Floating Girl serie by Bill Henson
Melbourne born photographer Bill Henson is a light sculptor playing in the darkness inspired in the tradition of the great European painters. His powerful and edgy photographs approach both the painterly and the cinematic, bringing together the formal and classical with the gritty, casual dramas of the everyday. Creating confronting, beautiful and, unforgettable images, he captures a universal essence with a mysterious darkness.
Yosemite by Takeshi Shikama, platinum palladium print on gampi paper
This picture is part of the Silent Respiration of Forests serie, which explored the brooding forests of Japan and US.
The platinum palladium technique gives the photographer endless possibilities to craft the image. This process allows the opportunity to combine both the power and precision of modern technologies with the charm and passion contained in the oldest photographic processes.
One of the advantages of this technique is the impregnation of finely divided platinum and palladium salts into the paper’s fibers - allowing the image to be as long sustaining as the fine paper the image is printed on. In addition, it is an extremely slow print-by-contact method requiring very strong UV light, and requiring that the negative be the same size as the desired print.
Check the whole process video here
Hurt by Joseph Szabo, 1972
The Essential Photograph
Rosie by Richard Learoyd 2007 Ilfachrome print 127 x 152.4 cm
The British photographer trivializes the digital era with his very special technique. Revealing a tremendous wealth of detail, his pictures are a direct positive made on Ilfachrome in a camera obscure. He shoots in one room the model or the object in a light source where he hangs the positive paper. After the slow shot, the paper is run through a processor. Skipping the editing process, the artist is placed at the core of Photography by eliminating every step of the process inessential to make an image.
Don’t miss his more than interesting lecture at the International Center of Photography.
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Currently obsessed with Viviane Sassen
I specially love her vivid and vibrant colors and how she plays with the subject in a sculptural way. Looking at her portfolio we can have a look at the behind-the-scenes work in her serie “Sketchbook” where she refers to Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy and features watercolor works. A breakthrough in the contemporary photography scene, she’s built her visual language with strong shadows and crispy light. Also, she feels comfortable playing with geometric clothes as she does it with human bodies. Furthermore, her images have a universal nuance by fading to black the faces, arms, building abstract lines. The invisible faces are part of her obsession with black skin and Africa, where she lived until she was 5 years old.
She uses a Mamiya 6x7 and talks about her work here
In and Out of Fashion currently running at Huis Marseille until March 17 2013
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The Gerewol Festival
The Wodaabe are a nomadic people populating the Sahel desert of West Africa. Once a year in a few secret locations, their tribe gathers to celebrate the fantastic tradition of Gerewol, often referred to in the popular press as a male beauty pageant. Overall, this festival is a male beauty contest between clans. The elders select some women for their own beauty, they will select the best looking men and take them to the bush. Folded on their heads are the blankets they will use to rest in pairs.
See how they dance and make their choice here
Picture by Victor Englebert