ALZHEIMER’S

Every year Guy Berubé, director of Gallery La Petite Mort has a gala
party/fundraiser for Alzheimer’s disease. His mom suffers from
Alzheimer’s. The party is called: Holy F**k

This year he asked a number of photographers to photograph his
mom. He plans to show the work at the party.

In Guy’s words:

Ever been to an orgy where all of a sudden, you
catch a glimpse of someone who should not be
there? Did someone bring their Mother to the
orgy?

For Holy F**k Six, I brought my Mother to an
event that promises to once again shock,
stimulate, titillate, unnerve, and as usual,
attract the cops.

I will feature six commissioned portraits of my
Mother, who lives with Alzheimer’s. The purpose
of this is to put a face on an illness that is quite
often hidden away in shame. In doing so, and
being fully aware that my Mother would more
than approve, I show you the reality, the beauty
and the pain of living with Alzheimer’s.

Here is my shot of Guy’s mom:

And a few frames from some shooting I did at Holy F**k a few years ago:

FROM JAPAN

Came home from shooting today (Friday) and this envelope is waiting for me:

Thrilling, because it contained this issue of Newsweek Japan:

Which, in turn, contains this USER spread (remember to read it from
right to left):

A couple of the pix in the spread are only a month old. Always swell to get
the work out while it’s still fresh.

I was interested to see how Hideko Kataoka, Newsweek Japan’s Director of
Photography, would handle the work, and was quite pleased to see the great
job she did.

STILL IN JAPAN (AND STUFF)

Recently I came across the work of Japanese photographer Hiroh Kikai.
Specifically his Asakusa Portraits.

They remind me that simple is often the best way to go, and that simple
is (in the right hands) not simple at all.

I like the long, descriptive, titles and I really like the juju of his selection.
And, by selection I mean: the people he chooses to photograph. Or, per-
haps more specifically, I really like the photographs he chooses to show.

I suppose there are all kinds of ways to arrive at a body of work. I always
assumed that most photographers shoot a whole bunch pictures of a whole
bunch of people. I assume that they then choose the “best” shots of each
person, put those “best” shots into a pile and then choose the photos from
that pile that best represent what they want to, for lack of a better word, show.

I guess there are other ways of compiling a body of work but, for me, photo-
graphy is still about discovery. I believe that the only way to discover stuff is
to allow yourself enough leeway to make mistakes, bark up the wrong tree,
turn over a bunch of stones to see what kinds of bugs crawl out and…..well,
you get the idea.

I’ve always scratched my head when I see folks shooting in such a concise,
controlled manner, in a way where just about every single frame must, some-
how, be precious and used. I say: get that pickle out of yer ass, take a bunch
of risks, produce surprises and live a little. (Of course, this is just my opinion,
my approach. As always…..drool says: Do what you want, just do something.)

Wow…..somehow this thing I started writing about Mr Kikai’s work has
morphed into a thing on process. But, let me tell you, his work, like much
good work, makes you think about a myriad of things.

The work of Kikai has been compared to that of August Sander. I can see
that lineage. But Kikai’s work is much more specific, the choices he’s made
along the way to compiling this series of portraits points to a fairly stringent
viewpoint on his part.

That’s what makes work such as this, with all it’s historical resonances,
modern. I can see the brain of Hiroh Kikai at work in these images.

And that’s what I (personally) look for when I look at fotos.