Do you ever feel as though the art and photography world lacks authenticity? That people only like what they’re told to like: the most expensive pieces, or the ones with the biggest names attached?
It's rife within all artistic endeavors, and in 2022, Kat Mahale founded Felt Photographic to offer “an alternative route for artists to be seen.”
She says:
‘Viewing art from the felt sense levels the playing field - art is for everyone. We don’t have to know anything about what we’re looking at to have a profound experience of it.”
'Felt sense' is described by Eugene Gendlin, the philosopher and psychologist who coined the term, as:
"A felt sense is not a mental experience but a physical one. Physical. A bodily awareness of a situation or person or event. An internal aura that encompasses everything you feel and know about the given subject at a given time—encompasses it and communicates it to you all at once rather than detail by detail.
"Think of it as a taste, if you like, or a great musical chord that makes you feel a powerful impact, a big round unclear feeling."
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Each gallery is produced via open calls to photographers and is curated entirely on the ‘felt sense’, i.e., which images the panel has the strongest reactions to, rather than the prestige of the photographer.
HERE I AM is the fifth exhibition from Felt Photographic, “an international photographic expression of the profound acknowledgement of our existence in the now from a physical, metaphysical, spiritual and/or existential place,” says Mahale on the website.
“I invite you to park your likes and dislikes at the door, feel into what you are looking at and notice what’s coming up. Which image/s are you drawn to, which elicit the strongest response?,” adds Mahale,
All the images are available for viewing on the gallery website, but out of the four below, which one speaks most to your felt sense?
Fotini Tsakalidou
Kit used: – Canon EOS 2000D, along with an EF-S 18-55mm. The settings were ISO:40, f/1.8, 1/111s
"This photograph was taken on my balcony, in Ioannina, Greece, where I found this beautiful bird lying lifeless in a position that appeared almost like a dance. I carefully positioned the bird to highlight its vibrant colours, aiming to tell the last story of its life.
“The contrasting colours of the bird and the background reflect a narrative that is both colourful and hopeful, yet marked by an epic ending. Through this image, I wanted to capture and convey the poignant beauty of life and death, encapsulated in a single, serene moment.”
Ellen Zimmerman
Kit used: Canon R5, 70–200 lens as a two image, in–camera multiple exposure
“I was in the Great Smoky Mountains when I made this image. I set up my tripod just before seven in the morning, while the sky revealed only smatterings of blue clouds and hints of pink. But the details of the mountains were essentially hidden. I was entirely in the moment. There was no place else I wanted or needed to be. Even the bitter cold could not penetrate my joy and concentration.
“Gradually, light began to emerge. I could see the gentle curves of the mountain ranges. And as I turned to the east, then to the west, the light was telling different stories, highlighting different areas of this magnificent scene. At times, the sky seemed to be on fire. Sunlight poured through clouds in what some call God rays. Over an hour later, I made this image that looks like infinite layers of mountains, with frilly tree lines on some ridges, faint clouds above, mist rising.”
Becky Chapman
Kit used: Canon D60, with Tamron 18-200mm
“Some decades ago, I was born & raised in northeast Nebraska, farm country. After college I migrated to Denver, Colorado, and eventually bought a home surrounded by forest in the foothills west of Denver. The Magic of Nature entranced me. In 2016, I bought a cabin in the Santa Fe National Forest (New Mexico). Since retiring, I am able to spend 2-3 months a year deep in the Forest.
“My house faces east, which can provide wonderful light as the morning sun breaks over the ridge. On this particular morning, the early fog created this powerful drama.”
Dominic Byrne
Kit used: Nikon Df with 14mm lens and a 27s exposure
“My image is titled Looking For a Way Out and can be interpreted in many ways–I like to leave the explanation for the viewer to decide as we are all different and will all feel an image in a different way. The photograph was taken at a very historic and famous outdoor swimming location called the Forty Foot just outside Dublin – for the literary folk the location features in the opening part of James Joyce’s Ulysses.
“I arrived early with the intention of doing some long exposure photography of the railings and steps and whilst I was doing that one of the swimmers slowly climbed the steps emerging from the sea. I took a number of long-exposure images of the swimmers but this one stood out for me for many reasons.
“I am not someone that puts a great emphasis on equipment as some of the great photographs of the past were made on very basic cameras and that really backs up the point that it isn’t about the technical quality of image but the feeling it conveys that is what matters.”
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