Angels and Demons

I can not believe it has been almost three months since I last made a post. So Happy Belated New Year, to you my 12 followers. I hope the new year has been good to you thus far. Spring is just around the corner, and it is only a week until we spring ahead our clocks.

I have to admit the year has been off to a rough start for me in some aspects. I have enjoyed the mild winter we experienced, but the lack of sun has certainly created a bit of a funk for me. I did head out with camera in hand a few times, but found I was coming home without taking a single shot. I guess the walk and fresh air was a benefit, but I seemed to lack inspiration.

Not to say I haven't used my camera at all. I have used it quite a bit for work reasons. I work for a designer who owns a shop in the Summerhill district of Toronto and I have been busy taking all the photos for the business postcards, facebook pages, and some for the website. Mostly commercial images of products. I don't mind doing it, and I hope to develop some skills with interior lighting, and I still have a wide angle lens on my wish list for interior shots.

I recently watched the movie Angels and Demons with Tom Hanks for the second time. I also have the movie soundtrack on my i Pod. The movie inspired me to head out and take more photos with the intent of turning them into black and whites that I could then print and frame and feature in the store I work in. Did I mention that I have been selling my photos in the store? Well, now you know. Mostly black and whites framed in a simple black wooden frame. Anyways, I decided to play the soundtrack to the movie, and it seemed to naturally lead me to the many churches downtown. It wasn't long before I was feeling good about the shoot, and felt back in my game. Once again, history, architecture, and in this case music helped bring me out of my rut, and feel good about my hobby. I have asked Hugh to include a selected piece from the soundtrack to get you in the same state of mind I was in while you look at these photos....

Notes: The sound clip starts off softly and then builds in volume. You can see the entire set of photos on my facebook page. And the shop I work in is called "Jamie Alexander". There is also a page on facebook for that.

Enjoy!!

"The Drama of Objects"

 (I confess I am playing catch up with some of my posts!)

 

 

In August of 2011, I attended the Art Gallery of Ontario's exhibition "Abstract Expressionism" and while I knew there would be painting and sculpture to view, I was not prepared to see photography. I don't think one thinks of photography when they think of the Abstract Expressionism period.

Needless to say, I was stopped in my tracks when I came across the works of Aaron Siskind. (1903-1991) Siskind, like myself began his foray into photography at a later age. He was given a camera in 1930 as a wedding gift, and began taking photos on his honeymoon.

In the early 1940's he increasingly started creating abstract photos of forgotten and discarded items, facades, graffiti,and isolated figures. Like myself, he was drawn to the things that are abstract in our environment, lines, shapes and texture.

 

A major difference of course is that he was using black and white film, where as today I am using a digital camera. In his 1945 essay "The Drama of Objects" he asked the viewer when looking at his work to "Move on objects with your eye straight on, to the left, around to the right. Watch them grow large as you approach, group and regroup themselves as you shift your position. Relationships gradually emerge and sometimes assume themselves with finality. And that's your picture."

I was inspired to once again go back to my earliest group of photographs that were taken at a time when I had done little research or exposure to any of the 'greats' and was just learning the ins and outs of my camera. I then took it one step further, and keeping in mind his quote from the essay, removed all the colour from my images so that it is only the texture, lines, and patterns that you now see.

I was immediately taken back by how much the colour had played into my original emotional reading of the photograph, and now I have to re look, re think about these images taken from the streets of Toronto. At first glance, one might overlook them and write them off as boring. But if you do as Siskind asks and approach the images from different viewing points, you may find that the image becomes more layered in emotions.

Finally, I want to end these notes with another quote from the Abstract Expressionist painter Adolph Gottlier:

" I frequently hear the question "What do these pictures mean?" That is simply the wrong question. Visual images do not have to conform to either verbal thinking, or optical facts. A better question would be "Do these images convey any emotional truth?"

 

***The last three abstract photos are Siskands.***

Architecture as Art..

I was recently asked if I would be interested in doing a photo shoot based on Art Deco architecture in Toronto for a friend who is in the final stages of completing a book on the subject. For those of you who know me well, you can well assume I signed on to the project with open lenses! Architecture is and will be one of my favorite subjects to photograph.

So armed with a list of buildings I needed to photograph, I hit the streets and once again fell in love with many of our forgotten, and not so forgotten gems. I also discovered a little program that allows me to make collages of my photos so that I can show off many images in a much smaller space.

Here are some samplings from the project..

The Curtain Rises..

For the last few months I have been working on a very exciting project that allowed me to marry my love of photography, with a relatively unchartered area for me, theatre. I was asked by a friend who owns a theatre company (www.theatresymbiosis.com) to join them and help collaborate on a play they wanted to present for the Toronto Fringe Festival. It was going to be on photography, and that's all they had established. I was excited about this opportunity, and thought "why not?"

So over the next few months, we auditioned actors, brainstormed, looked at photos, made storyboards, wrote and then re-wrote scripts, figured out props, learned basic photography skills and terminology, chose our promotional material, posted on facebook, tweeted, blogged, and of course rehearsed, and rehearsed.

Last night the curtain rose on the first of seven performances. Our play is called "Exposure". In the 45 minute performance we explore how photography can impact the relationships of four characters, and how those same relationships can affect the art itself. The play takes place in two different periods of time, the 1940's-50's and present day. It moves forwards and backwards and offers thoughts, perspectives, and even a little bit of history all pertaining to photographs, the camera used to capture them, and the person behind and in front of the lens.

It has been an exciting, and rewarding journey and one I am glad I embarked on. Thanks Daniella for asking me to come aboard!!

Here are some photographs that were used or taken during the months leading up to the performance. Enjoy!