Wabi Sabi Photo Collective

we know --- it's all good

kuuan said:
my earlier response was not meant to be off putting, in the contrary, to push to explore what 'Wabi Sabi' is. How about we tried right here, to show or express Wabi Sabi through our photos?



......
a quote: "The words wabi and sabi do not translate easily. Wabi originally referred to the loneliness of living in nature, remote from society; sabi meant "chill", "lean" or "withered". Around the 14th century these meanings began to change, taking on more positive connotations.[2] Wabi now connotes rustic simplicity, freshness or quietness, and can be applied to both natural and human-made objects, or understated elegance. It can also refer to quirks and anomalies arising from the process of construction, which add uniqueness and elegance to the object. Sabi is beauty or serenity that comes with age, when the life of the object and its impermanence are evidenced in its patina and wear, or in any visible repairs."
taken from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi

a good article on Japanese aesthetics:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/japanese-aesthetics/

the Wiki take: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_aesthetics
and a quote from there:

"In Zen philosophy there are seven aesthetic principles for achieving Wabi-Sabi.[7]
Fukinsei: asymmetry, irregularity;
Kanso: simplicity;
Koko: basic, weathered;
Shizen: without pretense, natural;
Yugen: subtly profound grace, not obvious;
Datsuzoku: unbounded by convention, free;
Seijaku: tranquillity.
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we are all damaged, imperfect, and still functional -- there's no pretentious art talk, no bs - just images.. no more, no less -

not trying to get high falutin art world sniff your farts esoteric
 
kuuan said:
yes, good concept for photography. I fail to see Wabi Sabi in the photos shown though, or just in a very few, if trying really hard ;)
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Agreed. I think of Wabi Sabi as 'beautiful decay'. Most of the shots seem to be a random collection of images.
I think it's a great idea, but watered down by some of the participants.
 
Huss said:
Agreed. I think of Wabi Sabi as 'beautiful decay'. Most of the shots seem to be a random collection of images.
I think it's a great idea, but watered down by some of the participants.
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the images are not identified to the specific artist - no ego, just images.
 
Huss said:
Agreed. I think of Wabi Sabi as 'beautiful decay'..
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right, that's a good way to put it, time and decay are very central. Even a newly made tea bowl could be Wabi Sabi though, however it would have seeming imperfections that are associated with aging. In Japanese art I find very fascinating that usually the actual art work is very refined, materials used are very particularly chosen, refined techniques implemented in very particular processes with much attention to detail, but that the final product may look simple and 'natural'. In Wabi Sabi simple, basic, rustic, unpretentious, 'original' meaning free of or beyond conventions, subtle, 'behind', also intimate, melancholic, homely, often even 'useful'
 
Wabi Sabi Photography

Wabi Sabi Photography

I am a passionate photographer from Germany for half a century.
Zen aesthetics are fascinating me. If we want to see the things from a new viewpoint, we only succeed by integrating the quality of Zen and its method of world experience in our lives. The practitioner of Zen penetrates to the essence of things and life. This experience can create a certain serenity and grandeur in the life of a Zen photographer and his Zen-influenced images. The catharsis comes from the experience of the own original self by Satori and the concomitant freedom from insecurities and fears. Vanity, pride and glory as the drives for excellent achievements die away like the flower in the field and turn into nothing. They are not permanent; so they even do not have existed.

Summer grass ...
From all the dreams of glory
the last hint
(Matsuo Bashō, Japanese poet, 1644 -1694)

What is the fascinating of the philosophy of Wabi-Sabi for me? How does this attitude of mind enrich my life? How does this concept change my photography?

– My life enriches not by displacing the transience of life but by realizing it as a theme of my art. I exist in the here and now in the awareness of the transience of life more intensively. I exist at the moment mindfully and watchfully.

- I realize that things and my life are imperfect, not finished and always in flux. This knowledge frees me from the folly of perfection, which overwhelms the people of the Western industrialized nations and burn them out. Since many years, the photo equipment industry trains photographers to fetishists of technique in the interest of maximizing its profit. It always promotes fresh perfect photo apparatus with sharply capturing lenses and so sells new cameras consistently. A sharpness craze is spreading in the countless photo forums on the Internet. We yield to the illusion that the world and the reality can be captured by photography sharply and accurately.

– The simplicity as a principle of Zen design educates me to abstract the contents of my pictures. Credible and strong photos are the result.

– Freedom from habits and dogmas claimed by the aesthetics of Zen grows the creativity in my expression.

– Photographing in the sense of Zen also means to identify the essentials of our limited lives and of ourselves ultimately. We deal more carefully with our lives.

– The things tell us of the eternal truth. We only need looking at the things carefully and listen without distraction. We do not have to realize anything mentally or to penetrate it theoretically.

Some examples of my photography: www.photoartfolio.com
 
I am in over my head on this topic.
I understand (and appreciate) the imperfect beauty of objects. The "repaired" pieces that peterm1 shows are, I think, even more beautiful now than they were. Imperfections are almost always beautiful in objects.

I don't quite get how the concept translates to photos.
Is a perfect image of a broken/repaired piece of artwork what you call "wabi sabi"? I mean does the *photo* have "wabi sabi". It seems to me that the photo itself must be imperfect (from a connventional POV) in order to have wab sabi. ? ? ? A perfect photo of a wabi sabi object ....... I am so confused.
:confused:
 
daveleo said:
I am in over my head on this topic.
I understand (and appreciate) the imperfect beauty of objects. The "repaired" pieces that peterm1 shows are, I think, even more beautiful now than they were. Imperfections are almost always beautiful in objects.

I don't quite get how the concept translates to photos.
Is a perfect image of a broken/repaired piece of artwork what you call "wabi sabi"? I mean does the *photo* have "wabi sabi". It seems to me that the photo itself must be imperfect (from a connventional POV) in order to have wab sabi. ? ? ? A perfect photo of a wabi sabi object ....... I am so confused.
:confused:
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a quote from the very interesting and beautiful book linked above by 'photoartist', quote:
"In the concept of Wabi Sabi we find two initially shared Japanese and Chinese characters: Wabi, dependence and Sabi, solitude and loneliness. These term express feelings. They describe not the appearance of things. The melancholic sensibility was part of the ancient Chinese art and literature. ...

which is similar to what I had written in response to "Are the photos they present supposed to BE wabi-sabi (what I was hoping to see there) or are they supposed to be OF wabi-sabi?":
kuuan said:
Though this is an important distinction to make in the end imo it's the feeling of the perceiver that counts. Any characteristic of the photo that is conducive for creating the atmosphere, perception and feeling, if I may say, the spirit of Wabi Sabi, is important.
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and thank you for coming 'photoartist' and most welcome here!
 
daveleo said:
...
I don't quite get how the concept translates to photos.
Is a perfect image of a broken/repaired piece of artwork what you call "wabi sabi"? I mean does the *photo* have "wabi sabi". It seems to me that the photo itself must be imperfect (from a connventional POV) in order to have wab sabi. ? ? ? A perfect photo of a wabi sabi object ....... I am so confused.
:confused:
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I feel it's something difficult to describe, something we must feel...
Hmmm, I'm confused as well...
Trying to understand it...
robert
 
Whichever way Wabi Sabi is defined by words is incorrect because an aesthetic is not a description, its an experience.

Wabi Sabi in western sense comes close to tragedy, but tragedy without sentimentality, and there is no tragedy without sentimentality in western art. All traditions of tragedy in western art are sentimental from ancient Greeks to Shakespeare.
 
The first sentence of the Wikipedia article on Wabi Sabi, quote: "Wabi-sabi (侘寂?) represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete".[2] It is a concept derived from the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence (三法印 sanbōin?), specifically impermanence (無常 mujō?), the other two being suffering (苦 ku?) and emptiness or absence of self-nature (空 kū?)."

an understanding of Buddhist concepts, specially of Zen will be very helpful, almost required for developing a taste of Wabi Sabi. Wabi Sabi is an expression of the Zen mind, awareness of impermanence, imperfection and decay and overcoming the resulting suffering through acceptance and substituting it with a private, a bit melancholic appreciation. It's less to be merely understood, more something that can be acquired.
 
Right. I thought it was the hot green paste they give you along with the soy when you buy lunch at the sushi bar.
 
I'm one who appreciates the concept without fully understanding it. One of my photos on Flickr was once invited to the wabisabisuki group.

It's gone now. Wish I could remember which one!

But that was what introduced me to the concept. Certainly it seems peoples' personal definitions vary. That's ok....in the end our opinions will also be dust...
 
I checked and it is all wasabi to me. Photos and concept doesn't seems to match.:confused:
 
I feel my digital photos embrace wabi-sabi, since they won't last the test of time, and are also far from perfect. ;)

This thread reminds me of the "Nudes" thread over on Large Format forums - too many words, too little pictures. :)

~Joe
 
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