[Leica] Seen God

[kcassidy at asc.upenn.edu (Kyle Cassidy)]

One of the most important things that I learned from Mary Ellen Mark 
trashing my portfolio, setting fire to it, and jumping up and down on the 
ashes is that a photo needs to be able to exist on its own; that if it needs 
to be propped up with words, it's success as an image is incomplete.  The 
most common example of this, I think, is when we see photos of relatives 
"this is my son," or "this is my grandfather who is the best man who ever 
lived" - the photographer adds in words what exists in their heart but 
possibly not in the photograph. Cramming all the things that exist in your 
heart into only the visual box of the photo is the difficult, but paramount 
job of a photographer. 

How hard is it to get "this man saw god" into a photograph without words? It 
can be done, and I think it just wants a little more time spent. What I, as 
a viewer, need to see from this image is to see an interaction between 
myself and this man, I want to realize through his expression, his demeanor, 
and especially his eyes, that he has experience something profound which has 
changed him.  What I do see is a really wonderfully exposed and processed 
photo of an old man who looks like he's talking to someone else. All of the 
elements are here - the guy is great, the light is right, the framing, the 
technical skill is there, but (imho) the moment is missed.

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Rainforest/_JGR3863bBWP2.jpg.html

It might require spending more time there and it might also require getting 
"up in someone's face" - seeing this photo made me grab Eugene Richard's 
"Cocaine True, Cocaine Blue" off the shelf and look to see if he always 
caught subjects looking at the camera - and he doesn't, but there are two 
things I noticed about these most amazing of American documentary photos, 
one is that regardless of whether the subject is looking at the camera, or 
looking away, there is the look of a profound moment - as though you can see 
into someone's head and know what they're thinking, sometimes this is 
relayed directly to the viewer through eye contact, sometimes it is relayed 
specifically because the subject is looking away. The second thing I noticed 
is that he REALLY fills the frame. I think you might want to have been a 
whole step closer here.

Stay as long as it takes, get as close as you can, when you leave, your 
world should move a little because you've met someone who saw god. I think 
in documentary photography it's not good to be a voyeur, standing back in 
the place where we all feel comfortable, you need to be inside the bubble of 
intimacy.

That's my two cents, take it for what it's worth. Hope this helps.

kyle

________________________________________
I had gone into the rainforests of the Western Ghats mountain range,
at a place called Valparai in Tamil Nadu (the state which I belong to,
and stay in), mainly to see the endemic flora and fauna (including
leeches!) during the monsoons. At a beautiful view point - the day was
very wet and overcast, so the landscape shots had to wait for another
day - I met this man, Velu, who claimed to have seen Murugan, one of
the Hindu pantheon of Gods at this spot in 1983. Since then, for the
last 27 odd years, he has been coming to this spot at 11am to extol
the glory of God. This has become a part of local folklore, so much so
that the spot is nowadays officially called "Seen God". Here is Velu
explaining to us the circumstances under which he saw Murugan. There
are psychological connotations as well - "Vel" means spear in Tamil,
and Murugan is always depicted with a spear in traditional religious
iconography, and Velu is a popular name for the God. He seemed
slightly unbalanced in a peaceful sort of way, but he spoke good
English as well as Tamil, which probably shows an educated background.

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/Rainforest/_JGR3863bBWP2.jpg.html

C & C always welcome!

Cheers
Jayanand