gnarly

Diana-F plus Kodak TX400

When you remove the risk, you remove the challenge. When you remove the challenge, you wither on the vine.
Alex Lowe

ghostriders

When you're part of a machine you can kinda disappear



The Wave Rider, Diana-F on B, 2-3 seconds braced against a pole.
Probably unconsciously inspired by Titarenko's City of Shadows

boxing

Diana-F, Kodak TMY400

TIME CUT:

The sign reads "Round Four." JAKE is in the center of the ring taking a relentless pasting from FOX. JAKE's arms hang at waist level... FOX lands one blow after another. The stink of a fix permeates the arena.

JAKE is furious that FOX can't deck him. He curses through his mouthpiece (as he absorbs blow after blow):

JAKE
Hit me! Hit me! What's the matter with you, you motherfucker? Hit me!

Boos and catcalls echo through the Garden. This is not even a fight. The REFEREE, realizing this, steps in between FOX and LAMOTTA, waves his arms and signals that FOX is the winner by a technical knockout.

As he does, JAKE spits his mouthpiece in disgust at FOX and struts back to his corner.

JAKE, JOEY, and TONY are already on their way out of the arena as the REFEREE declares FOX the winner.

COMO and the OTHERS, satisfied, get up to leave.

INT. JAKE'S DRESSING ROOM - MADISON SQUARE GARDEN - NIGHT

As a REPORTER and a PHOTOGRAPHER come through the door, WE SEE and hear a commotion in the hall behind them. They rush in, look, and stop by the door. There is silence -- except for JAKE'S uncontrollable sobbing. The atmosphere is like that of funeral.

JAKE is seated behind the rubbing table. He is still in his leopard-skin robe. His head hangs low as he sobs.

The PHOTOGRAPHER snaps a picture. The HANDLER motions to him to stop, and then goes and sits near the door. The REPORTER still stands near the doorway, seeming quite stunned by the scene he is witnessing, but nevertheless continuing to scribble away on his pad.

-Raging Bull, 1980

they said...

I think when a picture is really working, one forgets about the distinctions between the real and not real, and the whole experience becomes more interesting because you are taken somewhere else, to another place, but (fabulously) a place which is still always inside you.
Bill Henson 2003

It's OK to dress up.

Seppelt Mausoleum, Barossa Valley SA. Diana-F, Kodak TMY400

Having warned (myself) of the dangers of relying too heavily on window dressing to sell a photograph in a recent post
, in response to a couple of emails I do need to present the balancing argument.

Being, that as long as the substance of a good image is present, it is OK to dress things up. A photograph that exhibits a barrel load of smooth looking techniques and 'finish' is not necessarily compensating for a lack of quality. Just sometimes.

After all, no matter how good some things may be, the unadorned can be unpalatable and appreciated only by the hardcore.

Asceticism was never the most popular religious sect. Dogma Cinema has pretty much died a death.

Healthy food can usually use a little garnish or cream sauce. A gorgeous woman still dresses to impress.

And architects learned about dressing up dull square boxes years ago.