Sebastiao Salgado

Sebastiao Salgado is one of my favourite photographers. I don't know his age but I know he's still alive and still shooting magnificent photographs to this day. He is a Brazilian photographer and some would say he is a photojournalist although I don't know if he's actually done any definate journalistic work in his career. He is however a documentary photographer in the sense that he documents specific visual themes and this makes his work very interesting.
His photography is not your bog standard photography that you could see on facebook. It is not even the type you'd see in a local newspaper or magazine tabloid. Salgado's work is much more than that because it contains controversial content.
I sit here with a Thames & Hudson Photofile book about Sebastiao Salgado and I sift through the content looking at the photography and its greatness. All the photos in the book are black and white. I am unsure what medium he is using now whether digital or film, but I know he used film for taking the photos I am familiar with. The introduction of the book does Salgado justice as it is written by Christian Caujolle.
Some of the photos are taken in Brazil, others in Mexico, Indonesia, India, USA , Great Britain, Bangladesh, Cuba, Rwanda, Ukraine, France, Azerbaijan, Kuwait, Cambodia, Thailand, Mali, Ethiopia, Sudan, Ecuador and Bolivia. That's a lot of different places in one collection of photographs by a single photographer. Global awareness is shared throughout the book.
It shows humans in all kinds of conditions, and only by an innocent press of the shutter Salgado has captured these conditions in order to share and exploit the state of the world. Some of his subjects are seemingly oblivious to his presence as though he turned up with a camera to do the will of God.
Some of his images have slight religious implications like the photograph of Serra Pelada goldmine, Brazil, 1986. There are men labouring, working in the picture and one of them is leaning against a post reminiscent of the cross that jesus died on. It is as though there is a Christian connotation fed throughout the situation that he photographed. A certain aura.
Other images with this quality may include the ones involving death, there is one at a burial ground or cemetary, another with a statue of the Christ where a woman lies in grief. There are also truthful photographs that show things we may never have experienced before. Men on makeshift operating tables and the smile of a child working at a Tea Plantation in Rwanda which signifies the depression of other countries.
The reason I like Sebastiao Salgado' photography is because of the content being so truthful and also of high aesthetic stature. The composition and lighting in his photographs is near immaculate and would only take a serious critic to find something wrong. I also find that Salgado makes his photographs from a humble position, he shares the fact that he is also human towards his subjects and communicates the problems of humanity through his photographs.
If anyone adds more value to photography as a medium, Salgado does exactly that. His images are powerful and truthful. He is passionate about his subjects and this improves the state of photography to be sure that it will always be a useful tool in sharing ideas, values and information.
For more information about Sebastiao Salgado either do a Google search or read about him on Wikipedia. He is also listed on the MastersofPhotography website.

Update of Online Activity.

Facebook, I'm addicted. I've been on facebook ever since my sister asked me to join while I lived in Malaysia, it was like a form of communication just like postcards and letter writing. Now I play on games, take quizes, upload photographs and I've even begun to make a few attempts of starting out business wise through this social site. I have a business page titled Hung Photography with the copyright logo and so far have a few hundred fans. One of the bonuses of having this page is it makes me lok more professional and I've even set an application called "Networked Blogs" to post blog updates from various photography blogs whenever they're updated. It runs automatically.
Besides facebook, I'm still lurking on deviantart adding favourites regularly and posting a photo every month in the hopess that people will add one to a collection or favourite it maybe even comment on it. I really don't make enough effort with deviantart as compared to users I see posting regular deviations. It's a shame really because its a really good site. However I'm still a member and plan on staying that way.
I've started using Picasa 3 more often in the last couple of days because it uploads photos to facebook quicker than the facebook uploader. The only problem I'm having with it is the fact that when I upload the photos from Picasa 3 to facebook, they only go into my profile albums and not my Hung photography albums. I guess this is still a good thing.
I have three email addresses that work and I check these everyday. They're a little unorganised but I know what I'm expecting to get from each. My email addresses are bittahgenious@hotmail.com p_k_hung@yahoo.co.uk and peterhung81@gmail.com
I'm working on new ideas for this blog and hope to add more information about some of my areas of interests concerning photography, its history, greats and some of my own personal touches. For now I'm just treating this blog like a diary. I am in the hopes of getting more followers and also in the jopes of getting more people reading.... soon.
I want to make more use of my flickr account but find that I have to sift through lots of JPEG files to find what I want to post on there. This is something I need to commit to once a month.
All in all I think my online activity is improving as a photographer because I'm paying regular attention to stuff I need to be reading and the websites I need to be contributing to.
I just wish Lightroom wouldn't make so many copies of photos because its eating the space on my laptop.

Time to Myself..

Being in the position where my photography has been compromised by broken equipment I've had more time to myself. I'm currently cleaning my laptop and moving files to external hard drive in order to achieve more space after finding issues due to space requirements.
This means I am looking through old files, looking through old photos and it gives me a chance to blast them through Lightroom and give them a makeover making them look more appealing. This photograph is actually quite recent but I wanted to post an example of the things you can do in Lightroom in the space of five minutes.

Need to be a Diligent Blogger..

I need to start using my blog more often and post the photos I'm working on. As of late I've been working on more fundamental things due to my break from college. As I will no longer be attending college and be working on personal projects I'm sure that I have enough time to write a blog at least once a week. That is my aim for now.
I want to incorporate my life into my photography as a photographer even though it sounds subjective in the sense that a photograph is recorded in the moment the photographer presses the button. My aim is not to exploit anything but to merely record, or document whatever it is that I'm taking a photograph of.
More recent developments with my photography have been to go back to the roots of taking photos and look at things with a fresh eye. I've simply been 'snapping' away without any attachment to the outcome and simply taking photos of what catches my eye.
I began reading 'On being a photographer' by David Hurn from Magnum and Bill Jay. It is a dialogue of conversation between the two of them and concerns matters that every photographer should consider. I found the language academic in nature but easy to understand and I want to read the rest of it.
I'm also reading a book by John Ingledew called 'Photography' which is also very interesting. It covers a lot of basic stuff that photographers should consider also.
I might have my first model shoot by the next weekend so I have my fingers crossed and will do some research into what works well for that type of shoot. I hope it happens and that I have a good shoot with good outcomes. One can only pray.
In my personal life I've currently hit a low and found myself in debt amongst problems with my health and needing a new lens. I'm managing and now find it useful to pray and learn about faith in Christ. Although I have a general interest in many aspects of religion, I was born and raised a Catholic and nowadays only visit church once in a while. However, I watch the Crflo Dollar Ministries podcasts and read the bible to keep learning more.
Another thing I've been meaning to do is go through my old photos selecting ones that I find particularly interesting and begin rethinking my portfolio.
Tomorrow I will try to post another blog and include a photo or two.

Current Update

Well, I'm no longer participating in the BA Photographic Media Top Up as I decided I wasn't diligent enough to continue. After a few meaningful discussions with my tutor I finally 'saw the light' and cut my losses fast. Although I don't have a degree I can still confidently say that I have a HND and that I have a bit of experience as a photographer. In fact I would still like to be a photographer and have been trying to get jobs in photography.
Lately I've been trying my best to get my life sorted out. I started by improving my spiritual life, reading the bible, watching podcasts from Creflo Dollar (which I highly recommend) and continuing in prayer. I thought that the basic foundations in life were what I need to concentrate on. After reading "The Mystery Method" I learnt that I need to improve three vital areas in life; Health, Wealth, Love.
It is important that you take care and improve each of these vital areas to improve not only your Survival and Replicatory value, but to feel better about yourself on a whole.
As some of you might of noticed from my blog posts, I started doing the Style Life missions. I wanted to improve my success with women. What I've come to realise is that I need to concentrate on myself first. One of the biggest tips I can give to improve your success with the opposite sex is to learn how to take care for yourself first.
I gave up trying to make money online because 'lets face it' the work you have to put in is tremendous compared to how easy you originaly believe it to be. Currently I'm in debt and unemployed. This means I need a job and that its going to be a while before I buy any new photographic gear.
I went out last Thursday and took my camera with me, after a few drinks a few friends were asking me to take a shot and unfortunately my camera came back with a broken lens. Even though that was the case I still shot a dance music event on Saturday through to Sunday.
So I need a new lens and it will cost me 300 GBP for a replacement.
I'm guessing that my blog will take on a really personal journal type form for a while but I don't see that as a downfall. It will be a good record of steps that I've took to improve my life.

Mistakes

I recently got an unpaid job shooting a dance music event and turned up on time and shot a few good photos. Pay attention to what I just wrote... 'a few good photos'.
To be honest the genre of the photography is still quite new to me and isn't one that I particularly enjoy. In the long run I could end up with potential clients from meeting new people and getting my reputation around but this could have its downfalls as well.
What I'm referring to though is the 'few good photos' problem. You see, that is what is wrong. There are only a few. I shot over three hundred photos and only two hundred are usable. The majority of the ones that went wrong are blurred out of focus, and some are due to smoke machines. Okay so I can't get away from the latter, its an obstacle many photographers cannot overcome. Perhaps there was no point in taking photos when the smoke machines were filling the room with a haze that destroys the opportunities of potentially good moments of capture. The main problem I was not even dealing with was that of a non proper focus. That was a mistake. I know that some photographers believe that sharpness is overrated but in this case sharpness is essential.
With all this in mind I think its important to address the fact that even though a job may be unpaid and seem like to much hard work for nothing, you should still make an effort to getting your photos right in the first place. Something I'll have to bear in mind.

Rules of the Game by Neil Strauss. Day 1.

Mission 1. Evaluate Yourself.

1. Write 1 or 2 sentences describing how you believe other people currently perceive you.

I believe other people see me as scruffy, lazy, drink too much, always skint,
loves to take photographs, is actually studying photography, not doing very well on
the degree course and not of high value.

2. Write 1 or 2 sentences describing how you'd like to be perceived by others.

Neat, clean and well presented. Hard working, sensible and constructive.
Well off, good at photography. Doing well in degree course. Of high value and respectable.

3. List 3 of your behaviours or characteristics you would like to change.

a. Laziness.
b. Responsibility.
c. Expectations.

4. List 3 new behaviours or characteristics you would like to adopt.

a. Enthusiasm and motivation, not being so lazy.
b. Self control and determination.
c. Concentration and self value, self esteem, self confidence.

Mission 2. Read and Destroy. (I made a few notes to self)

Limiting beliefs are what's holding me back.
I need to ask myself reframing questions in order to make real accounts as
to whether the belief is limiting me or not.
Most of the beliefs we gain about women are not true.
Look up the word 'psycholagnic' in context to female orgasm.

Mission 3. Operation Small Talk.

Speak to 5 strangers, small talk. Talk about wheather, sports or entertainment or whatever.

Results:

1. Talked to some guy about his piercings.
2. Talked to another guy while he was smoking, took his photograph.
3. Talked to another guy friend of number 2 and took his photograph.
4. Talked to a woman with a beard.
5. Talked to another woman, with summer dress on.