Ocean of Images: New Photography 2015 – this is the name for today’s contemporary photography exhibition in MoMa. An ironical name for this exhibition. There are more pictures in the world than ever before, and if you want to take a picture – it is a really big chance that this picture is already taken before you.
But it is not true in all cases. The pictures of us, our family album is unique. We are changing every day, our family is changing every day and week. Maybe thouse pictures will never appear in a fancy gallery, but they are more important to us than any photography in any museum.
Every year, in my birthday I make a portrait. The first years it was a selfportrait, in some cases I had some help :). This year I chose an old and unique process considering this digital age. The wet plate collodion process is known from the 1850s, you can read more in wikipedia…
For a few years now Maris Locmelis is doing this collodion process here in Latvia. He and Raimo Lielbriedis have a studio space and sometimes they go outside to make pictures.
It is really a slow process – in 4 hours we got 5 pictures, one of them was too dark, so we can count 4. There is more sitting and waiting than making photographs. It is like painting. An important part is thinking, waiting and the experience over all. Now I look to this portrait and feel this day over again, the birthday’s feeling is in the air. Just before the shutter release I felt so excited and full of happiness. The whole process sharpens emotions in much higher level.
Photography can be more than a way of documenting the day. The full process makes an experience worth to remember. I know, these pictures are a tiny drop in the ocean of images, but they are very important to me.
What kind of pictures is important to you?