81 And Going Strong

David Goldblat is 81 and going strong! Wouldn't that be wonderful, to be 81 and still planning and making new photographs. Mr. Goldblat is currently working on a series of portraits of people who commit crimes, the portraits are made at the scene of their crime (crime is currently a big problem in South Africa and effects everyone).

I hope I can be in as good a shape and creating important photographs at that age, wouldn't that be an amazing gift, here's hoping.

Great Photography Day

I had a great photography day today here in San Francisco. It started out with my third 2 hour trip to Pier 24, after that I visited the 49 Geary photography galleries and the night ended at theSan Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) to hear a free talk given by the outstanding South African photographer David Goldblat (81 years old).

Some of the highlights of my day was looking at the Avedon's American West photos up close and personal only inches from my eyes, a vintage Edward Weston 1927 shell print  (at 49 Geary) valued at $1 500 000. Finally I heard Mr. Goldblat speak with amazing compassion and humanity about the  people he photographed.

A truly powerful and meaningful Thursday November 29th.

Books

I picked up a bunch good photo books this trip, including:

Sebastian Salgado's "Exodus"
Harry Callahan's "Elenor"
Lewis Hines "And The American Social "Conscience"
Bruce Haley's "Sunder"
Vicki Goldberg's "Light Matters: Writing on Photography
and 5 Aperture magazines

Pier 24 Show

I am in San Francisco, yesterday I saw the show of my life! The Pier 24 how was frickin awesome! I was very inspired after viewing the photographs, it was all so exciting to see this world class work.

I loved the Richard Avedon "American West" photographs, they had such depth to them, plus a wonderful warm human tone to the prints. Viewing the Diann Arbus work was  stunning, what a great photographer. Arbus has been criticized for seeking out the freak factor in her subjects but the more time I look at her imagery the more humanity I find.

I saw some other great work including Strand's "Blind Woman", Evan's "Alabama Tenant Farmers Wife", Brassai's "A Prostitute Playing Russian Billiards" and August Sander's "Boxer's". The show also led to the discovery of several new photographers who I will now study more.

I enjoyed this show so much I am going to take two more trips to the gallery, one tomorrow and one on Thursday.

Great times!!!

August Sander

Brassai

Paul Strand

Walker Evans

Going Simple In San Francisco

Well I am off to San Francisco in a few hours, I want to keep everything simple photographically this trip. I will travel with 1 Leica M6 and 1 lens (tri-elmar 28-35-50 F4) along with a bag of Tri-x.  Going simple like this I can concentrate on my photographs and forget about all the gadgetry. I just want to see, feel and make pics.

I was printing some 35mm work this last week and I found I really loved the look and grain of the small negs enlarged to 16x20. The grain, contrast and look of these prints is really exciting to me again. Years ago all I shot was 35mm b/w and I am back shooting in that way again, I guess we always go back to our roots. Going back to the way we shot when we first fell in love with photography seems a natural to me.

This San Fran trip should be a blast, I want to see lots of photography shows, want to make pictures with my Leica and hopefully catch the David Goldblat lecture. I am not sure how much blog stuff I will do so there might be a lull.

Anyway, going to get a bit of rest before my flight.

Ladyboy Submission Proposal "Ying-Chai"

"What is male, what is female?"

I have been thinking a lot over the last few weeks of the reasons behind my making of the ladyboy photographs. Sometimes when you create its a process of the unwilling, its like you are not sure why your doing it but you know its what you need to do, what you have to do. I believe my photography of ladyboys through the years is an attempt to understand their (and our) duality of person. It was a search for,  a need to try to understand the dual female and male roles we all play.

Everyone to a degree has male and female characteristics and influences, the ladyboy just has a more pronounced  way of showing it. They have a mixing, a sameness and blending of sexual and personal roles, a connection that combines both their female and the male parts. This is what I was trying to understand and express in my photographs. By working with them I was in search of a greater understanding of what roles males and females play and how those roles affect who we are, who I am.

I will make a submission to the AGA and elsewhere that deals with these feelings, with these themes. I will call it Ying-Chai  (Pooying = Female in Thai, and Poochai means Male in Thai).

Fascinating Documentary

Got this documentary from the library today on the artist Gehard Richter, fascinating stuff.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1982113/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y685hA65x1E

Last For A While Ladyboy 2012 Scans

Going to take a bit of a break before developing the final bit of 8x10 film from this series. Here are a few more scans from what I have developed so far.

Some More 8x10 Ladyboy Sex Worker Scans From 2012

Here are a few more scans, some are of the same subjects as earlier. I still have undeveloped film (30% left?) of in the darkroom but am taking a break in developing that up after I lost my Jobo. I only have my backup Jobo left that I got cheap, I am not sure how good the machine is so I want to develop the rest of the 8x10 SLOWLY!

I will spend the rest of the day printing my Kaasa Gallery Klong Toey Portrait show. Am working on a print of a boxer named Bell that I shot with the Banarama 2 camera and direct flash onto 4x5 Tri-x. I want to work more with this camera as the Weegee/Diane Arbus look of the negs is something I have always loved. The camera allows you a huge negative and creates a unique spotlight feel with the direct harsh flash. I can print the 4x5 negs large-large for added effect.

Anyway here are the 8x10 ladyboy sex worker scans shot in February of this year:

Trying Ebay Again

Making another try at selling some stuff on Ebay, it's a long shot but I thought I would try. Any money I make selling prints I will put towards my "The Familes of the Mae Sot Garbage Dump" project."

http://www.ebay.ca/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l2736&_nkw=Gerry+Yaum

Quotes: David Goldblat

"The words I put with my photographs are an integral part of the process. I don’t regard my photographs as precious objects to be seen in a vacuum. They are part of the real world I live in. It’s very important that people who look at them know something about them other than what is inherent in the picture – a date, a place, a time, whatever it is – some vital information."

"I very seldom talk. I don’t aim to make my subjects comfortable. I want some tension. I want to make the subject understand that for me, and possibly for them, this is a serious occasion."

" When I’m taking a portrait, I prefer to set up the camera and then not shelter behind it, but rather to engage directly with eye contact. That’s sometimes quite painful. "

White Background Ladyboy Sex Worker 2012

Doing up some more 2012 Ladyboy Sex Worker scans for consideration by the Toot Yung Gallery in Bangkok. I developed these negs this last week which led to my Jobo breakdown.

Maeyly 32 Ladyboy Sex Worker, Thailand 2012

Noi 29 Ladyboy Sex Worker, Thailand 2012

Gai 36 Ladyboy Sex Worker, Thailand 2012

Noi 29 Ladyboy Sex Worker, Thailand 2012

Gai 36 Ladyboy Sex Worker, Thailand 2012

Noi 29 Ladyboy Sex Worker, Thailand 2012

Maeyly 32 Ladyboy Sex Worker, Thailand 2012

New Scans

I am going through a bunch of old 35mm binders trying to narrow my choice of negs for the Kaasa show, been scanning to find out what I like best. Here are some of the possible images:

Chinese Grave Silom Road, Bangok 2011

Canal Klong Toey Slum Water, Bangkok 2012

Canal Klong Toey Slum Water #2, Bangkok 2012

Washing Dishes Klong Toey Slum, Bangkok 2012 

Washing Dishes #2 Klong Toey Slum, Bangkok 2012

Bath Klong Toey Slum, Bangkok 2012

Boxers Klong Toey Slum, Bangkok 2012

Bell Boxer Klong Toey Slum, Bangok 2012

Sleeping Under Freeway Next To Canal Klong Toey Slum, Bangkok 2012

On Canal Klong Toey Slum, Bangkok 2012

On Canal #2 Klong Toey Slum, Bangkok 2012

Garbage Collectors Klong Toey Market, Bangkok 2012

Boy With Puppy Klong Toey Slum, Bangkok 2012

Klong Toey Apartments, Bangkok 2012

David Goldblat Talk

Going to try and get in to hear this outstanding photographer speak when I am in San Francisco. It might be very tough to get into this free lecture but I will give it my best effort.

http://www.sfmoma.org/exhib_events/events/2202

Afrikaners by David Goldblatt