All posts by Steve Stern

The genius of Richard Misrach

Art, Death Valley, Photography

I have been going to the California desert – on a pretty regular basis – for about 35 years. The great majority of that time has been when the light was hot and flat, washed out, the colors dull. Almost every photographer working in the desert shoots during what is called the sweet light or golden hour – between about an half hour before sunrise to about two hours after sunrise and the reverse – sort of – around sunset. Richard Misrach shoots during the middle of the day when the light is flat and washed out and his photographs looks like the desert actually seems to look when most people are actually looking at it.

Most “fine art photographers” tend to not use normal lenses, especially in the desert, with the wide angle being a perennial favorite. So there is some point of interest in the foreground but the real photograph is often the background. Art Wolfe is a terrific photographer; he is a photographer who does – more or less – conventional images in a conventional way better than anybody.  I love his shots but their strength is that they are not what most people see when they go to the desert.

Richard Misrach strength is that his shots show what most people see and are impacted by in the desert.

I love Misrach – his images – and he has had a huge impact on my photography but I have never been quite sure why I am so attracted to them. I have never been sure how he made them work. Over the weekend, we saw the same Misrach photographs displayed at both the Oakland Museum and the Berkeley Art Museum. (It was interesting how the same photographs took on a different feel – tone is better – when they are displayed differently. I preferred the Oakland show, BTW.) More importantly, for me, the two shows helped me understand Misrach’s photography much better.

Now, I think that the genius of Misrach is not in the content of his photographs – which are often pretty mundane – but in how that photograph is played, for lack of a better word. First his images – photo talk for pictures – are huge – like five by six feet huge – and that makes a big difference. And sharp; 8″ by 10″ camera sharp (or, if shot today, huge megapixel sharp).  It is easy to almost get lost in the photographs, they almost become a real life view. He has had the guts to just go for an outrageous size and the impact is worth it (except that they are too big for most homes. Second, the images are desaturated. Just like the desert light, at any time but the golden hour, is desaturated.

It will be fun to see how this plays out in my photography.

 

 

 

 

 

Behind the curve

Americana, Politics

“Conceding that his refusal to release tax returns was “a mistake” and “a distraction” that helped cost him a South Carolina primary win, Romney said he would release his 2010 federal return along with an estimate of his 2011 taxes.” from the Los Angles Times. They – whoever they are – say that timing is everything and I am sure that they are right. I have never understood why somebody like Romney, who seems very intelligent, would not just instinctually realize that he can’t stonewall the release of his taxes. But he did stonewall the release until well after it hurt him in South Carolina.

As a Democrat, I am rooting for Romney to hold back on releasing all his taxes because that will be the best way to keep the issue alive. But, good timing has never been my strong suit; when I see that something is going to happen, I am usually ahead of the curve. And sometimes, the curve never gets there. In 1999, I was convinced that the era of the MacMansion in the boondocks was over and people wanted smaller, closer in homes. I missed the trend by almost ten years.

I comfort myself, however, by remembering that General Douglas MacArthur, an often a brilliant general, was also, often, ahead of the curve. It doesn’t comfort me, however, again, that being ahead of the curve caused MacArthur trouble. Several times, he saw that he was going to win a battle and started drawing troops out before the battle was actually won which actually prolonged the fight and, a couple of times, almost lot it for him.

So maybe Romney is right and stonewalling the release of additional taxes will help him, but I don’t think so.

 

 

I’m thrilled that nothing goes away on the web

Photography, Psychological Musings,

The San Francisco Police Department wants to us a couple of my photographs in their annual report and I am shocked. Not shocked that they want to use the photographs – well, actually, shocked about that too – even though I do think that it is a pretty good photo of the police at the 2011 LGBT parade – as they call it – but shocked that they found it. I put the pictures in my blog last June where they – apparently – lurked until the Office of the Chief of Police of the San Francisco Police Department found them. That is pretty extraordinary. Well, I guess, today, not extraordinary: just ordinary.

Still for me, shocking. A couple of weeks ago, I did a post on going to Sequoia Hospital for a daily infusion of the antibiotic daptomycin and two days later, the head nurse said that I should be careful not to show anybody’s name in my pictures. It turns out that Sequoia does regular searches to see what people are saying about them on the webs and then referred it to the nurse in the photograph. I know that whatever I put here is available to anybody, but it was still a surprise. And I had a moment of feeling slightly queasy, like seeing a cop car’s redlight going off in my rearview mirror.

As I finish this, the shock has dissipated but the thrill remains. And here is the other picture.