August 13, 2019
To me, a picture fails at so many things versus a photograph. A picture has no soul, yet it begins its life with a selfish idea for the pure pleasure of vanity like on social media and then quickly dies as it scrolls its way off your screen (we are ALL guilty of this). A photograph lingers, it makes a footprint long enough to imprint its ideas into your mind. So before capturing your next image, try taking the image purely for YOURSELF TO KEEP...yes, it also gives you that equally satisfying sense of selfish-pleasure but an image that you would want to keep or print also has a meaning, a story, and a soul. Let that photograph brew and marinade for days, weeks, and even years. And if it haunts you still...then it is a photograph worth sharing, worth talking about, and worthy of being called your own.
“Mother & Child” (Korea, c2017; from my 4th series submitted to MAGNUM PHOTOS)
August 14, 2019
No matter how many images I see on a screen, it can never replicate that nostalgic, systematic, and therapeutic feeling of a darkroom. From blindly rolling my own film in a home made trash bag wrapped in an old sweatshirt; followed by the nervousness of having a finite limit of 24 frames in a single roll of Kodachrome/Tri-X to savor for that perfect shot...and yet, time after time I FAILED!! Too often they were overexposed...underexposed...poor composition...images with no depth…and meaningless to say the least. After the daily grind, I would find myself deep into the night developing, stopping, and fixing every print, while obsessing the details in a loop glass under the red casted shadow of a makeshift projector stand that was nothing more than a washer-dryer machine. I practiced my craft one frame at a time.
Film, a dying art form to the masses is very much an organic and visceral experience for me and it takes me back to those earlier times when photography was magical and deliberate, and less instantaneous and careless. The virtue in mind is patience. If you find yourself curious about photography and really want to know its roots, spend a few pennies and build a darkroom in that small corner of your home. An afternoon in pure ecstasy shooting through a roll and watching it magically come to life in your very own darkroom is something every purist should experience.
“Riders” (The Keys, FL, circa 2008; Leica M2, 50mm Summilux, Tri-X; Categorical Finalist for the World Press Photo Oskar Barnack Award)
