Seen: one thousand 一◯◯◯
Who: Marcel Castenmiller / website
Where: WAREHOUSE, Meguro
When: Sept. 1st - 14th, 2016 (open 11am-6pm, closed Sundays)
Marcel Castenmiller’s photographs are transparent to the point that the essence of the photographer’s actual vision truly comes through. I’m not talking about a concept of “vision”, but rather phenomena of the actual, even emotional, transliteration of his world into pictures. And it’s amazing. On my visit I had the pleasure of sitting through the entire 1000-photo slideshow with Marcel himself- this was one of the best and most satisfying experiences with photography I’ve had in a long time. Someone get him the 500-page photobook he deserves!
The main way photographers tend to (unknowingly) stifle themselves is through approaching the medium the wrong way. They think it’s about choosing the right lens or camera, or having an idea about what being a photographer is- - It’s not about trying to be anyone else- or expressing something- it’s about faithfully (or, simply) snatching out that what makes for an honest picture- if you’re interested in authenticity, anyway, — something that frames the everything in a moment. It’s hard to put into words- but that’s ok because we’re talking about photographs.