Sylphlike Bedlam 窈窕疯人院

版权声明：转载时请以超链接形式标明文章原始出处和作者信息及本声明
http://swallowtailbutterfly.blogbus.com/logs/17601222.html

3月5日 Oslo

Workshop day 2

Forget those classic part of image.

进入了实质性阶段，提交作业和编辑。每个学生选择两组作品分别标上EDIT A和EDIT B，前一个文件夹里选择当天自己认为满意的作品，后一个则是自己不太有把握的，基本上每个文件夹里照片的数量在十张左右，然后由老师选择出他觉得满意的作品放到final picture的文件夹里，在最后一天里进行整体编辑。
按照我们平时的水平，即便是大师级的，一天能出3张好的照片就算是很不错了，想要每天有新的作业上交真是件不容易的事，前一个晚上的event结束后我出去拍了2个小时，回到房间已经是12点过了，以最快的速度挑选，修片，睡觉的时候已经是凌晨2点了，上午7点半起床继续工作，于是第一天的作业总算是交出来了。
根据规定在A和B里各放了5张作品，最大的挑战在于从未遭遇过街头如此冷清的局面，以至于我在接受MAGNUM IN MOTION的工作人员采访时回答说“希望明天我能在街上找到更多的人”。

以下是ALEX和REBECCA选择的照片，惭愧，我还停留在扫街初级阶段……

学生作业都是上传到学校的服务器上的，在好奇心的驱使下我去看了其他班级同学的作品，这一看让我非常激动，其中来自新加坡的Tay Kay Chin（前一天遇见的亚洲面孔）的作品极具创意，完全改变了我们对于传统经典作品的观念，他所在的David Alan Harvey的班级所有学生对他的作品发出了一致的喝彩，以后的每一天review里，大家都对他的新作报以极大的期待，就连David Alan Harvey这样的大师都说 "Now, Let's forget all those B&W classic pictures, move on a new level." 与此同时，在CHRIS ANDERSON的班级里，新形式的作品也得到了极大的肯定，传统意义上构图和光影都完美的照片在传递的同时，更多的“作者影像”和观念也在被接受，如果按照以前的判断标准，估计其中很多照片我会毫不犹豫地扔进垃圾箱，但是当我把这些照片放在一起时，我看到的完全是一个新的组合，这个组合的力量来源于摄影师对影像的控制，而不是被完美影像控制的摄影师。

--random walk，photo by Tay Kay Chin

----random walk，photo by Tay Kay Chin

----random walk，photo by Tay Kay Chin

今天下午，Tay Kay Chin发给我一封信，在得到他的同意后，我也在这里分享给大家。

I have visited your blog a few times to see what others have to say. Thought I should tell you a little bit of what I was thinking. Of course you are free to share with the rest.

Before I went to Oslo, I was very nervous. The Magnum photographers are great heroes to me. I admire almost all of them. I kept thinking what can I do to impress them? In fact, weeks before, I did a lot of research on the Internet, even contacted a belly dancer who I thought would make a sexy photo essay. I also researched a lot on the social condition, immigration issues, etc.

Then suddenly, I told myself: I was only going to be in Oslo for a few days, nothing that I do will have any depth. I decided at that very moment that I should just have lots of fun, enjoy the photography process and do things that I don't usually do. For me to do that, I needed to have a certain level of confidence, that even if nobody liked my images, I was just going to have fun.

For this I have to thank David a lot a lot. When he saw my portfolio (10 pairs of images from Singapore) on the first day, he told me that I should just go out and do what I had been doing. He said I should not worry about making a in-depth story.

First thing I did was to lock up all my Canon cameras and went out with only my Epson with one lens. I didn't even have a flash.

So I just went out and have lots of fun making images. I would be lying to say I was not thinking about how and which two images can work together.

Thank goodness I came back with a few good ones every day.

This way of working is not new to me. I do it almost every time I am on a holiday, when my mind is not determined to engage anything political, or social.

This to me, is a regular exercise in seeing and composing. Yes, it is basic photography. In musical context, it will be like playing the scales, or a warm-up piece on the piano - very basic but at the same time very important in getting me into the psychological level where I can take serious images.

I think most people will be more comfortable looking at my more traditional stuff, like my project on Filipino maids. Those are different, that kind of projects require different set of muscles.

I have reached a level in my own work when I am more likely to kill myself for not doing well, then to wait for others to tell me so. Often times, I reach a level of self-destruction, where I can't even see, not to mention make pictures.  All things considered, I am really more interested in my personal happiness. The whole world can like something I do but if I don't, then it is quite meaningless.

So this thing I did in Oslo, is a great help to me. I have fun, and I am reconnected. Now that I am warm up, I can now try to face the real race!

Needless to say, very few or none of the images I shot in Oslo will end up in my portfolio. They were fun to make and I will gladly do it again. When I am photographing, I like to imagine myself dancing - sliding from one position to another, gracefully, making the perfect turn, engage, then exit, then slide to another new position, execute another turn ... And hopefully, when I finally check my images, they excite and surprise me.