In the last day I published on my Italian blog fotoreportando an article where I take the distance from the street photography term.

Yesterday, checking out the dashboard of my wordpress, I noticed something that made me happy. “neo landscape photography italian photog” is among the top searches this week on my website. We are improving and finally getting away fom that “street photography” term. Eclipsing fom that term more and more because I am a documentary photographer, and for me photography is and always has been something with a remarkable content. Photography to me needs to have a documentary value, where the form is put at the service of the content.

In open contrast to the expressive chiaroscuro of Ansel Adams, the New Topographics photographers produced lighter, even-toned prints, exalting the banal.  The New America, its demographic expansion and the advancement of cement to the detriment of nature,  were the main topic of Robert Adams, Joe Deal, and Lewis Baltz, among others. The construction of structures in the middle of the desert, and elements of pop culture, cars, beer cans, gas stations, road signs became important elements and subjects to be photographed.

I photographed several times in 10 years this mural. Unlike many walls in Mexico, especially in the barrios, which are constantly changing with new subjects, this mural belonging to the tortilleria alongside resists. I think is pretty interesting to observe as a mural can provide many descriptive elements of a given place, its essence and also the atmosphere that actually creates. Yes, a graffiti contributes to create sensations on the place to the point to identify that place with the mood of the painted subject.

 

 

I THINK MOST OF THE STREET PHOTOGRAPHY BLOGS ARE BAD

One of the issues with street photography are the blogs. Most of them are banal, stupid, written by people who can’t write. Unuseful posts with the same topics repeated endlessly. I save just a few. This generates an audience composed of idiots, because idiots are the writers of these blogs.

I spend a good part of the day working on making photos or curating a book layout. Of course, I write. A lot. I have 2 blogs, this one and fotoreportando, and I am collaborating to a generalistic photography blog too. The fire inside keeps me burning the flame. The flame of the passion called photography.

Last days were crazy for me, with a burned oven and a gas leak, invoices to be made to receive payment from a customer, business meetings in person or via skype and,  in the middle of this psycho-drama, I walked in and around the monster, the monster city,  exploring for new views and new stories, with anything that might spark my interest, and guess what, I achieved to make some good photos.

Mexico City in new places, new encounters, new barrios. And the state of Mexico, the rude and dangerous EDOMEX.

In a way I am photographing my life, through a simplicity that grew inside me, that has always been present on me: 

– This is where you are!

Exactly. Most of the times a photograph is about this.  

Photography is about the life experience. If it is a thing detached from this it is seen and usually doesn’t work.

And here I continue. Sharing my life. My life that is photography.

Yesterday it has been a very busy day. 

Curating photos of others is a hard work. In these days we have seen shaed again the thoughts of Sebastiao Salgado about his idea that photography with a mobile phone is not photography. 

I don’t agree.

In fact, I think photography is not the one with excessive use of photoshop and bad taste. I am sorry, but I have seen too many “cartoons” yesterday: at the point I thought there is a sort of mental disturb in some persons that  doesn’t allow them to see how false images so heavy elaborated are. They caused me a headache.

Actually, I know only one way of doing photography: it’s to get closer to reality as much as I can. To do so within the scene, I immerse myself, breath with the breath of where I am.

I often see photos that I don’t like. I don’t like them because they are far apart, and I do not mean the physical distance. They are emotionally distant and this generates algid images, without the compromise that is at the base of the game in documentary photography.

Another important thing is to deal with a narrative. That has nothing to do with taking as many photos as possible and then choosing, as many do. The documentary narration takes place in the moment, and the evolution of the actions allows us to support this story.

It’s not about taking a nice or nice photo. And excessive perfectionism would only ruin the genuineness and spontaneity of the recovery. It is often said that photographs lie, and I can agree. But what they don’t stop returning is a revealing heart of the photographer’s intentions, and we should take this into account. I think I have an advantage because my work as an editor gives me the luxury of observing, in a critical way, a lot of photography. This influence, in fact and inevitably, my vision as a photographer.

I elaborate so many thoughts on the ontology of photography, about who we are and where we would like to go.  I analyze myself and my photography.

I think a documentary photographer should be worry to guarantee veracity, narrative and coherence. I try to do it all the time. 

BEWARE, PEOPLE WITH SOME CONTESTS AND AWARDS. I DECIDED TO PUBLISH HERE AN INVITATION RECEIVED ON 2017.

JANUARY 15, 2017

_______________________________________________________________________________

Dear Alex Coghe,

We’re launching 4th annual contest Monochrome Awards. As a co-organizer of the competition I would like to invite you to be one of our international online judges. Check out our website: www.monoawards.com

The online judges itself will consist of +15 people from all over the world (mostly renowned black and white photographers).

As one of international online judges, your name and profile certainly will get benefits from this exposure and viral.

The judging is completely online and would be in December 2017. The winner’s gallery will be in the January 2018 with your judging credit.

I will be truly honored if you accept my invitation.  Please let me know if you would be interested and I’ll add you to the list.

Best regards,
Sebastian Markis
www.monoawards.com

__________________________________________________________________________________

I accepted. I was published on the land page of the jury. After this I never received any message to select the photographs. NOTHING. And this is not cool, guys. Because they used my name.

I contacted after to know the reason because in the meantime they announced the winners. I never received their reply. I can only inform my readers to avoid this:

https://monoawards.com/

I read recently othe awards are a fraud. If they use the name of curators and then they don’t have a real judgement process is clealy something not cool at all. 

STAY SAFE AND YOU CAN REPORT HERE OTHER AWARDS.

OK, this post is clearly autorreferencial, but not just this. There are things maybe you don’t know about Mexico…

National Geographic elected Mexico City as best city to visit in 2019. San Miguel de Allende and Oaxaca best cities for Travel & Leisure in 2018. Oaxaca the best in the world for the delicious food.

NG defines vibrant, elegant and chill Mexico City, as you can read it in  this article: click here.

You know my work here. If you are here, you probably know and appreciate it. Mexico City is considered the New York City of LatinAmerica. As a photographer I can assure you this is a great place for street photography. You can find the surreal and the great compositions, kissed by a great light. Anything is pretty interesting: I am here fo 10 years now and guys, every single day this city surprises me. 

Mexico City is not just downtown where tourists go and where I recommend to stay if you are alone. The issue of security exists, but is not that thing some not knowing the city state often. Never happened something menacing my security in 10 years, and guys, I live in a barrio in the north side of the city, I take the microbus.

If you are a photographer, possibly you would visit places different from the classic tourist routes. I am offering this through several photographic experiences. Furthermore I know the best places where we can eat real Mexican food and not the tourist food in downtown. My offer is varied and distinguish, focused on real photographer experiences. I am a photojournalist and street photographer: the photos you will achieve with me, you hardly did it alone, because I know the places and I will bring you there.

In particular:

Street Photography Workshops

CDMX Individual Documentary Street Workshop

To photograph the  barrios is not any photographer can do, but thanks to my guide and tuition you will be able to photograph in places otherwise off limits in some popula neighborhoods and also in the EDOMEX (Mexico state) for someone coming from another country:

Barrios Photo Workshop

CDMX PHOTO TOURS

The photo tours are designed for tourists that want to know the city and taking at home some stunning photos.

Mexico, of course, is not just Mexico City. Since 3 years I am proposing workshops in Oaxaca. In Oaxaca I can offer you a customized photo expedition. In Oaxaca you will live a unique experience in the warm south of Mexico. You will know incredible places like Hierve El Agua or Mitla. If you are ad adventure photographer you will love this:

OAXACA WORKSHOPS

It doesn’t matter what is your choice. Mexico is a fantastic country for any person and photographers will love it. My experiences (wokshops and expeditions) give you something unique not offered by others. I am a real documentary photographer working not just in nice places, and you know by taking an experience with me you will photograph in total safety, in places otherwise impossible to make. Any expeience with me includes books and mentoring program after, with portfolio reviews and opportunities to be involved in editorial projects.

To know more:

WORKSHOPS

When I return to the barrio, the microbus passes through a flyover. At a certain point in front of you, you can see the mountain, half covered with houses. A varied and colorful cluster.

 

 

The picture was taken in a barrio in Mexico City, north side. I was attracted by the written cholo west side: it reminded me of Bronx street culture. So I documented a little bit about: the cholo gangs were born in U.S. in the mid 70s. The cholo groups in Mexico were well established at least by the mid 1970s along the US-Mexico border, and in Central Mexico (Mexico City, EDOMEX). Many of these groups were formed by youths who had spent time in the United States and who returned with a different street culture identity. These groups have their own style of dress and speech with their appartenence hand signals, tattoos and graffiti. Well established Latino gangs from the United States (among them the Norteños, Sureños, Latin Kings, 18th Street Gang and MS-13) have made a strong presence in Mexico by making Alliances with local drug cartels based on particular regions or cities.

 

IT HAS BEEN A PARTICULAR YEAR. AND I WANT TO SHARE IT WITH YOU.

The year opened with an invitation to be one of the speakers and protagonists at Orvieto 2018, a 3 days international event organized by FIOF. Thanks to FIOF, my work has been exhibited this year in Orvieto and also in Barletta along with Masters of Photography like Francesco Cito, Ivo Saglietti, Graziano Perotti and I became a partner and FIOF ambassador in the world. This year my work has been exhibited also at the Alte Kongresshalle in München during the PICTAday 2018.

This year has been intense and extreme. If from a professional point of view it was in many ways extraordinary, on a personal level I was on a roller coaster. Even if there were difficult times this did not interfere with the energy poured into the work.

In May and June I was in Italy, where I have found a great success with my ITALIA DOLCE VITA WORKSHOPS. Palermo, Milano, Roma: 4 workshops with fantastic people who assisted. I was able to continue my project there, meeting friends and having fun.

Between July and August I was in Oaxaca, covering the Guelaguetza. 10 days super intense and extreme, where I experienced unique situations and realized several photo stories. My dedication with photojournalism has been highly confirmed through my commitment fo the agencies I collaborate, and I back to work with NGOs. 

New projects are born and I can see an evolution in my path as photographer. I still don’t know where it will take me. As an educator I launched new photographic courses, for example I am back to propose the online street photography workshops.

This year things have happened that left me with the charge of having only touched them: for example Bild contacted me because they would me covering an event in Mexico but at that time I was in Italy…great honor to me, but I really would be able to do it. For the ones don’t know Bild is the the best-selling newspaper in Europe.

PERSONAL NOTES ON HOW IT WORKS THIS NEW PROJECT IDEA

FORM: AESTHETICS AND MINDSET

Apparently unstudied snapshots. 

The photos will reveal themselves with more careful examination. 

They need to be on a compositional level calculated and balanced.

Deep consideration of framing.

Lines and colors chosen to emphasize the formal qualities of the place.

FOCUS: PROJECT GOAL

Visual diary, communicating my own experience.

To communicate the everyday in front of my eyes, in oder to present to the viewers atmosphere and sensations of the places and objects in the photographs.

Light and composition need to evoke feelings to the viewer.

 

CHALLENGE: DIFFICULTIES AND CONSIDERATIONS

Color is perceived, more than black and white, with a snapshot connotation.

Can still striking a certain approach to urban landscape photography  today? In 1975 some Los Angeles – based photographers presented a new approach to landscape photography in the exhibition New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape.  They presented images of often banal subjects such as strip malls or power lines.  They changed the course and the idea people did have until that moment of landscape photography.

References to me are Robert Adams, Stephen Shore, William Eggleston, Guido Guidi, Joel Meyerowitz, Luigi Ghirri, Wim Wenders, Joel Sternfeld, Jean-Marc Bustamante. Quotidian imagery of Mexico landscape in front of my eyes, are now renewed by proposing a work in color.

I teached urban landscape photography at University in the past. I strongly believe the urban landscape photography has a political character, as Robert Adams himself showed us. I see this project as a documentary work, where I will have the opportunity to communicate something that goes beyond the aesthetic nature of showing places and moments in Mexico.

I am happy to share this case study with my readers. You appeciated the previous one on the synopsis of the new project. I hope this will be appeciated too.

WHAT I AM DOING WITH THIS BLOG IS AMBITIOUS AND IT STARTS FROM AN IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION: STREET PHOTOGRAPHERS ARE MORE INTELLIGENT OF HOW THEY ARE CONSIDERED

I am proposing technique articles on this blog pretty different by the most of the blogs you find out of here. It is a philosophic approach to master the technique, a technique always put at the service of the events in front of us. Something my students are familiar because I don’t use a standardized method of teaching.

The evolution of my photographic process involves a lot of walking around, really lived life, and I am focused in collecting events happening  in front of my eyes that can tell a story, interesting, in my opinion.

David Lynch, filmmaker, photographer, musician helps with this statement:

“An idea comes — and you see it, and you hear it, and you know it… We don’t do anything without an idea. So they’re beautiful gifts. And I always say, you desiring an idea is like a bait on a hook — you can pull them in. And if you catch an idea that you love, that’s a beautiful, beautiful day. And you write that idea down so you won’t forget it. And that idea that you caught might just be a fragment of the whole — whatever it is you’re working on — but now you have even more bait. Thinking about that small fragment — that little fish — will bring in more, and they’ll come in and they’ll hook on. And more and more come in, and pretty soon you might have a script — or a chair, or a painting, or an idea for a painting. More often than not, in small fragments…”

Photography to me is essentially an emotional reaction. End of the story. When I pressed the shutter button I have or I don’t have the photograph I wanted. Just like all the photographers. But then, as writer of things about photography and as an educator I have another mission to carry forward. 

To be a writer too, makes me different from only photographers. This is a fact. I am not afraid of words. I think we need more contents of a certain cultural level. Let’s stop to feed SEO posts where THE NOTHING is celebrated, because Street Photographers need respect, and they don’t need really of stupid rankings. This also generated the kindergarden of today, that street photography bubble unuseful or useful only to the ones thinking lensculture is something serious. 

We have to question our photos. We need to get a real cognitive semiotics approach to the analysis of street photos in order to understand what is valid and what is not. We need to stop to celebrate stuff that does not communicate anything and therefore is not commentable from its own author. If you are not able to talk about your photograph, well, is very likely that it is not a good photo. A photographer should be a man not only for action but also for thought. A person with culture and not lensculture, if you know what I mean. 

On this blog, as my followers and readers know, I don’t think for SEO strategies. This blog is for the ones looking for something more ambitious. I am receiving a lot of congrats for this and I would let you know, you dear reader of this blog, you are the inspiration to make this possible. 

For the opening of this article presents 2 photos where the motivation to photograph has been the same: I was interested to the expressions of the conversers. Something it can be a minor reason to the most, but not to me. As a photo consumer I love the ability of Richard Kalvar to evoke the atmosphere of a conversation, captured in the street. The framing and composition of these photograph turns the other elements present on the scene as indispensable elements of contextualization, presented as an element of life that flows around. A classic everyday happening in the streets of any part of the world, yet still interesting in my eyes for my intention to document Oaxaca. 

The mindset is a relevant part in any photograph we do. It influences the photograph much more than we can think of. In the photographs I do I always worry about having a positive attitude towards the work I am doing. Despite a lot of people with cameras is focused on technical aspects, these are a really a definitely not pre-weighting part in my concentration. And my attention to the formal aspect of composition is constantly connected with the ideas about the story and what I am seeing in front of my eyes.

A static car in a street. Not that much, right? Yet this often motivates me to shoot. A note of absence often catches my eye. I this case I was attracted by the wall that I photographed without the car the day before:

Sometimes I am attracted and I use intense surfaces where the sensation of the material is almost palpable.

It is an approach and a particular mindset that I used to focus on cetain aspects on the work realized for the set Città Fantasma:

You can check out that work here:

La Città Fantasma

In the case of the photo take in Poggioreale proposed here I used the window and the door to get the viewer to wonder what is beyond. It is a easy way to make this in that particular situation of those abandoned buildings, and  creating in the viewer’s mind the desire to continue to see the image, looking inside the window, and oveall inside the door. The wall structure is palpable,  helping the viewer to wander around the image. In a way less strong and impactful, the previous images with or without the car can let the viewe question about what’s behind the wall.

I have thought a lot about sharing my opinion about this happening.

The in public faida has become public knowledge by choice of direct protagonists. And this blog certainly counts street photography as a recurring theme. Furthermore I have to say that in public website was one of the few exisiting when I started to make street photos and all over the years I always considered the collective as one of the places where a martian should check out in order to receive the imprinting of what street photography is. 

With hindsight, I am not even that sure. This is because when you mature a certain experience and the tastes inevitably evolve you get aware there is not, never, a bible to follow. Don’t get me wrong: I don’t want to cancel all the merits that the site of the collective has at all, but  at the same time, I think they contributed to a certain idea of street photography, almost always based on hunting for the unicorn, of the absurd moment, or to say with words used by Nick Turpin, with a smile in the head. Of the same period, and one of the first collectives, before the big wave and the fashion of street photography, it is the Mignon collective from Padova and they, as Italians, have always favored a different taste and approach, more focused on classic reportage, linked to poetry and at the same time to documentary.

The ridiculous fact of these hours is not coming from the in public faida, but from those who, watchers,  have decided to stand up for one or the other, with a large majority in favor of Blake to tell the truth…It is so typical of these times, where unknown characters allow themselves to cut judgments on other photographers, or proposing rankings expressing only a kindergarten attitude.

I really don’t see the need to place me on one side or the other. First of all because the real actors in the game doesn’t care about what I think. And then because I think we should stop to be as supporters of football teams when it comes to photography. Photography is self expression, first of all. And the variables are very many and different. 

I would point on other aspects of the story: first of all, what is a collective? I am the founder of 2 collectives, noise, created in 2014 altogether with Michael Ernest Sweet, and since a year of la.strada. and I never imposed any particular guideline, especially on the photos to publish. Who am I to say what a photographer should publish? Also: I always thought that a collective shouldn’t be a trap for creativity and self expression. Any photographer in a collective is there to make his contribution, but the principle of autodetemination should never fail, because it dosn’t matter if the collective is moe documentay or more focused on an artistic inspiration: photographers are creative, and anyone has several periods, evolutions, changes of inspiration and approach.

We also should consider a fact: we can stay at a round table for a lifetime discussing about what is street photography and eveyone will have his own idea. This is the good and the bad of this genre, the good because street photography is essentially anarchism based on our own mindset and most of the time based on trespassing the rules. The bad because exactly for this reason there are contrasts and religious factions.

Blake Andrews in his open letter to Nick Turpin (the two opposing sides) has, in my opinion, his winning points when he argues:

“Every camera sees the world in its own way, and that way is often different from what the eye sees. I believed at the time and continue to believe that dissonance to be very exciting. It is, on some level, the root of why I photograph.”

I really hear that statement. We should also consider an important fact: Blake Andrews has been clear about how the photo was generated, but even if it had not been…what would have changed of the perception that one has?

The issue, should be another one. And this is just my opinion. Usually I’m not impressed by a technical aspect to the point of giving all the specific weight of the value of a photo. For my way of looking at and understanding a photograph, a fish eye lens is most of the time an issue because it calls too much attention to how the photo was made. Its form and lens distortions overwhelm the content. To the point it results distracting. Guess what? It is the same happening with the Blake Andrews photo. In my opinion I see a moment not very interesting,  showing nothing very important happening, and a technical error of the camera can’t give a value to a photo in my opinion. I am open mind with imperfections in a photograph, also due to a lens or a particular camera that generates a particular imbalance in the form, but it can’t be anything, if the content is missing. But I am sure also Blake Andrews doesn’t think we are in front of a great picture. It is pretty forgettable, indeed, if it were not for the chaos generated.

About the technical issue generated all this war, the in public wa, I would add that also black and white is a deformation of reality, and when we talk about reality in photography we should be aware that is impossible to think to a objective reality. Garry Winogrand stated: Photography is about finding out what can happen in the frame. When you put four edges around some facts, you change those facts. And I add that is the great thing of photography.

A photograph will be always an artifact, filtered or mediated, by the choices of the photographer, and of course the  technology used: if Bresson used another camera and lens the photos would be resulted different. If I would start to use the flash on the streets my photography would change drastically. It is a fact. An incontrovertible fact. 

To my eyes also the new picture of the month is deceptioning. With all the respect for Matt Stuart, that photo is in my opinion not very different from the average we see every single day in street photography groups. I am not surprised. Today street photography at best it is underexposed photos with black piece backgrounds, flash shots, ironic juxtapositions, color couplings and overlays of objects. It is the reason why perfect strangers, with very little visual culture, judge outdated Willy Ronis, Garry Winogrand, Lee Friedlander or even Henri Cartier- Bresson and they raise nosense and dumb pictures to modernity.

This post doesn’t want to be judgmental, although it has already done it in some passages.

I would also highlight the absurd of the results who see outside the collective the founder Nick Turpin and Nils Jorgensen. The absurd is that street photography is not photojournalism, where a deontological and ethical code is required. The Magnum agency has never ousted Steve McCurry when he was caught several times to alter photographs heavily and also quite rough, by removing secondary elements but also whole foreground subjects. Where we expected greater rigor, nothing happened.

It is happened in a street photography collective, one of the historical ones too.

To document yourself about the story:

THE PHOBLOGRAPHER

NICK TURPIN ON BLAKKAMERA

OPEN LETTER BY BLAKE ANDREWS

 

 

Have you noticed that are always made blogs on the masters but rarely on some project of the masters?

This blog wants to celebrate some of the works are a constant reference to me.

STEPHEN SHORE – LOS ANGELES

This is simply a masterpiece when it comes to certain instintive and smart photography. The work in Los Angeles, in black and white of Stephen Shore is less known than his urban color, yet it represents for me the essence of a certain street photography that I love.

LINK

LEE FRIEDLANDER – NUDES

The master of social landscape showed with the work on the nudes an energy and an intensity that are rarely seen even in the best erotic photography. This is also one of the reasons why he is one of my absolute favorites. I share the links to purchase the books on amazon. The price of both is human.

LINK

LINK 2

FERDINANDO SCIANNA – MARPESSA

The work realized by Scianna with Marpessa Hennink is the constant reference to me when it comes to portrait photography. Poetry, elegance and sensuality enclosed in a gem of photographic work that is already immortal.

LINK

GARRY WINOGRAND – WOMEN ARE BEAUTIFUL

I visited in Mexico City 2 times the exhibition Women Are Beautiful, the inspiring work of 1975. Could I forget this masterpiece?

LINK

Maybe this post will deserve other volumes. There are a lot of woks and photographers I consider fundamental for me. And I think is pretty interesting to share them with my readers.