Tim - thanks for posting that link. There are also a few samples in the Friedlander book in the Photo Poche series.
Tim - thanks for posting that link. There are also a few samples in the Friedlander book in the Photo Poche series.
Oh, Japan! Nowhere can I see a nation more dedicated to the art of beauty.
there was a 1970's? or so book of his which had a lot in, but that's hard to find and probably cost $800.00 or something now!Originally Posted by Oren Grad
Fraenkel Gallery published this a year or two ago
It's a funky mix - neon covers, classic Friedlander limited scale b&w prints and it changes format - horizontal starting at one end vertical at the other - doesn't really have a back or a front
and of course most of the pictures are wonderful... (goes nicely with the book Apples & Olives I think it is)
You'd be amazed how small the demand is for pictures of trees... - Fred Astaire to Audrey Hepburn
www.photo-muse.blogspot.com blog
Have you ever spent 30 minutes with a professional model?
Not to make rude generalizations, but I've met some women who had the uncanny ability to talk away some startlingly beautiful faces. Thankfully photography, unlike nature, is mute.
As far as the blossoms go, Mr. Friedlander decisively answers the original question. And yes, I'd rather have a half hour with his book than with any of the cherry trees I've ever strolled past.
It's most definitely not there that I would be looking for beauty..!
Why? Are you unable to see what he saw in the cherry trees? But then - look more at the trees than at the book.
art transcends the object
You'd be amazed how small the demand is for pictures of trees... - Fred Astaire to Audrey Hepburn
www.photo-muse.blogspot.com blog
Only because the beauty transcends it.
And that of any blossom? Have you?
I do see what he saw in the cherry trees. I see it with the help of his photographic vision.
His photographs aren't copies of the trees; they're new creations, formed and ordered by a remarkable convergence of the phtographic language and Friedlander's unique sensibility and visual wit.
This is why someone with a vision like Friedlander's can go so far beyond the cheap imitations of nature so common in calendars and postcards.
My own time with the cherry trees would likely be pleasant, but unless I found myself curious enough about them to start exploring with my own camera, bringing my own vision to bear, the experience would be a simple, passive pleasure. Nothing wrong with that .. in fact i'll take it any day over being chained to this computer ... but looking at something and saying "wow, that's pretty!" usually doesn't stretch me as far as looking at collection of great art.
On a related note, when I'm in natural settings that move me powerfully (great mountains, the desert, etc.) I'm more inclined to experience them without a camera. These are places that I'm not usually compelled to photograph. I can't bring anything to them ... they are already complete and they already invite contemplation. I tend to photograph places where the beauty is less apparent ... places that require some work on my part to find my place within them. In a sense I don't feel up to the task of photographing the grandeur of nature. I don't want to just add to the endless piles of redundant postcards.
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