The last two acts of Day 3 of the Malta Jazz Festival 2010, Ari Hoenig Punk Bop Trio featuring Gilad Hekselman & Orlando Lefleming and Richard Bona. That’s all folks! (or maybe not).
It does take a toll… Three days of fun, meeting friends and good music. Time to catch up on sleep, but before that, here are some pictures from the first act of day 3 – Charles “City” Gatt Quartet. The rest tomorrow… assuming I wake up, that is!
It is four o’clock in the morning. I’ve dozed off a couple of times, I’m sure of that – but it was worth it. Enjoy the images from the Malta Jazz Festival 2010, Day 2, featuring Esperanza Spalding and Joshua Redman Double Trio. The latter will be published as soon as I get the go ahead.
This year I have once again been honoured with a photography pass to the Malta International Jazz Festival. It is now 20 years since the inception of this event, and it has become an institution both locally and overseas. Last night’s performance was fantastic – three very different styles, each impeccable and thoroughly enjoyable. The performers from last evening were Francesca Galea and Leonardo Montana, The Bad Plus, and Mike Stern. I must say that I personally enjoyed Mike Stern most, with his fusion of Jazz and Rock. Brilliant!
So, without further ado, here are some photos from last night’s performance.
P.S. See the photos published also on the Malta Jazz Festival official blog here and here.
After almost a month, Tektika Tango is now over. I am very happy with the feedback, and the sales were encouraging. This project was very much at heart to me, since it was one which gave me the incentive and opportunity to push the boundaries and experiment beyond the realms of “straight photography”.
When I took up this project, it scared me initially. With projects such as these, it is very easy to fall into cliches and create mediocre work, and I was very much conscious of this. With photography, this is even more valid, due to the obvious restrictions and the practical aspect.
My intention from the onset was to create a sense of movement and energy. The concept eventually evolved throughout the various sessions, however in its essence, it remained the same. The four images which I exhibited represent in a way the evolution in time, moving from a more physical presence to something which is more abstract. At the editing stage, I wanted to add a classic, painterly look to the images, in order to create a contrast between the energy and movement, and the sensuality of Tango. I am quite happy with the results, and I will certainly keep working on further images to add to the collection, as well as the concept and technique itself.
It has been over a year in the making. Finally, the tango exhibition is here, and I am very excited to be participating in a collective exhibition after quite a while. There is a reason why I have stopped participating in collective exhibitions, and this is because I feel that the general public, unfortunately, still struggles to view photography as an artform. By being selective about the work I exhibit, I can concentrate on creating the work which gives me most pleasure, and I do not regret this decision.
This exhibition, however, is different. It is the result of a long and leisurely project which I have thoroughly enjoyed working on. No work is staged, and all is the result of images captured live during a number of milonga sessions. It gave me the opportunity to learn and appreciate the culture of Tango, and the time to digest it and develop the images over several months.
The exhibition will feature 7 artists using different media, and although I have as yet seen very few of the works, I am confident that some very interesting concepts have evolved during this period.
Below is the banner for the event. If you would like to attend the opening, feel free to contact me to request an invite.
Tektika Tango Exhibition Banner (Click to view in full)
It dawned on me, a few weeks ago. I had heard it before, I think, but it had never hit me so clearly. The questions and attempted answers which followed have kept me thinking since then, and I very much suspect that they will keep me occupied for a very long time to come.
We all know what reality is, or do we? In reality (no pun intended) it is very much not what we think it is. Or actually, it is what we think, not what it is. Reset for a moment. Let us think. In actual fact, we don’t know what is out there. We only know what we perceive as being out there. For all we know, the guy next to us might be perceiving something entirely different. The reality remains the same. The perception is subjective.
This is what makes everything so interesting – as a photographer, that is. While we are capturing the same reality, we know that what we see is not what others see, or at least, we don’t know what others see – we just know what we see (and even that is debatable). What results from this is an exciting barage of opportunity for interpretation. As artists using the medium of photography as an interpretative medium, it is our duty to ‘document’ reality as we see it, and present it to others to see, interpret and distort into whatever their own reality is. It very much feels like a machine which takes something, and through various stages of processing produces something totally different. We don’t know what will be produced, and since the last stage of processing is through the eyes of the viewer, the end result is always different. That is exciting.
So what do we make out of all this? What I personally think is that when viewed from this perspective, photography becomes a very powerful medium of interpretation. No wonder it was the medium of choice for many surrealists. If we look at the greatest artists, particularly from the last century, it is clear that they have all realised this, and spent their lifetime exploring the concept in their own way. The identification and development of this and other concepts is one of those things which I believe demarcate the distinction between a photographer and an artist.
By all means, this concept is nothing new. There just seem to be moments in a person’s life when certain things just become clear – those important moments of realisation, which help us evolve and better ourselves.
So that’s another tick on the list.
LONDON – Photographer Sergio Muscat was presented with the 5th Annual Black and White Spider Awards Nominee title in the category of Photojournalism at a prestigious Nomination & Winners Photo Show attended by 35,000 online viewers who logged on live from 154 countries to see the climax of the industry’s most important event for black and white photography.
Thousands of images were received from 68 countries worldwide. The awards international Jury included captains of the industry from Magnum Photos, The Armory Show, Fratelli Alinari, Contrasto to Tate and Hamiltons in London who honored Spider Fellows with 84 coveted title awards in 28 categories. The judges reviewed the entries online for eight weeks before making their final nominations and Sergio’s “Just One Coin,” an exceptional image entered in the Photojournalism category, received a high percentage of votes overall.
“The Spider Awards celebrates photographers who operate at the highest levels of their craft,” said Basil O’Brien, the awards Creative Director. “Sergio’s work represents black and white photography at its finest, and we’re pleased to present him with the title of Nominee.”
You can view the 5th Annual Winners Gallery at http://bit.ly/aHUOUS
More black and white images may be viewed at http://bit.ly/cMTlGY
BLACK AND WHITE SPIDER AWARDS is the leading international award honouring excellence in black and white photography. This celebrated event shines a spotlight on the best professional and amateur photographers worldwide and honours the finest images with the highest achievements in black and white photography.
Flights are (almost) always a pretty boring thing. There are very few things which can be done, and the will to do them fades away very quickly, well before the journey is over. I have somewhat learnt to adapt to this situation and enjoy some ‘alone’ time. I enjoy getting carried away by my thoughts, and writing sometimes helps me organise (somewhat) all the hubbub that floods my mind as soon as it is left unattended for a short while.
I brought with me a very famous book on photography (indeed aptly named ‘on photography’, written in the 1970’s by Susan Sontag). It is very well written and does have some truly inspiring words. It is clear that the writer had a passion for photography and spent long hours researching the content. As I read through it I find (rather disappointingly) that most of what she wrote is still very valid today, more than 30 years later. Has photography stagnated so much that we are still rummaging on the same ideas photographers created more than a quarter of a century ago? Many things have happened since then. Many photographers have come and gone, and left their mark. But is it a significant mark in the history of photography? Somehow I have my doubts. It is true, photography has changed, especially since the digital revolution, but I somehow don’t feel that photographers have changed too. Maybe I’m missing something but possibly the same fact that I’m missing it means it isn’t significant enough. I worry that maybe we’ve arrived to a stage where photography has come to the end of it’s development and it’s now about running around in circles effectively flogging a dead horse. Susan Sontag does mention it briefly in her book. Maybe she was right already 30 years ago.
I however refuse to believe this is entirely correct (although I’ve seen enough bad photography to believe this is not entirely incorrect either). I wouldn’t be doing what I do if I did. I might not be the key to the new generation of photography, but I guess every helping hand counts. I believe the key is in the way we perceive photography. Many perceive good photography as being equivalent to technically correct photography. While this may sometimes be a part of what good photography is, it is a very shallow view, and mostly a detrimental one. Again we have to take a step back and rethink in what context we are viewing photography in the first place. If we are looking at photography purely for photography’s sake – that is, just as a means of capturing something out there – then we are viewing photography as a craft, and in that sense, technique is certainly a pretty large part of the success of a photograph. If, however, we want to view photography as an art form, then the picture changes completely. First of all, the focus shifts away from photography per se, and moves onto the artist. This is a key element, and cannot be stressed enough. We need to start viewing photography as the means to an end rather than the end per se. It is an artistic medium which the artist chooses to make use of to achieve his or her goal, and not the goal itself. Secondly we need to shift our view away from the individual photograph and onto the bigger picture. The value of an artist’s work is the concept, and how it is presented. Judging an artist by looking at one piece of work is akin to judging a novel by reading one paragraph. While one piece of work can give an idea of the skill of the artists, and while some works tend to be remebered more, and may eventually become representative of the artist, it is the whole body of work of the artist that defines him or her. The body of work of artists is the translation of their values, thoughts and beliefs into something physical, and every part of that body needs to be viewed with the whole concept in mind. If we look at the greatest artists (including photographers) of the past century, it becomes clear that whatever they did was centred around a concept or passion they had, and which they represented through their life and through their work.
Art has changed greatly throughout the past decades, and if we are to understand art in the way it deserves to be, we must first of all remove preconceptions about artistic media, and then start asking the right questions when viewing a work of art. It is certainly not about aesthetics, and whether this would look nice hanging in the room with the new persian rug, but about the connection which the work creates with the concept, and eventually, with the artist.
As another year rolls by mercilessly, we tend to reflect on what we’ve achieved during the past year, and what we would like to achieve in the year ahead. When I look back, I realise the importance that this year has played in my growth as an artist and photographer. The year took off with a bang when I was awarded the “International Press & PR Photographer of the Year” recognition from the SWPP for Just One Coin. Great motivator, I must say. Shortly after, another award came from the International Colour Awards, for Beach Shop. These awards drove me to keep pushing towards creating more work and evolving my style.
During the year, I became ever more involved in the local photography scene, and helped the MIPP, one of the local photography organisations, to get through a pretty tough year after some radical changes. It was hard work but greatly inspiring. I can now start giving back some of what I have received, helping those who love photography immerse themselves into the art.
Throughout this period I was working on a new set of architecture images which eventually were presented for the Associate qualification. I was greatly encouraged by the judges’ comments which I will treasure for a long time to come. This was a goal I needed to achieve, and it helped me gain more confidence in my abilities.
I am now ready to move to the next step – a step further into the direction of art. It is important for the artistic community to understand that photography is not about creating technically perfect images. Photography is just another medium for the expression of art. It is a very particular medium in itself. It is a tool which allows us to manipulate reality, and show only what we want to show, the way we want to show it. No wonder it was, and still is, a favourite medium for the surrealists. When looking at a photograph, viewers cannot help but associating what they see with what they know, and that is a very strong manipulative tool in the hands of the artist. It takes time to master this technique of distorting reality, but when we manage, the whole world flips upside down. It becomes a dream – rooted in reality, but free of reality’s constraints. I look forward with excitement to the moment I will manage to master that. This is the path I will be taking throughout the coming years.
This coming year, I also plan to participate in some exhibitions. It is time to expose myself once again to the world. I will be doing this through a few collaborative exhibitions – at least that is the plan. I will not reveal details as yet, since they are still on the drawing board, however I can say that there will be some experimentation involved.
The coming year promises to be a very exciting one ahead. I plan to make it so. I have been encouraged greatly throughout the past years, and it is thanks to this continuous encouragement and support that I am able to keep ploughing through. So I keep ploughing through – one day there will be a harvest to collect.
Finally, I wish you all a successful year ahead, full of joy, success and unrestrained creativity.
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