The Southeast Museum of Photography, in partnership with Atlantic Center for the Arts, presents “Taking Note,” an exhibition of photographic works paired with written reflections by photojournalist Colin Finlay. The exhibit is on display now through Feb. 3 in the Master Artist Gallery at Atlantic Center for the Arts, 1414 Art Center Ave., New Smyrna Beach.

The photographs capture remarkable moments: an intimate view of Linda Perry composing music at home; Rick Rubin framed within the front seat of The Band’s old VW tour bus; Mike Campbell hanging around The Clubhouse, the exclusive space in which Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers recorded and rehearsed; Beck writing notes in the margins of his lyrics; and Bonnie Raitt’s profile softly illuminated against the dark, wood-paneled studio at Grandmaster Recorders.

Also featured is Mr. Finlay’s commercial portraiture and campaign work, in which he places subjects against the backdrop of Los Angeles’ city streets, historic buildings and coastlines.

In addition to the photographs, a selection of vinyl records related to the exhibition are mounted on the walls. The gallery also features a Spotify playlist, allowing visitors to explore the richness and diversity of each artist through a curated selection of their songs.

ACA is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. For more information, call (386) 427-6975 or visit atlanticcenterforthearts.org.

Hevin Ramsey felt a pressure to succeed as a Black student who was the lone member of the University of Louisville’s photography program.

She relied on UofL’s resources, faculty and staff to get her through her toughest challenge—a comprehensive review of all she had learned—leading the way to a bachelor of fine arts from the Hite Institute of Art and Design in the College of Arts & Sciences.

“UofL helped me pass my review and graduate this fall because of the fantastic people … who played a significant role in who I am as an artist and as a future alumnus of UofL,” Ramsey said.

Ramsey, a Woodford R. Porter Scholar, worked at the independent student newspaper, The Louisville Cardinal, and as a student assistant at Ekstrom Library. Read more about her Fall BFA Thesis Exhibition here.

Asked about her favorite class, she said her experience in a directed study working on a PhotoVoice project with Professor Mary Carothers of the Hite Institute made a profound impact on her.

The project focused on a Metro United Way/Russell Place of Promise guaranteed income program called YALift! Ramsey and other artists reflected on the meaning of guaranteed income in their work. Called “Take this!” the project included narratives to go with their imagery.

“Paring narratives with imagery greatly influenced my BFA track,” Ramsey said, “which solidified my love for UofL. If I had not gone here, I would have never met Mary Carothers or participated in the PhotoVoice project. It was an experience I will never forget.”

The experience also served as inspiration for her future higher education goals: Ramsey hopes to someday return to UofL for a Master of Fine Arts degree or an individualized major in visual sociology.

Ramsey, of Louisville, said her family has close ties to the university and she feels it has evolved along with the city. Being accepted at UofL was a “dream come true,” she said.

“I loved visiting different places that integrate the community and the university, such as the MFA building in Portland and the Cressman Center,” she said.

After graduation, Ramsey plans to open a small business focused on film photography and crochet projects.

Visitors look at displayed photographs at an exhibition titled ‘Rage and Hope’ at the DrikPath Bhobon in Dhaka on Thursday. — Md Saurav

A photography exhibition highlighting the human rights situation in the country was inaugurated at the DrikPath Bhobon in Dhaka on Thursday.

The exhibition titled ‘Rage and Hope’ has been jointly organised by Drik Picture Library and the UN Resident Coordinator Office in Dhaka marking the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, observed globally on December 10.

The exhibition is featuring 29 photographs, one audio installation and one video installation addressing border killings, tea-estate workers’ protests, enforced disappearances, extra-judicial killings, structural discrimination, green protests, working conditions of labourers and more.

In his welcome speech, photographer and activist Shahidul Alam said that the photographs, which were taken under challenging circumstances,  portray both human rights violations and signs of hope.

Senior human rights adviser to the UNRC Huma Khan said that equality for all was still not a reality.

‘We are committed to protecting the rights of Bangladesh’s people,’ she said.

She also said that the exhibition celebrated diverse opinions and views of people coming from different backgrounds.

Photographer Taslima Akhter said that people were not able to speak freely due to the fear of being murdered and enforced disappearances.

‘At present, the common people and workers of the country are faced with a suffocating situation. We want things to change,’ added Taslima.

Coordinator of Mayer Daak, a platform for the families of the victims of enforced disappearances, Afroja Islam Akhi said that the current state of affairs in the country was well-known to everyone.

She said, ‘Families and loved ones of missing persons are passing their days in extreme difficulty. But, we can see hope because many people, who used to spend their lives indoors, are protesting and speaking out on the streets.’

The exhibition will remain open for everyone till December 18.

Photo-thieving criminal gangs and huge corporations profit from stealing our photographs. Let’s stand together and fight back.

It’s Against the Law

Many years ago, someone I knew had downloaded a picture of mine, printed it, and put it in a frame in their house. That was the extent of the thefts that happened back then, and they were done through ignorance of the law. It was a minor issue for me, and a gentle explanation of why it wasn’t acceptable followed. But now, it is criminal gangs, disreputable businesses, and adversarial foreign government agencies behind the wholesale theft of our photos.

Having our photos stolen and used without permission can be a felony. Thanks to the pressure from the big movie companies that rightly wanted to protect their intellectual property, the penalties for copyright theft are huge. Despite that, copyright theft is commonplace, and nobody is doing much about it.

Consequently, artists are finding it increasingly difficult to protect their work, especially so with globalization. Some countries’ disreputable regimes seem content to allow our work to be used by criminals operating in their own countries because it diverts revenue from us to their coffers. But it’s also corporate greed that enables that theft to happen.

The Wholesale Theft of Images on Facebook

On Facebook, there are numerous pages with legitimate-sounding names that have thousands of followers. They routinely post stolen photos.

Recently, I saw a fabulous photo on my feed depicting a raven that appeared to be holding the sun in its beak. It appeared on an aggregate Facebook page called The Mind Circle that posted other people’s images on a nearly daily basis. I tracked down and spoke to the original photographer In British Columbia, Shelley Lewis. She told me how frustrated she was by the ongoing battle of stopping others from stealing her work in this way.

I contacted Tran Tuan Viet, an incredible award-winning photographer based in Hanoi, Vietnam, whose work gets used by National Geographic and other major publishers after I saw his work on The Mind Circle Facebook page. Again, his photos had been used without permission:

Yes, so many photos of mine are used without my permission, included the article that you quoted.

Similarly, Nicola Di Tinto from Italy had his work stolen by The Mind Circle too.

I spent a day going through the photos appearing on the Mind Circle website and Facebook page and emailed several of the people whose photos appeared to have been stolen. They all confirmed that their photos were used without permission. In fact, I didn’t find any single image on the site that had been used with the permission of its creator. So, I tried to track down the perpetrators.

Of course, those involved in criminal activity are unlikely to make their names known, and since new data protection laws have come into place, it’s harder to find out who they are. I traced The Mind Circle’s Facebook page back to their website’s server. The website was anonymously owned.

It’s incredible to know that The Mind Circle has been operating on Facebook since 2014 posting plagiarized images, and yet Meta has done nothing about it. Why? The reason may well be because Facebook earns money from these popular posts. There are thousands of these aggregate sites and each has thousands of followers, which means Meta will be earning advertising revenue from advertising clicks. Similarly, the illegal website hosts cookies for Facebook, Google, and others.

Why do these Facebook pages exist? It seems they are there to drive traffic to their website, where they will get revenue from advertising. However, there is a more sinister side to it. By commenting on the posts and following the links to the site, you are sharing your data with them that could be used for nefarious means.

At best, sites like The Mind Circle are just spongers, freeloaders getting rich from other people’s work. But, just like the VHS and DVD pirates of recent history, some of these types of sites will be run by criminal gangs involved in people trafficking, drug smuggling, child pornography, and slavery. Furthermore, they could be collecting your data on behalf of a hostile foreign government. Your data is a valuable asset that is worth harvesting.

I tried to tackle The Mind Circle by reporting it to Facebook and commenting on the stolen photos. What happened? With no explanation, Facebook blocked me from posting for a day, and the reach of my posts on the Meta sites plummeted. A coincidence? I don’t think so. It seems to me that Meta wants to bully people into not upsetting the bandwagon.

How to Spot Legitimate Sites

How can you tell whether such aggregate Facebook pagers are legitimate or not?

Let’s use the Fstoppers Facebook page as an example of a legitimate site. On Facebook, it posts links directly to its articles on the Fstoppers website. If that article features the work of a photographer, it doesn’t just name that photographer but, wherever possible, links to their webpage as well. Permission is always sought. In that way, the photographer can receive a notification of that backlink to their site.

Conversely, illegitimate sites won’t ever link to the photographer’s website. They might only mention them by name in an attempt to make their post seem legitimate. They sometimes link to a social media account; in which case the photographer isn’t notified and so probably won’t find out about the theft.

Furthermore, a legitimate organization will have in-depth communication details on its Facebook page and website. It will be easy to see who owns the site and where they are based. So, check its About page (if there is one). If it lacks ownership or contact information other than a contact form, it probably cannot be trusted.

Next, go to whois.com and enter the URL there. This site is incredibly useful because it will usually show the server on which the site is hosted and the “abuse” address to which you can send copyright infringement and takedown notices.

How to Fight Back Against the Thieves

Sadly, it’s very hard for anyone other than the victim of the crime to report it. So, if you see what you think is a stolen image on a Facebook page, you could Google search for the photographer and let them know and let them know how to report it.

If your photo has been stolen, then there are things you can do. But first, gathering evidence means visiting the thieves’ sites.

Before doing so, I ensure my computer has adequate protection against malicious websites; good quality anti-virus protection programs have facilities to protect you. I also use ad-blocking programs, Adblock Plus and Ghostery, although these can stop functionality and affect the revenue of genuine sites, so I whitelist those. I could just delete the cookies on my browser, but many of them are useful, keeping me logged into legitimate sites. So, I installed Spybot Search and Destroy, which does a first-class job of removing tracking cookies but leaves the useful ones if I choose to do so.

Taking Down the Stolen Photos

After I take the precautions shown above, I check the websites. It is important to gather as much evidence as possible, including screenshots and URLs.

Disreputable sites like The Mind Circle don’t have an About Us page that gives the name and details of the owners, reputable sites do. I then report the issue everywhere I can. In the USA you can report copyright theft to the US Department of Justice.  Sadly, I can’t report to them from the UK, which is a nuisance because most of the photos being stolen by these criminals belong to people outside the USA. Here in the UK, it is the Trading Standards Authority that deals with it. Local municipalities will often have their own reporting systems too.

It’s relatively easy to find the server that hosts the site through Whois.com. You can send takedown notices to the host via their Abuse page.

However, if you notice your work has been stolen, you won’t be alone. Do a bit of research and find other people’s work that has been used by the site too. Contact them and send coordinated complaints to the website host. The host may then take the entire site down. They are unlikely to with one complaint.

I recommend reporting them to the police too. The more people do this, the more it will show up on crime statistics and the more likely it will be to be addressed in the long-term.

Even if the crooks don’t backlink to you, you can set up Google Alerts to monitor when you are mentioned on the internet.

Can You Sue the Copyright Infringers?

Yes! Some no-win, no-fee lawyers will take on these cases.

I have written in my terms and conditions that anyone who uses my images is agreeing to pay me £250,000 per image, unless otherwise previously agreed. If I can find out who it is that has infringed my copyright, then I send an invoice, and the stolen content soon disappears off the internet.

Is It Fair Use?

No doubt, somebody will cry that this is fair use of the images for them to share your images in this way. However, while using small bits of an original work is probably considered fair use, borrowing large portions isn’t. If the infringement uses the work’s heart, for example, your best images, even a small amount may weigh against a claim of fair use. Furthermore, if the criminals using the work harms the copyright owner’s ability to profit from it, it is unlikely to be considered fair use.

Moreover, using your photographs directly isn’t transformative; it is unlikely to add new meaning to the original image. Therefore, it is only considered a copy of the original. Plus, if the image is used commercially, it is unlikely to be judged fair. Scraping users’ data is commercial use.

It’s Not Just on Facebook

There are regular news stories of photographers and artists who have had their work stolen. Besides the cheap tack it advertises, the Chinese-owned website Temu, with its HQ in the Dublin tax haven, sells goods with stolen designs.

Kelsi Trainor, an artist based in Melbourn, Australia, had her blanket designs plagiarised and sold on Temu.  She only found out when she saw someone at a festival wearing her design.

Another Australian artist, Tank, won a battle to have his copyrighted work removed from that site. Temu seems to be a breeding ground for plagiarism and copyright infringement.

From the perspective of the victims, Amazon also seems to make little effort to stop stolen works appearing on its marketplace. When shops selling plagiarised designs are taken down, they just start up again under a different name.

I’ve actually had this image sold as lawn flags on Amazon both .ca and .com it took me months to have the factory in China removed from that platform. They just kept relisting under a different name. – Shelley Lewis, regarding the corvid eating the sun photo mentoned above.

If We Work Together, We Can Win

When I’ve written about copyright theft before, it drew some defeatist attitudes stating that if we post stuff on the internet then we should accept that it will get stolen. I disagree. I believe that we should all start putting pressure on the police, our elected officials, the website hosts, and these huge companies to make it much easier to expunge the offenders. Thousands of people will read this article, and if we work together, we can help banish these criminals and pressure our law enforcement agencies to protect us better.

Encourage people to avoid low-quality websites like Temu that allow the sale of stolen designs, art, and photos.

Finally, put pressure on your elected officials to change the law so these platforms become vicariously liable for stolen artwork being advertised on their sites. Facebook wouldn’t be so lax about hosting these thieves if they were fined for it.

Let’s start a movement to show that our photographic work has value and that we won’t tolerate it being stolen.

If you know anyone whose work has been stolen by The Mind Circle, please ask them to report it to Cloudflare’s abuse page.

The survey exhibitions that galleries stage at year’s end, which usually consist of small works by all of the artists they represent, are frequently confused with the art-themed holiday markets, aimed primarily at gift-giving.

At their best, the gallery shows are much more than that. They reflect not only what the gallery has to offer but the gallery’s larger vision of what art is and what art should do.

I want to focus briefly on two examples, because the shows are so illustrative of this and so outstanding.

Whitespace does have an outright no-holds-barred holiday sale — with first-class works of art — in its smaller Whitespec project space, but the main gallery’s The December Show (through December 30) is very different from that.

The invitational show goes beyond artists represented by the gallery to include artists exhibited in any of Whitespace’s three exhibition spaces in the past year, and gallery owner Susan Bridges has curated a coherent exhibition out of the eyepopping diversity of styles and concerns that characterize the gallery’s artist roster. 

The show’s dynamic installation both reflects and reveals the gallery’s distinctive angle of vision. To take only one set of examples, two walls of this show contain work by artists from a range of ages, genders, ethnicities, project space and chosen artistic media.

A first glance reveals that each wall is unified by a visual rhythm of irregularly shaped and rectangular artworks arranged with repetitions and contrasts of palette, texture and other formal elements. This is an admirably complicated achievement in itself.

But that isn’t all that’s going on. Bridges stated that the grouping on one wall was “inspired by nature, magic, environmental and spiritual darkness,” while the other’s inspiration comes from “architecture, glitches, systems and weavings.” The other walls are sometimes united only by color and pattern, but more often encode similar rhythms of related thematic concerns.

Spalding Nix Fine Art is another example of galleries in which owners have expanded their gallery’s field of vision beyond its original focus. Although the 60-artist Ensemble (through January 12) deserves extended analysis, all I can offer in this column are two outstanding examples:

The first is Ensemble’s accompanying solo show. Blair Hobbs’ Radiant Matter is a suite of memorably archetypal mixed media artworks that arise from her thoughts while undergoing radiation treatments for breast cancer and transmute them into transcendent loveliness.

Ensemble offers a visually dramatic wall-spanning presentation of a body of work I have long hoped would be exhibited on this scale — a 48-piece grid of Tim Hunter’s Birds of America in Decline, small asphalt-on-cement silhouettes based on John James Audubon’s paintings in Birds of America.

Unlike the works in The December Show, which remain on display until the show’s end, this grid is itself something of an endangered species — part or all of it may be sold off the wall before Christmas.

This in itself illustrates the dilemmas of gallery owners, regardless of their idealistic range of vision. The legendary gallery owner Fay Gold once said, albeit with a tinge of regret, that her cutting-edge shows were not the Fay Gold Museum — she had to take into account the fact that the works were there to be sold. The same goes for even the most visionary of commercial spaces.

Nonprofit spaces have a different focus, even though they also usually offer work for sale.

At Center through January 6, Contemporary Portraits: David Clifton-Strawn and Modern Master: Pinky Bass illustrate how a gallery can be re-imagined to give birth to a new nonprofit space.

Housed in a multipurpose building co-owned by Thomas Swanston and Gail Foster, but an independently conceived entity, Center is described as “an inspiring hub designed for communal exploration of arts and culture, championing living artists and creating a space where visionary artworks come to life.”

These two shows by established boundary-pushing photographers with ties to the metro Atlanta art community are meant to stretch horizons, challenge expectations and encourage imaginative exploration within surrounding communities.

Bass’ photographs, placing elements of her own body in elemental settings, raise personal and conceptual issues in visually lyrical ways, and Clifton-Strawn’s equally lyrical photographs present male figures of various ethnicities and states of dress (or undress) in ways that range from emotionally powerful to gently comic. Both shows are worth seeking out in their Chattahoochee Hills location, close to the better known community of Serenbe.

::

Dr. Jerry Cullum’s reviews and essays have appeared in Art Papers magazine, Raw Vision, Art in America, ARTnews, International Review of African American Art and many other popular and scholarly journals. In 2020, he was awarded the Rabkin Prize for his outstanding contribution to arts journalism. 

Buy Black Triad: 3 photographers to shoot your family holiday photos!

Updated: 11:53 AM EST Dec 14, 2023

YEAH, GRABBING A GRAB I SHOULD SAY THE MATCHING OUTFITS AND BRING YOUR BEST SMILE. THE HOLIDAYS CAN BE A GOOD TIME FOR UPDATING YOUR FAMILY PHOTOS, AND THERE ARE SEVERAL GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY AND STUDIOS RIGHT HERE IN THE TRIAD AS WELL. TO TELL US MORE ABOUT THOSE JOINING US NOW LIVE IS TAMARA JEFFRIES, THE OWNER OF THE BUY BLACK GUIDE. TOMORROW WILL SHARE THREE OF THOSE STUDIO SPACES WITH US. GREAT TO SEE YOU AS ALWAYS, TAMARA. YES. GOOD MORNING. SO TELL US ABOUT STILL SHOTS, PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE SELFIE SPOT. ABSOLUTELY. SO WHEN IT COMES TO SELFIES, THE SELFIE SPOT WELCOMES YOU TO A WORLD OF COMPLETE EXCELLENCE. AND THIS HOLIDAY SEASON, THEY HAVE PARTNEED WITH STEEL SHOT PHOTOGRAPHY TO BRING YOU BEAUTIFUL HOLIDAY SETS FOR PHOTOS WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY. THEIR MOST POPULAR SET IS THE CHRISTMAS BLACK NOIR SET, WHICH FEATURES AN ALL BLACK SET WITH A MESMERIZING FIREPLACE, A MONOCHROMATIC TREE AND BIRTH OF THE FESTIVE VERSION IN WHITE, SILVER AND GOLD. THEY ALSO FEATURE FUN SETS LIKE CANDY CANE LANE, PERFECT FOR A CHIC FAMILY PORTRAIT, AND STEP INTO THE MAGIC OF CHRISTMAS WITH THEIR WHIMSICAL LONDON PHOTO BOOTH. SET. THE SELFIE SPOT IS LOCATED IN DOWNTOWN GREENSBORO AND IS OPEN THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY AND ALL TICKET INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND ONLINE, SO FOLLOW THEM ON SOCIAL MEDIA FOR MORE INFORMATION ON. THAT WAS A GREAT PHOTOS TO TAMARA. I DON’T WANT TO ALARM YOU, BUT THE WALL BEHIND YOU IS ON FIRE. OH. JUST PLAYING. ALL RIGHT. TELL US ABOUT 20 4K STUDIO SPACE. AWESOME. SO A 20 4K STUDIO SPACE. IT’S BACK WITH THE ANNUAL CHRISTMAS POP UP PHOTO SHOOT EXPERIENCE. 20 4K STUDIO SPACE IS MADE UP OF A HUSBAND AND WIFE DUO, AND THIS IS THEIR THIRD YEAR IN A ROW DESIGNING BEAUTIFUL CHRISTMAS SETS. SO THIS YEAR THEY ARE OFFERING FOUR CUSTOM CHRISTMAS DECKS AVAILABLE FOR FAMILIES, PHOTOGRAPHERS, CONTENT CREATORS AND ANYONE WHO WISHES TO CAPTURE CHRISTMAS MINIS WHEN BOOKING WITH THEM, YOU GAIN PRIVATE ACCESS TO ALL FOUR SET AND THEIR GLAM DRESSING ROOM TO PREP FOR YOUR SHOOT. THEY ALSO HAVE LIGHTING EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS AND CLIENTS WHO OPT TO DO SELFIES. SO THE LAST DAY TO BOOK IS ON DECEMBER 29TH, SO YOU STILL HAVE SOME TIME. UM, AND THEY ARE LOCATED IN GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA, SO YOU CAN HEAD TO THEIR WEBSITE TO BOOK YOUR HOLIDAY MINI SESSION TODAY. JUST BEAUTIFUL BACKDROPS IN THOSE PHOTOS. MY GOODNESS. TELL US LASTLY THIS MORNING MK PHOTOGRAPHY. YES. SO MK PHOTOGRAPHY IS A PROUD BLACK OWNED BUSINESS THAT BRINGS YOU VISUAL STORIES TO LIFE THROUGH ON SET STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY AND VIDEOGRAPHY. THEIR ANNUAL CHRISTMAS SETUPS ARE A FESTIVE DELIGHT, OFFERING FAMILIES A MAGICAL MK PHOTO SHOOT EXPERIENCE. THEY OFFER SEVERAL DIFFERENT SETUPS, FROM CASUAL TO ELEGANT, TO ENSURE THAT THEY HAVE SOMETHING THAT YOU WILL LOVE. ENJOY COOKIES, SOMETHING WARM TO DRINK AND LET THEM CAPTURE SOME HOLIDAY MAGIC. AND THROUGHOUT THE YEAR, MK PHOTOGRAPHY DEDICATES THEIR LENS TO BUSINESS OWNERS AND ENTREPRENEURS SPECIALIZING IN BRANDING, PHOTO SHOOT, HEADSHOTS AND LIFESTYLE SESSIONS, AND AT THE DYNAMIC HUSBAND AND WIFE TEAM. THEIR MISSION IS TO CRAFT UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE FOR YOU SO YOU CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT MK PHOTOGRAPHY BY LIKING THEM ON FACEBOOK OR VISITING THEIR WEBSITE. I WOULD IMAGINE YOU HAVE TO BOOK A LOT OF THESE, UH, THESE. WHAT DO YOU CALL THEM? APPOINTMENTS, I GUESS WITH PHOTOGRAPHERS AND STUDIOS PRETTY FAR IN ADVANCE. BUT, UH, IT’S WORTH CHECKING IN WITH SOME OF THESE PEOPLE DURING THIS TIME OF YEAR, YOU KNOW, FOR THE HOLIDAY CARDS THAT PEOPLE LIKE TO SEND OUT. THESE ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL OPTIONS FOR THE HOLIDAYS. BUT TOMORROW, ALL THREE OF THOSE, I MEAN, THEY’RE ALL YEAR ROUND BUSINESSES, RIGHT? I MEAN, EVEN PEOPLE LIKE TO DO SPRING OR FALL PHOTOS WITH THEIR FAMILIES OR MAYBE WHEN THEY HAVE A, YOU KNOW, A LITTLE ONE BEING BORN, THEY LIKE TO GET THOSE OUT, TOO. SO THESE ARE GREAT OPTIONS ALL YEAR ROUND. ABSOLUTELY. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR TIME TOMORROW. I LOVE YOUR FIREPLACE, BY THE WAY. ON YOUR TV SCREEN, MISTER BRIAN. NO, IT JUST CAUGHT ME OFF GUARD FOR A MOMENT. BUT YES, THIS IS VERY FESTIVE. TAMARA. YES, WE LOVE THAT. ALL RIGHT, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, TAMARA. AND HERE ARE THOSE PHOTOGRAPHERS ONE MORE TIME ON YOUR SCREEN. STILL SHOTS. PHOTOGRAPHY FEATURING THE SELFIE SPOT, 20 4K STUDIO SPACE AND MK PHOTOGRAPHY. YOU CAN EVEN FIND MORE OF THOSE BLACK OWNED RESOURCES AND ALL OF THE LOCAL BUSINESSES THAT TAMARA OFFERS. JUST VISIT B

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Buy Black Triad: 3 photographers to shoot your family holiday photos!

Updated: 11:53 AM EST Dec 14, 2023

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The photographer Ramak Fazel (1965), born in Iran and raised in the United States, arrived in Milan in 1994. Attracted by stories that labeled it as “a challenging city to live in,” he chose the Lombard capital as his new home. He arrived at the Central Station with just one bag and immediately started working on Milan Unit. A project that concluded in 2009, when Fazel left the city to return to the States. «I had the desire to encapsulate everything that happened in Milan within a container,» Fazel tells us via Zoom, explaining how he managed to conceal this “box” all this time. Today, the work emerges from its private and inaccessible dimension to be exhibited publicly while still retaining its air of mystery. This particular aspect intrigued us during the last edition of Artissima when Viasaterna presented it in a monographic booth. A fluorescent green archive consisting of files, boxes, and folders encapsulating Ramak Fazel’s years in Milan.

What does Milan Unit collect?

Milan Unit doesn’t aim to be autobiographical but rather seeks to document a period. «I didn’t want it to be a narrative of Ramak’s life,» the photographer explains. «Milan Unit tells the story of a specific period, bridging two eras. At the same time, it’s also a tribute to Milan, which has been very generous to me». Fazel was warmly welcomed by the city, which was experiencing an artistic experimentation phase. The photographer was absorbed into Milan’s cultural scene, frequenting the right places and circles. Among others, he developed friendships with prominent designers like Ettore Sottsass and Enzo Mari, some of whom are featured in his shots. Beyond portraits, Ramak Fazel is fascinated by street photography. The archive is packed with urban shots – on the streets, in public transportation, in bars – all strictly captured with the same methodology and cinematic lighting. In these shots, which Ramak Fazel chooses to showcase and share, there’s an evident pursuit of a unified language, where the only allowed variant is the subject.

I have an engineering background, so I was quite interested in all the mechanical apparatus of photography. Using lights in the studio and then taking them outdoors was very stimulating for me. I wanted all the photos to be the same, with the same light, the same camera, and film. The only thing that varied was the subject, not the technique. This became a sort of working method during those years, which revealed itself over time and practice.

Why fluorescent green?

Milan Unit isn’t just a photo archive, «it’s a fusion of photography and life, containing various things like notes and invoices, concealed within folders and subfolders,» he explains. All compiled within a container that revealed itself over time, assembled by Ramak himself and tinted in fluorescent green. A color that adds an additional layer of mystery. «The color choice stemmed from the desire to have a hue that was hard to reproduce. Just like the hidden photos, I wanted a color that can be inaccessible».

A private dimension in the age of sharing

Milan Unit has always been private. So much so that when Fazel leaves Milan, he decides to wall up the archive in his rented studio. Literally buried, Milan Unit appears to us as a shoebox collecting our most intimate memories. And, like all private things, we choose to share it only with those we want. With this concept of hiding, a nostalgic aspect emerges, unusual for our time accustomed to oversharing. Even more atypical in relation to photography, which is assumed to serve and represent something. In this sense, Ramak Fazel goes against the tide. He tells us he had to “resist” various requests to share his archive – from foundations seeking designers’ shots to friends, whom he showed the archive only physically, never online.

«Milan Unit might be closer to photographs in a shoebox rather than to a Getty Archive,» remarks Ramak, amused by our analogy. «The purpose of Milan Unit isn’t about sharing. It shouldn’t be a functional or digitized archive, nor easily accessible to everyone,» he continues. «It’s something you have to physically touch, look through envelopes, search among folders. You have to put in effort to explore it. It shouldn’t be something easily digitally browsed with just a click». In an era of sharing, with Milan Unit, Ramak Fazel has the ability to prompt us to consider the private and material sphere, suggesting that we take care of it. Almost creating a kind of nostalgia that urges us to “retrieve our memories from the cloud and bring them back to reality.”

Courtesy Ramak Fazel & Viasaterna Gallery

Working to become a professional photographer takes a lot of careful study and practice, with the ability to juggle multiple skills at the same time. If that is your current pursuit, check out this fantastic video tutorial that features an experienced photographer sharing five skills budding professionals need to learn. 

Coming to you from Laura BC, this awesome video tutorial discusses five important skills professional photographers need. One that I think is particularly important is social media. Social media has revolutionized how photographers showcase their work. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok have become the new-age portfolio, allowing photographers to display their talent to a global audience. Creating a cohesive and engaging social media presence requires a strategic approach. It involves understanding the platform’s algorithm, curating content that resonates with the target audience, and regularly engaging with followers. Many of us don’t really care for social media or feel exhausted by it, but like it or not, it’s a crucial tool.

As a photographer, your social media account is more than just a collection of your best shots; it’s a reflection of your brand. Each post should tell a story, convey a mood, or showcase a unique perspective. This not only helps in building a loyal following but also attracts potential clients who are looking for a photographer that aligns with their vision. Check out the video above for the full rundown. 

If you would like to learn more about the business of photography, check out “Making Real Money: The Business of Commercial Photography With Monte Isom!”

Join me in dissecting the extraordinary cinematography of “Parasite.” We’ll unearth the secrets behind its compelling composition, vibrant color schemes, and evocative lighting. This film offers a wealth of insights for photographers to learn from.

Keep in mind that the movie tells a story of greed and class differences, portrayed through the contrasting lives of the wealthy Park family and the struggling Kim family. As we analyze these scenes, this central theme will illuminate the rationale behind each artistic decision in composition, color, and lighting.

If you prefer video format, be sure to watch the video version of this analysis covering all the scenes:

Parasite Scene Analysis

1. Introduction at the Park Residence

Scene Context:

The focus here is on Ki-woo observing from outside as the housekeeper Moon-gwang wakes the Park family matriarch to meet him.

Scene Composition:

The scene’s composition utilizes layering and framing techniques. It is structured with a foreground, middle ground, and background. Ki-woo occupies the foreground, Moon-gwang and the Park wife are in the middle ground, while lush greenery forms the background. This layering creates a sense of detachment, positioning us as viewers outside the affluent world, both physically behind a glass wall and metaphorically.

The scene also employs effective framing. Ki-woo and Moon-gwang are together in one frame, divided by a line on the glass wall, while the Park wife is in a separate frame.

For those familiar with the film, this arrangement symbolizes the socio-economic divide between Ki-woo and Moon-gwang, and the Park wife.

Color Palette:

An analogous color scheme is used here, predominantly featuring greens and yellows. These vibrant and rich colors symbolize the enticing and luxurious lifestyle that remains elusive to Ki-woo.

Lighting Details:

Natural, soft light characterizes the scene’s lighting, contributing to the tranquil and picturesque atmosphere of the Park residence. The contrast between the bright outdoors and the dimmer interior where Ki-woo stands further highlights the disparity between the two worlds of the characters.

2. Sister Involvement

Scene Overview:

In this pivotal scene, we observe Ki-woo’s sister preparing to interact with Mr. and Mrs. Park, set within the Park family’s home.

Scene Composition:

Echoing the structure of the earlier scene, this one also employs a combination of layering and framing. The composition includes a foreground featuring a plant, a middle ground with Ki-woo’s sister, and a background occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Park. This layered approach visually represents the disconnect and separation among the characters.

Color Scheme:

The scene utilizes an analogous color palette, comprising greens, yellows, and oranges. These colors blend to create a soft, warm glow, enhancing the scene’s homely yet affluent setting.

Lighting Dynamics:

Interior lighting is strategically used to focus on the main areas of action. Firstly, light streams down the stairwell, illuminating the character on the left. Secondly, the dinner table is well-lit, drawing attention to Mr. and Mrs. Park. This lighting technique, along with the contrast between well-lit and darker regions, reinforces the notion of Ki-woo’s sister as an outsider looking into a world she is not a part of.

3. Escape in the Rain

Scene Context:

This scene captures the Kim family hastily departing the Park residence during a nocturnal rainstorm, after a close call of nearly being discovered.

Composition Elements:

The scene is segmented into three frames, each employing leading lines to depict the Kims’ metaphorical descent down the socio-economic ladder as they return to their own home.

The first frame employs an S-curve to convey movement.

The second frame uses a diagonal line to illustrate their downward trajectory.

The third frame again utilizes diagonal lines to accentuate the descent.

Color Scheme:

The scene predominantly features an analogous color palette. The initial frames primarily use a cold mix of blues and greens, symbolizing the stark contrast in their circumstances. In the final frame, as they approach their home, red is introduced. This stark red hue signifies danger and the “hellish” reality they face, with their home flooded and the unresolved issues at the Park house.

Lighting Design:

Dark lighting dominates these frames, accentuating the grim reality of the Kim family’s situation. This dim lighting serves to highlight the stark contrast between their current predicament and their earlier experiences at the Park house.

In conclusion, as photographers, we can learn a lot from analyzing scenes from movies like “Parasite.”

If you want to see all the scenes, be sure to watch my video above!