mardi 19 octobre 2004

Seeking the Sun... and Shadows Cartier-Bresson and Ralph Gibson come to mind I'm still seeking those last rays of sun before it becomes too cold to bare all. In doing so I'm reminded of the well-known image by the late Henri Cartier-Bresson taken in the Winter of 1973 in which portrayed a hardy Russian sunbathing against the imposing walls of the Forteresse Pierre-et-Paul in Leningrad. The Russian man in the briefest of bathing trunks, arms held slightly backwards and outstretched with both hands turned at an angle so as to be at maximum exposure to the sun's rays... whilst unconcerned passers-by are dressed in their regular overcoats. The man's powerful frame and build, the shaven head, look as hard as the granite wall he casts his shadow onto. I fancifully imagine that after he finished absorbing the sun's energy he quickly dressed, scaled the huge corner stones of the fortress and unaided pulled himself over the parapet without a pause for breath... a hard man from some secret government department taking the direct route back to his interrogation HQ. There are no real comparisons with my photograph above, however... just a few incidental similarities which, to me, made the image more pleasurable to take and make. The late summer sun, as I mentioned in yesterday's writing, is getting lower in the sky throughout October. Even in winter it usually shines for at least an hour or longer in my south-facing courtyard... and when it does, from it's lower attitude, it casts it's light into both kitchen and bureau bathing them with bright, warm shafts of light much further into the depths of the rooms than in high summer. I take these opportunities whenever I can to strip... I assume nobody sees me although the priest and three Holy sisters overlook my corner of the church quarter of the town where I live. I'm usually too relaxed to worry about such delicacies, like the Russian soaking up the solar vitamin D, and certainly more interested in the patterns of light and shade cast by my limbs onto each other and onto the warm, old, tiled floor. If I were seen I'm sure my transgressions would be simply pointed out and disturbed from above by a presbytery window opening and perhaps a few pieces of bread thrown to the birds... no more would need to be said or done on the matter. I generally use a Leica M3 and 50mm D/R Summicron for personal everyday photography. It has several qualities apart from build and mechanical precision which are subliminally appreciated, not least being the direct vision viewfinder. Using an SLR you see exactly what the lens sees... except that apart from the very few professional models utilising a 100% accurate viewfinder you don't see what the lens sees... you see less. With a direct vision rangefinder camera such as the Leica M-series, and the more recent Voigtlander Bessa models coming from the far-East, you see more than the lens sees. But why would you want to do that? For the simple reason you are able to see what is just outside the framed view the lens records... and so you can visualise, create and re-frame images very quickly... both mentally and practically. As an aside, many of my best sports photographs were taken with Leicas... panning with fast moving cyclists or sports cars touching 175mph or more at the Le Mans 24-hour race was a breeze when targeting the subject inside either 90mm or 135mm frame-lines within the camera's 50mm viewfinder. It's harder to describe than do, believe me! However, the 50mm frame with an M3 more or less fills the finder so there is not much spare view to be seen... but there is enough to see what is going on just outside the image gathering area. Another big Leica M plus for me is the coincidental image focusing... my ageing eyes find SLR focusing screens much harder to use - with AF cameras almost impossible to use manually. Why manually focus an AF camera? Because I found it hard to accept the poor accuracy of auto-focus in it's early days - and now I find it faster to focus on what I want within the composition rather than on the delineated points etched onto an SLR's focusing screen... screens, incidentally, which are now so fine grained and bright that it is all but impossible to use them manually with more specialist optics such as Macro, Perspective Control and Reflex Mirror lenses. I hope there is something to be seen of the Ralph Gibson image style with this composition of shadow and light around my feet... the isolation of part of a body juxtaposed with contrasting light and shadow. He has a true talent at using a rangefinder camera as if it were an extension of his eye... and of course shows us with beautiful prints from his prodigious output. He has published many books using his own imprint Lustrum Press, overseeing every layout and design element as few other photographers would bother to do. They are all worth careful study... some of his images will shock whilst others will be difficult to understand or interpret... but you will not fail to appreciate the possibilities of capturing light and shade, human and inanimate form, pulsing life and abstract surroundings married together. I know I am influenced by him... I know I try to emulate him... but I know I fall short of his visual achievements. 8:20:25 PM    comment []