This is a guest post by Adnan Onart, a multidimensional creative, philosopher, poet, photographer from Cambridge, MA.
No, “Brutalist Architecture” doesn’t have anything to do with the pandemic we are going through. During the week, I just kept sharing my photographs with the hope that the pictures could provide some elements of distraction to family and friends. I happened to have in my pipeline some photographs I took around Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts building of the Harvard University. But the choice of the location was not accidental: I had taken these pictures towards a photographic series dedicated to the examples of Brutalist Architecture from Cambridge and Boston.
Yes, I have been planning to make photographs of the buildings (which in my perception or understanding) exemplified the Brutalist Architecture. Why Brutalist Architecture, you may ask. I happen to be aware of some people cannot stand this architectural style as it was reported in this Boston Globe’s editorial piece.
But my point was not that much to make a political stand or to take a counter-position. I was much interested to demonstrate that there were ample elements of beauty in places many people failed to see one. Brutalist Architecture has a strong aesthetic appeal to me. I am too afraid that people who are failing to appreciate them would be committing some form of cultural crime by destroying or disfiguring them. I wanted to make my modest part to contribute to their protection.
These photographs are not an example of “Architectural Photography.” They are willingly committing the most fundamental mistakes against the genre: not dealing with the perspective issues or representation of the parallel lines. They are not perfectly sharp. They are not high-resolution. Moreover, they don’t mean to document different views of the building towards some form of completeness. They hope to reveal the beauty of a building by capturing the interplay of light and shadow, the effects of time, the feeling of texture, the impact of the negative space. They also want to illustrate how a building acts as a context or background to the people who just attend to their daily lives, but maybe more interestingly how it can be an invitation to an affectionate behavior: a kiss is a kiss, maybe even more fondly given on the terrace of a brutalist building.
To create some boundaries for this project, I wanted to establish some constraints: I decided to use my compact and system Fujifilm cameras with interchangeable lenses. I relied on my Fujifilm X100T with a 23 mm fixed lens for my initial visit to a building, to create sketches to develop a sense for the architecture. For my interchangeable lens cameras, I decided not to use any zoom lenses, but to work with primes, namely, 16 mm, 23 mm, 35 mm, and 50 mm. (Since my cameras are based on the APS-C size sensor, these focal lengths ought to be multiplied by the factor of 1.5 in order to obtain their full-frame equivalents.
Although I take my pictures with JPEG + RAW options, I have a strong preference to utilize the JPEG files to finalize the photographs with some minimal tonal adjustments in Lightroom during the post-processing. Fujifilm established fame for itself through its in-camera film simulations that leverage the companies analog photography tradition. My go-to choice is CLASSIC CHROME which provides somewhat muted color in some people’s minds evoking the memories of Kodak’s EKTACHROME. But when I feel I need more saturated color rendition I don’t hesitate to change my settings to VELVIA which corresponds to Fujifilm’s’ slide film of its analog heydays. In terms of aspect ratios, I like to work with 16:9 format for a somewhat panoramic look and 1:1 format for sharing my pictures on INSTAGRAM.
Right now, I don’t know whether I’ll be able to proceed with my series of “Brutalist Photographs” or even will be able to keep sharing my photographs. But I would like to hope whatever their photographic qualities, these pictures were able momentarily to distract you from worries and fears of uncertain times we are all going through.
Additional information about the Carpenter Center can be found on following Web sites:
Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts
Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts (Wikipedia)
Adnan Onart
Email
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WEBsite
Portrait-52
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Outings Under Covid-19
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Haluk Atamal
Sorry for responding late, Cemal. It so happens that during all these days during the lockdown, I seem to lack time to tackle all my projects, meanwhile trying to track the business telephone calls and tele-meetings. In a way, I may say I am really enjoying the period, without even to trick myself into thinking that I have to.
I really appreciate your rendition of the buildings through good photographs, even though I do not especially adore the architecture. But what worried me is what you wrote: “..I don’t know whether I’ll be able to proceed with my series of “Brutalist Photographs” or even will be able to keep sharing my photographs….”
Why? Something wrong? I hope not.
Stay safe and take care!
Haluk
A. Cemal Ekin
Good morning, Haluk. This is a guest post by a friend, Adnan Onart who is a graduate of Istanbul University and taught philosophy at the Middle East Techincal University. Adnan lives in Boston, actually Cambridge. The “brutalist” term apparently comes from French, beton brute and they coined the term based on that.
We are doing fine, the weather is improving. A little sunshine helps a lot!
Take care, keep busy, stay home,
Cemal
Correction of my mistake. Adnan is a graduate of Istanbul University but was a faculty member at the Middle East Technical University.
Adnan Onart
Dear Cemal & Haluk bey, if I could reply on your comments together…
Thank you, Haluk bey for liking the rendition of the building through my photographs. I must admit it is specifically difficult to adore this kind of architecture. But over time it seems to grow on us. About the concerns… My uncertainty about not proceeding with this series or photography, in general, is related to our conditions during the pandemic. Without being able to go out freely makes photography quite difficult. But I was able to manage to take some pictures during our short walks.
Dear Cemal, a small rectification: my graduation is actually from Istanbul University. My association with Middle East Technical University is as a teaching faculty. I taught philosophy & logic at the Humanities department of the University between the years 1972 to 1979. I would be interested to know whether this period with the times of Haluk bey.
Regards to both of you.
Adnan
Larry Dunn
Cemal, very nice article. As a fan of Brutalist Architecture I am very interested in seeing the progress of Adnan’s project. Would you know if Adnan is familiar with the Brutalist Boston Map? It is an excellent resource of Brutalist buildings in Boston & Cambridge.
A. Cemal Ekin
Good to hear from you, Larry. I’m sure Adnan will see your comment and we’ll find out if he is familiar with that map. I am glad to see like-minded people meeting here.
Take care, stay safe,
Cemal
Adnan Onart
Thank you Larry, for your comments and your interest in my project. I used the Brutalist Boston Map as the basis for this work. I hope to continue using it when I’ll resume the project. As you could guess because of the “Shelter in place” advisories, I had to put this undertaking on hold.
In the meantime, I had enough pictures of another building in Boston to be able to share it with my friends. You are welcome to have a look at them on this FLICKR album: https://www.flickr.com/gp/aonart/156K19
Best regards
Adnan
Larry Dunn
Adnan,
I figured you would have the Brutalist Boston Map, but just in case you did not i brought it up.
The shots of the Hurley building are very nice. How did you get into the courtyard. I tried and security guards quickly hurried me off the premises telling me it was State Property and I could not take photographs.
I did a portfolio of Brutalist photos, Brutalism: Strength and Beauty, for an exhibition last year with the greater Lynn Photographic Association. Here is the link to them if you are interested.
http://www.dunnphotographic.com/brutalism-strength-beauty
Take care and stay well!
Larry
A. Cemal Ekin
Larry, I saw the collection and a few more on your Web site, very nice collection indeed. Do you have a new Web site? It looks and feels different from what I recall. Nice!
Cemal
Larry Dunn
Cemal,
Thank you very much. The compliments mean a lot to me from you.
I revamped my web site about a year ago.
Take care and stay well!!
Larry
Adnan Onart
Dear Larry,
Your photographs of Hurley building are exquisite – very well done, congratulations.
As to my being on the courtyard… I must have been lucky or my using a compact camera might have played a role in not getting the attention of the security guards.
Keep up the good work and stay well.
Adnan
Haluk Atamal
Adnan Bey, selamlar.
Thanks a lot for your nice comments. I think it should be possible to shoot indoors for a while – there are so many things to study, it is unbelievable.
1972 – 1978 is exactly the period I was in the METU. During our second year, we were obliged to attend two elective classes: one technical, another non-technical. For the non-technical, everybody was choosing philosophy and logic; I had opted for linguistics, because it is one of my hobbies.
For the technical electives, I attended a lot of them, all under the late Prof.Dr. Yüksel Uçkan (you might know him because he lived in the States in his later years).
Kindly do not hesitate to write to me if you like. My mail address is [email protected]
Thanks and best regards from Antalya,
Haluk Atamal