35mm Dumpsite Photos Part 6

When I was in the dump several times the men and women there told me I should wear a hat to help keep off the sun. One time when they were telling this Doo-ayes younger brother put his sisters girly style hat on my head as a joke, I think the first photograph below was when that happened. The link below is the original blog story from that day. This is another one of those beautiful people moments from the last trip, its one of those memories that goes over and over again in my mind.

http://gerryyaum.blogspot.ca/2013/05/you-need-hat.html

Quote: William Shakespeare

“This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. Farewell, my blessing season ...”

“Hamlet. Act 1.”

Nice Way To Show Your Work

I found this show video yesterday for the Wave Gallery in Italy where my colleague Jonathan Luckhurst has shown work. The way the art work is presented at 1:30 second mark of the video is quite nice, simple and direct, just plastic sheets holding a photograph. This light weight way of showing work might be the answer to my shipping work overseas problem, it might be easier and cheaper to do than aluminum. Many people are hooked on only presenting work in traditional ways (black metal frames). There is no reason to be rigid in the way you show, there are lots of options, just as there are many types of photography. We should all be open to the multiple types of photography (digi, colour, variety of subjects) and the multiple types of ways of putting your work on the wall.

I might try showing color work at the Toot Yung Gallery this way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoIN9TfZbmI

The 27

Am doing 27 submissions for the "Families Of The Dump" photographs. I would never get into the major places like the National Gallery but those submissions are important, hopefully with effort and time someone will eventually take notice of the work (a bit like advertising). I might have a better shot of having some of the smaller places show the photographs. The people who allowed me into their lives deserve to have their stories told and all these submissions is my attempt to do that.

It will take me a couple of weeks to get this all together and sent out, so far I have about 20% of the work completed.

Here is a list of the wide variety of galleries, from world class facilities down to local places around town:

1. Art Gallery Of Alberta
2. Art Gallery Of Calgary
3. The Museum Of Contemporary Art Calgary
4. The Art Gallery Of Hamilton 

5. The Winnipeg Art Gallery  

6. The Vancouver Art Gallery

7. The Ottawa Art Gallery

8. The Montreal Museum Of Fine Arts
9. The Art Gallery Of Ontario
10. The National Gallery Of Canada 
11. Luz Gallery-Studio Victoria
12. Kamloops Art Gallery
13. Art Gallery of Regina
14. Side Gallery England
15. Pier 24 San Francisco
16. Visual Arts Alberta
17. Viewpoint Gallery Halifax
18. Latitude 51 Gallery Edmonton
19. Photo Life Magazine
20. Art Gallery Of Mississauga
21. Art Gallery Of Peel
23. Art Gallery Of Nova Scotia
24. Gallery 44-Toronto
25. Wave Gallery-Italy

26. Art Gallery of St. Albert 
27. Red Deer Museum+Art Gallery

Beautiful People

One of the first things I realized when I picked up a camera and started making pictures of people was that it opened doors into the world of my subject. I got to learn about the person I was photographing, they told me about their lives, their feelings, sometimes their inner thoughts as we made pictures together. People have always been fascinating to me, why they do what they do, what they believe, what motivates them, what makes them tick? With a camera in your hand you have sort of an invitation into the lives, into the worlds of others, it sort of gives you licence to enter a forbidden place.

The more photography I do, the more deep I get into different lives, cultures, experiences the more I want it, its like an insatiable addiction. An addiction to learn, to understand, to create and to tell stories. One experience feeds on another, it fascinates me, drives me to work harder and it makes me want to tell others (some call it sermonizing) of those experiences, through the photographs, shows, online galleries, emails, blogs etc.

I was thinking today of something that happened to me on one of my last days in the dump in Mae Sot. I was standing photographing some adults walking on a road with the garbage as a back drop when 3 young children approached me. These youngsters just ran up smiling and started hugging my legs, I was sort of surrounded and when I looked down they just laughed and smiled up at me holding tight. I tried to make pictures of them but they were sort of embedded in my legs and I could not move without making them fall, so I sort of just smiled and they laughed and smiled and this went on for 3 or 4 minutes. I am not sure why I am telling that story now but its a memory that just flashed back today and it seemed important. That is what photography of people is like you have these shared moments, these wonderful-terrible-sad-happy-exciting-compassionate experiences, things that stay with you forever and change you as a person and artist.

Photographing living breathing feeling people, is so different than doing inanimate objects, rocks, trees and the like. When you can speak to your subject, hear them laugh, see them cry it's more personal. When you feel and understand a tiny bit of their lives and then relate that in a creative way through your pictures, it's really something, its comes down to one word, BEAUTIFUL.

Grumpy Gus

Been writing some pissed off posts lately, was thinking of doing a blog on why I love photographing people, will work on that tonight at work. Got to get a little more optimistic here, keep the negativity to a minimum. Photography is a great thing, a wonderful art form and a outstanding way to raise awareness and educate. Lets put Grumpy Gus Gerry in the backseat for a while, he ain't driving the bus tonight.

2nd Lesson? Funding

Might be doing some more lessons soon, on either the use of a 4x5 camera or darkroom printing-film development. I hope it happens with the new Leica lens (still have not received my tax refund) and with the supplies I have been buying, darkroom chemistry, film and neg sleeves, I am very short on funds. So any money I can generate is a good thing. I also have to save some money for my return to Thai in October, with no grants coming from anywhere I am all on my lonesome funding all this. Another thing I need to get money for is for the production, shipping etc of my 2 overseas shows, both happening within the next year.

Money money money, makes the world go round, all I want to do is  make pictures and tell my stories, F-ck these constant money worries!!

Cambodian Dump Story Link

This sounds like it might even be a worse place than the Mae Sot dump. I am not sure if this is still an active work place or if the government has closed it to worker recyclers.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/06/world/girl-rising-andc-sreyna/index.html?hpt=hp_bn2

35mm Dumpsite Photos Part 5

I am working my security night shifts now, so am limited in what I can do photography wise. I will add photos to this blog through out the week and do some scanning and film development if I can.  The young girl in the first photo was playing hide-and-seek with me, she eventually went farther and farther under the tarp and then disappeared completely under her family shack, when I found her underneath she giggled and laughed at me.

Complications, All Talk No Action

Ever notice how when someone does not want to do something they create unnecessary complications to rationalize why they are not doing it? Many things are very simple, but people tend to make them very complicated, for no other reason than they like to have a good excuse for not doing something. I notice this all the time in photography, people are lazy or unmotivated for some reason and instead of just admitting it they instead create elaborate difficulties and excuses about why something is not done. Many  amateur photographer folks I know have dozens of prepared reasons on why not to make pictures.

My theory (and the way I try to do things, not always successfully) is simple, if you love something (like photography) figure out a way to do it, stop the excuses, stop being lazy, get it done! If you look at the successful people in whatever field you can imagine, they have one thing in common, hard work. 

Show Update

Thought I would give an update on the various shows I am involved in:

- "The Training Is Coming, Portraits From Klong Toey Slum, Bangkok Thailand" at the Kaasa Gallery. This show runs until June 13, I pick up the work on the 14th.
-  I have 1 photo in the Alberta Photo Open which runs in August at Kaasa.
-  Solo exhibition December 2013 at the PhotoNOLA photography festival in New Orleans.
-  Solo exhibition March/April 2014 in Bangkok Thailand in the Toot Yung Gallery.

That's about it, I tried for several other things some I was rejected from with others I have not heard back from the juries. I have to start finding galleries that might show the "Families Of The Dump"series, I will try to get this work seen locally, nationally and internationally.

I found this wonderful international gallery located in Newcastle England, I would love to show there, this place has a long history which focuses on documentary photography.

http://www.amber-online.com/sections/side-gallery

A Few More 35mm "Families Of The Mae Sot Dump" Photos

Developed another 8 rolls before going to bed today (working tonight), managed to do a few scans also. Near the bottom you can see the countless flies in the air in several of the pictures.

The girl below is Doo-aye who I wrote about in the blog earlier:

http://gerryyaum.blogspot.ca/2013/05/the-life-of-doo-aye.html

Doo-aye Garbage Dump, Mae Sot Thailand 2013

Doo-aye Garbage Dump, Mae Sot Thailand 2013

Sebastiao Salgado Releases Genesis

The greatest photographer alive Sebastiao Salgado is releasing what might be his last major project  "Genesis", here are some links and details.

http://www.amazonasimages.com/grands-travaux

http://www.cntraveler.com/daily-traveler/2013/04/photographer-sebastiao-salgado-genesis-book-exhibition

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p017j7xv

http://www.amazon.ca/Sebastiao-Salgado-Genesis-Wanick-Salgado/dp/3836538725/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370293198&sr=8-1&keywords=genesis+salgado

The collectors edition $3000 version of the book:

http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/photography/all/02613/facts.sebastio_salgado_genesis.htm

More 4x5 Dump Photographs

I did not shoot a lot of 4x5 this trip and with the inevitable double exposures, blanks and fogged images there were even less possible printable negs. I did get some good things thou, I am having trouble scanning them with my 1/2 broken Epson scanner but will get them online as soon as I can. I doubt I could leave my 4x5 camera behind next trip, its just to damn exciting to shoot and the negs can be so damn strong if they are shot right. I will probably take both cameras again next trip, damn the weight!

More Boxer 4x5 Portraits

I like the 90mm better than the 150mm or full figure portraits but I need to work on my composition some with this lens, it seems I often shoot to far or do not place the figure quite right in the frame. I was looking at August Sander's German portraits again yesterday, quite often Sander would place his subjects feet near the bottom of the vertical or partially out of frame. I prefer to have the feet in the shot with a bit more space than the bottom two images here, with that space there seems to be a bit more balance to the photograph. I also need to be more selective in my subjects (try to find really strong people and landscapes to shoot) and try to not overshoot, maybe 2 or at most 3 sheets of film per subject portrait. My 4x5 portraiture continues to improve but its a slow methodical type process.

Quote: W. Eugene Smith

"An artist must be ruthlessly selfish."

Quote: Sebatiao Salgado

"You don't “take” pictures, you make pictures; you make them well and use them to communicate, to help the people and the situation."

Quotes On Humanity

We all view people differently, I recently had a rather heated email discussion with a friend about tax funding for the arts and the importance of photographing people. He wrote me of his lack of faith in humanity, and the fact he did not want to worship them through photography. I kind of see where my friend is coming from, there is so much negativity associated with humanity, its easy to get lost in all that. I feel  we must work harder to show the goodness, the beauty we all possess,  the common lives we all share. We all need to feed the good dog inside ourselves (the last quote).

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” 
― Mahatma Gandhi

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” 
― Mother Teresa

“It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.” 
― Mahatma Gandhi

“A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.” 
― Gloria Steinem

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.” 
― Dalai Lama XIV, The Art of Happiness

“Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.” 
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos

“Each contact with a human being is so rare, so precious, one should preserve it.” 
― Anaïs Nin

“In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”
― Anne Frank

“How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.” 
― William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

“There is always more misery among the lower classes than there is humanity in the higher.” 
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

“A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time. When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, The one I feed the most.” 
― George Bernard Shaw

A Printing We Will Go!

I will be doing lots of printing over the coming months, I have to print two shows, one for New Orleans and one for Bangkok (digi prints?) and I have to print a single photo for the Alberta open. I love the darkroom so this should be quite fun and much easier, except for possibly the photo shop digi printer stuff.

My main concern is finding all of those blasted negs from years past, dating back to 2003. My filing system sucks and I am a about to pay for it with hours and hours of searching  binders and print file neg sheets.

Only 35mm?

With the purchase of the new lens I have been thinking of possibly doing something radical (at least for me its radical). What if I go to Thailand and photograph in the dump and other places but only take 35mm equipment. I could travel with 3 or 4 bodies and 4 lens along with 150 rolls of film, that's it! No tripod, no 4x5 camera, no 4x5 lens, no film holders, no changing bag, no reflector and no 4x5 film. I could take everything in carry on luggage and have no check in bags. Gosh I love shooting 4x5 portraiture, it would be hard to leave behind, but maybe its what I should do. I could shoot light and fast for 5 weeks with only the 35s.

Will think about it some more, it  might be the way to go. Maybe on a later trip I could only take 4x5 equipment.

Confirmatiom For 2nd International Solo Show

It looks like my 2nd solo show outside of Canada is set. The show will take place in March/April of 2014 in Bangkok at the new Toot Yung Gallery. I am not sure what I will show yet but right now it looks like color work possibly the Cambodian brothel series from 2003, the Bargirl series from 2003 or the Sex Worker headshot series from 2008-2010 or a combination of all 3.

If I show color work I will probably print it digitally so I can have more control, I am a novice when it comes to making  printer prints so will need to train some with a friend in the coming months. Mimi (artistic curator of the Toot Yung) and I want to keep the show a bit fun, not all serious social documentary stuff so I might include pics like the one below. I did this photo as part of the Bargirl series in 2003. The idea is of this sub-series is the woman's fake sex enjoyment, it was about how the women would pretend to enjoy sex with their customers (who often felt they were great lovers) but it was all for show, in my pics we exaggerated it so much that there was lots of laughter.

 The Toot Yung show will probably be a combination of serious documentary photographs plus some fun and joy works.

Bought A 35mm F1.4 Aspherical Leica Lens

Gosh not sure this was the right move, I was thinking of buying the older 1960-1995 version of this Leica 35mm 1.4 lens  for $2029 USD at KEH.COM but then I saw this new version 35mm 1.4 lens which is bigger and heavier but also sharper at F1.4, F2, F2.8 and F4 than the older lens. I decided to do limited bidding on it as it was in very good condition and there seemed to be not much interest. Their was a bidding war between myself and 2 other people in the last 15 seconds of the auction. In the end I paid more for this lens than any other lens in my life $3250 USD, WOW! This lens beat out my old record of $2800 for the 28mm F2 Leica lens (a lens I love!). I hope I chose the right version, the older model is smaller and lighter, this lens is longer-heavier but sharper and cost $1231 more. I guess sharpness is the most important thing, now I can have confidence shooting at the wider apertures. Another advantage is this lens focuses closer than the older version 25 inches as compared to 39 inches, focusing closer is a big big bonus.

The good news is the beat up versions of this lens sell for around $3200-$3500 and the nicer versions sell for $3900-$4700 USD so I got it at a decent price as mine is in very good condition. I now have one of Leica's top lens, and also one of its fastest, I can use it in Asia in October. Leica lens hold much of their value, if I resell the 35mm someday I should get most of my money back. I always preach (sermonize) to my friends to get the best most reliable equipment and that is what I have done here. I paid a lot for it but I got a world class piece of glass which I will use for the rest of my life, I am starting to feel better about this decision.

I now need to decide to go with 3 or 4 bodies at the dump in Asia in October, I think at this point I will go with 2 M6 bodies, 1 M4P body and 4 lens, the 21mm, 28mm, 35mm and 50mm.

I am really drained of cash right now, I will put the gearing buying behind me now. I wanted to get a Gitzo center column geared tripod to use with the Linhof but that will probably have to wait until 2014. I will have to use my cheap Chinese carbon fiber copy tripod for at least 1 more year, hope it does not break down again, I have the thing super glued together.


Here is the beautiful Leica 35mm F1.4, I hope I can make some strong images with it next trip.

From Ken Rockwell's review of the lens.
The LEICA 35mm f/1.4 SUMMILUX-M is a super-sharp, super-fast general-purpose lens intended for journalists. Shoot it at f/1.4 and it's sharper than most other brand 35mm lenses at any aperture. I can shoot ISO 50 Velvia at night at 1/3 of a second hand-held at f/1.4, and get great results. 
 Note* I got an email from the seller saying he will ship on Tuesday. The lens is coming in from New Zealand so hopefully in 2-3 weeks I will have the lens and be testing it. Now if I can just manage not to drop it (like I did my Leica 28mm F2 and my Leica 50mm F1.4), I'm sitting pretty! Hopefully my tax refund check comes soon.

Supplies!

I am trying to cut back on the gear buying and concentrate on buying the raw materials I need for my photography, film, paper and chemistry.

Today I did a bigger buy:

- Kodak D-76 21 packages.
- Kodak Fixer  13 packages.
- Kodak Hypo Clear 4 packages.
- Dektol 18 packages.
- Ilford Rapid fix 5L 1 bottle.
The grand total with tax was $482.58 CAD.

I managed to clean out my  local photo supplier, with Kodak playing fast and loose with their pricing I thought I better buy as much as I could now locally before the prices went up 30% or more.

I also picked up some stuff from my Winnipeg supplier, some Ilford film was returned from a school back to the store and was now selling at a discount, outdated in 2014.

- Ilford HP5 HP5 100 foot roll, 5 boxes $45 dollars a box.

I wanted to play with a smaller quantity of HP5 before changing over from Tri-x to save money. The cheapest place I found to buy fresh HP5 was at B&H at $60.43 USD the Tri-x is listed at $78.20 USD. I would save almost $20 a box if I switch films, its worth thinking about. I bought this slightly dated cheaper HP5 to test to see how it compares to Tri-x. Most of the costs (3.5 rolls) were covered by the darkroom lesson and the Alberta open artist fee, anytime I can get free film its a good deal.

Most film is shot and forgotten, bad exposures, bad composition, a bad decisive moment but then there are some pieces of  film that record a great photograph, then the neg is treasured, cared for and in a sense never dies. I hope some of today's free film falls into that latter category and captures something important. Here is my weird thought of the day, I feel the photographer owes the film, almost like its alive, he owes it a chance to record and remember something great.

Another Set Of 35mm People Of The Dump Pictures

The top photograph is of the woman from the hairpin story I wrote while in Mae Sot. You can see the hairpin in her hair in this photograph.

http://gerryyaum.blogspot.ca/2013/05/hairpins.html

Prints Mounted To Aluminum

When I was in San Francisco I saw Avedon prints mounted on aluminum, it was such a simple and efficient way to do things.  I want to show my PhotoNOLA show in the same way, it will give the prints a nice look and it will save on shipping costs to and from the exhibit.

Here is Avedon's work at Pier 24:

Richard Avedon

Thank You Email

Got a nice thank you email today from the student I had in on Thursday, not only did I get a bit of money I was also able to help inspire someone on the joys of the darkroom, it was a win win. I hope to do more of these in the future.

Gerry!

I just wanted to thank you again for the awesome darkroom session! I learnt so much and I'm so stoked on my prints that I made! Thanks for sharing you knowledge and sharing your creative space and letting my do all of it on my own and guiding me through the process! I will defiantly be continuing learning the darkroom and black and white photography! you've defiantly been a inspiration! 

I look forward to another darkroom session and to seeing you around!

.......

Take'r easy!