Boogie Woogie Photography & PhotogStory are pleased to present “Capturing Life: The Photography of Willy Ronis,” a solo exhibition by the renowned French photographer at the Loft in Wong Chuk Hang from 16 September to 21 October 2023.
Willy Ronis (1910-2009) was a pioneer of humanist photography, a movement that emerged in post-war France, seeking to document the human condition with authenticity and empathy. Inspired by his surroundings, Willy Ronis masterfully captured everyday life’s essence with his artistic vision.
Place de la Concorde, Paris 1952, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography.
Throughout his long and prolific career, Ronis left precious visual memories of France in the twentieth century. Focused on documenting Parisian life and people’s joy and sorrow, he developed a unique style characterized by his deep sensitivity and ability to find poetry in the mundane. From the bustling streets of Paris to the intimate moments between lovers, Ronis’ images offer a glimpse into the universal human experience.
This carefully curated exhibition of Ronis’ most iconic works is a rare selection from the private collection of Stephane Kovalsky, Ronis’ grandson. It showcases Ronis’ remarkable talent for composition and storytelling. Each photograph is a testament to Ronis’ unwavering curiosity about the world and his ability to find beauty in unexpected places.
Le Nu Provençal, 1949The Little Parisian, 1952.
“Le Nu Provençal” is perhaps Ronis’ most famous photograph. The image is renowned as an intimate and respectful portrait of his wife Marie-Anne Lansiaux at their home in Gordes, Provence, taken in the summer of 1949.
Shot at the top of the Colonne de Juillet in 1957, “Lovers at the Bastille” portrays a loving couple standing out against the panorama of Paris, their joy captured by the photographer during a serene post-rain afternoon. Ronis’ photographs transcend the boundaries of time and place, inviting us to reflect on the universal themes of love, joy, and resilience.
In this exhibition, we invite viewers to appreciate the fleeting moments in our lives. May Ronis’ photographs serve as a timeless reminder that a profound and extraordinary beauty is waiting to be discovered within the fabric of everyday life.
ImagesCourtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography and the S.Kovalsky collection
About Boogie Woogie Photography
Boogie Woogie Photography was founded in Hong Kong in 2016 to promote photography in Asia. The mission is to act as a platform for galleries, collectors, companies, and photographers aiming to develop photography projects in Hong Kong and Asia.
PhotogStory is an online Photography platform and Guest Curator based in Hong Kong. We focus on stories of local and international photographers and stories behind classic photos.
At the occasion of the French May Arts Festival 2023, Boogie Woogie Photography & PhotogStory are pleased to present “French+,” a group exhibition at the Loft in Wong Chuk Hang from 4th May to 3rd June 2023 together with the prestigious Kraemer Gallery from Paris presenting 18th-century French museum quality furniture and decorative art.
+ means more and extra, which also denotes infinite possibilities. French+ is not just about French art but also language, culture, and lifestyle.
The exhibition comprises eleven French photographers and artists’ artworks. It is our first time exhibiting paintings with acclaimed Monaco-based expressionist painter Philippe Pastor. Using living matter, its transformation through time and immediate surroundings, combining soil, pigments, minerals, and plants of all kinds, Philippe Pastor represents his vision of life, environmental destruction, and Man’s involvement in society.
We are also happy to be representing Elsa Jeandedieu, Hong Kong-based muralist. On view is a personal tondo, inspired by the Mediterranean Sea, made of plaster and copper leaves.
Florence Levillain’s creative and humorous photos are eye-catching among the photography artworks. She takes the French expressions as inspirations and literally turns the metaphor phrases into pictures. This imaginative photography series aims to raise awareness of the lyricism and humor of French language metaphors.
Florence LevillainFlorence Levillain
Additionally, French+ can be interpreted as a diverse photography style, like Sabine Weiss’s Dior dress, Willy Ronis’s Paris impression, Raymond Cauchetier’s Hong Kong journey, and Thierry Cohen’s surreal starry sky images, which represent the rich and unique French photography culture.
FRENCH+
Date: 4 May – 3 June 2023
Time: 2-7pm (Wednesday – Saturday)
Address: The Loft, 8/F, E. Wah Factory Building,
56-60 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Wong Chuk Hang.
About Boogie Woogie Photography
Boogie Woogie Photography is a company founded in Hong Kong in 2016 to promote photography in Asia. The mission is to act as a platform for galleries, collectors, companies, and photographers aiming to develop photography projects in Hong Kong and Asia.
About PhotogStory
PhotogStory is an online Photography platform and Guest Curator based in Hong Kong. We focus on stories of local and international photographers, and stories behind classic photos.
Thierry Cohen, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
Artists Profile
Bogdan Konopka (b. Poland, 1953-2019)
Born in Poland and an immigrant to Paris in 1989, Bogdan Konopka has been photographing cities he visits or lives in from Europe to China. His images are immediately recognizable whether the subjects are a fragment of nature or an interior space. Using large format or pinhole cameras, Konopka pays close attention to the quality of his photographs. His hand-made gelatin silver prints on chlorobromide paper are mostly contact prints, which have the same size as the original negative to achieve perfection. Konopka’s work was collected by Musée National d’Art Moderne and Centre Georges Pompidou, etc.
Elsa Jeandedieu (b. France,1983)
Hong Kong-based French muralist and visual artist Elsa Jeandedieu has been spreading her creative talents and bringing her beautiful, unique texture artworks and wall murals to spaces from Hong Kong, Shanghai, Paris, Italy, and beyond. Her inspiring energy and creativity have resulted in commissioned wall designs, artworks, and luxury art pieces for many high-profile clients, including CHANEL and Victoria’s Secret. Elsa moved to Hong Kong in 2008 and launched her eponymous atelier, Elsa Jeandedieu Studio, in 2015, where she now heads up a team of dedicated artists.
Florence Levillain (b. France, 1970)
Florence Levillain began an independent career as a reportage photographer in 1994. She explores various territories ranging from the business world to the streets of the suburbs. She works for the press (Liberation, Le Monde, Paris Match, etc.) and carries out numerous reports abroad on social issues. She won the Kodak Prize in 1999 for reportage on women working at night in Rungis, a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris. Florence Levillain’s work has always focused on rediscovering the universes close to everyone but unknown or forgotten by many. Her new work, “au pied de la lettre,” is an unusual series of photographic works that aims to raise awareness of the lyricism and humor of French language metaphors.
Isabelle Boccon-Gibod (b. France, 1968)
Lives and works in Paris, Isabelle Boccon-Gibod was trained as Engineer in France (Ecole Centrale Paris) and the U.S. (Columbia University, NY). Her life has mixed art and industry throughout her career. Having first worked on collages and installations, she elected photography twenty years ago as her core medium. She attended the Photography School of Brussels, Belgium. Her work is project-based, photography offering the means to explore specific territories. She likes to employ ad-hoc techniques. Her work is collected by Centre Pompidou, Paris.
Jacques Henri Lartigue (b. France,1894-1986)
Known for dynamic photographs of car races and fashionable ladies, Lartigue made a decisive departure from the stiff formality that characterized early photography to capture joyful, carefree scenes of bourgeois leisure. Born into affluence, he documented the excitement of the final years of the Belle Epoque with a gimlet eye and photographed the wealthy vacationers on the French Riviera from the 1920s through the 1960s. Lartigue’s work was underappreciated until the Museum of Modern Art exhibited his photographs in 1963.
Patrice Bodenand (b. France,1958)
Born in France in 1958, Patrice Bodenand made his career in the textile industry, which gave him the opportunity to travel and the desire to discover other countries and cultures. He immigrated to Hong Kong in 2000, then to Mauritius Island and to China, in Qingdao, to return and finish his career in Hong Kong. “What is exciting in photography is to capture a precise moment to fix it in time, even without chronology, but just for memory, individual or shared.”
Philippe Pastor (b. Monaco, 1961)
Philippe Pastor was born in Monaco. He works between Monaco and Spain. Committed to the environment, Philippe Pastor has developed a personalized vision of nature through his work, translating Man’s interaction with the planet. Since 1990 his work has been recognized at Venice Biennale and has been shown around the world. He is the official artist of the Monaco Pavilion at the Universal Exposition EXPO Milano 2015.
Raymond Cauchetier (b. France, 1920-2021)
Raymond Cauchetier was the most famous photographer of the French New Wave. His first photographs were taken in his thirties while serving in the French Air Force press corps in Indochina. Cauchetier traveled through Hong Kong in 1954 and stayed for one week. He left a bouquet of memories, a little yellowed but always authentic.
Sabine Weiss, Chez Dior, Paris, 1958 Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
Sabine Weiss (b. Switzerland, 1924-2021)
Sabine Weiss decided to become a photographer when she was eighteen, during a time when being a photographer was not a common profession, especially for a woman. Sabine Weiss apprenticed under photographers Frédéric Boissonnas and Willy Maywald, and Vogue hired her as a photo reporter and fashion photographer in 1952. Robert Doisneau discovered her photography and asked her to join the humanist-leaning photo agency Rapho, allowing her to work and travel for many other publications such as Time, Life, Newsweek, and Paris-Match.
Thierry Cohen (b. France, 1963)
Thierry Cohen has been a professional photographer since 1985 and a pioneer in the use of digital techniques. He lives and works between Paris and Monségur, close to the Atlantic Coast. Since 2006, he has devoted most of his time to personal work. Thierry is interested in the impact of human activities, particularly on nature. His works are held in private and public collections and regularly exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, and Paris.
Willy Ronis (b. France, 1910-2009)
After selling his first photograph to the newspaper L’Humanité in 1935, Willy Ronis worked as a press photographer. Ronis always linked his personal experience to his work, which also developed and grew through contact with friends and family: portraits of Marie-Anne, his wife (including the famous Le Nu provençal), his son Vincent, his cats, his friends (Robert Capa) and personalities he met (Sartre, Brassaï, etc.) express the same poetics of the universal as the rest of his work.
FRENCH有法文的意思，攝影師Florence Levillain的作品，便透過幽默的影像帶出法語的魅力。法國人每天用上大量生動的法文比喻，卻很少人認真思考及探究這些詞語的由來， 例如「Avoir la tête dans les nuages」(have your head in the clouds) 的字面意思是腦袋在雲朵裡，這當然是誇張的說法，它其實是指心不在焉。攝影師為相片中的女士頭部加上一朵雲，生動地演活這個詞語，帶領觀眾探索法語比喻中的詩意和獨一無二的幽默感。
Bogdan Konopka出生於波蘭，1970年代中期開始攝影，1989年移居法國。他的作品曾在世界各地展出，包括法國龐比度中心。Bogdan Konopka極其注重照片質素，作品大多以8 x 10吋或4 x 5吋菲林的大片幅相機拍攝，然後親自在黑房裏以「接觸印相」(Contact Prints) 的方法製成銀鹽照片，這種方式直接將菲林與相紙進行接觸印製，在相紙上以1:1的比例呈現出菲林底片上的影像，展現出不同深淺的灰階及出色的光暗效果。
1994年，Florence Levillain開始她的獨立攝影師生涯，曾為《Le Monde》及《Paris Match》等報章雜誌拍攝社會問題的報道，最新作品《au pied de la lettre》將語帶雙關的法國詞語，變成一系列充滿超現實風格的影像，以提高人們對法語隱喻的抒情性和幽默感的認識。
Isabelle Boccon-Gibod (法國，1968)
Isabelle Boccon-Gibod是一名工程師，曾就讀於巴黎中央理工學院和紐約哥倫比亞大學。她的職業生涯融合藝術和工業，最初從事拼貼和裝置藝術創作，二十年前她選擇以攝影作為主要創作媒介。她的作品屬於專題式創作，如巴黎橋底風景 (Paris Under The Bridges)、建築物空間 (南法小鎮的E1027別墅) 等。她現於法國巴黎生活和工作，作品被巴黎龐比度藝術中心收藏。
Jacques Henri Lartigue七歲時已拿起相機拍攝，長大後他成為畫家，反而攝影一直是業餘興趣，以輕鬆手法拍攝家人與朋友玩樂的動感畫面。作為金融大亨後代，他的生活過得富裕無憂，看他早期拍攝的照片，不是拍攝汽車、飛機，就是穿著時髦的女人，記錄上世紀初法國「Belle Époque」的美好年代。他原本在攝影圈一直默默無聞，直至1963年現代藝術博物館(MoMA)為他舉辦個展，當年《Life》雜誌也刊登過許多他的攝影作品，令這位大器晚成的攝影師一時間炙手可熱。
Raymond Cauchetier是法國新浪潮電影劇照攝影師，1951年，他隨法國空軍到胡志明市 (舊稱西貢) 服役，當時正值第一次印度支那戰爭，他拍攝空軍的行動以及戰役，為此還得到戴高樂將軍的褒獎。1954年戰爭結束後，他展開遊覽東南亞的旅程，在香港、澳門、越南、柬埔寨、老撾及日本等地拍攝當地的風土民情，在他的舊香港照片中，可見人來人往、掛滿招牌的街道。
Sabine Weiss, Chez Dior, Paris, 1958 Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
致力於推廣攝影藝術的Boogie Woogie Photography與香港攝影平台「顯影 PhotogStory」在黃竹坑The Loft攜手呈獻攝影聯展《On The Road》，展期由2023年3月18日至4月29日。值此之際，我們很高興宣布與法國古董藝廊Kraemer Gallery合作，在畫廊展出十八世紀的傢俬及藝術品，古董裝飾品與現代攝影作品的碰撞與對比，也帶來截然不同的視覺經驗。
展覽名稱來自美國作家Jack Kerouac在1957年的同名小說《On The Road》，故事講述幾位年輕男女在穿州過省的旅途中，一邊狂歡、一邊尋找自我，在一次次的公路旅途中，探索生命與心靈的自由，正如作者在書中所說：「Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.」。展覽展出十五位香港及國際攝影家的作品，包括Raymond Cauchetier、Takeshi Shikama及Roger Ballen等著名攝影師在旅途中拍攝的影像，攝影師們在旅途中的一次次快門聲中，捕捉眼前的事物，也探索內心世界。
Roger Ballen, Motorcyclists, Woodstock, 1969, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
Stephanie Cheng, From Here (Highway Stop), 2018, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
故事中的浪蕩世代從駕車前往美國西部，在攝影世界中，這裏也是很多攝影師的靈感，Richard Avedon在美國西部創作著名人像系列作品《In The American West》。在展覽作品中，法國攝影師Raymond Cauchetier在1950年代前往美國，拍攝一幅在三藩市金門大橋行駛的汽車；攝影師Stephanie Cheng在加州高速公路邊拍攝一幅摯友與汽車的照片，見證她們精采的美國公路之旅。
Raymond Cauchetier是法國新浪潮電影劇照攝影師，1951年，他隨法國空軍到胡志明市 (舊稱西貢) 服役，當時正值第一次印度支那戰爭，他拍攝空軍的行動以及戰役，為此還得到戴高樂將軍的褒獎。1954年戰爭結束後，他展開遊覽東南亞的旅程，在香港、澳門、越南、柬埔寨、老撾及日本等地拍攝當地的風土民情，在他的舊香港照片中，可見人來人往、掛滿招牌的街道。
Roger Ballen是二十一世紀最具影響力和最重要的攝影藝術家之一，攝影生涯跨越四十年，他的標誌性作品是在南非拍攝的怪誕風格人像，畫面中的氛圍詭譎不安，視覺效果非常震撼。2022年，他是代表南非參加第五十九屆意大利威尼斯雙年展的三位藝術家之一。
Bogdan Konopka (波蘭，1953-2019)
Bogdan Konopka出生於波蘭，1970年代中期開始攝影，1989年移居法國。他的作品曾在世界各地展出，包括法國龐比度中心。Bogdan Konopka極其注重照片質素，作品大多以8 x 10吋或4 x 5吋菲林的大片幅相機拍攝，然後親自在黑房裏以「接觸印相」(Contact Prints) 的方法製成銀鹽照片，這種方式直接將菲林與相紙進行接觸印製，在相紙上以1:1的比例呈現出菲林底片上的影像，展現出不同深淺的灰階及出色的光暗效果。
Rensis Ho (香港，1964)
何耀燊，本地著名攝影師，在紐約攻讀金融，及後入讀 Fashion Institute of Technology主修攝影，回港後從事攝影工作超過二十五年。何氏擅長靜物和人像攝影，曾拍攝無數中外時尚名人紅星，包括Kate Moss、Isabella Rossellini、Chloe Sevigny、Marc Jacobs、Nigo、坂本龍一、梅艷芳、郭富城、舒淇等。
Stephen King (美國，1966)
Stephen King是一位屢獲殊榮的攝影師，以拍攝自然和城市景觀而為人所認識，作品受中國水墨和美國抽象表現主義繪畫所影響。作為一名周遊列國的世界旅行者，他過去幾年大部分時間都在香港度過，藉此探索香港的城市環境。
Isabelle Boccon-Gibod (法國，1968)
Isabelle Boccon-Gibod是一名工程師，曾就讀於巴黎中央理工學院和紐約哥倫比亞大學。她的職業生涯融合藝術和工業，最初從事拼貼和裝置藝術創作，二十年前她選擇以攝影作為主要創作媒介。她的作品屬於專題式創作，如巴黎橋底風景(Paris Under The Bridges)、建築物空間(南法小鎮的E1027別墅)等。她現於法國巴黎生活和工作，作品被巴黎龐比度藝術中心收藏。
Stephanie Cheng 是一位常駐紐約和北京的攝影師和電影製作人，畢業於紐約大學帝勢藝術學院的電影及電視專業，並獲得牛津大學碩士學位(Visual, Museum, and Material Anthropology)。她的作品審視女權主義和種族中的跨文化維度，同時繼續探索青年女性、性和權力的表現形式。她的視覺敘事不僅試圖反映我們生活的世界，而且還想像一個完全不同的世界。
Boogie Woogie Photography & PhotogStory are pleased to present “On The Road,” a group exhibition at the Loft in Wong Chuk Hang from 18th March to 29th April 2023.
On this occasion, we are pleased to announce the collaboration with Kraemer Gallery, with notably, on show and available for sale, 18th-century antiques and artwork that provide a contrasting yet harmonious visual backdrop to the more modern photographic prints on display.
The exhibition title comes from American writer Jack Kerouac’s novel “On The Road” published in 1957. As the narrator says in the book: “Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.” The story depicts several youngsters setting out for road trips in the United States. They are immersed in a hedonistic atmosphere and pursue the freedom of life and soul while traveling across America.
Roger Ballen, Motorcyclists, Woodstock, 1969, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
The exhibition comprises fifteen Hong Kong and international photographers’ artworks about their journey, including Raymond Cauchetier and Roger Ballen’s road trip images. These pictures are reminiscent of Jack Kerouac’s novel, which demonstrates people’s lifestyles through various photographers’ perspectives. The photographers also explore their inner world through the journey and lens.
Sal Paradise, the main narrator in the book, is admired for his friend Dean Moriarty’s carefree attitude and sense of adventure. They often drive on the road and experience the joys and struggles encountered along the way. To a certain extent, a car is a tool leading them to their journey of self-exploration. The young men under Roger Ballen’s lens have similarities.
The famous Woodstock Music Festival remains a symbol of the counterculture movement of the 1960s. The 19-year-old college student Roger Ballen not only enjoyed music but also documented this spectacular festival on the spot. People were immersed in music with unrestrained joy. He captured a group of motorcyclists sitting on a car, and their dress and motorbikes reflected the young people’s pursuit of alternative and venturesome spirit in that era.
Stephanie Cheng, From Here (Highway Stop), 2018, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
The road trips advance the novel’s plot. It also inspired many photographers in their works, such as Richard Avedon’s portrait series “In The American West.” As the pictures displayed in the exhibition, Raymond Cauchetier captured cars driving on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Stephanie Cheng took an intimate portrait with an automobile parked on a California highway, which witnessed an incredible American road journey with her close friend.
In the spring of 2018, French photographer Isabelle Boccon-Gibod visited friends in Sun City, a residential community of 5,000 households with strict regulations, which triggered her anxiety. The instant film images of the sun and the road she took during the journey relieved her stress.
James Chung, Hong Kong, 1965, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
Jack Kerouac published his novel in 1957. By coincidence, photographer James Chung bought his first camera almost simultaneously. The cars in the street are noticeable in his images, which can be seen in Yau Leung’s pictures in the 1960s &1970s. Their photos demonstrate a different impression of old Hong Kong.
In addition, Polish photographer Bogdan Konopka captured a dilapidated car on the streets of Wrocław, which presents a sense of desolation. Under the lens of French photographers Willy Ronis and Sabine Weiss, the black and white photos show a vehicle parked on Paris street and Champs Elysees. The readers will be impressed by Jacques Henri Lartigue’s image in the 1910s, in which he captured a speeding race car in the Grand Prix of the Automobile Club of France. With all the pictures which are displayed, everyone has their own “On The Road” story.
On The Road
Date: 18 March – 29 April 2023(Closed on April 5-8)
Time: 2-7pm (Wednesday – Saturday)
Address: The Loft, 8/F, E. Wah Factory Building,
56-60 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Wong Chuk Hang.
Raymond Cauchetier, Golden Gate Bridge, 1954, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
Boogie Woogie Photography is a company founded in Hong Kong in 2016 to promote photography in Asia. The mission is to act as a platform for galleries, collectors, companies, and photographers aiming to develop photography projects in Hong Kong and Asia.
PhotogStory is an online Photography platform and Guest Curator based in Hong Kong. We focus on stories of local and international photographers, and stories behind classic photos.
Known for dynamic photographs of car races and fashionable ladies, Lartigue made a decisive departure from the stiff formality that characterized early photography to capture joyful, carefree scenes of bourgeois leisure. Born into affluence, he documented the excitement of the final years of the Belle Epoque with a gimlet eye and photographed the wealthy vacationers on the French Riviera from the 1920s through the 1960s. Lartigue’s work was underappreciated until the Museum of Modern Art exhibited his photographs in 1963.
Willy Ronis (France, 1910-2009)
After selling his first photograph to the newspaper L’Humanité in 1935, Willy Ronis worked as a press photographer. Ronis always linked his personal experience to his work, which also developed and grew through contact with friends and family: portraits of Marie-Anne, his wife (including the famous Nu provençal), his son Vincent, his cats, his friends (Capa) and personalities he met (Sartre, Prévert, Brassaï, etc.) express the same poetics of the universal as the rest of his work.
Raymond Cauchetier was the most famous photographer of French New Wave cinema. His first photographs were taken in his thirties while serving in the French Air Force press corps in Indochina. Cauchetier traveled through Hong Kong in 1954 and stayed for one week. He left a bouquet of memories, a little yellowed but always authentic.
Sabine Weiss decided to become a photographer when she was eighteen, during a time when being a photographer was not a common profession, especially for a woman. Sabine Weiss apprenticed under photographers Frédéric Boissonnas and Willy Maywald, and Vogue hired her as a photo reporter and fashion photographer in 1952. Robert Doisneau discovered her photography and asked her to join the humanist-leaning photo agency Rapho, allowing her to work and travel for many other publications such as Time, Life, Newsweek, and Paris-Match.
James Chung embarked on his journey in photography in 1957 when he acquired his first Rolleicord. Entirely self-taught, he became a full-time movie-still photographer in 1963. James started his studio in North Point In 1968, focusing on portraits for commercials and print enlargement. His achievements in photography were further recognized by the Honorary Fellowship from the Photographic Society of Hong Kong and Fellowship from the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain later. The Hong Kong Heritage Museum collects his works.
Dubbed the “Cartier-Bresson of the East”, Fan Ho patiently always waited for the decisive moment. His images are often a collision of the unexpected, framed against a very clever composed background of geometrical construction, patterns, and texture. He often created drama and atmosphere with backlit effects or through the combination of smoke and light. His favorite locations were the streets, alleys, and markets around dusk or life on the sea. His works were in many private and public collections, including the M+ Museum & the Heritage Museum in Hong Kong, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in the USA, and many more.
Yau Leung is one of Hong Kong’s most accomplished documentary photographers. During his lifetime, he worked for various magazines and publications. He was a photographer at Cathay Organisation (Hong Kong) from 1965 to 1970. In 1971, he worked for Shaw Brothers Studio’s film magazine Southern Screen. Yau Leung edited and published several books on his images, including Lu Feng Stories (1992), Growing Up in Hong Kong (1994), and City Vibrance: Hong Kong (1997).
Takeshi Shikama’s life ambition is to capture the “invisible” world that lingers beyond the visible world of the trees. Each photograph is hand-printed by Takeshi Shikama, using the ancient platinum/palladium technique, considered the highest quality in black and white photographic printing. The Japanese Gampi paper on which he prints is a handmade UNESCO national treasure. It requires a great deal of time and manual labor, which reflects the intimacy Shikama has with his subject matter.
Roger Ballen’s photographs span over forty years, and he is one of the most influential and important photographic artists of the 21st century. His strange and extreme works confront the viewer and challenge them to come with him on a journey into their minds as he explores the deeper recesses of his own. Roger Ballen is one of the artists representing South Africa at the Venice Biennale 2022 in Italy.
Born in Poland and living in Paris, Bogdan Konopka was a travel photographer. From Europe to China, Konopka has been taking photographs of cities he visits or lives. Whether the subjects are a fragment of nature or an interior space, Konopka’s images are immediately recognizable. Using large format or pinhole cameras, Konopka pays close attention to the quality of his photographs. His hand-made gelatin silver prints on chlorobromide paper are mostly contact prints, which have the same size as the original negative to achieve perfection. Konopka’s work is in many collections, such as Musée National d’Art Moderne and Centre Georges Pompidou.
Rensis Ho, a well-known Hong Kong photographer, studied finance in New York and then majored in photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology. After returning to Hong Kong in the 1990s, he has been engaged in photography for more than 25 years. Rensis is particularly noted for still life and portrait photography and has photographed numerous celebrities, including Kate Moss, Chloe Sevigny, Marc Jacobs, Sakamoto Ryuichi, Anita Mui, etc.
Stephen King (The United States, 1966)
Stephen is an award-winning photographer based in Hong Kong, known for his painterly and carefully composed depictions of the natural and urban landscape. A product of two cultures, Stephen points to his love of Chinese ink and American Abstract Expressionist painting as influences that help inform his aesthetic. Ordinarily an intrepid world traveler, due to the pandemic, Stephen has spent much of the last few years in Hong Kong, exploring the colors and light in Hong Kong’s urban environment.
Isabelle Boccon-Gibod (Paris, France, 1968)
Isabelle Boccon-Gibod was trained as Engineer in France (Ecole Centrale Paris) and the U.S. (Columbia University, NY). Her life has mixed art and industry throughout her career. Having first worked on collages and installations, she elected photography twenty years ago as her core medium. She attended the Photography School of Brussels, Belgium. Her work is project-based, photography offering the means and the pretext to explore specific territories. She likes to employ ad-hoc techniques. She lives and works in Paris, France. Her work is collected by Centre Pompidou, Paris.
Risa Tsunegi (Japan, 1982)
Risa Tsunegi studied painting at Chelsea College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London, and completed an MFA at Glasgow School of Art in 2009. She creates sculptures and installations that combine seemingly unrelated images inspired by tools and actions in specific environments, such as farming, theatre, or on trains. By using objects such as golf clubs, hanging straps, and wardrobes, which encourage specific movements depending on how they are used, she aims to work gently on the audience’s body through her works.
Stephanie Cheng (b.1995, Virginia, U.S.A.)
Stephanie Cheng is a photographer and filmmaker based in New York and Beijing. Her work examines cross-cultural dimensions within feminism and race, as she continues to explore the evolving representation of female youth, sexuality, and power across many genres. Her visual narratives not only seek to reflect the world we live in but also to imagine an entirely different one. Stephanie received her B.F.A. in Film and Television from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. She completed her Master’s in Visual, Museum, and Material Anthropology at the University of Oxford.
Boogie Woogie Photography & PhotogStory are pleased to present “Contemplations”, a solo exhibition by Takeshi Shikama at the Loft in Wong Chuk Hang from 10 December 2022 to 20 January 2023.
Born in Tokyo in 1948, Takeshi Shikama taught himself photography but never expected to be a photographer at the beginning. One day in early autumn 2001, as twilight set in, Shikama got lost in the mountain paths. Attracted by the darkness of the undergrowth, he found himself suddenly seized with a strong desire to take photographs. He set out to the same place again with a camera the following day, trying to capture the enigmatic feeling that animates him. This experience made him realize that he was not taking pictures of the woods out of his will but that the forest was inducing him to take its portraits. Since then, Shikama turned to photography after a lengthy career as a designer and never stopped photographing forests in Japan, the United States, and Europe.
Silent Respiration of Forests – Hokkaido: Komatsubara, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
Looking back, he feels that this all began with the decision to build a mountain lodge with his hands. To clear a plot of land for constructing a lodge inside a small forest, Shikama had to fell Japanese red pine trees some eighty years old. Although many years have elapsed since then, he still vividly remembers the feeling as he sat astride the felled-down trees, stripping them of their barks.
Owing to the invaluable experience of spending the next ten years building the cottage, his sensitivity towards nature came to be fully awakened. Lured by this mysterious sensation, Shikama started to travel all over Japan, visiting the depth of forests and continuing to take photographs.
Shikama always carries cameras when traveling. He is curious how the lens will capture the air in various places in different countries. Unlike the rapid snapping of pictures that most people experience, an image is photographed one at a time. The large format camera with 4×5 inches film makes him possible to record the details and gives him more time to contemplate while setting the camera. He also likes the square format. The Hasselblad camera with 6×6 cm film is more convenient and suitable for capturing fleeting moments.
Silent Respiration of Forests-Yosemite: Yosemite #23, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
The exhibition Contemplations comprises 32 of Shikama’s images captured worldwide, including the winter scenery in Japan, the magnificent Yosemite National Park in California, the Isle of Skye in Scotland, and urban forests in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and France.
Breathe in, breathe out, and listen for the silence. As the exhibition title depicts, Shikama’s images of the forest and trees guided us through a visual contemplation that unlocks a journey toward discovering the nature of silence. Shikama wrote:”the forest always stands there, motionless in total stillness. This is the image I have always had of the forest. It has dawned upon me that the forest is, in fact, the home of numerous silent and peaceful activities”.
It is not just the trees and plants matter, but also the process of making the image from start to finish that is part of the journey. Shikama attaches as much importance to the details of the image as to the photographic object. His photographs are made in Japan and are both stunning and tranquil. He uses the platinum/palladium technique on handmade Gampi paper, which is traditional Japanese paper made of Gampi tree bark, giving the prints a natural sepia tone.
Urban Forest-Paris: Parco des Ceaux #2, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
He applies the emulsion by hand to each sheet, exposes the negative by contact, then reveals the image and fixes it chemically. This painstaking process requires mastery and attention that reflects the artist’s reverence for his subjects. The Gampi paper brings a unique and precious quality to each print, and its tone gives softness to the photo and reinforces the “stillness” of the forest in the final image.
Fascinated by the forest enveloped in natural and simple air, we hope these images in this exhibition can lead the viewers into Takeshi Shikama’s photography and meditation world. May the peace be with us.
Contemplations
A Solo Exhibition by Takeshi Shikama
Date: 10th December 2022 – 20th January 2023 (Closed from 28th -31st December)
Time: 2-7pm (Wednesday – Saturday)
Address: The Loft, 8/F, E Wah Factory Building,
56-60 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Wong Chuk Hang.
The artist will be present on Saturday, 10 December, 2-7pm
Contemplation – Snow: Kitayokodake #6, Courtesy of Boogie Woogie Photography
Takeshi Shikama (Japan, 1948)
Takeshi Shikama’s life ambition is to capture the “invisible” world that lingers beyond the visible world of the trees. Each photograph is hand-printed by Takeshi Shikama, using the ancient platinum/palladium technique, considered the highest quality in black and white photographic printing. The Japanese Gampi paper on which he prints is a handmade UNESCO national treasure. It requires a great deal of time and manual labor, which reflects the intimacy Shikama has with his subject matter.
The works of Takeshi Shikama appear in numerous private and public collections, including the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (Paris, France), Hermès International (Paris, France), the Museet for Fotokunst Brandts (Odense, Denmark), the Museum of Photographic Arts San Diego (California, United States), the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (Texas, United States), the Santa Barbara Museum of Fine Art (California, United States), the Portland Art Museum (Oregon, USA) and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, (California, USA).
About Boogie Woogie Photography
Boogie Woogie Photography is a company founded in Hong Kong in 2016 to promote photography in Asia. The mission is to act as a platform for galleries, collectors, companies, and photographers aiming to develop photography projects in Hong Kong and Asia.
About PhotogStory
PhotogStory is an online Photography platform and Guest Curator based in Hong Kong. We focus on stories of local and international photographers and stories behind classic photos.
現年67歲的Pete Souza，1983至1989年間曾任列根總統的白宮攝影師，之後任職《芝加哥論壇報》，同時也為《國家地理》及《Life》雜誌拍攝，2001年九一一事件後，他是第一批前往拍攝阿富汗戰爭的攝影師。2005年，當奧巴馬仍是伊利諾州參議員時，Pete Souza已開始記錄他的參議員生涯，跟隨他出席各種大小活動，並在2008年將照片集結成《The Rise of Barack Obama》一書。當奧巴馬勝出2018年底的總統選舉後，隨即邀請Pete Souza擔任白宮攝影師，一直至2017年初奧巴馬任期完結。
據悉白宮攝影師團隊每星期要拍攝二萬張照片，除了Pete Souza，團隊還有David Lienemann(時任副總統拜登隨身攝影師)及Lawrence Jackson(現任副總統賀錦麗隨身攝影師)。八年白宮攝影師生涯中，Pete Souza拍攝所有奧巴馬出席的活動、會議以及與一般人的會面，最著名的照片包括2009年奧巴馬彎腰讓小朋友觸摸頭髮的《Hair Like Mine》、2011年追捕拉登行動的《Situation Room》等。
有趣的是，在2017年特朗普就職典禮當日，Pete Souza開始在Instagram發布奧巴馬的親民照片，與特朗普的霸道形象形成對比，一方面似乎在延續奧巴馬的魅力，某程度上也是對特朗普的批判。現在他的帳號有逾290萬followers。2020年，他的故事被拍攝成紀錄片《The Way I See It》。
Today is the 60th birthday of former U.S. President Barack Obama. He was never an arrogant and domineering politician because of his unique identity. The former White House photographer Pete Souza captured such a humorous and casual Obama, especially when he meets children, he always happily playing or taking selfies with them. One of the photographer’s favorite photos is Obama carrying the twin boys of The White House’s legislative director Katie Beirne Fallon after being discharged from the hospital. That image is so warm and with paternal love.
Interestingly, on the day of Trump’s inauguration in 2017, Pete Souza began to post Obama’s images on Instagram, which contrasted with Trump’s overbearing impression. On the one hand, it seemed to continue Obama’s charm, and to a certain extent, it was also a critical commentary on the new administration. Now his account has more than 2.9 million followers. In 2020, his story was filmed as a documentary, “The Way I See It.”
