kayl parker

photographers and photographs i am in love with right now:

pergamon museum vi, berlin, 2001; thomas struth// beautiful coloring; i enjoy the actions of the two viewers, looking up to the greecian gods as if they were exalted; i also enjoy the fact that they are paying no attention to the statues in front of them during this moment (but are both craning their necks to see the scene above).

pergamon museum iv, berlin, 2001; thomas struth; i like to imagine that this image was constructed, that the viewers of the marble pieces are actually hired models and were told to look interested. whether or not this is the case, the muddled photo mixed with the artificial lighting is beautiful.

          the restorers at san lorenzo maggiore, naples, 1988; thomas struth; i am very interested in the idea of a picture within a picture; and the idea that struth created an everlasting archival image of people trying to fight the decay of paintings; it invokes inner turmoil within the picture and the maker.

employees dining area, 1986; dan graham; the colors, the confusion, the weird focus issues, the fact that every shape in this image is distorted makes it so beautiful to look at.

       club, 2003; pierre huyghe; once again, a picture within a picture. beautiful.

aquarium project, 2010; pierre huyghe; this actually existed as an installation but i enjoy this documentation so much more. the organic shapes of the aquarium inhabitants and its contrast with the harsh lines of the tank are incredibly interesting and aesthetically beautiful.

my first photo assignment of the year; use light as a subject. here’s how its starting off.

another great example of unconventional long exposure photographs are those by tokihiro sato, justly named “breathing light.” each photograph was taken in large format. conducted during the middle of the day, sato would use extremely long exposures (perhaps a little over an hour) and a neutral density filter to capture the images. while the shutter was open, he would stand with a tiny mirror pointed at the camera (reflecting the sun) for a predetermined amount of time. the pictures created are anything but reality.

shirakami #10, gelatin silver print, 2008

#294 hattachi, black and white transparency over lightbox, 1996

#389 kamaiso, black and white transparency over lightbox, 1999

#352 kashimagawa, black and white transparency over light panel, 1998

kp

everyone has seen the pictures created by holding the shutter release at long exposure times to create light trails. every teacher i’ve had has scoffed at the classic (boring) examples of long exposures, but today in lighting fundamentals, my professor introduced a new kind of photographing for extended periods of times. hiroshi sugimoto makes long exposure photography interesting again. taking to visiting drive-in movie theaters, indoor theatres, opera halls, etc., sugimoto positions his camera for hours at a time. the end result introduces the viewer to something foreign; their view does not meet the typified ideas that a motion picture portrays. the screens themselves become alien, giant and spacious monoliths that exude an ominous mood. 

kp