Page 19 - Cape-Camera-March-2022

March 2022 Cape Camera

ates the mind to the view that every brain is a reducing valve or Something unexpected you've learned?
entry point for consciousness into a physical body. And a brain That both the vast, cold desert land formations of the high Ar-
may not even be necessary! Peter Wohlleben's The Hidden Life tic and the hot deserts of southern Africa affect me profoundly.
of Trees describes effectively how trees communicate and how When I'm in either of these regions, I feel outside of time. Eter-
they "feel". Stephen Harrod Buhner points out that even a vi- nity becomes real.
rus can tell the difference between itself and not-itself, that it
knows when it's in a place favourable to self-replication, which How do you deal with criticism?
is why we are experiencing COVID-19. Although its level of con- I ask myself if it's informed criticism. If I feel it is, I pay attention.
sciousness is extremely low, it's still consciousness. How do you carry your photo gear?
Something you never do? Everything is light, so l just carry it. In my entire career, I've never
Carry a cell phone! Personally, I do not need instant access to purchased a fast (heavy) lens for this reason.
the world, nor does it need instant access to me. I don't want a Your workflow?
phone interfering with my photography, my gardening, or my If anybody can figure it out, please let me know.
reading, so my mobile stays in my car in case of an emergency.
I've used it only once so far this year to call the CAA when my What excites you most about photography?
brakes failed. To have found a međium through which I can đocument what I
I'm quite aware of the many things a person can do with a cell see and express what I feel.
phone, including making photographs, but I've noticed repeat- What are your hopes for the future of photography?
edly how a mobile tends to clutter people's lives, not simplify Although I know it won't happen, I wish photographers would
them. cease the obsessive concern with equipment and techniques.
Something you always do? Let me be frank! There is no such thing as a "creative tool" or a
Get plenty of exercise, eat a healthy diet, and sleep eight hours "creative technique". I have erased these terms from my vocabu-
out of every 24 (though not all in one sleep session). lary, as all tools and techniques are physically, emotionally and
spiritually inert. The creativity always comes from the person
Your take on Instagram? who is using a particular tool or technique, or it đoesn't come
In large part, it seems to be an exercise in superficiality. at all. Although tools and techniques are essential to the craft,
Best tip for travel photography? they are far less important to art than feelings and ideas, which
Don't over-plan and kill all the surprises! On three of the many are rarely discussed.
occasions that I've flown to New Zealand, I had a motorcycle Anything else you'd like to share?
waiting for me. On arrival in Christchurch, I had a good night's I love being old. Although my life has been "a real trip" with
sleep, picked up the bike the next morning, and headed out of lots of varied experiences, plenty of excitement, and many rich
town with a change of clothes, my camera gear, and absolutely friendships, I'll soon be 83 and right now is the best time. Some-
no plans whatsoever for the next two weeks. Fabulous, fabu- time in my seventies, I realised that the world is going to keep
lous, fabulous trips! on functioning perfectly well without me, and this awareness
was incredibly liberating. I realised that I could play again with-
out worrying - that I'm not too old to have a happy childhood.

MASTER The work of Edward Weston

PHOTOGRAPHERS March 24 ,1886 - January 1, 1958
Edward Henry Weston was a 20th-century American pho-
tographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative
and influential American photographers..." and "one of the
masters of 20th century photography".
Over the course of his 40-year career, Weston photo-
graphed an increasingly expansive set of subjects, includ-
ing landscapes, still lifes, nudes, portraits, genre scenes
and even whimsical parodies. It is said that he developed
a "quintessentially American, and specially Californian,
approach to modern photography" because of his focus
on the people and places of the American West. In 1937
Anything that excites me for any Weston was the first photographer to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship, and over the next
reason, I will photograph; not two years he produced nearly 1,400 negatives using his 8 × 10 view camera. Some of his
searching for unusual subject most famous photographs were taken of the trees and rocks at Point Lobos, California, near
matter, but making the common- where he lived for many years.
place unusual - Edward Weston
In 1947 he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and he stopped photographing soon
thereafter. He spent the remaining ten years of his life overseeing the printing of more than
1,000 of his most famous images.

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18 Cape Town Photographic Society