Ilan Bresler Photography

I know, I know. Flowers!

So many times I wrote on this blog how much I dislike 'Flickr's Explore kind of photos' and here I am posting one.

There is a perfectly good explanation for this, I swear!
First of all, it's been almost three months since I took my last photo and I got kind of rusty, but even more important - These flowers are the final touch in my new apartment. That's it, I'm done.
All in place, sitting on the couch, legs resting on the table, watching my big screen TV and these flowers were given to me by my new neighbors as a welcoming gift. Life is good.

Of course, that raises an interesting issue - How much are we affected by the feeling the photo raises in us when it was taken, when we come to test the result?
Photo (any other piece of art) suppose to reveal artists' inner world. But if the world is represented by something so mundane and cliche like bouquet of flowers? Or maybe the story behind this is just an excuse for me to upload such a ... bad(?)... photo?


To other matters - This weeks' favorite blog is of a very talented photographer that goes by the name - Francesco Gallarotti (or @gallarotti on Twitter). When looking at his photos, you must read his posts as well. Will always makes you think. And feel inspired. Plus - You can always enjoy his online photo magazine - Green Tea Gallery

Inspiration.
Artists' most important tool and the only thing that drives an artist forwards (money can do that too, I guess, but let's leave that for another discussion).

Sometimes I hit a 'dry season'. Going around with a camera almost like a blind person. Can't 'see' anything around me, the frames I take are weak and I hurry to erase them so I won't shame myself if someone else will see them.

As frustrating as it sounds, I actually learned to enjoy such times. When the 'dry' season is over, I always feel like I have broken through some kind of barrier, whether it's in the way I look at the world, or how I percept photography.

I don't fight the lack of inspiration. I adopt it as a tool, that eventually will pass and will sharpen/enhance/modify my photo results.

During this time, I enjoy looking on the works of others. And the whole point of the post was to say that I find inspiration not only in photography - One of my favorite artists and a true master of light is the painter Edward Hopper.

Observing his work, I just can't stop admiring the way he 'saw' light. In our digital world, we fight to bring out the dark areas, we create HDR images, we pray we had the same tonal range as film, but this painter - He embraced the harsh light. He used it as a tool. In many of my photos I try to imitate him.

And maybe it's the 'cure' for these dry times? Just try to imitate the masters?

What inspire you? Who is your favorite artist?

For this weeks favorite blog I will mention a great photographer I met on Flickr (yes, yes, after all my rant about the quality of photographers on Flicker, there are few very good ones). His name is Alex Glickman (Rundadar) and he is an Israeli street photographer with a rare quality that resembles many works of the Masters.

Enjoy!