Filling the square: play and dream

Juha Haataja

A SoFoBoMo 2010 photobook

Filling the square: play and dream

Juha Haataja

Filling the square: play and dream

A SoFoBoMo 2010 photobook
Copyright Juha Haataja, 2010 http://lightscrape.blogspot.com/ What is SoFoBoMo? SoFoBoMo is a group event where photographers all around the world make solo photo books in PDF form, in 31 days, start to finish, and there has to be at least 35 photographs in the book. I made my first SoFoBoMo book in 2009, a quick job in a couple of days, showing the city of Copenhagen where I attended a two-day conference. Although everything was done in a hurry, the project was interesting, and I learned several new things about photography and typesetting. This year, I decided to use the square format in my photographs, also referred to as 1:1 aspect ratio. There is no deep reason for this, only some curiousity about the challenges of making square compositions. It is often said to be very hard. Some claim that it is rare that a photograph works in this aspect ratio. Usually people use the 4:3 or 3:2 aspect ratios, or even 16:9, both in the horizontal and vertical orientations (landscape and portrait). The square is difficult because it doesnt offer straightforward guidance to the eye about how to read the image. When using horizontal or vertical formats there is a natural flow to the image. Not so with the square. The image itself has to have structure to help the eye to travel through the image.

Mark Hobson is one of the photographers who are masters of the square format. Although I dont always agree with his opinions of photography as art, his photographs reach a high level of visual impact. But is there something else in this photo book which may be considered as a unifying theme, besides the square? Most of the photographs can be considered to be nature or landscape photographs, but there are also photographs of man-made things. And the landscape and nature photographs have some relation to being human, why else take such photographs. I have divided the photo book into seven chapters, each of which consists of a few images which together build a bigger picture. As the basis of this book I selected a set of 206 photographs taken between June 5th and 14th. All photographs were taken in or near the city of Vantaa, in the capital region of Finland. I used a fifth of these 206 photographs in the book. Later I included some additional photographs to make the chapters feel more complete. These photographs were taken between June 15th and 22nd. While thinking about this project, I was reading Milan Kundera's book L'Art du Roman, which discusses the art of writing novels. This little book contains some thoughts which apply also to photography, at least in an indirect manner. This crossing of disciplines may not be so surprising as Kundera was a composer before turning to writing. I tried to use in this photo book some of Kundera's number-based principles of composing, for example his idea of using seven chapters as the large-scale structure. Also, Im trying to write short lightweight essays as introductions to the chapters, based on the impulses I had when I was taking those

photographs. Or, as in some cases, thoughts which appeared while looking at the photographs. You may note that Im not using the words making photographs here. Instead, I write of taking photographs. I dont feel competent enough to claim that Im making art. I point the camera and press the button, that is all. Technically I have worked in a streamlined manner. All images have been taken with the Panasonic LX3 camera using the built-in square aspect ratio, with the same settings, except EV correction if needed. There hasnt been any post-processing of photographsphotographs are jpeg images straight from the LX3. I feel this makes photography more immediate, no room for later correction of mistakes. While doing this project, I reached the milestone of 100,000 photographs taken with the LX3. The little camera is still going strong after 21 months of use. I need to note my gratitude to the fellow photography bloggers whose work I have enjoyed following over the years. In addition to alreadymentioned Mark Hobson these include Paul Butzi, Andreas Manessinger and Markus Spring. Thanks for the inspiration. I wish you enjoy this little book. And have luck with your own photography! Juha Haataja June 2010 Vantaa, Finland

1
Hiding
7

Hiding is a key survival skill for living things. It is hard to see what is there. You have to be skilled to observe. Humans no longer need to use so much our hunter-gatherer skills, but we are good in this stuff if needed. But other creatures are even better in hiding, because their life depends on it. In photography it is possible to bring visible something that was hidden. It may be the light, the form, the combination of elements, or something else alltogether. A camera is a tool for discovery, and the discovery doesnt end at the press of the button. You find things in the photograph you didnt realize were there when you decided to press the button. Unfortunately, you often find out that the thing you wanted to bring visible stayed hidden. Better luck next time.

Wet

Yponomeuta evonymellus

10

Stuck

11

Red barn

12

Self-portrait

13

2
Waiting
14

In the performance-oriented world of today, waiting seems always to take too much of our time. Should we get rid of all the waiting and streamline our lives so that we perform all the time? But what if waiting is the thing which allows us to function at all? One key word joining together many of my photographs is a feeling of waiting. Sometimes this is related to impatience, but more often to a patient (and natural) kind of waiting. Serenity is a word you could also use. Things happen in their own time. If you force things, they may break. Patience, the capability to wait, is a key asset of a photographer. I have too little of that.

15

Road to north

16

Boat

17

Seeds

18

Under firs

19

On the rock

20

Coming

21

3
Dreaming
22

What do we dream about? Many of my dreams although it isnt often that I remember what I dreamt about happen in forests. And sometimes while going for a walk in a forest I get a dream-like feeling, as if I was returning to a lost country which I didnt remember any more. When I was young, I was able to (almost) believe in some of my dreams, and continue dreaming them after waking up. I lost that skill at some point. Now things I think about are more or less real. Or at least I think that the things I think about are real. But are they really real, that I cant for sure tell. Some photographs are such that they seem to open up a window into a dream, something that is not quite real but nevertheless is. Maybe it is the magic of nature, things happening which connect to our brains on a level below rational thought. Sometimes I suspect that the world is a much more wonderful place than we think it is. Nowadays we are so used to globalization we forget the little local details which are a dream.

23

Night of rain

24

Rowan

25

Peek

26

Bat shadow

27

Beauty

28

Calla

29

4
Playing
30

It is said that dogs are wolf who never grow up. Humans have a long childhood, and some of the playfulness seems to survive in most of us, although the daily routines and pressures tend to hide that, Children remind us what it feels to have an open mind, and their example may even teach to us how to see with open eyes, although it is very difficult, so much there are routine things in our lives, seeing just the surface, not having the freshness of meeting things for the first time. Previously, I didnt much appreciate gardening, but this spring and summer I have grown to appreciate it. It is a way of returning to roots. Of playing. Our world is full of paradoxes. In the adult world, some aspects of childhood are put on a pedestal, such as creativity. On the other hand, it seems that childhood is getting shorter and shorter, as children are expected to perform, in school and hobbies, just like little adults. It there time for playing?

31

Yard

32

Fence

33

Heart

34

93

35

Garden

36

Pieces

37

5
Surface
38

Surface is how we meet the world: though our skin, through our tongue and nose and lungs, and through the dual channels of twodimensional information generated in the visual system. In a threedimensional world, surface defines our shapes, and our difference from the air or water around us. And then there is the surface of the ground under our feet. A photograph is two-dimensional, and in this book, a square twodimensional representation of the world. If offers clues of the things inside, or of things outside. Two dimensions provide a surface on which to project a representation of multi-dimensional reality.

39

Fern

40

Boards

41

Holes

42

Grid structure

43

Glass house

44

Always cheap

45

6
Decoration
46

It is a human thing to decorate the world around us. We make decorations out of small objects, we hang artwork on our walls, and we enjoy the decorative aspects of nature. I like taking photographs of nature because there is nobody who owns a copyright of the things there. (Although perhaps some biotechnology companies may want to copyright the DNA of living things...) But anyway, nature is a source of inpiration, and nature has a capability of producing endless decorations, either through biological growth or through physical processes. When taking photographs of man-made things there is always a feeling of stepping on someone elses toes, of copying, of not being original enough. But, on the other hand, most of the day is spent in man-made environments, so it would be pity to not use the opporturnities for taking photographs there.

47

Interiors

48

Lobby

49

Pot

50

Lupine

51

Line

52

Stripes

53

Crossing

54

Wall

55

Bright

56

7
Growth
57

It is the nature of things to grow. Cities grow, plants grow, human beings grow. Almost all of the growth is due to the sun, whether old sunlight wihch is stored in oil and coal, or new sunlight caught by plants. Light is also behind the act of creation in photography. It pictures the dynamics of world dominated by light and by the lack of light. These photographs were taken in June in the capital region of Finland, when the length of day approaches 19 hours. It will be very different six months later. Enjoy the long days of the short summer while you can. One shouldnt forget that it is a hard to stay alive. But one should also remember water. Without it, thirst. Perhaps there is also a thirst behind the need for taking photographs. There is a search for understanding, of observing, and perhaps even a kind of need for growth.

58

Transport

59

Drops

60

Drops

61

Summer blue

62

Poisonberry

63

Geranium

64

Strawberry

65

Birch

66

Leaf colors

67

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