And other musings on Cangiante, Sfumato, and Unione
It sometimes seems like a cheap photo trick to turn an image upside down. Years ago, I did a workshop in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with Jay Maisel. One of his rules or “hacks” we learned was that if you didn’t see anything interesting in front of you, turn around. This mated well with another of his rules: “The U-Turn was a photographer’s most effective tool.” So maybe turning an image upside down can be like turning around or a U-turn.
Alternative Process Atlanta Beach Beverly Shores Black & White Boston Canon Cat Chicago Collodion Commercial Culver Darkroom Deardorff Dunes Fall Family Film Fuji X-Pro Hipstamatic Instagram iPhone IQ350 Large Format Leica M6 M240 Medium Format Michigan New York P65+ Paper Negative Pebbles Phase One Portait Projects R8 Railroad Scrapping South Carolina Stellwagan Farm Studio Summitar Sweden Wet Plate
I stand still or move slowly, feeling things like the impulse of shapes, the direction of lines, the quality of surfaces. I frame with my eye (sometimes with my hands) as the ground glass would frame. Nothing that one could reasonably call thinking is taking place at this stage. The condition is total absorption; the decision (a picture!) is spontaneous. – Aaron Siskind, 1955