Re: Henk Thijs via Blurb

[Judy Seigel <jseigel@panix.com>]

On Thu, 18 Jun 2009, henk thijs wrote:

> I myself still love the feeling of a book in my hands, from Malamud to Alex 
> Web, from McEwan to Pentti Sammallahti .... and to produce one myself was a 
> great experience .
Especially a "picture book"...

> > But what I want to know is how Henk shoots these folks unawares. Hidden 
> > camera?
> Street photography for me is just a matter of always carrying a camera 
> without the goal of making 'street photography';
Exactly ... but my little digital camera, at 14.4 ounces, is kind of a 
wreck, having spent years in the bottom of my purse with the loose change 
and cracker crumbs -- tho I can't really upgrade because all the "better" 
ones (especially the ones with changeable lenses) weigh too much to carry 
always everywhere, including with 10 pounds of groceries...

> ....when i want to make a 
> certain picture i make some to the left , some  to the right , some in the 
> air  and in between the one i want to make ....
Very ingenious ...  tho I don't know about in NYC -- as soon as folks spot 
a photographer, they tend to pose, run, or give you the finger, so your 
"scene" is over.  Even with cellphone cameras everywhere, those 
"photographers" are taking themselves and their friends. If one of them 
started to photograph a stranger, they'd freak. I think also a woman with 
a camera can't melt into the background the way a man can...

I anyway tried one of those right-angle lenses, which was impossible. The 
zoom lens is probably the best option, tho too heavy for me to carry 
everywhere, every day (and, OK, I admit it -- I'm hooked on digital, & if 
there's a zoom for digital, the whole setup would weigh practically as 
much as I do).

I'll add, tho, that crowds (as on Halloween in the subway, or Gay Pride 
Day, etc.) are no problem... One of the reasons I was hooked on Times 
Square (300 rolls in the late '80s) was crowds of crowds and everyone with 
a camera. But, again, your scene with the guy in white hair, hand on chin 
at the cafe, would still be impossible. (And forget Times Square -- it's 
awful now.)

> Most of the time a fairly -rather cheep- zoomlens 18 to 200 mm.
>
> > My other question is about the cover image, "Max" (tricolor gum). If I 
> > remember correctly that's... a grandchild?  (Exquisite head in solemn 
> > soulful portrait.) What I want to know, Henk, is how did you figure the 
> > cropping -- in that black surround. Did it just "happen," did you try other 
> > ways, or...?  (And what did you promise or threaten the kid to get that 
> > look?)
> This one is not cropped  , the black is just Photoshop CANVAS SIZE with 
> black.
> And yes , 'my botticelli' is my grandchild, and ' sitting' for me -not too 
> long !- wasn't a problem until now. No 'promise' for the look, just love :-), 
> but maybe i have to tell a short story:
> When he was a baby, he had a cold, and he was too young to express his 
> feelings in words; in pain he only could cry.
> But  a holiday was planned in Spain, and we have  to sit nearly 3 hours in a 
> plane, and he really had severe problems with his ears; during this three 
> hours he sat on my lap and i tried to comfort him . Since that time we have a 
> bit of a special relation.
Which I suspect could have happened anyway.... (& didn't make the kid so 
gorgeous, either).

> The inkjet pictures are in the making for brom(oil) and (tri)color gums for 
> my exhibition in the OpenShutter gallery in Durango in november; also some 
> pictures taken in Istanbul (where i really want to go back!!)
We had the Atlas out this evening to find "Burma" -- so I checked 
"Durango" -- there's one in Colorado and one in Mexico. Tho this Atlas is 
ancient: 1963.  Where's your "Durango"?

cheers,

Judy