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Missing Damon
When I first started to frequent dgrin a little more than a year ago, I noticed the work of Damonff (Damon Fernandes) almost immediately. Damon was living in China at the time and regularly posted remarkably vivid images of this foreign place.
Some of the pictures made the place seem almost unimaginably alien,
while others crossed the cultural divide with familiar emotions.
At first, I felt as if I were reading a National Geographic article called "China in Transition." Damon caught people in very traditional settings, and also showed them in the midst of globalization.
Who do you think taught this man to weave these baskets? And who taught the teacher?
On the other hand, these teenagers could just as easily be hanging out in Chicago or Paris.
It wasn't long before I realized that some of Damon's best pictures were breaking basic rules in subtle ways that worked to express his point. For example, consider this shot:
Here he has focused on the background instead of on the subject. The sign in the background is sharp, but the cyclist and his cargo are blurred. In this case, this lends a sense of motion (there is is some motion blur here as well as back focus.)
Here, the focus is on the posts in the foreground instead of on the subject.
The subject is walking away away from the clear focus and into the blurred background. This conveys a sense of alienation from the scene. We are looking into a scene we can never really enter.
Here he has used extreme contrast and even blown areas to convey a sense of bright light. This normally wouldn't work, but the in this case it serves to simplify and emphasize the interesting composition.
Last summer, Damon moved to DC and eventually found a job teaching math at Hyde, an inner city high school. Naturally his work changed as he moved from the alien landscape of China to a more personal landscape.
Yet, there is no mistaking Damon's distinctive style.
Compare this with the image of the man walking into the blurred background in China. It's the same technique, but now the message is quite different. We want to run after the person walking away. Perhaps we can make an important connection?
Or compare this shot from China:
with this shot from the US:
The message is different, but in both cases, powerful use of diagonals draws into a story. These people are juxtaposed, the composition strongly connects them. The composition pulls them into a shared story.
In the US, Damon used high contrast B&W to the amplify powerful composition and subject matter.
This won Kodak POTD:
Damon's caption is: "This guy couldn't attend the Halloween party at school because he forgot to bring his permission slip. Major bummer." The photo is at once a beautiful and striking abstraction and very human. We can see the "major bummer." We have to wonder about the system that has imposed this arbitrary rule.
Here is the same photographic technique used to capture and isolate the opposite emotion, a moment of joy.
Or look at this chilling shot. It's a scene from a noir film:
Damon's also shot portraits at Hyde in vivid color that he used to bring us very close to his subjects.
These subjects don't look posed. Damon has gotten them to open up and lower their defenses. It's a rare talent to be able to capture people this close without arousing a reaction to the camera. In this particular image, we are about as close as it is possible to get, and yet the subject seems to be unaware of us, lost in his own concerns:
This last shot exhibits another aspect of Damon's work that I admire. This negative space in this composition works equally well as the positive space. It is a wonderful profile portrait, but it also works on a purely abstract level. The line between face and background is would work as a simple line drawing. The balance of this composition is nearly perfect. The dark red band on the far right offsets the deep brown on the left. The white of the eye is the nearly perfectly centered horizontally. Composition and subject work together here. How much closer can we get to this kid, not just physically, but also emotionally?
This picture, taken in China, shows that negative space and simple shapes can convey a lot of emotional information. We don't see very much here, but we know that this kid is thinking about another place, perhaps wondering what he will be when he grows up, or thinking some insecure thoughts.
This picture taken at Hyde, breaks the rules:
Really, the girl's nose should be in the picture. But the abstract composition works. The simple shapes of the white shirts and dark green background triangle bring the image together. So we look again. Maybe the girl on the left isn't the object of this picture, even though we can see her eye and teeth? And then it clicks. The protagonist of this story is the girl on the right. Is it envy? She is seeing something.
Sometimes Damon's use of negative space is so strong that it turns a person into an abstraction. Here we see only the composition at first.
The subject herself fills the image, but the shape of her head and of her hair bun fill our eyes. We have to absorb this strong shape before we see her as a child whose attention is elsewhere.
One of Damon's strengths is capturing emotion. This picture has stayed with me since I first saw it.
It is a strong composition with interesting colors, but why is she crying? Quite the "capture".
This guy seems to have a chip on his shoulder.
Is he enforcing or rebelling against whatever slogan is behind him?
Here is another photo that breaks the rules and makes it work:
Normally I would find this kind of lens flare very distracting. Further there really is no point in focus. But the diagonal line from the sunbeam intersects with the cycles at just the right angle to create a pleasing V shape, giving the shot balance. We can all remember what it's like to be a kid on a bike on a hot afternoon. This picture transports that feeling into its urban setting.
Damon likes to blow his highlights in order to emphasize his subjects, remove distractions, and pare his images down to their abstract composition elements.
A certain amount of this is a fundamental of good post processing. But here, Damon had taken it far beyond the textbook prescription. The result is that the coat and fur inside the hood are pure white with almost no texture. Often this would be a deficiency, but in this case the effect is to frame and point up the subject's interesting expression. She is having a thought, no question about it. Maybe she is jealous of the shells in the hair of the girl in the foreground? Or just wondering whether the hood is a better idea than the braids with shells?
Here is an example of this technique taken to an even further extreme:
Looks like an Irving Penn studio fashion shot at first. The lines are very strong and the triangle hold the eye. It takes a while to see the face, looking in the opposite direction. What's going on here? There is an interesting riddle hidden behind the strong composition left by the blown highlights.
Of course, not all Damon's images work. His style is edgy and he experiments with things that are ofen seen as bad photographic style. Sometimes his images require quite a reach. It's rewarding when it works, but naturally there are failures, times when I just can't reach far enough. But there are more than enough gems to make up for these failure.
Damon's work often has an element of social commentary. He is an inner city high school math teacher, after all.
Once again there is a beautiful diagonal composition. The tones of the chairs and the pattern of highlight and shadows is very appealing. But there is also a statement here. Why are these chairs empty?
Or take this shot:
Damon entered it in a dgrin Challenge, "Song Lyrics". I won't quote the whole lyric he chose for it, but you can easily google for it. The song title is "One of Us" by Joan Osborne. A verse will suffice for my purposes here:
Damon's social commentary isn't all dark.
I find this a very hopeful image. This man is standing beside some sort of monumental fountain. We can feel how refreshing it is to him. He is a serious person and a thinker, you can tell. But he has common ground with the people who built this fountain.
This girl is learning to think. It belies the stereotypes.
Sometimes, it can even be downright patriotic:
Why isn't this a Kodak Picture of the Day? Maybe too much a Kodak moment even for Kodak? But look how well the composition and use of light make the point here.
I can't end an appreciation of Damon's photography on that note. He'd kill me. So here are a few more of my favorites.
The whole story is here, but partially obscured. She is spinning that basketball on her finger effortlessly. She doesn't have to look at her hand. What's she worried about, though?
Here nothing is in focus, but the interesting framing sets off the nose picking. The double catch light in the right eye draws our interest and adds a second point of interest.
This seems like a nice irreverent final shot, so I'll end here. Pulling these pictures together and writing a little about them has helped me remember what I liked so much about the photographs that Damon takes. For those who frequented dgrin while he still posted here, I hope it helps you remember that as well. For those unfamiliar with his work, I hope you've enjoyed sharing it with me.
All the images in this post are links to the large sized images in Damon's smugmug gallery. I've only pulled a small sampling out of the great images online there. Take a look here.
Damon's images are inlined here with his express permission.
Some of the pictures made the place seem almost unimaginably alien,
while others crossed the cultural divide with familiar emotions.
At first, I felt as if I were reading a National Geographic article called "China in Transition." Damon caught people in very traditional settings, and also showed them in the midst of globalization.
Who do you think taught this man to weave these baskets? And who taught the teacher?
On the other hand, these teenagers could just as easily be hanging out in Chicago or Paris.
It wasn't long before I realized that some of Damon's best pictures were breaking basic rules in subtle ways that worked to express his point. For example, consider this shot:
Here he has focused on the background instead of on the subject. The sign in the background is sharp, but the cyclist and his cargo are blurred. In this case, this lends a sense of motion (there is is some motion blur here as well as back focus.)
Here, the focus is on the posts in the foreground instead of on the subject.
The subject is walking away away from the clear focus and into the blurred background. This conveys a sense of alienation from the scene. We are looking into a scene we can never really enter.
Here he has used extreme contrast and even blown areas to convey a sense of bright light. This normally wouldn't work, but the in this case it serves to simplify and emphasize the interesting composition.
Last summer, Damon moved to DC and eventually found a job teaching math at Hyde, an inner city high school. Naturally his work changed as he moved from the alien landscape of China to a more personal landscape.
Yet, there is no mistaking Damon's distinctive style.
Compare this with the image of the man walking into the blurred background in China. It's the same technique, but now the message is quite different. We want to run after the person walking away. Perhaps we can make an important connection?
Or compare this shot from China:
with this shot from the US:
The message is different, but in both cases, powerful use of diagonals draws into a story. These people are juxtaposed, the composition strongly connects them. The composition pulls them into a shared story.
In the US, Damon used high contrast B&W to the amplify powerful composition and subject matter.
This won Kodak POTD:
Damon's caption is: "This guy couldn't attend the Halloween party at school because he forgot to bring his permission slip. Major bummer." The photo is at once a beautiful and striking abstraction and very human. We can see the "major bummer." We have to wonder about the system that has imposed this arbitrary rule.
Here is the same photographic technique used to capture and isolate the opposite emotion, a moment of joy.
Or look at this chilling shot. It's a scene from a noir film:
Damon's also shot portraits at Hyde in vivid color that he used to bring us very close to his subjects.
These subjects don't look posed. Damon has gotten them to open up and lower their defenses. It's a rare talent to be able to capture people this close without arousing a reaction to the camera. In this particular image, we are about as close as it is possible to get, and yet the subject seems to be unaware of us, lost in his own concerns:
This last shot exhibits another aspect of Damon's work that I admire. This negative space in this composition works equally well as the positive space. It is a wonderful profile portrait, but it also works on a purely abstract level. The line between face and background is would work as a simple line drawing. The balance of this composition is nearly perfect. The dark red band on the far right offsets the deep brown on the left. The white of the eye is the nearly perfectly centered horizontally. Composition and subject work together here. How much closer can we get to this kid, not just physically, but also emotionally?
This picture, taken in China, shows that negative space and simple shapes can convey a lot of emotional information. We don't see very much here, but we know that this kid is thinking about another place, perhaps wondering what he will be when he grows up, or thinking some insecure thoughts.
This picture taken at Hyde, breaks the rules:
Really, the girl's nose should be in the picture. But the abstract composition works. The simple shapes of the white shirts and dark green background triangle bring the image together. So we look again. Maybe the girl on the left isn't the object of this picture, even though we can see her eye and teeth? And then it clicks. The protagonist of this story is the girl on the right. Is it envy? She is seeing something.
Sometimes Damon's use of negative space is so strong that it turns a person into an abstraction. Here we see only the composition at first.
The subject herself fills the image, but the shape of her head and of her hair bun fill our eyes. We have to absorb this strong shape before we see her as a child whose attention is elsewhere.
One of Damon's strengths is capturing emotion. This picture has stayed with me since I first saw it.
It is a strong composition with interesting colors, but why is she crying? Quite the "capture".
This guy seems to have a chip on his shoulder.
Is he enforcing or rebelling against whatever slogan is behind him?
Here is another photo that breaks the rules and makes it work:
Normally I would find this kind of lens flare very distracting. Further there really is no point in focus. But the diagonal line from the sunbeam intersects with the cycles at just the right angle to create a pleasing V shape, giving the shot balance. We can all remember what it's like to be a kid on a bike on a hot afternoon. This picture transports that feeling into its urban setting.
Damon likes to blow his highlights in order to emphasize his subjects, remove distractions, and pare his images down to their abstract composition elements.
A certain amount of this is a fundamental of good post processing. But here, Damon had taken it far beyond the textbook prescription. The result is that the coat and fur inside the hood are pure white with almost no texture. Often this would be a deficiency, but in this case the effect is to frame and point up the subject's interesting expression. She is having a thought, no question about it. Maybe she is jealous of the shells in the hair of the girl in the foreground? Or just wondering whether the hood is a better idea than the braids with shells?
Here is an example of this technique taken to an even further extreme:
Looks like an Irving Penn studio fashion shot at first. The lines are very strong and the triangle hold the eye. It takes a while to see the face, looking in the opposite direction. What's going on here? There is an interesting riddle hidden behind the strong composition left by the blown highlights.
Of course, not all Damon's images work. His style is edgy and he experiments with things that are ofen seen as bad photographic style. Sometimes his images require quite a reach. It's rewarding when it works, but naturally there are failures, times when I just can't reach far enough. But there are more than enough gems to make up for these failure.
Damon's work often has an element of social commentary. He is an inner city high school math teacher, after all.
Once again there is a beautiful diagonal composition. The tones of the chairs and the pattern of highlight and shadows is very appealing. But there is also a statement here. Why are these chairs empty?
Or take this shot:
Damon entered it in a dgrin Challenge, "Song Lyrics". I won't quote the whole lyric he chose for it, but you can easily google for it. The song title is "One of Us" by Joan Osborne. A verse will suffice for my purposes here:
What if god was one of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home
Just trying to make his way home
Like a holy rolling stone
Back up to heaven all alone
Just trying to make his way home
Nobody calling on the phone
Except for the pope maybe in rome
Pairing this shot with this lyric, well, that worked for me. I didn't know the song, still haven't heard it. These guys look so completely defeated. Maybe God is defeated also. Have things really gone according to Plan? Man, that would be bad, wouldn't it?Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home
Just trying to make his way home
Like a holy rolling stone
Back up to heaven all alone
Just trying to make his way home
Nobody calling on the phone
Except for the pope maybe in rome
Damon's social commentary isn't all dark.
I find this a very hopeful image. This man is standing beside some sort of monumental fountain. We can feel how refreshing it is to him. He is a serious person and a thinker, you can tell. But he has common ground with the people who built this fountain.
This girl is learning to think. It belies the stereotypes.
Sometimes, it can even be downright patriotic:
Why isn't this a Kodak Picture of the Day? Maybe too much a Kodak moment even for Kodak? But look how well the composition and use of light make the point here.
I can't end an appreciation of Damon's photography on that note. He'd kill me. So here are a few more of my favorites.
The whole story is here, but partially obscured. She is spinning that basketball on her finger effortlessly. She doesn't have to look at her hand. What's she worried about, though?
Here nothing is in focus, but the interesting framing sets off the nose picking. The double catch light in the right eye draws our interest and adds a second point of interest.
This seems like a nice irreverent final shot, so I'll end here. Pulling these pictures together and writing a little about them has helped me remember what I liked so much about the photographs that Damon takes. For those who frequented dgrin while he still posted here, I hope it helps you remember that as well. For those unfamiliar with his work, I hope you've enjoyed sharing it with me.
All the images in this post are links to the large sized images in Damon's smugmug gallery. I've only pulled a small sampling out of the great images online there. Take a look here.
Damon's images are inlined here with his express permission.
If not now, when?
0
Comments
James.
http://www.jamesjweg.com
This is the 3rd time I've written a long appreciation of another photographer here. The first two were of two of the most famous photographers of all time, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Annie Leibovitz.
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=1626
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=5398
This time, I wrote about someone who is actually my friend. When I wrote about HCB and Leibovitz, I definitly learned stuff that helped me as a photographer. I think that will be true this time as well. So I reccommend this activity as a way of improving your own work.
It would be great to have some more of this sort of thing here. (How much more strongly can I hint?)
James.
http://www.jamesjweg.com
Actually I was alluding to more in depth critiques and appreciations. But, of course, I'd love to see more of Damons current work on a regular basis.
There is a precedent here; others have left the group due to anger or dislike of the "challenges", and then subsequently returned after some time away. I won't mention names, but I'm glad those folks returned and I hope Damon retruns as well. The challenges may be the most posted-to area, but they are not DGrin's reason for existing, IMO.
Here is this tree:
Look at the stylistic elements this shares with some of his other shots. He has purposefully blown areas of the tree and headstones in order to simplify and strengthen the composition. The lines of headstones point dirrectly to the tree and remind me of the empty seats in the auditorium shot.
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
I haven't faced any impediments to doing this other than time and effort. But, guys, it's worth the time and effort! If you look at the work of another good photographer well enough to explain his/her technique to others, your own photography as well as your appreciation of the work of others will benefit.
So I'm just getting in a plug for doing this. I'd love to see other people do more of it.
"Failure is feedback. And feedback is the breakfast of champions." - fortune cookie
The post was titled "Agony" and the caption was "The Pain"
I didn't see this, but I'm sure Damon did. Thank you so much for pointing it out. I should have looked harder.
I have always had Damon's website linked in my favorites. His website is here.
www.digismile.ca
I really enjoyed your retrospective of Damon's work. You're very good at comparing/contrasting--not all of us are that capable.
One of the top award winners over at dpchallenge did a thread/llittle of that on me, which was nice. Nothing so comprehensive, though, as you did on Damon.
I learn a lot over there, not just about exploring themes, but seeing how other people approached them (I don't enter often) and also seeing statistically whose photos I prefer over and over (the site compiles those stats). Even the comments made on individual shots during voting are viewable afterwards by the voter as well as anyone else on the site. The shooter indicates via a checkmark whether the comment was helpful or not.
Anyway it's been a useful venue to improve my own eye and broaden my horizons. I know some people use FM, DPR & RG to do the same.
Galleries here Upcoming Ranch/Horse Workshop
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
You did an excellent job!
Something I emailed Damon back in February: "You are a very gifted photographer with a very creative and unique style - see how people on dgrin are trying to imitate your style, how motivating your photos are to others. Your photos are immediately recognized as 'a Damon'."
I was then hopeing he would apologize for improper things 'said' and get back to dgrin. I'm still hopeing...
Nir Alon
images of my thoughts
i've always enjoyed damon's work - in particular his china stuff, it was a really cool insight into life in that country, presented on a regular basis.... so i miss the posts, too.
of course, he doesn't let up, either. for example, this one is really good:
damon is a photographer who knows when to break the rules, and for the most part gets away with it. i like that.
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You say he breaks the rules but you need to know the rules to know how to break them and get away with it. I never saw a successful imitation of his work on the thread.
I remember he was trying to get a book of his China photos published when he got back but couldn't find a publisher.
I found a copy of the Joan Osborne track http://www.santita68.com/music1.html?
Scroll through till you find her under 'J'
~DFF
I'll miss your posts here, Damon. I hope you can make lots of new fans. You have a big talent. Go with God.
Thank you for your very thoughtful review of Damon"s work. I have always been a fan of Damon's photography. Although I understand his reasons for staying away from dgrin, I miss his contributions. Because you are a fine photographer, you have been able to give very good insight on these photos. I wish I could "see" as well, and have again learned from you. Thank you for the time and effort you put in.
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