Andre Kertesz
“Seeing is not enough; you have to feel what you photograph.”
— Andre Kertesz
Eric Setiawan Journal
Archive for August, 2009
Josef Koudelka
“I have to shoot three cassettes of film a day, even when not ‘photographing’, in order to keep the eye in practice.”
— Josef Koudelka
Man Ray
“Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask ‘how’, while others of a more curious nature will ask ‘why’. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.”
— Man Ray
Quote: Elliott Erwitt
“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”
— Elliott Erwitt
Kurniadi Widodo
TOP TO BOTTOM
© Kurniadi Widodo
My friend, Kurniadi Widodo, is a talented young photographer based in Yogyakarta, a home for many talented artists. He shoots almost (as far as I know) exclusively in black & white and has a knack for finding and aligning the geometrical pattern into his composition. The latter is, perhaps, due to his architectural study background. He’s currently a member of Unposed, a group of street photographers in Indonesia.
Stella Kalaw: Wandering
TOP TO BOTTOM, from (“Pause and Review: Wandering“)
© Stella Kalaw
One of the things I love about following Stella Kalaw’s blog is the ongoing “Wandering” series where she wander around the city and taking pictures. Once again, she shows us her keen and intimate observation of the world around her. How she captures the simple daily life, mix & matching the patterns and colours and put them all into a wonderful composition. This is surely different than the “Family Spaces” project but, still, I love it.
“Wandering is a collection of photographs from my occasional observations of everyday life. It is a means for me to reconnect to what drew me to the medium in the first place. And that’s really all it is: my repeated attempts at recapturing that feeling which energizes me to continue taking pictures.”
You can read my interview with Stella Kalaw or go to her website to see her works.
Write when inspired, rest when tired
Jeffrey Zeldman: “Write when inspired; rest when tired”
“Work is work, and we must do what we must do. But when quality matters most, the old saw about “good or fast—choose one,” holds true. Pushing through to the finish line when you have nothing left inside you is great for marathon runners, but not so hot for creative professionals.”
“…but the public has such a low expectation of aesthetics in web design that you might get away with it. Only you and a few of your designer friends will recognize the sloppy, ill-considered bits that make your work good when it could have been great. Of course, your designer friends will think less of you, and you’ll cringe every time you see the site, but if you don’t have a taste for masochism, you shouldn’t be in design, because the hurt will kill you.”
Muge Tang: Go Home
TOP TO BOTTOM, from (“Go Home“)
© Muge Tang, 2006-2009
“These photographs were taken in Chongqing, the biggest city along the Yantzi river in the Three Gorges area in China, where my home town is.
I started this project from 2005 without any ambitious plan to document the great transition of the Three Gorges area and the inevitable disappearance of the historical sites along the Yantzi river. Instead of making visual comments of the larger social issues through camera, I think what I did is nothing more than merely taking photographs of the local people’s daily routines and their ordinary life scenes. I respect and express my esteem of the life, the life full of interesting things and boring things, the life of individuals and the public, who were standing, sitting, hugging or isolating from each other in these photographs.
What part of the Three Gorges area has been actually changed is difficult to describe explicitly, so does the parrellel ambiguity in my photographs. I only wish that my memory of this special area in China could last longer, even forever. In my negative slides, there exists the warmth of the life, which belongs to the people who were born and raised in this piece of land.”
See also Muge Tang’s other project Silence.
Talking about photoblogging
Budi and I were invited to speak about photoblog. I didn’t count but I believe that more than 10 people attended this small but lively discussion. Everyone is curious and seems eager to try it out themselves. Oh, how I wish that the scene could happen sometime in 2005, when I first started my photoblog. Alas, the scene is from Comic Bandung August 5th 2009.
Back in 2005, we needed at least 5 active local photobloggers to form Bandung Photobloggers and we couldn’t find more than three. A very frustrating time but I don’t think it will be a problem now.
Nevertheless, I got really exciting and believe that it’s not late to start a photoblogger community. We will just have to wait for each Bandung photoblogger to arise. Just start from home, everyone. Start with whatever tools you have right now. Go out more if possible. Try to bring your camera everytime everywhere, you’ll notice the difference.
As for myself, I think this is a very good time to, once again, fire up my photoblog which was started in 2008. Do you have a photoblog? Perhaps you just started a new one. Let me know the url so I can visit your photoblog and, if you’re in Bandung, perhaps we can meet up someday.
Here are some quotes from the blog of the people attending the Comic August 2009. It’s nice to finally be able to meet some famous local bloggers in person. This event was also the unofficial first meet up of Bandung photobloggers (or should I say Bandung photographers?)
“Pertanyaan yang menggelitik dan mengasyikkan. Sama seperti memilih objek yang dipotret: melewati beberapa fase yang menurut saya tetap menyenangkan. Pada proses itu juga akhirnya faktor “bersenang-senang” (having fun) lebih dominan: mengatasi kendala peralatan — jenis kamera sangat tidak penting, memotret dapat dilakukan di nyaris semua tempat, dan unsur kedekatan yang terbawa oleh perasaan pemotret dapat mengatasi teori fotografi yang cukup kompleks. Sebagai klimaks: blur adalah fitur.”
— Ikhlasul Amal: Blog Foto yang Menawan Hati
“because I love writing but not a writer, I go blogging; because I love making photos but not a photographer, I did photoblogging. Simple.”
— @ikhlasulamal
“What I could conclude is that photoblogging is not about taking perfect photos, with perfect composition, and perfect lighting. It’s about how you blog with photos. How you story-tell with photos. Even if the picture was blur, maybe it could tell that you had been in such unstable situation, or maybe, you had been laughing a bit too happily at that time. In this case he is my current favorite. WOW! The meeting brought sooooo much inspiration for me, and maybe for all who attended. I already have some ideas on my mind. Fab!”
— Puti Karina Puar: Photoblog
“Seperti yang tadi saya sebutkan, presentasinya sangat inspiring. Terutama di bagian dimana mas Budi Sukmana menekankan bahwa photoblog ini tolong dilihat lebih ke spiritnya, passion untuk berbagi dan capturing moment (kalau kata salah seorang hadirin sih: arsip visual yang humanis), tidak peduli walaupun hanya bermodal kamera hape VGA.”
— Diki Andeas (Chicken Strip): Photoblogger
“kalau tiba2 berenti ngomik & malah mainan photoblog, yg ngeracunin & punya dosa pastilah @ericsetiawan & @budisukmana #comicbandung #korban ”
— @niwat0ri
“Ada satu hal yang buat saya merasa teracuni tuk segera memulai aktifitas photoblogging ini, yaitu tuk aktifitas photoblogging kamu ga harus punya alat yang high end, dengan kamera hp pun jadi . lalu teknik, kamu ga perlu punya skill photographer mumpuni tuk jadi seorang photoblogger, bahkan sebuah foto blur/buram dapat tetap bercerita. Yang penting kamu semua punya spirit tuk berbagi foto yang kamu ambil.”
— Kumaha Aing: Photoblogging
“Yang menarik bagi saya adalah adanya konfirmasi bahwa apa yang saya lakukan (memotret, mengolah imagenya, menyimpan di web, dan seterusnya) sudah benar dan memang lazim dilakukan. Bahkan kesulitan yang saya alami pun (misalnya menyimpan berkas foto) sama dengan kesulitan mereka. Bahkan mereka ada yang masih menggunakan foto analog, yang mana mereka harus mencetak fotonya dahulu baru kemudian discan untuk dijadikan bentuk digital.
Kemudian yang sering saya lakukan dengan selamat pagi, ternyata tidak aneh juga. Tadinya saya sudah khawatir banyak yang bosan dengan kelakukan saya yang aneh (memotret foto di tempat yang sama, kemudian menampilkannya dengan judul selamat pagi). Jika ini proyek pribadi, mengapa tidak boleh?”
— Budi Rahardjo: Pertemuan BHTV-Comic: Photoblogging