Tuesday, December 31, 2019

My Work, Workout!

Am doing increasing workout-exercises during my security night shifts.  Today did:

- 40+ push ups 2 times
- around 100 sit ups
- extra stairs each security round
- chin ups (up to 4 at a time now), 2 or 3 times a night. Need to watch this one, injured myself a few years back when I did 11 one night.
- Aikido front rolls
- Aikido back rolls
- All kinds of stretches, trying to increase flexibility.
- Leg exercises to help me built muscle to do  Karate round house and side kicks. These are tough and hurt!

On my weeks off I am doing Aikido and starting now with Karate.  Not sure how long I can keep this up, or how wise it is to be going so hardcorish (at least for me) at 55 years of age. Will see how it goes, and try not to hurt myself. The end goal as always is to help the photography. I hope the exercising will allow me to maintain my ability to make photos on a physical level into my 70s.
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2 Wonderful W. Eugene Smith Portraits

Meeting a lot of W. Eugene Smith lovers of late (including one of his boys). Got this portrait of W. Eugene Smith from a new Facebook friend in Japans site.

Smith with the greatest photo ever made, "Tomoko Uemura in her bath, 1971, Minamata Japan
Smith making photographs and sharing humanity in Minamata, Japan
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Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year world, from a guard shack in Canada!

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The Story Behind The Robert Kennedy Assassination Photographs

Here is a story about the famous and difficult to view Kennedy assassination photographs.

NY TIMES Story About The Robert Kennedy Assassination Photographs
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Quote: Robert Kennedy

“Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their peers, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change.”

Such a brave man, a man who died for his beliefs. Another person who so inspires, what would the USA have become if he could have made it to the presidency?

The Story of RFKs Assassination

June 5, 1968, Los Angeles , photo by Bill Eppridge
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HF3535 Testing Continues

Here are a few photos of the continuing tests going on for my HF3535 (35x35 inch view camera). I will use this camera on my major 10-15 year KANATA project.

HF3535 with 20x24 reducing back. Filip in the Czech Republic doing the testing.
20x24 negative shot with the camera. Filip in the Czech Republic doing the testing.
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Newest Trip Film Scans

Am scanning some more 2019 Thai trip, Tri-x film scans. This stuff is all shot at 800 ASA and giving stand development for 1 hour 15 minutes at 20C. The film dilution was 30ml of Rodinal in 1500mm (5 -35mm reels) of water.

Owen 52, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY,  Klong Toey Slum, Bangkok Thailand 2019
Sleeping, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Klong Toey Slum Bangkok, Thailand 2019
Khun Ooh's dog, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Klong Toey Slum, Bangkok, Thailand 2019

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Monday, December 30, 2019

Cool Moment Of The Day

Here is a pretty cool moment. I just became Facebook friends with W. Eugene Smith's son, Kevin Eugene Smith.

He is the brother of the little boy and girl (Juanita and Pat) in one of the most famous photos ever made a photo his dad took of him and his sister as W. Eugene Smith was recovering from WWII battle injuries.

Time Magazine Story On The Photo

"The Walk to Paradise Garden, by W. Eugene Smith, 1946 (included in the "Family of Man" exhibition)

Here is Kevin's write up about his dads famous picture. from his twitter feed. Lets give the world peace and love as the Smith father and son wanted!!

"The most famous photo ever of children was "The Walk to Paradise Garden" by my dad W. Eugene Smith, the first photo he made in 1946 after he was blown up on Okinawa during World War II. The point was to show children at peace. Let's give it to them, okay???" Kevin Eugene Smith

 
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Sunday, December 29, 2019

Quote: Lewis Hine

“I wanted to show the thing that had to be corrected: I wanted to show the things that had to be appreciated.”
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The "Tomoko Uemura In Her Bath", Photo Story

A Facebook friend sent me this link about the photograph I referred to earlier as the greatest ever made, "Tomoko Uemura in her bath". Here is the background story to the pic. I did not know that because W. Eugene Smith got beat up by goons from the company that was damaging the environment it lead to national exposure for the victims of the Minamata Japan Mercury poisoning. The beating badly injured Smith, who was already quite frail, for the rest of his shortened life. In the end thou, since he helped so many victims, his pain and suffering might have be worth it! This is a prime example of how social documentary photography, how photographs with heart and true human emotion in them, can cause positive change in the world. W. Eugene Smith will always be my photographer hero.

This story is from IconicPhotos. wordpress

Photo Story "Tomoko Uemura in her bath


Tomoko Uemura in Her Bath

 ALEX SELWYN-HOLMES13 COMMENTS

flam2991
First housecats in Minamata, on the west coast of Kyushu in Japan, went berserk, jumping into the sea. Then it began to affect local fishermen, whose lips and limbs would tingle and then become numb. Their speeches slurred; many died. Women gave birth to deformed foetuses and blind children. It was termed Minamata disease, a neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning. Caused by methyl mercury in industrial wastewater from the Chisso Corporation’s chemical factory from 1932 to 1968, the disease claimed thousands of lives surreptitiously while the government and company did little to prevent the pollution.
It was a dramatic photographic essay by W. Eugene Smith in LIFE that brought world attention to the disease. Smith and his interpreter, a Japanese American student from Stanford University named Aileen Mioko Sprague (whom Smith would soon marry) were touring Japan for an exhibition of his works. They planned to stay in Minamata for three weeks, but ended up staying for three years. For eighteen dollars a month, they rented a house belonging to one of the victims, sharing a dirt-floored kitchen and bath, where they developed photos.
The most striking photo of the essay shows Ryoko Uemura, holding her severely deformed daughter, Tomoko, in a Japanese bath chamber. Tomoko was poisoned while still in the womb. The pieta of our industrial age, critics called it, and the photoessay was ‘a case study in Japanese politics’ the New York Times wrote. Although the photo was posed for Smith, the family subsequently asked the photo to be withdrawn from circulation. The picture does not appear in recent anthologies of Smith’s works.
A month after this photo, on January 7th 1972, Smith joined other Minamata victims at a demonstration at Chisso’s plant near Tokyo, where he was attacked and seriously injured by Chisso employees which left him with a permanently damaged eye and a crippled health. This attack made Smith a familiar face on local news. A Tokyo department store staged an exhibit of Smith’s photos, which was visited by 50,000 people in twelve days. The photos led the government to take more direct actions and the company to pay compensation. Tomoko died in 1977 at the age of 21.
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Quote: W. Eugene Smith

Mr. Smith is my idol, the man who I most admire as a photographer, a true inspiration. He created what I believe is the greatest photograph ever made, Tomoko Uemura In Her Bath. 

 Blogs About W. Eugene Smith

 "I’ve never made any picture, good or bad, without paying for it in emotional turmoil.”
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Some More New, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Photographs

Here are some more 35mm Tri-x Leica R6 shots from THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, series made in Klong Toey Slum Bangkok in 2019. I think I will try to shoot more film next trip, I sort of fell in love with the digital camera last trip and did not shoot as much 35mm film as I needed to. These photos were shot 800 ASA and then given STAND development for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Anapon 47, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY,  Klong Toey  Slum, Bangkok Thailand 2019
Dom 52, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY,  Klong Toey  Slum, Bangkok Thailand 2019

Ooh 40+ and her dog, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY,  Klong Toey  Slum, Bangkok Thailand 2019

Dom 52, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY,  Klong Toey  Slum, Bangkok Thailand 2019
Ooh 40+ and her dog, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY,  Klong Toey  Slum, Bangkok Thailand 2019
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Thursday, December 26, 2019

HF 3535 Almost Ready

from Facebook...

Filip from HF Large Format Camera is almost finished my 35x35 inch view camera. Here is a picture of him testing it with a 20x24 inch film reducing back on it (yes a 20x24 inch reducing back!). Hopefully I can shoot some film with it this coming spring/summer, and eventually do Mammoth Wet Plate work with it.
Filip testing the HF3535 he made
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Front Roll Gerry

One of the things you have to get good at in Aikido is front rolls. These rolls allow you to train safely without hurting yourself. For me they are part of the challenge. At 55 never having done these type things before it is fun and a bit scary but so far so good. Here is what I am up to so far, doing training here at work during my night time rounds. Here is what I am up to so far. Am trying to achieve more ROLL and less THUD! When you roll you feel nothing, it is remarkably smooth and easy but when you THUD you land on your back or shoulder and that hurts!

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Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Khun Owen 52, New THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY Photos

Here are some new photos developed last week from my 2019 to Thailand. 
Mr. Owen 52 from "The People Who Live Under the Freeway". 

A photo series telling the story of a large group of Thais who live in a slum area of Bangkok called Klong Toey. I will continue photographing the lives there on my return to 2020. Will also continue to do donation humanitarian stuff as well. It is important not only to take but also to give back to those that allow you the privilege of photographing them.

Shot most of this series last year on digital but these are Tri-x film shot, Leica R6, 16mm-21mm lens. The film was exposed at 800 ASA and given STAND development with Rodinal for 1 hour 15 minutes.

In the attached video you can see that Khun Owen on the pillar near traffic. He was breaking off the long metal rebar in the concrete so he could sell it. Owen was speaking about how the police arrested him "Dum-roo- it jub."
Khun Owen 52, THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER THE FREEWAY, Klong Toey Slum, Bangkok Thailand 2019
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Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Quote: Morihei Ueshiba (The Founder of Aikido)

"The purpose of training is to tighten up the slack, toughen the body, and polish the spirit."

Note* I have a lot of slack that needs tightening!
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Monday, December 23, 2019

Dad Post Comments

Here are some comments made on the dad post, at the 'Film Photography" page on Facebook.


    • Marcel Overwijn Sorry for your loss, strong pictures you got here tho, right in the feels.
      1
    • Neitsabes Yeduag Very powerful pictures.
      1
    • Eric Goldstein Thank you for sharing all of this.
      1
    • Gerry Yaum sharing dads story was a way to deal with better, also hiding behind the camera helped in the moment...you were forced to think of other things...https://gerryyaum.blogspot.com/.../artist-talk-success...
      Artist Talk A Success-A Nice Turnout
      GERRYYAUM.BLOGSPOT.COM
      Artist Talk A Success-A Nice Turnout
      Artist Talk A Success-A Nice Turnout
      1
    • Shane Balkowitsch As an oncology nurse and photographer i have great respect for what u did
      7
      • Gerry Yaum thanks Shane...the credit goes to Dad, it was his last gift to me..allowing me to photograph him at the end.
        5
      • 1
      • Gerry Yaum Shane Balkowitsch yes...I think he knew that it would help me deal with things..took pics of dad all his life...he enjoyed it most times..but at the end I think he saw it would help me get through his illness...it is still part of the healing...finding these forgotten negs, brings dad back to me in a very positive way..
        2
      Write a reply...

    • Mark Schimmer Thank you for sharing this, Gerry 🙏
      1
    • Phillip Dimor Powerful
      1
    • Bob Redd Thank you for your story and images.
    • Joseph Vargas Thank you for sharing and thank you for the courage to capture something like this. I am a true believer that cancer will be cured one day with AI. I'm 100% confident it will happen.
      1
      • Gerry Yaum yes...we can only hope...the more we talk about, the more we fight it...the more we can chase down this terrible disease...
        1
      • Joseph Vargas Gerry Yaum I lost several people to cancer I feel the same. A.I. and new methods of computing in the future will solve it. I'm sure of it. Its just a matter of time.
      View 1 more reply
    • Anil Mistry These are amazing. Death is as important as
      Life. I captured my dads last moments as he died in front of my eyes and they are the most powerful and important pictures I have.
      1
      • Gerry Yaum Thanks Anil...yes...understand 100%...most important photos of my lifetime also
    • B.L. Blazy Excellent, part of my career was medical photo.
      2
      • Gerry Yaum shooting medical photos must have been challenging emotionally, not sure I could handle it everyday..
      • B.L. Blazy Gerry Yaum There was a mix of reconstructive procedures and cosmetic. Following br ca patients and babies with skull deformities was most rewarding as they improved. Different every day, testing equipment, going from film to digital etc.
      • Gerry Yaum B.L. Blazy sounds rather amazing...never thought of that...photographing the recovery of people must have been rewarding...
        1
      Write a reply...

    • Mike Novak Sad and powerful. Losing your parents is the hardest part of being an adult, I think. It was brave of you to document this in such a respectful manner. I am sad for your loss. Thank you for sharing.
      1
      • Gerry Yaum Mike...yes agree the hardest part...life seems empty in a way when we cannot share it with them anymore....luckily my mom is still here..
    • Louli Létan I don’t know what to say to you.... be thankful for your pictures or be sorry for your words.... the pictures are really great but honestly the descriptions are very sad even if that’s in fact and your reality life. This is hard and heavy..... I thank to nurse of your daddy cause you mentioned to her.
      So, thank you for sharing your daddy’s history by two powerful shots.
      I hope that he will be better. 🌹👌🏻
      • Gerry Yaum one of the good parts of making photos is your much more involved in everything, allowing you to have the stories to tell...you remember so much more..your part of things
        1
      • Louli Létan Gerry Yaum exactement. ☺️🌹👌🏻
        1
    • Cemal Sagnak I wish I would have the time with my dad before he passed away on cancer . Unfortunately he had gone so fast , I was outside the country and when I called him I am on my return , the next day he was gone. Thank you for your images , it gave me some memories back to my dad
      • Gerry Yaum that is very sad Cemal, sorry to hear that, it must have been extra hard on you and your family......always felt lucky we had that time together, visited him almost everyday for 13 months. Sometimes it was only for 10 minutes before running to work others it was many hours together...
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      • Cemal Sagnak Gerry Yaum thanks for your kind words 🙏
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    • Mike Riches My Dad also died of cancer.
      We will find a way to beat .
      Your mom is a Angel.
      Takes a lot to bring a camera up to the eye under these conditions.

      My guess is that the lens is a 28mm or a 35mm.

      Thank you for laying these shots on the table.

      It’s what photography is all about.

      Take care
      Mike
      1
      • Gerry Yaum yes probably right on the lens...have both the 28mm f2 and the 35mm f1.4....for me the camera was sort of a shield...instead of thinking "My Dad Is Dying" I was partly distracted by the process of making the pictures...calculating, thinking about those camera, creative things instead. The hard part was printing them in a darkroom. Spending hours even days on a neg allows for lots of memory flashes and emotional moments in the dark. Your just staring at your dads face for hours on end under the red light, it was disturbing at times (thinking about losing him) and also joyful in a way, remembering the fun moments in your life together. Emotional either way.
    • Ann Trollinger Powerful images.
    • Robert Amoureux Sorry about the lost of your Dad. I really appreciated my kids visiting me in the hospital whenever I would go in. My parents and brothers and sisters would visit too. My wife seems like she was always there. This cancer (multiple myeloma) can be tough at times.
      • Gerry Yaum it has to help the healing when you see how many people love you....good luck Robert...
    • Ramses Ghodossi Powerful photos
      1
    • Jesse Gonzalez Powerful pictures. Your words made me tear up. I’m so sorry for your loss.
      1
      • Gerry Yaum thanks Jesse...and thanks for tearing up...it is good for all of us to do that now and again, it keeps us humble and human...
        1
    • Mark Brechbiel Incredibly moving but also very difficult for me. It's too reminiscent of when I lost my dad to cancer. The last images (in my head) of my dad are very similar to these
      • Gerry Yaum Yes Mark...very hard...had lots of folks say that when the photos were shown a few times in galleries...people telling me about their parents who they lost to cancer...remember one lady especially who spoke of her mom with Alzheimer's..hard to hear.. hard to say but good for all I think. What I find works for me is to remember the good times, remember the good memories. I used to dream of dad in a nightmare way, begging for him to not die etc in the dream. Now thou (almost 5 years later) the dreams and memories are mostly all good ones, we do things together laugh and smile.
        1
    • Dolores Restrepo Macias This is beautiful work, Gerry Yaum. Very moving. Bless your heart! And yes, best of luck getting back to Thailand for more shooting projects!
    • John W. Browning Thank you for sharing with us.
      I love the grain of Tri X. I suppose because so many great photo journalistic works have been done on it.
      I hope you are healing from your lose.
      I did the same thing with my mother who had Alzheimer’s.
      • Gerry Yaum yes John...the grain of Tri-x is special. I have started to shoot digital now as it allows for very fast ASAs, low light shooting but I will always shoot Tri-x because of the grain. I love the look of film especially Trii-x. Yes things are better now, …See More
        1
    • Laureen Carruthers So powerful. I lost my 48 year old friend two days ago to pancreatic cancer :(
      2
      • Gerry Yaum oh my gosh...so hard...cannot imagine that...dad was 81 almost 82 when he passed, we had a lifetime together. So sorry to hear of your loss Laureen, try to focus on and remember all the joyous times you shared. I find that helps a bit.
    • Nazar Melconian Sharing this must not have been easy. Taking these must not have been easy. Nothing about this is easy. It is certainly powerful and emotional to see. I am also torn with images taken by family of family members in their last moments of life...

      What m      ade you want to document these moments? What (if at all) your father's wish with regards to these photographs? The photos of your dad take me back to my own father and his last month of life... Your photos make me wonder if I would want to see these images of my own father, or would I rather leave those behind, and allow the images, and moments in my head to be just mine and mine alone? So sorry for your loss, bless your father.
      1
      • Gerry Yaum Yes Nazar, not easy to do any of this. I find thou that there are lots of positive things that come out of it. Here is one from tonight. I called my mother who is now living in an old age home. I told mom of the outpouring of positive comments in this post and she was so happy to hear it. She asked me to print out this all the comments, which I will do for her. In a way the dad pics sort of keeps him alive, and dad seems to be continuing to make a positive contribution on the lives of other people.
        Image may contain: one or more people and indoor
      • Gerry Yaum As to making photos of family members in their last moments. I photographed my dad our whole life together so it seemed right to do it till the end. I asked my dad his permission to continue to photograph him even after he passed, and he agreed to it. He thought it was important to finish things, to tell the complete story, he also saw it as a way to remember. I always saw it as a tribute to my father. Making the photos also allowed me to hide a bit from all the pain, the tears etc. I cried plenty, sometimes uncontrollably but when making the pics there was less of that, making photography gave me something else to concentrate on. The darkroom time making the final prints, was very hard thou, lots of emotions there.
        Image may contain: 1 person, text
        1
      • Gerry Yaum Sometimes it is hard to look at the pictures again, and it might have been easier never to have made them but I think overall the creation of the pics was a good thing. Just look at what happened here. I find a old film in my darkroom during a clean up…See More
      • Nazar Melconian Thank you for this. ❤️
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      Write a reply...

    • Markus Hofstätter Wow, great respect.
      1
    • B.L. Blazy Just info.....I did volunteer work for a hospice in bw. Whatever they needed....annual report anything. Was asked to do a few family photos did bw and color in home. Last family photos humbling. Awesome experiences.
    • B.L. Blazy Some folks had no photos at all of family together. Went into inner city gangs knew the household had hospice care and did not bother me. As I drove down the street gang blocked my car. Once they knew where I was going, I asked them which house...they let me go. No trouble.
      • Gerry Yaum wow.....send me some links if you have them, would love to see the work...people usually support those doing good, glad the gang encounter worked out well for you...
    • B.L. Blazy Hardest photo was baby with mother. Baby was the hospice client.
      1
    • Jay Sales
      ❤️
      1
    • Mate Zemljić This is so epic! Stunning photos. I have also made photos of my father and his last days in hospital with my M6 and MM.
      • Gerry Yaum Mate...thanks for your thoughts, the M6 is a great camera for this type of shooting, small, quiet and built to the highest quality.
    • Roland Vanlerberghe Very sad but nevertheless great journalism photography.
      • Gerry Yaum Thank you Roland....always felt social documentary photography was very important, sharing the stories of peoples lives with the world..
    • Tom Hood I took care of both of mine until they're passing 11 months apart yesterday would have been dad's 90th birthday
      1
      • Gerry Yaum I am sure the understood the love you gave Tom....sounds like your dad had a very long good life..
    • Peter Martinez Sorry for your loss, my condolences 🙏
      Write a reply...

    • John Morgan Totally righteous man
      1
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