Windows to the Soul

Rue de la Viarmes cote de la rue VannesPeople say eyes are the window to the soul, but the camera’s eye is the window to the soul of a place, a time, a subject, as well as to the soul of the one who first looked through the viewfinder and chose what to photograph.

That is why I am mesmerised by old photographs; I am fascinated by history and the way people lived before us, what they thought and said. Of course still photography does not give as much information as video, but usually it is a distillation more poetic and poignant. It allows us as the viewer to pause and reflect, to hear the echo of the photograph within ourselves; to wonder and remember.

still photography … allows us as the viewer to pause and reflect, to hear the echo of the photograph within ourselves

Colour photography was first attempted in the 1840s – much longer ago than I imagined. Varying methods produced beautiful prints of washed out colour that certainly appeal to my personal aesthetic, but there is still something wonderful about antique sepia prints. There is a warmth and softness to sepia not found even in old black and white photographs. Sepia prints are created by applying a toner to black and white photographic prints. The metallic silver in a print is converted to a sulfide compound, and different processes result in variations of tone.

Versailles, coin de parc, 1902Born in Bordeaux, Eugène Atget (1857–1927) began practising photography in his 40s, after first working as a sailor in his youth, switching to acting (with indifferent success) and then briefly dabbling in painting. He finally found his métier and pursued it until his death. He was not experimental or progressive; he worked in techniques that were already old-fashioned – obviously because he liked the result. “He did however make photographs which for purity and intensity of vision have not been bettered.” (Looking at Photographs by John Szarkowski)

Atget catalogued Parisian life and culture with simplicity, honesty and a clarity of vision that did not waver for thirty years. Szarkowski continues: “Atget's work is unique on two levels. He was the maker of a great visual catalogue of the fruits of French culture, as it survived in and near Paris in the first quarter of this century. He was in addition a photographer of such authority and originality that his work remains a benchmark against which much of the most sophisticated contemporary photography measures itself.”

Boulevard de Strasbourg, 1910I remember working in a darkroom in high school, and later in my parents’ blacked-out laundry over the summer (it got hot!). All the manual work of traditional photography was so satisfying: fiddling with an enlarger, dipping prints in chemicals, experimenting with all kinds of techniques to alter prints somehow, clipping the results up to dry. Now digital photographer seems so antiseptic! There are no wonderful surprises that are the result of chance.

Scroll through this small collection of Atget’s pictures, or visit the archive at Atget Photography.

Marchand de paniers en fil de fer, (merchant of wire baskets) 1899-1900Impasse des Bourdonnais, 1908Organ-grinder, 1898–99Boulevard de Strasbourg corsets, 1912Tuileries, l’Aurore 1907luxembourg, 1923-25Parc de Sceaux, 1925Parc de SceauxUntitled (link broken)

A Colourful March

Miju Lee, an artist currently living in Barcelona, works in coloured pencil on paper, acrylic on canvas and also in ceramics. The March page of my Frankie calendar features one of her drawings of an interior that is both colourful, reminiscent of early 20th century art movements, and possibly showing influence of the recent geometric trend in design.

Lee’s style is naïve, and charming with it, full of whimsical detail. The geometric patterning in the rug, as well as the overall colour scheme, puts me strongly in mind of 1920s textile artist Sonia Delaunay’s work, and perhaps even touches of Expressionism in the palette; and even Cubism in the upended picture planes. The later work in acrylic is more stylised, and flatter – it has a look of cut paper. Whatever Lee’s inspirations, these various combinations create a unique and idiosyncratic style.

It is certainly an enjoyable and cheerful picture to gaze at this March. Have a great month!

~

See more of Miju Lee’s work at her website, or on her Facebook page.

Oops!

Hellooooo again! More errors to apologise for! I’ve realised that the subscription urls have changed, so if you previously subscribed to the Sketchbook, you will be receiving a ‘page not found’ error. I am so sorry! (I think so many exclamations are warranted in this instance!)

I’m in the process of fixing this with some technical help from my host provider (it’s not so easy, because I’ve updated all the internal links over the whole blogs), so hopefully this will be sorted in the next day or two.

In the meantime, you could re-subscribe with the new url (just hit the subscribe button over on the right there under the first menu) which will fix the issue immediately, or just keep going back to the home page and clicking to the journal from there.

Thank you for your patience!!

(PS. Yes, as opposed to drawn me in the previous post, that's the real me above with new haircut – one hand was holding the camera!)

How Embarrassing

Oops, pen and watercolour on vintage paper, Helena Turinski 2017I made a boo-boo. You may have noticed I have changed the names of my two blogs on this website, from Sketchbook to Scrapbook, and Journal to Style, to better reflect the content.

Today I realised I had forgotten a whole lot of internal links of references to previous entries would be broken … because in the detailed traffic report there are a whole lot of instances of PAGE NOT FOUND. I am so sorry! I have fixed this embarrassing error in the Scrapbook, but in case I have missed one, please note all you need to do is replace the word ‘sketchbook’ with ‘scrapbook’ in the url and you’ll be in business (and likewise ‘journal’ with ‘style’).

Right. As you were. Keep reading. We’ll pretend this never happened.

A New A–Z of Tintypes

E is for EspressoFrom Al Fresco to Zebra Crossing, this selection of 26 new tintypes – created with the Hipstamatic app for iPhone – range from literal objects to more suggestive concepts or actions. Some letters present more challenge than others, unsurprisingly, such as X and Z, but the only letter I had to photograph fresh was U. However I didn’t have trouble finding a subject for that one as you’ll see  – I have quite a collection which is often remarked on by visitors to my home. It was fun to put together, and I hope you enjoy them too.

You can also look back at my first collection here.