SJ says: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.
So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.
You have totrustin something — your gut, destiny, life, karma,
whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the
difference in my life.”
PS says: The decision as to when to photograph, the actual click of
the shutter, is partly controlled from the outside, by the flow of life, but it
also comes from the mind and the heart of the artist. The photograph is his/her
vision of the worldand expresses, however subtly, his/her values and convictions. http://www.photoquotes.com/showquotes.aspx?id=112&name=Strand,Paul
Glossary: inexhaustible ~ unable to be used up because existing in abundance ~ tireless• limitless• untold • everlasting • plentiful • boundless conviction ~ a firmly held belief or opinion ~ view • stance • position • belief Values ~ something is held to deserve; the importance or preciousness of ~ high regard • prize • treasure • appreciate
Google Plus is Google's new social
network_ and is still in it's 'testing' stage.
Is this the way forward?
launched on the 14th July
A new online space to engage with each other and talk and share...
photos • video • links • location
I asked Siya Ndlovu [SN], who originally shared this post on Google + if I could post the conversation that took place about his work between Bwalya and myself, on osmosisBLOG. The reason being I wanted to share the conversation and encourage my followers to do the same.
and
I want to get familiar with Google + and would like for us to learn how it works together.
...So lets create circles and share.
I think that it is a great forum to have discussions about ones works and to get feedback from each other or just from a selected few. We all see things differently and as I constantly chant this mantra "what you think, feel and see is important... it makes us understand more ".
•
Google + vs Facebook
Watch the 2.33" video below to get an overview. I get a feel that Google +
is an improvement on Buzz and a replacement for Google Wave (which has
been discontinued).
Google Plus
has a lot of slick features, but the biggest reason to open a Google
Plus account is that if you use a lot of Google products and these will all be integrated someday.
Add a comment... Keep the conversation going about the image below_ tell SN what you think? Click on his name above and you will go to his Google + page.
BWALYA: Oct 6, 2011 10:08 PM: This is so cool! You capture the expression of this hard labor.
The detail is crisp I wonder would it have worked in colour too? I love the
layers of your back ground. This reminds me of the days when we used to play tires.
osmosisliza:Oct 8, 2011 10:40 AM: The decisive moment? The expression is so telling,
pushing and playing with the tire is hard work and I am nervous, looks like
he is on top of a roof!
BWALYA: @ Liza, it his that tension in his face. It does place you in that
moment and you wait anxiously to see what happens when he has gotten over
that hurdle.
siya
ndlovu:Oct 10, 2011 12:40 PM: if you look on the far right corner, you can see that there is a
road which in my view sort of tells you that we've come a long way with this township
tradition of playing tires as our toys which now has been replaced with
modern toys and games, so this young boy is the reflection of those left out
and pushing at the edge hoping to connect with the modern world
IMAGE_2
BWALYA -Oct 6:I really like this, but the bush on the left is distracting me. It is bigger than the kids.
osmosisliza - Oct 8: For me the size of the bush and the fact that it is used as a wash line is comical_ the kids are kind of watching it ( I suppose like one
would a TV) as they eat and chat amongst themselves. Its size accentuates its 'oddity'
and its ominousness. As a viewer the space one occupies is that between the
bush and the kids, one is on the path. The path also divides the bush and the
children (which I recognize and is called in English "Yesterday, today and
tomorrow"_ in fact saying that I also believe it it is not indigenous to
South Africa) . Oooh I feel a metaphor happening here.
BWALYA -Oct 8:It reminds me of mine workers taking a break for lunch before going
back to 'work'. The bush creates that feeling for me because in such working
places (like here at ML Sultan) having lunch outside in the sort of space we
have, feels awkward.
siya
ndlovu - Oct 10: thanks gyz for da comments, this is jst me tryin to move with my
documentary which i call the "pray verses predator". my idea is to
drop wat eva image i fill like dropping until the images themselves tel their
own story of what/who is the predator and the pray. keep your comments coming
so one can grow in documentary, for the love of art
CN says: "Exhibitions are and remain to be an important platform for photographers and artists to project an extended essay of images which when placed in that body and context are able to make a particular statement otherwise not possible through the normal commercial outlets."
Then & Now
The image above from a series of works from exhibition THEN & NOW---> held @ the DAG in 2007. This exhibitionwas comprised of black/white and color photographs • 8 South African documentary photographers • 20 photographs each • 10 made under apartheid • 10 photographs made after democratic elections of 1994.
fail to admit to oneself that something is true • mistaken impression • trick • hoax
Duplicity
doubleness • deceiving or misleading • fraudulent
Artifice
clever or cunning device
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Spanish illustrator/photographer Reclarkgable made a series of photographs of a couple redressed and styled into 9 different looks, ranging from trash to trend, chic to grunge. These different modern looks reveal 9 other identities. This series shows how makeup, clothing and styling can recreate who you are and highlights how clothes and looks play relevant but often dubious roles in how people percieve who you are or how one percieves oneself.
This work challenges my thoughts as it questions how we are perceived. It raises issues of value on the extrinsic(outside, externally) as opposed to the intrinsic(inside, internal). I ask:
How aware are we of the kinds of 'non verbal' conversations that happen based on how we look and dress ourselves?
How do we judge?
How are we judged
How much of our outer appearance defines our character and in a sense our identity?
How much of who we are is misinterpreted by how we look?
Utimately the bodies of the couple that is under all these different looks are the same persons, however can the persona created by the styling and the culture it embodies change the person in the body?
•
Does clothing reveal [or conceal] ones:
status
age
proffession
emotional state
attitude
political disposition*
cultural disposition*
religious disposition*
hygiene
gender biases
etc etc etc (add to this please)
* disposition means a person's temperament, nature, character, constitution, makeup,
•
Robert Sloane says: "Clothing defines identity socially. Almost all clothing is heraldry (coat of arms, rank, protocal...who you are in relation to a group). It tells the world that you accept corporate culture and are a rising star in its hierarchy, a public representative of the company. Or it tells the world that you're counterculture and oppose Big Business. It defines whether you're conservative or liberal, rich or poor, young or old". http://www.qondio.com/clothing-self-expression-and-social-identity
A triptyches historical roots lie in hinged alterpieces during Medieval times
•
A photographic triptychis made up of 3 images placed side by side in a vertical or horizontal format.
Lauren Steed 2010
Bwalya 2008
It is a creative and conceptual way to express an idea/narrative or theme by combining 3 Photographs.
One may test the strength of the idea/triptych by seeing what happens when one removes one of the images.
Question whether or not, by removing one image this breaks up the mood, rhythm, movement or idea?
The strength of a triptych lies in that the 3 panels TOGETHER will bring forth the theme, message or story. If one were to remove one panel, that idea [theme/message/story], would be lost.
Meaning is created by the relationship between each photograph and the whole. One 'reads' each photograph , generally from left to right, or top to bottom, separately an then all together.
The centre image, the most important, is flanked by the 2 outside panels or photographs.
Mzwa 2010
Chillies 2008
Meaning is embedded in how each of the 3 "communicate" and "feed" each other, and then bring forth an overall narrative, message or theme.
Jocelyn 2010
There is no formula as to how you chose, make-up or compose the 3 photographs to form a triptych. The main criteria is that there are 3 photographs bound by one idea. The strength of the triptych lies, not in a random placing but in a carefully orchestrated, 'thought about' unity of the relationship of each photograph to each other and the whole, accentuated and bound by the * aesthetic quality of the photographs.
* aesthetic = guiding principles that are concerned with appreciation of beauty/art.
In 'binding' I refer to their framing and aesthetic quality:
colour or black and white or duo/split-toned
digital effects_ filters etc
surface: grain, texture, sharpness
lighting and focus: high or low key, mood
design elements like: pattern, flow, line, shape, negative space
movement: leading lines, horizons, rhythm
size and point of view
Below are some examples of previous years works where attention has been given to 'binding':
