peek-a-boo

new photography class has begun...with teacher Palmer Davis encouraging us to see the magic that surrounds us all the time...

and reminding us that how we see is more important than what we see. I really like that.

More aptly stated by Paul Strand:
"No matter what lens you use, no matter what the speed of the film is, no matter how you develop it, no matter how you print it, you cannot say more than you see."


And one more note that describes much of what we discussed in class -- from the filmmaker Wim Wenders:

"...Taking pictures is an act in time, in which something is snapped out of its own time
and transferred into a different kind of duration.
It is commonly assumed that whatever is captured in this act lies IN FRONT OF the camera. But that is not true. Taking pictures is an act in two directions:
Forwards AND backwards.


Yes, taking pictures also "backfires." This isn't even too lame a comparison.
Just as the hunter lifts his rifle, aims at the deer in front of him, pulls the trigger,
and, when the bullet departs from the muzzle,
is thrown backwards by the recoil, the photographer, likewise, is thrown backwards,
onto himself, when releasing the shutter.


A photograph is always a double image, showing, at first glance, its subject,
but at a second glance - more or less visible,"hidden behind it", so to speak,
the "reverse angle:" the picture of the photographer in action.

Just as the hunter is not struck by the bullet, though, but only feels the recoil of the explosion, this counter-image contained in every photograph
is not actually captured by the lens, either.
(Yet it remains somehow inextricably in the picture,
as an invisible impression of the photographer
that even gets developed within the dark room chemistry…)

What then is the recoil of the photographer?
How do you feel its impact?
How does it affect the subject
and which trace of it appears on the photograph?


In German, there is a most revealing word
for this phenomenon,
a word known from a variety of contexts:
"EINSTELLUNG."


It means the attitude
in which someone approaches something,
psychologically or ethically,
i.e. the way of attuning yourself
and then "taking it in."

But "Einstellung" is also a term from photography and film
signifying both the "take" (a particular shot and its framing),
as well as how the camera is adjusted
in terms of the aperture and exposure
by which the cameraman "takes" the picture..."