Friday, August 28, 2009

Markus Jenemark

(photo by Markus Jenemark)

I was surfing around the net looking for good photo sites yesterday and ended up going places I hadn't been for awhile. I went to a site that is sort of the internet standard for certain kind of photographers that I don't go to any more because I am tired of seeing images of landfills and abandoned urban areas. I clicked on some of the links and found a plethora of that which I've come to think of as "The Photography of Complaint." I don't mind that people want to make those images at all, but it reminds me of going to the Whitney Museum. After looking at expressionless faces and the blank remains of the modern world for a while, I clicked on Jan Bernhardtz website and followed the links to some of his own sites. He has a bunch now. I really feel Jan's photos deep down, but I realized that his new photography is also full of strange objects and blank spaces. When I look at his photographs, however, I don't feel The Complaint so much. It is attitudinal and atmospheric, and perhaps it is generational.

(photo by Markus Jenemark)

He had a link on his site to a photographer who is an editor at F Blog, Markus Jenemark. The site is newish and hasn't many photos on it yet, but I thoroughly enjoyed what I saw. He doesn't include any words with the photos, only headings, so I was able to link everyone and everything on the site in my mind into one big family. I am pretty certain this is not the case, but I am still allowing myself the fantasy this morning. Here are his children and his wife, his sister and father, etc,. surrounded by the objects of their bucolic life. After The Photography of Complaint, I allowed myself this Gazing with Desire. No matter. Go look for yourself and see what you think. He tells me that he posts about once a week, so there will be a body of work growing in slow motion there.

(photo by Markus Jenemark)

Remember the butter bean we all put on wet sponges in elementary school that grew roots and sprouted over the days until we put it in water and it started to grow toward the window light. Was it a butter bean? Lima? I suddenly wish to grow one and photograph it as a bromide. It was such a simple thing. I hope I remember how to do it.

2 comments:

  1. Lima beans. Sunflowers too. And the matchstick seeds of marigolds.

    When the bean split and the leaf appears -- I loved that.

    I've been eating cukes from the garden and peppers -- endlessly. Nothing quite like that sort of food I think. No tomatoes this year though -- we just didn't have enough hot dry sun.

    Been a busy few weeks on Cape Cod -- what with President Obama around -- Eunice Kennedy Shriver's passing and of course, now the loss of the Roaring Lion of the Senate. I wonder what will happen at the Compound now -- I'll sure miss seeing him around the docks and such.

    Not so much to do with your post, I suppose. This rambling. I think it is the black and white that makes those photos feel less for me

    I long to be drenched in Van Gogh yellow and Provence lavender today...

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  2. Markus is indeed a fine photographer. I've seen his work before. Thank you for reminding me!

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