Some random time.

David Hurn with Don McCullin's Contact Sheet.

In last year I was so lucky that I can visited Magnum's Photographer David Hurn in Wales, and talked about his old friend Henri Cartier Bresson, why he is so special and always can catch the best “The Decisive Moment” in every single picture. “He is a Genius, most of the time he keep taking pictures, he never developed and printed the pictures by himself, he will gave this job to the people he trusted, and all he was doing is keep taking pictures.” saids David Hurn. 

Then we talked about one of the Henri Cartier Bresson's picture - Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare. I tell David Hurn that I am so impressed that Henri Cartier Bresson's can catch this best moment in a frame, is he lucky or what? And David told me this is not the “Lucky Shot”, “I did remember that I saw his contact sheet of this picture (means Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare), I am so surprised that people these days doubt that picture is a “Set Up Picture”, I know it is NOT because I read the contact sheet from Henri Cartier-Bresson for that picture.” David Hurn told me that Henri Cartier Bresson was actually stand in a same place and waiting people to jump over the water, he captured every best moment and choose the “Best of the Best” moment to become this most famous picture - “Behind the Gare St. Lazare.

I must said this is one of my greatest moment of visiting this great Magnum photographer. I learned so much from his experience and his thinking on photography. Photography really is a life time job, David Hurn still wake up early morning and work on his latest landscape project on almost everyday. I am so surprised about this because from what I see most of the young photography students theses days never touch their camera until they get new project or job from school. I still remember what David Hurn told us, he said 'Every job are the same, Photographers, Pianist, anyone. To able to become successful you will always need to practice, practice and more practice, and there is always no exception.'

Gift from Henri Cartier Bresson for David Hurn.
Thanks David for letting me take picture of this great picture, thanks again.

The Deep Town

My Aquarium project, call's The Deep Town. I am always curious about what can we found under the sea since I was a kid. Sadly that I can't be a diver but still, I want to see and feel what sea life is about, and that's why I love aquarium. The only place for me to see something I never met before. And I will never forget the first time when I saw the giant fish that swim pass just in front of me. It is dark in an aquarium and every time when I was there, I feel like I am the only one there. A only per in a dark ocean.

I remember I took these pictures with my compact film camera, and I take the pictures without even seeing the view finder, I tried to feel the moment rather than catching them. And then when I saw the pictures I feel like I am swimming with them in this ocean. May be it is stupid to use film in such a dark place, but after I saw the contrast from it, it really gives me the mystery feeling from what I dreamed about the sea when I was a kid.

I always love dark and cold pictures, and I will try to make everything to become this cold. May be from sunshine to moonlight. I don't know why, but I really love the art wich can give me cold feeling like Hopper, Bacon's painting or Moriyama,Brassai's photography. I love art in a cold form, or may be that's why I love taking pictures in place like this, as the ocean is always so dark and cold.

 © Rusty Fox

New Project - In Rusty Connection.

This is my long term project about seeing the Connection/Distance between "subjects" in a City, from my views, most of the subjects within a city are in still-life forms to me. Just like a piece of meat and nothing different from a statue in British Museum. All the pictures I made were done by films and developed by myself. I prefer to discover things in a city rater making set up pictures, most of the time I will not have any contact with my subjects and I always see things in my way. Which usually will made everything become still-lifes, but on the street.

I think it is hard to judge what type of photography I am working on, documentary? May be, but clearly I put too much my personal emotion into my pictures and most of the pictures I follow only in my own view. Or may be it's Art photography? But I never quite sure for photography really is a part of "Art" and I don't ever understand the term "Fine Art Photography". But anyway in this project I am trying to see the "disconnect" from this city, I found most of the things in the city were ill. Things that people get used from their everyday but none of them seem normal to me. I don't know why but as a photographer I want to use photography to tell this issues, tell them the problems i found. 

P.S. I am not very good at using words on telling things, so please read my pictures.

 © Rusty Fox

Through the death, Joel-Peter Witkin.

by Joel-Peter Witkin

Most of the people will think of War photography if you have the topic of Death. But the truth is death is always around us within our everyday's life. A baby born, An old man dies. Things will never change since the first life. If we can happy to see a baby born, why do we need to be sad to see an old man die? But we all do, and this is life. So today I am going to talk about this photographer who see born and death equally with his photography.

Joel-Peter Witkin, American Photographer, been to Vietnam War and became a photographer there, but  specifically on dealing with corpses. May be after he gone through this hell from Vietnam War with his camera he totally changed his thinking of what life should be.

As we can see most of his pictures a like referenced from the fine art painting, and most of them are in a  "beautiful way" on showing what death should be. Of course many people may think this man is sick and this is not respecting the subject because he seems to "toying" his subject in his pictures, and most of his subjects are corpses as you can see. Most of the objects in his pictures are real things like real dead body and real twisted people and these are all before the photoshop age. Joel-Peter Witkin are also well known as a master of Darkroom. He done all his pictures by a very old Rolleicord with a dirty focusing screen and lens, and what he said about this is because he love to see thing with dirt and dust, so without a unclear vision he can able to feel more for his subject and able to get the photographs he want. But that doesn't mean he don't care about the print quality from his work, because from his book and interview he said that he would usually spend a week or even more for only one image.

He used not only dead things in his pictures and also the "special" people too, some people who have disease, disable, and even hermaphrodite or someone who have their "special taste of being sexual abuse". The only reason why Joel-Peter Witkin works with them is because he don't think they have problems at all, and from his eyes he can also see the beauty within them, and respect them and want to make they think they are normal too. One disable man, who have been work with him as the subject, and what he think about Joel-Peter Witkin is he is the only one who sees him as normal, and also the first  man who make he look beautiful in a photo. 

He think making a beautiful picture is like using a automatic camera, and this can't meet his standard of photography. He want to see the Light from his work, but before that he should go through the darkness first. He don't mind to have a dirt and dust on his prints, or sometime he even do the damage by himself on his photograph, may be he see these imperfection as same as his subject, or may his life.

I think if you only see his pictures but not reading them, it is easy to get the wrong message on what he is trying to say. But since I read through his work and book. I start to respect on him, it is trust that he keep asking why people are happy because of a bay born, but hating to see an old man die, this is life. And people should respect them all.