Shoot like... Diane Arbus

"Oh, that little lady is giving me such a nice look... I wonder if she's up for a chat..." seems to be a bit what went the first time through the head of Diane Arbus' subjects. There are anecdotes here and there on her charm and how people just approached her to openly talk about intimate stuff. You could also tattoo in your forefront "I studied psychology" for a similar effect. Then, well, at some point pop the camera out as an extension of your interaction.





It's been said many times that the photography of Arbus shows us how no matter how much we try, we can't capture the essence of others. Nan Goldin always remarks that she made a huge effort to not show the subjects... but try to be them, even to a point of sickness. Well, no matter what happens in the images, somehow the real ugliness of reality as it is hits you in the face in those large fine grained prints. (If you read text by her, you'll be surprised on how beautiful and poetic it is in contrast.)














You need

A medium format twin lens camera, or a medium format SLR with a waist level viewfinder. This makes your subjects look at your head while you giggle and look at their faces from a point of view slightly lower (that's why they have that sort of sheepish look).

Very fine grained slow film. Remember, you really want to show things as they are. You have to be a bit obsessed about the truth of the image. No, not that obsessed, a bit more than that. Yes. Better... feel it torturing you when you don't reach it.

Inhuman charm. This takes lots of practice. The day that you enter a pub and a complete stranger buys you a beer, you're getting close. When you manage this every other day and they open their hearts to you when you open your mouth, you're on the right track.

Patience. Yes, a day shooting a single person is needed more than once. Or do you think people relax for the camera just with your charm? No way, you have to be there till they are so tired that they forgot about you, their daily job and the world. Giving them valium is considered cheating. Also, you'll need all that patience to hear the weird stories your subjects tell you.

Distaste for composition. Did I say composition? Ha! That's something that happens to others! If a subject does not work dead centre, it wasn't worth shooting.

A taste for the strange and nocturnal. Midgets, circus freaks, old men that think they are vampires, men dressed as women, Disney memorabilia. Yes, go for it. If after seeing your prints your mother throws them into the bin you are doing it right. If some chick that thinks she's the twin soul of Tim Burton thinks they rock, well, yes, whatever...

Master use of flash. Well, it's not only that it's a handy skill to have, but if there's something that can reveal the tiniest little ugly thing in a portrait, that's a good and powerful flash.


Pros

Art galleries really appreciate your stuff after some initial uneasynes.

Your subjects after some initial outfreaking learn to love their portraits... some of them.

Shooting can be easy and spontaneous, and you can have a good time meeting people while doing it.


Cons

The art galleries that appreciate you mostly do so when you're dead.

Commisions are few and far apart. If you are an old rich toothless lady, you probably didn't want anybody reminding you that.

People you meet are pretty, pretty weird. I mean, this is not a job for any average Joe (or Jane) to take.


Overall

You take ugly and misunderstood pictures that are fairly illuminatory for an artsy minory. Being dead is not really a requisite for this achievement, but it helps. In overall I wouldn't recommend to shoot like Arbus unless you're a complete copycat that fancy galleries can recognize straight on. I mean, to build up a career on a bunch of weird pictures is not going to get you money unless you stole the whole thing from the original... and acquiring all the charm and sweettalk is hard unless you were almost born with it. But after all, who's into this for the money?

Announcement: the results of DAH's call for projects are online

A while ago David Alan Harvey asked for photographical essays to be submitted for an online project. Everything was being held on his blog. Finally there's a website in which the finalist projects are online. Mine can be found at the end of gallery 4. The site takes quite a bit to load, but it's worth leaving it loading in the background and check all the essays. Some very interesting stuff in there.

Life... First day of 2008...

I woke up with a bit of a hangover on a kitchen floor today. Everybody had left and it was about 3pm. I went for a stroll to snap some pictures in that bit of the city that limits with the countryside. Two years ago none of those buildings existed here in Fuengirola. Oh, and I played Guitar Hero with a goth chick last night as well. I only hit the right notes in Slayer when banging my head.

And now later on I went on search of a cigar but I didn't find any. They don't seem to sell them in supermarkets. Laws seem to be changing in Spain. The reason for a cigar was not only the lack of one last night, but the results of the David Alan Harvey Fund for Emerging Photographers. I managed to get my name into the list! I am looking forwards to see what it ends up looking like, and upload some shots when the pictures end up in some gallery.





Fuck, I have no funny, sarcastic, dry, cynical or very tongue in cheek words to add...

New Year

Check out the happy new year post by Magnum. It contains pictures of new year eve parties in Wales, shot by Bruce Gilden! Now that's a christmas present!

Interview and some pictures with Tom Wood

Includes an essay. Everything is here. It's just a must see. Tom Wood has been for decades documenting daily life in Liverpool, and according to the essay, not getting much recognition to start with. I've heard of him many times referenced as an influence.





Happy new year, by the way!

Merry Christmas...

We are all getting older, fatter and uglier. Some people die and others get sick. Christmas is the time to remind ourselves of how much things can change in a year. And it's usually easier to see how they go wrong if as me you return home only for this time of year. Plus listening to depressive Sibelius christmas carrols doesn't help a lot. So welcome to the time dedicated to think about those you miss, those that departed, those you met again and ponder over and over what the next year will bring as it's getting closer and your pockets are emptier and your belly -filled with vodka and beer- brings you the least glamorous of thoughts.



So, I wish you´re visited by the three ghosts of Dickens and they make you think, overthink, separate the body from the soul, as time for that we don't have everyday. Not at least with this great moody dark nights. Merry christmas. I hope you make up with your past and future, and most importantly, with yourself.

Picture by Raoul Gatepin, who told me to post one of his pictures with my wishes.

Music. If you click on the play button on this page you can listen to "On hanget korkeat, nietokset". My favourite Sibelius carrol.

Spotlight... Igor Moukhin

I´m a big fan of Igor Moukhin´s photography and I casually discovered him through his Flickr page. The reason behind why I like the images seems to be that in a way they are pure photography for me. They are direct, playful and not charged with cliches and artifacts. There´s a certain naturality in them. Igor somehow manages to shoot like a witness of life, that every so often strikes the right key. There is that casual feel about them that I love...











And I have a bad feeling that I´m misrepresenting him when I´m choosing images to show here. I´d rather go and give a visit at his webpages. Ok, back to topic. There´s even an article written about Igor over here with a lot more information in it that I could ever give. For example, I already forgot to say that he´s Russian. And that he´s been documenting the life of his country since the 1980´s. Non stop. I´ll quote: "Born in Moscow in 1961 and Moscow-based ever since, Moukhin was an original member (1989-91) of the influential group Immediate Photography, founded by his contemporary, the artist, teacher, and curator Alexei Shulgin." So yeah, he´s not some random guy you bump into in flickr it seems.











That´s the sort of stuff that makes me want to go out and take pictures. The sense of freedom and immediacy of the 35mm camera. No bullshit. Just reality hitting straight from the world into the film plane. Anywhere, anytime. It´s a pity I don´t have more to say really. I´ve been thinking about posting this for maybe two or three weeks now, and I just don´t have any words to add. Just a few images and reminding that I already used one of his images to start a post about tilted photographs.