A Photography Series and the Cohesivity of the Message

February 21, 2008

Recently I learned about Johsong Baak, an american photographer residing in Paris. I have to say that I feel somehow confused about his work.

I certainly like the aesthetics of his images: high contrast, with a nice and consistent texture of grain. Compositions that are original and play with light to shape the image and convey a dramatic effect into the final picture.

There is "cohesiveness" in his aesthetics. Even more, there is "cohesiveness" between his "dramatic" use of light and his emotional approach to photography.

For Jeshong Baak, being a photographer is an emotional affair with the moment.

Johsong Baak was born in South Korea. At an early age he emigrated to America with his father. This change in life would separate him from his mother for more than 25 years. No memories, no photographs to remember her.

"I lived without roots, imprisoned between cultures"-Johsong Baak

This made him an outsider and a traveler, always and everywhere in search of a home. He often photographed while wandering through a place at night.

"It is a matter of chance - an encounter, a view, the way light falls. Small moments. That is where happiness is hidden."-Johsong Baak

All should be holding together, but unfortunately it doesn't for me, and this is why I am confused.

Nice images, some very nice indeed, but at the end the images in the portfolios are just connected by nothing but the dramatic use of contrast, light and darkness. I feel like he is trying to tell something that unfortunately I don't hear. Each image within a portfolio is somewhere mysterious and always different and for me they miss the concept of a "cohesive" message.

One of the purposes of "a series of images" is to provide a body of work where each image may not hold that well alone but in the context of other images it becomes a key component of the message. Each image should have a defined purpose in the series, like there is a meaning for each word in a sentence. The images become the words, the organization of the pictures becomes the grammar, and the proper relationship of each image to the rest defines the "cohesivenesses" of the message. When this relationship breaks, the message is lost.

This is how I respond looking at Johsong Baak's work. I very much feel I want to like his work but I can't avoid to feel confused. The message is not cohesive to me.

When the images in a portfolio don't have a defined intent to speak to the message as part of the whole series, I much prefer them to be presented as isolated pictures, so I can read the "words" without expecting to read a "sentence". I know it is easy to forget this basic fact when editing a series of work. Just ask yourself why a given image is in the series? ... what does it tell within the context of the other images? ... and make sure that the sequence speaks with proper grammar.

It always helps to have someone else read your "sentence" of images.