weather spell V2
Images by Bill Sosin
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HOOTING THE STREETS AND SIDEWALKS of Chicago in color, at any time of day and night, through the windows of his car when heavy and clinging rains are falling, Bill Sosin captures the miasma in which we are enveloped at those moments. If we are not too drenched and assaulted by the wind and the chill to notice, such scenes can have a rough yet melting beauty for us, with which Sosin is enthralled.
As is the case with nearly all photographic projects that deploy natural elements to efface the world’s delineation, Sosin’s images run the gamut between those in which his subjects are discernible through the veil that clothes them, and those in which his subjects are entirely dissolved by their coating. He is successful with both strategies and their gradations, because in all cases the diffraction and reflection of light, and the fragmentation of shapes produced by the raindrops create a kaleidoscopic array of colored forms that delights the eye through its endless unfamiliar variations and yet remains at a distance from the viewer, too unruly to be possessed. In an image on the more figurative side, a wet snow falls on a street being crossed by a charcoal gray figure who has been reduced to a silhouette; he steps forward surrounded by muted green, pink and gray pools and patches bathed in an atmosphere of dirty black snowflakes. At Sosin’s most abstract, the scene beyond his car’s window has been totally occluded by a blue sheet of rain broken by black holes opening to deep night, and starburst flashes of white light, an astral vision. Sosin’s Chicago is harsh and alluring, a place where beauty and sublimity clash and join, and he affirms it. (Michael Weinstein, New City)
Weather Spell V2 www.billsosin.com Š 2018 Bill Sosin
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he sky cried all night long. Her breath is cool and damp. I still feel her tears, light and soft. Her mood is changing — she was agitated just a few moments ago, but
now she is quietly reflecting on the events that came to pass. I know her well. She will shrink into her shell and not speak a word — she will deprive us of her exuberance and effervescence. Until next year. Welcome to Fall. “A while back I ran across some negatives I shot from my car in the old film days. I was intrigued by them and began photographing from inside my car again. Driving around Chicago in a downpour I had glazed over momentarily at a stop light as the droplets of rain gathered on the windshield and the chromium vapor of the street lamps blurred behind them. I let the cinema window of the car become obscured with the pebbles of water and then photographed them…”
These photographs by Bill Sosin really capture the mood of Fall — the mood I am in when the days grow dark and the rain comes down. I sink into a slight depression, like clockwork, but this year is — oddly — a little different. It is a welcome change. I have time to reflect on my experiences and observe the world around me. It is beautiful — melancholic, but utterly beautiful. As are these images. —siongchin.com/blog
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“The camera is an excuse to be someplace you otherwise don’t belong. It gives me both a point of connection and a point of separation.” — Susan Meiselas
“The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don’t have to explain things with words.” — Elliott Erwitt
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“One doesn’t stop seeing. One doesn’t stop framing. It doesn’t turn off and turn on. It’s on all the time.” — Annie Leibovitz
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"...photographers turn their faces away from the garish light of day to evoke the magic mystery of the night. BILL SOSIN employs depth of field like a jazz musician whose mastery of basics allows his 26
music to soar. He focuses on rain drops pelting his car's windshield, layering these beautifully articulated, sparkling gems over backgrounds of colorful soft focus splashes of light emanating from movie marquees, traffic signals, and other unidentifiable sources..." DNJ Gallery LA, CA ArtScene—Diane Calder
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From Life-Framer.com as a winner in the 2018 “Street Life” Awards Series. Bill Sosin, Lady In Green “Raindrops on glass are an early ‘go to’ for many a street photographer – such is the draw of their aesthetic and their power as shorthand for loneliness and urban drudgery. Like night-time light trails from passing traffic, they’ve become a tired photographic motif for city life, and yet Bill avoids any such cliché through sheer elegance in execution. Here the raindrops obscure a mysterious figure, framed perfectly against the second figure behind her, and with glimpses of red sleeves that contrast so tantalizingly with her green coat. She acts as a ray of color and intrigue against a gloomy, washed-out backdrop. It’s mysterious and exquisite.” – Life Framer We’re delighted to present the results of our fourth theme of Life Framer Edition V, judged by the legendary Magnum Photos street photographer, David Alan Harvey.
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© 2006 / 2018 Bill Sosin www.billsosin.com Weather Spell Volume 2, Number 1 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the expressed written permission of the publisher. Designed and produced by Bill Sosin. Chicago
3 The Wait 5 Orange Car 6 On The Mag Mile 7 The Red Car 8 Rain Poem 10 Street Beat 12 Man In Blue 13 Rain Cloud 14 Avenue M / The Guost 15 Mono Mano 16 Overtones 17 Street And Sky 18 North Bound 19 Half Light 20 Searcher 22 Rain Shape 23 Rain Stage 24 Blue Car 25 The Wanderer 26-27 Horizon 28 New Horizon 29 City Color 30 Red Lady 31 Grey Ghost 32 Man Apart 33 Water Dream 34 Rain Story 35 New Chase 36 Ghost 37 Secret Party 38 Teal Sky 39 The Mist 40 Street 41 Towertown 42 Splash! 43 Glimmer Twins
44 Composite 45 The Running Man 46 Nimbus 47 Finding Way 48 Rain Bird 49 The Bike 50 Gold Rain 51 Passenger 52 The Rider 53 New Plaza 54 New Couple 55 Strolling 56 Chakra 57 Night Plaza 58 Rain Break 59 Walking Man 60 City Tradition 61 Longman 62 Dark Charm 63 Bicycle Rack 64 Abstract With Nude 65 Art Institute 66 Pink And Blue 67 Gold Purse 68 Blue Sky & Raint 69 Roundabout 70 Night Vision 71 Waiting In Blue 72 Man In Black 73 New Abstract 74 The Red Coat 75 The Lady In Green 76 Magic Circles 77 Used Car Riser 78 Winter Day BC Day Rain
weather spell Volume 2 Paper Mirror Press
Š 2018 www.billsosin.com