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Archive 2014 · Vicente

  
 
cmcleod
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Vicente


I met Vicente while walking through the narrow, white walled streets of Granada, Spain. He was on his way to play Flamenco and agreed to stop and pose for me. A brief description of the project can be found here. C&C welcome of course.







Jan 07, 2014 at 09:32 AM
Danpbphoto
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Vicente


Cam,
The background provides a wonderful accent to this colorful portrait.
Nice work!
Dan



Jan 07, 2014 at 10:18 AM
Evan Baines
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Vicente


Cam,

As per our PM, I think that its tough to offer much critique so early in the project. Technically, I see fairly simple (but "correct") short-lit patterns in both portraits with a fairly high ratio on a mid-light studio backdrop. This, overall, gives a fairly stark feel to the shots: not quite clinical, but stark. As the project evolves, we'll see if your approach stays consistent and how it (hopefully) interacts with your subject selections.

Some questions:
-My biggest question about any project like this (which is ambitious in scope) is how long will you spend getting to know any given city? Avedon spent years studying the American West. W.E. Smith spent years on Pittsburgh before throwing up his hands in despair. Your portrait selections will reflect your view of the city: how will you be sure that your perspective on the city is well developed enough to make meaningful selections, especially if you plan on doing many cities?

-This sort of photo survey is both a time-honored and popular approach, most recently brought back to popular attention with "Humans of New York" (regarding which I am not offering judgment good or bad). Are you familiar with HONY, and what other projects or artists have you studied that might provide inspiration? Penn's "Small Trades?" August Sander? What do you think makes these projects succeed or fail?

I'll stop there for now, and I know some of these questions may not have easy or immediate answers. I'm just putting "a bug in your ear" on some things that have occurred to me viewing these two posts. I respect that you're embarking on an ambitious project and look forward to following your project!



Jan 07, 2014 at 12:41 PM
cmcleod
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Vicente


Evan,

I appreciate your interest and look forward to more thoughts like this.

First off, there is no studio backdrop. Granada, with its bleached white walls, offered a unique opportunity to photography these subjects as if there was a studio backdrop. The basic ingredients for these portraits are one light, hand held, and a camera also hand held. And I hope to keep this consistent. As you will see from the Granada series, different backgrounds were used depending on where I met the individuals and in one case Ive chosen to include more of the environment. Just a clarification.

To shed some light on the bigger questions at hand. I have no idea how long this project will continue. How long will I continue to make pictures? The point is, there is no end point. Its designed to be ongoing and Im excited to see what it will look like in 5 years.

For me, it is a project that travels with me. There are a few places that I see myself traveling to regularly for various reason. My plan is to always build at least one day into my travels to accommodate this project.

I am familiar with the works of Avedon and Penn and love them each for different reasons. Avedon's work seems to be confrontational. I feel as though I am challenged by the subject as if they are saying "I dare you to get to understand me". Penn's work, on the other hand, is successful in inviting the viewer to to learn more about the subject, which could be attributed to his use of props. I was not familiar with HONY or W.E. Smith but look forward to spending some time with each. As far as the road to success or failure with projects like this, I am not yet sure.



Jan 07, 2014 at 04:27 PM
Evan Baines
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Vicente


cmcleod wrote:
Evan,

I appreciate your interest and look forward to more thoughts like this.

First off, there is no studio backdrop. Granada, with its bleached white walls, offered a unique opportunity to photography these subjects as if there was a studio backdrop. The basic ingredients for these portraits are one light, hand held, and a camera also hand held. And I hope to keep this consistent. As you will see from the Granada series, different backgrounds were used depending on where I met the individuals and in one case Ive chosen to include more of the environment. Just a clarification.


Thanks for the clarification! It looked enough like a studio backdrop that I assumed it was, in conjunction with the light. This further illustrates the dangers of critique before the rest of the series takes shape

cmcleod wrote:
To shed some light on the bigger questions at hand. I have no idea how long this project will continue. How long will I continue to make pictures? The point is, there is no end point. Its designed to be ongoing and Im excited to see what it will look like in 5 years.

For me, it is a project that travels with me. There are a few places that I see myself traveling to regularly for various reason. My plan is to always build at least one day into my travels to accommodate this project.


I brought up the question of depth because without YOUR well-developed perspective, the series will essentially be an unusually well-executed set of tourist pictures. What will set this apart is going to be your voice: you are essentially using these people you choose as raw materials in your description of the place. This description only becomes interesting when you have a strong and unique vision of what you are describing. I've heard it said somewhere that Salgado often refuses to photograph people until he has lived with them for a time and comes to love them...

cmcleod wrote:
I am familiar with the works of Avedon and Penn and love them each for different reasons. Avedon's work seems to be confrontational. I feel as though I am challenged by the subject as if they are saying "I dare you to get to understand me". Penn's work, on the other hand, is successful in inviting the viewer to to learn more about the subject, which could be attributed to his use of props. I was not familiar with HONY or W.E. Smith but look forward to spending some time with each. As far as the road to success or
...Show more

Confrontational is one good way to describe Avedon's American West work. He himself described it as a struggle between the subject's desire to plead their case and his desire to express his vision, where ultimately Avedon was the one with control.

If you haven't seen the "Small Trades" project by Penn specifically, it has VERY direct comparisons with your current project. He attempted to catalog working people from 3 cities in their uniforms and with their tools/props, but in a studio setting.

W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh project is considered one of the most successful failures in the history of the medium.

HONY is a new thing, and online as well as in a new book that has gained some notoriety.

Again, I'm excited to see your continued progress with this, and hope it gave some food for thought!



Jan 07, 2014 at 06:18 PM
cmcleod
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Vicente


Certainly good food for thought. Something to chew before I head out again. There are still a few portraits that I will be rolling out from Granada so stay tuned.


Jan 07, 2014 at 10:23 PM





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