A short film about life and photography, this is a collection of moments from my life. It is collection of things that inspired me to click the shutter of a camera and make a photographic record, such that the world might some day remember what once was. -David Negard 2012
This video and the photographs and music in it are all Copyright © 2012 David Negard. All rights reserved.
台中縣2012
Out there, with skies so open
Out there, where all are free
Out there, with Earth's sheer beauty
Out there, … that's where I'll be.
-David Negard 2012
鹿港 2012
“Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.” -Robert Frost
Life is about a series of events. Everyday things occur that move us one step further from where we were and who we were only yesterday. The passage of time is a trick played upon us all. Don't be fooled. Make each day count.
照片： 東勢2010
春曉 - 孟浩然
春眠不覺曉，處處聞啼鳥。
夜來風雨聲，花落知多少。
"Spring Dawn" - Meng Hao Ran
I slumbered this spring morning, and missed the dawn,
From everywhere I heard the cry of birds.
That night the sound of wind and rain had come,
Who knows how many petals then had fallen?
最近的天氣真動態。 結果就是很多特別的光線。 這樣的情況靈感我拍了這些照片。
Daily life is often not without stress. We live in a busy world filled with obstacles, and things that keep us busy. It is so easy to lose oneself in the tidal wave of daily matters.
There are key times in my life. Times when I feel free. When I am out with my camera, I am close to that. The mountains of Taiwan help complete that feeling. Out there, under the painted skies and mysterious vistas, I am truly free.
每天的生活都有好多的壓力。 我們每一個人的世界都有好多事情讓我們很忙。 很容易迷路。
我的生活有關鍵的時刻。 那時候有自由感。 我在拍照就會接近這個的感覺。 但是我在台灣的山裏就感覺比較完整。 那裏在一幅天空的劃下和神秘風光的環境我真自由。
It is not often that the world is blessed with the presence of an individual that seems to exude an innate passion for the world around him or her, and also possesses the unique ability to illustrate that world for the rest of mankind to appreciate. Despite this rarity, there are some whom are able to accomplish exactly such an impressive feat. Photo Bloggers all over the world (myself included) attempt this sort of thing daily, but success in such endeavors is a subjective measurement. Yet, one such individual clearly accomplished this with definitive success and effectiveness. Interestingly, he did this long before the internet or even the first computer was in existence.
Jacques Henri Lartigue was born in 1894 in France. He was blessed to be born into a family of great prominence and wealth. From a young age, he was obsessed with the idea of capturing the fleeting moments of life. Influenced by his father's passions for photographic pursuits, Jacques also began taking photos from the mere age of 7.
What makes him special is that he was able to find the absolute joy and human expression from both the simplest of family moments to the greatest of man's achievements. If one peruses Jacques work, they will be struck by a dichotomy of shots were taken at events ranging from family leisure time, to the testing of the first aircraft designs, and earliest motor races. Indeed, Jacques had the ability to achieve photographic excellence regardless of the magnificence of the venue or the cast of characters.
What is so striking in most of Jacques work is the unbridled joy of the moment that is so apparent in his images. If one refers to some of the video interviews with Lartigue available today, then the explanation for this is not so nebulous. Jacques clearly loved life, and was enthralled by the joy of the daily experience.
Jacques found a way to share this joy with the world, via painstaking photographic precision. Apparently, Jacques was extremely committed to the technical side of his craft, even at a young age. This commitment enabled him to take groundbreaking imagery such as his famous shot of the race car in which he distorted the car to emphasize movement via exploiting the limitations of the camera shutter at the time. Jacques was committed to mastery of his camera, focus, etc. and this added a certain ability on his behalf to really express the emotion of the moment within the two dimensional constraint of a photograph.
One of the most definitive aspects of Lartigue was his interest in keeping detailed photo diaries. He would make it a daily pursuit to record his daily life in terms of the weather, his photographic attempts, and the presentation of previous photographs. It was these photographic diaries which ultimately led to his discovery much later on in the United States. These books really in a way could be considered the world's first photo blog, as it was the daily recordings by a man and his camera.
What is really striking about Lartigue is both the expression of his imagery, and the passion he had for documenting this expression. Indeed, he is very inspiring in the sense that he continued throughout his life to generate works of art that allow the world, even today, to appreciate the joys and memories of his time, and he cataloged them in a manner that not only allows the viewer to get a chronological presentation of his life, but also allows them to appreciate his original insights into the images, and gives a sense of his emotion at the time.
In this way Lartigue really defined what a photo blog should be. It is not merely to be a collection of random images, but it has the potential to be so much more. It can be a glimpse into the soul of the person behind the camera, and a peek at the world that they once knew.
Excellent documentary about Lartigue:
“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.” --Edgar Allan Poe
我在２００９年十一月拍了這些淡水的照片。 我從來喜歡去淡水因爲很好休息，很好玩，和可以拍很有意思的照片。
淡水是在台灣的北部。 算是臺北的地方。 淡水有很美麗的風景和很大的文化味道。 那邊的很有名特色就是那麽漂亮的風景，白天和晚上的市場，和文化與宗教的活動。
你去過淡水嗎？ 你覺得那邊怎麽樣？ 照片怎麽樣？ 我請大家下面寫自己的意見。 也可以投票文章好不好。 謝謝你。
I thought that it would be nice to add a few photos of Danshui, Taiwan. These are older photos that I took on an outing to Danshui in November of 2009. I always have loved visiting Danshui as it is relaxing, fun, and a great place to take photos.
Danshui is in the Northern part of Taiwan and is considered to be a part of Taipei. It offers beautiful scenery as well as many cultural aspects. It is famous for scenic views, day and night markets, and even religious festivals.
If you have been to Danshui, or to Taiwan, and would like to comment about it, or just comment about the photos in general, I encourage you to give your write your thoughts below. You can also vote to give this post a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down". Thanks.
It is on nights like this one that I am truly alive. Out there on long journey's seeking some answers through the glass of a lens. This thing called photography, it is a passion, an obsession. I believe with all my heart that photography is bigger than me, bigger than all of us.
The world is an endless array of moments, scenes. I feel totally overwhelmed with a responsibility to capture as much as I can. Armed with a camera and aided by only my feet, this is how I spend my free time. I walk roads like this, following them to continual horizons, continual moments.
The history we find in books is but a fragment of what constitutes the subject. History is all around us, fleeting with every second of the day. The whisper of the wind, the shrouding of the fog, all serve to remind us as to the prominence of this thing that we all call time. Its continual passage urges my passion to document what is, anticipating what soon was.