Travelogue: Sougwen Chung
The word ‘travelogue’ was first coined by Burton Holmes, a travel lecturer from the early 20th century (who first used colored glass slides and then moving pictures to supplement his talks). Given the sheer volume of imagery being shared through Tumblr, Facebook, and Instagram today, the word almost seems quaint and old-fashioned. Still, there’s something to be said for pulling together a particular set of images to tell a story or provide insight into a particular time in one’s life.
Leading up to our release of Sougwen Chung’s new print series, Étude Op. 2, No. 1-4, for Ghostly International Editions, we asked the Brooklyn-based artist to select and narrate some of her favorite images from a recent spate of trips taken between May and June, 2012. Viewed together, they provide a subtle link between the artist’s life and her work, showing how the experiences in the former can inform the preoccupations of the latter, and vice versa.
Snapshots from Santa Theresa, Vancouver, Tokyo, Nagano, and Brooklyn.
May to mid-June, 2012.
- The daylight created layers of texture on the hills and valleys that was rather captivating. View from a very small plane to a secluded island. Santa Theresa, Costa Rica.
- Another notable instance of light passing through wine glasses, illuminating a woven tablecloth. Looked like two fireflies. Santa Theresa, Costa Rica.
- Black sands in Costa Rica. It maybe barely noticeable from the photo but in person the sand was iridescent in the darkest swirls. Santa Theresa, Costa Rica.
- Surveillance. This ruptured bark took looked like a left eye, peering at me. Vancouver, British Columbia
- Numerous paper cranes made from beautiful origami paper in the Japanese consulate. I was applying for my performance visa for an upcoming visual show at Taico Club Festival in Nagano.
- Sunset view, arrival in Shibuya in Tokyo. Jetlag, then noodles.
- Morning view, Japanese Countryside for Taico Club Festival with Sepalcure. The trip was exhilarating; we shared stage with Machine Drum, Mouse on Mars, Africa Hitech, and more. 8,000 people showed up to the event and all proceeds went to Tsunami relief. Andy Gilmore’s visuals for Africa Hitech were stunning as always. Nagano, Japan.
- Scales on pinecone. Transfixed by the rich details in the folds. Vancouver, British Columbia.
- Blue petals for July 4th. Back in Brooklyn, New York
- New York skyline in a cab from the airport, after being away from the city for a few months. Apparently Zach (Shigeto) took the same photo. Brooklyn, New York
Filtered: Photos by *safesolvent
Martin Reisch, working under the moniker *safesolvent, is the kind of prolific photographer who makes you think of all the moments in life that you should’ve taken a picture but didn’t. A rampant Instagrammer, Reisch has made something of a name for himself in the community through his unique approach to iPhone self-portraiture (note: you need a timer, a GorillaMobile, and a pair of good legs).
In a return to our Filtered series, we asked Martin to share some of his favorite ‘grams—he sent over close to 70—and answer a few questions about his approach to the medium.
How to do a self-portrait like *safesolvent:
“I tend to do selfportraits mostly in locations that have vast large amounts of empty space. I like the contrast it gives when adding myself into it. It reminds me alot of those storyboards that the late Ralph McQuarrie had done for Star Wars and some of the Isaac Asimov book covers. You’d often see a robot or character posed amidst an expansive location.” - MR
Filtered: Photos by Shigeto
Zachary Saginaw (aka Shigeto) will be the first to tell you that he’s not a photographer. He expressed as much when we met up with him prior to a gig at the Berghain Kantine in Berlin. And then, almost immediately following this statement, he pulled out his phone to show us recent Instagrams he’d snapped while on tour.
Okay, so maybe Zach isn’t a photographer. But he’s certainly one prolific Instagrammer. On his previous European tour he tallied up an unspeakable cell phone bill, in part because of his Instagram habits.
For our recurring “Filtered” series, we asked Zach to pick his all-time favorite Instagrams and answer a few questions about why he likes to share (see after the jump). Ever humble and eager to contribute, he sent us some inspiring shots, along with how he achieved each effect.
(Top image: “Taken in the Red Wood Forest on tour with Emancipator and Marley Carrol. I used Camera+ for the HDR effect as well as Crossprocess.” -ZS)
“Taken 4/18/2012 in Luxembourg using the TopCamera “timer” app and the Crossprocess applications. It’s my first self portrait.”
Filtered: Photos by Heathered Pearls
Heathered Pearls is the alias of Jakub Alexander: DJ, music curator of the IS050 Blog, and founder of Moodgadget Records. Not only is he one of the funniest people we know, he also happens to be a diehard Instagrammer.
For our new series entitled “Filtered,” we asked Jakub to pick a handful of his all-time favorite photos (see more after the jump) and answer a few questions about sharing.
(Top photo: Scott Hansen aka Tycho taking photos in LA.)
“This was my first time using gorilla cam which gives you a timer so you can get in your shot, what was crazy was this seagull flew by right at the right time to interrupt it, such a better photo with him in it.”
