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Hessam Ranjbar Year 3 BA Architecture University of Greenwich Academic Year: 2019-2020
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Abstract Time has been a very present element in photographs since the invention of photography. Hiroshi Sugimoto has been exploring this concept for decades to produce his photographs, get his philosophical questions across and evoke the viewer’s imagination. This paper investigates the concept of time in photography, evaluates Sugimoto’s collections of photographs and undertakes a survey on five of Sugimoto’s most successful series of photographs that share similarities in concept, technique and delivery. The methods used to evaluate Sugimoto’s work in this paper are observation, interview and survey as well as reading many books regarding photography, time and Hiroshi Sugimoto. After evaluating his work and analysing the survey’s data, I attempt to form my arguments about his work, photographic technique and artistic approach which attest to his exemplary capabilities as an artist, his success in producing art and his ability to produce thought-provocative work.
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Acknowledgements First, and foremost, I would like to thank dear Sugimoto, for responding to my emails during the course of writing my dissertation and for all the great work he has produced over the years. I would also like to acknowledge the 50 students in the University of Greenwich who took part in my survey which helped me immensely with my dissertation. To have an outsider bringing their opinions about Hiroshi Sugimoto’s work was very helpful to me. A very special thanks to my dissertation tutors Andrew Higgott and Simon Withers for their expertise, assistance and helpful guidance throughout the process of writing this dissertation. And last, but not least, thanks to my family for always supporting me in life and to my friends who have always been there for me. Without their help, this paper would not have been possible. Powered by:
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Introduction I believe with the art of photography; it is more about the questions you ask than the answers you give as a photographer. If you take a photo of a table for example, the answer (outcome) is a photo of a table, however, the questions you ask with your photograph is the differentiating factor between a good photographer and a bad/average one. The reason(s) behind taking that particular photo, your selected angle, your composition, the time of the day, the location, your subject etc. plays a greater role than the answer you provide to the viewer with that photograph. The answers are normally immediate to figure out, it’s the questions that take time to fathom. The questions are the one that provoke our imagination, they make us want to know more about the photo and make us question the photographer’s core ideas behind the image. In this dissertation, I will talk about the questions Hiroshi Sugimoto demands with his photographs, the challenges he creates for our mind with his work and the intelligent answers he constructs for our imagination to figure out. His photographs challenge the nature of time, they question the definition of a photograph and his techniques such as long exposure photography make us question how much information we can fit in a twodimensional photo paper, how much we can show the viewer and how much we can leave for their imagination to realise. The theme of this dissertation is time and photography, using Hiroshi Sugimoto’s wide collection of photographs to discuss these topics I will be going in-depth to analyse the ideas behind some of his series of photographs. I will also be touching on the subjects of time, philosophy and long exposure technique in chapter 1 as it is crucial to have a brief understanding of these subjects in order to fully appreciate and evaluate Sugimoto’s core concepts behind his work. Chapter 2 is where photo analysis will take place. I will be picking two photographs from five of his most well-known collections that all share the common theme of ‘time’ to discuss, evaluate and criticize his photographs and find out the core ideas he has attempted to convey to the viewers. The series have been critically chosen because they all share similarities in the concept, technique and rationale. In chapter 3, I will undertake a survey to use other people’s opinions in order to give myself a more critical approach to Sugimoto’s work and to find if he could be considered an artist, if he is able to get his ideas across using this medium and whether or not he is able to create better photographs using his techniques and ideas that he has used. And finally, in chapter four, I will use all my findings to conclude the final points and form my arguments about Hiroshi Sugimoto as an artist.
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Figure 1.1
Hiroshi Sugimoto Photographer, Architect, Sculptor, Curator, Painter, Philosopher
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CHAPTER ONE
Philosophy of a Photograph
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Definition of a photograph Photograph: ‘a picture produced using a camera’ — Cambridge Dictionary The definition of a photograph is very banal in the dictionaries, it only scratches the surface of what a photograph means, its uniqueness, its ability to act as a time machine and the philosophical narratives behind taking a photo. A more in-depth definition of a photograph could be: ‘Using light to reproduce an image in a two-dimensional surface either using a chemical process or a digital process.’ — Oxford Dictionary I believe photography is a form of recording time. Capturing a single moment for eternity. Representing something that happened in the three-dimensional world on a twodimensional surface. Every time you look at a photograph, you are repeating that very moment, you are relooking at that ‘thing’ that was photographed, and this can happen for as many times as humanly possible. In that sense, photographs are exceptionally unique. It is impossible to recreate any photograph ever taken in the history of its existence. One might be able to recreate the scene, but will never be able to go back to the time that photograph was taken, the molecules in the air, the weather, the photons hitting the lens of the camera, the very moment that photograph was taken will never be replicated and for that, every photograph is extraordinarily unique. Photography has been around for almost 200 years, prior to that, information was not documented as photographs, it was mainly writing or word of mouth. Eventually, painters (artists) came along and played their part in documenting events such as wars and so on (Sugimoto, 2015, p.5). After the advent of photography, artists found a way to create the illusion that a mini clone of the outside world can be captured on a silver plate. This invention was revolutionary for many, and even allowed painters to produce greater paintings by using the power of Camera Lucida and Camera Obscura (illustrated in figure 1.2 & 1.3) (Sugimoto, 2015, p.32). In addition, the invention of photography undeniably forced paintings to alter. Think of Surrealism or Impressionism for instance. The painters’ only responsibility was to copy reality on canvas, however, photography took over that role. So, there was a need for painters to do something that the camera was incapable of doing. One could say the advent of photography redefined art itself and took away a job from many artists whose mere responsibility was to represent reality on canvas (Sugimoto and Larratt-Smith, 2016, p. 133). To collect photographs is to collect the world — Susan Sontag
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Figure 1.2 Figure 1.3
Camera Obscura Illustration
Camera Lucida Illustration
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Time
Four dimensions are needed to take a photograph: (illustrated in figure 1.4) 1. 2. 3. 4.
Left-right Up-down Backward-forward Time
Time is a very present element in every photograph ever taken and photography explores the concept of time. A concept mankind has always had a hard time comprehending. The fourth dimension in our photos that is almost always captured within a split of the second. A photograph, however, exceeds time, it withstands past, present and future, it allows us to re-live a moment for eternity. It captures a moment and acts as a time machine allowing us to travel back and forth in time to it.
Grasping the concept of time is crucial in order to evaluate Sugimoto’s work and understand photography in general as Sugimoto has been exploring the theme of time for over four decades.
The sense of time is a very important factor of our human consciousness — Hiroshi Sugimoto
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Figure 1.4 – By Hessam Ranjbar Illustrating the four dimensions needed to take a photograph
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Long Exposure Photography Photography can be described as a recording of a single moment, frozen within a fraction of time. What if you could capture more of time? Do you redefine photography then? — Stephen Wilkes Society was fascinated by short exposure photography and its recorded moments for the first 100 years of its existence. However, the camera can record more than one moment, and long exposure photography does just that (Sugimoto and Larratt-Smith, 2016, p.151). It allows the 4th dimension (time) to be as long as the photographer wants it to be; essentially capturing more time/data/information from the subject than any other form of photography. This technique is done by setting up the camera on a tripod, opening the camera shutter and closing it when you are done with taking the photo. Light will hit your subject, bounce back to the camera lens and then it will be captured by the camera, consequently enabling you to extend the fourth dimension needed to take a photograph.
With the conventional method of photography, your subject is fastened down and is immobile the moment you press the shutter button. You have essentially frozen time when you took that photo. Long exposure photography, in contrast, allows the subject to be mobile, to move freely on its own will while it’s being captured by the camera.
Due to the fact that the final outcome is still a two-dimensional image, this method of photography is considered photography and not videography. However, this method may be able to challenge the traditional definition of a photograph.
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Long Exposure Photography, Time and Sugimoto The human eye, devoid of the shutter is essentially a camera with long exposure — Hiroshi Sugimoto
Hiroshi Sugimoto has been exploring the concept of time and the technique of long exposure photography for more than four decades with the intention of communicating his ideas in his preferred choice of an art form (photography).
He uses long exposure photography to express his ideas because it allows him to not use artificial lights, capture a truer-to-life photograph in terms of lighting and colour accuracy and to show the world the unseen as our eyes will never be able to see what a long exposure enabled camera could see.
He is considered a master of photography by many and his skills, imagination and philosophy towards life have helped him become a very successful artist as a result. Over the past forty years, he has been able to show the world what we may have never been able to see if he did not exist. (Sugimoto and Larratt-Smith, 2016, p.15)
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CHAPTER TWO
Photo Analysis
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ARCHITECTURE 1997 - Present
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Figure 2.1
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Figure 2.2
[with architecture] the core visions must be remained in the building … I used an out-of-focus technique to regain a sense of the architect’s core idealist vision for the building — Hiroshi Sugimoto In Architecture Sugimoto ‘focuses’ on some of the 20th century's most recognisable buildings, photographs them out-of-focus, in an attempt to reach back in time to find out the architect's core concepts when designing the building. He combines long exposure technique with twice infinity; a photography technique that does not exist in nature. It’s a conceptual idea that he came up with, which is about setting up the focal point of the camera to 150mm if you have 300mm lens for example. If you have a 300mm camera lens, your ‘infinity’ focal point would be 300mm. Now if you set it to 150mm then conceptually you’re using twice infinity. This explains the technical reasons on why the images are blurry but conceptually he’s done this to make us see the architecture in a different way. Defamiliarising the familiar to evoke our imagination on the familiarities of his subjects (Hiroshi Sugimoto | Architecture, 2019). I’m trying to go backwards in time as a concept … to capture the architect’s image of the building before they built [it] — Hiroshi Sugimoto For the past two centuries, architecture, a lasting trace of our presence on the planet, has been a great subject for photographers. Architectural photography can say so much about who we are as species, how we think and how we shape our surroundings for our habitation. Photographing architecture is a way of documenting what humans have accomplished over the years of their existence. Nevertheless, Sugimoto is not interested in taking a traditional 'architectural photograph'. What appears to interest him the most is our perception of them. He believes taking a photograph of a static subject (architecture) is banal and overdone, one could do that with painting and other mediums. He made the familiar, unfamiliar, forcing us to reconsider our reality and our familiarity with iconic buildings enabling him to carefully shape the perception of the viewer. It is not what we see that matters to him, but how we see it.
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We see essential forms, rather than details in Architecture. We feel as if we are standing underwater or squinting at the buildings, waiting for our eyes to eventually focus on them, we do not know whether the buildings are being imagined or remembered. Sugimoto encourages us to look at them with renewed attention by defamiliarizing wellknown buildings (Bonami et al., 2007, p.18).
We devote deep emotional attachments to certain buildings and structures. For example, the Eiffel Tower cannot be separated from Paris. He isolates the buildings so that he can disconnect us from the attachments we set for ourselves with them. He removes geographical locations from them by isolating them to their core forms and makes us see them as their own separate thing.
In the case of Figure 2.2, the Guggenheim Museum by Frank Lloyd Wright, we only see the top of the curved and tiered faรงade. It has become a great man-made shape, a presence of sculpture. One can think that he is looking at a sculpture. Because it is not always obvious that the objects we look at are structures or sculptures, we could feel that we are in a world where we do not know the meaning or use of things anymore. There are times where we don't know where we're. The Guggenheim Museum, without details, becomes a disquieting husk (Bonami et al., 2007, p.20).
The photograph of Eiffel Tower in this series must be one of the least factually accurate photos of this well-documented structure (Moure and Riley, 2000, p.105). Landmarks like this have been heavily documented in photographs, films and postcards, and Sugimoto's main objective in Architecture was to give us a new perception of the buildings without distorting them beyond recognition. The blurred forms erode the faรงade and imply the passage of time, softening the architectural details and sharp angles to provide the structure's essence (Pardo, 2014, p.21)
In this series Sugimoto has been able to interpret the work of modern and contemporary architecture to provide layers of narrative and meaning to the physical spaces as a way of understanding the intentions of the architect with regards to the reality lived.
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Figure 2.3 – By Hessam Ranjbar Behind the scenes of Architecture Bigger Rectangle: Infinity point of focus Smaller Rectangle: Twice Infinity point of focus Aspect Ratio: 8 x 10 Exposure time: 10-15 minutes
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THEATRE 1976
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Figure 3.1
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Figure 3.2
What if I prolonged the camera's exposure for the entire movie? – Sugimoto asked himself one day.
Theatres are a series of photographs that explore the concept of time using two to threehour-long movies in theatres. Sugimoto uses the technique of long exposure photography to capture an entire movie in a single frame. Every single frame projected from the screen is captured by his camera lens and technically we can see an entire movie in one photograph.
The static status of the architecture and empty rows of seats make us assume we are looking at an ordinary photograph of a theatre. However, the rectangular milky white light emitted from the screen makes you question the nature of the image. What could that be? Are they showing a white image in the theatre? Is that the light source for the room? Are we looking at a manipulated photograph?
If we think of movies as a series of photographs played one after the other, then technically speaking, he has been able to compress all those frames into a single frame; forcing us to question how much information/data we can fit in a photograph using this technique. Is Sugimoto able to redefine the definition of a photograph with these photos? I believe he is pushing the boundaries of the limitations and definition of photography.
He is able to take things a step further in this series by creating a unique vision that only the camera can see and then exhibiting it to the public. The human eye would never be able to see an entire movie in a glance, the same way he is able to see in these photographs. Sugimoto manages to show us the unseen in the Theatres.
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In order to create each photograph, Sugimoto positions his eight-by-ten camera in the projection room (a location where not many have had access to in their lives) and schedules his camera's exposure time to match the duration of the feature film (illustrated in figure 3.3). The open shutter of the camera is filled with cinematic images, one frame after the other (24 frames per second to be precise) until the movie cancels itself out in a blaze of white light. The white screen exposes the architecture, enabling otherwise unseen structural features during a movie to remain visible in the photo. (Sugimoto, 2000, p.14) All that remains of the scene is therefore a portal of bright, white light, within an architectural shell. Interestingly enough, the movie itself, which, after all, is the 20th century's most important art form, does not appear in these images. He forces us to focus on the passage of time rather than the movie itself.
All the photographs in this series share a similar idea and technique. The long exposures of the theatres serve to accomplish a paradoxical objective - to arrest or expose the passage of time; to capture two to three hours of time, data and light into a single twodimensional image that could not be understood easily at first glance. His art, taken as a whole, constitutes a profound reflection on the nature of perception, illusion and representation (Sugimoto and Larratt-Smith, 2016, p.16).
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Figure 3.3 – By Hessam Ranjbar Behind the scenes of Theatres Sugimoto taking 2/3-hour-long photographs of movies Exposure time: 2 – 3 hours Aspect Ratio: 8 x 10 Gradient Screen: White screen in the photographs
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SEASCAPES 1980 - Present
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Figure 4.1
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Figure 4.2
How far can we see? – The horizon How far back can we see? – The Seascapes
When the very first conscience human stood in front of the ocean, what did he see? What vision do we share with him? Sugimoto’s first conscious memory was a seascape. He remembers being on a train with his family for a vacation. The train goes into a tunnel and when it gets out, he remembers seeing a seascape; a sharp horizon line and a cloudless sky (Hiroshi Sugimoto Interview: Between Sea and Sky, 2018).
In Seascapes, Sugimoto takes the natural world as his subject, reaching back as far as humanly possible to discover what visions we share with our ancestors. He travelled the world taking long exposure images of two fundamental elements of life; water and air, to explore the concept of eternity time (Art in the Twenty-First Century | Season 3 | Memory, 2005).
Land has been manipulated immeasurably by man; however, water has stayed the same since the creation of the planet. As a matter of fact, the scenery the very first humans who were just starting to have a consciousness of being a human saw is the same vision of the sea and horizon we have as modern, civilised humans.
In Seascapes we are witnesses to an elemental world that is acutely calm, a silent nameless space, a primitive presence. The ocean our ancestors have seen, and our survivors will see. A geographically unlocatable image which bears no evidence of the shore, no ground where we might be standing, no signs of life, no clouds, birds or distractions; just the two most essential elements of life; water and air. The quietness of the Seascapes presents viewers with a calming and harmonious feeling. A feeling of connection to the universe around him (Bonami et al., 2007, p.18).
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Sugimoto believes water is one united element rotating around the globe. He photographed the same body over and over again using an identical technique of photography for each and proved that it is indeed impossible to take the same photograph twice (Sugimoto, 2000, p.14). Seascapes look ever so slightly different in each photograph even though it is the same subject in front of the camera. In every one of the images in this series, we encounter an entirely specific water surface, a distinct weather condition and light situation. Some photographs expose the horizon and some completely eliminate it.
Although defined by geographical locations in their descriptions, Seascapes are metaphysical oceans, too vast and infinite to be contained in a cartographic space. You witness a massive liquid mass splitting the rectangle horizontally. Sky and ocean become simple monumental components that almost melt into each other (Sugimoto and LarrattSmith, 2016, p.22).
Furthermore, a significant amount of attention has been paid to the composition of this series. Sugimoto places the horizon in the centre of all the photos to emphasise his subjects; air and water. He believes they should be captured in equal halves. They are as important, neither should be greater than the other. He has also undertaken the same extent of considerations for the exhibition of the Seascapes too. In his exhibitions (illustrated in figure 4.3) he sets the horizon line at the eye level of the viewers making them feel as if they are floating in front of the ocean and sky. It gives the observer a feeling of experiencing different locations of the ocean at different times, weather conditions, etcetera, while still being in the same room.
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Figure 4.3 – By Hessam Ranjbar Exhibition of Seascapes
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DIORAMAS 1976
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Figure 5.1
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Figure 5.2
The polarities amidst real and unreal, the contradictions of deception and veracity and the conflict between what we believe we see, versus what we actually see
These are all the questions Sugimoto is asking with this series of photographs. In Dioramas Sugimoto has gone forward in time to ask: what would happen if humanity ended its civilisation? How would nature look without the manipulations of mankind? - He has a vision for what nature should look like without us and he has realised that vision in Dioramas. Dioramas is a collection of unmanipulated photographs of utterly manipulated scenes. Scenes of which an artist has constructed in his imagination and is has then attempted to materialise using photography and dioramas.
Dioramas are very realistic looking and that is by design, it is one of the main objectives of this series. However, a question arises regarding how much photography can lie to us and make us believe what we see is real? These photographs look real even though they are fake, and knowing this makes us question if this deception takes place in the photographic act or in the eyes and minds of the beholder? He is able to create the illusion of reality in these photographs for the observer (Sugimoto and Larratt-Smith, 2016, p.143).
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If you look at my picture and believe it's real, then maybe that's the nature of your vision — Sugimoto
Even though the dioramas in the museum are highly saturated, staged and lifeless; the black and whiteness of these photographs and the technique Sugimoto has used makes them look very realistic. Has his camera given them life? Can you make people think the animals were alive when the photograph was taken?
This is very contradictory to the conventional use of the camera. A camera usually kills its subjects, it freezes them in time, almost like cryonics. We always photograph things because we know they will inevitably die and disappear (Sugimoto, 2014, p.3). However, Sugimoto is able to give his subjects a sense of life. Could killing something that was already dead bring it back to life? Photography is inexorably linked with death. As Susan Sontag has observed “All photographs are memento mori”
With Dioramas Sugimoto shines a light on the interstice between life and death, makes us question our reality and proves a point that photographs are not real and you should never believe your eyes when looking at a photograph, however real they may seem.
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Figure 5.3 – By Hessam Ranjbar Behind the scenes of Dioramas Exposure time: 10-15 minutes (illustrated on the clock) Aspect Ratio: 8 x 10 Gradient Screen = painted backdrops in the photos
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PORTRAITS 1994 - 1999
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Figure 6.1
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Figure 6.2
An illusion more convincing than reality, a believable lie
Portraits are a series of portrait photographs of wax figures from Madame Tussaud Museum. Wax figures trap a person in a moment of time; just like fossils. Photographing a fossil-like figure means you are essentially capturing something which has already been imprisoned. Portraits introduce a paradoxical idea to the observer about capturing time and perpetuating it for eternity. The photographs in this series are approximately 20minute long exposure photos of wax figures with an objective of making them look alive once again; to take a photographic portrait of someone whose time is over, someone who we might never be able to see in the real world.
Anne of Cleves (Figure 6.1) and Henry VIII (Figure 6.2) both lived and died in the 16th century. When looking at Portraits photographs, for a second, we think these photographs of the figures are the genuine article, but something would start to seem suspicious to us after a few moments of analysing the photographs. The figures undoubtedly existed at some point in time, but never stood in front of a camera in their life. Hiroshi’s camera has made us assume that the figures once stood up in front of his camera lens and he took a portrait photograph of them.
Originally, a portrait meant a painting of someone. Madame Tussaud generally uses those painting portraits to create a wax figure of those important figures and Sugimoto takes a photograph of them to create the illusions that those figures got their photographic portraits taken by him at some point in their life.
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In some respects, it is believed that the advent of photography caused the death of portrait painting. The camera became the first technological instrument to capture the image of someone's likeness (Sugimoto, 2000, p.29). Holbein’s painting of Henry VIII inspired Sugimoto to start his portrait series. His photograph of Henry VIII’s wax figure looks almost identical to the painted version of him. Sugimoto has even imitated the lighting of the painting. This is due to the fact that he wanted to create an ambiguity for the viewer about the origin of these photographs. Portraits are also printed at a very large scale (human size) to make them feel life-size (Sugimoto, 2000, p.33). He has also picked an odd number as his aspect ratio. He has cropped the images to a 321 x 400 aspect ratio to give them a more painting-like frame. Additionally, in every single image, we see one wax figure in front of the camera with a black background behind because we have been trained to think that a black and white photograph has this ‘documentary feel’ to it, a sense of oldness.
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Figure 6.3 – By Hessam Ranjbar Behind the scenes of Portraits Exposure time: 10-30 minutes Aspect Ratio: 321 x 400 Distance between camera and figure: 3m
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CHAPTER THREE
Survey
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In chapter three, a survey has been carried out to obtain the opinions of other people on Hiroshi Sugimoto’s work. This is a critical exercise for this dissertation to evaluate his work fairly and to not judge them from only one person’s point of view. 50 people have been presented two images for each one of the five selected Sugimoto’s series of photographs and have then been asked the following 10 questions: 1. Do you like the photograph? 2. Did you understand the intention behind the photograph? 3. Did your understanding of the photo change after being told the intention behind the photograph? 4. Did the photographer manage to get his ideas across initially? 5. Has he been able to tell his story? 6. Do you think photography was a good medium use for telling that story? 7. Do you think capturing this image is difficult? 8. Would an average person be able to take such photograph? 9. Has the photograph been thought provocative for you? 10. Would you consider Hiroshi Sugimoto (the photographer) an artist? The following pages are the results of this survey.
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Architecture 60
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Theatre 60
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Seascapes 60
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Dioramas 60
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Results The results of the survey can illustrate the validity of Sugimoto as an artist, his approach to photography and the manner in which he prefers to showcase his ideas to the public. The outcome plays a significant role in forming the arguments in this paper and can be of reassurance for me to have other people’s opinions on Sugimoto’s work being generally similar to mine. In all the series the majority of people, when asked the questions, inclined towards an answer that attests to him being a capable photographer, successful in creating thoughtprovocative photographs and capable of conveying his ideas after being told the intentions behind the images. Nevertheless, due to Sugimoto's rigorous manner of making the familiar unfamiliar, his work may be defined by a visual immediacy that demands prolonged attention to be appreciated and understood.
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CHAPTER FOUR
Conclusion
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Anything can be said about Sugimoto’s work, and nothing is wrong — Thomas Kellein
Considered one of the most outstanding contemporary photographers, Hiroshi Sugimoto's artwork has been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions worldwide for decades, and he has won many prestigious awards. His photographs are included in the collections of major international museums and some sell for as much as $1.37m (Photography At Auction, 2020).
Central to his work is the idea that photography is a time machine, a method of preserving and picturing memory and time. Sugimoto uses his camera in a myriad of ways to create images that seem to convey his subjects’ essence, whether architectural, sculptural, painterly or of the natural world. He places extraordinary value on craftsmanship, printing his photographs with meticulous attention in his seemingly infinite palette of blacks, whites, and greys. He uses his camera as a bridge between abstract questions and the quiet, neglectful nature of modern everyday life. The consistent characteristic of all his work is that he never uses his camera to record either a moment in an individual's life or an impermanent event. Instead of documenting the passage of time by recording the absence of an individual or an unrepeatable moment, Sugimoto approaches photography as something no longer restricted by the limitations of time and space. In his work, time exists in a state of suspicion; on the verge of unfolding (Bonami et al., 2007, p.18).
We live in a day and age where photography has almost become an extension of ourselves. Everyone has a phone in their pocket these days and everyone is technically able to take a photo, however, not everyone is a good photographer. After studying Sugimoto’s work, one can realise that he is a much superior photographer than most other people. His body of work resists the outpouring of meaningless images of our time. It is not common these days to see good photographs, photos that will occupy your mind for a while and resonate poetically, allowing you to re-evaluate your world, always mutating, but always itself (Sugimoto and Larratt-Smith, 2016, p.22).
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Going back to chapter one’s definition of a photograph, the art aspect of photography is not about how many megapixels you are shooting at, how good of a camera you have or anything superficial for that matter. It is about your idea(s) as an artist, your selected subject(s), the reason(s) behind taking a photo and how that photo translates in the minds of one’s audience. His photographs are what I consider a good photograph. They go a step beyond pressing a shutter button when you see something interesting. In fact, he never goes around taking photos before he has an idea constructed in his mind. “My method is different from the one that most photographers use. I do not go around and shoot. I am not a hunter. I usually have a specific vision, just by myself “ — Hiroshi Sugimoto (Sugimoto and Kellein, 1995, p.91). He does not simply press a button to capture an image on his camera. He thinks about it, creates it in his mind and then uses photography to realise it.
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You don’t take a photograph, you make it — Ansel Adams A fundamental difference between a camera and the human eye is that the human eye has no shutter, it is one continuous scene. When you are born, the exposure starts and when you die, it ends. Life is one long-exposure (Sugimoto and Larratt-Smith, 2016, p.147). Our eyes can never see what a camera could and Hiroshi attempts to fill that void in our eyes. He uses this disparity to his advantage, to present us his artwork, show us the unseen and to display more than what is apparent to us. The strength of his work lies in constantly questioning the medium of photography, nature of time and the meaning of life. A notion of self-questioning and desire for knowledge can be sensed in his work; a thirst for philosophical questions and answers.
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Photography as an art form is very limited. You are bound to the physical world around you since all you can do is to capture your surroundings in a camera. However, Sugimoto’s photography does not stick to the physical world, he breaks out of the constraints.
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I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn’t photograph them — Diane Arbus The world needs more people like Sugimoto. As Diane Arbus has suggested, somethings will never be seen if people like Sugimoto didn’t show it to us. The showing may be done in a number of ways, Sugimoto’s is one way. The important thing is that we need people like him who see the world differently. People with less consumption and more thoughtful production.
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In addition, he also demonstrates his validity as an excellent photographer by making a series from the same idea, instead of taking one great photograph. If he took one photograph to showcase an idea, some could say he got lucky, but he shows his capabilities as an artist and as a master of his craft by creating numerous photographs with the same theme. Also, the subtle differences in each photograph within the same series can be evident of the fact that one can never take the same image twice, no matter how similar the circumstances, technique and subject is.
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With the initial intention for the invention of photography being establishing a replica of the outside world on a surface, Sugimoto has proven to have a contrary approach to this art form to that of the initial intent. He is not interested in creating a replica of the world, he is interested in interpreting the world with his artistic approach and then attentively exhibiting it to the public. He has been very successful as an artist for showcasing his ideas and pushing the boundaries of the use and definition of the art of photography. The results of the survey in chapter three can be evident on this matter.
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In conclusion, it is evident in this dissertation that he manages to show us the unseen using his photographic abilities, get his ideas across and arguably take better photographs than most other photographers and average people. He is capable of telling a story, questioning reality and challenging the viewer’s mind using photography. For that, I believe he is an artist as well as a photographer, while not many photographers are capable of being both.
A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart and leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it — Irving Penn
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REFERENCES
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Bibliography Art in the Twenty-First Century | Season 3 | Memory. (2005). [video] Available at: https://art21.org/watch/art-in-the-twenty-first-century/s3/memory/) [Accessed 2 Dec. 2020]. Barthes, R. and Howard, R. (1981). Camera lucida. New York: Hill and Wang. Bonami, F., Sugimoto, H., Michelis, M. and Yau, J. (2007). Sugimoto: Architecture. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz. De Maré, E. (1975). Architectural photography. London (etc.): Batsford. Flusser, V. (1983). Towards the philosophy of photography. London: Reaktion Books. Higgott, A. and Wray, T. (2012). Camera constructs. Farnham: Ashgate. Hiroshi Sugimoto lecture. (2019). [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R2uMs-PezI [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020]. Hiroshi Sugimoto: Becoming an Artist | Art21 "Extended Play". (2011). [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCsbxVCdDtA [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020]. Hiroshi Sugimoto: Four Decades of Photographing Dioramas. (2014). [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9GiyPbLYPg [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020]. Hiroshi Sugimoto | Architecture. (2019). [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmCbPuL8Bts [Accessed 7 Jan. 2020]. Hiroshi Sugimoto Interview: Between Sea and Sky. (2018). [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWh4t67e5GM [Accessed 2 Jan. 2020]. Moure, G. and Riley, T. (2000). Architecture without shadow. Barcelone: Poligrafa. Pardo, A. (2014). Constructing worlds. Munich: Prestel. Photography At Auction. (2020). Christie’s Hiroshi Sugimoto Results, Nov. [online] Available at: https://photographyatauction.wordpress.com/2018/11/10/christies-hiroshisugimoto-results-nov/ [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020]. Robinson, C. and Herschman, J. (1987). Architecture transformed. New York: Architectural League of New York. Schulz, A. (2012). Architectural Photography. O'Reilly Media. Sontag, S. (2001). On photography. New York: Picador USA. Sugimoto, H. (2000). Sugimoto portraits. New York: Guggenheim Museum. Sugimoto, H. (2014). Dioramas. Bologna: Damiani. Sugimoto, H. (2015). Hiroshi Sugimoto. Stop time. Milano: Skira Editore.
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Sugimoto, H. (2020). Diorama — Hiroshi Sugimoto. [online] Hiroshi Sugimoto. Available at: https://www.sugimotohiroshi.com/new-page-54 [Accessed 4 Jan. 2020]. Sugimoto, H. and Kellein, T. (1995). Time exposed. London: Thames and Hudson. Sugimoto, H. and Larratt-Smith, P. (2016). Hiroshi Sugimoto - Black box. Sugimoto, H., Foer, J. and Serra, R. (2006). Joe. St. Louis, MO: Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts.
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Figure References Figure 1.1 - Portrait of Hiroshi Sugimoto Anon, (n.d.). [image] Available at: https://www.sfmoma.org/artist/Hiroshi_Sugimoto/ [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020]. Figure 1.2 - Camera Obscura Anon, (n.d.). [image] Available at: http://blog.stephens.edu/arh101glossary/?glossary=camera-obscura [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020]. Figure 1.3 - Camera Lucida Anon, (n.d.). [image] Available at: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Camera_Lucida_in_use_drawing_s mall_figurine.jpg [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020]. Figure 1.4 – Illustration of the four dimensions needed to take a photograph By: Hessam Ranjbar Figure 2.1 - Eiffel Tower, 1998 Sugimoto, H. (n.d.). Architecutre. [image] Available at: https://www.sugimotohiroshi.com/new-page-5 [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020]. Figure 2.2 - Guggenheim Museum, New York, Frank Lloyd Wright, 1997 HIROSHI SUGIMOTO (b. 1948) Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1997. (n.d.). [image] Available at: https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/hiroshi-sugimoto-b-1948guggenheim-museum-5551764-details.aspx [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020]. Figure 2.3 – Illustration of Architecture By: Hessam Ranjbar Figure 3.1 - Teatro dei Rozzi, Siena Anon, (n.d.). [image] Available at: https://i0.wp.com/fraenkelgallery.com/wpcontent/uploads/2016/09/SUG-34.004_Teatro-dei-Rozzi-Siena2014.jpg?fit=1607%2C2000&ssl=1 [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020]. Figure 3.2 - Teatro Carignano, Torino Anon, (n.d.). [image] Available at: https://anotherimg-dazedgroup.netdnassl.com/1280/azure/another-prod/360/6/366156.jpg [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020]. Figure 3.3 – Illustration of Theatre Series By: Hessam Ranjbar
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Figure 4.1 - Black Sea Ozuluce, 1991 Anon, (n.d.). [image] Available at: https://blogstudio.s3.amazonaws.com/theyny/6d1a09ad0ed9bcb24476d38f1c23d58d.jpg [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020]. Figure 4.2 - Lake Superior, Jacobs Creek Falls, 2003 Anon, (n.d.). [image] Available at: https://i0.wp.com/www.guggenheim.org/wpcontent/uploads/1991/01/2001.270_ph_web-1.jpg?w=870&zoom=2 [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020]. Figure 4.3 – Illustration of Seascapes By: Hessam Ranjbar Figure 5.1 – Hyena – Jackal – Vulture, 1976 Matsumoto, T. (2014). Hiroshi Sugimoto: Dioramas. Bologna: Damiani, p.56. Figure 5.2 - Wapiti, 1980 Matsumoto, T. (2014). Hiroshi Sugimoto: Dioramas. Bologna: Damiani, p.87. Figure 5.3 – Illustration of Dioramas By: Hessam Ranjbar Figure 6.1 – Anne of Cleves, 1999 Hiroshi Sugimoto Diana, Princess of Wales. (n.d.). [image] Available at: https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/10840 [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020]. Figure 6.2 – Henry VIII Hiroshi Sugimoto Henry VIII. (n.d.). [image] Available at: https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/10928 [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020]. Figure 6.3 – Illustration of Portraits By: Hessam Ranjbar Cover photo image Anon, (n.d.). [image] Available at: https://philliprhyso.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/301_caribbean_seahi_res.jpg?w=739 [Accessed 8 Jan. 2020].
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