Full text of the blog translated by Mark Donnelly:
Till your fingers bleed. Photography by Brett Walker His portraits are like that: emotive, intense and dramatic. The souls of his subjects are left as naked as their faces. He takes away the veils of appearance, savoir faire, power and leaves them with nothing to hide behind. And it is so his portraits exude pain, anguish, madness, heartbreak… The ghosts from his past in the world of fashion are almost imperceptible, although they are present in his use of light, technique and versatility. It does however seem the complete opposite to the aestheticism we often see in the pages of a fashion magazine. His portraits are a testimony to a unique and real moment and not something that has been staged. In this portrait as in many others of Walker's work, beauty does not hide the apparent pain. He doesn’t try to beautify the woman but to show a hidden side. However a miracle is performed that only serves to intensify her beauty. Blacks frame the eyes and fill the shadows of her hair and part of the face. You can almost touch the grain giving it a texture from another time. The little reflections in the eyes add emotion and intensity to a gaze that drills through the screen. Be careful not to look at her too long: it hurts. Brett Walker (Blackburn Royal Infirmary, England, 1962) Brett Walker’s trajectory is meteoric, surprising and unpredictable. At the ripe age of 18 he is already making a living as a photographer in London and at 22 he is the only European fashion photographer in Tokyo. His 1980’s are totally dedicated to fashion photography until he tires of the frivolity of a world, which is strange to him. Beaten by his own ethics he begins to travel the world as a merchant sailor living in such places as Angola, Bangkok or Brazil and works with street children. He couldn’t distance himself further from the world of fashion although he doesn’t totally give up on photography. It is in the new millennium that he forgets about the dark room and the old Alchemy and plunges into the world of Polaroid and then digital. With such a great background he doesn’t look for inspiration in the past but in the freshness and disinhibition of young photographers. Asked why he recommends young photographers who are just starting out, he makes a declaration of principles: They shoot till their fingers bleed.
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Full text of the blog translated by Mark Donnelly::
Street Castaways. Photography byJonathan Van Smit We are not used to seeing his Hong Kong. The city that Jonathan van Smit portrays is a far cry from the images of vanguard technology, skyscrapers or overpopulation that we are used to. With his Leica in hand he pounds the slums of Kowloon. It almost seems like the city of Wong Kar Wai with its stylized and velvety reds has lost its colour and elegance, almost as if it were dyed black and dark grey. The looks of the prostitutes, vagabonds and night vampires are filled with despair. The scenes are dirty, dark and sordid. The stark contrast and wide angle turn these sad scenes into intense dramas and insinuate stories that the imagination is able to fill with little effort. Here, the woman closes her eyes and we dread to imagine what she is feeling or what images she is projecting inside her head. Amongst all the dirt her white dress seems to have its own light. His photographs are like that, an antidote for indifference and a blow in the face of the spectator who is not accustomed to such strong emotions. Boredom, routine, despair and pain pass through these mean streets with no half-measures, sweeteners or soft greys. And there, Jonathan is with his gift of ubiquity to attest to that. Jonathan van Smit (New Zealand, 1949) His passion for photography awakes in his adolescence but it is not until the arrival of digital that it becomes an obsession. He finds nothing in his native paradise of New Zealand to motivate him. There is too much beauty. However, in 2008 he moves to Honk Kong and it is there in it’s streets, in it’s nights where he finds his natural habitat. A compulsive photographer, in his weekends he walks for 15 hours (more at times) in search of the images that grip him. He shoots over 400 stills, always with a wide angle that obligates him to get closer to the subject. This is how he wraps us up in his images and without realizing it we become part of them and we ask ourselves what are we doing there? ©Photography: Jonathan van Smit |
Luis Mariano González
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