This description of street photography is a perfect example of Jon Rafman's work. Rafman's photography piece 'The Nine Eye of Google street view' are images that he has found unusual, bizarre, weird occurrences that you wouldn't normally see, via Google street view.
Jon Rafman’s work consists of collecting moments the camera ‘coincidentally’ or ‘accidentally’ captures out of ordinary. A child falling of its bicycle in Taiwan or a car crash with a fatality lying on the road in Mexico. Rafman doesn't just capture images that are alarming, he also captures the beauty on the earth such as a butterfly that flies in the perfect centre of the image and an elk running in front of (or being chased by) Google’s car in Norway. http://visualcultureblog.com/2012/09/the-nine-eyes-of-google-street-view/
http://visualcultureblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/20120703011857_No.752Xia2011-e1348493372916.jpeg
http://visualcultureblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/20120703125145_Eje3SurAv.BajaCaliforniaAltataD.f.Mexico2009-e1348494110891.jpeg
http://visualcultureblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/20120703114633_139RuaIndCampinasSPauloBrazil2012-e1348493301260.jpeg
http://visualcultureblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/20120703115000_253RuaLisboaItapecericadaSerraPauloBrasil2010.jpeg
http://visualcultureblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/20120528035639_jon_rafman_Rv888_Finnmark_Norway_2010-e1348493582321.jpeg
http://www.stylecrave.de/bilder/personen/jon-rafman-9-eyes-google-street-view-2.JPG
http://www.livingdesign.info/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Nine-Eyes-Jon-Rafman-02.jpg
One of the reasons why I am so fascinated in Rafman's images is dues to the candidness of the images, some of them are so surreal yet seem to happen daily. The first and last image I have shown above are two images that feel so normal that it make you laugh just a little; the moments where you are grateful no one saw, yet they were caught on Google maps. A typically ironic moment.
I think Rafman has made this piece in a none judgmental way, by picking out many images that are vastly different from one another. Some are shocking, yet some are comically humorous, and this makes me want to look at his images all day. The 6th image shown above just shows the surrealism and comic humour I am talking about; the fact that you wouldn't think of coming across this in daily life yet it did happen. You start to question the moments before this snapshot happened, and the moments afterwards when the car drove passed.
The images he has chosen seem to capture what you wouldn't necessarily think would be captured by Google street view and you begin to think the hours that Rafman put into to find these shots (12 hours a day). http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/366992/20120726/nine-eyes-google-street-view-jon-rafman.htm
Rafman's found images are very similar to the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Garry Winogrand.
Gary Winogrand work was influenced my Robert Frank and Walker Evans, who also influenced the work of Doug Rickard. Although Rickard and Rafmans work are different in many ways, they seem to of gotten ideas from the same photography background. Winogrand was a street photographer known for his portrayal of America in the mid-20th century. An image that strikes me when connected him to Rafman's work is the image shown below.
http://www.masters-of-photography.com/images/screen/winogrand/winogrand_flip.jpg
The image above also links with one of Henri Cartier-Bresson's images shown below:
http://erickimphotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/henri-cartier-bresson-gare.jpg
Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer considered to be the father of modern photojournalism, and the master of candid photography.
Both Bresson's and Winogrand's images capture something in just the right moment, which is very similar to what Rafman tries to show in his images.
No comments:
Post a Comment