flickr addiction continues

This guy's work reminds me a little of Franklin's*... but Franklin's is warmer and more affectionate. The guy I linked to... people are part of the imagery in every picture, but it's somehow a cold gaze; there's no connection with them on a human level—not like with Franklin where you feel like he regards his folk dancers or nuns holding hands or children or Lollapalooza spectators with something like affection, some recognition of the common human condition, tho Franklin might not put it in such grandiose terms.

It's funny, looking at Franklin's work & other folks' Flickr stuff, I am struck by how studiously I avoid getting people in my photos... I think of people as obstructions, problems, and irritably wait for them to get out of my shots... but a lot of photographers do a lot of very beautiful work taking photos of people, or taking photos of famous buildings etc. that include human beings relating to the buildings or landscape.

For example, look at these two photos, taken in the same place—a mosque called Ulu Camii in Bursa, Turkey. The photo at left is by someone named Kalloosh (see also her photo here); the one on the right is mine. It's not just that she's looking at the floor & I'm looking at the ceiling. She's looking at the human level, the emotions and the feeling of the place; I'm arranging arches in the frame, and the only human in it is an accident (my friend John is just too goddamn tall!)

Funny, eh.

Did I mention I wasted an entire day yesterday uploading photos from our 2001 Turkey trip? Check them out, arranged all pretty in my brand-new Turkey photoset, if you like.

And you though I was speaking hyperbolically when I said "addiction."

---

* Didja check out Franklin's new website? It rocks—go look at it! I insist!