ANALOG WABI-SABI
ANALOG WABI-SAB | is a concept in Japanese aesthetics characterized by simplicity, asymmetry or irregularity, unpretentiousness, tranquility, imperfect quality and love of old, weathered objects – all leading to a meditative appreciation of the impermanence and transience of things, with overtones of desolation and solitude. In this regard, it is also closely related to another Japanese concept, mono no aware, which describes a “gentle sadness” for the transience (and beauty) of things. Therefore, Analog Wabi-Sabi is a section which presents analog photography through the wabi-sabi prism and perspective, with particular emphasis on Japanese photography and photographers.
DENIS PLEIĆ | editor of Analog Wabi-Sabi |
I was born in 1963, and my interest in photography dates from my teenage years, at the beginning of 1980-ies. In these thirty years as an amateur photographer, I have come a long way from an absolute beginner to a photographic connoisseur: I have used all kinds of cameras and photographed all kinds of scenes. By profession I’m a teacher of English and Sociology, and for the last twenty years I’ve been a professional translator. But, photography has always been a part of my life: sometimes more, and sometimes less – but for the last thirty years, a camera is always with me. As the technology of photography progresses into digital age, I am going the opposite way: I started out with 35mm cameras, then switched to medium format cameras, and ended up with large format cameras. Soon I’ll probably try my hand in photography using dry plates. To explain what kind of an analog photography fan I am, it will suffice to say that I’m probably the last place in Croatia where you can process (develop) a large format slide (E6 process). And today, thirty years later, I’m still fascinated by everything related to photography: from its technical aspects and the cameras, to aesthetics, history of photography and writing about photography. As the years go by, I do more and more of theory of photography, including writing and photographic education at the local photo club.
ANALOG WABI-SABI | by Denis Pleić | BLUR MAGAZINE 20
Photography is a strange medium, and it is often said that the “camera does not lie”. Nothing could be further from the truth – and by that I don’t mean “extensive post–processing” and “doctoring” of photos, using image editing software (or advanced darkroom techniques). I mean that the camera lens (or lensless cameras, as the case may be – let’s not forget pinhole cameras….) sees the world differently than we do. Without delving too deep into biology, physics and the characteristics of human vision, let me just say that, like probably many of you, I have taken photos of things that seemed interesting and important at the time, just to be vastly disappointed when I got the photos back (that was in pre–digital era for you whippersnappers), where I had to play “where’s Waldo” in order to find the subject of my photo, which loomed so large in my mind at the time I pressed the shutter (photos of birds, anyone?).
ANALOG WABI SABI | by Denis Pleić | BLUR MAGAZINE21
Zen Buddhism is the origin of wabi-sabi aesthetics. Usually there are seven aesthetic principles involved, namely: kanso (simplicity), fukinsei (asymmetry or irregularity), yugen (profundity or suggestion instead of revelation), shibui (simple beauty), shizen (naturalness, unpretentiousness), datsuzoku (freedom from habit and formula) and seijaku (tranquility).
ANALOG WABI SABI | Fuzuki,Yu+ichiro and Miki*, Japan | JAPAN | BLUR MAGAZINE 22
Our friends from Japan – Fuzuki,Yu+ichiro and Miki*: they show us the beauty in this world;the world which we only too often tend to see as a hostile and dangerous place. People like our friends from Japan show us it isn’t necessarily so. In the midst of tragedy and sorrow, there is new hope, a new communal spirit, a new feeling of selflessness. A lesson for us all.
ANALOG WABI SABI | Nagano Toyokazu, Japan | BLUR MAGAZINE 23
„When I started, I was taking photos with a camera in order to keep family memories, but I now take photos to create family memories. Therefore, I do not take photos of my family’s facial expressions during everyday moments, or of their natural movements. I take photos by creating fictional scenes after setting up a certain theme in advance and then thinking about what kind of pose would be interesting.“
ANALOG WABI SABI | Shuji Hiramatsu, Japan | BLUR MAGAZINE 24
„I’m an art director of graphical user interface design for computers. I sometimes direct an animation related to it. I am creating something with “bits” in a clean room (computer) in my real life. But I began to feel that I’d like to make something with real, tangible things. Before I started shooting with film, taking photos (using a digital camera) had been a way for me to collect the texture materials for computer graphics. But now, photography is more than a mere tool for me.“