graeme mitchell

This is a recording of William Faulkner’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech, as prevalent today as it was when he originally read it I believe.

audio: William Faulkner’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech. Delivered, Dec 10, 1950 in Stockholm Sweden

photo: William Faulkner, Hollywood, CA, 1942. ©Alfred Eriss/Pix Inc./Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

At work:

“I have no ethics.”

Or are your ethics just bigger than the commonplace, Bruce?

The Imagist has a video post up of the model Natasa Vojnovic (w/Women) at work.

See the video here.

She’s tremendous, and I can’t iterate enough the affect a girl who moves like that and works that hard has on the final images. Models can make or break a shoot.

Down to brass tax, I want to photograph her.

Speaking of Sims and Natasa, here’s a peek of there up coming spread in V #52 (March, ‘08). Styling by Karl Templer. And that (wicked) hair by Guido.

photo: model Natasa V. in V #52, © David Sims.

My respect for Steven Meisel (w/ Art and Commerce) and the consistent work he has produced and continues to produce can’t be overstated. And this video does nothing to dissuade that opinion. If anything, it reinforces it.

video: from Portfolio (1983) the movie.

Now insert ear to ear grin here b/c I honestly can’t tell if this was done in earnest or not. But regardless, and as absurd as the video is, a shot from a great editorial Meisel did recently shows that he, in fact, knows very well what he’s doing:

photo: “Supermodels Enter Rehab,” Vogue Italia, July 2007. © Steven Meisel.

“The maximum, that is what has always interested me.” - Joseph Koudelka

You’d think this quote is a tad hyperbolic, but I think it’s not so full of trope and more honest than one would presume coming from Koudelka. I was looking at two of his books today. Initially, I was struck by really nice prints (done primarily by Vojin Mitrovic at Picto labs in Paris), but then I just kept getting sucked deeper and deeper into Koudelka’s work. Maybe I was prone to profundity this afternoon, but I saw a great capacity for intelligence and vision that functions by transcending the everyday in his images.

Many of his picture’s - the less overtly photojournalistic ones mostly - rhythm and composition, brought to mind the sensibility Eggleston purported of a democracy of objects taking place within the photograph’s frame: a place where all things can be represented equally. Seems like a long shot putting the likes of Koudelka and Eggleston in the same sentence, but it crossed my mind. As a side note, this Eggleston picture is the sort of thing most photographers spend their life trying to accomplish; it’s perfect.

photo: Adyn and Jasper, by William Eggleston. © 2005 Eggleston Artist Trust

Though the comparison of Eggleston and Koudelka doesn’t go much further than that except for their dedication to the more panoramic of formats, 2:1 for Eggleston, 3:1 for Koudelka later in his career. I say the comparison falls off b/c I think Eggleston’s images tend to point you in a direction, suggesting what you’re to think or just being more implicit with their sense of irony. Maybe this is a function of the color, I don’t know? Koudelka, on the other hand, you sink into his images all the same, but they don’t guide you at all, more like they spin you around and then let you figure out for yourself where you are and what’s going on. What I’m referring to comes from a subtle sense of abstraction that is present in a lot of his work. His images of the wrist-hand-watch in the center of totally unrelated scene is a perfect example of how his work is good… Unfortunately, more of the work I’m referring to is his later panoramic images that are harder to come by, but if you can find a book of his you’ll see what I’m talking about.

photo: Czeckoslovikia 1968. © Joseph Koudelka

photo: Ireland 1972. © Joseph Koudelka

photo: Ireland 1976. © Joseph Koudelka

photo: Spain 1971. © Joseph Koudelka

Update: I guess it turns out, after talking with someone in regards to this post, that I just missed Koudelka speaking here in NYC early this April at the Aperture Gallery in Chelsea, moderated by photo critic Vicki Goldberg. I’m happy to say thanks to the internet I did find this mp3 recording of the talk courtesy of Max Pasion, which I’ll also stream here.

Joseph Koudelka speaking at Aperture Gallery in New York City. April, 2007. Moderated by Vick Goldberg.

Update 2: some of those panoramas I was talking about from Koudelka’s book The Black Triangle. Hopefully it’ll make my Eggleston comment a bit more sane:

photo: From the book, The Black Triangle. © Joseph Koudelka

photo: From the book, The Black Triangle. © Joseph Koudelka

song: “Anomaly Girl” ©Mano-Destra

This is a treat. I was clicking around on my server and found Mano-Destra’s “Anomaly Girl” mp3. Now, I’ve no idea from where it came, but that’s not the concern: what’s important is that you get it on your ipod and listen to it on the subway.

Unfortunately, he’s currently revamping his site, but I hear his new site will be up soon and it’s full of big ideas.

photo: Mano-Destra ©Graeme Mitchell, 2006

Here are two quieting readings by Sylvia Plath of her poems “Lady Lazarus” and “Daddy”, which I hope you take a moment for. Don’t watch the videos, or continue with anything else for that matter, close your eyes, wipe your mind, and listen openly.

I’ve been in PDX and won’t return to NYC until the New Year. It’s been a much needed reprieve. I look forward to getting home, but until I do I’m afraid this tiny bleep on the internet’s radar is going to continue to go neglected.

In the interim, for some company, here’s T.S. Eliot reciting “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” Such a brilliant poem, and Eliot was a wonderful reader, so mull over it, and if it doesn’t inspire insight or ideas then you probably need to listen again. Really, listen: