Monday, October 14, 2013

Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman



Yes, but...
After waiting for nearly a year for the chance to see this, I had so hoped that this documentary would be worthy of Shulman and his extraordinary work. As mentioned in the video Modernist Shulman did not like Post Modernism architecture. Oddly what we have here, to present Julius Shulman born 1910 died 2009, is a dizzying Post Modernist chop chop documentary. I am absolutely enthralled by Shulman's photo work. And apart from the style of film making, what is most maddening is that Shulman's photographs, the very reason why the video should have been made, are usually on the screen for a period of less than four seconds each - four seconds! And during those sparse moments, Shulman's photos are moved around, swept across, have distracting CGI animated roads threading below - just too much razzle dazzle. Painfully, there is even a segment where a cartoon character is animated to walk in front of a few of Shulman's photos - the impact is unbelievably amateurish at best. Shulman's work was...

Better then expected
I loved this documentary simply because I feel like I met Julius and got to spend some time with him, if only via the screen. His simple approach to photography of single point and revealing his secret of combining natural light with artificial lighting to complement each other in order to reveal more layers was wonderful. Also, I liked the concept of how he was always relaxed and took the time to experience the moment and let the architectural, and the emotional impact of the moment, lead him in his shot taking; not letting components of that moment like dogs barking, be something that distracted him, but instead, gave him the opportunity to interact and respond as being one with the moment. Clearly his talent was to know how alive he was at every moment, and his photos reflect this energy. The architecture he was shooting, simply allowed him to share himself like any artist does, through their chosen medium and present to us what he was able to see at that moment. The beauty he...

stunning
as a real estate agent, I always seek to grow in my knowledge of anything having to do with housing. This film is a modern movement primer...

Click to Editorial Reviews

No comments:

Post a Comment