Winter Colors

Inspired by Saul Leiter…

The World Stars of Photography

This week I was in Mannheim again, so I took the time and visited Hasselblad Foundation’s World Stars of Photography.  On display are 6-10 original prints by each of all the 28 winners of The Hasselblad Award.  Nicely framed and accompanied by two large information panels for each artist, the images fill up quite a large and long hall, so if you do visit, plan an hour at the very least (I spent two hours).

Like I wrote in my previous post, I did not know many of the photographers or their work, but the significance of winning the Hasselblad award soared my expectations.  For example, all of you have seen Ansel Adams reproductions probably think that they look great.  But people who’ve seen original prints speak of them as if they are from a different world.  Well, there are seven original prints on display in Mannheim…  But let me leave those for a separate post.

The exhibit starts with Lennart Nillson and several images from his “A Child is Born” series.  While fascinating, I found the images too literal and emotionless, too technical and lacking any artistic stand or position.

Next up was Ansel Adams, and then came Cartier-Bresson.  Bresson’s images were framed in such a way that you just begin to see the film sprockets.  In other words, every print shows the entire negative.  Technically Bresson’s images are very competent, yet not perfect.  But what really sets them apart is their vitality, geometry, balance, and energy.

Next up was Irving Penn, who I found very interesting and definitely worth investigating further.

Then came several images with very different themes, but from the same artist — Ernst Haas.  There were a couple of black-and-white documentaries, a few prints with unnatural colors, then a couple of wonderfully colorful images dominated by motion blur.  I found La Suerte De Capa breathtaking (the original print, not the poor reproduction below) and Free Spirits was also very good.  Apparently Haas went through several different styles, and he was a master in many of them.

La Suerte De Capa, © Ernst Haas

Edouart Boubat’s images were also very good — concentrating on showing us a peaceful and beautiful world.  I particularly liked Cherry Tree in Blossom and Mother and Child on the Beach- In general, I’d like to see more images by Boubat.

Sebastiao Salgado’s was also represented — with several socially documentary images.  His images from Sierra Pelada make you think you are steping centuries back in time and some of those from the Sahel look like being taken on a different planet.

What followed was William Klein’s street photography. Richard Avedon’s Dovima with Elephants is great (120×160 cm!), but his other images I find merely OK.  Joseph Koudelka’s gypsy images are very interesting.  Sune Jansson’s are good, and Susan Meiselas’ documentaires are great.  I’m afraid, I don’t understand Robert Häusser’s images, and Robert Frank’s and Christer Strömholm’s not my cup of tea.  Eggleston’s, I’m sorry to say, I find pointless, Boris Mikhailov’s also (but in a very different ways).

Then we get to Jeff Wall, and… hm, well, WTF ?!?

The value of the work of Malick Sadibé for me is more in the image selection as in any single image.  Lee Friedlander’s images do nothing for me and Bernd and Hilla Becker’s are simply boring.

Nan Goldin portrays in a very direct and effective way a world that I know nothing about.  Or care to know about…

The work of a few artists was so uninteresting to me that I simply cannot formulate a sentence about.

Now, where does that leave me?  I seem to like the work of the earlier photographers a lot, and that of the more modern ones I either don’t get or don’t like.  I know that I am not alone in this judgement, but that does not make me feel any better.  I still wish I could enjoy a wider selection of art…

But go and look for yourself — what do you think?

Back to Photography

Some of my friends think that I spend too much time with photography, in all its forms.  But there is another hobby, better called passion, that affects me even deeper — listening to music.

About three months ago I decided that my (very average) home-theater system is not good enough for stereo listening.  And so I got bit by the Hi-Fi Bug.  First thing I realized is that I don’t know a thing about hi-fi.  So I read about it on the Internet, got a thick book, read the book, read lots of magazine articles, visited a few stores, went to a hi-fi trade fair.

But all that just made me even more confused.  At one point I decided that I should just keep my old system.  Then I decided that since I spend most of my hobby-time in front of the computer, I should probably upgrade the sound of my computer.  I learned about DACs and sound cards and I tried some equipment at home.  But I discovered that I cannot listen to music in an involved way and sort or edit photos at the same time.

So the hi-fi had to go in the living room after all.  Good, but at what price level?  Hi-fi starts at the level of a Canon 5D mark II + 24-105/4 IS and can go above Canon 1Ds mark III + 600/4 IS + a two-week trip to Antarctica.  But the good news is that hi-fi easily lasts 15 years, does not easily go obsolete and gives you great pleasure every day.  After much soul-searching I chose a Naim system consisting of a second-hand CD5x, new Nait 5i and second-hand Allae.  In photographic terms that’s like a Canon 50D, one step above entry-level and 3 steps down from top-of-the-line.

The system is finally up and running, and I notice how my whole being is looking forward to getting back to photography!  I have several ideas and I’ll probably turn the first one into reality next week.

But maybe the very first step — sort of easing myself back into photography again — should be to photograph all those things in the two large piles in my living room that I intend to put up for auction on eBay soon.  It’s mostly audio equipment, CDs, some photography books and a Canon EF 400/5.6 L.

Hasselblad Foundation’s World Stars of Photography

How many of the following photographers have you heard of?

Graciela Iturbide, Nan Goldin, David Goldblatt, Lee Friedlander, Bernd & Hilla Becher, Malick Sidibé, Jeff Wall, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Boris Mikhailov, Cindy Sherman, William Eggleston, Christer Strömholm, Robert Frank, Robert Häusser, Susan Meiselas, Sune Jonsson, Josef Koudelka, Richard Avedon, William Klein, Sebastião Salgado, Edouard Boubat, Hiroshi Hamaya, Ernst Haas, Irving Penn, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Ansel Adams, Lennart Nilsson

I have heard of only nine and can recall in my mind images by merely six of them — what a shame!  But anyhow, what do these artists have in common?  Well, they are all winners of the Hasselblad International Award in Photography — in the Foundation’s own words, “the most important prize in photography in the world today.”

So, how much would it be worth to you to see original prints by all these artists?  Please think about it before reading any further!

And now — drum roll please! — how about a trip to Mannheim, Germany?  Because until Jan 11, 2009 the Hasselblad Foundation together with the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen are showing, for the first time ever apparently, a collective exhibit of all winners of the Award!  You can find more details here, and the entrance price is just 10 EUR.

I will try to see the exhibit and post my impressions on this blog soon.

Copyright Richard Avedon

Photographer’s Block

… as in “writer’s block”…  Have you experienced it?  How do I get out of mine?