Presences

Antonio Correia · Jan 1, 2013

Many months ago - last year

- I started a theme involving volunteers of a local community of artists in my home town.
The members were invited to be photographed by me in the place they usually work. Unfortunately, only eight people volunteered.
The goal was to make an exposition with the photographs side by side with their own work.
The exposition is scheduled for the 18th January 2013 at last !

Here is a sheet with each of the images.

Robert Watcher · Jan 1, 2013

A very nice series of portraits. These should make a wonderful exposition.

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Antonio Correia · Jan 1, 2013

Robert Watcher said:
A very nice series of portraits. These should make a wonderful exposition.

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Thank you Robert

I hope so.

Asher Kelman · Jan 2, 2013

Antonio,

It's always great to have you back and catch up! How will you present the pictures? Whhat about other images from each session?

I'd like to see a subset for each artist to indicate the type of work you saw them do. After all, this is what you have accomplished in your past work with the brick making works and carpenters and so forth. You have an expectation set up from your previous exceptional studies of workman! So it would be apt to dig deeper if you have the pictures. I can't imagine you just took one picture!

Will you make prints for sale too?

Asher

Antonio Correia · Jan 2, 2013

Asher Kelman said:
Antonio,
It's always great to have you back and catch up!
How will you present the pictures?
What about other images from each session?
I'd like to see a subset for each artist to indicate the type of work you saw them do. After all, this is what you have accomplished in your past work with the brick making works and carpenters and so forth.
You have an expectation set up from your previous exceptional studies of workman! So it would be apt to dig deeper if you have the pictures. I can't imagine you just took one picture!
Will you make prints for sale too? Asher

Thank you Asher

Always too kind.

The images are printed and in preparation to be framed.
I printed them on Hahnemuhle Fine Rag Baryta 215gr with my R3000 printer.
Excellent paper but rather expensive.
The prints are a bit smaller than A4 (11.7 x 8.3 in) because a little margin is necessary for the canvas which is 10 cm large (about 4 in).
The hole is sustained by a frame.
Later, the opening is on the 18th this month I will be able to post some images.
I hope everybody likes the images. Only two people of the eight have seen the photographs.
I intend to act like in a theatre

at the opening because all frames will be wrapped in a common paper and I will be taking it away !

The other images of the sessions are all gone. I have carefully chosen the best.

I will be offering one small print (A5) at each of them but I think that the only person interested in buying the images will be the artist himself.
So, I think I will not print or sell more images of these if ever I sell these !

This series / theme is not to be sold because no one would buy it.

For exibitions and sells, I have other plans which I hope to be able to implement this year. In spite of the crisis !

Thank you Asher

Asher Kelman · Jan 3, 2013

Antonio Correia said:
Thank you Asher Always too kind.
The images are printed and in preparation to be framed.
I printed them on Hahnemuhle Fine Rag Baryta 215gr with my R3000 printer.
Excellent paper but rather expensive.
The prints are a bit smaller than A4 (11.7 x 8.3 in) because a little margin is necessary for the canvas which is 10 cm large (about 4 in).

Antonio,

I don't understand the idea of "the hole". You are printing on paper and then you mention a hole and a canvas. Are you using paper or are you printing on canvas?

Antonio Correia said:
The other images of the sessions are all gone. I have carefully chosen the best.

How could the other images just be "gone"? Where did they go? If I remember right, you'd take many pictures of the worker in their workshop. Or was this different and just one shot of one point of view?

Antonio Correia said:
I will be offering one small print (A5) at each of them but I think that the only person interested in buying the images will be the artist himself. So, I think I will not print or sell more images of these if ever I sell these !

This series / theme is not to be sold because no one would buy it.

Why would it not sell? These are great. I just feel that your old style of looking at the worker from different aspects is so well thought out and makes for an interesting study of that worker in their own world. The only other persons who's work I like of workers are two: the great German photographer August Sandler

Getty Museum: August Sandler Coal Delivery

and Tim Armes, residing in France, from OPF and previously very active, who's admirable artisans series is a must visit!

Tim Armes: "Iron Worker" from here

Antonio, I believe your original style is so fluid, gritty and honest that it stands on its own and should be how you are seen. So that's why I pressed for more pictures. Still, on their own, these 8 portraits work together and would make a great giant print. Who's buy it? Don't let that worry you, I believe if you have siblings to it, this will sell.

Asher

Antonio Correia · Jan 3, 2013

- The "hole" refers to the combo image canvas.
The images must be sustained and the margins around the image are for the superposition of the canvas. Hope I made myself understand.
I am printing on paper, yes. Canvas has too much texture for this kind of images. Perhaps in a landscape...

- During the session with one artist I made several photographs. With the photographer I made 3 attempts. It is fact the person I am relating more often with.

Here I post what is left of the flops of the sessions. The other photographs are gone. Yes, gone forever. Dead. Erased. I can't (could I ?) keep maintaining an innumerable set of garbage photographs. I make them in centimeters with 300 ppi. Do not ask me how but sometimes I come to tif files with 1 Gb ! This is unsustainable for me.
At this point I have to compact them keeping tif format however.
I export in jpg to print. I use LR and CS5. But let's not talk about software issues...

- I have been looking for August Sandler's photographs. They are nice.

- I know the work of Tim for some time now. It is good indeed. He acts a bit like a refined visual reporter of one activity at the time while I try diversify.

- Asher, let me be a bit bold telling you this:
You ask who's buying it. I tell you: no one. No one would buy a large print of the 8 persons.
If I was a known artist with reputation then yes, I would sell and for a big amount of money probably. But I am not. Moreover, I can't afford paying 200 € or more for something to be kept in the closet at home.
Crisis remember ? USA, Europe... and so forth.

I think I have told here before somewhere: a "recognized artist" can make a poop that everybody likes, applaud or promote. Who is a "recognized artist" ? It is someone who is on the trend - which ever it may be - has the right connections for his art and has at least some quality whatever that can be.
A bit acid/caustic definition LOL. Straight from reality !

However, I keep trying / struggling / fighting to be published in magazines or even exposed in a gallery. Oh well... that's life.

BTW Do you know Silvershotz ? LensWork ?

Asher Kelman · Jan 3, 2013

Antonio Correia said:
- During the session with one artist I made several photographs. With the photographer I made 3 attempts. It is fact the person I am relating more often with.

Here I post what is left of the flops of the sessions.

Hello Antonio,

This work, in itself is good. One picture reinforces the others. I can feel more of the artist here. There's intent, thought, consideration and purpose all conveyed in an active form.

So, I'm still on board with these "flops"! Your destruction of images is really more out of frustration with the insanity of digital photography storage rather than their own inherent value. Imagine, you've sampled with your camera the work of early 21st Century artists in Setubal, Portugal. These make up a dynamic portrait of life in our times. With it are the struggles of you, artists in general, the great Imperial Empire of Portugal, the transposed African slaves and the New world. You are at the honest center of the remnants of Portugal and the cradle of it's future. Europe will strengthen and find it's own vital energy and grow. That's the way of things and portugal will remerge with it. but first there's the misery of lack of relevance. What you have is important for that very reason. we all want to be significant.

Well here you are. However, you cannot throw away so much, not until you are selling a lot!

Next, print from Adobe RGB. When you print from sRGB 8 BIT, you've thrown away 99% of the image data but you print on an Epson machine that has an incredibly large gamut and ink that will last 100 years or more!

Kindest wishes,

Asher

Antonio Correia · Jan 3, 2013

You make me smile Asher... Yes, Portugal will overcome - not only the tinny Portugal but also Europe and... US - this period. At what price ? How long will it take ?
I will in dust by then.
US has it's problems - who doesn't ? - but Portugal... it's beyond your imagination. You can read the news but many things only people who lieve here knows.
-
I use the Epson R3000 with Epson inks obviously and Hahnemuhle paper. Also Ilford's which is lower priced and pretty good.
I like you speech, I like the way you turn around issues. You are an optimist Asher.
I am, most probably, a pessimist.

I can't glimpse how this country can be a cradle for anything. Young people are going away. The Prime Minister envites them to. My son is gone to the US for example.
Schools are getting worst.
Politics are very corrupt.
The President of the Republic is a thin man with bright teeth involved with banks, money and ...
Here people lack one important thing: patriotism.
You in US for example place your flag everywhere. Sometimes in places I don't like to see but who am I ?
Here, the flags are made in China and the Government sells the country piece by piece to them.
Yes I know they also control US but not so strongly.
Times are changing (Bob Dylan) quickly, fast !

No more. I stop now. I go out to meet someone and perhaps, take some pictures.

Asher Kelman · Jan 4, 2013

First, Antonio, you must really go back to believing in your own work and be true to your feelings. These have been expressed so well in the work of 4-5 years back when you visited one workshop after another and invested time in the activities and skills of the worker. You reproduced and engraved into your pictures a sensibility of the nature of the artisan.

Here, you have provided an overall multi-paned window to art in Setubal, Portugal. However, these have a formal appearance. That's fine for the first room of the exhibit. Then, the individual artist needs to be spotlighted and followed in his/her activities and world. These do not have to be highly staged like the brilliant images of August or well-planned and lit as the pictures by Tim. For your work, some fluidity and even error can work to advantage when your images mutually reinforce each other. That's your strength and you must return to it more often.

I recognize an emotional resonance that you have, at times, built with your subjects. Make the best sets of images of your subjects and we'll celebrate them here! This way, you'll have valuable collections of images for your family and those who admire your visits to people who work with their hands.

Asher

Antonio Correia · Jan 4, 2013

Thank you again for these lines Asher.
When you talk about the "formal appearance" you made me think. In fact, I haven't photographed before with so much formality as this time. And it was in the name of coherence.

I understand that one should have some kind of coherence in the work whichever it is. But perhaps I have pushed it a little too far. The lighting was always similar, with the same settings and umbrella in spite of being in different places...

I have subscribed LensWork for 3 years and no doubt I have been influenced by the images of Rafael Goldstein for example just to name just one.

Click on the image to visit his website, please. Not much to see it is true ...

Other works are superb in this publication. I am not pretending to copy/imitate this style but to recreate it under my own point of view.

In fact, I feel better not to have everything planned ahead. Silly perhaps but it is the way I do my photography.
I am not of those who is patient enough to wait until someone passes on the screen for more than 15 seconds.
My patience runs quickly most of the times.
I am more the kind of person who is passing, sees something interesting and grap the photograph.
Many have been done this way.
One important part for me is the crop. When I crop - always subjected to a ratio I use most of the time - I do it the way I feel.
Oh well, what am I talking about ?

That's all for now...

Thank you again for your patience, enthusiasm and advice.
Cheers

-
Have I posted this before ?

This ? Yes this, I do like. LOL
The treatment is not - I mean was not - as good as these days...

Asher Kelman · Jan 4, 2013

Antonio Correia said:
Thank you again for these lines Asher.
When you talk about the "formal appearance" you made me think. In fact, I haven't photographed before with so much formality as this time. And it was in the name of coherence.

The coherence should rise out of the theme and sensibilities. You have already sone that with your previous and less formal work, for example The Brickmaker.

QUOTE=Antonio Correia;137289]I have subscribed LensWork for 3 years and no doubt I have been influenced by the images of Rafael Goldstein for example just to name just one.[/quote]

QUOTE=Antonio Correia;137289]Click on the image to visit his website, please. Not much to see it is true ...[/quote]

Well, Antonio,

There's a lot to see and to think about. This photographer, Rafael Goldstein is so exceptional and has a thread of history on fire through his veins, you can't help be inspired by his energy and sincere devotion. However, he's such an individual that none of us can copy or do work his way.

Be true to yourself. Just look at the artisans you have already done. This is where your center should be, but get energized by Rafael and you can't go wrong. There's no finer inspiration!

Asher

Antonio Correia · Jan 20, 2013

Antonio Correia said:
Many months ago - last year - I started a theme involving volunteers of a local community of artists in my home town.
The members were invited to be photographed by me in the place they usually work. Unfortunately, only eight people volunteered.
The goal was to make an exposition with the photographs side by side with their own work.
The exposition is scheduled for the 18th January 2013 at last !
Here is a sheet with each of the images.

EDIT - Sorry but I erased the image

Antonio Correia · Jan 20, 2013

The first day of the exhibition has been yesterday.
Some friends of mines and some people I had never seen...

Here is two among the eight.

Antonio Correia · Jan 21, 2013

Jarmo Juntunen · Jan 21, 2013

Antonio, this is a very enjoyable series. Thank you!

Antonio Correia · Jan 21, 2013

Jarmo Juntunen said:
Antonio, this is a very enjoyable series. Thank you!

Please do not thank me...

It is my pleasure to show you this series !

I have four more to show. Not today

Antonio Correia · Jan 23, 2013

The saga continues

Asher Kelman · Jan 24, 2013

This is so intriguing. The pictures are very well made and now I want to know more about each of the artists! We're being sucked in!

Asher

Antonio Correia · Jan 27, 2013

Antonio Correia · Jan 27, 2013

Thank you Asher.

My wife and some of my friends found the images to be without interest, lacking appeal.
I do understand them and as I usually say "Anyone can make these pictures..." or ... almost !

They wanted me to do something far better. One of my friends (a woman) whom I know for some 45 years told me why I was not posting some fantastic photos I have.
But this is or was, part a theme/project having as target an exposition with the artist's works at side or, side by side with my photo.

The people photographed lack expressions and as somebody told me, it is - for some at least - as if they were making publicity of tooth paste.

On the other hand I am rather (rather) happy with the images even if they are too technically perfect (almost) and they are at a level I see in other well know photographers if I may say so.

This lead me to the discussion what a good portrait is. Not a commercial one but an artist one...
-
I am involved or trying to launch a similar theme/project involving a large community of people from some 10 cities in the World. I will be able to tell you about this some day in the future.

Later I will be able to say something about the artists involved in the process.

The expo ran well with some people visiting.
Here is the place where it took place in a photographic experience. The lack of quality is because it has been done with very small jpg files to work fast.

Asher Kelman · Jan 28, 2013

Antonio Correia said:
My wife and some of my friends found the images to be without interest, lacking appeal.
I do understand them and as I usually say "Anyone can make these pictures..." or ... almost !

They mean, "Anyone can buy a camera, LOL!!"

Antonio Correia said:
They wanted me to do something far better. One of my friends (a woman) whom I know for some 45 years told me why I was not posting some fantastic photos I have.
But this is or was, part a theme/project having as target an exposition with the artist's works at side or, side by side with my photo.

The people photographed lack expressions and as somebody told me, it is - for some at least - as if they were making publicity of tooth paste.

Expression are needed to show feelings or intentions but that is not a sine qua non of portraiture. Faces can be blank too and that might mean the folk are at their station in life being the occupation, rather than the person driving that role in society.

Antonio Correia said:
On the other hand I am rather (rather) happy with the images even if they are too technically perfect (almost) and they are at a level I see in other well know photographers if I may say so.

This is the beginning of an artist's work. Without this core element, how can one present something to the rest of the world. One must have a feeling of worth in one's work. Some who tear down an artists work might be destructive with no loss to themselves. Why? Well they may not be sufficiently educated or in empathy with what's represented. They may feel a class or other social resentment and be unable to see the work in the context it's supposed to stand.

That always will happen and that's why we have to protect our offspring when we share our work. There will be simply badly thought out or flippant remarks that need to be discounted. That's part of the job of an artist: to know when the cards people dish out are honest, foolish or based on ignorance or narrow vision.

Antonio Correia said:
This lead me to the discussion what a good portrait is. Not a commercial one but an artist one...

An artistic portrait can be commercially valuable. Commercial portraits can still be be excellent art! Each has to stand on its own merits!
-
I am involved or trying to launch a similar theme/project involving a large community of people from some 10 cities in the World. I will be able to tell you about this some day in the future.

Later I will be able to say something about the artists involved in the process.

The expo ran well with some people visiting.
Here is the place where it took place in a photographic experience. The lack of quality is because it has been done with very small jpg files to work fast.[/QUOTE]

Interesting, Antonio, that you chose not to actually stitch these overlapping frames. Is it better this way. Perhaps so!

BTW, I don't see "lack of quality"! Megapixels just make a larger picture, not necessariy "better quality"! But you know that, of course.

Asher

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