Aug 23, 2016 @ 16:02 CET

Dear Ivan,

Yes, often the cinematic feeling is paramount… and I must confess it’s something I too strive for – even in my still images. And now I’m wondering. I’ve actually never been able to put my finger on it, only being able to recognise being pulled by it. Tokyo Story, The Mirror, Inception. Vastly different films, different eras, different cultures, different industries, different everything, all pulled me in completely.

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It feels like there’s more of a bright future for AR and MR than for VR. The key is the mobile phone with the person in real life used as a means to do things. VR kind of diametrically opposes that, it presumes exiting real life, going literally inside a virtual world instead; basically using the technology as “an end” instead of as “a means”. I think that might be why there’ll always be that gap that you described, impossible to bridge. That context has to be broken out of, lest VR were to stay as a too specific – yet extremely immersive – tool.

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Since what seems forever I’ve had trouble “thinking about” while experiencing, and I chalk it up to the fact that I’ve always thought I was pretty naive, and therefor easily completely pulled in. Even now still I can – and constantly do – lose myself in good cinema, art, books and what not, often afterwards recalling “being taken along for the ride” more than my critical thinking. So much that I regard my being swept away as a yardstick for success.

Of course I know this holds no ground. But I can’t help myself. Maybe I’m not cynical enough. I’m imagining that “swept away” thing as something elusive that can’t be created directly, instead only by successfully making the elements that it’s composed of, and then intricately balancing them, never fully controlling them. Storytelling. Structure. Narrative. Connections. Depth. Aesthetics. Timing. Relevance.

Imagining this, gives me some solace. And damn, I totally missed that Perseid meteor shower, even though I knew it was coming.

/// #image_by_image is an ongoing conversation between photographers Ivan Sigal and Anton Kusters. @ivansigal and @antonkusters on Instagram ///