Phoneography Challenge: Black-and-White

17 June 2013

Lens:

1. Mid-Afternoon Freight Train, iPhone 4s, June 2103; © Sally W. Donatello and Lens and Pens by Sally, 2013

2. Late Afternoon Cloudscape, iPhone 4s, June 2013; © Sally W. Donatello and Lens and Pens by Sally, 2013

Let me know which you prefer and why.

Pens:

Gracie (http://graciebinoya.com), Polly (http://watchingthephotoreels.com) and I began the iPhoneography Monday Challenge in February. Recently, we had a re-launch that made the challenge open to everyone who uses their Smartphones as their lens–exclusively, experimentally, frequently, occasionally, or back-up. Check here for that post. If you’d like to join the fun, please click here for details. Please use the current badge until a new one is created.  

Many authors, professionals and scholars will tell you that to become a better writer, you must read, read, read. Then read more.

I easily extend this immersion into my photography. I spend much time browsing and staring at the masters and those who reside on the continuum. To graze across pages or visit galleries and museums that display different styles, blossoming talents, imaginative design, vivid sensibilities, narrative skills, and various techniques is to secure invaluable lessons.

Most of the greats that I admire and study are genius black-and-white photographers. Their photographic eye is a vision to behold. Their originality is on exhibit. As their images inspire, they also push my own sense of what can be stilled.

Each discovery of an artist’s work can bring untold expansion to my own vision. My latest obsession is the work of Brazilian documentary photographer, photojournalist and author Sebastiao Salgado, who is a voice for social justice. His work produces an emotional wave that brings more than a moment in time.

Since he became a professional photographer, he has leaned toward the monochrome. The black-and-white print has become his palette of choice.

Salgado’s current photographic oeuvre describes the threat of habitat change that affects humans, the land and wildlife. He dives into projects, which are created to push his high regard for nature and the need to preserve what remains.

Photograph by Sebastiao Salgado, Google Images

Photograph by Sebastiao Salgado, Google Images

“Africa” (2010) by Sebastiao Salgado, Google Images

“Genesis” is Salgado’s third major project. A book and traveling exhibition that recently premiered in London, it interweaves his environmentalism and aesthetics. These visually dazzling photographs never strain to tell his tale. They are memorable in their dialogue with us, making their points and documenting the vulnerability of our planet. If you live in Toronto, Rio, Rome and Paris, the exhibition is coming your way.

If you’ll be in London this summer, please see the exhibition at the Natural History Museum through 08 September. The museum is known for its nature photography, and this show adds to its already stellar worldwide reputation.

You’ll be influenced by Salgado’s ability to weave elements of tension and peril into a pictorial story. He has succeeded in giving us “a portrait of the planet” that he hopes can be saved. He also hopes that more of us will do our part. For more about the exhibition, click here.

I’m sharing my admiration for this man’s artistry and mission, because his work inspires. The sheer beauty and majesty of his photographs praises Mother Nature. They also plea for us to build a symbiotic relationship with her. As important, his magnificently-printed images record glorious vistas of our planet’s treasures.

Salgado is a humble artist who is more interested in presenting a narrative than gorgeous natural wonders. These quotes provide some insight into his philosophy:

“…my way of photographing is my way of life. I photograph from my experience, my way of seeing things, and it is very difficult to tell you whether I photograph in one style or another.” Excerpts from an interview with Sebastiao Salgado by Ken Lassiter, Photographer’s Forum

“You photograph with all your ideology.” – Popular Photography – issue of March 2008, p. 127.

“I try with my pictures to raise a question, to provoke a debate, so that we can discuss problems together and come up with solutions.”

In the Lens section are my selections for today’s challenge. I’m trying to show nature on the move, her intersection with human nature, and how they weave a tapestry from the individual threads of my small universe.

Tip of the Week: Click here to view Sebastiao Salgado’s TED Talk on “The Silent Drama of Photography.” And to learn about the book, Genesis, click here.

Here are other entries:

http://blogagaini.wordpress.com/2013/06/17/iphoneography-monday-challenge-2

http://watchingthephotoreels.com/2013/06/16/im-at-the-beach-and-its-time-for-a-black-and-white-challenge/

http://completelydisappear.wordpress.com/2013/06/17/the-war-inside/

http://streetsofsfphotos.com/2013/06/17/fallen/

http://goomfh.wordpress.com

http://nwframeofmind.com/2013/06/17/phoneography-monday-black-and-white/

http://simplylifestuff.com/2013/06/17/phoneography-monday-bw/

http://angelinem.wordpress.com/2013/06/17/phoneography-challenge-black-and-white/

http://icastel.wordpress.com/2013/06/15/ventura-california-street-photography/

http://thepalladiantraveler.com/2013/06/18/phoneography-challenge-black-and-white/

http://graciebinoya.com/2013/06/18/phoneography-challenge-black-white/

http://weliveinaflat.wordpress.com/2013/06/19/phoneography-weekly-the-light-in-dining-halls/

http://vastlycurious.com/?attachment_id=2947

http://zimmerbitch.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/phoneography-challenge-black-white/

https://growthandpossibilty.wordpress.com/2013/06/17/phoneography-monday-black-and-white

http://woollymuses.wordpress.com/2013/06/22/phoneographyyou-yangs

Note: As always I welcome comments about this post or any part of my blog. The following is a reminder of the weekly schedule and themes for upcoming challenges.  

1st Monday: Nature

2nd Monday: Macro

3rd Monday: Black-and-White

4th and 5th Mondays: Challenger’s Choice (Pick One: Abstraction, Architecture, Food Photography, Night Photography, Portraiture, Still Life, Street Photography, and Travel).

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