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.
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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
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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

Think While You Shoot

The Master of Photography who inspired Henri Cartier-Bresson and Richard Avedon, Martin Munkácsi, was well known by his dynamic shots. His approach to photography was summed up in an article called Think While You Shoot, published in a 1935 issue of Harper’s Bazaar. ‘Never pose your subjects. Let them move about naturally. All great photographs today are snapshots.Take back views. Take running views. Our cameras today allow us one-thousandth of a second. Pick unexpected angles, but never without reason.’ 

A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai), Jeff Wall, 1993

Even if it looks spontaneous, this picture is extraordinarily elaborate. The Canadian photographer Jeff Wall was inspired by Hokusai’s “Yejiri Station, Province of Suruga” (ca. 1832), one of the great Japanese masters of ukiyo-e woodblock prints. The finished work represents the digital collage of more than 100 original shots, taken in the course of a year or more. The effect is strangely surreal and dreamlike, the poetic evocation of a wind that may never have existed except in the artist’s imagination.

In addition, he utilized actors and took him over a year to produce 100 photographs in order “to achieve a seamless montage that gives the illusion of capturing a real moment in time.” He then collaged elements of the photograph digitally in order to achieve the desired composition.

It reminds me of Hisaji Hara who was inspired by Balthus paintings.

Click on the arrow in the image to see Hokusai image.

Find more about him at MoMA’s exhibition website

Christmas Night by Malick Sidibé (1963) Often photographing Malian youth, Malick Sidibé captures the romantic, carefree, ambitious, and overall cool energy that represented the newly independent country. A collection of Sidibé’s classic black and white prints, as well as some never-before-seen color prints can be found in the new book “Malick Sidibé: Portraits of Mali”. Don’t miss his exhibition at Galerie du Jour, 44 rue Quicampoix, Paris
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Christmas Night by Malick Sidibé (1963)

Often photographing Malian youth, Malick Sidibé captures the romantic, carefree, ambitious, and overall cool energy that represented the newly independent country. A collection of Sidibé’s classic black and white prints, as well as some never-before-seen color prints can be found in the new book “Malick Sidibé: Portraits of Mali”.

Don’t miss his exhibition at Galerie du Jour, 44 rue Quicampoix, Paris