Category Archives: Photographers

David Hobby

Photographers

The power of the web exemplified.

Perhaps the greatest change wrought by the internet on commerce is the destruction of the middleman. That mostly means the high street retailer. From tires to books to eyeglasses, no store is required. Just a warehouse, a good web site and UPS.

One example of this is in the work of the photographer and lighting expert David Hobby, who levered his redundancy pay into a successful website which addresses photographic lighting and is now making good money from taking his lecture show on the road. Congratulations! Embrace change or be killed by it.

For more from Slate click the picture and be sure to view the embedded slide show.

Click the picture for the story.

Silentuk – Urbex

Photographers

Simply outstanding.

A friend in the UK sent over a link to the Silentuk blog which specializes in urban exploration. The sort of work featured here recalls earlier efforts by a US master of the genre, Jonathan Haeber, and does a wonderful job of creating a record of man’s creations which are otherwise lost to his fellow man.

The reportage they have just done on the defunct Royal Mail underground railway is to die for. An extraordinary effort just to access the system, the high risk of detection and the accompanying superb photography all speak loudly to why we take pictures. They write that the system was originally built in 1855 before the days of electricity and was pneumatically powered! Shades of Dante’s Inferno. Electrification of the system illustrated was undertaken in 1915 and speaks to the great age of civil and electrical engineering.

Click the picture for the story.

There’s one photo in the large collection which speaks to the quintessential English delicacy. Tea. Here it is:

Be sure to visit the Silentuk blog.

Hidden Alcatraz

Book reviews

Book review.

Click for the book on Amazon

This slim book of some ninety photographs presents a current documentary on the cruel, decaying prison on Alcatraz Island in the bay of San Francisco. Cruel in so many ways, from the views of both the Golden Gate and Oakland Bay bridges, from the sounds of freedom wafting from the mainland on the prevailing wind, for the views of America’s most beautiful city so close yet out of reach. It’s as if it was located to enhance the suffering of the inmates for some sadistic purpose, purportedly in the service of man. The Constitution forbids cruel and unusual punishment and while there’s no excusing the actions of those who ended up in Alcatraz, there’s even less excuse for the sheer brutality of the concept.

Clint Eastwood starred in a fine movie Escape from Alcatraz which speaks to the only successful escape, by three inmates, which shows well the inhumanity of the place. Short, sharp and well acted by all, it’s an excellent companion piece to this book, whose Foreword by Peter Coyote is startlingly well written. What sort of person has it in him to become a prison guard, let alone a governor of such an institution?

This book has current pictures, many of which show the merciful decay of this horror story, and contains many memorable images. Perhaps the most poignant is also the simplest. It’s by Peikwen Cheng, appropriately enough a resident of a prison to over one billion souls, and appears on page 40. Titled ‘Days Go By’ it shows the scratches made on a cell wall by an inmate, counting the days of his incarceration. Nothing could be simpler or more powerful.

A mix of well reproduced color and monochrome images, the book is recommended if you like atmospheric photography with a message.

Weddings by Buissink

Photographers, Photography

A true master of the genre.

While I have never wanted to make so much as one penny from taking pictures, I greatly respect those who do.

It’s a very tough way of making a living, made tougher in the digital age of “anyone can take a picture”, whereas in reality the percentage of camera owners who can do so has never been lower. Aunt Nellie with her POS point-and-shoot will make sure that the bride’s dress is eyeball searing white, not an iota of detail left in the trashed highlights and the groom’s tails will be every bit as lacking when it comes to detail in that expanse of black. Of course, there’s a good chance that everyone’s eyes will be closed and there will be a tree growing out of the bride’s head. There’s a reason Nellie’s pix are free and an equally good one why a real pro charges a great deal for his services.

Other than fashion photography where only a handful make a real living, surely one of the toughest fields has to be wedding photography. Except perhaps in Hollywood, there’s no repeat business for the most part. The stress is enormous. The photographer has to be a master orchestrator of diverse personalities on what is, for at least two of the participants, one of the most stressful days of their lives. The one trying to look her best and weak from all the fasting and exercise, the other trying to disregard the hangover. And the pictures must come out. Failure of equipment or technique is simply not an excuse. Further, everyone now expects to see the proofs at the reception after the wedding, so the photographer is running on fumes for the best part of a day. And did I mention the videos? Not my idea of fun, so when I see work of this nature done at an exceptional standard, my respect for the photographer is immense.

While it’s not a genre I’m especially into – it’s not like you search out wedding snaps to enjoy good photography – I know great work when I see it and none is better than that of Joe Buissink, a high-end wedding photographer in southern California. His work transcends the mere record which is most wedding photography and becomes art. The pictures are great despite the subject.

Here’s an example of the man’s art, taken from his web site. Cartier-Bresson would be proud of this one:

Click the picture for Joe Buissink’s superb web site.

No, you will not find ugly or fat (or ugly fat) people on his site, and for that we should all be truly grateful. His women are gorgeous, the way they should be on this most special of days in their life. His men are handsome. And the children properly dressed and simply divine.

The Balenciaga show

Photographers

The pulse rises.

Update: My review of the show appears here.

How could anyone be less than thrilled at the prospect of seeing so many Balenciaga gowns in one place?

Watches have Patek Philippe. Cameras have Leica. Cars have Ferrari. And the most perfect clothes ever created have Basque designer Cristóbal Balenciaga. All marques in a Class of One and not a one remotely practical in the modern world. I confess to serious affairs with the first two, lust for the third and have come to the sad realization that a wearer of the fourth will not cross my path.

The photo for the exhibition at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco, which showcases no fewer than one hundred and twenty Baleniciaga creations, is by the great American Vogue photographer John Rawlings, and if you don’t have the book of his work I suggest you rush out and get it right now.

Here’s how I saw it the other day in America’s finest city:

Poster for the Balenciaga show, Clay Street, downtown San Francisco.

More when I have visited the show.