Tuesday, August 21, 2007
The equus project
Tim Flach is a British photographer whose passion for animal photography shows through his entire portfolio. Animals are often photographed by Flach during lenghty studio sessions in which all the details were carefully planned beforehand. He usually takes very close shots of his subjects using very unusual angles of view, framing and cropping.
Equus is the title of Flach's last fine art photography book, commissioned by PQ Blackwell Publishing in New Zealand.
All the photos published in the book differentiate themselves completely from the tradition of the equastrian photography genre. The aim of the book is to celebrate the horse in visual form. Flach exclude man from his last work choosing to show the horses alone or at least with other equines:
Historically equestrian art has essentially been a mechanism used to impose status upon patrons, what I’m doing is distinctive because it chooses not to show man with horse.
By separating the horse from man I am able to focus upon celebrating the horse itself.
Tim Flach.
In the first year of the project Flach moves to different continents across the globe to photograph horses against their natural landscapes: Mustangs in the deserts of Utah. Haflinger's high in Austrian Alps, Arabians in expansive deserts, Icelandic Horses against glacial backdrops and racing Thoroughbreds in the pristine confinement of their training environments.
Discovery’s Animal Planet channel accompanied him to Iceland to document his work with Icelandic horses. The documentary titled Through the Lens of Tim Flach Photographer was directed by Chris Purcell.
A preview of the documentary movie as well as his online portfolio are available at Tim Flach Photography.
Labels: animals, art, books, documentary, nature, photography
Monday, June 11, 2007
Travelling while sitting in my armchair
Just yesterday afternoon I was watching on tv an episode of a very special documentary series: Venice-Bejing on a scooter.
The series is broadcasted on SitcomUNO an italian digital terrestrial channel.
Tibet - photo by Carlo Alberto Cavallo - all rights reserved.
So far I only watched four episodes because I didn't take note of the television daily program schedule. The anchorman Carlo Alberto Cavallo travels by scooter through different eurasian and eastern asian countries starting in Venice and ending in Benjing.
Very interesting and with stunning beautiful landscape images, taken in unusual places, was the episode regarding the Tibet region. Mr. Carlo Alberto Cavallo is very open minded and sensitive. He has the ability to capture the attention's audience with his words and to transmit the same moods he perceive during the trip.
For those of you who don't have the possibilities and/or the time needed for a long travel I would warmly suggest to watch Venice-Bejing on a scooter.
The documantary is produced by Marcopolo-Sky, in case you don't live in Italy, try to find out more about it on Sky and please report me if it's available on your local area.
Why Venice-Beijing on a scooter? I am asked. A polite question, of generic interest, that I manage to avoid by answering ‘why not?’.
What do you want to prove? That's a good question. At least so it seems.
A serious, wise question, by someone who knows that life has its direction, its destiny, if you want to call it that.
So what do you want to prove? Nothing.
I'm quite fed up with having to prove something. Neither to others nor much less to myself.
Venice-Beijing on a scooter is simply that. Like the title says. With no other meaning except doing it.
Carlo Alberto Cavallo.
Labels: adventure, documentary, television, trip
