Meditations of another kind on Nitin's DSC_2658.jpg

This forum is dedicated for discussions on making creative images of nature. Images can be attached too as part of the discussion thread.

Moderators: Prashanth Sampagar, Madhav Jois, Raviprakash S S, Vikas T R, Adithya Biloor, Nevil Zaveri, Aniket R Thopate, Adithya U N, Sarthak Agrawal








Meditations of another kind on Nitin's DSC_2658.jpg

Postby nirlep » Tue Jul 10, 2012 12:07 pm

Meditations of another kind
On Nitin’s ‘Hands of a bonnet macaque’
Image of the month-May 2012
at CNP



Hands of a bonnet macaque by Nitin.jpg
Hands of a bonnet macaque by Nitin.jpg (41.63 KiB) Viewed 7707 times


It is said that ability to grasp objects with hand was one of the key factors to evolution of Homo-Sapiens. It was hands which sculpted rudimentary tools from stones & wood to hunt, protect, build and till. Hands and mind worked in tandem, honed capabilities of each other. Hands could accomplish what brain thought necessary. The ability to accomplish provided a nourishing feedback to brain. Ends of survival were achieved through the collective labour of mind and body. Hand evolved and went on to mean a lot of things; work, unity, friendship, handshake, crush, caress, bless, thwart, reassure, cradle.
Bonhomie between face (read mind) and limbs covered a lot of ground. Slowly they began to part company. In a discourse driven society the anthem of mind over matter placed the face on a throne to which rest of the body parts became subservient. Ever increasingly it was seen as the seat of consciousness. Ascendency of face was established. Arts and commerce refined this schism to the level of fetish. Face became the person.
In portraiture face has become so dominant that the rest of the body could at best be seen as a prop to hold the almighty face. Production of head and face centric art and photographic images robbed the viewers of their capacity to look at the body as a whole. Sadly that was to miss out on the tales told by the rest of the body.
It is in the backdrop of such conditioning that Nitin’s DSC_2658.jpg- hands of a bonnet macaque assumes importance. In one split second decision he severs the head from the whole to concentrate on the hands.
“The framing is the strongest attribute of this picture. If the photographers’ frame surrounded two figures isolating them from the crowd where they stood it created a relationship between the two that had not existed before. The central act of photography, the act of choosing and eliminating forces a concentration on the picture edge, the line that separates in from out and on the shapes that are created by it” John Szarkowski. (The photographer’s eye.)
In the picture “hands of a bonnet macaque” hands wouldn’t have become the central element if the picture had included the face. Inclusion of face would’ve immediately brought to fore the way we are trained to see. That would’ve denied attention to the hands. Now hands is all we see.
When the picture was posted some of us agreed that it was two pictures in one; one on top of the other. Personally, I saw a visual split right in the middle of the frame. One picture started from the top of the frame, top hand included, ending somewhere in the middle. Where the first one ended, the second began ending at the bottom of the frame. Revisiting the picture during the course of writing I find myself reading it differently. The split is not there. Instead it draws me in through the way the hands are poised. One hand, the lower one faces away and the other, the top one faces towards the viewer. Together they tell two sides of a story. The lower hand is densely hirsute. Each strand of hair is sharply defined. There’s no sign of bare skin. We are looking at an animal. The gaze when moves up pauses briefly at the breasts before resting on the top hand. In an instant the shape of the finger and nails catch attention. Slender shape of the small finger looks human in biological sense. Hair have receeded. Skin is visible. Nails look like nails not claws. Between a few centimeters of space between the hands lies the time, the evolutionary time in which the tremendous, excruciating story of a Homo-Sapien unfolds. Shedding one hair must’ve taken millennia. A statement has been made by this picture.

There are similar pictures on CNP which attempt to locate stories through non-face centric portraiture of natural world.

Take off by Ganesh H Shankar.jpg
Take off by Ganesh H Shankar.jpg (15.95 KiB) Viewed 7707 times


manicured by Sudhir Shivram.jpg
manicured by Sudhir Shivram.jpg (17.52 KiB) Viewed 7707 times


Here and gone by Arati Rao.jpg
Here and gone by Arati Rao.jpg (24.29 KiB) Viewed 7707 times


At another level such portraiture strikes down the established hierarchy of seeing which is strongly hegemonised by the face. It is courageous to ignore the established canons, and, by implication the cult of personality which is based on reading of the face. The ramifications of such seeing would go beyond the purely aesthetical, into the political.
Aesop made this point in 600 BC in one of his fables “The stag at the pool” http://www.aesops-fables.org.uk/the-sta ... e-pool.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Through the fable he constructed the idea of the beauty of functionality. In a world in which hands and their labour have become marginalized Nitin’s picture does an encore of Aesop’s fable.
By excluding the vain it celebrates the beauty of functionality.


Nirlep Singh
Last edited by nirlep on Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
nirlep
 
Posts: 86
Joined: Sat Aug 30, 2008 2:23 pm

Re: Meditations of another kind on Nitin's DSC_2658.jpg

Postby Ganesh H Shankar » Tue Jul 10, 2012 5:58 pm

Very well written Nirlep. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Between a few centimeters of space between the hands lies the time, the evolutionary time in which the tremendous, excruciation story of a Homo-Sapien unfolds. Shedding one hair must’ve taken millennia. A statement has been made by this picture.


Love the above note. In my mind such faceless compositions also create room for our minds to construct the missing face in a way we want it to be. The absence of face gives more time to mind to ponder over. The effective compositions can prudently use that time to steer the seeing minds in some intended direction. Your thoughts ?
Ganesh H. Shankar
Wishing you best light,

Image
Fine Art Nature Photography
User avatar
Ganesh H Shankar
Site Admin
 
Posts: 1141
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2008 6:54 pm
Location: Bangalore, INDIA

Re: Meditations of another kind on Nitin's DSC_2658.jpg

Postby dinesh.ramarao » Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:07 am

Face need not define 'face value' !
Wonderful read again Nirlep. You are bringing in a new dimension on CNP with your writeups.
-RD
- RD
dinesh.ramarao
 
Posts: 76
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2008 9:40 am
Location: Bangalore

Re: Meditations of another kind on Nitin's DSC_2658.jpg

Postby nirlep » Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:10 pm

Ganesh thanks for liking the post and your words. I don't have anything against the face as the main element of portraiture. It's the overkill and sometimes undue attention to it which sidelines more important facets. As a photographer a decision has to made which part to include and which to exclude. Yes you are right that by excluding the face when required we can bring back the viewer's attention to a hitherto un-noticed part.
RD this series is by far the longest routine that I have been able to discharge. This has been possible IOM;s which have brought to us radically different images each month. For that the credit goes to the team CNP for picking thought provoking pictures month after month. It's not an easy task. Each image becomes an exercise in exploration for me. It compels me to write. I can not not write once IOM is out. Writing each month helps me edit my thoughts and I truly feel humbled by the strength of images at CNP.
Thanks once again
nirlep
 
Posts: 86
Joined: Sat Aug 30, 2008 2:23 pm

Re: Meditations of another kind on Nitin's DSC_2658.jpg

Postby nirlep » Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:13 pm

I forgot to mention that during the course of writing this piece I missed Nitin's words. It would've great to have his views about the shot. I have not been able to contact him through pm on CNP. If somebody has his mail id or cell phone please inform him about the article. Till then it will remain incomplete.
Thanks Nitin for such a wonderful image!!
nirlep
 
Posts: 86
Joined: Sat Aug 30, 2008 2:23 pm









Return to Discussions on Creative & Fine Art Nature Photography

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 44 guests

cron