Genesis

Two weeks ago, Justin and I went to the International Center of Photography to view Sebastiao Salgado’s “Genesis”. Now, I’m not usually overtly fond of viewing exhibitions of artwork. However, I was interested in this one because of the overarching theme of the exhibition, that of Nature’s untamed power. When I got to the exhibit, I was not disappointed. Salgado, on his 8 year world tour, had captured some truly powerful and remarkable images. At some photographs, I found it hard to believe that they were photos and not paintings. The images seemed unreal and invoked a sense of wonder and awe. Salgado had done an amazing job in capturing the untarnished beauty of nature and in compiling these photographs together to create a global collage. The pictures of the Bryce Canyon and Brooks range, especially, caught my eye.

Brooks Range

Brooks Range

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

 

American Journey

Pictures are worth a thousand words.

Taking pictures is an art, and like Robert said, you need passion AND purpose.

The documentary presented us a guy who went around and took pictures of what he saw. What I probably liked most about his photos were its complete randomness. Robert took pictures that ranged from the flag with the boy in it, to outside his hotel at Butte. And to compile it into a book and called “The Americans”, Robert Frank had to have a lot of guts, because like they said in the movie, Americans got very defensive about it. It showed the “American Dream” and the “American Nightmare”. I truly admire Seclier for taking the time to follow the footsteps and piece back everything. It is rather a tough task.

For some reason this film kind of reminded me of the book “Into The Wild” by Jon Krakauer. It follows the journey of a man who took a journey across America. Anyone else think this?

 

~Christopher Chong