FARSIGHTED – What’s in the book

For  a long time, I’ve been wanting to release a photo book of my own. It is what seems like a crowning achievement in a photographer’s life. It really came down to timing. Everything had to come together just right for me. The strength of the work, the subject matter…. It all had to be there.

One major important factor was mindset. This is probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. Putting together a strong book of my own work! A most humbling experience. The result was 90 images taken throughout the last 7 years of my career. Why seven? That’s when the work changed. That’s when I changed. My eye for this subject matter matured. There are very few words in “Farsighted” aside from the forward. Picture books don’t really need words. What I wanted to say is all there. Titles were left out because I didn’t want to influence the viewer’s imagination.

This book is a journey, in no particular order, except that it begins in youthful memories and ends in mourning. There is a sense of humor and a sense of loss. Each image was a momentary love affair, a fraction of a second long. All I ask is that you spend a few moments with each photograph and see what I saw.

So I wanted to share with you, examples of the work you would find in “FARSIGHTED – Landscapes and Street“. I hope you enjoy them.

Forward

“In this digital age of photography, the value of an image becomes fragile with each click of the mouse     (or stylus, if using a tablet) on the editing desk. It becomes the work of an Illustrator and less as a Photographer. I realized an important fact about the selected content of this book. I used no tricks. Every image selected for this book was fine tuned using only the techniques that would have been used in a traditional “wet” darkroom. Cropping, contrast, dodging and burning with very little else. Although, I never consciously planned it that way, it’s the approach I used time and time again with each of these images. A healthy combination of education, skill and discipline.

My approach to Landscape and Street photography has always been pure. I didn’t set out to prove anything. I just made images out of pure enjoyment, for others to maybe someday enjoy. I never once though about how I was going to edit these as I made them.

“Farsightedness” is often used to describe someone who can see best at far distances. I found it an appropriate title for a scenic picture book. I could never get physically close enough to this subject matter and still fit it all in the frame. I had to stand back. Sometimes way back to get the whole picture.

In practice, it made me farsighted.” ~ Filipe N Marques

(page 1)

(page 51)

(page 71)

(page 161)

(page 167)

(page 175)

Buy The Book

 All Images © 2012 Filipe N Marques. All rights reserved.

Not part of this blog may be reproduced in any form whatsoever

without written permission from the author.

Edited by Julie Marques

Email: fnmphoto@me.com

http//:www.fnmphoto.com

“An artist’s work is never finished, it is abandoned” ~ Unknown