Six years ago I had a dream of working in Makati. Awed by the structures that surrounds its skyline, the classy malls that it has, the young urban professionals that I can mingle with and of course, the green pastures that I thought will be in the palm of my hands. Yes, as I have said before, I am a dreamer and I'm always determined to achieve my dreams and so I did and the rest was history. Today, I dream again, of thousand of beautiful pictures of stunning landscapes, macros, portraiture et al. The most aggressive of them all is becoming a world-renowned photographer and yet I am only starting. Only a few months from my photographic exploits, I am already dreaming big-time. I can't wait to live in my dreams.
Parish Kohanim, a well known photographer hails from Iran and lived to reach his dreams in the Land of the free, the USA. Like me, he was one of the mundane people, like me, he has his own beliefs to stand firm. I give him my admiration not only for his works but more importantly, his perspective in photography. He believes that God provides all the beauty present in this world and that media, sadly distorted our view of it. Perfection does not exist in movies or cosmetics or anything to the same effect but only around us. Beautiful for him is something that moves one spiritually. Something that will stop you will drag you to pause, think and reflect. When did a photographer had a similar view? I am not certain. Nevertheless, I can connect to him. All have distinct beliefs but this would likely describe me as the photographer of my own right. Every time I stop to capture a landscape, or a moment or stunning view, I pause for a while to say, excellent work dear God, Thank you so much at the back of my mind even its only 1/5000secs. (Hahaha, I'm even faster than my D60). Seriously, no amount of photographic effects or glamour can compare to the awe and amazement of real life, of stunning beauty right before your eyes nature, animals or humans.
Da Vinci, Monet, Van Gogh, Degas et al, the master artists of the renaissance period who until now sells their works in millions to billions of dollars are all but Parish's inspirations. In fact, his works are painting like as he says he is painter but his brush is a camera. Again, this guy describes me as well but not as a painter. Growing up and having studied these classical artists, I have never really appreciated their work until I saw them last 2007. Yes, I saw a few at the National Gallery.
(The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, London, Great Britain, U.K.)
The Madonna and the likes are jaw dropping works that I fell in love with. Not only these are contemporary works that survived the ages but they are even being studied and facts show that Leonardo's Monalisa is a perfect example of portraiture. Technically, the aesthetics of the painting forms a pyramid where a photographer can based his portraiture. As I pondered more on this, I came to thinking of how genius is Leonardo, from artistry to mathematics. Well, that is to my advantage, I was soaked in Mathematics for 5 long years in college. I am happy having known these but somehow frustrated that what have I done for the past 27 years of my life? So much time was wasted. Anyhow, it is better late than never.
His photography principles are firm and I admire him for that. Among his notable trademarks as a photographer, he uses only one light in his shoots since the world has only one source of light, the sun. On the contrary, he can also opt to use several lights and still manages to make it look like there is only one source in the output. A master of light. For me, I will not be a master of light anytime soon. It takes time to know this and I will study such thru the materials at hand and experiment by myself.
Aside from the above mentioned, what has sealed my decision to emulate this guy is his conviction. "Trends come and go, but you have to be true to yourself. You should consciously reject trends and follow your own vision." says Kohanim. (Source: Digital Photographer Philippines). I was dazed. It was like a mystery unravelled. What I wanted to hear. This is what I needed to hear to be emphatic. There are so many trends around, new technologies, new shoots, new glamour, new effects, new dynamic ranging and the like. Only a few inspires me, and these words gives me confidence and new vigour to pursuit what I want and what I think is beautiful because I am not alone. There is the famous Parish Kohanim to back me up. Oh, thank you Lord for him. Lastly, yes, there is nudity in his works. Nudity but not pornography. Who says nudity is bad? Aren't our ancestors nude? Aren’t Adam and Eve nude until they found out they were after eating the forbidden? I would plunge into the same, given the chance.
I am dreaming again and it's not even night-time.
Your decepNIKON,
Jay
P.S. decepNIKON was derived from the movie transformers. Well, villains daw kami per Canon users. LOL! Peace! :)
References: Digital Photographer Philippines Issue 21; www.parishkohanim.com
Dream of Me - Kirsten Dunst
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