Shooting Friday morning basketball in Satwa

Just next to Satwa park are two public basketball courts and a tennis court, seemingly always in use, the former exclusively by Filipino men.  I'm not much interested in basketball, but I'm always interested in taking photos of something different and meeting new people, so I made my way there yesterday morning for a couple of hours of shooting.

I learned that the facilities are locked over night and open at 08:00.  I'm not sure how teams are sorted.  The men I spoke to said these are pick-up games, so perhaps individuals get sorted into teams on site.  It could also be that a group of friends play together regularly, as was suggested about the Japanese guys that sometimes play with the otherwise all-Filipino crowd.  I noted one man had a list of players sorted into teams and ranked by their order of play.  I got conflicting answers from different informants about the exact number, but it seems there is an upper limit to scoring and once that number is reached, teams are rotated.

Satwa Behind Walls

For more of what this means, see yesterday's post.

Disappearing Satwa

Satwa behind walls

A tract of land between Trade Centre and the commercial area of Satwa has for many years been an open space where laborers played cricket and where the many drivers living in Satwa parked their trucks and buses.  It was a space occasionally used for events, and across which many Satwa residents walked to and from the metro stations along Sheikh Zayed Road.  The area also contains many old homes and apartment buildings, most housing south Asian laborers, though a few old Emirati families remain. 

Publication: The Big Issue North: October 2016

This time an image from our trip to Almaty, Kazakhstan.

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Removing image content

I'm in no way ideological about my photography.  My approach could best be summed up as making it as simple as possible.  I use Lightroom to make my images presentable, which amounts to changes in exposure, tone, and sharpness.  I often straighten, but rarely crop and almost never use Photoshop to remove elements from an image.  This is partly due to laziness and partly to a philosophical predisposition that finds life amazing enough as it is.  If there is something I don't like in an image, I don't use it.

But recently I found myself popping open Photoshop. 

The cost of outsourcing

Compare the results:

Story here:  http://petapixel.com/2016/11/03/chicago-tribune-sun-times-covers-world-series/

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Explaining Images

When I see extensive writing that attempts to explain imagery almost to the point of defense, I’m often reminded of Martin Mull’s insightful quote: “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.”  Dan Winters - Road to Seeing

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Whither digital images?

My Flickr albums

While we undoubtedly live in the most documented era of human history, it saddens me that these pixelated dispatches will be as fleeting as the moments they captured. So few hard copies of these images exist; they are simply floating in the ether. Maintaining digital archives requires constant attention and is a chore for any professional, let alone the casual image-maker whose archives, in all likelihood, will cease to exist when they die.

Dan Winters - Road to Seeing 

Many should rightly disappear, but I suppose it might be a matter of where photos are stored.  I have a couple thousand images at Flickr that I expect have been archived by Yahoo (now owned by Verizon).  These and millions of others like them are surely of some value, perhaps even monetary value, to future consumers and researchers.  The amount of memory required to store them is minimal.  Why wouldn't a hosting company hold onto them, even if their creators don't?  Might digital images prove longer lasting than anything printed to paper?

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Musical Accompaniment: Cyrus Chestnut - Natural Essence (2016)

Cyrus and his mates deliver an exhilarating recording.  Always a pleasure.

100 for Almaty (+12)

I had no photographic plan for Almaty.   As this wasn’t a trip organized months in advance, I did minimal research.  My objective, as it were, was to remain attentive and open to whatever might present itself.

I had an entire week for Eid, nine days including weekends at both ends, and so Mutsumi and I hopped a plane to Almaty, the former capital and still largest city of Kazakhstan.  Apart from never having been there and an interest in Central Asia, Kazakhstan was a convenient choice as visas are not required for US or Japanese citizens and as there are direct, 4-hour flights from Dubai.

Publication: The Big Issue North: Sept 2016

The OCA/Big Issue editor picked up one of my Japan images for the September 2016 issue.  This makes three in almost as many months.  Might an Almaty image be next?

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Musical Accompaniment: Steve Turre: Colors for the Masters (2016)

When I began this blog, I included in the sidebar a list of music links that I can see now will at the rate I have been adding them become impossibly long.  So why not a series of blog posts instead?  Here's the first.

• At Smoke Sessions
• At Amazon
• At All About Jazz

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Book Review: Hoffmann, T. (2014). Photography as Meditation: Tap Into the Source of Your Creativity.

Hoffmann, T. (2014). Photography as Meditation:  Tap Into the Source of Your Creativity. San Rafael: Rocky Nook.

This a review of half a book.  I started reading it before a summer trip and once on the road found myself too occupied with my new environment to continue reading.  I might have carried on had the writing and ideas been more compelling.  Frankly, I found them somewhat muddled and uninspiring and once off the road and back to my routine didn’t have the energy to start again.  Perhaps another day.

If you haven’t read much on meditation or contemplative art practice, you might find this book engaging.  It presents many ideas common to the subject and explored in many essays, lectures and books seeking to understand image making in relation to the existential questions of the human experience.

This is not a book-length treatment, but more of a diary or blog, with short entries on one or two ideas, many of them later reintroduced and looked at in relation to newly introduced ideas or concepts.  Among the issues of concern are practicing for the sake of understanding rather than for adulation, developing a voice, experiencing stillness, and using image making to develop a more penetrating understanding of existence.  Long-standing photographic concerns  - Barthe’s studium and punctum, and the objectivity of photographs, for example - are examined in light of contemplative practice.

Yakyu: Japanese Baseball Stadium Culture

On Shooting
My photographic goals for six weeks in Japan were hardly ambitious.  I had no intention of capturing the spirit of Japan.  I’ve practiced long enough to know that any representation is partial.  For most of the trip I had no photographic plan at all.  The only part for which I had were the visits to five baseball stadiums.

As with many projects, the conception was grander than the final product.  Perhaps what sets the good photographer apart from the average is taking the time to reflect in order to try understand why the output didn’t line up with expectations.  

Review: Jay, B. (1988). "The Thing Itself"

Lovely article that points to the need for sustained interest and practice in developing a “voice,” which might be more properly described as a unique body of work, body being a word used to describe a boundary.  Ironically, this can be found only when one is not looking for it, cultivated only when one is interested in something other than cultivation.  Being a photographer is first and foremost being someone interested in producing a visual record of a particular subject.

“...most of the Great Names used in academia, for the inspiration and edification of students, would not be eligible for graduate studies, let alone as faculty members. Most of them were professional photographers, earning their livings on assignment in journalism, industry, fashion, medicine, and a host of other photographic applications. My point is that great (even artistic) photography is not a function of environment or a prerogative of academia.”

“The fact of the matter is that photography cannot bear the intellectual weight with which it is fashionable to burden it. Photography is not an intellectual game but an emotional response to charged living.”

http://www.caaap.org/billJayTheThingItselfItself.pdf

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What book next?

In my studies of contemplative photography, I have now read and worked through the exercises in Karr/Wood’s The Practice of Contemplative Photography, and McQuade/Hall's Looking and Seeing.  As background I have read True Perception, Trungpa Rinpoche’s talks on dharma art.

Another workbook from McQuade/Hall is set to be released in fall 2016, but that project has already been delayed and may be delayed again. 

I have found two more books in this tradition.   From the reviews online, it seems Julie DuBose’s Effortless Beauty is more a collection of reflections on her practice, rather than a programmatic teaching text. Michael Wood’s Opening the Good Eye appears to be much the same.  DuBose’s text looks more interesting for including a discussion of editing, something largely avoided by Karr/Wood and McQuade/Hall.

Anyone have any personal experience with either text?

I am presently engaged with Hoffman’s Photography as Meditation, a collection of reflections on the intersection of Zen and photography (and not a workbook).  Also on my bookshelf is Gross/Shapiro’s Tao of Photography, as well as a collection of Minor White essays.

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Photographer: Mankichi Shinshi

Here's someone whose work reminds me of my own.  I found him through this article at FotoFirst.  His website is here and he is on most of the major photo-sharing sites:

Think Twice:  http://www.mankichi44.com/
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mankichi44/ 

Book review: McQuade & Hall. (2015). Looking and Seeing: An Introduction to Nalanda Miksang Contemplative Photography (Way of Seeing Book 1)

McQuade & Hall. Looking and Seeing: An Introduction to Nalanda Miksang Contemplative Photography (Way of Seeing Book 1). Drala Publishing, 2015

The preface makes no bones about the authors' focus:  "...we are really talking about Enlightenment."

The purpose of Miksang is not just to make pictures, but to reorient vision in order to wake up to the world beyond things.  "The most direct way to spontaneous creativity [is] not in “breaking the rules,” [but] in making contact with the world before there are rules at all.”  This can be accomplished, the authors believe, with just a short shift of orientation, or Enlightenment by a few degrees.  They compare the mind to a ship, whose destination can be radically altered by a course change of just a few degrees.

The authors are students of Sakyong Trungpa Rinpoche, one of the first Tibetan refugees of the early exodus to settle and build a Buddhist community of westerners within the United States, and of his disciple, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.

This text promises to be the first of three outlining the practice of Miksang, a Tibetan word meaning "good eye."  While the authors feel Miksang is best taught, or transmitted, in face-to-face encounters, they realize as well the value of texts in being able to provide more detail than available in workshops, seminars, or lectures.

Looking and Seeing: Section Seven: Assignment: Dot in Space continued

I find I often don’t get far if I start synchronizing as soon as I walk out the door.

By synchronizing I refer to the process of calming the mind, of letting thought settle and inviting an awareness of presence - the ambient temperature, the wind, the smell and sound of the environment, the weight of my body, the placement of the limbs, the rhythm of the breath. I do this in preparation for and immediately prior to shooting in whatever environment I happen to find myself.

This weekend I was shooting my neighborhood and had the intention of visiting a far corner that I don’t often get to.  But following synchronization, I find my pace slows considerably - as I intend.  And then I never get any further than a couple of blocks from my starting point because there is so much interesting detail nearby.

My solution was to walk deliberately to that far corner without my camera to hand and do my synchronization there, rather than right outside the door.  I thought of my walk as driving to my destination and that turned out to be a workable solution.

A new hero in my pantheon of photographers: Harry Gruyaert

Gruyaert - Launderette 1988

Sometimes FB throws up something worthy.

Today it was this piece from the BJP with the headline:

“There is no story. It’s just a question of shapes and light”

On further investigation, I found:

“In Europe and especially France, there’s a humanistic tradition of people like Cartier-Bresson where the most important thing is the people, not so much the environment,” he says. “I admired it, but I was never linked to it. I was much more interested in all the elements:  the decor and the lighting and all the cars: the details were as important as humans. That’s a different attitude altogether.”

And later still:

“It’s purely intuition. There’s no concept. things attract me and it works both ways. I’m fascinated by the miracle where things come together in a way where things make sense to me, so there’s very little thinking.”

The occasion for this interview is publication of his first English-language monograph.  (BJP's FB update was to note his receipt of the 2016 PHotoEspaña Award.)  Buy the book, or visit Magnum for a collection of over 100 images.

Another interview from 2015 contains this gem on his experience of learning:

When he was 18, Gruyaert took himself off to Brussels to enrol in a film and photography school. It was here that he began spending all his time in the cinema. “The school was terrible, and I was learning nothing. But in watching films I started to understand composition and movement… I went to galleries to look at paintings, I bought magazines and books, and gradually I discovered how to see.”

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Looking and Seeing: Section Seven: Assignment: Dot in Space

Dot in space ... “is the key to the visual as the visual.”  The authors assert it encapsulates the experience of seeing:  to see a figure on a ground.  (As I’ve been arguing all along), seeing is possible because of contrast, because one thing is different from another thing. Perception, the authors argue, is an expression of a foreground figure on a background, or dot-in-space.  In fact, “all the photographs we have taken so far are dot in space.”

They then use a common optical illusion, which can be seen in one of two ways, to demonstrate how the perceiver creates perception.  They do this to make the point that perception and perceiver cannot be separated.  There is, in other words, no objective visual reality.

The assignment is to go out and shoot some dots-in-space. The chapter then proceeds to a discussion of Dot-in-Space as a Level Two practice, which the authors describe as “the world of sense and sensibility, the world of ordinary magic and everyday beauty.”

The biggest difference from Level 1 is a refinement of vision, a pulling back in which the abstract becomes concrete. (This appears to be contrary to conventional photographic practice, which begins with shooting things before learning to see them as symbols.)  There is direct engagement with things, rather than “a distanced documentation and representation.”  In Level 2, “the dot is no longer a formal perceptual value.”

The assignment is extended to work at Level 2 and seeing things as manifesting things. Unfortunately, it is not suggested how one might engage this kind of vision, but the authors claim that in reviewing photographs one should be able to distinguish between L1 and L2 images.  I’d like to see some side-by-side comparisons.

I will be shooting Dot in Space starting this weekend, but until then I have posted some recent images that seem to fit the bill.

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Book review: Trungpa, C., Lief, J. and Trungpa, C. (2008). True perception: the path of dharma art.

Trungpa, C., Lief, J. and Trungpa, C. (2008). True perception:  the path of dharma art. Boston: Shambhala.

This book constitutes the philosophical foundation of Miksang, sometimes known as Contemplative Photography, as taught by Trungpa Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader and one of the first lamas to teach westerners in English vernacular.  His community proved to be long-lived and is known today principally as the center of a large Buddhist publishing concern, Shambala, and for a 4-year college, Naropa, the only accredited Buddhist institution of higher learning in the the United States.

This volume is not a treatise, but rather a collection of short texts, mostly transcribed talks on practice and aesthetics.  The book is comprised of 28 chapters, most only a few pages long.

The editor’s introduction summarizes Trungpa’s life, motivation, and goals, providing context for the texts that follow.  In essence, Trungpa was using a somewhat secularized version of Buddhist principles and practices to build an intentional community through which might emerge an enlightened society.  He was concerned with more than meditation or even art, but with all aspects of social engagement and management.

Looking and Seeing: Section Seven: Assignment: More Space

I've been focusing on space this week.  Besides setting my intention while out in the neighborhood, I've also taken to forums to seek feedback.  So far the response has been sparse:  one respondent noted a similar confusion.

I've also looked for additional text treatments on the subject (besides Karr and McQuade), but haven't yet found anything.  If anyone reading this knows of any, I would be grateful to hear from you.

I've gone back to review Karr's chapter and note these salient points:

A look at some "official" space images

McQuade and Hall admit that space is the most difficult concept to teach and the most difficult for students to grasp. Perhaps no one understands, but is afraid to say so.

Given the confusion, I thought it best to review some of the images published on Miksang sites run by authorized teachers.  If any images might offer a clue, it might be these.  

To the right is a screen shot from the Space gallery at Seeing Fresh, a website to promote Andy Karr's Contemplative Photography, a somewhat secularized copy of Miksang from a Miksang student.  The gallery features images submitted by students but selected by whoever runs the site, presumably Mr Karr or someone authorized by him.

Looking and Seeing: Section Seven: Assignment: Space

I went out with the intention of shooting space - and photographed a lot of stuff that wasn't.  I paused to synchronize, focusing on the breath, the air as it moved around me, the temperature, my posture.  After I calmed down and went looking, I found all kinds of interesting things, but little that might be space, Perhaps I was too concerned with shooting physical space - openings between things.  I think this is what happened in Japan the last time I did this exercise.  I came away with some interesting images, but not perhaps what Miksang instruction intends.

Looking and Seeing: Section Seven: Space and Dot in Space

Dragon Mart:  Space?

Miksang, speaks of space and dot in space. The art equivalents are negative and positive space.   This assignment begins with Space (negative space).

Space
Space is everywhere and nowhere.  The authors suggest that photographers work with visual space - not physical space.  This is an exercise in foregrounding the background.  It helps, they say, to try and put away common conceptions of space, namely: 1) space as what is between things, and 2) space as what surrounds things.  Both start with things and try to identify that which is not the thing.  Space is treated as something in relationship with things, or something that is not a thing.

However, despite their entreaties, it seems impossible to escape these conceptions.  Here’s how the author define the approach:

Finding my way back

Dragon Mart 2

A number of things transpired to keep me away from working on Looking and Seeing:  hot weather, planning summer vacation, and a lack of interest.  I think the latter may have come from trying too hard, trying to knock the work out so I could say I finished the book.  The Trungpa text, which I was reading in parallel, seemed impenetrable and just made things worse.  I started to feel like maybe it was all a waste of time.  It was so hot out I thought I’d work indoors and planned to spend some days at Dragon Mart.  I managed only two.  I found myself without much inspiration and little will to work through it. While planning for summer, I did a bit of reading in baseball and that led to starting a baseball blog.  I also bought a new computer and spent some hours getting it set up.

Despite the heat, I managed to get out to Hor Al Anz for a few days and start shooting again. I focused largely on objects, ignoring people and interactions.  I found that carrying the big DSLR was good for keeping all but the most curious away.  Even so, a few Pakistanis insisted I take their photos.

Finally a couple of days ago I picked up the text and decided it was time to do a little more exploring.

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Looking and Seeing: Section Six: View Interlude

It seems the authors' use of view is equivalent to philosophy, one’s “point of view.”  This section dips into the ideas underlying the practice. The authors proceed with a review of the flash of perception as an unconditioned experience, something that happens to us, something that interrupts our everyday experience of the world.  The reality is that this flash is the reality behind the ideas that color our understanding of the world.  Our ideas are the equivalent of clouds, the flash of perception a gap in the clouds allowing us to see what has always been there waiting for us to discover (or perhaps rediscover, as children seem to have largely uninterrupted access).  

Publication: The Big Issue North - once more

No sooner had the first image been published than I was asked for permission to use this one, another from my Tbilisi collection.

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Photography in the Academy

I never heard of Neal Rantoul before running across this piece in my FB newsfeed.  It explains quite well my experience of doing photography in an academic context.  I can't say that I've seen nearly the volume of this type of work, so can't possibly agree or disagree with Rantoul's generalization on its quality.  From my student experience I do know that there is far less emphasis on craft and much more reading, analyzing, and writing in order to contextualize the bit of actual photography you do when you are not engaged in documenting your work.


A Disturbing Trend

I’m old. Believe me, I know it. I’ll be 70 in a few months. That fact may make it hard for you to take me seriously, but bear with me for just this post. With age comes wisdom, right? What I want to write here is that I think the field of photography by those making art is changing in a disturbing way. Read on.

Photographic series or bodies of work are being explicated, explained, contextualized, rationalized, and elevated with text or verbal rationals. You’re thinking: so what? That’s no big deal. Let me start with a short history and then let’s take a look at current practice.

What makes art great?

I expect some of the same effects are at work in the art world: reputation and price influence perception.

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Assignment: Forms of Surface: Pattern

It seems the week got away from me.  Bicycled and shot through Abu Hail and Hor Al Anz, shot a bit in Dragon Mart, but otherwise didn’t much follow-up on specific assignments until Sunday, when I took a morning walk around the nearest bit of Nadha to our campus.  When I set out I was very much goal motivated, but fortunately I was able to relax by the time I got to where I wanted to start shooting and the morning was quite fruitful, with many interesting perceptions.  My intention was to look for light, texture, and pattern.  Here’s some of what presented itself.

Two days on the street

This past weekend I spent two mornings exploring neighboring districts by bicycle.  The first morning I woke rested and when I got to Abu Hail it seemed like pictures just kept popping up in front of me.  I wasn't seeking;  they just appeared.  After editing, I produced 22 images

Two days later I arose from a fitful rest and when I got to Hor Al Anz I felt out of sorts, off balance, out of whack.  The area turned out to be more commercial than I imagined, and I had to pay more careful attention to traffic, both motorized and pedestrian.  After editing, I produced only five images.

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Assignment: Forms of Surface: Texture

Texture is described as where vision and touch overlap.  In making or viewing images of texture, “the viewer should feel as if she is touching it with her eyes.”  The authors suggest that in exploring this aspect of the visual, one not look for objects you know to have texture.  These are the easy shots.  Look instead at objects that don’t appear to have discernible texture.

Publication: The Big Issue North

One of my Tbilisi photos was picked up for publication in The Big Issue North.  The image appears to have been found in the OCA Flickr group by the college's PR and Communications director.  No remuneration apart from bragging rights.  

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Looking and Seeing: Assignment: Front, Side and Back Light

Side light adds a bit of depth to the sign. 

Because of the lack of contrast, front light typically flattens a subject.  The only shape or form is often the outer line, but nothing within.  Side lighting is most often used in portrait photography as it provides more contrast and thereby greater volume to the subject.  Back lighting is often the most dramatic, but also the most difficult to photograph as one must often expose for great contrast.  The assignment description is quite loose here and allows for exploring these individually or together.  No specific number of images are prescribed.

Looking and Seeing: Assignment: Light as Light:

Section Five:  Light, Texture and Pattern

Assignment:  Light as Light:  As with the color exercise, the purpose here is simply to raise awareness of light.  The authors suggest not shooting for aesthetic effect but simply to capture perceptions of light.  When you begin, set your intention, synchronize with reality, and be sensitive to flashes of perception.  Fill the frame with the flash, and try as best as possible to reproduce that flash with the camera.  They suggest doing this assignment in the early or late part of the day as the low angle of the sun produces more noticeable light.  They note that light always comes as some form of color, and that shooting light also requires shooting shadow.  The two always manifest together and they explain that this really a question of foreground/background. 

Looking and Seeing: Assignment: Color

21 April
I started reading the book when I was in Japan, but didn’t have much chance to shoot.  I then tried picking up the book and shooting exercises a few weeks later in Tbilisi, but it was difficult to stay focused on the assignments when I had only a few days to explore the city.  Now that I’m back in Dubai and with no projects on the horizon, I’d like to complete this text and the exercises.  So this afternoon I reviewed my notes and set out on the first assignment, color.  I did so in my immediate neighborhood on SZR, but venturing a little bit further afield than usual.  I followed the suggested procedure by setting my intent (seeing for color), synchronizing my experience (mindfulness of the body in space and the experience of the phenomenal world), and being sensitive to flashes of perception.  What I found was restlessness - wanting to find images - and a repeated interest in objects rather than color.  It wasn’t until about 45 minutes to an hour into my 90 minute walk that I found I had forgotten about finding images.  I was simply engaged in my experience of walking and looking.  I will try again Friday and Saturday.  I haven’t yet looked at my images.  I plan to hold them until next week so as not to get caught up in creating images but focusing more on the process of being with the camera.

Book review: Abuthina, J. (2015). Dubai: Behind the Scenes; Memories of Satwa; The Best of Dubai Shop Names.

• Abuthina, J. (2015). Dubai: Behind the Scenes. Dubai: Inside Dubai.
• Abuthina, J. (2015). Memories of Satwa. Dubai: Inside Dubai.
• Abuthina, J. (2015). The Best of Dubai Shop Names. Dubai: Inside Dubai.

I don’t usually rush out to buy books, but I was eager to see these.  I take the same kind of photos of the same places as the photographer whose work is presented here, Mr Jalal Abuthina, though so far as I know I haven’t yet run into him in any of the neighborhoods in which we work.  Two of the three books feature Forwards and Introductions, but are of such a general nature as to be unhelpful in learning much about Abuthina’s approach, method, philosophy, or the history of the work presented.  A more informative profile of the photographer can be found at The National, a leading UAE newspaper, or at the photographer’s website.  From these we learn that Abuthina has been active for a little over a decade, though many of the images in these books appear to be of more recent vintage.  The Burj Khalifa, a building that was completed only in 2008, for example, features in the background of several of the Satwa photos.  I’ve also taken images of some of the same graffiti, which doesn’t typically remain for very long in Dubai.

Notes: McQuade & Hall. Looking and Seeing: An Introduction to Nalanda Miksang Contemplative Photography: Preface, Sections 1 and 2

McQuade & Hall. Looking and Seeing: An Introduction to Nalanda Miksang Contemplative Photography (Way of Seeing Book 1). Drala Publishing, 2015

“John McQuade is one of the founders of Miksang Contemplative Photography, which he has presented for thirty years. He is the most senior teacher of the Nalanda Miksang school. John is a long time meditator, meditation instructor, and Shambhala Training director in the Shambhala tradition. He practices Daoist Qi-gong and writes on the contemplative arts. He holds an M.A in Phenomenology and a PhD in Social and Political Thought.

Miriam Hall is a contemplative arts teacher who lives in Madison, Wisconsin, and travels internationally to teach Nalanda Miksang, Shambhala Art, and contemplative writing. She is the second most senior teacher under John McQuade in the Nalanda Miksang School. She has been teaching these practices for over ten years...."

For a text explicating an alternative means of image making, the pedestrian cover image is unlikely to to inspire many to inquire further.