Taking it to the streets... The Dorthea Lange's of today.
San Francisco’s People. Canon 5DmkII 24p from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.
I have been watching film after film shot with the 5Dmkll and am amazed at what it allows film makers to do on a very guerrilla level. For a girl who used to make her films in college with a hi8 camera, convinced that her creativity alone could compensate for the quality (how is that a life lesson I am still learning) I used to say: it was about the filmmaker not the tools (out of touch with the fact that I wanted to play with the big toys too)…I find myself in an interesting quandary as of late.
When does it become about your tools?
I think that attitude served me greatly and will continue to do so as I grow as a filmmaker, my Sony VX 2100 and mac powerbook has not only made me money, gave me opportunities and helped me grow in my craft. But it allowed me to have at my disposal at any time- tools to create.
So why does this camera have me captivated? For the very same reason. I think this camera is leveling the playing field. Allowing talent the access to tools for creating films on the same level as big budget productions. Giving the little guys a chance to express what they have been seeing all along but could only come close to creating, and giving the seasoned professionals a new way to look at their work.
What excites me most is what it is doing for documentary work. Pieces like this one above by Philip Bloom- are getting notice on a wider level. It reminds me a lot of my favorite period of growth in documentary photography and in film.
This is my favorite photo of all time:
This is Migrant Mother, by Dorthea Lange.
Dorthea was part of a group of photographers dedicated to documenting the life of farmers during the depression; Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information. Their work is not only beautiful, but helped bring about changes in government policy, farming and midwestern life in the late 1930’s.
Recently, I have begun to feel that society is in a similar position. Instead of agricultural reform- we have economic reform. The new tools at the disposal of Dorthea’s time were still film cameras. Ours today are HD video cameras and instant distribution: Youtube, Vimeo and social networking.
Sure, Youtube and Vimeo has made EVERYONE and their brother a filmmaker, reporter and budding actor nowadays. It gets harder and harder to sift through home movies and student films to find a gem. (I read a post today that said, viral video is dead…a topic for another time.) I can not imagine if that had been around when I was a kid- to think of the movies and news casts I made with my cousins broadcast out for anyone to see.
I digress.
The Dorthea Lange’s are out there, hiding on your social networks, making films and videos. Posting, blogging and using these new tools to do what Dorthea did in the 1930s.
They are subtle. Not in your face angry rants, conspiracy theorists or bible thumpers trying to get your attention. They are artists and filmmakers interested in documenting what is, not afraid but curious. The type of people who see things slightly different. Who would stop everything and take a photograph. Who posts their work because they love it and want to share it.
When taking Migrant Mother, Dorthea said, “I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions.There was a sort of equality about it.”
Today this photograph is famous. When she took it, she did so out of curiosity. It wasn’t staged, it wasn’t on a set. Dorthea was hiking through a field taking photos of the crops and happened upon this woman and her hungry children. Makes you think about what your photographs of films like the one above could say 80 years from now.
That is what gets me so excited about the possibility and why I want to own this new camera myself. To take part in a movement I think will be studied by our future generations years later. History is opened up to be documented in a way that it has not before, it is open to anyone. Making a film is not an exclusive act.
So in the immortal words of Wayne: ” It will be mine…oh yes, it will be mine.” I just have to figure out how.
"Try going out with one or two friends, try using a camcorder to capture the beauty and transience of the actual. It will be a fascinating journey in its own right, a solid foundation for reflecting life’s truths via fiction. Real people and real actors- both in front of and behind the camera-have an infinity of depth and learning step by step to respond to them, from the mind and from the depths of the heart, is the direction of true expressive power. It does not come from studying film,but from becoming fully oneself and making films which serve what vision already exsists."
"Postproduction turned out to be an object lesson in Zen acceptance, demonstrating what I later found true for other art forms- that the creative process is a labyrinth in which only the imprisoned can grow."
Love this!
"…that’s what you call mystery meat navigation."
as heard on the train
Never a short supply of entertainment on the redline.
Tonight i learned a new word: duff.
designated ugly fat friend.
As in:
“i’ll pass on that man, this guy ain’t takin one fo da team- she a duff”
ah, the redline.
friday flashback: Starship and Mannequin
Taking it to the streets... The Dorthea Lange's of today.
San Francisco’s People. Canon 5DmkII 24p from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.
I have been watching film after film shot with the 5Dmkll and am amazed at what it allows film makers to do on a very guerrilla level. For a girl who used to make her films in college with a hi8 camera, convinced that her creativity alone could compensate for the quality (how is that a life lesson I am still learning) I used to say: it was about the filmmaker not the tools (out of touch with the fact that I wanted to play with the big toys too)…I find myself in an interesting quandary as of late.
When does it become about your tools?
I think that attitude served me greatly and will continue to do so as I grow as a filmmaker, my Sony VX 2100 and mac powerbook has not only made me money, gave me opportunities and helped me grow in my craft. But it allowed me to have at my disposal at any time- tools to create.
So why does this camera have me captivated? For the very same reason. I think this camera is leveling the playing field. Allowing talent the access to tools for creating films on the same level as big budget productions. Giving the little guys a chance to express what they have been seeing all along but could only come close to creating, and giving the seasoned professionals a new way to look at their work.
What excites me most is what it is doing for documentary work. Pieces like this one above by Philip Bloom- are getting notice on a wider level. It reminds me a lot of my favorite period of growth in documentary photography and in film.
This is my favorite photo of all time:
This is Migrant Mother, by Dorthea Lange.
Dorthea was part of a group of photographers dedicated to documenting the life of farmers during the depression; Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information. Their work is not only beautiful, but helped bring about changes in government policy, farming and midwestern life in the late 1930’s.
Recently, I have begun to feel that society is in a similar position. Instead of agricultural reform- we have economic reform. The new tools at the disposal of Dorthea’s time were still film cameras. Ours today are HD video cameras and instant distribution: Youtube, Vimeo and social networking.
Sure, Youtube and Vimeo has made EVERYONE and their brother a filmmaker, reporter and budding actor nowadays. It gets harder and harder to sift through home movies and student films to find a gem. (I read a post today that said, viral video is dead…a topic for another time.) I can not imagine if that had been around when I was a kid- to think of the movies and news casts I made with my cousins broadcast out for anyone to see.
I digress.
The Dorthea Lange’s are out there, hiding on your social networks, making films and videos. Posting, blogging and using these new tools to do what Dorthea did in the 1930s.
They are subtle. Not in your face angry rants, conspiracy theorists or bible thumpers trying to get your attention. They are artists and filmmakers interested in documenting what is, not afraid but curious. The type of people who see things slightly different. Who would stop everything and take a photograph. Who posts their work because they love it and want to share it.
When taking Migrant Mother, Dorthea said, “I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions.There was a sort of equality about it.”
Today this photograph is famous. When she took it, she did so out of curiosity. It wasn’t staged, it wasn’t on a set. Dorthea was hiking through a field taking photos of the crops and happened upon this woman and her hungry children. Makes you think about what your photographs of films like the one above could say 80 years from now.
That is what gets me so excited about the possibility and why I want to own this new camera myself. To take part in a movement I think will be studied by our future generations years later. History is opened up to be documented in a way that it has not before, it is open to anyone. Making a film is not an exclusive act.
So in the immortal words of Wayne: ” It will be mine…oh yes, it will be mine.” I just have to figure out how.
Love this!
as heard on the train
Never a short supply of entertainment on the redline.
Tonight i learned a new word: duff.
designated ugly fat friend.
As in:
“i’ll pass on that man, this guy ain’t takin one fo da team- she a duff”
ah, the redline.
friday flashback: Starship and Mannequin
