Random Excellence: Camus Wyatt

Photo by Camus Wyatt, from "A Seaside City," November 2010

In some cases "Random Excellence" is meant to highlight just a particular picture, and in other cases a whole body of work. This is an example of the latter. I usually have no trouble picking a single photograph out of many, but in New Zealand photographer Camus Wyatt's case I was almost at a loss. So many of his pictures are so great that none really stand out from the rest.

I confess that my taste in photo technique is sufficiently traditional (substitute "old fashioned" if you insist) that the harshly over-sharpened, overly contrasty JPEGs on Camus' site are almost like fingernails on a blackboard to me, and do interfere to some extent with my enjoyment of his pictures. But on the other hand, what a talent. Take a good look around Camus Wyatt's website when you get a chance—it will get the rest of your week off to a good start.

Mike
(Thanks to Mark Banas)

Original contents copyright 2013 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Bruce: "I click on your blog every morning before work, and got so involved with Camus' work, I almost missed my train. As a Kiwi living in Aussie, (New Zealander living in Australia, for the rest of the world), it's wonderful to see totally unique images of NZ life with an eye to die for! Wow what a talent. His monochrome vision makes me want to switch my camera onto mono and go out for a day and see the world in a new and exciting way. Thanks for the link, Mike and Mark."

Jim Simmons: "As a Wellingtonian who shows at the same gallery that Camus shows at and thus knows him a wee bit, I'm happy to report three relevant factoids: Camus's prints are exquisite, he's one of the nicest people you'll ever meet, and his excellent body of work is the result of hard work in the service of striving to learn and master his craft. I'm thrilled for Camus and for TOP's audience that this connection has been made. What a delightful surprise for me to take my daily TOP dip and discover that you've discovered Camus!"

Comments

[Hans-Georg Daun]

Once again, a great find. Would make an excellent second volume in your career as a photo book publisher :-)

[Dave]

Fantastic. Now, I feel a sudden urge to rebuild my entire portfolio website. You see, I shoot both "Heavy Metal" photos and quite, contemplative photos. My port leans towards the hyper-saturated and I can't find a way to blend the two styles. Wyatt's work reaffirms my faith in subtle photography and I don't think that he over does the post processing.

Are you familiar with the rock band Wilco? They have found a way to blend delicate acoustic rock with full out distortion, effects, and fuzz. That's what I'd like to pull off with photography -- being able to expresive a wider range of emotion visually via blending reality and photographic Impressionism

[m3photo]

A welcome respite from the tedium of daily life. Thank you.

Any fan of Elliot Erwitt's is a fan of mine. No wait, never mind. You know what I mean.

I'm sure there will be those who think "Wow, he must have a great camera" and those who favour more the patronage of this bespoke site that will admire the young man's immense talents of observation.

[PStuart]

When I saw http://www.camuswyatt.com/euclidians/h4cece3ee#h4cece3ee I actually caught my breath. Seeing how two figures had so neatly filled the circles of light was simply magical.

[Laurence]

What a GREAT kick in the butt for me. This kind of work raises hope that I can at least TRY to follow suit and emulate Elliot's use of light and shadow. The images are inspiring, and when that happens I always feel that a 'normal' day transgresses into a 'spectacular day. The work makes me look around for photographic design possibilities that are probably right in front of me.

[Thomas Kühne]

Well m3photo, Camus uses a great camera (a Pentax), but you are right that the magic comes from his outstanding feel for form and moments.

The terms "magic" and "genius" are so overused that they almost lost their true meaning.

With respect to Camus' work, they apply without reservation.

"Unbelievable" is another term that springs to mind when you see some of his images that could be textbook material to explain what HCB meant when he said "when form and content come together in a moment of perfection".

[robert]

...what if he wants them to look that way? Are we not supposed to accept what the artist shows us and not assume facts contrary to conditions?

[Manuel]

Wonderful. I'm very fond of the works of some portuguese photographers who explore geometry, volume and shadows to great effect in their street photography. One of them is Rui Palha (http://www.ruipalha.com/), a firm favourite of mine. Given my predilection, my eye was immediately guided to the "Euclidians" gallery.
Thanks for letting us know Mr. Wyatt's body of work, Mike. I was truly impressed.

[Mike Johnston]

"...what if he wants them to look that way? Are we not supposed to accept what the artist shows us and not assume facts contrary to conditions?"

I think you might be conflating two different basic principles. The first is to not second-guess the artist, but accept that he (or she) "means what he (or she) says," that is, to assume that the way the art looks is the way whoever created it wants it to look. But that doesn't mean you're obliged to accept it. The other principle is that you always have a right to respond to art the way you really do--that is, you don't have to respond the way you think you're supposed to, or the way you're told to, or the way others do. It's perfectly consistent for a viewer to accept that a creator got something to look just right, and yet for a viewer to dislike or reject that look.

Mike

[Reg Feuz]

If you're interested in more New Zealand photographers check out this site:

http://www.photoforum-nz.org/

And you can even become a member.

Cheers,

Reg Feuz

[Neal]

My god, those photos are beautiful.

He seems very apt at capturing fleeting moments, or so it seems. I am a little jealous of that. I feel that my own work is very thought out and contemplative compared with the whimsical nature of what I see here.

Bravo

[Bernie]

My first thought on seeing the image you chose for your post was very much of the "so what?" variety. But I read the whole post and then the sample comments and figured it wouldn't hurt to take a look at the site.

And then I was blown away by what I saw. Especially the "Euclidean" section.

[Robert Newcomb]

Unbelievable, Amazing and Inspirational, what an eye! You ain't kidding when you said that you had trouble picking just one.
Thanks for showing these.

[Hugh Crawford]

Good stuff.
As a formalist myself, "The Euclideans" nails it as a title.
All in all it makes me dream of agfa brovira number 6
Also , the difference between color and B&W is writ rather large here,

[Kenneth Wajda]

His work is like visual poetry.

[Daniel S.]

He's... the same age as me, yet he's the photographer I've always wanted myself to become. I haven't decided whether that ought to be encouraging or depressing, I'm still too shocked by his genius to tell.

Though I disagree with you---I like his photos in part because of their strong contrast. I feel the blacks tend to outline shapes and form in his photographs in a way that more detailed shadows wouldn't. Jury's still out on the sharpening, though.

[Ross Chambers]

That's what the hometown of the "Hobbit" really looks like.

Wellington is a photogenic city but I never made anything as great during my years there.

In many of these photographs I can almost see James Baxter wandering the streets with a postie's bag ruminating on his next poem (you have to be a Kiwi).

A sample:

One clink black night in June/ Concrete Grady sat/ Between the knees of the pines/ With Old Jack Flynn his Mate.

And through the harbour fog/ The guts of Wellington/ Glowed like a great morgue / Where even the cops had gone.

'I had a dream,' said Grady--/
Flynn said, 'Stuff your dream! / I'd give my bollocks now / For a bucket of steam.

[Michael Farrell]

Really? I'm underwhelmed. If I saw these on Flickr, I'd think, "Hmmm. Diligent amateur with some camera talent but not a whole lot to say." Not trying to be mean. Just that seeing him anointed by you threw my critical faculties for a loop.

On the other hand, that Finnish dude from a few weeks ago? Now that's genius!

[Steve Barnett]

I tend to think Ralph Gibson is the connecting force in these pictures, but it is a butterfly collection of images even though they are collected into groups. Some fine pictures, but I'm not seeing what you guys are seeing.

[Chad]

Totally worth the time. I would love to see prints.

[Markus Spring]

Really fine photography what Camus Wyatt shows here. And not to forget, a well designed website that made up for an agreeable time wandering through his collection.

[D. Hufford.]

OK. I quit. Taking up knitting.

[Nigel]

Mike, I'd add that the light in NZ *is* hard and contrasty, at least compared to where I live now (Prague, CZ). 'course, that doesn't have much to do with jpegs.

[Another Phil]

Thanks.
Timing and position of "Young and fast" was great.

[Markus Johnson]

My immediate thought was of this picture: http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5406/570/1600/empiricalnewcover2small.jpg

Hmmm, looks like it could've been the same incident, just seconds apart.

[Mike]

An impressive and versatile eye.

[Kenneth Tanaka]

Camus Wyatt has some very sophisticated work in there. Here's hoping that he does not douse his fire by trying to over-manage its heat in his (hopefully) many years to come.

[Gordon Lewis]

It annoys the hell out of me that this guy is this good and this prolific at 26 years-old--but I enjoy looking at his work just the same. It's enough to make you forgive the fact that he considers himself a... (said with a tone of palpable disgust) street photographer.

[Steve Jones]

On one level, the photos are wonderful and inspirational. On another, they remind me how far I still have to go, should I even get close to getting there. Maybe I should consider knitting too.

Markus---first photo that came to my mind when I saw the posting; I've always liked the clouds' glowing reflection in the water.

[robert]

well this is what is wrong with the internet, now he's looking at his pictures and thinking they're maybe too sharp and too contrasty (see comments on his fb page) and so he decides to revisit the work and change it all make it "better" or more in line with accepted taste and then after he's done fixing it all he has pictures that no longer have his fingerprint. for better or worse.

this is also what is wrong with digital, the endless fixing since digital is has no baseline and is essentially just data.

we can all choose to respond how we like but the artist also needs to guard against all the crap that people say even well meaning. It destroys absolutely.

[Dale Cook]

Wow...thank you for sharing Mike! It's very refreshing to see work that eschews today's affinity for overly shallow depth of field and grunge filters masking lack of talent. There's tremendous patience and expertly achieved composition in so many of his pictures. Truly inspiring!

[Yohan]

Mike,

Does Camus have a book? If not, could you swing your mighty TOP hammer of influence to get him in touch with the right folks to make it happen? I'm not exaggerating when I say that I find his work astounding and truly inspirational. The Euclidians gallery is just sublime.