the story-tellers, part 31

the tragic suicide of evelyn mchale by robert wiles for life magazine, may 1, 1947.

carel van lier, amsterdam by erwin blumenfeld, ca. 1933.

dead leaf by man ray, 1942.

unknown jumper

untitled (car accident) by enrique metinides, mexico city, 1979.

the field of blood by wim wenders, jerusalem.

(the field that judas iscariot bought with the 30 pieces of silver that he earned by betraying jesus. nothing grows here.)

dead raven in the snow by masahisa fukase.

portrait of 3 women mourning, 19th century, unknown photographer.

r.i.p. - masahisa fukase

all photographs by mashisa fukase

masahisa fukase died on june 9, 2012, he was 78 years old. i'm so sad to hear of his death & sad that i accidentally came across this information.  in my opinion, he was one of the most amazing photographers.  in 2010, a panel of 5 experts selected karasu (ravens) as the best photobook published between 1986 & 2009. it is the one book i covet to own the most.
his pursuit of ravens began when his wife of 13 years, yoko, left him. while on a train returning to his hometown of hokkaido he got off the train & saw the ravens & became obsessed with them, with their darkness & loneliness. (before then yoko was the main subject of his photos) according to yoko, fukase was an intense & obsessive character despite the joyousness of the images he made of her early in his career. she described their life together as moments of "suffocating dullness interspersed by violent & near suicidal flashes of excitement." after they split up, he suffered from bouts of depression & heavy drinking. "i work and photograph while hoping to stop everything," he once said. "in that sense, my work may be some kind of revenge drama about living now."
in 1992, five years after karasu was published,  fukase  fell down a flight of stairs in a bar & suffered traumatic brain injury. he remained in a coma until his death. his former wife, now remarried, visited him twice a month is hospital. "with a camera in front of his eye, he could see; not without," she told an interviewer. "he remains part of my identity; that's why i still visit him."

the solitude of ravens

koen-dori shibuya, 1982

kanazawa, 1978

erimo cape, 1976

kanazawa, 1977

erimo cape, 1976

shibuya, 1985

wakkanai, 1975

all photographs by mashisa fukase.  

i've posted these images before on facebook, but somehow i always come back to them - especially on this dark & rainy los angeles day.  these are perhaps among some of my favorite images ever - so beautiful and haunting. 

these images were taken over a ten year period by fukase, after his wife of 13 years, yoko, left him. while on a train returning to his hometown of hokkaido he got off at a stop and saw the ravens - a dark and foreboding omen.  he became obsessed with them, with their darkness and loneliness.  

his story is quite fascinating and sad and all too human.  i definitely recommend reading up on his work and life.