urban ku # 42 ~ Zawsze Kwadrat, głupcze!
Wednesday, March 14, 2007 at 08:43AM 
On his blog, Marcin Szymczak wrote; 'Ostatnio chodzą za mną zdjęcia Marka Hobsona. Chodzą za mną, i aż dziw - bo przecież kolorowe aż nadto - teoretycznie nie w moim typie. Może to "ku" - kwadratowa filozofia Marka - mnie ujęła? Te zdjęcia nie przedstawiają spektakularnych widoków - mimo to, bardzo je lubię - są takie spokojne, delikatne, trochę baśniowe...'
For those of you not conversant in Polish - 'Recently, I have Mark Hobson's pictures on my mind all the time. Quite strange - pictures are full of colors, so - theoritically - not my type. 
Dirty snow • click on photo to embiggenMaybe it's by "ku" - Mark's square philosophy. Although these photos are not "spectacular" - I like them very, very much; there is so much calm, gentleness, and fairy-tale magic in here.' And, lest I forget, the blog title is 'Always square, stupid', which Marcin states; 'pretty well express my approach to photography ;)'
I bring this up, not so much as a press release from my Shameless Self Promotion Department, but rather to continue the discussion on meaning. In particular, I was struck by Marcin's statement that these photos are not "spectacular" .... there is so much calm, gentleness, and fairy-tale magic in here.'
As Wallace (of Wallace & Gromit fame) says, 'there's no use in prevaracating around the bush', so here's my question to you -
Do you think Marcin got it (the meaning) right? Do you see 'much calm, gentleness, and fairy-tale magic' in my ku?
PS - Marcin, thank you very much for the comments and the mention on your blog. And, yes, it's 'always square, stupid!'
Reader Comments (6)
Hmm. I shall give it more thought, but just off the top of my head, I think the emotional center of gravity of your work has shifted a bit in the time that I've been watching. Perhaps a bit less of that perilous beauty, at least in my reading. (I'm talking about the traditional ku's; who knows what will happen with the urban renewal?)
I don't think I would call it fairy-tale magic because your images, even with the added vignetting, always seem completely real to me. What I do think is magical is your ability to notice so much of the beauty that's out there be it calm, gentle, or otherwise. Also, I think that the Adirondack region carries a bit of a mystique, a deep sense of history that seems to have been preserved in time--so in that sense, I guess you could say there is a bit of fairy-tale magic in your images. But does Marcin Szymczak know about any of that?? I doubt it.
How did you figure out the Polish translation anyway?
Well, let me say a few words :)
Photography is a specific kind of process. It's a process connecting subject of the photograph (whatever it is - object, feeling...) with the audience; and - it's very important - the way this connection works, is a result of author's (mainly!) and receiver's way of thinking.
So, when Mark takes a picture, he emanate through it some portion of some energy - that energy is then received (or not) by me (or anyone). The way I receive it depends on my mood, my experience, current aura, etc...
Well, what I want to say is I realize that the Adirondack region is very special place itself. I know also, that Mark adds artificial vignetting (that's his choice to show his way of seeing, right?); but most important information I get is: Mark has falled in love with this place, and he want to share it with us.
So, that fairy-tale magic means for me that I can see in Mark's pictures something magical, something not shown explicit, something telling me (as a receiver) that in that moment Mark was simply delighted.
And I appreciate it.
:)
Hey Mary, for someone with my linguistic talents, figuring out the Polish translation was easy - I just asked Marcin what the hell he had written about me.
And I find Marcin's comment to have fairy-tale magic in it! One thing it makes clear -- which Mark himself frequently says -- is that much of the meaning derives from knowing a series of photographs. Especially meaning in the sense of feeling some connection to the photographer as well as to the subject.
As to pegging Mark's style, I don't think calm and gentleness says it all. Those words fit, but there's also something harder behind it which I can't articulate at the moment, something more determined or precise or mindful...well, I guess I just don't have him figured out yet. Probably a good thing.
Hi Marcin,
Glad you shared more of your thoughts about Hobson's photograpy and I hope you know I wasn't doubting your ability to understand the history and mystique about the Adirondacks. I guess I made a broad assumption (I try not to do that) that a person from Poland might not know this. I think you are so right when you say Mark's pure love and delight for his place comes through magnificently in his images and it speaks volumes that it has such broad appeal, from the local level to the international level. And that energy that you speak of that emanates from his pictures--it's changed the way I see what's around me.