لوحة الشهر .. كلمة العدد .. فـلاش يقدمه مالك حلاوي .. مجلة فن التصوير اللبنانية _ ع٥٢

number word

The first photographic exhibition in Lebanon, which was held recently, and at the invitation of the Photography Club at the American University and the “Art of Photography” magazine, was not ambitious, and this is what we recognize before we hear it from others. We hold the dealers of photographic equipment and equipment the greatest responsibility in limiting the success of the exhibition, because they did not provide even a small part of the contribution that would have benefited them, but indirectly or in a later period.
They believed that this period - the period of recession - would not advance or delay their direct sales if they gave this exhibition its due, ignoring the future, and perhaps the near future, of its impact on the development of the photographic movement on the Lebanese scene.
And therefore on their sales, even after a while... They neglected this aspect, delaying the required renaissance, intentionally or unintentionally!
editor

Flash presented by: Malik Halawi
I refuse this photographer

I remember well the days of the photographers on Burj Square near Martyrs' Square, and at the Flower Clock, or on the Raouche, where they distributed the entire Corniche and some of the edges of the swimming pools...
I remember their famous phrases:
- A picture, Professor, a picture, my sweet one.. A picture, my fists.. A picture, Chief.
Some of these phrases are still ringing in my ears. As for the images that are still standing before my eyes, they are the pictures of young men and women standing with a mixture of confusion and pride together, waiting to press the magic button that will date them to this important moment in their lives.
These photographers I love and respect their profession, and we are not here to evaluate their work, but what is known is that they have become extinct in Lebanon or almost, but unfortunately some of them, or most of them, appeared in the photojournalism arena, carrying all the legacies of photography on the Burj Square and the Corniche! .
Some of these photographers and those who have “spawned” in some newspapers and magazines deal with the artist or the politician, as they dealt with their former “clients”, asking him to “appear” in front of them to photograph him still, instead of seizing the spontaneous moment during his speech or in his session.
More than that, they sometimes charge themselves with correcting some events, and there the slowness that they inherited from their previous profession is reflected in their return, disappointed except for the “dead” and rigid images, or those whose importance is mostly due to chance alone.
On the other hand, we see them dealing ethically with the press circles (colleagues, presidents, and editors) and with the circles they are assigned to photograph (artists, politicians, writers, and the like). And the spirit of selling ordinary and consumer images in cheap ways, to say the least.
Even at some of the parties they are assigned to cover, and in front of crowds of people, they are overcome by the former spirituality. They deal with the public not on the grounds that it is a journalistic material that may benefit the owner of the publication, or that it benefits them morally as photojournalists. Rather, they seek cheap prices for pictures of some intrusive faces.
The photojournalist, in my opinion, is a great artist with artistic and literary value.
And the photographer of Al-Burj Square is a professional photographer who has dignity and respect, and I do not underestimate his value.
But the confusion between this and that generates a distorted “hybrid” that defects photojournalism and does not give value to the other professional photographer. Hence, I reject this hybrid photographer and I hope to rid the press of him. Hearing and looking at his phrases and “boozes” of his customers!⏹