samba nights...

 

i hear a sad song...i do not understand the words, but i can "feel" it is sad....deep, melancholy, and goes with the mood of the city...dark, mysterious and sometimes full of dread....i wander São Paulo, with not a clue where i am,  but i am told  that i am now in the heart of Samba....Barra Funda , an "oasis" amid the chaos, the neighborhood  where Samba began...originally the "voice" of slaves, now the musical expression of choice for many Brazilians....

just when i am wondering why, and for how long, can any culture endure one of the worlds most quixotic megacities (19 million), with the highest of all crime stats (5,000 murders annually)  and traffic stats (1000 added cars each day) , the music picks up a beat...sounds now happier and the people dance and sing....joy washes over everyone....in celebration, we drink cachaça ...warm, sweet and straight to the cerebellum....whew (how will i get home?)....made from the very sugar cane which promulgated slavery in the first place...but, i am smiling reeling along with everyone else....clapping, dancing....more cachaça...and more more...

suddenly the music stops... é o fim....abraços goodbye....thank  you...muito obrigado ...i hope we meet again..........yes, i do...

 

 

 

Comments

[Ana Yturralde]

After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. Aldous Huxley said that, and it is true. As music is pure feeling.... as your pictures!!

[david alan harvey]

ANA...

how are you?? and the family?? i do hope to see you perhaps at the end of the month...maybe not...but i hope so....anyway, sometime soon....

besos, david

[Eric Espinosa]

Hello David. Like the mood of these photographs. What brought you into Brazil into the first place? Is this quick "shoot" still somehow connected to your hip hop story...I remember that you chased black music influence or origin all the way to Senegal with the griots etc....Intesresting how the same music influence orginally from slaves etc may have evolved differently into another continent leading to samba etc... By the way, music seems to take an important place into some of your subject...Will there still be a place for music influence into your next project (that you still have not told us about....)? Eric

[david alan harvey]

ERIC...

i just came to Brazil for a few days as part of a photo conference...this work was just me wandering around over the weekend (most shot in about two hours or so) and are not part of any project..i must always shoot something!!!

yes, i have always worked quite a bit with African descended cultures....starting with my very earliest work....and a good part of that means music music music..

cheers, david

[Rafal Pruszynski]

nice work, David. Did you feel safe in Sao Paolo? Ive heard and read horror stories....

[Anna Barry-Jester]

I've been on a communication fast the past month, enjoying rare nights of not checking email, but looking to see how the starry sky has evolved from the previous hours, which clusters the clouds are covering. The Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua, floating down river on the back of a boat, night time fires lighting the way back "home." And there really is beauty in leaving it behind for a bit...

but the quality of responses to recent posts are overwhelming, how to step into a conversation such as your taking aim post!

There are somewhat differing sensations between an assignment (self or externally imposed) that can be brought together in a coherent manner, and those days when one goes dancing through the streets, caught on a wire that leads you up and down the paths of wherever...

Sometimes I just like the feeling of pulling a story together, easily translatable. But then the meandering often leads to so much more. In the end it is all wandering, being allowed to penetrate another space for a while, and capture it in a box that one has designed and built. But there is a difference in inertia. It sounds like a good weekend in Sao Paolo....

[Velibor Bozovic]

Is there anything better than strolling around an unknown city? My favorite activity, the last one was Havana, and who knows what the next one is going to be... I exchanged the 'secure', routine filled life for this one, and your post David just reminded me why...
Best,

[lisa Hogben]

David not only did you find that cat, but its in exactly the right place!

Beautiful, just beautiful...

I love that lone figure, the green and the red and the fading brown ghost.

Or maybe I love the man on the outside more...

Definitely my favorite photos for a long time.

Thanks for those images, reminds me to go and find my cat again!

[Panos Skoulidas]

( from a personal letter to Marcin,
slightly modified, though...)

"...Nowadays, crazy things happen here in America ( southern cali.)... Recession coming..
The construction industry slowed down dramatically lately...
Construction workers remain jobless...
Las Vegas Nevada, and other a lot of California cities experienced " booming" and huge expansion the last five years...
Monster cities, new homes everywhere.. People buying homes like palaces for adjustable rates...
And then the marker crashed... Two years ago... Depression , people losing jobs, houses... Foreclosures...
Sad. emptied , little luxurious GHOST TOWNS...
Thats what I'm trying to record lately...
The " desertification" of california ...
People is nowhere to be found....

http://blog.panosfotografia.com/

All those model homes on model streets on model towns... "Ghost Towns"... this is what i found myself photographing a lot lately...
I can walk for hours and see nobody... in those unfinished " luxurious projects "...
Virgin towns... nobody ever lived there... they are built the last 5 years as a result of overconfidence and very expensive
life in the west side ( and dangerously in the south central of L.A)...

and o the other side,
you have DAVID'S photos above from Brazil..., full of people, people, people and people....
and then i look at my "ghost town"....

no people, no people and NO PEOPLE...
sad.

peace
ps: Thank you David... nice..., alive , vibrant photos..."

ps2: MIKE, yes, im down of us meeting in LA..
call me , or email me...

[Panos Skoulidas]

SEPULTURA, FROM BRAZIL CONFESS:

"...Unknown man
Speaks to the world
Sucking your trust
A trap in every world

Chorus
War for territory
War for territory

Choice control
Behind propaganda
Poor information
To manage your anger

Chorus

Dictators speech
Blasting off your life
Rule to kill the urge
Dumb assholes speech

Years of fighting
Teaching my son
To believe in that man
Racist human being
Racist ground will live
Shame and regret
Of the pride
Youve once possessed

Chorus

Sepultura lyrics..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61yn5N5VksA

[Panos Skoulidas]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzFtU3k2oa0&feature=related

Sepultura is a Brazilian thrash metal band, formed in 1984.
Their name means "grave" in Portuguese, which they chose after Max Cavalera, one of the founding members, was translating the lyrics of the Motörhead song "Dancing on Your Grave" from their Another Perfect Day album.
Sepultura was formed in 1984 at Belo Horizonte, the capital city of Minas Gerais, Brazil. ..."

ps: I hope all of the above are really relevant and helpfull...
and i dont even listen to metal anymore... but,
thats "good" metal..

[Beatrix]

I don’t know how you do it David but looking at the pictures it seems that you were friend of those people for quiet some time... the last one is my favorite!!!

Beatrix

[SF Jason]

What is it about music that changes human behavior so freely?

Why does music drive two grown men, wearing expensive ties and coats, to do the chicken dance at a party? Resulting in sweat drenched shirts, pants split at the seams, with a few bits and pieces of vomit splatter on the left pant leg?

How in the heck did I come up with this from photos & words above?

[Ana Yturralde]

Oh yes David, I do hope to see you soon too. I'm fine fine fine. My life changed quite a lot since we met last time and now I'm inmersed in a project that I'm sure you will like. Will be great to talk about it with you and know your opinion! (and later, really hope you like the result).

Besos!

Ana

[david alan harvey]

RAFAL...

well, the murder rate here is DOWN...from 12,000 murders per year to 5,000 in just 4 or 5 years...so, there is a crack down on crime...but, if everyone didn't keep telling me how dangerous it is , i might not think so..Sao Paulo does not really feel any more dangerous than many places...but danger is a funny thing...and i have noticed this in conflict zones too..when nothing is happening , all seems fine...but then, "boom" suddenly you are in trouble..same with the South Bronx gangs etc etc..the problem in SP is that guys on motorcycles, operating as a team, will evidently shoot you "without mercy" (as a friend here describes) for whatever you have...laptop, camera etc...it is best to be discreet to say the least..

ANNA BARRY-JESTER....

i agree...sometimes i like to have a story out in front of me...sometimes i like to just wander as you describe....check out a little book by Jose Camilla Cela..."Travels in the Alcarria"...nothing happens in this book...no plot...just "observations"...Cela was a writer, but a better image maker would be hard to find...

VELIBOR....

nice to hear from you...will i see you in Charlottesville this year??? i see a real "mood" in your work....i do hope we can meet again in person and go over your "directions"...thanks for your comment...

LISA...

i saw that white cat wandering around the street where i was shooting all night...i kept trying to get her/him in something...gave up...just as i was leaving the "hood", the party over, suddenly she/he just got up on the car and posed for me...you cannot tell a cat what to do!!!

PANOS....

i need to spend a few days with you...private workshop....i am serious...i just know know know, i can squeeze something out of you...

your mind is a treasure just waiting to be unlocked....tortured, angry sometimes, sentimental, caring, special....all of us here can see it i think...i just want to get that mind of yours into the camera and into print or multimedia or whatever...i mean DOWN

you are already OPEN...definitely not shy...but, there is another part to be discovered...or, just needs to be manifested in work or a medium that may or may not be "traditional"...

who cares if you have people or no people??? maybe it matters , maybe it does not...i do not know...in my upcoming journey we will meet....and something will happen...i do not know what, but something....stay tuned....

thanks again for all the YouTube links etc etc...i cannot keep up...cannot get "Old Man" out of my head....

BEATRIX....

i did not know any of these people at all....and i was just with them about 2 or 3 hours at most i think...but they could see i loved the samba..or, more likely, they were not paying too much attention to me because of the samba...some nice combo of the two...people can tell if you are "comfortable" or not...if you act like you are "at home" in a situation, people will make you feel "at home"...i like to get "absorbed", not be "out of place"...i do not move much..

peace, david

[John R. Fulton Jr.]

I read somewhere that the samba is supposed to make you smile. Today, your words and pictures made me smile. Keep up the great work, David.

[erica mcdonald]

"...i do not move much.."

Eureka I've found it!

The secret of the man who seems to never stop moving is the sheer embodiment of Newton's 3rd law of motion..to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction...and it seems you there by avoid the first law, the one about inertia and an object at rest remaining at rest, and you capitalize on the 2nd, the one about momentum..

Bravo!

[Lara Wechsler]

The red, yellow green color scheme is nice, I had to look up the Brazilian flag to see what the colors were since I did not remember, but close because the Brazilian flag is blue, yellow and green.

[Sidney Atkins]

David,

No time to write, I'm still swamped with work, but I wanted to acknowledge your nice little set of 'Samba Nights' pictures and the story that goes with them. I'll be back here in a week or two with, hopefully, more time and energy to write, some new stories, maybe a few pictures, who knows? Meanwhile, I notice that many, many good writers have been keeping up the high standards here. Good onya, mates and ladies!

Sidney

[Aga Luczakowska]

I have never been in Sao Paolo... maybe some day i will go there! :-) From your photographs and text i assume it's very energetic place

[Velibor Bozovic]

Thanks for the comment David... I read these pages every day, not much to add since others wonderfully say it all before I can jump in, therefore my comments come seldom.
No Charlottesville this year since I fly to Sarajevo on June 16th. But I'll be in NY around May 9, there will be the launch of Aleksandar Hemon's new book (a novel) with my photographs in it. If you are there at the time maybe we could get together? I'll post here when I have more details about my NY trip... Don't forget to go and see a soccer game while in SP, it is a must...

[david alan harvey]

JOHN R. FULTON JR....

hi john...always nice to have you "check in"...and if i can make you smile, so much the better...we go way way back, too far back i am afraid...and my best memories of you are with a smile...by the way, not so long ago i checked your site and see that you are still doing your street b&w...cool..some nice work amigo....pls visit me when next you are in New York...i guess the last time i saw you was in New York last fall...right??

ERICA...

laughing...well, yes it does seem like i have been moving a lot this year (and last)...actually it is almost coincidental with this forum...i did not used to move quite as much as lately...my big problem in this regard is that it is hard for me to say "no" to something interesting...but i do not move if i do not want...so it is all voluntary and i am having a lot of fun...but maybe my next "move" is to a log cabin in the woods and i will become a recluse..what do you think???

it is true, that when i work, i do not move around too much...i am too tall and too obvious by nature, so i have to make myself "small" by sitting down or not moving...

VELIBOR...

i probably will not be in New York much of May...too bad we most likely will miss...but, you never know, so pls remind me again when you get to town...

cheers, david

[david alan harvey]

LARA...

i will be in New York by wednesday...i owe you some time, so please call...

SIDNEY...

we have been missing you my friend....we need that sane solid overall perspective !!!well, come back when you can...we will be waiting...

AGA...

well, well, you are back!!!! speaking of missing somebody, i (we) really have been missing you!!! hopefully, this means you have been doing some good work!!! or, you do not love us anymore??? please say that is not true...in any case, nice to hear from you Aga....and send us a link to any new work....

peace, david

[Marcin Luczkowski]

DAVID

My first thought about your photography when I'm looking at is YOU LIKE PRETTY WOMEN!!!!

you can't deny it!!!

You wrote...

"PANOS....

i need to spend a few days with you...private workshop....i am serious...i just know know know, i can squeeze something out of you..."

great stuff!!! Yes yes very good idea! give Panos some private workshop!!

running

[Gerhard]

It’s mind-boggling what this forum has “produced “ over the last couple of weeks.
I wanted to chime in a couple times but the messages flow swiftly . . . .
I’m still digesting, contemplating and trying to compose a few lines in response, but the jump from Family of Man to Crewdson, Gursky and Co has already been completed.

But I’ve got to get this off my chest; bobblack | April 04, 2008 at 07:37 PM wrote:
EXTRAORDINARY AND BEAUTIFUL EMOTIONAL series of photographs about fireflies! :))) and here the link to the pix http://www.skarstedt.com/index.php?mode=past&object_id=80

Dear bobblack, for me you just went a bit too far with your compliment for this photograph(s). Hold your horses! If the caption wouldn’t mention Fireflies, it could as well be dust spots on the emulsion or lousy paper development.

I saw the Gursky show in Munich and was most impressed by the quality of the extraordinarily large print-outs - 8’x15’ (yes, feet!). Certainly decorative pieces for any corporate lobby on Park Ave. What else?

A fine piece of writing – what one English man has to say about another English man –
that last but not least speaks about a kind of photography I believe in, you find here:
http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0804/the-dauntless-spirit-philip-jones-griffiths-1936-2008.htm

[Herve]

Gerhard, thanks for that. But it goes blank as a link. not sure why. So best to get to:

http://digitaljournalist.org

as I did, then on to the feature.

[Panos Skoulidas]

from HUNTINGTON PARK, here in L.A...,
my hommies from SLAYER :

Slayer Jihad Lyrics

*** ***
"...I have witnessed your death
I've seen it many times
Your tortured screams
Your decryptet little mind
A father‘s son
With pathetic eyes that bleed
Twins in the end
Begin and let the brothers fall

I will see you burned alive
Screaming for your God
I will hunt you down again for Him

God won't touch what I've done
He cries upon my feet
A privilege pain
beneath Buried are your dead
On splintered bones I walk
Sifting through the blood
Besieged to fear
Await the coming of the God!

I will watch you die again for Him

Blood is raining downward
The stain reflects the sun
Conquer, divide within
Terrorize the mind
I‘ve seen the end it‘s yours
Rosary in hand
Your selfish flesh it melts
Spilling from the sky

I will see you burn alive
Screaming for your God
I will watch you die

This is God's war!
God's war!
This is God's war!
God's war!

War of holy principles
I'm seekingGod's help in your destruction
Slit the throat of heathen man
And let his blood dilute the water
Bury your dead!

F**k your God erase his name
A lady weeps insane with sorrow
I'll take his towers from the world
You‘re f**king raped upon your deathbed

This is God's war!
God's war!
This is God's war!
God's war!
F**king holy war!!!

Be optimistic, happy, and calm
Show no fear or anxiety
Smile at the face of God
And your reward will be eternity
Holy warriors
Your patience will be justified
Everything is for Him
You must not confront the animal before you kill it
Strike as champions at the heart of the non-believers
Strike above the neck and at all extremities
For it‘s a point of no return for Almighty God
God will give victory to his faithful servants
When you reach ground zero you will have killed the enemy
The Great Satan!..."

SLAYER

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv3TudB5J10

Slayer

Jeff Hanneman, Tom Araya, Kerry King and Dave Lombardo
Background information
Origin Huntington Park, California, USA
Genre(s) Thrash metal
Heavy metal
Speed metal
Years active 1981–present
Label(s) American, Def Jam, Metal Blade

Slayer is an American thrash metal band founded by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King in 1981.[2] Slayer rose to fame as a leader of the American thrash metal movement with their 1986 release, Reign in Blood, which has been called "the heaviest album of all time" by Kerrang!.[3] The band is credited as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal bands, along with Metallica, Anthrax, and Megadeth.
Slayer is known for its musical traits, involving fast tremolo picking, guitar solos, double bass drumming, and shouting vocals. The band's lyrics and album art, which cover topics such as death, deviants, genocide, insanity, religion, Satanism, serial killers, and warfare have generated album bans, delays, lawsuits and strong criticism from religious groups and the general public..."

BRAZIL reminded me of SEPULTURA... and they
reminded me of my homeboys... SLAYER...
go figure...
peace

[Andrew Sullivan]

Anybody here ever see the movie "City of God?" It's about a kid growing up surrounded by violence in a favela in Rio during the 70's. He turns to photography for his redemption and salvation (don't we all?). Brilliant movie... up there in my top 10.

Panos your lyrics from Sepultura reminded me of the film for some reason. Kind of interesting how a country known for its beautiful culture can also be so incredibly violent.

[Martin Brink]

DAVID,
Great pics! You really tell a short story and I love how you paint with colors.
A question, what do you do with these random pics? I mean they don't belong to a project, probably not in a book or exhibition either. Do they end up as stock for Magnum? I ask because you seem to be a "project photographer". And sometimes I go out and get some decent pics, but they just don't belong anywhere. Don't know where to place them and at the same time it's a shame they'll maybe just disappear. I guess Erwitt or other photographers won't have a problem with this because they work with single images and keep collecting them. Well, this is getting long, I'm just interested how you do because I'm a bit confused about this myself..

Cheers

[asher]

Hi David,

I had time only to read your initial post and photographs- thank you for the poetic escape!

I've been crazy busy at work, but I needed your post to get my mind serenely back into the world of photography next month- I'm attending a weekend workshop with Steve McCurry in NYC. I'm really psyched!

Thanks,

Asher

[Herve]

David, just to add a stupid question to Martin's relevant one. Do photographers of your professional caliber (ie. your Magnum clooleagues) take snaps just like "aunt Sally"? Or can't they help from giving it that "authoring" stamp of theirs? Certainly these above have that authoring stamp from the light treatment, while IMO (I know little about technique though), being snaps, ie. relating to, and shot as, moments. Their quality comes from their unpretentiousness, while still giving out enough of you.

When the family gathers, do people ask you to take the pictures, or actually, are you the last they'd ask? Do you ever look at Aunt Sally's pix and think you'd have done a better job?

I think that there is out there a feeling that guys like you can do no wrong, I mean by that, all their pictures, especially those released, are meaningful, "good", even the snaps, worthy of being commented in the same breath as their most potent imagery.

(I am reminded of Picasso who refused to sign a painting someone bought then realized it was unsigned, pretexting that yes, he made it, but it's not a Picasso)

I tend to think that many pictures are not about photography, they do not have to fit in a 1 to 10 quality appraisal.

And what if Photography had been all the time about the billions taken at weddings, birthday parties, vacation, and the likes, and never about the "Art" of photography?

Bob, help me there, I am in your court for once! ;-)

[Herve]

David, all

I wish to add that reading what I wrote above, it may sound I am, in an hidden way, trying to get at David's.

Please, apologies for the writing, but this is not the case at all, if it looks so. I may be questionning, but no smirk or provocation on my part.

[Panos Skoulidas]

"ANDREW SAID :
"...Panos your lyrics from Sepultura reminded me of the film for some reason. Kind of interesting how a country known for its beautiful culture can also be so incredibly violent.

Posted by: Andrew Sullivan | April 07, 2008 at 05:26 PM..."

Andrew,
It's funny how many similarities i see between those two bands..
SEPULTURA - BRAZIL
SLAYER - USA...

VIOLENCE (fear) HAS NO COUNTRY... has no culture...

[Ignacio Aronovich]

David,

Thanks for the e-mail and have a safe journey. It was truly special meeting you in SP.

Last night Louise and I were talking about subject matter choices and how samba wasn't the first thing we associate with Sao Paulo (Vinicius de Morais called SP "the graveyard of samba" but that is really more of a Rio vs. SP thing) although it makes perfect sense in relation to your previous work.

You also went to just the right spot, Bela Vista is the home of Vai-Vai, the oldest samba school in town.

We also discussed how foreigners view Brazil and the image the country itself exports and sells, and how difficult it is to break away from the amazon+samba+football+bikini mold in terms of perception.

After spending our sunday photographing in "cracolandia" and some of the most degraded parts of the city, it was really nice to see your colorful and moody images.

I haven't posted here before but have been reading for a while, and I am fascinated by the comments.

It's also great to see a lot of things mentioned that I've previously photographed, like Sepultura (photographed at 9:30 club in D.C., Maracana in Rock in Rio, and in SP), La La La Human Steps (dance festival in SP), and City of God (we photographed Fernando Meirelles, the director).

Those who enjoyed City of God may be interested in seeing City of Men, (directed by Paulo Morelli) set in the same universe with some of the same characters, but in a lighter tone:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0870090/

Fernando Meirelles is currently working on "Blindness", based on Jose Saramago's book. The film was shot in Toronto, Montevideo, and in Sao Paulo. Meirelles also writes a blog (in portuguese) about the creative experience in a very open and revealing manner, a real lesson for those interested in filmmaking:

http://blogdeblindness.blogspot.com/

"Blindness" website:
http://www.blindness-themovie.com/

trailer:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=r9S2KwhKGO8

abrazos,

Ig

[wrobertangell]

David
if you come to LA, I wanted to ask you if you could make a moment to swing by my studio, so I can take some photobooth portraits.
I think that would be cool

[Velibor Bozovic]

'Blindness'... I didn't think anyone will tackle that wonderful book and film it... I wish Fernando Meirelles good luck...

[Panos Skoulidas]

wrobertangell said:

"...David
if you come to LA, I wanted to ask you if you could make a moment to swing by my studio, so I can take some photobooth portraits.
I think that would be cool

Posted by: | April 07, 2008 at 08:01 PM..."

Do not worry WROBERT ... i will DRIVE him... there....!
peace

[Panos Skoulidas]

IGNACIO ARONOVICH ( what a name... !!!!!!!... impressive...hmm!

"...After spending our sunday photographing in "cracolandia" and some of the most degraded parts of the city,
Posted by: Ignacio Aronovich | April 07, 2008 at 07:37 PM..."

panos asks:
whats cracolandia?
wha wha what cracolandia has to do with frieda?
what cracoladia has to bring in the table ?????
Do you mean "crack"???

where the hell is HERVE,... to translate to me all that...
young generations ... you see... hard to keep up..
peace

[Panos Skoulidas]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ-FAV9fBII

[Panos Skoulidas]

KELIS-MILKSHAKE

"...[Repeat x2]
My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard,
And their like
It's better than yours,
Damn right it's better than yours,
I can teach you,
But I have to charge

I know you want it,
The thing that makes me,
What the guys go crazy for.
They lose their minds,
The way I wind,
I think its time

[Chorus x2]
La la-la la la,
Warm it up.
Lala-lalala,
The boys are waiting

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard,
And their like
It's better than yours,
Damn right it's better than yours,
I can teach you,
But I have to charge

I can see youre on it,
You want me to teach thee
Techniques that freaks these boys,
It can't be bought,
Just know, thieves get caught,
Watch if your smart,

[Chorus x2]
La la-la la la,
Warm it up,
La la-la la la,
The boys are waiting,

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard,
And their like
It's better than yours,
Damn right it's better than yours,
I can teach you,
But I have to charge

Oh, once you get involved,
Everyone will look this way-so,
You must maintain your charm,
Same time maintain your halo,
Just get the perfect blend,
Plus what you have within,
Then next his eyes are squint,
Then he's picked up your scent,

[Chorus x2]
Lala-lalala,
Warm it up,
Lala-lalala,
The boys are waiting,

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard,
And their like
It's better than yours,
Damn right it's better than yours,
I can teach you,
But I have to charge..."

THAT'S A POEM... FOR ME !!!!!
WHERE THE HELL IS HERVE, AKAKY, ASHER, LASSAL,... and 11 more...
...All i care about is SOCCER... fuck FOOTBALL...
kidding...
viva RAIDERS... CHARGERS... 49NERS..SAN FRANCISCO !!!!!!!!!!!

peace.. STEELERS!!!!!... wat up.. SNOOPPPPP !!!!

peace, love and hugs , for ALL... biaatchheeeesssss!

[David Ryder]

david that third image is so ghost-like and the trees and the colors saturated so much make it really look otherworldly...is that a word?...do you really not even know how to use photoshop...? it can be a crutch for me sometimes, knowing it will be there for me later and then i wish i didn't know how to use it! that might make me shoot better!

[Panos Skoulidas]

viva SEATTLE... viva David Ryder...
nice photos... nice blog...

[Herve]

...All i care about is SOCCER... fuck FOOTBALL...
------------------------

I will drink to that, Panos. Cracolandia= Sao Paulo crackland. Sounds like a place you can really lose your camera at the very least. I know nothing, panitos, just googled it....

Getting ready for the Olympic torch protest here in SF, next Wednesday. I am going to be a P E A C E photographer...ahahaha... No, really.... PJ Herve!!!! And no fucking press pass. we don't need them in SF, it's always free for all here.

BTW, I met a hero of mine (back then in 1968) last Saturday. John carlos. He is one of the athletes who raised his fist on the podium in Mexico that year. That is iconic photography, so not quite off blog, telling you that. I was a big track fan, I think these guys gave me my first political conscience, and a few hints that living in the States would be a lot less boring than collecting retirement for 40 years in France.

Took a few pix as well:

http://www.pbase.com/uc/gallery/httpwwwhumanrightstorchorg

[david alan harvey]

MARCIN...

i suppose i cannot deny....as a matter of fact, the book after next that i plan to publish will be photographs to go with a short love story i wrote "You Made Me Leave" (novella, fiction) that will include about 20 photographs, my best portraits/vignettes of women...stay tuned...

as for "private workshops", most of the workshops i actually do are totally one on one and not "official workshops"...about 90% of the teaching i do is gratis...yes, i do the organized ones too, so i can be guaranteed of "showing up" at a particular time and place....but do not worry, if we meet, i will work with you as much as possible..

GERHARD....

nice to hear from you Gerhard...i hope we meet soon again..

you may have missed all of the tributes here to Philip Jones-Griffiths...go back and check them out if you can...

still, i do not think it contradictory to do perhaps one kind of photography , but totally appreciate another...

Phillip certainly made his mark doing something in which he totally believed..he sought for photojournalism to affect change, and i believe he succeeded...or at least, made a difference to many...

Gursky or Crewdson, for example, do not have that goal in mind at all...but does that make their work less "valuable"?? they are not trying to affect social change, but to pique our sensibilities with a unique vision...art is not trying to "fix" anything...but, i think the best of art represents humankind in it's highest element...war represents man at his lowest....wouldn't Philip actually be pleased if man could always "rise" to his artistic best and not have to deal with war at all???

MARTIN BRINK...

good question...

most of my long term projects have within them a series of short projects...Divided Soul, for example, was compiled from a whole lot of short essays which later turned into one very large one...yes, i was always working within the context of the migration of Spanish and Portugese culture, but at any given time i may have been doing a "short" on something as simple as Easter processions in Seville..

very often a "random" piece may spark my interest in doing something more..such is the case with all of my Italy work which has come out of a series of brief essays mostly done while teaching in Italy..i do not know what may come of the Italy work, but it is a growing "body"...

i already have quite a bit of work from Brazil, mostly from Bahia and Rio but this new work certainly "fits" in the sense that it is Africa migration derived..again, who knows what will come of it...but, i am always thinking thinking....at it's worst, it was just a truly nice way to spend the weekend..i learned a lot, made some new friends, and heard some terrific music...isn't that enough? at its best, i could get hooked on samba and come back down to do some more..book??? shooting and playing and playing and shooting is what i do...the manifestation of it all is always unknown territory....unknown but beguiling...in my mind, if i know "exactly" what i will do, for sure that "exactly" will be probably fairly boring...to be "bored" is the worst sin against yourself of all....

HERVE...

well, i really like "aunt sally's" pictures...i can be mesmerized by the "work" on a refrigerator door...and i certainly do not look at those "snaps" and think i could have done better...i love to see what people love....

my two son's have often pointed out that the pictures i took on Christmas morning were among the worst of the lot!!! unfortunately , if i do not "try", there is nothing which automatically comes out of my camera that would indicate anything other than snapshot shooter...

history may yet judge all those billions of snapshots taken that you mention to be the REAL ART of photography...good...i will try to have covered all the bases!!!

IGNACIO...

i thank you again for your hospitality here in SP and it was a pleasure to meet you and Louise...it is so cool that both you and your wife are able to work together as professional photographers...a real "dream team"

surely samba is a cliche i suppose for many foreigners who come to Brazil...as you well know, i did not come here to shoot samba, but drifted into it almost by accident and led into it by your fellow countrymen who INSISTED that i really listen to samba..the soulful sounds are hard to resist..i might be hooked, cliche or not!!!

thanks for the links...you have kept me very busy and i have a long way to go....

WROBERT....

that would be cool...i will do it for sure.

..do you and Panos know each other?? if not, i am sure you will!!

peace, david

[Herve]

David, not sure it's about history, taking one's kids pictures is timeless and will always stay uncatalogued, ie. out of history and artistic/ journalistic appraisal.

Indeed, I meant something more along the lines of what photography really means te most to people, all people, outside of the history of the medium/art. Just one example, and something that I think matters a lot, that speaks about photography beyond, or along (trying to avoid another "vs" point) , the museum/published type:

When people lose their house to fire, save any human/pet loss, The most deplored loss (or celebrated save!) is often the family pictures. That is the other side of photography that we take quite obviously for granted, but carries also weight for the potency of the medium to each and evryone of us.

At the same time, no one will go back inside a burning house to save pictures meaning nothing to them, though the world to others. They might if there is a museum piece photo. I dunno, I am coocoo maybe, but that kind of differentition within the medium, gives me pause for thought.

I do recognize with evryone you are one who does know the real price of a photograph has little to do with what the sticker or auction amounts to, and that a photo does not always have to be Photography.

[Ignacio Aronovich]

David,

I am really glad that you went and had a good time. Photographing while in SP makes perfect sense and within your africa migration work samba is anything but a cliche. I am happy they insisted and that you were able to capture it so well. You know you are always welcome in Brazil.

"You Made Me Leave" is really fantastic and I love that it is fiction. The music and the photos go very well together and I wonder if you would show the photos with the audio in an exhibit or if that would be just in presentations or even online.

Panos,

>what cracolandia has to do with frieda?
>what cracoladia has to bring in the table ?????

Yes cracolandia is a open street crack dominated area of a couple blocks in downtown SP the city is unable to change for some time. It is just a more visible wound in a very infected patient. It has nothing to do with frieda and brings nothing to the table, but it was Really nice to see David's colors, joy, and movement after seeing the grey and i saw it in that order, so it meant a lot.

Panos it's almost a full circle reading about Slayer while mentioning SP as the "pixação" letters (SP's unique tags) derived from heavy metal albums from the 80's and have dominated the city.

Abrazos,

ig

[david alan harvey]

HERVE...

yes, now i see what you meant...it was really late when i read your note, and i did not totally "get it" or , at least, all of it..

i think you have just now answered your own query quite well....the family album as the first thing rescued (after life itself) in a fire, is the best and most common example of the "value" of photography outside of either art or journalism....

i have not had my first cup of coffee...i must go downstairs now to find one..head fogged in.....maybe i will think of something to add aprés café, but i think you have it..

cheers, david

[Marcin luczkowski]

David

Essentially I'm after your "private workshop", I was the frist one on this blog who get your review if i'm not wrong. And I still paricipate at your workshop here at "DAH's home"... But if you will want give me more advice I'm always open for your critque... but how I will render for all your help? what you could need from me?
But I like Panos and I will glad if you will help him and paid him more atention...
"You Made Me Leave"... I remember... and I'm waiting for!!...
marcin

[bobblack]

Gerhard:

No time for anything substantial (no desire, flat out exhausted, physically, emotionally, traveling), so i apologize up front if this sounds "short", it's now my friend, so just only this:

The Fireflies....it's cool if you have not emotional, aesthetic, intellectual, physical reaction to Crewdson's work. I will also say this: that work is gorgeous in real life (have seen a print) and it works as a fulcrum: he's written about where and when and why that work came up (which is nearly the exact antithesis of his work prior, or after): but it came a significant and heart-wrenching moment in his personal life...maybe if you read about what he has to say about the work, it might ofter a way into the work itself...by the way, dust on emulsion or poor paper (i know some remarkable photographers who are now using old old old, outdated paper, 'cause the result, aesthetically, is drop dead gorgeous) can be gorgeous...it sometimes seems to me that in our embrace of the "gorgeous" modern digital technology (precise glass, precise printing, precise "look" of most pics), we've forgotten the world looks much different, especially emotionally and sensorially, indeed ;)))

but, we all have our own horses to hold indeed ;))))...

cheers..

b

Herve: I'll try to follow up something later in the week...just now emotionally spent....

David: got the note, obrigado amigo :))...will let you know when the thing gets published...

off now for a few more...carry on ;)

hugs
bob

[bobblack]

ps. ANYONE WHO LIKES THE WORK OF SARAMAGO (ie, Blindness), can i also recommend THE OTHER BRILLIAN POET/NOVELIST of Portugal

anotonio lobo antunes ...

he's my man and an extraordinary, angry, funny, insane, melancholic writer...If Saramago is "classic" European novelist...for me Antunes is everything Portugal: funny, melancholic, memory=-licked, angry, drunken, broken, undiminished....

b