27. The Flower Women

Wednesday, 13 June 2012 | Read more

29. Carlos Fuentes (1928-2012)

Zonezero and the Fundación Pedro Meyerregret the loss of renowned Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes. This photograph was taken by Pedro Meyer in 1973, during a visit by the writer to his house, after the publication of Elena Poniatowska’s "The Night of Tlatelolco". The book contained several of the pictures took during the 1968 student movement. During the visit, Carlos Fuentes insisted on seeing Pedro Meyer's darkroom.   Rest in peace.

Wednesday, 16 May 2012

31. Humour

  Gallery     Magazine Mirrey by Gustavo Prado Aesthetic nightmare: Luis Miguel as an icon (a Mexican idol: think of Michael Bublé less the voice, the talent, the charisma and the looks... plus an eternal stupid expression). A world where his values, image, voice projection, language, intonation and attitudes are multiplied like a cloning pattern. Where the exclusive is exclusion and social class is just the goal of any social climber with enough guts and speed to climb by using tags, signs and badges...

Tuesday, 27 March 2012

33. HELP

ZONEZERO 1. What is ZoneZero? ZoneZero is a website dedicated to the use, publication and analysis of images and to the wide spectrum of photography.  Founded in 1995 by Pedro Meyer, ZoneZero has both witnessed and actively participated in the current digital revolution.  ZoneZero appeared online for the first time when the Internet was made accessible to the public, and became the first website dedicated to photography that is still running and growing. We can proudly state that ZoneZero paved the way for the computer to be recognized as a valid means of generating, viewing and sharing photographs. ZoneZero’s name originates from a metaphor on the transformation that photography underwent from analogue to digital. The name refers to Ansel Adams’s Zone System as a starting point in the analogue tradition, and to the ones and zeros that have become the basic DNA for everything digital. 2. What is the objective of this site? The objective of ZoneZero is to offer a platform for intelligent photography. In other words, photography which offers a sensible and informed vision of what is happening in our world, and which understands the relevance of technology in the creative process. We also wish to provide the necessary tools for dialogue and the exchange of ideas on those topics; we therefore offer a fertile space for an international community interested in seeing, thinking, creating, sharing and discussing images. 3. How can I take part? The active participation of our visitors and users is the essence of our website. Users can take part free of charge in a variety of ways and at different levels. a) As a non-registered visitor. You can visit all the sections of the site including Community, and have the possibility of leaving commentaries on the articles only. b) As a subscriber to the News bulletin. You can register your e-mail account to receive the bulletin published periodically on ZoneZero with new articles, sections, galleries, etc., as well as events and special editions on the website. c) As a Community user. When you sign up in the Community section you will have access to all the services of that section: Portfolios, Events and Classified advertisements (coming soon). Moreover, you will be able to create a user profile with the personal information, photographic work and commentaries you wish to share with other users. For further information on the benefits and services of this section please consult What is the Community?  d) As an exhibitor in the Galleries section This section is destined for the exhibition of professional photographic work, via a minimum series of 12 images, which can even employ multimedia elements. (Audio, video and/or animation). The design of each gallery is unique and is the result of coordination between ZoneZero’s  editing and development team and the author. To take part in this section please consult the following link.   4. How can I subscribe to the News bulletin? From the Register option located in the top left corner of the website you can sign up your e-mail account to receive the bulletin published periodically on ZoneZero with new articles, sections, galleries, etc. You will also receive events and special editions inside the website. 5. How can I unsubscribe from the News bulletin? If you wish to cancel your subscription, open the last news bulletin that you received and in the latter part of the message click on Cancel Subscription. 6. What is the Galleries section? The galleries section presents the work of professional photographers, following their application and the acceptance of ZoneZero’s editorial team. This section has more than 350 online exhibitions from authors from 45 different countries. Each gallery has its own presentation and curatorship, to enhance the photographic message of each author. 7. How can I enter my work in the Galleries section? You can consult all the information and requirements for publishing your work in the Galleries section at the following link. 8. What is a Portfolio? In the Portfolio category inside the Community section you will be able to share photographic series, whether finished or still in process. It is very simple for you to publish your photographs and group them in different portfolios as series or albums, with a maximum quota of 15 MB per user. 9. What is the Podcast section? In the Podcast section you can find videos on a variety of themes, shared by the directors themselves. If you subscribe to this section, via iTunes or any RSS system, you will be able to automatically view and download the new clips that are added periodically. 10. What is the Community section? The Community section is a specialized social network open to the public. It is an excellent means of exhibiting your work, publishing events and classified advertisements (coming soon) and participating in specialized groups. Moreover, in this section you will be able to keep in touch with other photographers, directors and people related to the medium, and debate, express opinions and comment on your own and others’ work, as well as themes related to the world of photography. We invite you to sign up for free and take part in our photographic community. This section in divided into the following categories: -Portfolios -Events -Classified advertisements (coming soon) ACCOUNT 11. How do I create an account? Go to the Community section and in the Enter tab of the Welcome area click on Create an account. [link] Once you have filled in the required fields, an activation link will be sent to the e-mail address which you provided. You will have to activate your account by clicking on the link before you can access the Community section. 12. How do I deactivate my account? To deactivate an account you need to send an e-mail from your registered e-mail account to webmaster@zonezero.com with the subject: “I want to cancel my Community account”. Within a maximum of 24 hours, your account and all the information that you have published inside the community will be eliminated. If you wish to take part again in the Community, you will have to create a new account and carry out the full sign-up process again. 13. How can I retrieve my password? Go to the Community section and in the Enter tab of the Welcome area click on Forgotten your password? 14. How do I create and/or modify my user profile? You need to sign into your account and go to the Edit Profile option which appears alongside your name in the top left-hand section of your profile page.  You can define the information that you wish to present (description, location, interests, e-mail, telephone, website, etc) and the level of privacy for your information (See Can my profile be private?) Under the profile image, you have the option of editing or publishing the image that you wish to appear as your profile’s icon. 15. Can my profile be private? Yes it can. When defining the information that you wish to present in your profile, you have the option of defining the level of privacy for each piece of information that you publish. (Visible, to all public, Not visible, Visible only to contacts, Visible only to registered users, etc.) 13. How does My Wall work in my user profile? In the top right-hand area of your profile page you will find the Wall on which you can publish your status. Your contacts will be able to comment on your publications or write messages. Please note: you may only leave messages on the Wall of those contacts who have added you as a contact themselves. 14. How can I send a private message to a user? Sign into your account, and in the top user menu click on the messages icon (an envelope). Once you have entered the e-mail Inbox click on Send a message, which is located in the right-hand column. Then choose the contact to whom the message will be sent and define the title and text. This message is private and can only be read by the contact to whom it has been sent. 15. Can I comment without having signed up? No you cannot. To be able to leave comments on the wall of a user and/or the photographs of a portfolio you need to have signed up. You will then be able to interact within the Community. CONTACTS 16. What is a Contact? A Contact is a user whose activities and work you can follow and with whom you may also interact on their Wall and/or with private messages. 17. How do I add a Contact? To add a Contact enter the profile of the user whom you wish to add and in the User menu which appears on the left-hand side, click on Add a contact. A notification will be sent via mail to the contact, informing them that they have been added. The contact will have to add you himself as one of his contacts, otherwise you will not be able to send him private messages. 18. How do I delete a contact? To delete a contact enter the user profile of the contact whom you wish to remove, and in the User menu on the left-hand side click on Eliminate Contact. 19. What is a Follower? A Follower is a user who follows your work, without your having necessarily added them as a contact. A Follower will not be able to send you private messages and in certain cases (depending on the type of access that you have defined for your profile) neither will he be able to leave commentaries on your Wall. 20. How can I leave a comment on a Contact? You can comment and rate a Contact’s photographs directly on his Wall or profile page. You can also leave a private message via the Message option of your User menu (an envelope). Please note: Access to these functions depends on the privacy configuration that the Contact has given his or her profile and information. GROUP 21. What is a Group? A Group is a collection of users gathered under a defined theme, interest, discussion, etc. Each group can have one or more administrators and its own profile. 22. What is the purpose of the Groups? By means of a group you can communicate with other users with similar interests on a defined theme or topic. You can interact with the members of the Group by participating on the proposed themes with photographs and commentaries. 23. How do I create a Group? In the User menu go to Tools > Groups.  In the Groups category click on the Create a new group option in the left-hand submenu. From this screen you will be able to define the group’s name, profile icon, description, labels, website, etc. You will also be able to define if your group is closed or open to the public. Moreover you will be able to authorize Group discussions and a portfolio for the group. 24. How do I join a Group? In the User menu go to Tools > Groups, and choose the Group which you are interested in by clicking on it. Once inside the profile of the Group, click on the Join the Group option located in the left-hand submenu. 25. How do I delete a Group? This action may only be carried out by the user who created the Group. To delete a group, once inside its profile click on the Edit Group option and then click on the Erase group option, which appears on the top right-hand side of the group’s editing screen. 26. How do I administrate a Group? As creator of the Group you can manage it by directly entering the Group’s profile from the User menu, Tools > Groups. Inside the Group’s profile you will find a submenu on the left-hand side which allows you to edit the group, invite users, manage requests, open new discussion themes and/or create a portfolio of photographs for the Group.   27. What is a Portfolio? A Portfolio is a photographic series or album which you can publish and share inside the Community section. It is very simple for you to publish your photographs, comment on them and group them in one or several portfolios with a maximum quota of 15MB per user. 28. How do I create my first Portfolio? From your profile page, click on the Create a new portfolio tab located in the options box in the top part. In the screen which opens you will be able or define the title, description, labels and type of access to your portfolio. Click on Save to continue. Later you will be able to upload your photographic archives by following 3 simple steps. 1. Choose the images 2. Load the images 3. Define the description An alternative method is to use the Basic uploader option if you do not have Flash player (recommended if you are accessing ZoneZero from a mobile device or tablet). 29. How many Portfolios can I create? You can create as many portfolios as you wish, containing as many photographs as wish to publish, provided you do not exceed your account’s 15 MB maximum space quota. If you exceed the quota, you will not be able to publish any more portfolios and/or images, until you eliminate several images so as to not to exceed the limit. 30. How do I eliminate a Portfolio? From your profile page enter the portfolio that you wish to eliminate. Them in the submenu on the left-hand side click on the Erase portfolio option and continue. The portfolio and all the images it contains will be eliminated. 31. Can I modify a Portfolio’s information after having created it? From your profile page enter the portfolio that you wish to modify. Then in the submenu on the left-hand side click on the Edit Portfolio option and continue. You will be able to edit the title, description and type of access. 32. How do I share my Portfolios with friends outside the zonezero.com Community? You simply need to copy the url which appears in your browser once you have entered a Portfolio. Then paste it in your social network, blog, post, mail, etc. Please note: so that your portfolio may be accessible to all public you must indicate this in the Access: public option when you create or modify your profile. 33. How can I add photos to a Portfolio? From your profile page enter the Portfolio in which you wish to publish the images. Then in the submenu on the left-hand side click on the Add photographs option and continue. In the screen which opens you will be able to upload you photographic archives by following the 3 following steps. 1. Select the images 2. Load the images 3. Load the description An alternative method is the Basic uploader option if you do not have Flash player (this is recommended if you are accessing ZoneZero from a mobile device or tablet). 34. How many photos can I add to a Portfolio? You may add as many photos as you wish, provided that you do not exceed the account’s 15 MB space quota. 35. How can I optimize my photographs for the web? For a good administration of your quota, we recommend that you create portfolios of 10 to 12 images with a resolution of 72 dpi, of jpg format, RGB colour and which do not exceed 150 KB per image. To optimize your images you can use programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Graphic Converter or Light Room. 35. How do I eliminate a photograph inside a Portfolio? From your profile page select the Portfolio which contains the photograph which you wish to eliminate, then click on the photograph and in the screen which opens click on the Erase image option located in the submenu on the left-hand side. 36. How do I substitute a photograph for another one inside a Portfolio? To substitute an image you will first need to eliminate the image (see how to eliminate a photograph), then publish the new photo inside the same Portfolio by using the Add photographs option located inside the left-hand submenu of your Portfolio. 37. How can I comment on a photograph? Under each photograph you will find a text box in which you can publish comments on your own and other users’ photographs. 38. Who can see my photographs? By default both registered and unregistered users can see the images in your portfolios. If you wish to personalize the access to your portfolios you can determine it in the Access option, when you create or edit your Portfolio. 39. Do I lose my copyright when I share my photos on zonezero.com? No, copyright is owned by the author. Zonezero declines responsibility for the origin, use and/or distribution of the published material. We recommend that you read the terms and conditions regarding the use of Zonezero’s services.   40. What is an Event? Events are activities (workshops, courses, scholarships, conferences and/or announcements) that you can share inside the Community section. The members of Community can locate geographically the published events closest to them and also, if the event is public, can register as participants, speakers or interested parties. 41. How do I create an Event? To create an event, from the User Menu go to Tools > Events. Inside the Events category click on the Add an Event option. You will then have to fill in the required information for your Event. Then click on Save to publish it. 42. How do I sign up for an Event? In the Events index select the Event to which you wish to sign up and in the top part of the Event’s information click on RSVP >. Depending on the access established by the creator of the Event you will be able to sign up as: -Assistant -Interested party -Presenter -Exhibitor -Organizer 43. What type of participant can sign up for an Event? Depending on the access established by the creator you can sign up as: -Assistant -Interested party -Presenter -Exhibitor -Organizer 44. Can I publish an Event with private access? Yes you can. In the Access field which appears when you modify or create an event, you can define who can view and take part in your Event with the following options: -Private -Public -Contacts -Registered users -A specific group 45. How do I modify an Event? To modify an event you must be the creator. Access the Event from the Event index, and in the latter part of the Event information click on the Tools > Edit Event link. You can then modify any of the fields that you filled in when you registered your Event. 46. How do I share an Event with my contacts? When you create or modify an Event you can specify that access to the event is reserved exclusively for your contacts. In this way the Event will appear in the recent activities of the contact as well as their specific Events space. 47. How do I eliminate an Event? To be able to eliminate an event you need to be the creator. In the Events index, click on the Event that you wish to modify, then in the latter part of the Event’s information click on Tools > Eliminate Events. 48. How do I obtain the list of participants of an Event? To obtain the list of people registered for the Event you have to be its creator. Enter the Event from the events index and in the latter part of the Event’s information click on Tools > Export people attending. In this manner you will be able to download a CSV archive with the list of participants and their roles inside the Event (Assistant, Interested party, Presenter, Exhibitor and/or organizer). 49. For how long is a published Event valid? The user determines how long the published event is valid for when he is creating or modifying the Event’s information, by specifying the dates on which the Event will occur. Once this period has elapsed the event will be kept as a file and will not be visible. The events index will always show the most recently published events irrespective of their period of validity. 50. Is there any charge for uploading an Event? No, the publication of events is a free service for ZoneZero’s Community. Zonezero declines responsibility for the origin, use and distribution of the material and information published. We recommend that you read the terms and conditions of use for Zonezero’s services.

Friday, 02 March 2012

35. The Gingerbread House

Tuesday, 14 February 2012 | Read more

37. I Photograph to Remember | 20th. Anniversary

Tuesday, 29 November 2011 | Read more

39. The Art of Storytelling: Pedro Meyer’s I Photograph to Remember

RELATED THIS PROJECT This article was originally published in 2006 In late 1990 at the time Pedro and I had begun work on the project which would turn into Truths and Fictions, Pedro returned from LA to Mexico City feeling that he had not, in his own words “dealt appropriately with the mourning of my parents until I had completed the printing of the images I had taken” over the last years of their lives. When he returned a month later to LA he showed the work to Bob Stein of the Voyager Company. Bob was already interested in producing a CD-ROM of the upcoming Truths and Fictions project. But when he saw the photographs Pedro brought back ”he asked me to stop what I was doing with the other project, and dedicate myself entirely to producing I Photograph to Remember which he would distribute as a small edition in homage to my parents. Of course making a small edition at that time was in keeping with the fact that in the entire world there were probably no more than a few thousand CD-ROM readers, and most of them were solely for text anyway.”     And so it was that I Photograph to Remember first appeared as a tale Pedro narrated softly and tenderly as he showed close friends a box of photographic prints. Encouraged by their response and his own recent acquaintance with digital photography and especially by Bob Stein’s vision of new media, Pedro, working as well with his son Manuel Rocha, who composed the music, transferred this live presentation to the CD-ROM, a media which was just beginning to have an impact on the computer world. This CR-ROM became a new multimedia benchmark: it was one of the first examples of wedding image and sound. It became the first commercial CD-ROM with continuous audio and images. Later in the 90s as the MacroMind Director Player format of this early CD became increasingly unreadable by later operating systems, it was reengineered in Shockwave and placed on Pedro’s ZoneZero web site. Then late in the summer of 2006, sixteen years after its inception, Pedro made I Photograph to Remember available so it could be downloaded to a video iPod.   With this new iPod appearance the presentation of I Photograph to Remember comes full circle, returning to the intimate, personal presentation I first encountered listening to Pedro telling the story of his parents as we looked at photographs at his kitchen table. For the video iPod is the new delicate, miniature locket, the new talisman and family heirloom of the information age. It is the new treasured daguerreotype or tintype case worn around the neck or tucked into a breast pocket through whose glass and ear buds we experience these fragile, poignant memories with the immediacy of Pedro’s first personal presentation.   In its title and in its presentation, I Photograph to Remember, brings together two ultimately irreconcilable yet always synthesized phenomena: photography and memory. Imbedded in these words are the antipodes that define all photographic production: presence and absence, perpetuity and instantaneity, solidity and ephemerality, vitality and mortality; life and death. Once taken, every photograph, particularly the snapshot, is quintessentially a memory. Every snapshot memorializes and commemorates the past. Every snapshot is a souvenir of experience. Every photograph, as Susan Sontag once remarked, is “instantly posthumous.”   More than this, snapshots and family portraits in particular are not only instantly posthumous but are also instantly suspended in the anonymity of time and space. Without written text or narration their link back to the heft and identity of the physical world will certainly be lost. Most snapshots like untended headstones in overgrown or ancient graveyards slowly lose their connection to history and their status as worldly evidence. Their subject is no longer readable, recognizable or known: they decay and disappear without a trace.   I Photograph to Remember can be understood as a project to arrest this inevitable decay. It is neither a pure documentary project, nor is it in truth, as the title suggests, a project to make photographs as an aid to memory. Rather it is a storytelling undertaking, constructed with the aid of the photograph, that engages on the level of a parable in order to recuperate and revitalize a set of early snapshots and previously made photographs that were languishing, suspended; whose presence was slowly fading from reality and identity, hidden, as most photographs, in albums and storage boxes.   The photographic strategy of I Photograph to Remember follows the classic, narrative, photojournalistic tradition seen in magazine spreads which reached their apotheosis in LIFE magazine’s photo essays. But with some important exceptions the images in I Photograph to Remember are far less inflected, more modest, and less self-conscious than Pedro’s earlier documentary work, such as the material gathered together in Espejo de Espinas (Mirror of Thorns). Looking back from the body of significant digital work that Pedro produced since I Photograph to Remember, the restrained simplicity of the images in this first digital project allowed them to conceptually bridge the analog world of Pedro’s previous straight photography and the world of digital photography that would follow. In the earlier work the formal compositional geometries of the decisive moment, compelling social commentary, subtle wit, and a hint of metaphor inform the most successful photographs. In the digital work which follows, these compositional devices and political and social commentary are introduced or inflected most frequently through digital rather than discovered means.   In I Photograph to Remember the photographs are sequenced chronologically following the timeline of Pedro’s parent’s illnesses and the logic of the narrative. After the stage is set with the initial twelve snapshot frames, the photographs progress from moments of genuine sentiment to images that record moments of loss, suffering, pain and death. In the early stages of his parents’ illnesses the photographs resemble innocent domestic snapshots faithfully recording family warmth, melancholy and the fear of illness. But as the essay progresses and his parents’ illnesses become more acute, Pedro generates more precise, taut compositions that juxtapose spatial elements, human correspondences, and human interactions. In these images such as the first view of his father being medicated (17:51), the close-up of his mother’s hands (21:20), her preparation for brain surgery (22:22), and his father in a darkened room with a white garbed attendant in the background (27:35) Pedro dispatches the full potential of black and white tonality to portray heightened emotion and misfortune and to introduce metaphors of anguish and consolation. In these images the tension between white hospital garments and the ever encroaching blackness leads us to the threshold between vitality and mortality. Finally, in the photographs of each parent wrapped in the white shroud of death (26:19 and 28:57) the quietly dramatic illumination transforms the corpse into an iconic representation which insistently and elegantly confronts the mystery and terror of death.   Because Pedro produced these photographs concurrently with his experiments with digital image manipulations which would become Truths & Fictions, it is informative to look at the expressive, panoramic image of his father flying (9:41), which occurs early in the piece, in comparison to the later highly manipulated images, particularly the work from Oaxaca that makes up the second half of Truths & Fictions. In Truths & Fictions when Pedro wanted to signify flight, the transformation from earth to air would happen magically with the aid of Photoshop. Here in I Photograph to Remember his father remains earthbound. Kneeling on a chair, his arms outstretched not to the heavens but to the interior of his home’s elegant and expansive living room, his gesture of flying is anchored in the pain of reality and the human hope for relief rather than in the production of myth. Being part of the world rather than detached and manufactured in a new synthetic reality, the gesture becomes an exquisitely felt symbol; it is both the longing for and the impossibility of transcendence and redemption.   The photographs in I Photograph to Remember also acquire meaning from the poetry and modulation of Pedro’s voice. In human society storytelling is probably older and arguably more fundamental than picture making. Oral stories were passed from generation to generation with the music of the voice, its inflection, rhythm and modulation becoming as much a part of the narrative as the tale itself. One has only to look as far as contemporary religious liturgy to see how this phenomena still operates in our own time. The visceral power of I Photograph to Remember derives from this oral tradition. In some respects I Photograph to Remember has less to do with photography and more to do with liturgy, poetry, and the expressive voice. Indeed it is possible to just listen to Pedro’s narrative to become mesmerized by the story. It is not necessary to experience the actual images: the narration is strong enough to conjure up mental images without ever seeing the photographs. The photographs, like the notes of a score, provide the pattern and structure, phrasing and timing, which are interpreted and brought to life through the haunting invocation of Pedro’s speech. I Photograph to Remember is essentially a performance monologue which holds our attention in great part because of the music of the speech and the universal truth of the story.   It is rare that an early work of art in any media retains its power and durability through changes in technology and presentation. The enduring quality of I Photograph to Remember lies not in any single component of the piece: not the narration, the photographs, the music, nor the sequencing. Rather its genius lies in the synthesis of these elements through and in contrast to new technology. New media provides the vehicle for a seamless, cinematic integration of these components. Yet I Photograph to Remember in everyway except for its use of cinematic continuity, is built on the transparency and richness of the ancient oral tradition. In it Pedro is not Pedro Meyer, the critic, commentator and theorist of culture and new technology of ZoneZero, but rather the Baal Shem Tov, the teller of legends and miracles.   I Photograph to Remember is not a digital production but rather a digital utterance. It utilizes none of the devices we have come to associate with new media, strategies that Pedro himself will use in his later digital work: digital compositing, sampling, remixing, interactivity. And while it now plays on the ubiquitous devices that define our digital age, it always surprises us that such complex instruments can achieve such directness and simplicity. When we plug in our video iPod we are astonished not by hyper remixed reality but by poetic grace. Jonathan Green California, Fall 2006   RELATED THIS PROJECT     Jonathan Green Is Director of the UCR/California Museum of Photography at the University of California, Riverside, and holds joint appointments as a professor in the departments of Studio Art and Art History. Green was associate editor of Aperture Quarterly, 1974-1976. His book American Photography: A Critical History, Abrams, (1984, reprinted 1996) was selected as the Nikon Book of the Year, 1984, and received the Benjamin Citation from the American Photographic Historical Society in recognition of achievement in photographic history. In 1993 Green curated Pedro Meyer’s exhibition Truths & Fictions and his commentary on Meyer’s photographs can be heard on the Voyager CD-ROM. Some of Green’s recent curatorial projects include One Ground: 4 Palestinian and 4 Israeli Filmmakers (2003) and, in collaboration with Trisha Ziff, Revolution and Commerce: The Legacy of Korda’s Portrait of Che Guevara (2005). Green’s photographs are in museum collections worldwide and have been published in American Images: New Work by 20 Contemporary Photographers, 1979. Green was awarded photography fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (1978) and AT&T Bell System (1979). Before coming to Riverside, Green taught at MIT and Ohio State University. At MIT he was co-founder of the Media Lab's Visible Language Workshop. At Ohio State University he was the Founding Director of the Wexner Center for the Arts. From 1999 through 2002 Green was a Fellow at the California Science Center where he curated Leslie Payne: Taking Flight.  

Monday, 28 November 2011

41. Essays about I Photograph to Remember

RELATED THIS PROJECT Excerpts from Landscapes December, 1998 Pedro Meyer is a true pioneer in many areas. He is probably the first serious photographer to completely make the transition from the world of the darkroom and its analog photography to the world of the computer and its digital photography. A life-long innovator, he was responsible for the alterations which made possible photographic printing on artist's paper using the Iris Ink Jet printer. He created the important Latin American Colloquiums of Photography, now into their 20th year. He also founded the Mexican Council of Photography from which other major photographic institutions in Mexico have all stemmed. He created -- in 1990 with Macromedia Director 1.0 - - the first CD-ROM containing photographs and sound, a memorial and a portrait of the last year in the life of his parents, entitled "I Photograph to Remember." His long photographic explorations dealing with cultural interpretations both in the US and in Mexico have found their way into his digital work, as digital ink jet prints, as a CD-ROM and in a traditional book format. Most recently he has been involved in creating an extraordinary web site devoted to photography known as ZoneZero, which represents the work of selected artists, photographers, and writers from all over the world. It was recently named by the NET magazine as one of the five best web sites in the world in the "art" category. His ZoneZero site -- www.zonezero.com -- is the 21st Century equivalent of the gallery and artist's meeting place that Alfred Steiglitz established in New York during the first few decades of this century. One of those galleries Steiglitz called "An American Place." Pedro Meyer's ZoneZero is not an American Place nor a Latin American Place. It's an International Place. Excerpts from CD ROM I Photograph to Remember by Pedro Meyer 1991 "Five hundred people in business suits sat in the audience at Digital World. They knew all about computers for number crunching or word processing or game playing, but the idea of the computer as a medium of creative expression had never occurred to them. When I Photograph to Remember was shown for the first time, nobody left the room. Many cried. In the hands of artist Pedro Meyer, the computer was revealed for the first time as a stunningly personal and powerful tool. But there is not an ounce of sensationalism, not a wasted syllable, not a gratuitous image in this family memoir. We come away not as voyeurs but as privileged witnesses to what the author calls the 'complicity of tenderness' between his mother and father. We're grateful, too, that it opens a way for us to learn and think about death, such a taboo subject in our society." Excerpts from Where are the HyperNONfictions? by Hilmar Schmundt September, 1999 [...] So why not use the novel online-media instead or on top of it? There are two ways to explain this. The first is a mediacentric explanation: Maybe the spatial metaphors used to describe hypertext are not just metaphors, but technical reality. For good reasons most hyper-NONfictions are visual stories that choose a distinct topography as topos: Pedro Meyer's I photograph to Remember, Art Spiegelman's hypercomic MAUS on CD-ROM or the New York Times' interactive photoreportage about Bosnia. So maybe hyper-NONfiction has to be visual and topographical, not literary, not narrative in a linguistic sense. I would suggest another approach, though. One that does not see technology as the determining factor, but as a tool, a weapon in an age-old struggle against the anxiet. Photos on Disc by Vince Leo October, 1999 Introduction/Disclaimer Most of the discussions I hear about photography and CD-ROMs concern when or whether they will replace books as the preferred mode of photographic presentation. There are partisans on both sides who love to create apocalyptic/utopian scenarios concerning the death of print culture and the glories of the digital world to come. Although the nature of the arguments make for enjoyable reading (the commodity of authorship v. rhizomatic informational imperatives), not much has been said about the actual fate of photography and photographers on real-life CD-ROMs. Have CD-ROMs given photographs a new informational existence? A new aesthetic position? What is it exactly that CD-ROMs have to offer? A careful viewing of five CD-ROMs provides some answers and some questions too. The Persistence of the Individual I Photograph to Remember, Pedro Meyer, Voyager, 1991 Pedro Meyer's I Photograph to Remember, one of the first photo CD-ROMs, is a narrative of the his parents' death. It utilizes a simple interface through which the viewer can access single black and white photographs or start the narrative from any particular image, each of which is accompanied by its own voice-over by Meyer. Besides establishing a simple audio-visual information framework, Meyer's use of audio emphasizes CD-ROMs' lineage from slide shows rather than from books. For one thing, an image viewed on a computer monitor has more in common with a projected slide than with an image printed on paper, especially in terms of luminosity range, but also in terms of objecthood/commodification. More importantly, the text-audio-visual format used by CD-ROMs owes a lot of its communication strategies to multiple-projector audio-visual slide programs (the original multimedia). What's interesting about Meyer's CD-ROM is that he absolutely refuses to include any of the technological glitz we've come to expect of multi-media slide shows or digital multimedia - fades to multiple images, lots of buttons, background information, colorful graphics, rock muzak, Quicktime movies, etc. I Photograph to Remember feels like someone using one projector to show slides and talking about each one, about as primitive a form of multimedia as we could obtain. It's a calculated risk - in exchange for the bells and whistles of a more complicated (and interactive) interface, Meyer has opted for narrative and artistic coherence. For Meyer, narrative isn't an organizing structure, it's the human part of documentary, less a way to access information than a way to identify with experience. Even though the photographic documentation of death by cancer isn't a new topic, and Meyer's photographs aren't breaking any new aesthetic ground, I Photograph to Remember remains a unique CD-ROM. Unlike most other CD-ROMs, which are complicated social productions of technological teamwork and corporate group think, I Photograph to Remember remains an intensely personal endeavor. From Meyer's own voice on the audio track to the (almost exclusive) use of his own photographs, Meyer's CD-ROM makes a case for the importance and shape of the individual artistic voice in the age of intricate interactive interfaces. Instead of constructing a technological interface, Meyer constructs a character, the photographer photographing his parents' deaths, the storyteller. It's slow, it's simple, and it works. Which is not to say that by concentrating on his own photographs, his own experience of his parents and his parents' death, Meyer doesn't miss a golden opportunity to capitalize on what multimedia might bring to an examination of what was tumultuous and historically complex about his parents lives (they were Jewish refugees first from Germany then from Franco's Spain and eventually became early importers of Japanese goods to Mexico). But maybe we should be satisfied with the fact that Meyer did what he did - produce a successful personal statement in a medium that is notoriously impersonal, and demonstrate that individual voices are just as important to the digital world as hyperactive interfaces. Excerpts from What is digital storytelling by Joe Lambert and Nina Mullen May, 2000 Interactive Digital Storytelling The advent of laserdisc and CD-ROM technologies ushered in the era of interactive storytelling through rich multiple media. CD-ROMs have been associated primarily with the computer game market. While games undoubtedly have narrative attributes, we have only met a small number of game developers that view the narrative concerns of their work as more than trivial. The success of Myst demonstrated that significant attention to story could make a huge difference in how an audience responds to the "puzzle" aspects of the game. A large number of academic and noncommercial artistic efforts have created CD-ROMs with specific narrative concerns?and a few have found their way into the commercial arena. Abbe Don created We Make Memories, an extraordinarily rich exploration of four generations of women in her family, as an interactive laserdisc installation. Abbe shares our interest in stories from the personal archive. Pedro Meyer's I Photograph to Remember, one of many excellent narrative works published by Voyager, Inc. between 1991 and 1996, documents Pedro?s parents? final struggle with cancer. It remains one of the most emotionally compelling stories of this form. We also count as colleagues Greg Roach and Jon Sanborn, who have developed a number of commercial titles that explore interactive video. Greg?s Quantum Gate titles?and most recently the development of the X-Files CD-ROM by his company, Hyperbole?and Sanborn?s Psychic Detective CD-ROM push the use of film/video on a CD-ROM to the limit. We have been particularly impressed by I Am a Singer by Megan Heyward, Mauve Desert by Adriene Jenik, and, most recently, Ceremony of Innocence (an adaptation of Nick Bantock?s Griffin and Sabine trilogy) by Alex Mayhew. In all of these interactive narratives, like their hypertext equivalents, navigational design is a critical part of their aesthetic success or failure. The more artistically successful have a consistent navigational mechanism for the users to stay in touch with the story arc?such as the ability to see the story as a linear event from beginning to end. They also tend to create a dialogue with the user that deepens or extends the user?s emotional connection to the story line?either by calling for their direct participation as characters that can shape the story?s resolution, or in inquiring about the users response to material that is presented. Web-based Storytelling The Web has mirrored the hypertext and CD-ROM multimedia authoring worlds with a myriad of different narrative experiments. There are purely hypertextual works, works that use text and a minimum of images, and increasingly media-rich work that approaches what has been done in the fixed media arena. Many of us point to Joseph Squier?s "Life With Father" as an early, but inspiring example of a moving and effective Web story. A couple of phenomena have dominated the storytelling uses of the Web. The first is the Web serial, essentially a soap-opera format Web site, with daily or weekly updates. Yahoo! lists about 120 Web serials. The first major serial of this genre was "The Spot," a look behind the lives of some youthful Southern Californians, aimed at the "Baywatch" or "Melrose Place" fan. There are ways for the audience to interact with the story line, or in the case of "The Spot," with the characters. Jon Sanborn recently launched his "Paul Is Dead" Web serial, a complex mystery that invites the users to uncover the truth behind the death of a rock star. The interactive television market will be developing more of these serials as ways to extend the brand of existing television or film projects. The other storytelling phenomenon that has drawn our attention is the Web diary. Justin Hall?s Links is one of the better known examples. For more than four years, we have been able to follow Justin?s daily life and interact with him. He has traveled the country as an evangelist and trainer for self-publishing on the Web. Hundreds, if not thousands, of diaries exist. Many of the sites blur the boundaries between thoughtful literature and exhibitionism, fiction and nonfiction. Part of the Internet?s allure is the fluid sense of private and public it creates. The posting of intimate aspects of life stories invites intense, and often dramatic, interchanges between authors and their audience. Sites like Derek Powazek?s Fray approach this with artful intentions, curating personal essays on many sensitive topics that directly invite readers to respond with personal stories of their own. This type of storytelling interaction encourages community, connecting diverse people through shared experience Pedro Meyer fotógrafo digital (in original language) by Alex Barnett April, 2001 Pedro Meyer tiene 61 años, nació en España, se ha criado en México y desde hace algunos años reparte su tiempo entre la capital mexicana y la ciudad norteamericana de Los Angeles, en la que en 1990 abrió un estudio. Su larga y sólida trayectoria como fotógrafo incluye más de un centenar de exposiciones, la presencia de sus obras en una veintena de museos de todo el mundo y, en los últimos años, una total entrega a la causa de la fotografía digital, tan temida por la fotografía oficial y que él contempla como la definitiva liberación del arte fotográfico de cualquier compromiso realista. "El tiempo de la fotografía testimonial ha terminado -explica-. Se desmorona una convención que no había sido analizada con rigor y que ocultaba que todas las fotografías son interpretativas. La fotografía digital es el fin del mito de la verdad fotográfica". Que Meyer, entrevistado por "Wired" y elogiado por "Rolling Stone", por citar sólo dos revistas suficientemente conocidas, sea prácticamente un desconocido en España es una lástima y un dato culturalmente desalentador, aunque él parece admitirlo con la sabiduría y la serenidad que probablemente dan los años. "España -explica- está en mi corazón porque es el sitio donde nací. Aparte de eso, apenas tengo ningún otro contacto con ella. Es más, hasta que hace unos meses me llamaron desde Vigo para realizar unas fotos sobre la ciudad, nunca nadie me había invitado a realizar una exposición en España. Sé que mi obra no es conocida, salvo para gente que recibe información de fuera. Espero que este reportaje ayude a darla a conocer." En su biografía hay algunas fechas claves. En 1948, cuando tiene 13 años, le regalan su primera cámara. En 1983, convertido ya en un importante fotógrafo, adquiere su primer ordenador e inicia su particular peregrinación desde el cuarto oscuro hasta los programas informáticos de retoque fotográfico. A partir de ahí, la fotografía digital se convierte en el marco de su investigación creativa. En 1991, la editorial norteamericana Voyager publica I Photograph To Remember, el primer CD-ROM de Meyer, un trabajo pionero de gran sencillez, dedicado a los últimos meses de vida de sus padres y que con el tiempo se ha convertido en un pequeño clásico. Frente a las pretensiones cinematográficas de muchas producciones multimedia. "I Photograph To Remember" reivindica el poder de la sensibilidad y la emotividad. Su reciente "Truths and Fictions", CD-ROM publicado también por Voyager y basado en el libro "Verdades y Ficciones" (Casa de las Imágenes, México), es un peculiar diario de viaje que con el pretexto de contraponer los Estados Unidos de la época Reagan al México ancestral, propone un recorrido plagado de cruces culturales, presididos todos ellos por la fotografía digital que altera imágenes, colores y texturas, une instantáneas viejas y nuevas, reinventa la memoria del fotógrafo e invita al espectador a pensar y a descreer. Como advierte Joan Fontcuberta en la introducción al citado libro: "Todas las fotografías son manipuladas. Encuadrar es una manipulación, enfocar es una manipulación, seleccionar es una manipulación. Crear es asumir, es adentrarse en el corazón de esa encrucijada. No existe acto humano que no implique una manipulación. La manipulación, por tanto, está exenta de valor moral 'per se' y el hecho de que arrastre connotaciones negativas es un prejuicio contra el que debemos luchar. Lo que sí está sujeto a juicio moral son los criterios o las intenciones que se aplican a la manipulación. Y lo que está sujeto a juicio crítico es su eficacia." Pedro Meyer se adentra en la encrucijada de la manipulación armado con el arma retórica de la paradoja (fotos que parecen retocadas y no lo han sido; fotos que parecen reales y no lo son) y ofrece al espectador la eficacia de unas imágenes surgidas del cruce entre la perfecta técnica quirúrgica de la informática y el viejo espíritu de los fotomontajes de John Heartfield o Josep Renau. Las imágenes de Meyer reivindican la certera descripción de Renau: "el fotomontaje es una forma de ver la realidad con rayos X". Zonezero (zonezero.com) Meyer, impulsor también de Zonezero, una web de Internet abierta principalmente a los jóvenes fotógrafos latinoamericanos, es el negativo de esa vieja aspiración realista, según la cual el mejor fotógrafo es aquel cuya presencia resulta imposible de detectar. Y es un buen ejemplo de cómo los fotógrafos pueden encontrar en las nuevas tecnologías nuevas herramientas que al servicio de la magia, la lucidez y el compromiso empujen a la fotografía hacia su total madurez como arte. Las siguientes líneas son una seleccíon de opiniones y comentarios de Meyer, extraídos de una larga serie de contactos mantenidos con él a través del correo electrónico y que sirvieron para comprobar el carácter radical de su actitud artística y su innegable pasión por comunicar. El apartado "Taller digital" muestra un ejemplo de cómo Meyer trabaja en la creación y recreación de sus imágenes. Un trabajo en el que, sin duda, está presente el aliento de la frase de Picasso: "El arte es una mentira que nos permite decir la verdad". El fotógrafo digital "El fotógrafo digital puede crear mucho más libremente, ya que puede hacer muchas cosas que antes no eran viables para el fotógrafo analógico. Básicamente con la fotografía digital no se sabe si una foto ha sido alterada o no. Hay fotógrafos que viven esto como una amenaza, pero yo creo que es una liberación. Por fin la fotografía se verá libre de la representación realista". Estilo y manipulación "Todas las fotografías nos hablan del estilo de su autor y por tanto de cómo éste manipula la realidad. Hay imágenes que históricamente se presentan como ejemplo de sencillez, pero que son el resultado de una lenta y ardua elaboración. Cartier Bresson no produce sus imágenes 'sencillas' de una manera 'sencilla', sino que son el resultado de una paciente espera para hacer coincidir el contenido con la geometría. Bill Brandt, con sus cielos y sus imágenes tan contrastadas, o Walker Evans, con su decidida búsqueda de lo sencillo y lo directo, también imponen un estilo, una manipulación". Fotografía para recordar "El título de mi primer CD-ROM "I Photograph to Remember" (Fotografío para recordar) no fue generado por el azar. Es también una actitud existencial. Cuando veo una fotografía, me ayuda a recordar. Y cuando creo una imagen o altero alguna parte de ella, en realidad estoy restituyendo elementos que tal vez le faltaban, que eran imposibles de captar en su momento o que ahora creo que merecen ser añadidos. Ahora, gracias a la fotografía digital, a las fotografías les puedo añadir mi propia memoria." Dudar de los ojos "En nuestra cultura desconfiamos de las palabras porque son palabras, pero nos creeemos las imágenes porque son imágenes. Esto es una tontería. La gente tiene que darse cuenta de que una imagen no es una representación de la realidad." La nueva credibilidad "En la era de la fotografía digital, la credibilidad ya no radicará en la fotografía misma, sino en el autor de la foto y en el medio de difusión." Fotógrafos de prensa "En la mayoría de los casos los fotógrafos de prensa no son artistas porque sus imágenes resultan muy simplificadas y genéricas. Si a un fotógrafo que trabaja así se le ofrece una paleta digital, lo más probable es que no la utilice, ya que en realidad no tiene mucho más que decir. El futuro de la fotografía digital pasa por las manos de quienes tengan necesidad de una expresión creativa." Zonezero (zonezero.com) "Siempre me interesó publicar una revista, pero no me atrevía porque junto al aspecto propiamente editorial había que plantearse la tarea de distribuir ejemplares, recibir el importe de las ventas, etcétera. Todo eso no me interesaba nada. Internet me ha permitido hacer realidad el viejo anhelo de la revista. Zonezero, además, me permite cumplir con otros dos objetivos: seguir vinculado a los últimos adelantos tecnológicos y contribuir a que la comunidad fotográfica, en particular mis colegas de América Latina, tengan acceso a una plataforma pública desde la que dar a conocer su obra." Coraje y nuevas tecnologías "Los fotógrafos siempre se han quejado de la dificultad de publicar su trabajo. Internet y los CD-ROM permiten publicar a bajo coste, siempre que se opte por hacer cosas sencillas. Yo animo a los jóvenes fotógrafos a utilizar las herramientas digitales porque permiten hacer cosas fantásticas por un coste muy razonable." Colonización cultural "Negar la evidencia de una invasión cultural a través de las nuevas tecnologías es absurdo, pero Internet significa un cambio fundamental, ya que al poder publicar todos fácilmente en la red, desaparecen el monopolio y el control tradicional que ha existido sobre la información. Si lo que ocurre al final de este proceso es que estamos colonizados, tal vez tendremos que pensar que eso es lo que queríamos que pasase, pero en realidad no tiene por qué ser así." Sin fronteras "Tengo en casa en México y en Los Angeles y desde donde me encuentre, estoy en contacto diario con los amigos por medio del correo electrónico. Internet está cambiando incluso nuestra percepción de la geografía. El libro "Verdades y Ficciones" fue diseñado a través de Internet entre una diseñadora que vive en Nueva York, y a la que sólo conocí personalmente el día que se presentó el libro en aquella ciudad, y yo. El CD-ROM también fue coordinado a través de Internet: yo estaba en Los Angeles y Vogager, la editorial, estaba en Nueva York." Interactividad "Gran parte de las cosas que se llaman interactivas no lo son. Con frecuencia se confunde la interactividad con dar al lector la posibilidad de elegir entre una serie de opciones predeterminadas: ir a la derecha o a la izquierda, etcétera. En cualquier caso, para mí, el mejor ejemplo de interactividad es cuando la gente me escribe cartas o me manda un correo electrónico para comentar mi trabajo". Taller digital (así se hizo "El señor de los cuentos") Explicar un truco de magia no necesariamente anula su interés. Así es, al menos, en el caso del trabajo de Pedro Meyer, que no tiene reparo en explicar cuál es el proceso de elaboración de algunas de sus imágenes. En el caso de la fotografía titulada "El señor de los cuentos", el origen son tres instantáneas tomadas independientemente: un telón teatral que está siendo instalado por una operaria en la parte trasera de un camión; un anciano sentado en una silla; y un feriante moviendo dos grandes monigotes. Manipuladas informáticamente, las tres imágenes fueron sacadas de su contexto original e integradas en una nueva y perfecta imagen total. "Muchas veces -explica Pedro Meyer- cuando estoy trabajando con el ordenador, me siento como un director teatral". Ante mí se encuentra el escenario, que es la pantalla, y yo voy colocando los actores y los elementos de la escenografía. Así es como me sentí al hacer esta imagen. Lo primero -añade- fue la imagen del telón, que me pareció muy aporpiada para el principio de un cuento. Después estaba ese hombre, una especie de abuelo contándole historias al mundo, sentado en su silla al lado de la carretera. Lo coloqué junto al telón para que nos contase una historia sobre los monigotes, a los que reduje de tamaño para integrarlos en el conjunto. Lo más difícil de todo fue colocar la sombra del abuelo en la parte correcta del telón. Tardé dos días en conseguirlo. La verdad es que he aprendido más sobre iluminación trabajando con el ordenador que con la cámara. Historical Photographs and Multimedia Storytelling by Charles Williams August, 2001 While Ken Burns strictly makes historical films, Pedro Meyer and Rick Smolan are using contemporary photographs in their multimedia projects. Pedro Meyer is one of Mexico's most respected photographers. In 1991, Voyager published Pedro Meyer's ground-breaking CD-ROM, "I Photograph to Remember." It is a narrative work combining 100 black-and-white photographs with a spoken narrative by Pedro Meyer. Meyer tells the story of his parents' struggle with cancer. Thomas Luehrsen produced the disc for Voyager. He recalls the recording session when Pedro showed him the photos. "I had a DAT recorder with me to use as a scratch recording, but it was so good that we used most of it in the final product...The product's virtue is its simplicity in content and in execution," Luehrsen said (Koman, 1993). I Photograph to Remember was a triumph in many ways. It firmly established CD-ROMs as a viable journalistic outlet. Production of the project required a minimal amount of resources. In addition, it ushered in the concept of "personal journalism." A certain arrogance exists among the journalistic community, similar to that of the historical academy. Journalists too often believe they are the only people qualified to report. In some ways, the average person is becoming a journalist. Not in the traditional sense, but the ability of the average person to disseminate information through outlets such as the World Wide Web or CD-ROMs is increasing daily. New family history and genealogy programs are hitting the market, often in creative forms. "Echo Lake" allows users to store family history books on the shelves of "cabins". Stories in the book can be enhanced with personalized music, narration and video clips. Also available are "Family Tree Maker," "Expert Personal Roots" and "Family Ties" (Trivette, 1995). Rick Smolan agrees. "My mother is turning 70 soon, and we kids are talking about taking all these pictures we have and putting them on disc and having the whole family narrate them. When the Oakland fire happened, I thought of all the families who lost their wedding pictures, their baby pictures...People will do this personal storytelling. And there will be stories that will be published that publishers would never touch," Smolan said (Koman, 1993). Why should we care about Meyer's parents, or Smolan's or mine? Their deaths have no impact on world events. Why should we care about a Czech family coming to America? First and foremost, these are good stories, and that's what journalism is all about. Second, larger issues are at stake, such as the plight of cancer victims or the struggles of immigrants. These types of stories may never see the light of day through traditional media outlets that are concerned with the financial bottom line. Meyer's project is intensely personal, much as Eugene Richards' and Dorothea Lynch's "Exploding into Life." Nothing is more personal than recording the death of a loved one. Pedro Meyer says the title "I Photograph to Remember" explains his motives. "As a photographer who has entered a lot of other people's lives through my camera, I felt that if I could not capture the images in my own world, I didn't have the right to do it in other people's worlds," Meyer said (Koman, 1993). The photography in Meyer's project is strong. Meyer's sense of caring is expressed repeatedly through photographs that focus on hands and arms. Fragile hands caressing torsos and hands with bulging veins reaffirm the sense of loss and desperation. His work could very well have been published in a newspaper or magazine. But it is the haunting narration that adds an extra dimension. We not only see the pain--we also hear it. Meyer has been a pioneer in the new field of digital storytelling. He believes CD-ROMs provide substantial benefits over other mediums. "Video doesn't have the quality in sound or image. You can't slow down, stop or go back. And the narrative quality would be lost in a book," Meyer said (Koman, 1993). Meyer's other major new media undertaking was "Truths and Fictions: A Journey from Documentary to Digital Photography." In 1987, Pedro Meyer traveled 25, 000 miles across the United States. He created 92 photo illustrations that were displayed at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago. Jonathan Green, the "Truths and Fictions" exhibition curator, states that Meyer is "perversely comfortable reprocessing discrete bits of photographic information into new photographic 'facts' in order to make his point...They[the photographs] draw their strength from their relationship to 'photographic reality',"... "Meyer's photographs usher in a new reality, a new world of digital rather than visual truth" (Green, 1994). Some would argue that Meyer's works are little more than concocted feature photos. They are art. They are illustrations, but they are not fact. They're no more poignant than photo illustrations of the past. The fact that they were done digitally simply makes them technically better. For all the digital manipulation hype, "Truths and Fictions" falls short of the much simpler "I Photograph to Remember." Excerpts from Rolling Stone magazine   "I Photograph to Remember is hard to imagine in any other medium. Meyer's minimalist narration heightens the relentless drama of his pictures and the tension of his story. ... A universal work   RELATED THIS PROJECT    

Monday, 28 November 2011

43. Miracles and Co.

Thursday, 17 November 2011 | Read more

45. Acts of Faith

Tuesday, 25 October 2011 | Read more

47. The Mexican Suitcase

  It is our pleasure to invite you to the American Premiere of Trisha Ziff's film "The Mexican Suitcase". It will be screened as part of the LALIFF-Los Angeles Latino Film Festival- this coming Saturday, July 24, at the Egyptian Theater. If you are in the L.A. area don't miss out the opportunity to see this intriguing documentary of the recovered lost photographs from the Spanish Civil War. But, if you are not anywhere close to Los Angeles this weekend, don't fret. We invite you to take a look at the online gallery, also by Trisha Ziff, in which she shares with us the riveting story of how she helped recover this treasure vault that contains unpublished work by Robert Capa, David Seymour (alias Chim) and Gerda Taro, considered lost since 1939. Take a look here. And finally, to close-off this special number, we'd like to invite you to download this free PDF by Colombian historian, Fernando Toledo, allowing us to take a closer look to the enigmatic figure of Gerda Taro. Learn more about this incredible woman that, together with Robert Capa, captured some of the most emblematic images of the Spanish Civil War.   Nadia Baram       Galleries                  

Tuesday, 20 September 2011

49. BROKEN SEPTEMBER 9/11/2001

When Al-Qaeda members hijacked passenger planes and decided to use them as missiles against the twin towers in New York, they probably did not look into the eyes of those that would be their victims. Likewise, when British and American soldiers bombarded Afghanistan, all they may have been able to see on their screens were white and green attack lights.   For terrorists and soldiers, victims are not scared or miserable men. Nor are they dangerous, inferior or even vile, or people that need to be reformed, locked up, tortured or punished. They are not even men to be annihilated. They are simply non-men.   The victims of the world that followed 11 September are non-human, in that they were regarded as something instrumental and ahistorical that could be used for a reason that survives on the basis of an extremely simple form of evasion: not looking them in the eye. Their acts are a form of nostalgia in a vertical world whose destinations are determined by something "beyond" the present, beyond the living, beyond any choice. And looking into someone else’s eyes, capturing a third party in the reflection of oneself, forces you to think.   According to Diderot, looking into the victim's eye forces you"to torment yourself with other people's personas and the urgent need to soothe them.". A fellow creature is therefore a creation of what we see of ourselves within a stranger, a result of the imagination, an invented third party that emerges in an irrefutable act of magic and of the illusion that we are bound by some form of similarity. Ethics would therefore be a more posthumous form of magic.   Ulises Castellanos’ extraordinary photographs in both war zones in September 2001 are full of victims’ eyes. The similarities he drew between the city of surgical face masks and that of burkhas restore the magical nature of the contemplation of other's pain. For Ulysses, New York and Afghanistan are not as far apart as one might think. Finding the imaginary third party is a task of his viewers and those who examine his photos with Diderot's eye.   We can do nothing in the new world foisted onto us by the "life beyond" 11 September. Nothing except sympathize.   Fabrizio Mejía Madrid   Click to zoom Photographs by Ulises Castellanos       Where were you on 11 September? Participate in twitter #septiembreroto or post a comment.

Wednesday, 07 September 2011