Nobuyoshi Araki – ‘Sentimental Journey 1971 – 2017 -‘

Nobuyoshi Araki is one of the more (perhaps the most) prolific photobook makers ever, with over 500 to his credit. Despite his renown, I’ve avoided his work. Every time I’ve gone looking, I’ve wound up finding Tokyo Lucky Hole or one of his other, more or less explicit/pornographic works, and I’m not too interested in exploitation.

Araki’s Sentimental Journey 1971 – 2017 – is different, though, and I’m a bit surprised I haven’t come across the Sentimental Journey series before. It’s different, and really brilliant.

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Keep your hands to yourself

If you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past few weeks, you might wonder about the timing of this post, but as regards the second hollow one, there’s a reason the parties and dinners I attend with my neighbors are gender segregated: in addition to our inability to watch our mouths, we humans—especially men, but women too—have great difficulty keeping our pants on, much less keeping our hands to ourselves.

And lowering our gaze? fuggedaboutit. Continue reading “Keep your hands to yourself”

Cognitive Dissonance in the Mountains with the Yashica

The last week of October found me in Arkansas (and Oklahoma) for a brief visit with Mom, some photography, and some introspection. I’ve been slow in getting the film processed, so look forward to more photographs from this trip in coming weeks.

For now, it’s all about Cinestill films in the Yashica Mat-124, a party, of sorts, in 5 parts. Continue reading “Cognitive Dissonance in the Mountains with the Yashica”

Watch your Mouth

Abu Musa reported that

رضى الله عنه ـ قَالَ قَالُوا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ أَىُّ الإِسْلاَمِ أَفْضَلُ قَالَ ‏ “‏ مَنْ سَلِمَ الْمُسْلِمُونَ مِنْ لِسَانِهِ وَيَدِهِ ‏”‏‏

Some people asked Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ), “Whose Islam is the best? i.e. (Who is a very good Muslim)?” He replied, “One who avoids harming the Muslims with his tongue and hands.”

In a hasan (good, but not perfect) hadith in  Jami` at-Tirmidhi, Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudri narrates that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said

إِذَا أَصْبَحَ ابْنُ آدَمَ فَإِنَّ الأَعْضَاءَ كُلَّهَا تُكَفِّرُ اللِّسَانَ فَتَقُولُ اتَّقِ اللَّهَ فِينَا فَإِنَّمَا نَحْنُ بِكَ فَإِنِ اسْتَقَمْتَ اسْتَقَمْنَا وَإِنِ اعْوَجَجْتَ اعْوَجَجْنَا

When the son of Adam wakes up in the morning, all of his body parts bow to the tongue and say: ‘Fear Allah regarding us, we are only part of you. If you are straight we are straight and if you are crooked we are crooked.’

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Nathan Pearce – ‘Midwest Dirt’ Special Zine Edition

Nathan Pearce’s Midwest Dirt, now in its third iteration, is something of a classic of contemporary photography zines. The first iteration (that I’m aware of) appeared on Burn  in 2012, and Akina Books designed the beautiful first print edition in 2014. Pearce’s own Same Coin Press put out a bootleg photocopied version the next year, and Josef Cheladek has it on his excellent site.

For it’s 5th anniversary, Pearce worked with Jake Reinhart to put together a new edit and Halfmoon Projects published a brand new edition, designed by Elana Schlenker. I was all set to get one, and then I saw the special editions: one with prints, one with zines, and one with prints and zines. Being the zine fiend that I am these days, I went for the zine edition, and I wasn’t disappointed.

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