The Art and Business of Photography

Worth Watching

There are a number of very good DVD’s on the work of photographer’s and other artists. In my teaching I show them specifically when related to a special topic, or to introduce students to the work processes of photographers. One of the best that I use often is Shadow of A House: Photographer Abelardo Morell, by Allie Humenuk.  If you’re not aware of Morell’s work his website www.abelardomorell.net is a good starting place, but to fully appreciate this artist Humenuk’s film is a must see. Humenuk is a cinematographer with an impressive body of work and her documentary of Abelardo Morell is one I never tire of watching, each viewing revealing new insights into the creative process.

Morell is best known for his camera obscura photographs, although the range and beauty of his other subject matter is highlighted in the film. He first collaborated with Humenuk on the film In Camera: The Making of A Camera Obscura Photographs that shows the intricate process required to create these images.  Rebecca Richards, in an In Camera Magazine profile “Allie Humenuk: A Film Makers Journey” writes about this first collaboration and how it spawned the making of Shadow of A House. “After that first successful filmmaking collaboration, Humenuk knew she wanted to continue. ‘I knew there was something else there,’ she says. ‘Abe was finding magic in places that most people overlooked. He was making us see the ordinary as something extraordinary.’ “ (1) The result of this second collaboration is an engrossing documentary on the work and life of this Cuban born photographer. The film opens with Morell setting up a camera obscura photograph, and from here Humenuk takes us into Morell’s world, poetically revealing his relationship to his subject matter and the family that is so much a part of his creative endeavors.

(1.) Richards, Rebecca “Allie Humenuk: A Film Makers Journey”, In Camera, Number Sixty-Seven/ Volume Six October 2003

Posted by Gary Cialdella | November 12, 2011 | No Comments

The Descriptive Photograph: Illusion and Fact

I wrote my MFA Thesis on descriptive photography, or as Walker Evans aptly put it the “documentary style”. That was 1989, and although photography has since gone through an evolution I still hold to those arguments. The thesis began with a quote by Garry Winogrand that is as useful today for documentary based photographers as it was in 1974 when he said:
“A still photograph is the illusion of a literal description, of how a camera saw a piece of time and space… I like to think of photographing as a two-way act of respect. Respect for the medium by letting it do what it does best, describe. And respect for the subject by describing it as it is. A photograph must be responsible to both.” Aperture, 112 (Millerton, New York: 1988), p. 53.

One of Walker Evan’s photographs from Let Us Now Praise Famous Men punctuates the way of working Winogrand articulated. The Evans photograph I wrote about is, perhaps a lesser known example, Kitchen Wall, Alabama Farmstead, Hale County Alabama 1936, but it is one that I believe is an elegant expression of Evans’ vision.

“Evans’ use of form flowed from his subject matter. His photographs (Kitchen Wall) is another example of his descriptive style… The wall and the implements, carefully placed there by their owners, speak of balance and delicacy that reflects their sense of beauty. It is Evans’ attention to the significance of those objects and his visual response that reveals essential form.” Cialdella 1989.

…The importance of Evans’ work is that it demonstrates that photography flourishes as art when the artist explores deeply the real world while controlling the medium to communicate a personal vision.

I never tire of looking at the photographs of Walker Evans, his skill in making the ordinary extraordinary.

Posted by Gary Cialdella | October 21, 2011 | No Comments