Something specific that comes to mind here is the intentional, pragmatic and architectural use of space in Japanese photography and Japanese film since the 1920′s. Their use of negative space – mostly composed, controlled and open – is not as intimidating and less filled with expression than their Western counterparts. Emotions such as anger, for example, are mostly expressed through contrast, focus or composition, rather than direct expressive attitude or subjective gestures. To me, quintessential Japanese photography is strong because of its open, compositional distance and its emotional constraint and not because of its Western, in-your-face, “aggressive” spontaneity or directness.

Then he wrote about the importance of space in relation to the object

The great NY architect Richard Gluckman once told me that in his work he is always considering the importance of space in relation to the object: It is both the object that defines the space and the space that defines the object. According to him, a space isn’t finished until it is occupied by an intention. My advice is the same when I’m reviewing young photographer’s portfolios or speaking to my design assistants: Before photographing or designing space try to remove yourself from it and look at it from a distance or from the outside. Gather information about its purpose and its inherent qualities. This will bring it closer to the attributes I admire in great Japanese photographic works.

I have been exposed to Japanese culture from my early age but I still yet to understand what it is that makes me interested in the first place. This article (and other similar articles) will help me and others outside Japan to understand a little bit more about the Japanese art. The last paragraph is spot on.

An image that I like very much is a diptych story by Shingo Wakagi that was shot for my magazine Famous Aspect. The series is titled Tokyo Modern. One image shows a still life of beautiful weathered flowers, the other a girl in a kimono sitting on a bed in an apartment. There is an air of intimacy and distance that I really like and it reflects some of the ambiguities expressed above. Looking at it you have no sense of time. It is a fashion image yet there is no fashion there. It is sad yet beautiful. Close but unreachable.

You see, to be a photographer requires an openness and an ability to look deep into someone’s eyes, to regard them with care and affection, and to ultimately fall madly in love with them.

[...]

There is a connection, an openness, an ability to reveal both of ourselves completely, with all our strengths and vulnerabilities. This is a very difficult thing to do, both for me, and for her. It is what distinguishes greatness from mediocrity. How far you are willing to emotionally travel is as important as your talent.

To succeed, we must fall in love, take the pictures, and then slowly take deep breaths, realizing who we are, and walk slowly away from the edge.

Rodney Smith

So far, I’ve received 3 physical greetings (from my wife, my daugther, and a friend), no cards, a phone call from my parents, 3 SMS, and more than 30 Facebook wall messages. Yes, the world is changing but, still, I thank you all for the greetings and wishes. I wish we can meet face-to-face on the next celebration.

Early this year, we moved to a new house on the northern part of the city, away from this part of the city, away from my childhood memories. Now I have to walk in a new neighbourhood which completely unfamiliar. Just this morning I took my 10-months-old daughter for a short walk. It was only 20 minutes or so but we found new alleys to walk and found some interesting places which I’ve never imagined would be exist in the city. Places which I’d love to spend some time to take some photographs. I can only imagine where I will walk tomorrow.

On another note, some friends and I just made a Flickr group, We are a happy family. This is not a clone of La Familia Abrazada group although we all love that group. At first we just wanted to see the potential of Indonesian photographers, what we can do, on this subject — family. So, we will see where we are heading to while we go on and try to manage the group along the way.

Here’s a tribute to our family, friends, and lovers…

“…all these places have their moments
with lovers and friends i still can recall
some are dead and some are living
in my life…i’ve loved them all…”

— In My Life, The Beatles

Today I set out from my house and walked. And walked.

I didn’t have a specific destination in mind, but wanted to walk a bit before finding a quiet place to write. So I walked, out of the town where I live and along the tropical, white-sand coastline, to the next town over.

As others drove cocooned in their cars, I walked, and emitted nothing but my breath.

[...]

I walked for an hour, then wrote and read, and then walked for another hour to get back home, tired but happy.

I can’t walk this much every day, but I walk as much as I can, because you need nothing to walk, you spend nothing, you consume nothing, you emit nothing.

And yet you have everything.

When I was a child I was told by my parents not to go wandering outside at night. They said it was dangerous. Probably you have the same situation as mine. And if I knew my parents well enough, they will probably freaked out when they know that I’ve been walking around at night, with a camera on my hand. You see, for most people, mostly are elders, only bad people wander at night.

The truth is, considering my neighbourhood, there is nothing to be afraid of. And for me seeing the city at night is kind of refreshing. It’s like seeing two different cities. My city looks mostly like a dead city past 9PM. But I love the light at night. I like the silence of the night. I like this other personality of the city. Darker, sometimes more bitter, colder, but in a way also more honest.

By walking at night I feel like watching a city going to sleep. I can hear some distant sound of vehicles. I could feel the cold night wind. I was tired, hungry, and sleepy. Yet I see some people still working at night and some homeless people sleeping on street-side.

At that point I realize that I’m on a different world. I’d go home but I will definitely come back to the streets at night again.

Richard Davies travelled to Russian North to document the wooden churches. Although many have been lost, but you can feel the spirit and the hope on his introduction:

There is however much to celebrate. The integrity between the landscape and the architecture of this wooden world is as striking to us today as it was to Bilibin. The basic simplicity of the log cabin construction and the extravagant fantasies superimposed on it are just as startling. Although the churches that remain are in varying states of decay and despite their neglect and the wrecking of their interiors, these extraordinary structures have a spiritual presence which commands respect even in the absence of their gilded icons.

[...]

During our travels, the story of the hardships of the last century has been unavoidably felt – a story of Revolution, War, Communism and severe Northern winters. The photographs also tell of the lives of resilient people who have lived through extreme times in extreme places – a story of the Russian North.

The Archigram Archival Project brings back good memories from when I studied architecture at university. Back then we, architecture students, were stunned by the idea of Plug-in-City and The Walking City. (Do you ask what is Archigram?)

The Archigram Archival Project makes the work of the seminal architectural group Archigram available free online for public viewing and academic study. The project was run by EXP, an architectural research group at the University of Westminster. It was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and made possible by the members of Archigram and their heirs, who retain copyright of all images.

I am working on a project called “The Oldest Living Things in the World.” I’m researching, working with biologists, and traveling all over the world to find and photograph continuously living organisms that are 2,000 years old and older. I started the project 5 years ago, and have since photographed nearly 25 different organisms, ranging from the Bristlecone Pine and Giant Sequoias that you’ve surely heard of, to some truly unusual and unique desert shrubs, bacteria, a predatory fungus, and a clonal colony of Aspen trees that’s male and, in theory, immortal.

On a conceptual level, I’m developing this unique index of living organisms with exceptional longevity at a critical juncture in our collective trajectory: how will the natural world fare in the face of climate change? Part art, part science, part philosophy, I hope to tease out themes of longevity, sustainability, the natural sublime and mortality through the work.

The project also comes with a location map and a blog to track her progress. Right now she’s trying to find several more organisms before turning the project into a book. Here’s some on her to-do list:

• Searching the Antarctic Peninsula by boat for 5,000-year-old moss
• Backpacking in Tasmania and mainland Australia in search of several clonal shrubs in ranging from 10,000 to 43,000 years old
• Visiting a sacred site in Sri Lanka for a nearly 2,300-year-old Banyan Fig tree
• SCUBA diving in Spain to find the 100,000-year-old clonal sea grass

If you like the project, you should consider supporting her Kickstarter campaign to raise $10,000 to fund the project. At least you can support her to buy the film (yes, she still shoots film). (via Kottke)

John Sypal at Tokyo Camera Style found this great ad which I think can only happen in Japan.

Forget T-shirts! Nobuyoshi Araki proves that nothing is going to compliment your battered Pentax LX like a sweet pair of New Balance sneakers.