kerteszian

a journey with indoor photography, in the spirit of Andrés Kertész's « The Polaroids », and not his use of shadows, rather, in the use of simple household objects to make an emotional haiku with a Polaroid.(principal tumblr: moments after a dream )

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« it takes the sum of all kindness » (via Flickr )

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one can consider that photography bridges a distance, be it through mementos as Kertész was doing in connecting to his departed wife, or by collecting items from travels and/or correspondence, as in this case.

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for all the elegance of Andrés Kertész’s The Polaroids, there is an easy extension to other elements in the home, and not by a window. those tools for which we curate, intentionally or otherwise, the patina of life through time, also become interesting in the kerteszian photographic essay. of course, the Japanese are sensitive to this impermanence, in their appreciation of « Wabi-Sabi »

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one of the challenges in this series is the use of colour. the sun will bathe it in that ubiquitious yellow we all get at sunrise and sunset... so then, what to do? here is was to put while elements, along with the window sill, and dare to make leave it in colour. more work is needed, for sure.

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the upcoming summer is announced when the sun begins to be quite present on the window sill. the apartment faces (almost) true north, and the sun never gets directly into the apartment, but for 1/2 a meter, thanks to the flanking Bay Windows (typical of San Francisco). that this brief visit of the sun, at sunrise and sunset, can be a tool for the emotive and Haiku-like of simple artefacts has had an appeal for years. 

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by Andrés Kertész: Untitled (SX1276), December 3, 1979

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in his later years, AK became a master (yet again) at the emotive photograph through Polaroids in his apartment near Washington Park and 5th Avenue. in a way, they were photographic haikus borne out of his loneliness after his beloved companion, and wife of so many decades, passed away.

in thinking about a camera at hand, we like to go outside and “shoot shoot shoot!”. yet AK, along with others like the Czech Josef Sudek’s The Window of my Studio, found compelling photographs within their studios or apartments.

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sometimes I can stare at a single Calla, in an unassuming vase, somewhere in the apartment for quite a long time. could it work with another flower? maybe. yet, the simplicity of a bare wall and the form of the Calla can be ever so alluring, and hypnotic.