Tiffinbox

Political Pictures

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Via Donald Winslow

New York Times photojournalist Stephen Crowley's “Campaign Moments” debuts today on the NYT's web site. It's his first-ever Web show, and the photographs are compelling and the accompanying audio narration is great behind-the-scenes information from a veteran of covering national politics but with the intimacy of a grass-roots campaign. Crowley's photographs are known for their unique perspective and angles, his sometimes off-kilter view of things, and their “moments.”

The multimedia gallery “Campaign Moments” compiling twelve years of political coverage is online here. Click on “Photographer's Journal” towards the top of the page.

On The Vine, Win A T-shirt

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This is in response to Robb Hill's comments to a post I made about the death of photography.

Robb, I am with you on the quest to somehow hold sacrosanct the word “photography” for the actual process of trapping light in a box and exposing it onto silver-halide based film. I too agree with you that these montages, while gorgeous, (by Maggie Taylor, John Paul Caponigro, Jerry Uelsmann or, Pedro Meyer) are a far cry from being technically photographic. While they derive from photography, their use of digital “light,” in my mind, disqualifies them from being called photographs.

I disagree with you on one point, though – that the darkroom experience alone is solitary. In my opinion, so is the process of tweaking an image using Photoshop. In fact, I think it is more likely that you are going to be alone at your desktop working on your images than when you are printing (unless you are set up at home) in a darkroom.

The issue about capturing “reality” via photography is also nebulous one. By delving into the process of photography (with film, lenses and a camera) I don't think we are experiencing a “universal” reality, but a “personal” and highly subjective one. But going from there to what Pedro Meyer does is a huge leap (he injects backgrounds and other elements to an existing image).

I have never believed that photography was objective or neutral. Meyer and I appear to be on the same page on this issue. As a photographer, I know I have brought my perspective and biases to bear in the final print. In this regard, it's much like painting as the impressionists intended.

Meyer says:

“I think it's very important for people to realize that images are not a representation of reality. The sooner that myth is destroyed and buried, the better for society all around.”

Too bad there isn't a clear reason as to why it is beneficial to society.

In one of the articles, a mug shot of Meyer accompanied the text. I wondered if changing his hair color, or, digitally “shaving-off” his beard, or, placing him on top of the Eiffel Tower might give society a “true” image of the man. After all, it's my interpretation of Meyer, right? I don't think so. According to Meyer, however, these changes in the image shouldn't matter as they are a stream of sub-realities anyway. Debatable.

Back to the initial topic – Is our vocabulary so dirt poor that we struggle to come up with a name for this new genre of photography-based art? I am taking nominations. Send me your quirkiest suggestions. The best entry (yeah, I'll decide) wins a Tiffinbox T-shirt (include your shirt size when you email me at: tiffinbox AT pipalproductions DOT com). Subject line of your entry must read: DANCING WITH LIGHT. Contest ends on August 23, 2004. You have about a month. So, get cracking!

Ragha’s Music

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After the SAJA Photoforum slide show several people came up to me and asked me who composed and produced the enchanting music I used in the slide show. Thanks to my wife, Sangeetha, who suggested that I incorporate the mellifluous scales and rhythms by her father, Dr. Krishna Raghavendra, the show was a success.

“Dr. Krishna Raghavendra is an international performing artist, composer, and producer of both traditional and contemporary Indian music. He is a virtuoso on the Veena, a traditional plucked stringed instrument from South India. His Veena, made from red cedar wood, is unique and was customized to be detachable by the late Narasinga Rao of Bangalore, India. It was further modified by Mr. Steve Morrill of Boston, who developed the finger board, modified the bridge and worked on sound amplification. Raghavendra has developed novel playing techniques, which involve a combination of soft nuances, swift fingering and imaginative uses of melodic and drone strings to produce harmonizing and vamping sounds that mimic different instruments. He is the founder of the Ragha School of Music, an institution primarily devoted to promoting and integrating Indian music with western and other forms of music. He also offers workshops at educational institutions, releases original recordings and leads the “Raga and Rhythm Ensemble”(RARE).”

More information about Dr. Raghavendra's music can be gleaned from his web site.

Bombay Screams

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I have held off saying anything evil about the Broadway musical Bombay Dreams, but that self-inflicted gag order ends now.

I have been biting my tongue for a week and a half. That has to do with the small fact that my wife forked over $148 for two discounted tickets; a pretty penny in these lean economic times.

Having succumbed to part folly, part pride, and perhaps equal parts guilt and curiosity, how could I come out of the theatre bemoaning an insipid plot line, smarmy lyrics and trite comedy? No, I had to put on a brave front, nod courteously to my neighbors in the same row who readily guffawed about how “great” it was and quietly slip out onto the curb of reality.

Is this the best that Andrew Lloyd Webber, Shekar Kapoor and A.R. Rahman could cook up? The musical touts itself as the “Feel Good Fantasy.” Neither did it feel good, nor was it a fantasy. Perhaps I am from that generation that could never sit still through a three hour Bollywood flick. The musical was nothing but a sophomoric attempt to deliver unconvincing lines in a setting injected with limp humor about sexual identies, class, caste and other with social inequities.

My advice to those of you usurped by the hype about this musical – save your cash! Buy your mother something nice instead. This was a waste of my time (and did I mention again, money) and so shall it be yours as well should you be tempted to check it out. However, as my wife exclaimed, in the musical's favor and providing it's only saving grace, the constumes and set designs were good.

Some may counter that this musical has opened up Western audiences to Indian culture. Pshaw! That's straight up ‘buckwaaz yaar.' I do know that you don't introduce cultures by subjecting a captured audience to some schmaltzy song-and-dance routine.

Some may even go the distance and suggest that a successful run in the US and UK will mean more such extravaganzas. I shudder when I think of such possibilities. Bollywood cranks out enough of these melodramas. So, why suffer through three popcorn-less hours of so-called entertainment on stiff over-priced seats in NY city when one could get a great big dose of masala in the relative comforts of one's own home?

Sholay, anyone?

CopyRIGHT

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Via Anil Dash

For those pursuing photography, writing, design or art, coypyright issues are at the very crux of our sustenance. Feel someone has ripped your work off and is passing it off as their own? Or, are you tempted to “spread the wealth” by swiping content to repurpose it? Whatever you do, stop!

Click here to learn the basics of copyright. You may want to bookmark that page, too. It's a long page, but an important one.

Anyone have an opinion about the Creative Commons project (that flies in the face of laws protecting copyrights)?

Filed Under: Law

Out of Focus

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Another installment in New Internationalist via Shahidul Alam:

Iqbal Hossain had taken this picture in Dhaka Zoo in 2000. His statement related to the child in the photograph, a child he could relate to. “Often people cover their faces to protect themselves from the dust. But what mask will protect the sweepers?” Dadon, another member of their group “Out of Focus” felt a more personal statement should accompany the image.

Something he'd been told:

[While I was taking pictures a man remarked: “Look at the airs the shutkiwalla’s [dry-fish seller’s] son puts on.” That’s how my dad earned his living then. “A fish seller’s son, taking pictures, huh?”]

‘I remember clearly, when I’d be going out to take photographs, Dad would be in the streets, selling fish.’

More work by this fascinating group of children can be seen at ZoneZero and Drik.

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