“It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter, because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the extraordinary.”
This observation from David Bailey, the legendary British fashion photographer, could honestly apply to dozens of F/F lists full of Fotolog photographers, some professionals, but most of them astounding amateurs. One of the artists I think of immediately when reading that quotation is location_iceburg. Locaburg is Mark Alor Powell, a longtime Fotologger and natural shooter, whose best work can make you question your own efforts while simultaneously inspiring you to new heights.
A form of magic emanates from his portraits, in particular: the way a direct gaze and even, eerie lighting conspire to collapse the distance between you and a man’s tattooed chest; how a low vantage point, shallow focus, and an arc of light—a locaburg kind of Trinity—illuminate a resolute woman’s spirit. On Powell’s camera, spirit must be an automatic setting.
Of course his achievement just seems natural to me; it’s really the result of a lot of work—and of being open to possibilities. Unlike many of us, Powell likes to engage strangers in conversation. “I love to see someone not afraid to show the world a point of view through dress or attitude, and I like hearing stories from complete strangers—this is ultimately the reason I like to approach people,” he wrote a few years ago, for the show D Troit, a survey of work by young artists from the Michiganer’s hometown. Powell lives in Mexico City now, with his wife, Karina Morales, and almost-three-year-old son, Julian. On countless walks through the many barrios of his adopted home, locaburg has found even more fertile ground to explore the relationship between subject, place, and spirit.
In a few weeks, Powell’s first book, Very Important Person, a group of 135 photos from Mexico and Detroit, including the woman with a blue plastic bag, Miguel, the weight-loss guy, and the sidewalk brothers in detroit (above), will be published in Mexico by Editorial Diamantina, and available at Libreras Gandhi, throughout Mexico. (We’ll have updates on US and Europe availability as soon as possible.) In this series, Powell’s extraordinary sensitivities to expression and gesture, and to how a person can be comfortably rooted in–or profoundly detached from–his or her surroundings, allows us a much deeper insight into the lives of fascinating strangers than we could have ever hoped for. Congratulations to Loca, a true Fotolog VIP.
tags: books, Detroit, Mexico City, portraits
16 Responses to “Location, Location, Location”
PK @ 2006-11-17 02:52:48 PM says:
well done sir
beebs @ 2006-11-17 03:08:48 PM says:
beautifully done, A
bdub @ 2006-11-17 03:20:50 PM says:
so good my man
dogseat @ 2006-11-17 03:25:36 PM says:
rad
congrats!
dangerpaws @ 2006-11-17 04:02:59 PM says:
very nice. i like that quote.
virgorama @ 2006-11-17 06:53:29 PM says:
Superb now, invaluable for the future
gg @ 2006-11-17 08:01:09 PM says:
he operates on a higher plane, that one.
always a joy to see the world through his eyes.
Chuckwheat @ 2006-11-17 09:10:09 PM says:
I want a copy prontito!
ndouvid @ 2006-11-18 07:02:58 PM says:
several of his images are indelible in my mind. the crucifix atop a leaned up mattress…wow!
the kid with the spray bottle and rag at the chicken burger joint!!!
thomas J. @ 2006-11-20 01:53:35 PM says:
if someone put a gun to my head and asked me to pick my favorite photoblogger i think i’d have to go with locaburg.
great post.
nene_y_marmo @ 2006-11-20 06:38:18 PM says:
MUY BUENA LA INICIATIVA
FELICITACIONES
soxiam @ 2006-11-30 04:30:41 PM says:
Did anyone notice that the subjects in “sidewalk brothers in detroit” appears to be bending their necks to match the direction of traffic lights blowing in the wind?
along @ 2006-12-02 04:03:28 PM says:
ha yes sox, locaburg’s work often has such correspondences.
The Daily F’log » Blog Archive » V.I.P.! @ 2007-01-03 04:39:39 PM says:
[…] The first copies of Mark Powell’s V.I.P. are in, and mine arrived just in time for the New Year. Mark is location_iceburg on Fotolog, and we covered his work and news of his forthcoming debut here. Seeing this compact jewel of a book for the first time, it’s even more gorgeous than I figured it would be. Locaburg’s very important people are laid out with great intelligence, both in echoing pairs and extended sequences. Throughout the pages, blocks of sumptuous colors keyed to either major or minor highlights in the pictures offer almost musical bursts of emotional frisson. […]
The Daily F’log » Blog Archive » Surf’s Up @ 2007-04-19 05:01:18 PM says:
[…] Location, Chicago. Another photographer who always seems to go beyond the possible is Mark Powell, aka location_iceburg, who we profiled a while ago. Mark has a show up through May 5 at a gallery called 40000, in Chicago. Congrats! […]
+AFw-')/* @ 2008-02-17 06:14:25 PM says:
ekibastos
ekibastos
