I’ve been thinking in recent weeks about how photography can support environmental concerns – not a unique idea I will give you that – and some of this research led me to the work of Naoya Hatakeyama. I have not read much about Hatakeyama but it seems to me that much of his work deals with the interaction of man with the environment, how we shape and bend nature to suit our purposes. It is interesting to me to see how his projects evolve – his photographs of the limestone quarries in Japan was followed by an investigation of the factories that processed the limestone, then on to the cities that were subsequently built from the cement and then back to the sources of limestone in the underground tunnels in Paris. Something to consider as we look to extend and develop our own work. Naoya talks about this project and more in the videos below. Check them out.
Friday Inspiration: Sarah Moon
Sarah Moon’s name came up in conversation this week as a photographer to take a deeper look at. At the time the name was unfamiliar and it wasn’t until I saw the video below that I realized that I had been down this road before. All too often it takes couple of times to internalize and connect the name and the work. Sarah Moon lives and works in Paris, and is one of the great icons of fashion photography. While her work falls under the umbrella of fashion it’s not the slick, glossy, over produced fashion work that immediately comes to m mind. Instead, much of her work is black and white (I haven’t been able to find much of her work in color at all) that has an ethereal quality to it. Captivating. I don’t know the original source of the video below but I do hope that this is narrated by Sarah Moon herself. It gives a real insight into the mind of the photographer as they go through the process of finding the image.