Dark Light

“I slip photos under the door from the world of the blind to be viewed in the light of the sighted. I view my work during the event of taking the shot in my minds eye. I “see” each shot very clearly, only I use sound, touch, and memory. I am more of a conceptual artist than a photographer. My influences come from my past memory of art and what I now find in the world at large,” Pete Eckert.

If you ask photographers about what sense they would want to keep the most, the majority, if not all, will say sight. For an artist, vision is a priceless gift.

Last week, I watched a documentary film called “Dark Light: Art of Blind Photographers.” This film presented the amazing work of Pete Eckert, Bruce Hall and Henry Butler. These three photographers are blind, by definition of their physical eyes. The film was so inspiring and touching. It let me realize passion is stronger than disability. How can a blind person be a photographer? There is one answer; it is the “fascination” with the thing you love to do, regardless of all obstacles.

Of the three, Pete Eckert’s work was the one that amazed me the most. He became blind in his mid-age due to an eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa. He makes his images through touch, sound and the memory he formed before losing his sight. According to him, “Sound gives an image just like light gives an image… My work is a byproduct of learning how to see again using sound.”

After being inspired by him, I recently added Pete Eckert to my favorite photographers list. I do not mind watching his work again and again, as I never get tired of looking at his pictures. His work entertains the eyes and feeds the mind. It allows me to learn. Only when we surrender to disability, we are “disabled.”

A Form of Language

“The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don’t have to explain things with words.” 
-Elliott Erwitt

“Photography is the story I fail to put into words.”
-Destin Sparks

Everyone in life has his special craft. As someone who thinks photography is my special skill, I believe that I got the privilege to express my feelings and experiences in either a single photograph or a body of work. For me, language, whether spoken or written, was never a sufficient tool to express my feelings and explain myself.

You might see this variety of photos in a phone or framed and seated on a desk. You might even think to yourself “Oh, such beautiful sky, tree, and sun”. But for me, when I look at it, I remember the exact moment during which it was taken, what was going in my mind then, why I took it in the first place, and how I felt after. Some people think photography is about shooting then walking away. It is absolutely not. In fact, it is almost the opposite. It is living the moment, embracing it, feeling it, capturing it, then going back to it. During the time when a photographer sees, shoots, and puts down the camera, believe me, there are many thoughts that come and go, and so much expression of feelings that happens. These, I consider moments of growth and learning.


In each photograph, a photographer leave a part of him or her. Photographs carry our personalities and show our emotions. I probably was not born a writer or a philosopher, and thus cannot express myself using fancy words and complicated sentence structures. However, I was born a photographer, and I see things behind my fancy camera lens. I let my mind think, my heart speak, and my soul live through photographs.

Broken Mirror

          Helen Levitt was born in 1913 in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. She dropped out from high-school to be a commercial photographer in the Bronx. After that, she developed her own vision, and started to present the social aspect of life through her photographs. She is now known for her photographs, which mostly capture children’s life and activities on the street. That includes playing and drawing with chalk on the ground or on walls. She was relatively an unknown photographer in her past life, but her work is worth seeing.

Helen Levitt, New York 1940

            This photograph documents the simple life everyone was living at that time, especially children. The main subject of the photograph are the children playing around the frame of a broken mirror. Each one is involved in an activity of his own.  Looking at this picture, one cannot help but compare fun activities for children living in that period of time and nowadays. Children found pleasure in simple things and were creative with the available tools they had because of the limitation of choices, far from iPads and smartphones.  Actually, simplicity in the environment was the reason she got interested in photography in the first place. I am drawn to the fact, or maybe sense, that no one notices the broken mirror, except for Levitt and the curious creatures we call children.

            The more I look at this amazing photograph, the more I admire it, as it allows me to see parts of these children’s memories. I can see their enjoyment, regardless of the differences in their styles or skin colors. Each child has a specific purpose to serve in the photograph, representing, in a way, a part of his personality. For instance, the boy collecting the glass from the broken mirror is concerned about the wellbeing of others. The other fully-clothed child with the stylish hair is helping with the same task, and is closely observing as if he is learning how to do it. What caught my eyes is the variety of outfits, suggesting the various backgrounds from which these children come. Some are fully clothed, some are only wearing one piece of clothing, and some are wearing torn pieces. However, as children, they are enjoying the moment in the middle of the street, and not caring about how they look. 

            Through her picture, Levitt had allowed me to see the ambiance of life in that past time, a fact that made me appreciate this type of work. After meditating into this photograph, I also ended up appreciating the memories people carry along from their childhood, and their significance in shaping up the person who carries them.

The Timeless Art

           “ Photography is an of observation. It has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them” Elliott Erwitt

           

            After my visit to Jackson gallery, it inspired me to work even harder to improve my art pieces. Not only to be able to put my work in an exhibition but, also to work on the technical part of my skills. It’s in the smallest details, that attracts a person to the photography.

            My favorite artist from my visit must be Elliot Erwitt. This artist has a fascinating sense of humor, that is portrayed in my opinion as bold, a work with character, and edgy. You don’t find a lot of photographers with this specific humor. Through his work you can get an idea about what type of a person he is. His character in general. Something that makes this artist stand out from others, is the emphasis of his humor in it. What I mean by that, if I want to relate it to myself, I believe I do have a sense of humor, but I never would’ve thought of putting it in my work. I maybe thought before that it would’ve been too risky or maybe my audience wouldn’t get it. But that inspired me to not limit myself anymore, and put limitations to my work, but to be more free in the way I work, that can show my true personality.

            Another main focus that also fascinated me, is the fact that the pieces that we saw had no editions to them. They are one of a time pieces, not replicated, or reprinted. Which makes his work of art so unique and timeless. Yes I understand that during his era they never used the concept of editions, but now that they do, and he still hasn’t printed more, makes me wonder that Mr.Erwitt, doesn’t care about the money as much as the art portrayed though his work. I love that about him.

            Going back to the quote, Elliott Erwitt has a unique way of seeing things. His work might look staged, but they are definitely not. The way he sees the specific moment that captures his eyes, creates an aesthetically elegant shot that is not negotiable to anyone’s eyes.

The Subliminal Message

       Last May 2015, I attended Leonard Freed’s exhibition in the High Museum of Art. It was one of my best experiences that opened my eyes on learning about new parts of the American history, especially in the southern area, and the civil right movement. This photograph, Harlem New York, got my attention, and I fell in love with it.

Leonard Freed, Harlem, New York, 1963

         African Americans were not only fighting the high temperature in the summer of 1963, but they were also fighting for their rights. At that time, the Civil Rights Movement had arisen and Martin Luther King gave his famous influential “I Have a Dream” speech.

         “Why I am photographing? It is the desire of retaining my sanity, the exploration of the mind’s limit and man’s limitation. I wish to preserve, to contain, to measure, and to expand. I photograph strangers, the shell of things, not mind,” Leonard Freed once said.

         I personally think Freed’s wishes came true, through this picture. For once, he preserved, if not immortalized, African Americans, at least in these pictures. He contained so much love and emotions in a single picture; and he expanded people’s understanding of freedom, and rights.

He was able to capture and show how tight the mom was holding her child. It seems as if the mother is saying, through her body language, “I am not letting go of my child, this is our moment, and this is how we enjoy it together.” In a way, she is also saying, “I am not letting go of my rights, this is our land, and this is how we will face society.” A sense of love spreads in this picture, giving it a peaceful atmosphere. The movement of splashing water creates an astonishing visual effect as it frames the mother and her child. I believe that the combination of the black and white colors in the Photograph makes it even more meaningful. The importance of bringing together these two colors, in the aesthetic and racial contexts, should be considered when looking at this photograph. I agree with Freed’s view that “black and white gives him the structure. Color would take away the personality of the people.” It might be because color is distracting, and thus it redirects the attention from the story behind a photograph to the mere aesthetics of it. Regardless of whether this explanation holds true or not, there is something about black and white pictures that draws your attention to the story behind it, told by the people in it. Unconsciously, my eyes immediately go straight to the mother and her child when I look at this black and white picture. I see at least parts of their personalities as I stare at their facial expressions.

Where It All Started

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better,” said Albert Einstein.

When I came to the United States, my love for nature started to grow bigger. At the same time, I found myself facing a completely new culture, with different types of people having lifestyles that were anything but expected to me. Some experiences were tougher than others. Therefore, whenever I engaged in conflicting encounters leaving me unsettled and hurt, I took the closest path to nature with my camera.

As I spent more time photographing nature, I came to the realization that under the exterior beauty one sees when glancing at nature, there are even prettier details that can only be observed with prolonged staring. The connection I established with nature had allowed me to find parts of my soul and to build a stronger relationship with God. All of this creates an atmosphere of positivity, which gets captured in the photographs I take. Positive feelings flood back to me every time I look at them.

To me, an intriguing aspect about nature is the continuously growing bond that gets stronger with time. I believe it takes a lifetime to fully understand and appreciate nature, and that my relationship with nature will infinitely progress.

Unlike many others, my relation with nature is peaceful and quite. Every single part of nature tells a story that can never be conveyed using the complicated languages of humans. These stories are expressed in a unique way; they are told through silence.

The similarities between some aspects of nature and parts of our lives are unreal. These are, of course, subjective, but they seem very intuitive to me. I chose to photograph nature to show the relation between our stories and the environment, and to document the spiritual peace I found in it.