Wabi Sabi Photo Collective

Hsg said:
A wabi sabi object momentarily gives one a glimpse of what is rather than what ought to be......Death and dying are far from their mind......They're caught up in Maya and completely oblivious to the impermanence and fleeting nature of life....
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I was caught up in Maya for a while. Then we got a divorce.
 
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
 
photoartist said:
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
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Beautiful images there, and interesting text. I'll order a copy. Thanks for posting the link here. :)
 
all this chatter is boring! more photos!

I do not practice "wabi sabi" but I might try some Sake!
 
photoartist said:
Thank you Kuuan for an excellent contribution.
..
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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.

B-9 said:
all this chatter is boring! more photos!
I do not practice "wabi sabi" but I might try some Sake!
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hm.. I keep daring :)

Ikebana car by andreas, on Flickr
 
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.
 
aicardi said:
Personally, I find Eggleston's work to fit very well.
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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.
 
lynnb said:
My view of Wabi-Sabi is more like this:

med_U27021I1398650385.SEQ.0.jpg


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
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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?
 
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.
 
Jumillar said:
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.
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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
 
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.

SDIM3852.jpg


Please feel free to ignore my opinion, it doesn't matter to me.

All the best,
Mike
 
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