The Ungentle Art of Photography

When I was first learning how to play the upright bass many, many years ago, I came across a VHS tape called Slap Bass: The Ungentle Art. That title sure got my attention. You see, most of the time, playing the bass is a pretty nuanced affair, especially in classical settings, but in Rockabilly things can be different, a bit more intense. You'll need to tape up the fingers of your right hand for one thing. Anyway, photographing in harsh sun can be a little bit like playing slap bass. Ungentle, for sure, but still pleasing in the end. Still artful if you do it right. 

How To Swing

Here's a photograph of me holding my copy of 'Eye, Mind, Spirit', featuring the work of Minor White. A double exposure photograph he made in the early 1950s.

Anyway, how do you learn to photograph? Well, how do you learn to play jazz? Everyone I've ever spoken to or taken lessons from, says essentially the same thing. 

First, listen to the great players, a lot. Second, imitate (transcribe). Third, practice (a lot). Fourth, trust in the process. Sure, if you just play a bunch of notes from the altered scale over a dominant chord, that might sound gimmicky. The key is to internalize ideas, and then let them express themselves organically in your playing. Over time, you'll start to notice that you're swinging your ass off.

 
Tasting notes: Olympus E-330, 25 mm f/2.8 lens.

Impressions

I enjoy experiencing photographs together with music...

What's your favorite version of On Green Dolphin Street? I recently discovered a Bill Evans recording I hadn't heard before that featured this tune. It is a trio setting with P.C. and Philly Joe Jones. Killin'.

The many lives of images...

I forget who first introduced me to 'Apogee', a jazz recording from the late 1970s that features Warne Marsh and Pete Christlieb, two highly regarded tenor players of their time. While the music is mostly straight ahead and pretty hard driving, there was something downright mellow about the album art, which is a picture of telephone wires against a background of sky and clouds. To my eye, the image appears as if it was composed in the square format, and, if I had to guess, I would say it was probably made using a Hasselblad. It looks like the final darkroom print was heavily toned and even splattered with chemicals.

The photographer was Benno Friedman, who states in an interview, "I think of myself as an abstract expressionist photographer... Taking the picture has been like stretching the canvas. It is not about the image. But freeing the elements of the image in order that they have their own life".