Elevate Your Selfies Into Self-Portraits

(Click on Photos for better viewing)

 

A phenomenon of the Social-Networking Age we live in, "Selfies" have become as common place as ID photos in the albums of our digital lives. Most people use it to show the places they have been to, the memorable events they have participated in or the times they spent with friends or loved ones, but a big number of people (particularly women) use it more as mirrors to take snaps shots of their faces or bodies (maybe to see how other people see them), to assess their physical appearance-- as personal data to be used either as negative evidence (to determine what can be improved upon) or positive feedback (to proudly display what they have and others do not). Psychologists have been alarmed by this growing "Selfie" trend, which they have diagnosed to be symptoms indicating Narcissistic Disorder.

 

The "Self-Portrait" is a time honored artistic endeavor practiced by most Western Painters and Photographers for centuries. Rembrant and Van Gogh, as well as Avedon and Cartier-Bresson often used themselves as subjects for their own work. Like them, I believe in using my image as an element in my photos, drawings, paintings and maybe even in my films (in the future). Like them, my Art flows from my sense of Self-- my history, my experiences, my perspective, my psyche, my thoughts, my spirituality-- in other words, my soul!

The Buddha says, "that the Self is an illusion... Life itself is an illusion!" Since wholly I agree with this premise and believe that our sense of "Self" is a reflection of our mind, "Self-Portraits" for me are visual reminders of my very existence, my physical presence. I think most artists, particularly the more sensitive and philosophical ones, are perpetually aware of the impermanence of all life. It is this sense of impending doom that propels Creatives to value beauty and the majesty of life, and drives them to express themselves through Art. What is Art anyway but an individual's recreation (or reconfiguration) of one's personal experiences, one's perspective of life/reality-- our ultimate validation of our own existence.

 

Painting or photographing ourselves keeps us in touch with our core... our Selves... the Being that consciously contemplates life and living. Sometimes we have to see ourselves from the outside to understand what is happening inside (our minds). "Self-Portraiture" for me, is a form of meditation or self-reflection/contemplation that can make us understand ourselves better, both in form and in substance. It is narcissistic in a way, but it can be profound if it ventures beyond the physical into the psychological.

"Selfies" are actually just a level away from becoming serious "Self-Portraits." The only difference I can see between the two is "artistic intent." "Selfies" are mostly snap-shots taken without much thought. "Center yourself (or at least see some part of yourself), then shoot" is the only instruction anyone has to follow. "Self-Portraits" are more deliberate. Framing, Focus and light (or the lack thereof) must be considered before the shot is taken, resulting in a more contemplated and conceptual photograph.

Merry Christmas

MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone!!!!

 

As you all know by now, Christmas came early to me in the form of my first Feature Film "Dagsin." Please forgive me if I have not been updating this blog as often as I should these past few months, but I have been really busy...

 

Me with my new toy.

 

It has been a wild roller-coaster ride so far, but Anne (Producer) and I have somehow managed to keep our ship afloat. "Dagsin" has been plagued with all kinds of problems from the onset of Preproduction and each shooting day has been challenging-- Two of our actors have been ill and hospitalized, another decided to drop out in the middle of filming, the local government threatened to shut our production down more than once, we had to iron out a land ownership dispute situation for another location, and on top of all that, we had to fire someone from our team for gross misconduct and anomalies regarding the budget-- these are just the major ones! Talk about Murphy's Law... We are taking this all in stride because it has always been our goal to deliver the best work we can, once we set out to execute a project!

 

I am very grateful that I have finally been given the opportunity to finally make my movie and I thank God everyday for this blessing. I love making movies and I plan to keep doing it for as long as I can! 

 

I have not forgotten that this is also a photography blog, despite my other interests. So I am posting some of my still-photo work in the movie. I just realized recently that it is hard to be a director, cinematographer and photographer all at the same time, so I have recruited a second DP as well as a BTS photographer in "Dagsin" to complement my work.

 

Here are two promotional photographs I shot for "Dagsin," which I am giving to the actors as Christmas gifts:

 

Tommy Abuel, Lotlot De Leon and Sue Prado for Dagsin

 

Alex Diaz, Janine Gutierrez and Benjamin Alves for Dagsin

Booklist for the Holidays

I love reading, and collecting books is a passion of mine. So this holiday season, I have selected 15 books on photography, cinema and the visual arts from my own library to share with you. Most of these books just came out this year (all are still in print) and should be available in your local bookstores.

Vacation time is a good opportunity to catch up on some reading-- in between family gatherings and binge feasting:)  I have read all these books from cover to cover, and have found them invaluable to my own work. I hope you find some of them helpful to you too...

Have a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a prosperous NEW YEAR!

Have you ever wondered how one work of art could be sold for millions, while another can be almost worthless? Michael Findlay examines this phenomenon in his book, "The Value of Art." He demystifies the process of how art is bought and sold, its commercial and social dimensions while constantly looking beyond the sales numbers to emphasize its essential cultural and spiritual dimensions. As a trained financial analyst, I have always been fascinated with "value" and how we give or assign "worth" to objects and experiences. This book is an enlightening guide to the perplexing and amusing business of Art, for the curious.

Although I also paint, I included this book on this list primarily because I believe that portrait photographers (and cinematographers) can learn a lot from studying formal Portraiture. I can trace a lot of my skills in capturing expression, gesture, personality, emotion and soul (to accurately capture character), through my personal experience of painting and sketching people. When you look very closely at each line and shade on a person's face, taking note of how each muscle contracts and relaxes, you become hyper aware of how our bodies openly express our inner state. "The Society Portrait - from David to Warhol" traces formal Portraiture's development from Napoleon's time to the present, highlighting its progress from one art period to the next-- delving into the changing outlook of society from generation to generation. The book is filled with examples from major of artists, we can all learn from.   

 

"The Passionate Photographer" by Steve Simon is a great book that fills the gap left-off by most "how to" photography books-- mastering the craft psychologically, translating ideas and thoughts to create great images,  dealing with your fears, gaining inspiration and passion for your art. It is filled with great insights, real world examples and practical tips on how to improve your photography and bring it to the next level. I am already passionate about my work, yet this book has helped me focus on the details of what can make my photography consistently exceptional, and at the same time help keep me inspired.  

 

Arnold Newman is one of my favorite master photographers. His photography has inspired me from the very beginning and has been one of the main influences for my own portrait work. The book, "Masterclass - Arnold Newman, contains more than 200 examples of his work including iconic portraits of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Brassai, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Marcel Duchamp, Mark Chagall, Max Ernst, Andrew Wyeth, Piet Mondrian, John F. Kennedy, David Ben-Gurion, Robert Oppenheimer, James Watson, I. M. Pei, Isaac Stern, Leonard Bernstein and Martha Graham among many other famous and notable sitters. It also contains a section on Newman's development as a photographer, from his apprenticeship in a portrait studio in the early 1940s to his gradual experimentation with the form, and finally to his own signature abstract, simplified, cropped style that I fell in love with. I highly recommend this book for all Arnold Newman devotees.

 

John Harrington is the president of the White House News Photographers Association and has worked for the Associated Press, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, the National Geographic Society, People and Life. His book "Photographs from the Edge of Reality" takes us inside his career as a photojournalist, from the spring of 1990 when he gained his press pass to shoot President George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, to his work with current President Barack Obama. I love looking into other people's experiences, and this book gives me a window into the life of a photographer working in the White House, a rare treat.

 

I highly recommend the "The Street Photographer's Manual" for anyone starting out in "Street Photography." It is the most comprehensive "how to" book I have encountered regarding the genre-- a real manual that covers everything you will need to know to start shooting. But "Street Photography" is so broad and highly individualistic that knowledge beyond this guide, can only and will only be acquired once you shoot... and shoot... and shoot for years to come. David Gibson covers as much of the basics you will need to know, with great examples from his own work and portfolios from other well-known practitioners. I disagree with some of the parameters he suggests in the book, but "Street Photography" is a subjective field and there is no way anyone can definitively tackle every detail.
 

"The New Street Photographer's Manifesto" is a more condensed version of the previous book. Like "The Street Photographer's Manual" it gives great tips and technical information on how to start shooting "Street," but in a more compact and economical package. Tanya Nagar provides good examples from practicing street photographers as a guide. To me, this book is a good enough backgrounder on the genre to start from. I recommend it highly as a great "stocking stuffer" for any would be street photographer on your list.

Celebrities And Their Cameras - 2

By popular demand, I am extending last year's photo collection: "Celebrities and their cameras" with a new set of celebrities shot with their cameras "on hand."  When I posted it last year, I did not realize that a lot of people would be interested in seeing their favorite celebrities being photographers themselves-- apparently we number in the thousands.

 

So here is an additional collection.  Consider it my way of thanking all of you, for your continued patronage :-)  Enjoy!

 

The Master (Picasso) captures light with a Leica

 

Frank Sinatra does it his way with a classic Nikon F 

 

Tony Stark (Robert Downey) always brings his Canon

 

Lady Gaga is a Nikon user

 

Eric Clapton trying to find his way around a Leica

 

An SLR on the yacht for Jackie (Kennedy) Onassis

 

A "fashionista" like Anne Hathaway always carries a compact

 

Jimi Hendrix prefers a Canon Super 8 to capture Purple Haze

 

Bon Jovi exudes style and quality by using a Canon with an L lens

 

Beyonce and her Canon EOS 50D 

Celebrities And Their Cameras

Celebrities are normally found in front of the camera.  But in this collection of celebrity photographs I collected from the internet, we see them behind the camera-- being photographers themselves.  I thought it would be interesting to put these pictures together in one exhibit.  There seems to be a personality fit in their choice of camera formats and brands.  What do you think?

 

Large Format for Angelina Jolie 

 

Canon DSLR for Madonna

 

Classic Nikon for Kristen Stewart 

 

Avril Lavigne likes Canon

 

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck horsing around with a Hasselblad

James Dean and his Rollei TLR 

Denzel Washington using a classic 8mm movie camera

 

Julia Roberts uses film in her Leica

 

Brad Pitt likes using a classic Leica

"Blow Job" by Tadao Cern

This is something I found in Facebook... A series of portraits by Lithuanian photographer Tadao Cern (Tadas Cerniauskas) using "air blasts," to create comical caricatures of everyday people.  The series was created during the Design Weekend in Vilnius. Visitors to the Tadao Cern studio were invited to participate in a live photo session.

It's graphically hilarious and visually novel.  It reminds me of the wonderful times I had as a child, when I would stick my head out of our speeding car to experience the blast of wind distort my face in weird contortions.

Here is a sampling of "Blow Job":

For more information on "Blow Job" or Tadao Cern, please go to www.tadaocern.com or Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.364606033586614.77800.151290258251527&type=3

--all photos property of Tadao Cern

Rock Photographer Jim Marshall

The master at work

Influences to our own photography comes from a wide variety of sources depending on our inclinations.  I count Jim Marshall as one of my main influences, not only because of my interest in 'Rock/Music Photography' as a specific specialization, but also because he was such a terrific master Portraitist.  Like the best portrait painters (and photographers), he captured the essence of his subjects superficially as well as subliminally.  His iconic portraits of 'Rock' legends graced album covers and the covers of music magazines, and are now highly prized as collectibles by music fans worldwide.

Inconspicuously present with his Leicas, shooting in 'available light,' he created a trademark look that are at once candid and vulnerable.  My favorite photos are the unguarded moments-- onstage, backstage and offstage, when Jim revealed the larger-than-life existence of these musical legends.  Intimacy was the key ingredient to his Art.

Jim with his Leicas

Jim Marshall was born in Chicago on February 3, 1936, but he grew up in San Francisco.  He had a Kodak Brownie camera when he was a kid, but only became serious with photography in Junior High.  He was working as an Insurance Claims Adjuster in 1960 when John Coltrane (Jazz icon) approached him in Berkeley by chance and asked him for some directions to a club.  Jim offered him a ride in exchange for a picture.

Chuck Berry rockin and rollin

Jim Marshall's photographs are some of the most wide known portraits of legendary Rock, Jazz and Blues superstars. Two of his most famous ones are the photos of Jimi Hendrix with his guitar aflame from the Monterey International Pop Festival in1967 and Janis Joplin lying on a couch backstage nursing a bottle of Southern Comfort Bourbon.

Jimi Hendrix burning his guitar on stage

More on Douglas Kirkland

Douglas Kirkland Shooting Marilyn Monroe

This entry is a follow up to my article last Feb.13 on Douglas Kirkland. Although I have written about Douglas even before then (Sept. 12, 2009), I find it hard to condense everything I would like to convey about this talented Artist in a few short commentaries.  So I am adding a short interview and a brief video that might give you a rounder portrait of Douglas as a photographer.

The American Society of Cinematographers interviewed Douglas Kirkland last October 25 after announcing their decision to award him the ASC Presidents Award this year.  In this interview he shares his earlier days -- his first picture, his first camera, his first photo job, appreticeship etc. A great read for any Kirkland fan.

ASC Interview: A Conversation With Douglas Kirkland

Here is a great clip on Douglas and his work. It was taken two years ago at the Calumet Photo (NY) Exhibit: Freeze Frame - 5 Decades of Photographs from the Entertainment Industry.

--Video from youtube.com courtesy of calumetphotonews.

Picasso And Matisse With Their Muse

The rivalry and friendship between Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse has facinated me for years.  These titans of 20th century art have influenced and inspired each other to push the bounderies of painting to its limits... and brought their art to its inevitable conclusion -- Abstraction.  "You've got to be able to picture side by side everything Matisse and I were doing at the time," Picasso said toward the end of his life. "No one has looked at Matisse's paintings more carefully than I; and no one has looked at mine more carefully than him."

Picasso's "Nude, Greenleaves and Bust"

These two artists have been in the headlines lately, side by side, as usual.

Picasso's painting, "Nude, Greenleaves and Bust," became the most expensive art work ever sold at auction last May, when it fetched $106.5 million at Christie's in New York.  It is currently on display at the new Pablo Picasso room on the third floor of the Tate Modern (gallery) in London.

It was announced about a month ago that Al Pacino has signed on to play the role of Henri Matisse, in the upcoming movie titled "Masterpiece" by Canadian director Deepa Mehta, who was nominated for an Oscar in 2006.  The bio-pic will be centered on Matisse's relationship with his nurse and muse, Monique Bourgeois.

In 1941, a 21 year-old nursing student named Monique Bourgeois responded to an ad placed by Henri Matisse for a “young and pretty night nurse.”  Matisse, then in his early 70's, was recovering from an intestinal cancer operation. He made a few drawing and paintings of her, and even taught her perspective after discovering that she was an amateur artist.  But war separated them for a few years.

They were reunited after the war.  But by that time, Monique already took her vows as a Dominican Nun.  Their friendship would culminate in what Matisse considers his greatest life achievement, the Chapel of the Rosary in Vense.

Matisse inside the Chapel of the Rosary