“A fine blend of street and abstract”
I’ve been a lover of street and reportage photography for as long as I’ve been a landscape shooter. I don’t get much of a chance to make environmental portraits as much as I’d like, and in recent years I’ve been trying to get some projects going where I am shooting more of this, but it’s been difficult, due to my landscape workshop schedule.
One of the ways I always like to seek inspiration is in a good photographic book. When I have had periods of burn out, or feeling I need inspiration, I have sometimes returned to some of the books I first got into. They are often a reminder to me of why I got into photography in the first place. It’s good once in a while to reconnect with your earlier self. It’s perhaps a bit of a mental ‘check in’.
Recently, I bought some new photographic books, for some inspiration, and this one - City Lux’ by Ray Metzker was the top priority for me. A photographer who’s books have been out of print for a very long time (and cost me a small fortune to buy), Ray Metzker’s work is a beautiful blend of street and abstraction.
Just check out the cover of the book. Upon first glance once may be forgiven for thinking they are looking at abstract shapes only. Upon further inspection one may also be forgiven for thinking it is the same repeating image, but it’s not. The cover appears to be a contact sheet. Each frame slightly different. Same vantage point, but with different subjects walking into the rays of light that enter the scene.
Ray’s work was all about embracing shadows. Much mystery can be imparted when areas of the frame have no detail whatsoever. Highlights are treated similarly, often with his prints having no mid tones. He is looking to reduce a scene down to it’s structural framework.
But as the contact sheet provides, he understands that shooting for graphic qualities first means finding a location where the light works to his advantage and then waiting for subjects to enter the scene. Planning, recognition of a location that may work, and then adding in the chance encounter. A beautiful blend of planning and experimentation - all there in the contact sheet for us to study.
And Studying City Lux is an education. Not only in utilising spaces, but also at working with the unexpected.
These abstractions, or mirrored patterns are often emphasised by the way that Metzker has chosen to print his work. Seeing extremes in hi-key tones and absolute blacks, we are left with nothing more than the shapes and patterns that I think Metzker saw in his mind’s-eye, when choosing what he was drawn to.
The book City Lux is available from Beyond Words here in the UK. Beyond Words is a small independent book shop run by my friend Neil Mclwraith. Neil is a fountain of knowledge about photography books and a browse through his website will probably inform you of photographers that not only did you not know about, but perhaps introduce you to work that you will be glad you found.
If you are interested in buying this book, then please consider buying your books from small independent book shops such as Beyond Words rather than the Amazon’s of this world.