FluteBot Dossier: Excavation Photo Documentation

I recently completed a photo project inspired by the current Patrick Nagatani exhibition at the Albuquerque Museum. The approach for the project was quite different from how I usually shoot, as I conceptualized the series of images beforehand, then used props and specific locations to create each photograph. I presented images last night during a musical performance staged by Chatter at the Albuquerque Museum. A 16-page booklet was distributed to attendees of the concert by FluTeBot, a "time-traveling musician for the 24th Century." My photos and a video I edited were projected during the concert. Below are the notes and images from the publication. It was a nice way to challenge myself creatively, and to collaborate with an extraordinary musician. Brava, FluTeBot.

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NOTES

The photographs in this dossier are submitted as evidence in a series of extraterrestrial musical incidents that occurred in New Mexico. This information was recently declassified by unnamed government officials.

According to numerous confidential sources, various items related to a space-traveling, woodwind-playing life form were discovered, scattered around numerous locations in central New Mexico. Each item was painstakingly recovered by researchers, and a complex picture began to emerge. Though various flute parts were initially discovered, subsequent search and excavation efforts yielded additional evidence of a musical alien presence in the region. Recovered items included what appeared to be protective garb, often emitting traces of radioactivity, as well as residue of interplanetary elements (including those not found on Earth).

Researchers were astounded to have also picked up numerous musical signals traveling towardsEarth, including distinct “flute sounding” passages captured via the “Very Small Array” satellite complex (located on Lomas Blvd. in Downtown Albuquerque). Further interpretations concluded that these were actual messages from an entity researchers have dubbed “FluTeBot.”

Translations of additional messages revealed that FluTeBot was, in actuality, a time-traveling musician from the 24th Century. She originally traveled through a time warp to New Mexico decades ago, drawn here by the bright lights emitted from the nuclear testing at Trinity Site. Seeking an atmosphere similar to her home planet of Syrinx, the alien was in dire need of an oxygen source that could be brought back to her home planet. While exploring Earth, FluTeBot was abruptly called home to Syrinx, due to an impending environmental disaster, a result of uncontrolled pollution. FluTeBot has recently returned to Earth to gather her hastily abandoned items. Chatter has negotiated with her for a one-time performance, as a thank you to the people of New Mexico for retrieving her scattered items and for their generous return.

New York, You're Bringing Me Down

Very excited to announce the release of my next zine. Those of you who know me, probably aren't surprised to hear that I have a love / hate relationship with New York City. This latest release takes a big bite of the Big Apple, "don't mind the maggots." The bright colors of photos are at odds with my attitude this time around. Nevertheless, I found the process of putting together this zine quite cathartic. 

The zine is a 24 page, self-cover, perfect bound 5.5" x 8.5" booklet. Quantities are extremely limited, so don't delay, if you want one, grab a copy now. Available at my online shop.

Special shout out to Zé Manel Pinheiro at Photographic Mercadillo for first presenting this body of work. You can see the whole series on my website as well. 

Thoughts on "Patrick Nagatani: Excavations"

If you are a photographer in New Mexico, chances are you are familiar with the work of Patrick Nagatani. When I first moved to Albuquerque back in 1993, he was among the first local photographers that I had heard about. His book "Nuclear Enchantment" was a confounding, enigmatic, yet spot on introduction to my new home. I can think of few other bodies of work that better exemplify the contradictory forces that shape life here in the New Mexico. A confluence of cultures, a place where the future is constantly at odds with its past, a place of incredible beauty, of devastating poverty, all sitting upon land that is at once sacred and forever atomically tainted.

Nagatani passed away last year, dying of cancer, a common malady of course, but even more so in this state where the first atomic bomb was tested. Coincidence? Who's to say. In the months that have followed his death, there has been a thorough reassessment of Nagatani's career, and currently there are no less than three different exhibits of his work, two in Albuquerque, and one up in Santa Fe. I recently visited the Albuquerque Museum to view an exhibit of the series "Excavations" and I must say, I was so impressed that it has made me re-think my own previous ideas about his work. This exhibit transcends strict parameters of a "photo" exhibit. If anything, it is a finely executed piece of conceptual art. 

The body of work revolves around a purported discovery of buried cars at sites "in areas with significant archaeological or historical remains - Chaco Canyon, Herculaneum, Stonehenge - or with monuments to our own technological age - The Very Large Array, Kitt Peak National Observatory." Nagatani and his alter ego, an enigmatic Japanese archaeologist named "Ryoichi" teamed up to undertake the excavations, and to document it in full. Nagatani's photographs are paired with an array of diary entries, images of found objects from the sites, and cartographic documents that cover each location. A suspicious (or astute) viewer might very well deduce that the entire project is a well executed hoax (** spoiler **  it is.) That is beside the point, however. The breadth of the work is impressive, the attention to even the minutest of details is staggering. Upon reading that Nagatani began his career as a model builder in Hollywood, the exhibit takes on an even more impressive dimension. Realizing that he created the model tableaus in the photographs made me appreciate the craft even more.

Mummified Porsche, From the area of the Tomb of Horemheb, Saqqara, Egypt (by Patrick Nagatani)1986/1996

Local readers, this is a "must see" exhibit at the Albuquerque Museum. Perhaps your visit will be as memorable as mine. I was lucky enough to be in the gallery within an earshot of a group of visitors who honestly believed the entire body of work was not a piece of creative fiction. Ultimately the highest praise for a work of such fine deception. R.I.P. Patrick Nagatani.

Thoughts on "Teju Cole: Blind Spot"

Why do we take photographs? What is it that first draws our eyes and then creates the impulse to capture the image with a camera? At that exact moment, what does the camera see that our eyes do not? And afterwards, when we look at the resulting image, what do we see then? What evidence emerges from the photograph that wasn't there before? What stories do our photographs have embedded within? What thoughts are jarred loose from our subconscious mind when we gaze at the image we created? What latent meaning is there now that wasn't evident previously? 

These questions, and many more, swirled around in my head as I viewed to exhibit "Teju Cole: Blind Spot" at the Lannan Foundation in Santa Fe. On display was a selection of photographs and text, pulled from a much larger body of work that was published as a hardcover book last year. The strength of this work lies in the equal footing that both the photographs and the accompanying text maintain. Often times, text can seem at odds with the images in an exhibit, especially when the texts are on small placards near the bottom of the frame, or if the statements are plastered on the wall near the entrance of the gallery. The work here has the texts sharing the frame with the photos. This approach mimics the book, allowing the viewer to consider the image and the author's thoughts in a more immediate manner.

The words provoke the viewer to go deeper into the individual images. Some of the photographs may seem mundane at first glance. The focal point not always apparent. The question of "why did he take this photo?" is often puzzling and unclear until one reads the text. Then, whole new avenues of understanding open up. Sometimes the texts themselves are only tangentially related to what we are seeing in the photos. In these moments, it seems the photos become more of an accompaniment to the words, and not vice versa.

The photos, taken in many different locations around the world, have a casualness to them that sometimes speaks to what William Eggleston referred to as the "democratic" quality of photography. Meaning a "democracy of vision, through which he represents the most mundane subjects with the same complexity and significance as the most elevated." 

“If we are sighted, we tend not to notice the differentiated acts of looking and seeing. The given is that looking and seeing are central, but distinct to the process of picture-making.”

— photographer Thomas Joshua Cooper

If you are anywhere near Santa Fe, NM, I highly recommend seeing this show, which closes on Sunday July 1. And whether or not you can attend, I would also recommend buying a copy of the book "Blind Spot." It rewards the viewer / reader with an abundance of deep insight and inspiration.

New York City: Photo Exhibit Overload

I'm fortunate that I have the opportunity to travel to New York City, usually once a year for a stretch of a week or more. One of my biggest dilemmas is deciding what camera to bring with me, as I always feel inspired to shoot while there. After that, it's always exciting to check the gallery and museum listings to see what photo exhibits might be on display during my visit. My most recent trip afforded me the chance to see five different exhibits, ranging from the work of a few titans of the art form, to a couple of surprises in unexpected places.

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Henri Cartier-Bresson at ICP

The International Center of Photography is a destination for me anytime I find myself in NYC, regardless of what they may be showing. I happened to arrive the day the Henri Cartier-Bresson "The Decisive Moment" exhibit opened to the public. Arriving just after the doors opened, I was rewarded with a near empty gallery, with plenty of time and space to explore the work. Of course, any photographer by now should know this famous body of work, or at least the concept behind "the decisive moment." What I found most intriguing was to revisit so many images I was familiar with, but haven't seen in a while. Time has only deepened my appreciation for this work. With the advent of social media, and the constant barrage of images, it is a testament to Cartier-Bresson that the photos are still remarkable in their energy, their timing, and their emotional impact. I was educational to see what he includes in the frame, as well as the serendipity that a fleeting moment provides. I wondered if the final images would appear differently had Cartier-Bresson had access to Photoshop, as the random appearance of a face in the corner of a frame, or a seemingly distracting element in the background does nothing to diminish the power of the whole image.

A face peeking out from a corner of a Henri Cartier-Bresson photo. No cloning tools back in the day.

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William Eggleston at The Met

As luck would have it, I was in town with some time to view the William Eggleston "Los Alamos" exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The chance to see the richly colored body of work from this American master was not to be missed. The series, which was produced in late 1960s to the early 1970s, had not been seen in this configuration at any museum in New York City before. The groundbreaking set of color photographs were surprisingly controversial when they first appeared, since at that time "serious" art photography was always seen in black and white. Color photos were seen as the realm of the amateur, relegated to family snapshots, or left to the world of commerce and advertising. Championed by John Szarkowski at MoMA, Eggleston pushed color photography toward acceptance and legitimacy. 

The photos in the "Los Alamos" exhibit are Eggleston in his prime. Wandering mostly throughout Memphis and further into the Deep South of the United States, he compiled a series of images that both delight and confound. Color-wise, I can't think of anyone who would not be intoxicated by the deep hues that radiate off the walls of the gallery. What is most striking to me, though, is the profound sadness that permeates these photos. There is a pronounced streak of death and loss that resides in this work, perhaps it's just another manifestation of the tradition of "Southern Gothic" so present through the history of American art. 

Eggleston at The Met

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Stephen Shore at MoMA

Speaking of photographers who pushed color photography towards acceptance, The Museum of Modern Art had an excellent retrospective of the work of Stephen Shore. What I find most fascinating about the work of Shore is that it straddles the line between the vernacular photography of the everyday, and the conceptual, intellectual ground of the art world. He has always used the most common of means for his work, from the drugstore photo labs for his earliest color work, to his current embrace of Instagram and digital /print on demand publishers. 

A section of "American Surfaces" on display at MoMA.

His early series of images, titled "American Surfaces" was created during a number of road trips across the United Sates in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The body of work is comprised of hundreds of snapshots Shore created and had developed and printed at inexpensive, consumer grade photo labs. I had seen this work published in a hardcover book years ago, but seeing it displayed on the walls of the museum, in the original manner Shore intended (row of small prints, running across an entire room) made me appreciate the full power of the set of photos. Part travelogue, part diary, part conceptual exploration of the mundane... the work is a reassessment of what one might consider "fine art" photography, and a rejection of the chasm between high and low art.

I was also excited to see a series of Shore's self-published photo book, interestingly displayed hanging from wires from the ceiling of the gallery. They are a great example of the removal of barriers to producing an immediate body of work, by using an online, digital printer to create the books. An inspiration to all of us who self-publish, and a testament to pursuing an idea quickly yet deeply.

Stephen Shore's self-published books, not exactly low hanging fruit.

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Nobuyoshi Araki at The Museum of Sex

A ride on the subway on a rainy Sunday morning proved fortuitous, for while I was riding the Number 6 Uptown, I saw an advertisement for an exhibit at The Museum of Sex (stay with me here, people.) They were staging an exhibit by Japanese photographer, and all around force-of-nature, Nobuyoshi Araki. Though I was aware of some of his work, I was intrigued to see what kind of show might be going on at such a non-traditional venue for art. 

Wall of Araki Polaroids.

Logically, since it was a sex museum, the work revolved around sex. Yes, Araki is well-known (at least in his home country) for his sexually provocative images. Many people have said it's pornographic, many have said it's sexist, many have said it demeaning towards women, and many have said it does nothing but perpetuate Western stereotypes about Japanese women. I can see truth in much of these criticisms. And I am not sure I am in the position to dispute any of it.

The show itself was nicely displayed, and showed a huge amount and varied amount of work. Large format, black and white images of bound women, hung next to a wall of Polaroids (of women in suggestive poses), sitting across from a 30 foot long display case of Araki photo books and magazines (some sexually explicit, many not.) The man is nothing if not prolific. 

Though labeled as a renegade, and sometimes as a pornographer, Araki is nothing if not provocative. I'm not sure where I stand on his work. At the same time, it was an opportunity to explore a body of work I might not have considered otherwise.

A small sampling of Araki publications.

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Zoe Leonard at The Whitney

On a "pay what you wish" Friday evening at The Whitney Museum, I took in one last photo-related exhibit, seeing the work of Zoe Leonard. I was not familiar with this artist, except for a short article I read in the New York Times about a series of photos of storefronts that she created. So I was walking in with no expectations, and very little preconceptions. The overall exhibit was a combination of original photographs, sculpture, found imagery (including a magnificent wall of postcards from Niagara Falls) and found objects. The overarching theme seemed to be a exploration of the mass production of imagery, along with an exploration of loss and impermanence.

Niagara Falls, step by step, inch by inch.

The series of color photographs of storefronts and streets scenes of the East Village, as well as countries like Cuba and Uganda, were the most straightforward set of images in the entire exhibit. Titled "Analogue," they proved to be a nice counter to the work of Eggleston that I saw earlier in my trip. Both used the dye transfer printing process, renowned for its rich color saturation, however, Leonard's work retained a level of grit, worthy of its subject matter.

The work that I was most pleasantly surprised by, was a series of sculptural pieces, utilizing books. One piece in particular, a row of stacked Kodak instructional photo books, tracing the publishing history of a specific title "How To Make Good Pictures" was a clever rumination on not only the passage of time, but also about the advances of image making technology, and the need to understand it.

Zoe Leonard at The Whitney.

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Though there is no shortage of photography available online or at a bookshop, sometimes it's really important to wander through a gallery or museum, and see the work up close and personal. I'm grateful that I have the ways and means to be have been able to see so much great photography during my travels. I find it motivating and inspiring.

Buy Photo Books, Not Photo Gear

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A camera is a tool. A lens is a tool. More cameras and more lenses may give you more options to explore and capture the world. However, more important than any piece of equipment are your eyes. And no fancy pants, ultra high megapixel device is going to make you a better photographer if your eyes (and your mind) aren't functioning photographically. With the relentless torrent of images bombarding us everyday off of computer monitors, smart phones or other screen-based platforms, it is even more important to devote time to the tangible and the tactile. Investing in photo books will bring more lasting value to your life as a photographer than any new shiny piece of glass and metal (and plastic.)

There really is no replacement for seeing photographs in print. Many of us don't have the time or the access to a museum or gallery on a regular basis to view photos hanging in a frame on a wall. And not to diminish those opportunities, but the photo book format is, in many ways, the ultimate way to consume photographic images. You can spend as much time with each image, studying and contemplating. You can delve deeply into the sequencing of the images, which is a key component to a true body of work, as opposed to a single image that pops up on your Instagram feed. Books have permanence, and they will most likely increase in value. Try saying that about the latest mirrorless camera you just dropped a grand on.

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Click on the image to find a copy for purchase

I recently added a few titles to my photo book library. I was thrilled to hear that the earliest books by the black and white master Ralph Gibson had been reissued in a new compilation. "The Black Trilogy" highlights the surreal, dreamlike work that Gibson soon became highly recognized for. What I find most striking about this body of work is how prevalently the vertical format is featured. I remember hearing once that Gibson felt that shifting to a vertical format subconsciously unsettles the viewer by a small degree, moving them away from the expected and more familiar horizontal presentation of an image. Combined with the inherent qualities of black and white, this helps push the work further from reality and deeper into the viewers psyche.

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Click on the image to find a copy for purchase

The second book I'm featuring is by the great Japanese photographer Daido Moriyama.  "Record" is a hardbound, slipcased book that complies his work that was originally released in a series of self-published magazines. The work spans almost thirty years, and highlights Moriyama's are-bure-boke (“shaky-blurry”) style. It is a bit difficult to comprehend how revolutionary this style was when it first surfaced in the late 1960s, especially considering how many contemporary photographers now ape Daido's look. As the work progresses chronologically, it becomes perhaps sharper and clearer, but never any less provocative. 

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Click on the image to find a copy for purchase

The last book up for discussion is a fairly obscure title, called "Meta Photographs" by Richard Gordon. Now before you go thinking this is some "johnny come lately, post-modern hipster, internet age" cash in, please note that the book was originally published in 1978. I had never heard of it, nor the photographer Richard Gordon, before I happened upon a set of images from this book on view at SFMOMA. This book falls squarely in my wheelhouse, as it is strictly photography about photography. Or more accurately, photos of items or environments that include some photographic representation in them. Photos of celebrity portraits on a wall, photos of people using cameras, photos of people being photographed. What I love the most about this book is how a simple undercurrent unites the whole project; how a photographic image can be recontextualized; how something that at first glance seems mundane, can actually be infinitely thought provoking. 

What are some of your personal favorite photo books? Feel free to share your thoughts.

Imaginary Landscapes

Lately, I've been trying to push myself out of my comfort zone, shooting imagery that utilizes a new technique for me. Though the area of exploration is familiar (the Albuquerque bosque along the Rio Grande) I am looking at a new direction for my image creation. I am playing with the panoramic format, and really letting the pixels fly in post-production.

One of the challenges for me is to not over-think this work in progress. It is OK to play without any specific end result in mind. It is also OK to be unrestrained when it comes to digital manipulation. Because when you come down to it, all photos are manipulated.

That being said, I've been trying to replicate an old wet plate photo look, or other analogue techniques, while still staying safely in the digital realm. I'm not sure where this exercise may lead, but it certainly is nice to try to widen my perspective a bit (pun intended.) Feel free to share your thoughts on these photos.

Flaunt The imperfections Issue #3: Available Now

I am happy to announce the release of my new zine. Issue #3 of my film-based photography zine "Flaunt The Imperfections" is available for purchase today at my website shop. The photos featured in this issue were created in 2017, during a trip from New Mexico, through Arizona, into the Salton Sea area of Southern California, before rolling briefly into Los Angeles... and a long drive home along the remnants of Route 66.

The title of this series is "Expiration Date." There are several reasons behind this choice. First off, I listened to the entire Pavement discography while making my solo trip through the desert. The lyrics of Stephen Malkmus were a subliminal roadmap for my image making. At times abstract, at other times bitingly critical, these words (and songs) were a great inspiration for my journey.

Secondly, as the social / political landscape in the USA continues to shift (or spiral out of control) I think it is a good time to assess the expiration date of long held beliefs, to look at the impermanence of man-made things, a time to ponder hope vs. pessimism, while being as good a moment as any to reflect on the idea of hubris.

As always when I shoot film, the excitement of not knowing what I've captured until much later is a re-connection with the original allure photography has held for me. The editing and layout process allows for a focused amount of time with the images, and by having the final results in printed form, I am returning the permanence that photographs once held, but is too often overlooked in our digital present.

The zine is available for purchase at my online shop for $15, (US sales only.)

You can view the work in a new gallery on my website as well.

Work in Progress: Abstraction and Textures

Sometimes I shoot without any intended outcome other than to keep my eyes sharp and my control over my camera in the ready. Sometimes even those intentions go out the window, as they did on a recent jaunt through one of my favorite locations to shoot, the Rio Grande bosque. Late winter is a particularly good time to venture into the overgrowth along the river, as the temperature is pleasant, the late winter light is magical, and the lack of new spring foliage allows one to sift deeply through the remnants of dead flora. For tech dweebs, I turned the autofocus off on my camera, used a very shallow depth of field, and dragged along an external light source to fill in shadow areas. What resulted is a series of contrasty, abstract images that somehow convey the feelings I was experiencing on a late winter day. Not sure where these images fit in the grander scope of my work, but if nothing else, it felt good to follow the maxim "don't think, just shoot."

On Photography and Death: Palermo Shooting

This week will be at departure from my usual 1000 words series. I usually write about one specific photograph. Instead, this entry will be my reflections on the Wim Wenders film, Palermo Shooting. The film was released in 2008 (apparently garnering a chorus of “boos” when premiered at Cannes) but I only saw it for the first time this week, thanks to my new subscription to Filmstruck. I won’t go into the deep cinema geekdom that pushed my decision to join Filmstruck except to say that having so many great movies at my disposal is an embarrassment of riches.

The story of Palermo Shooting revolves around the main subject named Finn. The character seems based on German photographer Andreas Gursky, as has been noted in several reviews that I read. Fill is played by Die Toten Hosen lead singer, Campino. Finn is a highly successful photographer who is creatively torn between the moneymaking pursuit of fashion photography and the less lucrative but more fulfilling artistic photography route. He is seemingly lost in the void between the two. A near death experience on a highway in Germany causes Finn to reassess his career and in a larger sense, his entire existence. He ends up in this Sicilian capital of Palermo, where his reality and dreams blur, not only before his eyes but before the eyes of the film’s viewer as well.

The reason why I am exploring this film is that photography is an integral part of the storyline. Wenders has always imbued a photographic sensibility into his highly cinematic motion pictures. As evidenced by the current exhibition of his Polaroid photographs now on view in London, one can see that the director’s deep love and devotion to the medium of still photography is obvious. The fact that Palermo Shooting focuses on a main character who is a photographer is more noteworthy when we take deeper into the real subject of the film, which is the confrontation of death

Susan Sontag in her book “On Photography” speaks eloquently of the medium’s connection with death.

"Photographs instigate, confirm, seal legends. Seen through photographs, people become icons of themselves. Photography converts the world itself into a department store or museum-without-walls in which every subject is depreciated into an article of consumption, promoted into an item for esthetic appreciation.”

“Photography also converts the whole world into a cemetery. Photographers, connoisseurs of beauty, are also — wittingly or unwittingly — the recording-angels of death. The photograph-as-photograph shows death. More than that, it shows the sex-appeal of death…All photographs testify to time’s relentless melt.”

Noted philosopher Roland Barthes also explored this topic in depth in his book “Camera Lucida.”

“All those young photographers who are at work in the world, determined upon the capture of actuality, do not know they are agents of Death. This is the way in which our time assumes Death… For Death must be somewhere in society; if it is no longer (or less intently) in religion, it must be elsewhere; perhaps in this image which produces Death while trying to preserve life. Contemporary with the withdrawal of rites, Photography may correspond to the intrusion, in our modern society, of an asymbolic Death, outside of religion, outside of ritual, a kind of abrupt dive into literal Death. Life / Death: the paradigm is reduced to a simple click, the one separating the initial pose from the final print.”

Dennis Hopper as "Death" in Wim Wenders' "Palermo Shooting"

In Palermo shooting, Wenders also addresses this issue. In a particularly powerful moment the character representing Death, played wonderfully by Dennis Hopper, meditates on the intrinsic qualities of death in photography in the following statement.

 “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against photography. I’m actually very fond of that invention. It shows the efforts of my labor better than anything else. “Death at Work.” That’s what most still photographs should be called. I really like the idea of the negative, the reverse side of life. The reverse side of light.”

This moment in the film struck a nerve deep inside of me personally. I have often considered that a photograph is in some way a “memento mori.” Even a simple snapshot, whether viewed in a photo album, as in day’s past, or more likely in today’s world, on a Facebook page, contains elements of sadness, and loss. A photo of smiling family, seen enjoying a candid moment, takes on a darker subtext when considered that this will be evidence of a life that no longer exists once those in the photo have passed away.

In Palermo Shooting, Wenders is overt in this exploration of photography’s intrinsic deference to death. A quick search of movie reviews will yield much evidence of what is almost unanimously considered the directors ham-fisted, obvious, unsuccessful story of a man’s confrontation with his own impending death. However, perhaps it is because of the Sicilian blood that still flows through my veins (thanks to my ancestors) that I felt an affinity with this film.  

Some of the most dramatic scenes in the film were the haunting dream sequences. This includes several scenes that were shot in the macabre catacombs underground Palermo.  Wenders obviously was using the location of the Sicilian capital as ground aero for the realm of the dead. Some might argue that that title more rightly should go to the city of Naples. But for me these are minor issues.

Another aspect of the film that appeal to me directly, and most likely to you, as a photography enthusiast, is the obvious camera porn on display. The main subject, Finn, is seen throughout the film shooting with a beautiful Japanese medium format camera, the Plaubel Makina 67. There are also several scenes where he is shooting with a 360° panoramic camera, including a pivotal moment in the film where it almost leads to his demise. And perhaps the most touching moment of the film is when Finn crosses paths with noted Palermo photographer Letizia Battaglia. She is seen shooting a Leica and has a heartfelt exchange about the subjects of photography and death with our hero.

Ultimately, Palermo Shooting is far from Wim Wenders’ best work. His pinnacle remains “Wings of Desire,” though one could make a strong argument for “Paris, Texas.” However, if you have the desire to watch one man’s journey towards the acceptance of his own demise, shown through the viewfinder of photographic expression, devoting two hours of your time to this movie is well worth the investment.