I came across this photographer today and am blown away. She showed for the first time in Paris recently, having come to NY for the first time in the summer. (Must feel great!)
Its a situation that most of us are familiar with...being in the water, looking back at land... but I'm trying to think of other photographers who achieve what she does with this series.
She has gone further than anyone I've seen (I'm not encyclopaedic in my references, so tell me if I'm wrong) in removing the dislocation between viewer and image that photography is famous for. I seem to recall images of football fields with large blades of grass in the foreground, but the physicality of being in the water engages me on a bodily level beyond knowledge of proximity. I so strongly relate to the image can almost smell the water. At the same time as my senses absorb this setting and the freshness of the day, my mind considers the meanings along with the beauty of the graphic image itself.
She apparently holds the camera at chest level and just takes pictures by judging the waves and swells. Wonder how many she takes, and how exciting it is to open them up later! This could account for some of the different visuals - her own visual approach was overridden and it relates more to the body experience. I like to wonder about this stuff. Anyway
more at http://www.yossimilo.com/exhibitions/2008_07-asak_nara
I read a blog referring to these images with someone complaining about the lack of "fine craft" and "artistic merit" in photography nowadays... reminding me how valuable it is to examine one's assumptions and definitions occasionally.
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