Deborah Bay is an emerging photographer that has won well-deserved praise for her "The Big Bang" series. While her other work is equally interesting, I'll focus mainly on that series.

9mm Glock ballFrom Deborah Bay's "The Big Bang" series The subject of the series is quite unusual: close-up color photography of bullets shot into plexiglas. Interestingly, that description would not entice me at all - it sounds boring. But the pictures are fascinating, aesthetically stunning and mind-boggling. I did not know what I was looking at before being told. One is reminded of cosmological photography as much as of anything else.

As someone passionate about contrast in all its meanings when related to photography, I love the stark and shocking contrast between the quiet and peaceful beauty of the pictures and the violence of what they ultimately depict. While these are controlled shootings of firearms and not acts of violence being represented, they are still remnants of powerful events, and document the usage of destructive force, and the (literal) impact it has. Yet they seem quiet and peaceful, resembling tranquil galaxies more than bloody murder. The sheer beauty is exquisite and the color treatment greatly - but subtly - highlights it.

44 Magnum from Deborah Bay's "The Big Bang" seriesThe color adds to a mystifying picture This once again goes to illustrate that acts which we think of as ugly - violence, explosions, debris - can take on a very real formal beauty on a pure aesthetic level. Of course, this might be less strikingly illustrated here than in disturbing works that emphasize violence on humans, but still, the apparent disconnect between what we might morally disapprove and what we find beautiful is very interesting.

As such, we are introduced to Bay's work as an illustration of photography as an art of the unexpected. Beauty reveals itself in unlikely places, and the debris of a firearm being shot certainly was an unexpected place to look for as far as I am concerned. 

Untitled 4, from the series "The Fringes of Cyberia" by Deborah BayA taste of another of Bay's series, this one commenting on electronic waste While I wished to highlight this particularly fascinating series of Bay's, the rest of her work is also very interesting, and confirms this interest of finding beauty in unexpected places or processes. I strongly encourage you to check her other work out too. 

A lot of my favorite photographers have a sociological or psychological aspect to their work. This doesn't apply to Marten Lange, who's work is intriguing and bordering on the conceptual. But that doesn't stop his work from being fascinating. 

Anomalie #9, by Marten LangeA very boring subject, yet fascinating picture Lange's work revolves around high contrasts. High contrast anythings really. Woodlands, the sea, crows, machines, everyday objects, anything and everything seems to be good enough for Lange. And he doesn't necessarily give these subjects a highly refined treatment. Quite to the contrary, the treatment is harsh, bordering on crude, with (sometimes extremely) high contrasts and composition that seems to be barely thought of. Of course, looks can be deceiving, and one should not infer that there isn't a lot of work in Lange's work. But it has a very raw and harsh look, and the subjects don't seem that interesting in and of themselves. 

And yet, Lange's work is fascinating. The interplay between the very light and very dark make his pictures very interesting even if one can hardly care about the subjects themselves. The trivial and ordinary becomes fascinating, not on the level of what it means, but on the simple aesthetic level of what appears when the trivial is captured in stark black and white. Indeed, Lange demonstrates how photography can transform reality, or at least, reveal some underlying aspect of it. 

Anomalie #1, by Marten LangeA simple window becomes nearly indecipherable and utterly fascinating And yet this newly revealed aspect is purely aesthetic, perceptual in nature. There is voluntarily no narrative, in Lange's work as he wishes the viewer to be "just like the stare of the camera, seeing but not understanding". And that is in itself interesting as a different approach to photography. At the absolute opposite spectrum from photojournalism that seeks to tell a whole story within a picture, Lange creates a purely formal body of work that is nevertheless striking and fascinating, sometimes even emotional. Definitely worth exploring. 

A blog post is always frustrating in that one has to choose what to address about the subject at hand, necessarily leaving a lot unexamined. This is true for all our subjects, but becomes truly excruciating when trying to discuss a photographer such as Henri Cartier-Bresson. My apologies for all that is left unsaid. In particular, Henri-Cartier Bresson is a man whose influence is felt not only through his pictures per se, but also through his attitudes and ideas. I'll focus on those, leaving deeper analysis of his pictures to someone else - or some other time.

Born in in 1908 and deceased in 2004, Cartier-Bresson was "only" active in photography from the 30s to the 70s. Yet his influence is second to none. To many, he is best known as the father of photojournalism, meaning that activity of capturing life and events as they occur in order to tell a (news) story. This is however debatable as many initiatives in the area pre-date Cartier-Bresson, and many other photographers might be given the title. More importantly, I feel his most crucial contributions lie elsewhere - though links with his photo-journalistic practice abound. 

The key to Cartier-Bresson's works is the obsession with capturing the moment, something unique, and engraving it in eternity with photography. His approach, interested in details and unlikely occurrences is a constant inspiration to all photographers, and is an obvious direct or indirect influence on all street photography.

Furthermore, it can be argued that his work ethos was basically an anticipation of the photography by the masses we have seen in recent years. Interest in non-posed "real-life" photography, with little to no editing and use of the (at the time) most accessible tools signaled that photography need not be restricted to an artistic elite only familiar with the most intricate technique. Of course, technique is of critical usefulness, but it is not what makes a great photography, being merely a tool to the higher purpose of creating a great picture. Or, in the words of the master himself: "Technique is important only insofar as you must master it in order to communicate what you see...(...) In any case, people think far too much about techniques and not enough about seeing". This focus on "seeing" should always be in the forefront of any photographer's mind, whether a seasoned professional or an enthusiastic amateur. Time and time again one comes across outstanding photographs that were made with simple techniques or tools less powerful than now available, and conversely other pictures made with painstaking technique and impressive tools that are of little or no interest. While technique and tools are invaluable, they pale in comparison to the impact of the ability to see.

That brings us to Cartier-Bresson's decisive moment. In the famous book of the same name, he outlined his theories on photography that resonate to this day. That is quite an astounding feat, especially if one considers the book isn't that easy to buy these days. Out of print for many years, it has now been re-edited, but only in a luxurious and expensive edition that makes it inaccessible to many. Yet its influence was so great that its ideas have percolated into the photographer sub-conscience so to speak.

In it, he develops the ideas quoted above, but crucially also the idea that photography is about the decisive moment when one releases the shutter and captures a fleeting moment for all eternity. That is, to him, the moment a photographer is creative. The one where he recognizes a specific event, composition, or any element of significance that he will capture. 

This has been unsurprisingly both inspirational and controversial. Inspirational because it is all that street photography and photojournalism are about. Controversial because this largely (but not completely) excludes posing and editing/post-processing from the scope of photographic creativity. And that's probably the most interesting part - the discussion and reflexion that can arise from such an idea. I'll likely develop my thoughts about this in a later post, but I'd love to hear yours in the meanwhile!