Mastering Light

January 10, 2016

I am a documentary photographer, and so a large part of my work is shooting environmental portraits, and photographing people on location. I’ve constantly run into the argument, or I should say it often plagues me, whether artificial or natural light is better for location portraiture. As with anything photographic, the answer is it depends, but I also love to travel light. Shooting in foreign environments tends to work better, at least for me, when I’m not lugging 50 pounds of lighting gear along. I’ve largely solved my location lighting dilemma by using the amazing Westcott Ice Light, but the artificial verse natural light debate is still a fascinating topic. I’m largely interested in both styles. Each has its own unique look and the key for me is to work at mastering both. So I want to take a look at a guy that is a master of both (he has one Oscar under his belt and likely another on the way).

Emmanuel Lubezki, Chivo to his friends, is a Mexican born Director of Photography. He has lensed some of the most beautiful films shot (see Terrence Malick’s ‘Tree of Life’). His most recent work, ‘The Revenant,’ I saw this weekend and it’s as gorgeous as it's been rumored to be. ‘The Revenant’ was shot using only natural light. Not one artificial light was used on the production, except in some fire lit scenes. Using natural light to film a movie is not new, but it is very rare and even rarer that it is done so expertly. Chivo was able to do this, thanks in large part, to the Arriflex Alexa and its remarkable digital sensor, but probably more than that, it was because the man has an eye for light.

‘The Revenant’ locations are becoming infamous because of their remoteness and difficult conditions (the middle of nowhere Alberta, Canada), but they were chosen for specific qualities. The landscape to be sure, but also because the light was amazing. That far north, and at that altitude, sunlight has a different quality than it does in Africa, or Europe, or the US. Chivo visited the locations various times of day, for months, to isolate when the best light was available to film. He also plays with the light, through trees, sun flares, backlighting, dawn and dusk shots. The work is truly remarkable.

Lucky for us mere mortals, Chivo has an Instagram account where he posts photos from behind the scenes. Several other films he’s worked on are also throughout his account, but for me, ‘The Revenant’ portraits are the most spectacular.

On a side note, Chivo’s Instagram account was something of a mystery for a long time. He flew under the radar until not long ago, when Slate stated: “As his viewership grew -- he currently has a relatively modest 4,900 followers—and hundreds more images were loaded, a few of which offered keyholes into his high-profile work for Hollywood, there became a sense that a case was being solved, crystalized by a user comment that accompanies an image of a stand-in wearing a spacesuit on the set of Gravity: ‘bro I dunno but I think this might be Lubezki’s ig.’”

For those who are interested, I’ve heard he uses a Ricoh GR and a Nikon D800 for his Instagram account, but really who gives a sh*@? The photos are amazing. So take a look at them and let me know what you think. Do they provide some inspiration? At the very least you must agree, Emmanuel Lubezki is a master of light!

Humanity's Scribe: Art Review of the Installation 'Murmurs'

January 10, 2016

Science and art has always been a point of contention. They are different worlds, that seem to travel a similar path, but with different considerations and end goals. Artists have tried to penetrate the world of science for eons, some very successfully. Christopher Nolan, for example, is a filmmaker that brings huge scientific and philosophical ideas to his projects. Nolan merges the concepts seamlessly and creates a narrative that challenges the viewer, yet isn’t so dense as to be inaccessible.

With Murmurs, his installation and performance work, Travis Dodd becomes a mythic and self selected scribe for humanity. Through a ritualistic process, Dodd receives coded information that he scribes onto paper, archives and then buries in his basement for future generations. He works in a dark cold room with a dirt floor, his hands wrapped in plastic, using found materials: paper, wood, tape, plastic and copper wire. He listens meditatively as he scribes symbolic text onto sheet metal, then makes an etching of the metal. The process continues until Dodd is exhausted.

Why is he doing this? It has to do with a theory developed in quantum mechanics known as ‘The Information Paradox.’

‘The Information Paradox’ is a complex theory in physics, but generally it states that over time the universe will reach singularity, and everything as we know it, will cease to exist. This takes place over the course of years with numbers so big they are unpronounceable, but if the theory holds true, it will happen eventually. All will be lost with no way to recover it. However, the coded information that Dodd has archived and stored will give humanity a starting point for rebuilding civilization.

All of this may sound metaphysical, and it is, yet there is a basis in scientific foundation that drives the work. It is safe to say that the work wouldn’t exist if not for science and quantum mechanics. As a gallery exhibition, Dodd live streams his process of scribing onto a monitor inside the gallery. He isn’t present at the exhibition, adding to his mythic status. Artifacts are present, for the viewers to ponder, although to purchase the work is an interesting exercise.

What is one purchasing? It isn’t a piece of art, or at least not in the traditional sense. It is actually, I think the elusive Dodd would claim, a piece of humanity’s future. The Egyptian God Thoth, whom Dodd cites as an inspiration, used ritual to bring bodies back from the dead. A scribe himself, Thoth was able to overcome the ‘Curse of Ra’ and perform miracles using his skillset and knowledge. Dodd is, he claims, using his skillset to document the information the universe will lose as it approaches singularity. Like Thoth, Dodd views his work as performing a duty. It is a mythic calling.

Whether Dodd has successfully merged conceptual artistic practice with scientific truth is just one question viewers are left with. Like any successful art work, Dodd presents more questions than he answers. Murmurs is metaphysical, psychological and, dare I say, avant garde. There has always existed a fine line between ground breaking work and art that fails to deliver its intended message, particularly when the message is vastly complex. However, Murmurs gives us not only messages to ponder, but reasons to be hopeful. Dodd sits in his cold basement working for all of us, and whether that is mythical, avant garde, or even a little bit crazy, it makes me smile with approval that he does it.

The Personal Quest of a Documentary Photographer

October 19, 2015

Every photographer brings their preconceived ideas to a project. If one is photographing poverty, for example, there already exists a societal concept for what poverty looks like. That concept is translated to the imagery and, in turn, the viewer is presented with a confirmation that, indeed, poverty looks like a broken man waiting in a breadline or a begging woman with disheveled children behind her. Sebastiao Salgado effectively breaks away from those prejudices. He shows the viewer what it feels like to be impoverished, from within the circle of a community. He doesn’t simply illustrate the obvious and confront the viewer with graphic photographs. Salgado’s images relate to the viewer and the imagery asks the question: What if that was me?

Documentary work is, all too often, an exercise in critical observation from an outsider’s perspective. The viewer observes the ‘other.’ Salgado’s photographs, on the other hand, have an intimacy to them. It isn’t just the closeness, such as his pictures of Brazilian gold miners (see fig. 1), that draw the viewer into the frame. There exists an apparent, and mutual, relationship between artist and muse. The work is from within the social circle or society Salgado is photographing. His pictures exist in contrast to the work of someone like Cartier-Bresson, who captured the ‘decisive moment’ of a community or group. Cartier-Bresson was witnessing history, whereas Salgado is living it. He is inside the group, “photographing from within, not without.” [1]

Salgado isn’t as much an activist as he is a messenger. The work is his life, not just a part of it. He lives with those he photographs and shares their experiences, while simultaneously documenting them. Indeed, Workers took him just shy of a decade to complete and he travelled across 23 countries and every continent but one. [2] The subtitle of the book, An Archeology of the Industrial Age, has its own implications of time and study. The magnitude of his work in Brazil, photographing gold mining operations, is on the scale of an epic drama. Salgado has said about the experience, [I’m photographing] “the history of mankind unfolding before me.” [3]

No academic or personal background is better suited than Salgado’s to explore the plight of the world’s working class. Salgado began his adult life as an economist for the World Bank, before making a life decision to pursue art. His academic background made him aware of global economies. His frequent trips to Africa, for the World Bank, exposed him to what he viewed as the driving force of the human condition…the worker. The emotion on the face of the sulfur miner in Indonesia, for example, where simple hand tools are used to mine sulfur deposits, helps keep the global economy moving. Every soul plays a part in this larger ecosphere of economics, and Salgado understands that environment better than anyone.

It is clear that Salgado feels the emotions of his subjects. There is sadness in these images of workers. The picture of firefighters covered in Arabian oil, standing in awe, though barely able to stand from exhaustion, is an image that functions as a mirror into the human soul. The viewer recognizes the dignity in these men. Salgado’s photographs have a certainty to them. There exists no hesitation, and the viewer can’t help but realize that these photographs were taken at the exact second that they were supposed to be. Each photographer has a different way of seeing the world, and that vision is shaped by one’s history. [4] However, much of that tension that occurs, from the time light enters the lens and falls onto the film plane simply evaporates in Salgado’s images. The symbiotic relationship he has, with those he photographs, is what elevates his pictures above the preconceived photojournalistic style that the public has become so accustomed to.

The challenge for a social documentary photographer is to separate oneself from his own internal prejudices. Prejudices often become exposed even when the best intentions are intended. Photography becomes a process of automation, yielding to one’s preconceived ideologies. By trying so hard to maintain objectivity the artist has forgotten his own philosophical ideals. While that automated work may fall in line with what the public is accustomed to, it is hardly engaging, challenging or avant-garde imagery. My personal challenges aren’t much different than that of any other artist: maintain an objective viewpoint while introducing subjective philosophical principles that create avant-garde work. This remains the challenge for every prudent documentarian. Sebastiao Salgado has often made this approach look easy, but that is his gift, which he shares with the world.

[1] Salgado, Sebastiao. Interview by Fred Ritchin. The Photographer as Activist. UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism 6 Nov. 2008.

[2] Salgado, Sebastiao. Workers. Aperture Press: New York City, 1993.

[3] The Salt of the Earth. Directed by Wim Wenders & Juliano Salgado. Sony Classic Pictures, 2014. Film.

[4] See The Salt of the Earth.