hiroshi sugimoto

Photography has been many things, but it's always been tied to art. Many of its early innovators were classically trained artists, although it has sometimes struggled for full acceptance in the art world. There are a few photographers out there today working as much as artists as they are photographers, who are able to take the process and art of photography beyond its more practical applications like advertising products and documenting events toward representing an esoteric experience of reality.

One of those photographer-artists is Hiroshi Sugimoto, who has an amazing retrospective exhibit that's currently at the de Young Museum in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. I loved it. It's not just a bunch a photographs hanging on white walls--it's an experience that takes you into Sugimoto's head and how he sees as an artist. It's amazing. I'm both inspired by his work--taking such simple ideas and making magnificent art--as well as frustrated that my creative ideas aren't half as brilliant (lots of room for growth!)

Here's the info on the de Young exhibit

Sugimoto's website
(it contains many of the same captions as in the exhibit, but fewer photographs)

A series of podcasts featuring presentations/interviews with Sugimoto.

If you're in the Bay Area, go see it! The exhibit continues through September 23, 2007.

making prints

We're back from Desolation Wilderness. As always, it is good to be back home but I also miss the simplicity of backpacking--living on a minimum of material goods and having little on my agenda other than enjoying being outside and making photographs.

After returning from the wilderness, there was an order of prints waiting for me. It was a visually delicious experience to open the box and tack them up on the 4 foot bulletin board I recently installed in the living room.

Something beautiful happens when one's experience behind the camera is transformed into a material work of art. Finally, after the click of the shutter is shaped and coaxed into a fine art print, I can separate myself enough from the experience I had while taking the picture and look at the resulting artwork to consider it on its own merits. Up until this stage, it is difficult not to be awash in the memory of taking the image, rather than actually looking at the image as it is in this moment.

Also, based on this experience, I can highly recommend Adorama's printing services. They are reasonably priced and the quality is excellent. I'm especially loving the black and white images printed on Ilford Black and White paper. I wish I could post them here, but then they'd be electronic images once again!

If anyone out there is interested in purchasing prints of any of the pictures you see, here's my current process, until I get a website set up later this summer:

• Browse my Flickr images here: aneyeintheworld on Flickr
• Write down the title of the image that looks like this "GMK_YYYYMMDD_1234"
• Submit a comment by clicking on "comments" at the bottom of this post (this just allows an easy way to communicate with me; it will not be published)
• In the comment, include: your name, mailing address, email address, the title of the image you want, and what size (8 x 10" or 11 x 14")
  
• Be sure to include your email address in the comment, otherwise I won't be able to get in touch with you
• I will email you with payment instructions and get the print out to you within three weeks. Currently I except Paypal, personal checks, and money orders.
  

Prints come in two sizes: 8 x 10" prints are $25 and 11 x 14" prints are $45.

All prints are printed to my exact specifications on archival matte paper, then hand signed and numbered. Each print will have a small white border around the edge, so the image size is slightly smaller than the total print size. The copyright symbol you see on the web images is not present on prints.

Thanks for your support!

off to the wilderness

Well, first off, I want to say thank goodness that all the loud bangs I've been hearing these past two days are firecrackers and not gunfire. For a few moments last night, I thought there was a gang war going on a few blocks away. Such is how one thinks when living in Oakland, even if this is usually a pretty safe neighborhood.

We're off to Desolation Wilderness for a week's stay. Thankfully the recent wildfire near South Lake Tahoe missed it, but not by much. We hiked through here on our way around Lake Tahoe in 2005, and it was beautiful, so I'm really glad to be going back and taking it at a slower pace.

While you're waiting for me to come back and update this (well I guess no one's holding their breath), here are a few pictures from my 5 day backpacking trip to Ventana Wilderness by Big Sur.

I hope you're having a good summer!