Mr. Josef Koudelka

I had some luck yesterday here in Paris. I had been looking at a book by Josef Koudelka at several different book stores over the last few days. When I went to the Magnum Gallery yesterday I finally decided to buy it for 60 Euros. The lady at the Magnum gallery shop suggested I go to Magnum agency to see some original prints on display there. I rushed across town, got lost and finally found the agency. The photos on display were very good especially a b/w series of peoples faces in a conference room area. After 40 minutes or so of looking at photos and and photo books in a relaxed friendly atmosphere I decided to leave. A nice French gentleman (Mr. Clemente) a photographer who was temporarily working the front desk of the agency told me that Mr. Kouldelka was upstairs and phoned up to ask if he would come down and sign my book. Josef Koudelka very graciously interrupted his work day to come down and sign the book, a kind generous man it was an honor to meet him. I also owe thanks to Mr. Clemente who went out of his way to help a stranger. Magnum, quality people doing important work.

It was a lucky day, a real lucky day, many things had to fit together for this to work out for me. I bought the book on that day luckily and on leaving one Magnum book place was told about the second office agency. After 40 minutes of looking at pics I was leaving and got caught in the doorway when it started to rain, Mr. Clemente who was smoking up front and I started talking. He saw me put the book down against the wall and then told me about Josef Koudelka being upstairs. It was a series of great coincidences. In fact I only went to the first Magnum book shop because the gallery I had planned to originally visit had been robbed earlier that week and was still closed. Because of all those coincidental things I got to meet a photographer I admire greatly, one of the best alive. A nice memory all round!

Update* That book is now a prized possession, that I keep safely stored away in my large photography library.Another great thing about this event is that I get to bug my friend Larry all the time, "Did I ever tell you about time I met Josef Koudelka?" have done that 10 or 15 times so far:)

By Josef Koudelka from his book "Gypsies"

Manets Olympia

Today I took my time and really studied Manets OLYMPIA for about 1 hour. Your able to get very close to the painting without glass in between you and the canvas. I got a real good look at her expression, originally I felt it was more angry and rebellious but on a closer look it struck me as sad and confined. It affected me more than anything else I saw at the D Orsey, Manets Olympia is a prostitute who receives flowers from her john-lover. When you can look at the near lifesize face (big painting) it totally changed my interpretation, I recognised a look in her that I had seen in Thailand-Cambodia, a sadness, a frustration that I had missed before when looking at the book versions. I am not sure how much time Manet spent in the brothals of Paris (he died of Syphilis) but he got the expression just right on Olympias face.




I also saw some carvings by Gaugain that I somehow missed my first visit, stunning in there raw power. There was a mask that also had a full figure in shadow on the inside that was particularly moving.

In Paris

Been in Paris for the last 4 days, an amazing historic city of art and cafes. My first impression was that people tend to be sitting at outdoor cafes drinking latais and wine, gossiping and relaxing. The French seem to enjoy life to the fullest, laying in parks, playing music enjoying a glass of wine.

Am staying at a very small apartment with a ladder like entrance and a double bolted door behind a large heavy street door with electronic combination code access. Not sure if all this security is normal or because of the crime in the area but it seems very secure.

Two days ago I went to the Musee de Orsay, was amazed at the art on display. You walk along and there is 5 or so Gaugains, then 5 or so Van Goghs followed my Manets Olympia and Monets pond lillies, Rodin sculptures, Degas, Edward Munch etc etc. You sort of get dizzy with all the great work you see.

Yesterday went to Pere Lachaise the most famous cemetary in the world. Shot a bunch of film on things I found interesting including the the people tourists in the graveyard. I also did a bit of grave visiting, Chopin, Gaulthier, Modigliani and Morrison. Jim Morrisons grave was a bit of a nightmare complete with angry staff and security. They had Morrisons grave surrounded by a metal fence and it was the number one draw, old, young and those in between crowded around the little opening to his grave trying to see what they could see. There were two photos on the grave along with burning candles, a near by tree had graffitti on it that the staff was trying to clean off, when I and another guy (young American) tried to take photos of the cleaning, one older male staff member got angry and started yelling NO PHOTOS, NO PHOTOS, he even got into a pushing match with the other guy, yelling at him in French. I ended up backing off and he left me alone but I got most of my photos anyway as I was using a 21mm lens and got some of the cleaning in the shots on the edge of the frame, they did not realize they were in the photograph.

It was an exhausting day of about 9 hours in the cemtary shooting from 8am till about 5pm followed by a 3 metro line ride home and 8 block walk back to the apartment. The shower on returning felt wonderful and I was a bit dehydrated even thou I drank 2 bottles of water at the cemetary. I had some more water a bit of cheese and was off to bed. Am glad I saw what I saw there but do not think I will go back this trip to much to do, to many places to go.


Stairs into my Paris apartment

Protests in Bangkok

Blood in the streets of Bangkok, 43+ dead, hundreds injured, tragic times. I feel like I am in the wrong place, I should be over there making photographs of what is happening, photographing the people from both sides. I am here in Canada working my regular job, I should be in Bangkok making important photographs.

Hopefully the people in Thailand can resolve this mess with no more deaths. Stop the killing and address the problems of the society or there will only be more and more serious problems in the future.

Quote: Aaron Siskind

" The main thing a work of art has to give you is order. It takes all this mess of ours, which is so wonderful and disturbing, and puts it together for us so that we can contemplate it. It removes you from life so you can live your life."

Improved Website Up

Uploaded my recent website work. I have a new simplified design which will hopefully make it easier for visitors to surf through the photographs. I also included a history page to explain some of the back story as well as tech stuff for anyone that is interested.

Still have lots of work to do on the scans, adding galleries and fixing typos and the like. Check it out:

www.gerryyaum.com

Webpage Work

Been struggling away trying to update/upgrade my website. Lots of work trying to get everything in order. I am changing the front page, am adding a gallery and history of the photographs page. I am also making the Bargirl gallery smaller and adding 3 galleries, Bangkok Freelancer, Cambodian Brothel and Japanese Train.

The Bargirl gallery will probably get larger in the coming years, believe it or not I still have undeveloped color film from this series dating back to 2003! I am not sure how big all the new galleries will be but I think it will make it easier for the casual surfer if I make the galleries smaller and explain each on the history of the photographs page.

The Banarama and Khon Thai

Over the last few days I have been studying the work of Bill Burke. I have been thinking over and over again, how can I use the 4x5 Polaroid conversion Razzle camera to make the portraits I want to do in the "Khon Thai" project?

I see the pictures in my head but I have to translate that into a reality. I will work with some local people to perfect the techniques I will need in Asia. I can experiment and screw up now, but later it is important I be competent in my technique and focused on the portraiture I need to make.

Bill Burke Photos From Cambodia.

Improving Website

Been working on the net book all night, trying to improve the www.gerryyaum.com website. Am going to add a separate gallery page and a history of the photographs page. I am also going to rescan all the photographs and add additional galleries.

Hopefully with these added pages surfing the site will be easier for people. The history page will also explain the back story of the photographs, many people who visit the site never come to the blog so this short summary of the images should help people understand the photographs better.

More More More Sex Worker Scans For Submissions

More More Sex Worker Scans For Submissions

More Sex Worker Scans For Submissions

Making Some Scans For Gallery Submissions

Starting to scan some of the sex worker white photos for gallery submissions, 3 galleries targeted.

Updating, Improving www.gerryyaum.com

I found away to use my time better. Last month I bought a small net book which will allow me to access the Internet when I work my regular job. I can now update and improve my www.gerryyaum.com website. I need to scan the negs at home but can now work from work on the site during my free time. Extra hours found!! I never seemed to have enough time at home on my days off to do all the things I wanted to do for my photography.

Tonight I worked on a simple new front page to the site. This new index page will lead to a galleries page and a history of the photographs page. The history page will have an explanation of the stories behind the pictures. Many times people who visit the site have no idea of the history behind the photographs, now there will be a page for that.

I will also of course rescan and redo all the photo pages as well as expand the sex worker 2009 white background photos. I hope also to add several other galleries from the past and present. The old front page was getting a tad crowded now with the gallery page being separate I can add more links to it.

Hopefully all of this will take place over the coming months. I got a recommendation from a friend, he suggested I forward my website to the Kinsey Institute. After I get everything up to snuff I will give that a try.

Jim Marshal

The famous rock and roll photographer Jim Marshall recently passed away. I have a book of his photography called "Jim Marshal Proof" that I have been studying. The book is filled with his iconic portraits of rock stars like Jim Hendrix and Janis Joplin alongside contact sheets (proofs) of the famous images.

What I find amazing is how economically he shot, the contacts are filled with well composed, well exposed outstanding photographs shot after shot. There is no wastage in this mans exposures. He really showed what a skilled photographer can do using simple tools like a Leica Rangefinder and Tri-x film, a wonderful photographer.

My Week Off

Had a nice week off from my regular job. I ended up doing some much needed cleaning in my dry mounting/print finishing area. The room was quite messy but now that I put some of the flash equipment in the studio I have more space. Now hopefully with this new cleaned up area I can make up some 20x24 submission prints for the Victoria gallery and also do a set of 16x20 year end prints for my photography club.

Also experimented with a new fiber paper called Ultrafine Silver Eagle. I was happy with the initial results (beautiful blacks) with some 35mm negs shot with the Leica, I am less sure how they will work with large format 8x10 negs, looked a bit contrasty, lacking mid tones. I liked the paper enough to order some 11x14 and 16x20 for more tests.

Last night I did some 8x10 neg printing using Ilford 16x20 fiber paper. I wanted to save my Bergger paper for the VAAA group show and a possible one man show in Victoria. If I have to order more of the Berrger paper it is a long convoluted process that is very expensive.

There do not seem to be enough hours to do all the photography stuff I want to do. I wish I didn't have to work my regular job and could devote 24/7 to my photography. There still would probably not be enough hours!

Special Moment

Had a special moment tonight, a few years ago in Vancouver had something similar happen, not sure how to put it into words. I was in the Degas gallery at the end of the course and kind of wandered off and looked at the Litttle Dancer bronze sculpture on my own. The rest of the group was listening to the course teacher in another part of the gallery. I had Little Dancer all to myself, I looked up at her face and thought, looked and thought and then looked and felt. It was a strange feeling that lasted about 45 seconds, a feeling like the hair raising on your neck but also a feeling like I could not breath, like I could not catch my breath, it was a joyful good feeling, a feeling of awe.

I think back to some of the women I photographed in Cambodia, some of the Vietnamese women working the brothels. They had a look of resolve and strength to them, a sadness but also a strong independence. I wonder if this girl Marie (the Little Dancer) had the same problems, the same poverty, the same relationships with men and parents as the girls in the Cambodian brothels.

It seems so right that Degas gave this strong independent young lady artistic immortality, she deserved it. I hope I can also give a voice to the often forgotten people with my work. I want them to be remembered, to give them a lasting importance that maybe they did not have a chance at in real life.

Degas Course

Had a wonderful night out at the AGA, I went to a Degas course. It was fun to be around all that art, talking art and listening and learning. I found it to be very informative and the lady teaching the course was very knowledgeable and enjoyable to listen to. I wish the other people in the course (about 15 folks) would have spoken up more, I felt a bit like a loudmouth in the group always putting in my 2 cents but other than the monk like attitude of some of the people it was a great evening.

It is so cool that in the Impressionist days people would really get emotional and outspoken about art, it was like Art really really mattered and was important in their lives. Sometimes I feel that in our modern world people are to quiet about Art, speak up, be heard, make some noise!! (my 2 cents worth : )

A very nice enjoyable evening, I hope to have many more. I hear Matisse might be in the AGAs future, hopefully I am not working and can go to that course night! Please more photographers also!

Working On A Book

Did a bit of work this afternoon on a self published book I want to print using www.blurb.com I tried this last year unsuccessfully, the book was a crashing failure. I was very unhappy with the scans I did and the darkness of the reproductions. I will try it again this year with better/lighter scans. Hopefully I can put together something that is half decent. I do not expect to much from the cheapo printing process but heck I should be able to do something better than the piece of crap I made last year.

The idea is to make a small hardcover book measuring 8x10 which I can have for sale at the group show at the VAAA next year. I do not really want to sell the books so much as to give people a look at more of my photographs than they can see on the walls of the gallery. I will do a small version of 15 images first to see if it works and then go to 30-40 images or so for the VAAA group show book.

Billy Holiday, Simply The Best

Listening to Billie Holiday the ultimate connection again tonight, such emotion in her singing, cannot think of of anyone that puts more feeling into her songs. Her tragic private life (drug addiction, abuse both sexual as a child and physical as an adult, and early death) plays a role in how you listen to her, she is so special, damn an amazing vocalist, simply the best!

I would have loved to photograph her, maybe that's what attracts me to photographing women working the bars in Thailand, the tragic circumstances they often find themselves in. I feel connected to these kind of women, identify with her somehow, feel the need to tell their stories. Bla and Long have had the same lives to Billie in some ways, it's to late to photograph Miss Holiday but not to late to make important photographs of others suffering the same fate.

Khon Thai, A Search For A Greater Truth

So far most of my photographs on Thailand deal with sex workers and some shots of poverty. The more I think about this limited viewpoint of the country the more I realize my photographs need to show a greater truth of who the people are. The idea behind the Khon Thai project is that I will photograph people from all aspects of Thai society. I want to show the great range of peoples in the country, show through photographic portraiture the diversity of what it is to be Thai. I need to capture the spirit of the people, to photograph who they are and to make a honest record of this great people.

Quote: Roger Housden (Writer)

From his book: How Rembrandt Reveals Your Beautiful Imperfect Self

"When you sense the living spirit in someone, standards of beauty and ugliness fall away."

Quote: Robert Markle (Artist)

"Every artist needs a central issue..."

Some Thoughts

I guess that the AGA (Alberta Gallery of Art) has already doubled its membership, they have had 30 000 visitors since the opening (partly because of the free days). They have also had 12 000 paid admissions versus 29 000 for all of 2009.
I want to try to set a goal for myself, a pretty hard goal to achieve, maybe an impossible goal but something I should strive for. Within 10 years I want to have something mine, anything of mine hang at the AGA.
Am excited and frightened by the Khon Thai project. Going out and making something out of nothing often by myself is daunting and intimidating, but also quite exciting and exhilerating. It is much better to try and fail and deal with that failure than to never try and live with the regret.

New Studio

I will be opening up a small studio room in the next while. I spent the day cleaning the room and hauling Speedtron flash equipment along with cameras, lens and tripods about, boy is my back sore.

Hopefully I can leave all this equipment at this studio location in the future and do not have to lug everything about. Having everything in one studio makes things much easier and should allow me to shoot more and learn more about lighting. I will try to do a series of portraits of various folks at the studio as well as dabbling in some still life images (something new!).

Places an advertisement in a local art weekly newspaper which will hopefully lead to some strong photographs, I also have a list of people (Father Series) I am interested in photographing. With the studio set up (about 1/2 completed now) I should be able to make photographs more easily and quickly.

Banarama Tests

Took the 4x5 Bananarama (135mm Razzle camera) out for some testes with my friend Rob the other day. Here are some samples shot with available light and the camera mounted on a tripod, F-16 and 1/2 second with Tri-x. The same school house as the Leica 35 stuff but shot a couple of weeks later, it was COLD!

Quote: Amy Fung (Art Critic)

Writing about the Yousuf Karsh exhibit at the AGA.

"...Karsh, like many photographers of his generation, profess to seek that "elusive moment of truth". But if you compare and contrast every photographer who's ever been after the truth, from Cartier-Bresson to Sally Mann to Nan Goldin, it becomes clear how subjective the notion of truth really is and how their truth reveals more about the photographer than anything else."

Poetry

Think I will try to get into poetry. At the Karsh exhibit (AGA) there is a video of him recommending photographers study art and literature as well as poetry. I have done some of the literature, quite a bit of the art but almost no poetry. Reading this biography on Modigliani has put poetry on the map again, this guy lived and died poetry, he could quote long poems by heart even when drunk. I will try to read poetry, get to know that art form and see how it affects my work.

Quote: Paul Strand

"It's what you see that matters."

More Leica Tests

A month or so I went out with a friend shooting at an old school house. I used the Leica with 21 and 28 mm lens, Tmax 3200 and Tri-x. I quite like working with this camera and the results so far have been positive. I am going to London and Paris for a short trip in May and will only shoot the Leica's, should be tons of fun shooting in places where Robert Frank and Henri Cartier0-Bresson shot.

Quote: Amedeo Modigliani

Reading a biography about the artist Modigliani written by Jeffery Meyers. A quote from Amedeo Modigilani from a letter he wrote to a friend.

"People like us (artists) have different rights, different values than do normal,ordinary people because we have different needs which put us--- above their moral standards. Your duty is never to waste yourself in sacrifice. Your real duty is to save your dream. Beauty herself makes painful demands; but these nevertheless bring forth the most supreme efforts of the soul. Every obstacle we overcome means an increase in will-power and provides the vital and progressive renewal of our inspiration."

My Father Series

Did a bit of work 2 days ago on the "My Father" series. The photo was shot the same way as the Thai color heads, a ring flash on a Hasselblad with a Hoya close up filter. Used Kodak Portra VC 220 and did a tiny bit of clean up work in photoshop.

I like the expression, it speaks to me of some of the things he has gone through in his life.

Going Back in TIme

Been developing some old film. The stuff was exposed years ago and then sat in my darkroom waiting for me to get around to working on it. This last week I developed some stuff that dates back to when I was 16 and in Germany. I had taken a school trip to Europe with my Social Studies class. Strange to be transported back in time, to see me in an old world I had long forgotten.

Might post one for fun, mostly pictures of castles and such. Another film I developed was of members of my family in younger days, kind of jarring.

Male Freelance Worker

Ti Male Gogo Worker

I photographed Ti in 2007 and was lucky enough to make photographs with him 2 times in 2009.

Ladyboy RIngflash Shot