printing costs to the effort. All proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross.

Order Onè Respe.

Learn more

Photographers Unite for Haiti Fundraising from Wired
Lane Hartwell Photography
Mary Ellen Mark photography
Chet Gordon, photographer
Peter Pereira, photojournalist
MagCloud, print on demand by HP

Nichitsu Ghost Town, Haikyo of a Mining Town

Trout Monfalco — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:39:43 +0000

Nichitsu was a mining town in Saitama Prefecture, about three hours from Tokyo. At it’s peak in 1965, there were about 3,000 people living there. Now the town is completely abandoned.

Here the Tokyo Times blog posts many Haikyo photographs (廃墟写真, usually meaning photographs of modern ruins) of the ghost town.

Other photographers have also visited Nichitsu, including Michael John Grist, producing these photos of an abandoned Firehouse.

Read more about the history of Nichitsu (Google translation).

Two books by haikyo photographer Shinichiro Kobayashi:
Deathtopia and Ruins.

Haikyo (Modern Ruins) Photo Essay of Linda Vista Hospital

Trout Monfalco — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 04:32:33 +0000

As a fan of Haikyo photography (廃墟写真, Haikyo Shashin), this photo essay by Ransom Riggs excites me at the same time it creeps me out.

Last year, while scouting for a short film that never came to fruition, some friends and I talked our way inside an empty, run-down hospital in Boyle Heights. The short was supposed to take place in a hospital, but after a few minutes wandering the halls of Linda Vista — alone and decidedly creeped-out — it became obvious that there was no way the place would work… there was dirt caked in layers on walls and mysteriously wet floors; windows were broken and doors hung off their hinges; ceiling tiles had fallen victim to moisture and gravity, and rats had chewed through the walls. We didn’t have the money to make Linda Vista look like anything more than a horror movie…

Read more at mental_floss: Linda Vista Revisited: East LA’s Abandoned Hospital

No Art, Only Entertainment

Trout Monfalco — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 08:18:22 +0000

I’ve noticed for quite some time that most media web sites and newspapers do not have an Arts section. The closest you find is Entertainment. The meaning of these two is of course very different, not because art can’t be entertaining, it can be. But art often has more purpose to it than that. By sticking only to “Entertainment,” the media avoids discussion of any of the other reasons for art, or the cultural criticisms it might be presenting. It takes the easy route, sticking to celebrity gossip and celebrity fashion, and not a bigger cultural context, or inclusion of any artwork whose main purpose may be something other than Entertaining.

If your TV station or newspaper covers only Entertainment and not the Arts, write them and ask why, and ask them to change it (not just the name of the section, but what they cover.)

Some examples of “Entertainment” and no “Arts”:

Some great papers that still have an Arts section:

Photographer Kazuhiko Kawahara

Trout Monfalco — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 00:56:12 +0000

Collaged photographs form a kaleidoscope of beautiful patterns.

Visit his blog: Pallalink.net
A story from Wired

Haikyo (廃墟写真, Haikyo Shashin) – Japan Photography of Ruins

Trout Monfalco — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 23:55:38 +0000

In the past when I’ve thought about moving to a new place, some cities don’t quite fit me because they aren’t eroded enough. I’m drawn to erosion for some reason, it’s like seeing all of history inside an object or scene. David Lynch said it better – “When you see an aging building or rusted bridge, you are seeing nature and man working together… man has built it and nature has added into it.”

When people build things and then, for whatever reason, abandon them completely, nature quickly starts adding into it. This erosion is captivating, and reveals layers of history, character and texture of the people who left. Sometimes everything is left behind in mid-use, place settings on the tables, machinery prepped to run, a still life frozen for vines and rust to overcome.

Take a look at the great haikyo photographs (????, Haikyo Shashin) on these sites:
Spiral – Research (my favorite is this abandoned amusement park); ruin-Japan; Haimono ruins photo; and Shinichiro Kobayashi.

Two books by haikyo photographer Shinichiro Kobayashi:
Deathtopia and Ruins

Learn Japanese (Rosetta Stone) and travel to Japan (Travelocity).

Making Art Without Unmaking the Environment

Trout Monfalco — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 07:55:26 +0000

This post is part of Blog Action Day.

(Outside the norm, today’s post has intermixed store links to more easily show environmentally friendly art tools and materials.)

Art is still mostly a hand made thing. As most things hand-made, materials of the craft used to be natural – wood, clay, marble and natural pigments. But like other goods after the Industrial Revolution, art supplies became more toxic and harmful to the environment and artists. This is not only true for things like paints, thinners, and plastic based sculpture material, but also for photography, all the way from the roll of film to the final print. Over 10 years ago, some communities even banned film processing because of the toxic chemicals involved.

At the same time, artists want their work to be durable and high quality. How can you make high quality work while still keeping yourself and the environment safe?

Buy locally if possible. If you have to have supplies shipped to you, plan ahead and use ground shipping. Overnight and other types of air shipping require much more fuel, using more energy and leaving more pollution behind.
Try reclaimed surfaces to paint on. For instance, reclaimed masonite and other wood can be a great painting surface. You can also use scrap fabrics as canvas instead of new canvas.
Take photos with a digital camera. I have to be honest with you, I haven’t switched to a digital SLR yet. I still use my trusty 20 year old 35mm, but it’s time. I’ve been waiting for them to come down in price and go up in quality, and I’m about ready to make the plunge. The fact is, the manufacturing of film and developers, and run off from the chemicals that are left over, are terrible for the environment. Nothing is perfect, but digital is much more environmentally friendly. That isn’t to say you should throw away your perfectly good film camera, that’s wasteful too. But when the time is right, move on and take more eco-friendly photos.
Create work from recycled or discarded material. Make sculpture from auto-parts. Design clothing from discarded fabrics or dismantled clothes no one wanted. Create jewelry from old broken cellphones and eyeglasses.
Use environmentally friendly solvents and thinners.
If you have a choice of paint mediums, choose water-based paints, preferring watercolor over acrylics, and acrylics over oils. You may also be able to find soybean oil alternatives.
Use clay, wood or marble instead of plastic sculpture doughs.
Avoid aerosols and other sprayed pigment. Use spattering and other brush techniques instead, if possible.
Take care of yourself in your workspace. If you have to use spray pigment or varnishes, or you’re using any material that creates powder in air (such as pastels), keep good ventilation and wear a mask.
If you’re a musician, unless you have a reason for the long lost tradition of beautiful cover art or something else special for your fans, consider distributing digitally instead. Not only does this save energy and materials from manufacturing your CD, but also saves fuel and prevents pollution caused when they are shipped. You can do this yourself without a record deal using services like TuneCore. One day when more people have better viewing technology, filmmakers can do the same to distribute their work.

Obviously, great artists will always be more concerned with the end results. Sometimes the result will beg a process or material that is bad for the environment and the artist. But most of the time, a different, more eco-friendly choice can be made that won’t compromise the art at all.

If you have any other ideas, or links to other environmentally friendly art supplies that we might not have heard of, post them in the comments.

Read more:
Guide to Using Art & Craft Materials Safely
The Dangers of Modern Art
and last but not least
Eco Art Works, Earth Friendly Non-Toxic Art Supplies, Safe for you and the environment.

Getting the Right Tools vs. Actually Doing Something

Trout Monfalco — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 07:20:26 +0000

I read a New Yorker story recently about the cult of Leica cameras. Some of the most famous photographs in history have been taken with Leica’s, and photographers love them. But at $4,000+ a pop, you’d better really love it, and you’d hope it takes a great photo.

…as the camera has evolved over eight decades, generations of users have turned to it in their hour of need, or their millisecond of inspiration. Aleksandr Rodchenko, André Kertész, Walker Evans, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Robert Frank, William Klein, Garry Winogrand, Lee Friedlander, and Sebastião Salgado: these are some of the major-league names that are associated with the Leica… Even if you don’t follow photography, your mind’s eye will still be full of Leica photographs. The famous head shot of Che Guevara, reproduced on millions of rebellious T-shirts and student walls: that was taken on a Leica with a portrait lens—a short telephoto of 90 mm.—by Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez, better known as Korda, in 1960.

Years ago I read that George Lucas stopped making Star Wars films after Return of the Jedi because he didn’t want to have to build the special effects industry at the same time he was filming. Before he continued, he wanted the effects tools and infrastructure to be at his disposal, not having to invent them along the way. A lot of people think the later movies weren’t as good as the first set (if they liked them at all), even with modern effects and landscapes of a thousand robots. Was the wait worth it?

Many great novels in the last hundred years weren’t made into films until recently because they technically weren’t feasible. The tools that existed just couldn’t tell the story in film form, at least not with a reasonable amount of time and money. At least that’s what they’ve told us about Lord of the Rings and Narnia. But didn’t they make the Ten Commandments, Cleopatra and Ben Hur with casts of thousands before computer animation existed? Lord of the Rings and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe were even made first as animated movies.

It took me a long time to find the right balance of art supply lust and actually getting things done. I’d think: If only I had a guitar, if only I had tungsten filters, a new watercolor brush, better paper, Maya 3D, an HD video camera, or a digital mixer… In the meantime, I wasn’t making much actual art, especially as the tools I thought I needed were so expensive it was a long shot I’d ever afford them.

Obviously I’m a great procrastinator, but the bigger question is still worth asking. When do you wait for the best tools or best circumstances, and when do you just go for it? When is quality important, and when does it just get in the way of doing something?

The first South Park was made with construction paper and magic markers.

Buy a Leica
or
construction paper and magic markers.

If You Get Points, Is It Art?

Trout Monfalco — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 06:32:33 +0000

I went to an afternoon of flat track roller derby, and even though it’s a sport, I could care less who won or lost. A lot of us were there to be entertained. Roller derby is dramatic and theatrical. Lots of players and whole teams have strong characters (whether real or mythical), and the opening and half time shows are fun and over the top. You could see a lot of artistic types in the audience who don’t go to many other games. There’s something creative and entertaining drawing them in.

But when the main purpose behind a performance is to get points and be the winner, is it art?

Figure skating, ballroom dancing and DanceSport, color guard and some forms of gymnastics are all artistic performances where the main goal is to get points and win. In most cases, performers are required to play certain types of music, wear certain clothes, and use certain prescribed moves.

Most of the performers are clearly exceptional athletes, are very dedicated, and have great artistic skill. But many people, especially the “real artists,” look down on all this. For me the problem has always been the limits put on the work — why would you limit yourself to only certain moves or, for instance, being required to twirl a fake wooden rifle?

A lot of people have trouble with the motivation. If you’re there to get points, based on how well you perform predefined and accepted moves, where is your artistic voice, your unique viewpoint of the world? Another motivation is money. Money motivation also brings the artistic merits of TV shows, films and albums into question, even beyond TV art sports like American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, and On the Lot. Artistic authenticity and innovation are often the measures of success for modern artwork. Motivations for money, points and winning are contrary to real art.

You might say authenticity and innovation are the point system for modern art. But who are the hidden judges? What are the secret rules?

When artists apply for grants, panelists often look for predefined forms that, to them, define great art. When ballet dancers come on stage, the audience looks for a limited set of predefined moves that add up to what they think of as ballet. When donors give money to a theatre or opera, they vote with dollars for work that most fits what they think art should be. Curators, promoters, producers, executives, politicians, grantors, donors, boards of directors, ticket buyers, book and music lovers and others are all doling out points. Many artists don’t like to admit we’re influenced by these points. We are trying to win money or notoriety.

The perfect modern artist is someone whose work pops out like flower buds, for no other reason and purpose than the artist wants it to. Money or status have no influence whatsoever. These are people like Henry Darger, who painted in secret his whole life. He was pure, untainted by desire for money or fame.

But if you are authentic, and you aren’t influenced by your audience or worldly temptations, how do you know your art is doing what you intended? Are puppies and shaving creme really disturbing and life changing, or only to you? Do dinosaurs make everyone think of birds, or just paleontologists? Maybe your art is just boring, confused and badly made. How will you know if you don’t listen? How will you make better work if you aren’t willing to change and learn?

In modern art, forming a fake rock band or standing on a street corner and shouting curse words at drivers can both be art. Dressing like your grandmother while impersonating Nixon might be your authentic voice. Maybe in this confusing open ended anything-goes arena, the points we get are the only barometer we have for whether our work is to other people what it is to us. Once we get those points, we can decide to change, to work for more points at the possible smogging of our clear intents. Or we can decide to remain steadfast, and risk pulling a Van Gogh – dying penniless with no recognition. It seems Van Gogh was right. I think the key is that, after collecting the points, Success or Winning is just ultimately affecting the world as you wanted to, regardless of what other rewards that might come your way.

Maybe the art athletes have it all figured out. Get the rules in writing. By the end of the night, be called the winner in front of a cheering crowd, and get paid decently for all your skill and effort.

Get In the Realms of the Unreal, the fascinating documentary about Henry Darger; or From Ballroom To Dancesport: Aesthetics, Athletics, And Body Culture