Thursday, October 21, 2010

Inspirational Photographers: Leibovitz and Natchwey

Annie Leibovitz (Source)

James Natchwey (Source)


How could these two brilliant photographers be compared to each other? One thing that they do have in common for sure is that did not miss their calling in life....


Photo Credit: Annie Leibovitz (Source)


It is hard to have a preference in either one of these photographers. Leibovitz's work is like a piece of jewelry - everything is just flawless. In fact, many of the people in her work are world known celebrities and some can even seem a bit too idealized. If Leibovitz's pictures are portraying the world as we would wish to see it, Natchwey, on the other hand, is depicting the part of the world that perhaps most of us would like to keep our eyes away from in our everyday lives....
Photo Credit: James Natchwey (Source)

The approuch the two photographer takes, however, are quite similiar. They both blend with the environment that they are in. Arnold Schwarzenegger, when he was getting his shots taken by Leibovitz, eventually forgot that there was someone with a camera in the room and started taking off his clothes. As a student of Visual Anthropology, I was amazed by how she manages to get so intimate with the peoeple she has just met. This also goes for Natchwey, in that he becomes apart of the caotic scences that he constatnly finds himself in. Often times I would go through my pictures and feel that they are not what I was initially seeing to through the lends - that somehow they seemed so unnatural. It dawned on me that in order to reveal the nature of things through photographs, I had to spend time and get to know them first. If only I had the ability to tear down the walls between my camera and the object, as Leibovitz and Natchwey do....

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

アイエンキエン meets ANTAL

Young Ambition from Butapest, Hungary.

This blog post is a snap-shot of ANTAL, who is currently doing his study abroad in Japan. He majors in Art and is hoping to open a gallery someday. With a cigarette in one hand and a "Genki" textbook in another, ANTAL shared about himself in the garden of where he is residing now. The pictures were taken in his cosy Japanese-style room.


Q1. Please tell me a little about yourself.

“I like travelling, collecting art, scuba diving…my new hobby is to learn Japanese (giggle). I also like magic. I appreciate honesty in people.”

Q2. How long have you been in Japan?

“Six months.”

Q3. What brought you here?

“Hmm….there are many reasons why I came to Japan, and if I mention only one of them, it would sound ridiculous. But, one of the main reasons was that the scholarship offered by my home university to come to Japan was very good, and only one person could get it. It required at least one year of study aboard experience; I had done a study abroad in America for almost a year and a half when I was in high school, went to France with a scholarship named Erasmu [Mundus], and did my internship in London for a summer for three months. In order to get this scholarship, you had to be ambitious and interested in East Asia, and be willing to overcome cultural differences there. I applied for it because I wanted to challenge myself. Also, I am hoping that my future would have something to do with one of the Asian countries.”


Q4. What, if you had any, was your first culture shock incident?

"It was during one of my first Japanese classes. The [class] speed was unbelievable, and to learn a new language (Antal had only studied Japanese for two month prior to this study abroad program), it was too fast, and I couldn’t catch up."

Q5. What part of you think makes you a representative of your country/culture?

"[Here in Japan] I try to represent the ‘Central’ European countries…I am open-minded, friendly…those kinds of things. But [whatever I represent] I never forget that I am in Japan.”

Q6. Do you have any questions about Japanese culture?

"I have one: why do you keep bottles full of water around the telephone poles on the streets? Also, this is not a question, but sometimes I am confused, when [Japanese] people are talking about another person, whether they are talking about a real human or a Pokemon character…."