2018年初,一班本地攝影愛好者成立攝影組織「Ménos 心象社」,不定期舉辦攝影講座及Photo Walk等活動,2019年結集逾10位成員作品推出攝影集《Prologue》,首期主題是「Hong Kong Street」,收錄眾人的街頭攝影作品。事隔五年、經歷過疫情,第二本攝影集《也無風雨也無晴 The Weight of SilhouetteI》也於2024年底出版。
書名《也無風雨也無晴》出自北宋文學家蘇東坡的詞作《定風波》,是一種在逆境中憑心境自樂的豁達精神,回想過去數年的疫情歲月,許多人經歷過無助與憂鬱,一句「也無風雨也無晴」既是安慰,也是一種豁達。英文名稱「The Weight of Silhouette」也頗有意思,虛幻的剪影本無重量,但攝影師的拍攝注入情感,觀者也會結合個人記憶而觀看,為相片增添意義,令那刻的光影也彷彿有了重量。
2004年,東京都知事提倡「淨化歌舞伎町」,讓它成為一個能讓所有人感到安心的街區,但根深蒂固的風俗在這個區域是否就會輕易被改變?梁承佑的照片涵蓋黑幫、慾望與暴力,也有在街頭玩耍、噴跑的孩子,呈現出「淨化歌舞伎町」前後的微妙對比,也審視他們內心的溫柔和脆弱。2016年,日本攝影畫廊Zen Foto Gallery出版《新宿迷子》(Shinjuku Lost Child),這本以新宿歌舞伎町人物為主題的黑白街頭攝影集,榮獲2017年第36屆土門拳獎,2017年得獎後再推出第二版。
這本攝影集攝是梁承佑早期的作品,攝於1999年至2006年,拍攝身邊幫派朋友的生活,將韓國黑社會聲色犬馬的日常一一記錄,取名《青春吉日》( The Best Days),2012年首次出版。之後此書絕版一冊難求,他也憑藉2016年作品《新宿迷子》獲得土門拳賞,這本精裝版《青春吉日》在2019年出版,重新編輯過相片內容。
SHOOTING HOOPS is an exhibition at Blue Lotus Gallery and an accompanying photo book launch that showcases Austin Bell’s photographic documentation of all 2,549 outdoor basketball courts in Hong Kong.
Basketball is one of the most popular sports among Hong Kong’s young people, and outdoor courts are often found at schools, playgrounds, and public housing estates.
When US photographer Austin Bell first visited Hong Kong in 2017, he was intrigued by the color and design of the city’s basketball courts. He returned in 2019 to photograph all of them.
His project expanded to include multiple visits and documented 2,549 courts in nearly five months with over 40,000 photos. Bell was drawn to these courts for their vivid designs, often featuring bright colors and accompanying the colorful housing estates and nearby schools. This vibrancy becomes even more pronounced from above, providing a striking contrast to the city’s vertical density.
The Shooting Hoops book showcases all the courts in Hong Kong and includes additional statistics, Bell’s article, and architectural and photographic commentary on the project.
《William Klein: Painted Contacts》,29 x 20cm,HKD320,可inbox @photogshop 購買,
While reviewing his contact sheets for a film he made in the 1980s, William Klein conceived this original series by working at the nexus of painting and photography.
Referencing the age of film photography, when photographers selected images by circling individual negatives on a contact sheet with brightly colored grease pencils, Klein’s works invent a unique art object that organically combines painting and photography.
The resulting pieces are bold, kinetic color frames and reframes of enlarged black-and-white images throughout his career. Klein‘s iconic fashion and street photography always look gritty and bold, and are given a new vanguard and extraordinary perspective.
In his foreword to this edition, Klein describes these works as ”all brush strokes and jubilation. The jubilation of painting recalls the celebration of taking the photo.“
Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze’s ‘Concrete Stories’: A Fresh Angle on Hong Kong Rooftop Photography
‘Concrete Stories’ is a collection of genuine moments capturing people’s daily lives from the rooftops in Kowloon districts.
From 2014 to 2018, Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze, a French photographer based in Hong Kong, explored the city’s rooftops in a unique way. His lens captured the city from a fresh angle, focusing on aged buildings without alarms or security cameras and favoring sunny days for enhanced luminosity.
In his lens, you can see students skipping rope, women drying clothes, and people practicing Tai Chi. The scenes on the rooftop become more dramatic under the setting sunlight. After taking the photo, the final step was to carefully crop the images to highlight the rooftop and people’s activities.
These buildings, once a vibrant part of the city’s landscape, are now disappearing at an alarming rate. The pressing need for land has led to the demolition of low-rise structures, making way for taller, more modern ones, often with inaccessible rooftops.
植田正治曾說過:「只有普通人看得懂的照片,才是真正的好照片。」以業餘攝影愛好者自居的他,一生主要以沙丘為舞台,拍攝家人與家鄉鳥取的人文風景,雖然大部分作品都如舞台攝影般以「擺拍」進行,但卻絲毫不顯生硬,反而有一種魔幻的趣味。由日本便利堂(Benrido)推出的珂羅版迷你作品集《Gone are the Days》,精選六幅植田正治與家人在鳥取沙丘擺拍的照片。
Shoji Ueda《Gone are the Days》 時間來到1983年,一直支持植田正治的妻子紀枝離世,對他造成巨大打擊,他變得沉默不語,甚至喪失對攝影的興趣。讓植田重燃熱情的人,是身為藝術總監的二兒子充,他委託父親為設計師菊池武夫的品牌Takeo Kikuchi拍攝時尚寫真。一向以業餘自居的植田正治,忽然要拍攝商業攝影,震驚當時的攝影界。
不過對植田而言,這卻是難得的經歷,他重回熟悉的鳥取沙丘,模特兒自由地表演,他則透過鏡頭重拾攝影的樂趣。由日本便利堂推出的這本植田正治迷你作品集《Gone are the Days》,是植田正治晚年時期的商業創作,精選六幅由珂羅版 (Collotype) 印刷的照片,包括沙丘上的地壇與煙花、頗有Rene Magritte超現實風格的手持圓頂禮帽的照片等,這種充滿舞台感的超現實畫面,正是為人熟悉的「植田調」。
Issei Suda《Anonymous Men and Women Tokyo 1976-78》,「顯影·書櫃」有售。
個人最喜歡的作品是他1977年發表的《Self and Others》系列,六十張照片皆以人物為主體,從中審視自我與他人的關係。攝影師拍攝他認識的人,如家人、朋友以及學生等,以一種直接的方式接近他們,而且大多數拍攝對像都直視鏡頭。作為一名身材矮少的病人,牛腸茂雄的身型難免受到他人注視,他在作品中加入一張自拍照片,在觀看與被看之間,探討自我與他人的關係與距離。
《見慣れた街の中で Familiar Street Scenes》
《Familiar Street Scenes》是牛腸茂雄第三本、也是最後一本自行出版的寫真集,1981年發表。書中47張照片全用彩色正片拍攝,記錄城市中來來往往的途人。 與他過往的風格大相徑庭,在這系列作品中,牛腸茂雄以廣角、近景、長焦距等不同距離拍攝陌生人,時而不依靠觀景器以低角度拍攝,在熟悉的街頭捕捉不一樣的景象,有趣的視角也有別於一般的街頭攝影,在一系列色彩鮮豔的照片中,也可見在日本經濟泡沫前,消費文化在城市中的盛行。
《幼年の「時間 」 Childhood》
至於他創作生涯最後發表的《Childhood》系列,則包含六幅黑白影像,刊登於1983年6月號的《日本カメラ》(Nippon Camera) 雜誌,作品的主題是孩童。牛腸茂雄一生都在與死神拉鋸,對於生死也有不同的領悟,當時他希望透過「幼年」與「老年」兩系列作品呈現他的生死觀:童年的時光是生命的綻放,可能邂逅每個燦爛的時刻;而晚年的人雖然都要面臨無可避免的死亡,但也絕非只有悲傷與黑暗。只是,世人並未見到他的「The Time of Old Age」作品,牛腸茂雄便在同年逝世。
在攝影以外,牛腸茂雄也嘗試過畫作,《Spiritual Travels》收錄14幅記錄心理投射測驗的「墨跡測驗」圖案。他在1972年開始嘗試創作此系列,在紙與墨的交融之間,觀眾或許可透過他的「墨跡」,了解他的內心世界。至於1980年創作的《水の記憶 Memories of Water》,他將偶然浮現水面的圖案染印於紙上,57幅圓形的大理石紋水拓畫作,可見大自然的奧妙,也頗有禪意。