Let me have my Lee Friedlander moment…
Self portrait:
Friedlander produced a brilliant book of photographs in 1970 titled “Self Portrait”. Most of the images are intrusions of himself into photographs he took during the 1960′s. Intrusion is probably the correct word, accidental they are not (for the most part).
John Szarkowski, in the afterword to the reprinted edition, writes about the artist and the self portrait, using Albrecht Durer as an example. Durer portrays himself with Christ like saintliness, starkly at odds with the portraits he paints of his patrons (and even they are probably improvements on the reality, he isn’t going to piss them off) and lets face it, probably major spin on Durer’s part.
Friedlander’s self-portraits are more accidental in that respect, since he has often found himself in the frame as a shadow or a reflection that is often a subsidiary element of the photo. However, he hasn’t discarded the photo’s as ‘mistakes’.� Collected together (for me anyway) they add up to more than the sum of any ‘reality’ that conscious portrayal of the self is capable of. As a result they are possibly more of a true self-portrait. Possibly…
Whatever. Photography of self is an interesting concept, particularly if ‘self’ is treated dispassionately as an object. How many of us are capable of that?
Freidlander’s book is highly recommended by me: ‘Self Portrait, Photographs by Lee Friedlander’, Lee Friedlander, Afterword by John Szarkowski, MOMA, New York, 2005. If you have the original, kudos…
Window:
I like the light and falling away to darkness. Where do the steps go…
St Pauls, Deptford:
Pleased with the composition, the crucifix seems like an ancillary lampost leading to/from the church.
The photos were taken on a Bessa-R, CV 28/1.9 Ultron using FP4+ EI 100. Developed in APH09 (Rodinal) for 11 minutes. 10 seconds initial agitation then 2 inversions every 30 seconds
by skinnyvoice
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