2008_366090 - Brandenburg Tribute
366 Day 90: Today is a landmark in that we are one quarter (in round terms) through the 366 project for 2008.
I thought it would be appropriate today to pay tribute to what I believe to be the father of all such projects, though it lasted just 90 days, just as far as we have come. Nature photographer Jim Brandenburg took himself off to the North Woods of Minnesota for 90 days. He writes:
"I had set myself a challenge: that for ninety days between the autumnal equinoxe and winter solstice I would make only one photograph a day. There would be no second exposure, no second chance. My work would be stripped to the bones, bringing together whatever photographic and woods skills I have. My quest would be both arbitrary and rigid. Arbitrary in that no one had compelled me, or even asked me, to do it. Rigid in that, once engaged, the constraints I had chosen would force me to examine my art, and the wild and isolated place in which I live in a manner I'd never before attempted. [I knew that] success would depend not upon any single and magnificent image, but on a tapestry woven of furtive glances." (My emphasis)
The result was a book "Chased by the Light" and all 90 images published in National Geographic in November 1997.
I was incredibly moved by the piece and the book, as I was taken on a daily journey through quiet woods and wilderness lakes, observing life (and death), hearing the crack of undergrowth beneath the feet and the call of loons, and feeling the creeping chill of the onset of winter. As a journey of photographic (and personal) self-discovery I have encountered no equal.
When first invited to join 366, I wondered if I would be able to do the same - make just one exposure per day - but I realised that it would take an immersion in my surroundings of a kind that is not possible in daily life.
So 366 is where I am. 90 days in and moving on, weaving in a different way my own "tapestry of furtive glances". I hope you'll be inspired to look out the article and the book. Jim Brandenburg remains in my top ten of all-time photography influences ...
References:
Brandenburg J. (1997), Chased by the Light, NorthWord Press, Minnesota
National Geographic (1997), North Woods Journal, Vol 192 No.5, pp 94-111
2008_366090 - Brandenburg Tribute
366 Day 90: Today is a landmark in that we are one quarter (in round terms) through the 366 project for 2008.
I thought it would be appropriate today to pay tribute to what I believe to be the father of all such projects, though it lasted just 90 days, just as far as we have come. Nature photographer Jim Brandenburg took himself off to the North Woods of Minnesota for 90 days. He writes:
"I had set myself a challenge: that for ninety days between the autumnal equinoxe and winter solstice I would make only one photograph a day. There would be no second exposure, no second chance. My work would be stripped to the bones, bringing together whatever photographic and woods skills I have. My quest would be both arbitrary and rigid. Arbitrary in that no one had compelled me, or even asked me, to do it. Rigid in that, once engaged, the constraints I had chosen would force me to examine my art, and the wild and isolated place in which I live in a manner I'd never before attempted. [I knew that] success would depend not upon any single and magnificent image, but on a tapestry woven of furtive glances." (My emphasis)
The result was a book "Chased by the Light" and all 90 images published in National Geographic in November 1997.
I was incredibly moved by the piece and the book, as I was taken on a daily journey through quiet woods and wilderness lakes, observing life (and death), hearing the crack of undergrowth beneath the feet and the call of loons, and feeling the creeping chill of the onset of winter. As a journey of photographic (and personal) self-discovery I have encountered no equal.
When first invited to join 366, I wondered if I would be able to do the same - make just one exposure per day - but I realised that it would take an immersion in my surroundings of a kind that is not possible in daily life.
So 366 is where I am. 90 days in and moving on, weaving in a different way my own "tapestry of furtive glances". I hope you'll be inspired to look out the article and the book. Jim Brandenburg remains in my top ten of all-time photography influences ...
References:
Brandenburg J. (1997), Chased by the Light, NorthWord Press, Minnesota
National Geographic (1997), North Woods Journal, Vol 192 No.5, pp 94-111