My RSS reader already has more than
enough photoblogs to monitor. May be once every month or two I add a site
or move one to my purgatory group if it is not holding my interest
anymore. To make a change to my RSS bookmarks a photoblogger has to have done
something dramatically good or bad or my own taste has to have swung significantly
from one point to another. It's like the Sienfield episode about the speed-dial
list though; it's my own personal Top 20 photobloggers - no one knows or cares
(rightly so) who's on it but me. I don't make it public and I don't think I've
ever ranted about a photoblog that I've come across, until now...
The weekend before last I went to the Bay Area Photobloggers get-together
as previously described. Also as previously described, I was cold after sitting
in the cafe's garden for the best part of two hours and by the time we broke
up to leave the cold and the Guinness had the obvious affect on my bladder.
I was desperate to 'go' and seeing the line forming for the cafe's single bathroom
I decided to bolt and hold it for the 10 minute drive back to my house. As
I was in this state of distraction someone introduced themselves to me but
after a tiny amount of small talk I excused myself to get home as my situation
was getting urgent.
I did remember my fellow photoblogger's name and checked him out when I got
home; Jose
Luis. Boy, do I wish I'd been able to hand around longer to talk with Jose
and that I'd seen his photography before I had met him. His photography two
rungs or more up from the average photoblogger's. In my view it is some of
the best photography that I've seen on a photoblog. It's modern and urban and
quirky and subtle and sophisticated. There's obviously a depth of photographic
knowledge behind these shots missing from most of the photoblogs I've seen.
Not just technical knowledge (I take that as a given) but an educated eye familiar
with both contemporary and classic photographers. Jose's subjects range from
portraits to modern, semi-urban landscapes - I've lived in SF for a decade
and have never visited Treasure Island, Jose's home which is often the major
character in his work. Jose portrays it as a slightly surreal location; sometimes
dramatically beautiful, often dramatically mundane.
Jose's blog has a rich back-catalogue of images worth trawling through dating
back a couple of years. His photography is consistently good but not static;
you can see his work develop and evolve as his themes change. Now I understand
my own modest ranking on Photoblogs but
why Jose isn't
in the top
100 never mind the top 10 I just don't get. |
