Tag: bryanf

Entering the wilderness of portraiture

Posted by Bryan Formhals – May 15, 2009

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©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.

More…

Returning to Editing After a Three Month Sabbatical

Posted by Bryan Formhals – May 6, 2009

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©Bryan Formhals

I have a problem that perhaps many other photographers may also have.  Even though I’ve edited and reviewed my archive time and time again, I keep going back looking for new insights.  When I left for New York I was deep in the middle of editing my ESVT project and thought that I was close to finishing it.  After all, there would be no more new photographs to add, and I’d set my mind on a general structure for the work.  But then I left for New York and was displaced from my files for three months.

By that time I was well into shooting my new project ‘Drift.’  Wandering around the city photographing gave me plenty of time to reflect on the ideas I had for the ESVT edit.  There were photographs I could remember, and many, many others that I had escaped my memory.  I found myself sculpted the work from a philosophical point of view without actually looking at the photographs.  What I could remember would stay.  I started to sculpt the project in my mind, sensing a shorter, tighter edit.  I would sketch words and phrases in my mind, packaging them together in the conceptual framework of the project.  I was moving forward by virtue of detaching myself from the images.

Of course, much of this sentiment may have to do with the blah feeling I have toward a few photographs I was confident would be in the edit.  It seems no matter what we want to think, the number of photographs that actually pass the test of time will continue to decrease as you age.  This is a primary motivation for finishing a project.  My feeling is if I can put finish this project to my satisfaction I’ll start to view it as a single piece and think less about the individual photographs contained within.  ‘The end is important in all things.’

Photo: One From the BW Holga Rolls

Posted by Bryan Formhals – March 17, 2009

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©Bryan Formhals – West Hollywood, CA

I’ve been shooting black and white in my Holga for half year now.  I scanned a bunch of rolls when I was in Minnesota.  I remembered this one happened to be online because I was showing a friend of mine.  The plan is to use this in the third section of a black and white project that will include edited versions of ‘Medine‘ and ‘American Road Ghost.’  Probably will take awhile to complete though considering I haven’t been shooting for it much these days, but I’m ok with a snails paces for this project.  Black and white is a fun diversion.

Velocity Editing

Posted by Bryan Formhals – December 12, 2008

And now the editing and writing begins.  This project has been a unique experience, the culmination of 10 years of thinking about art and philosophy.  Hopefully I can execute the final piece in an insightful, entertaining way.  We’ll see…