Wabi Sabi Photo Collective
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photoartist
Newbie
my considerations about Wabi Sabi Photography
my considerations about Wabi Sabi Photography
Thank you Kuuan for an excellent contribution.
Many of the posts in this forum developed by Western thought and the world experience of a Western world citizen. We want to capture the world with analytical reasoning and clothe the results of intellectual work in theories. But many Westerners feel that this kind of world experience and world domination can not lead us to the real core of being. So practicing Buddhist aesthetics (Wabi Sabi springs this aesthetic) increasingly attract Westerners, photographers too. Photographers who want to shoot in style Wabi Sabi, have a deep longing for another more profound experience of the world. Some call this experience Enlightenment.
But you cannot "make" Wabi Sabi photography. Here is the misunderstanding in many forum posts. Wabi Sabi images are the result of a Buddhist worldview and world experience. You can only gain this experience through meditative exercise and the consequent treading of the path of Zen experience. Wabi Sabi Photography itself is a meditative exercise on the way to enlightenment, the experience of true being. If you want to shoot images in the aesthetics of Zen Buddhism, then you have to abandon the western aesthetics consequently. And western aesthetics encounter us in innumerable pictures every day .
Part of my modest photos of Wabi Sabi Photography you find here: http://www.franzhuempfner.de/wabi_sabi1/index.htm
Check out my considerations about Wabi Sabi Photography with my theoretical considerations and many sample images: http://www.photoartfolio.com/publications.html
my considerations about Wabi Sabi Photography
Thank you Kuuan for an excellent contribution.
Many of the posts in this forum developed by Western thought and the world experience of a Western world citizen. We want to capture the world with analytical reasoning and clothe the results of intellectual work in theories. But many Westerners feel that this kind of world experience and world domination can not lead us to the real core of being. So practicing Buddhist aesthetics (Wabi Sabi springs this aesthetic) increasingly attract Westerners, photographers too. Photographers who want to shoot in style Wabi Sabi, have a deep longing for another more profound experience of the world. Some call this experience Enlightenment.
But you cannot "make" Wabi Sabi photography. Here is the misunderstanding in many forum posts. Wabi Sabi images are the result of a Buddhist worldview and world experience. You can only gain this experience through meditative exercise and the consequent treading of the path of Zen experience. Wabi Sabi Photography itself is a meditative exercise on the way to enlightenment, the experience of true being. If you want to shoot images in the aesthetics of Zen Buddhism, then you have to abandon the western aesthetics consequently. And western aesthetics encounter us in innumerable pictures every day .
Part of my modest photos of Wabi Sabi Photography you find here: http://www.franzhuempfner.de/wabi_sabi1/index.htm
Check out my considerations about Wabi Sabi Photography with my theoretical considerations and many sample images: http://www.photoartfolio.com/publications.html
Jamie Pillers
Skeptic
Beautiful images there, and interesting text. I'll order a copy. Thanks for posting the link here. 🙂
B-9
Devin Bro
all this chatter is boring! more photos!
I do not practice "wabi sabi" but I might try some Sake!
I do not practice "wabi sabi" but I might try some Sake!
kuuan
loves old lenses
thank you Franz. Thank you for your most valuable contribution! Congrats on your publications!
it helped me so much 🙂 - I had expected for somebody of authority to elaborate and hoped to learn but then had found having to take a different role. Hardly ever before had I tried to put into words thoughts on Zen and never on Wabi Sabi and more difficult again in English but I took on the challenge.
hm.. I keep daring 🙂
Ikebana car by andreas, on Flickr
FrankS
Registered User
thank you kuuan and photoartist!
aicardi
Established
I found this interesting
"To this day, the Japanese revere Rikyu as one who understood to his very core a deep cultural thread known as wabi-sabi. Emerging in the 15th century as a reaction to the prevailing aesthetic of lavishness, ornamentation, and rich materials, wabi-sabi is the art of finding beauty in imperfection and profundity in earthiness, of revering authenticity above all. In Japan, the concept is now so deeply ingrained that it’s difficult to explain to Westerners; no direct translation exists.
Broadly, wabi-sabi is everything that today’s sleek, mass-produced, technology-saturated culture isn’t. It’s flea markets, not shopping malls; aged wood, not swank floor coverings; one single morning glory, not a dozen red roses. Wabi-sabi understands the tender, raw beauty of a gray December landscape and the aching elegance of an abandoned building or shed. It celebrates cracks and crevices and rot and all the other marks that time and weather and use leave behind. To discover wabi-sabi is to see the singular beauty in something that may first look decrepit and ugly."
Source: http://www.utne.com/mind-and-body/wabi-sabi.aspx
Personally, I find Eggleston's work to fit very well.
"To this day, the Japanese revere Rikyu as one who understood to his very core a deep cultural thread known as wabi-sabi. Emerging in the 15th century as a reaction to the prevailing aesthetic of lavishness, ornamentation, and rich materials, wabi-sabi is the art of finding beauty in imperfection and profundity in earthiness, of revering authenticity above all. In Japan, the concept is now so deeply ingrained that it’s difficult to explain to Westerners; no direct translation exists.
Broadly, wabi-sabi is everything that today’s sleek, mass-produced, technology-saturated culture isn’t. It’s flea markets, not shopping malls; aged wood, not swank floor coverings; one single morning glory, not a dozen red roses. Wabi-sabi understands the tender, raw beauty of a gray December landscape and the aching elegance of an abandoned building or shed. It celebrates cracks and crevices and rot and all the other marks that time and weather and use leave behind. To discover wabi-sabi is to see the singular beauty in something that may first look decrepit and ugly."
Source: http://www.utne.com/mind-and-body/wabi-sabi.aspx
Personally, I find Eggleston's work to fit very well.
Hsg
who dares wins
Think of it this way, do you think Eggleston could ever include photos in his books where his with prostitutes? And still be respected as a master photographer? Not really. especially considering his 'cultural background'!
Moriyama is THE Japanese photographer and master respected and revered and yet his books include photos of prostitutes implying that he was with them and that is his life... Araki is a pornographer in western sense and a famous womanizer and seducer of women and yet his revered and called a sensei.
That is why lost in translation comes into play... A culture that is a thousand years old cannot be compressed in a Wikipedia article!
And THAT is wabi sabi.
coelacanth
Ride, dive, shoot.
Grandma's Fujica by Suguru Nishioka, on Flickr
'70s camera, '40s magnifier and 100 years old apartment.
Jumillar
Never Settle
My view of Wabi-Sabi is more like this:
Hmmm, Wabi-Sabi sounds like an interesting concept, I'll need to look into it further.
Lynnb.. I could look at this photograph all day, it's stunning
Yokosuka Mike
Abstract Clarity
Wabi Sabi... a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection...
Mike
Mike
tunalegs
Pretended Artist
Their website seems to be defunct now (no photos anymore).
I don't think wabi sabi can be fully understood, and perhaps trying to is missing the point (certainly, my Japanese friend doesn't entirely understand it, it may pervade Japanese culture, but that doesn't necessarily mean every Japanese "gets it").
The effects of time on our environment however are always interesting to me.
Untitled by Berang Berang, on Flickr
Ghost by Berang Berang, on Flickr
Untitled by Berang Berang, on Flickr
Eckleburg by Berang Berang, on Flickr
on the fence by Berang Berang, on Flickr
steps by Berang Berang, on Flickr
47000005 by Berang Berang, on Flickr
I think we can extend this beyond just the subject matter, but to the photograph itself. Dust? Light leaks? Imperfection - or character?
I don't think wabi sabi can be fully understood, and perhaps trying to is missing the point (certainly, my Japanese friend doesn't entirely understand it, it may pervade Japanese culture, but that doesn't necessarily mean every Japanese "gets it").
The effects of time on our environment however are always interesting to me.
Untitled by Berang Berang, on Flickr
Ghost by Berang Berang, on Flickr
Untitled by Berang Berang, on Flickr
Eckleburg by Berang Berang, on Flickr
on the fence by Berang Berang, on Flickr
steps by Berang Berang, on Flickr
47000005 by Berang Berang, on Flickr
I think we can extend this beyond just the subject matter, but to the photograph itself. Dust? Light leaks? Imperfection - or character?
Yokosuka Mike
Abstract Clarity
Voigtlander 50mm f1.1 Nokton VM lens, A7II
Yokohama, Japan
Mike
Yokohama, Japan
Mike
Out to Lunch
Veteran
It seems to me that outside imperfect pottery, any balanced image showing change and a fleeting reality qualifies. Have a look at this wabi sabi palette:https://duckduckgo.com/?q=what+is+wabi+sabi&t=ffnt&atb=v164-1&iax=images&ia=images
Jumillar
Never Settle
Help me out
Help me out
Despite the fact that interpretation is key to understanding Wabi Sabi photography there are some images in this thread that I'm struggling with.
Please understand, I am not denigrating any photographs here they all have merit and interest in their own right, but I am genuinely interested in how some can be tagged with this Japanese aesthetic.
My interest was kindled a few days ago and since then I've been reading up on Wabi Sabi trying to familiarise myself with the philosophy (and yes, I know it will take me longer than a few days to do it justice).
I keep seeing words and phrases such as "imperfection, decay, passing of time, beauty in the worn & weathered etc." To my mind, i should be trying to photograph the essence of something or depict a sense of transcendence rather than an overt depiction of a scene.
I understand interpretation is key but I'm finding difficulty in seeing how photographs which would do very well in a thread on Street Photography can be included here.
Obviously I'm missing something and look forward to someone enlightening me. As I said I'm not trying to be judgemental, I'm merely trying to understand.
When I get on to my laptop later I'll post one or two photographs for others to judge whether I'm on the right path or not.
Help me out
Despite the fact that interpretation is key to understanding Wabi Sabi photography there are some images in this thread that I'm struggling with.
Please understand, I am not denigrating any photographs here they all have merit and interest in their own right, but I am genuinely interested in how some can be tagged with this Japanese aesthetic.
My interest was kindled a few days ago and since then I've been reading up on Wabi Sabi trying to familiarise myself with the philosophy (and yes, I know it will take me longer than a few days to do it justice).
I keep seeing words and phrases such as "imperfection, decay, passing of time, beauty in the worn & weathered etc." To my mind, i should be trying to photograph the essence of something or depict a sense of transcendence rather than an overt depiction of a scene.
I understand interpretation is key but I'm finding difficulty in seeing how photographs which would do very well in a thread on Street Photography can be included here.
Obviously I'm missing something and look forward to someone enlightening me. As I said I'm not trying to be judgemental, I'm merely trying to understand.
When I get on to my laptop later I'll post one or two photographs for others to judge whether I'm on the right path or not.
tunalegs
Pretended Artist
This is a question which is far more general than asking "what is wabi sabi?" but asks what you aim for in your photographs, generally.
Are your photographs, documentary, illustrative? Or conceptual? Or put another way, there are photographs of interesting things, and then there are photographs which are interesting for their own qualities and the subject matter is of secondary importance.
The photographs I posted for example, are just documents of wabi sabi subject matter. The photo itself adds nothing to the concept.
Tin by Berang Berang, on Flickr
scooter by Berang Berang, on Flickr
Plants by Berang Berang, on Flickr
peterm1
Veteran
I am rather fond of giving my photos a wabi sabi vibe using post processing where needed to do so. Or by shooting through dirty windows. A different "take" on wabi sabi? Cheating maybe? I am not sure- you tell me.
Walking Through The Market by Life in Shadows, on Flickr
Through the Window - Street Shots by Life in Shadows, on Flickr
Faces Along the Street 2 by Life in Shadows, on Flickr
Reflections of a Real World 3 by Life in Shadows, on Flickr
Walking Through The Market by Life in Shadows, on FlickrThrough the Window - Street Shots by Life in Shadows, on FlickrFaces Along the Street 2 by Life in Shadows, on FlickrReflections of a Real World 3 by Life in Shadows, on Flickr
Yokosuka Mike
Abstract Clarity
In my opinion it’s all about finding beauty in distortion, finding a pleasing visual experience in a less than perfect image. It’s not about the subject, it’s about the image. A picture of something that has the attributes of wabi-sabi is not a picture that is a wabi-sabi photograph. Photos of rusty cans and cracked pottery are not wabi-sabi photos, they are pictures of wabi-sabi objects.
Take a picture without applying the best practices of photography, don’t focus, don’t compose, don’t think… if the end result is flawed but pleasing to look at… that is (in my opinion) a wabi-sabi photograph.
Please feel free to ignore my opinion, it doesn't matter to me.
All the best,
Mike
Take a picture without applying the best practices of photography, don’t focus, don’t compose, don’t think… if the end result is flawed but pleasing to look at… that is (in my opinion) a wabi-sabi photograph.
Please feel free to ignore my opinion, it doesn't matter to me.
All the best,
Mike
Out to Lunch
Veteran
Very interesting but also difficult to comprehend. I'll keep on trying.
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