©Bryan Formhals
I will have one mediocre Kodachrome slideshow to show people at a party someday…
Velocity Mixology #1
Posted by brayn
on May 22, 2009
Editing is a maddening process. I’m currently stuck in a quagmire with my ‘ESVT’ edit. I’m missing something. Spontaneity? Jazz? The flow? To alleviate the tension I’ve decided to riff on the photographs I’m looking at right now. Not all of them work or will make the edit, but a blog seems to be the perfect place to play with editing. Photography’s relationship with the web seems uncomfortable at best. It’s the wild wild west and we’re living through it, this is the time to experiment.
“But there was something to be said for a life in the moment”
Posted by brayn
on May 17, 2009
“But there was something to be said for a life in the moment; for a dalliance in California, for concerts and failed screenplays, for a little fun before the fall. And the truth is, we were always more purposeful - more responsible - than our fathers and uncles and grandmothers realized.”
Entering the wilderness of portraiture 1
Posted by brayn
on May 15, 2009
©Bryan Formhals
I fear portraiture more than any other type of photography, except perhaps for the type where bombs, guns and insurgents are involved. That aside, if you’re working in the fine art or documentary territory I can’t really think of anything more confounding, perplex and complicated than portraiture. If you’re shooting candidly it’s all about instincts, reacting, anticipating, getting lucky, failing and shooting a shitload. Ok, that’s simplistic too, but something like that. If you’re shooting landscapes it’s really about wandering and making the shapes work out. And of course, no matter what, it always helps to attempt to work at the highest level and have an idea of the type of photographs you want to live with.
With portraiture, there’s no escaping, no ignoring, no hiding and waiting for something to happen. It’s you and the subject. And you better know what you’re doing otherwise you’re going to fuck up the dynamic. An uncertain photographer staring at you with a camera can be incredibly uncomfortable. As if standing or sitting for a portrait isn’t uncomfortable enough. So yeah, it’s challenging and there’s so much more than the simple act of photographing involved. It’s about an ephemeral relationship.
