“Ich filtere Dinge in meinem Leben. Ich versuche, Qualität zu finden und Müll zu vermeiden.” Ákos Major for art Magazine

Pastel tones and diffuse lustre. Vienna based photographer Ákos Major’s work is pure serenity to me. What I really like about each photo is that it is never really obvious where and when it was shot, timeless and dreamy but still very down-to-earth.

He started as a hobby photographer in 2008, which he explains in an ND magazine interview: “Actually, I never really had the interest towards photography until I met Michael Kenna’s work. It was a huge load of inspiration for me, I was mezmerized by the graphical taste and the honesty of his photographs. Then my interest has turned more and more into photography, I met other masters’ work. I was on Flickr, surrounded by some emerging or amateur photographers, getting acquainted with their work was also interesting and inspiring”(click).

I selected 6 pictures from different Ákos Major portfolio’s but they all come with the same familiar perspective. Check out more of Ákos’ work at akosmajor.com. Best, Ea Birkkam

today: pastel cool

“There’s no reality except the one contained within us. That’s why so many people live an unreal life. They take images outside them for reality and never allow the world within them to assert itself.” Hermann Hesse

It’s been a big while since my last activity and university has been time consuming and life has been rough. But it’s never to late to come back to what you love! Two weeks ago I came across Indonesia-based Mora Lubis’ art and I want to pay tribute to her beautiful black and white photography. I enjoy what she says about her motivation: “A great ocean become my inspiration, I like to see details and be one with environment. I assume photography should speaks with emotion and black and white are perfect media to realize whole my intention”. I can only agree with black and white being a perfect media to concentrate on details. In times where you seek serenity, order in your life and peaceful relations I find photography like this and monochromatic objects quite calming and helpful. Up for comfort black cashmere, Ea
 

today: the black cashmere sweater

“All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.” Friedrich Nietzsche

Surrealism, minimalism and upside down cities. Hossein Zare is an Iranian photographer who takes surrealistic photos in an unique and special style. He makes big cities and buildings look really fragile and the symbolism of his photography seem to explore borders and limits of urbanized things. Upside down landscapes and cities, clean symmetries and thin lines, ladders and ropes that come from the sky. I certainly consider this a cutting edge of Magritte and Ansel Adams. Beautiful photography! Regards, Ea Birkkam

today: black autumnal boots

“Must we either drift aimlessly through lack of reflection or sink in pessimism as the result of reflection? No. We must indeed attempt the limitless ocean, but we may set our sails and steer a determined course.” Albert Schweitzer

A deep love for the ocean and mysterious island fog jungles. Indonesia seems just like the perfect place to live for hobby photographer and professional cameraman Hengki Koentjoro as it is the biggest archipelago nation on earth with more than 13,000 islands. With splendid underwater shots like this and this, soft seascapes and one of the most stunning jungle photographies i had a very hard time picking only 6 samples of his work. In a 2012 Interview with ND magazine he mentioned following about his choice of shooting monochromatic: “The ability to play around with tones and create an atmospheric photograph is the reason to choose monochrome. It is more pliable therefore more freedom in expressing your idea. With the Zone System by Ansel Adam, you are in practice of seeing thing around you in monochrome or learning to see in black and white. This will help a lot in choosing your proper subject matter and forecasting how it’ll look letter on postproduction.”(read the whole thing here) Best, Ea Birkkam.

today: the black swimsuit

“An optimist is a man who orders dozens of oysters, planning to pay them with the pearl he might find.”
Theodor Fontane

Plastic, minimalism and wind movements. I recently came across a quite talented photographer who was growing up in southern Poland and now lives in Hawaii. Rafal Maleszyk already recieved quite an amount of awards for his work (see here) and it is more than justified. I really like the way he focuses on basic things like weather conditions or just simply air. There is a dark ambience in his pictures that seem to signalize the dreary conquest of nature by men.

Here is what he mentioned about his own photography in his blog: “I enjoy creating long exposure ocean-scapes, this is when I am not entirely in the control of what the sensor will record. Plastic interconnects with the motion of the ocean, wind and waves producing unpredictable effect. Wind plays a huge role, as well as reflection of the light in the plastic. In plastic landscape you can really see the air.” (Read more here) Again i have to limit myself to about six samples of his great work, which is a little difficult, i hope you get the idea. Best, Ea Birkkam.

today: garments that move in the wind and sheer beneaths

“Then there are the other times. The times when photography really gets me down. The times when I think it’s all pointless. It’s all been done before. These are the times when I hate photography.” Mark Whitney

Mark Whitney, developer, poet (see here) and great black and white photographer. He seems very down to earth and a little bit funny: ‘Forestrat.com’ a rather rough alternative domain name for Mr. Whitney’s homepage, but you get the idea. He loves being in nature and randomly capturing beautiful moments. I came across his work when i looked for monochromatic river photography and suddenly i am all in the mood for a walk in a forest. Spellbinding, detail loving art. I do like to read the blog entry the photograph comes with, most of the times he records his thoughts on it and things that move him. Oh, and contrary to the quote i posted on top there are moments aswell when he loves photography:

“Sometimes I still have that same sense of wonder and excitement about photography. I don’t see the images magically loom out from below the surface of developer anymore, but I sit and watch as they popup on my screen while they download from my camera and I often find myself just sitting and watching as a new print advances millimeter by millimeter from under the printer carriage. You might think it’s like watching paint dry, but I’m just thrilled to see something that I created and set in motion materialize before my eyes. And it’s even better than the old toy because these prints are made completely by me and not just re-prints of prefabbed negatives (…) I check out the lines and forms of the scenes, the careful exposures, the meticulous development of the film, the texture of the print surface, and the subtle shadings especially in black and white work that fire the imagination and show more to the viewer than meets the eye.

These are the times when I love photography.” For a walk, Ea Birkkam.

today: forest stream

“Ice contains no future , just the past, sealed away. As if they’re alive, everything in the world is sealed up inside, clear and distinct. Ice can preserve all kinds of things that way- cleanly, clearly. That’s the essence of ice, the role it plays.” Haruki Murakami in ‘Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman’

Realism and nature. Stuart Franklin is a photographer with many facettes, no wonder at all he was selceted to be one of Magnum’s Photographer, a very famous agency which rarely chooses its own members. You are very likely to have seen at least one Magnum photo in your life if you read National Geographic or any other magazine that features fantastic photography. He became very well-known covering the famine the mid-1980s in the Sahel, which showed all the misfortune and devastation that was coming over this zone in Africa (see here).

He said following about Narcissus in an Interview with Vice Magazine: “For me, Narcissus was a bit like going back to playing scales if you were a musician. Just trying to sharpen one’s vision and address one’s focus. I had started to reflect on the notion of landscape photography, the nature of photography in general. And actually, landscape is like anything, what was drawing me to it was abstraction, cutting something out of the cloth of what’s in front of you. I wondered, if there were no expectations placed upon me – as there are, of course, when you shoot landscapes for National Geographic, for example – then what would actually draw me? It turned out that what drew me to landscapes were things that were resonant of memories I had, the very human social life I had led. The forms I recognised in the landscape were human forms, shapes that were semi-human or zoomorphic. I think Freud, when talking about photography, connected it far more to the function of memory than of vision. It was completely different, yes, and I won’t be doing it again, but I learned a lot from it. I learned to work in a small place and limit my needs. It was Spartan in itself and very coherent.” Very well said Mr. Franklin, Ea Birkkam.

today: transparency