World of One: The Stranger

The Stranger (from the series World of One)

“There is no sun without shadow, and it is essential to know the night”
- Albert Camus

April was a crazy month, but spring is finally here and in full swing. While I originally planned to shoot this picture on the benches next to the Trinity Church in Copley Square, the events of the Boston Marathon bombing totally derailed that plan. Instead, when I shot a Kung Fu Master piece for Sifu Zhou Xuan Yun, I opted for the timelier spring-inspired location.

This was shot at Lars Anderson Park, just down the hill from where I shot The Indecisive Battle. My friend Henry, who assisted me with The Indecisive Battle shoot, renewed his role as the button presser. Continuing with the theme of being alone in a crowd, this is the sister image to Invictus, which I mentioned in the previous World of One post. The Stranger is inspired by feelings of loneliness though, as opposed to those of solitude, as was the case with Invictus. For me, the pain of loneliness is sharpest when we are ignored by others; to illustrate this point, I wanted to juxtapose the feeling of alienation with inclusion, and I chose to do this by surrounding a lonely figure with an engaged crowd.

This picture is the 9th image in the World of One series since I switched to shooting it with film, which means I now have more World of One pieces shot on film than shot digitally. This small fact feels like a big victory for me, in part because the notion of doing these pics on film still seems ridiculous (and expensive) to me, and also because I always thought I would’ve run out of ideas by now. Instead, I am pleased and proud of how this work is developing, and excited to see where it will take me in the future.

Kung Fu Master: Zhou Xuan Yun

Zhou Xuan Yun, Daoist Sword (from the series Kung Fu Masters)

Zhou Xuan Yun, Daoist Sword White (from the series Kung Fu Masters)

Sifu Zhou Xuan Yun is a Master of Wudong-style (more commonly spelled Wu-Tang-style) martial arts. He grew up on Wudong Mountain, where he trained in Chinese martial arts since the early age of 10. At age 20, he left Wudong Mountain to wander as a monk for 4 years and to seek out a dialogue with other martial artists. In short, this guy (who resembles a bad guy from a Tony Jaa movie) has the classic hero back story of an old-school Chinese kung fu flick. And now he teaches in Boston!

I met Sifu Zhou through my friend Henry, who some of you might remember from my post Crouching Tiger, Hidden Photographer. We have been planning to do this shoot with Sifu Zhou for almost a year, but were unable to due to scheduling conflicts. While Sifu Zhou had originally wanted to do a shoot in the snow, when I informed him of the logistical difficulties of photographing in a blizzard, he opted for a shoot “under a tree with white leaves.” “Wonderful,” I thought. At least with white leaves we’d have a week or 2 to schedule a shoot, as opposed to a single miserable day, as is the case with shooting in the snow. Now all I had to do was figure out which trees bloom white in Boston (cherry blossoms).

Both of these images are collaged from photos that capture the movements in the “Daoist Sword” form, or “玄門劍” in Chinese. I love that these pictures function both as documents of a traditional cultural practice as well as cool things to look at and ponder. What draws me to this work is that, while it is clearly a work of fantasy, that fantasy is deeply rooted in the traditions of reality.

World of One: Invictus

Invictus (from the series World of One)

"Being unconquerable lies with yourself:
Being conquerable lies with your enemy."

- Sun Tzu's the Art of War

The next two pieces in the World of One, Invictus (Latin for “unconquerable”) being the first, will explore the idea of being alone in a crowd. While originally the idea was to only create one picture exploring themes of loneliness, the more I thought about it, the more my thoughts started to focus on the difference between being alone and wanting to be alone. For me, loneliness is about the unrequited desire to be seen by others. On the other hand, the desire to be alone, or what I would call seeking solitude, is more about ignoring the presence of others. Invictus was created with this concept of solitude in mind, which is why I did not have the central white figure in the picture return the gaze of the crowd. They all see him, but he does not see them. Instead he is staring straight into the camera and beyond the crowd.