2021 Week No11 Kintsugi

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Your Challenge if you choose to accept it is to produce an image of The Kintsugi: The Art of Embracing Damage


Eastern Style
Western Style with a twist

Kin = golden tsugi = joinery

Translated to ‘golden joinery’, Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with shining lacquer. Through embracing the flawed or imperfect, the process celebrates breakage as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise. 

This ancient technique is believed to have begun in the 15th century, when Japanese military commander, Ashikaga Yoshimasa, broke his Chinese tea bowl and sent it away to undergo repairs. When the bowl returned, Yoshimasa was displeased to find that it had been mended with unattractive metal staples, this motivating craftsmen to find a more beautiful method of repair. 

Wabi-sabi, in relation to Kintsugi, is a traditional Japanese philosophy that focuses on finding beauty within the imperfect and transient nature of life. It is rooted in Buddhism and arose from tea ceremonies in which ceramics are often dented, misshapen and irregular. Together, wabi-sabi and Kintsugi are interconnected in their shared ideal of imperfection as being something of beauty and a part of life. 

More information regarding Kintsugi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kintsugi

Link No2 https://www.weareyugen.com/blogs/stories/kintsugi

Link No3 https://blog.kainexus.com/improvement-disciplines/kaizen/kaizen-and-the-art-of-kintsugi-redefining-perfection

So having explained the source of this tradition I thought it would be fun to set a challenge that exposes us to the Japanese culture of embracing the broken. For clarification you can use a broken item you are already aware of or find a broken item. You may decide to break an item you don’t much care for, provided it’s your. You may have some broken items that you cherish and this appeals appeals to your creative side. But the main theme is to embrace the broken. 

Now I don’t want to restrict anybodies creativity so feel free to Post Process the break if that’s your inclination. I produced the Eastern image above as an example in Adobe Photoshop Elements 2021. However the image must be taken and processed within the specified weeks challenge.

Maybe post process your own shining lacquer if you feel inclined. Any style of lacquer even staple from which the original idea was sourced.

Now despite this image I produced in the Japanese style I would encourage you to add a Western twist and think outside the box as I said previously anything is up for grabs.

Despite being connected to Wabi-Sabi don’t forget we are concentrating on the broken.

Link to further Ideas for images https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/330662797638581967/

Wabi-Sabi is in relation to Kintsugi. Feel free to check out the Wabi-Sabi challenge from 2019 by @Susan Lehmann, link below.

2019 WEEK 28: Wabi-Sabi

As always remember to have fun, be creative and out of the box interpretations are encouraged.

The friendly community guidelines are pretty simple:

  • Please follow the COVID-19 safety guidelines at all times.
  • Don’t leave home without your camera. Participating in the 2021 Trevor Carpenter Photo Challenge is fun and easy.
  • Take a new photo for the current weekly theme, not something from your back catalog or someone else’s image.
  • Post your photo each week to our active communities on Facebook or Flickr (or both). Tag the photo: #trevorcarpenterphotochallenge  #2021photochallenge #photochallenge #tempusaura
  • Post your photo during the week of Sunday 14th March to Saturday 20th March 2021.
  • Please remember to comment on at least FIVE photo submissions this week by answering the question why? in your comments. In other words, why do I like (or not like) this photo? or why did this photo catch my eye?

Now retrieving an image set.

Sony E 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 Lens for Sony E-Mount Cameras (Black)
4.6 out of 5 stars(1498)
$298.00 (as of 23 August 2024 12:01 GMT -04:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)

Now retrieving an image set.

Sony E 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 Lens for Sony E-Mount Cameras (Black)
4.6 out of 5 stars(1498)
$298.00 (as of 23 August 2024 12:01 GMT -04:00 - More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)

About Peter Randall

As a youngster I was fascinated by camera’s. At about the age of 10 years I was bought a Ilford film camera which I proceeded to capture images as and when film was available, not very often because it was expensive at the time. While at school in the early seventies I was studying Art with a view to going to University. I abandoned my plans for an opportunity in press photography, however the business was struggling within a couple of years and I was made redundant after three years. This gave me some basic ground work after which I continued with photography as a hobby photographing family & friends. Between 1980 to 1985 I had my own darkroom processing both colour & B&W film. Printing my own photographs. I liked Kodak products for colour and Ilford for B&W. I often though about joining a photographic club but family life was busy, never did get round to it. I especially liked photographing my family as they grew up. When we had our second son in 1986. I bought a Canon (camcorder) and developed a liking for amateur video work. At the time I had a Commodore Amiga computer, which at that time had the best graphics so I indulged in Video editing adding titles and cross over fades. During the 1990’s I started building my own computers and this developed into paths crossing with video work. Early digitisation of video. Like many things the early days were painful LOL. I remember video capture cards and hard drives struggling to keep pace with the necessary speed to capture. Setting up the software options in those days was a nightmare because software was definitely not user friendly. Looking back I think I jumped ship from film photography to Digital too early. The early Digital images were not Pretty. But the appeal of the concept was too enchanting. 1996 was the beginning of my Digital Photographic Journey. Despite my initial hiccups with Digital photography, I was definitely sold. Being able to transfer digitised images to your computer. The possibilities of the digital Darkroom and beyond. I joined the PhotoChallenge group in April 2014, and Ive been learning ever since. Joining the group helped me turn the tap back on allowing my creativity to flow again. I found myself anticipating each weekly challenge. I was motivated by discussions, ideas and techniques presented within the group. Constructive Criticism was always very useful because sometimes we can get lost on the journey. However although it’s really good to know the rules it’s so much fun to break them.