Soft Eyes

“Soft Eyes,” wrote the late Henry Wessel, “is a physical sensation. At some point you are faced with something you cannot ignore. " In this intelligent and tender act of homage, Wessel's photographs (many of which are unpublished) are associated with the work of two young Californian photographers Austin Leong and Adrian Martinez and the work that follows The result is a surprising exploration of influence and lineage. From a In a way, Soft Eyes is a case of two photographers pursuing the shadows of a dead man, but Leong and Martinez are both disciplined and devoted, and the shadows of Wessel hide in plain sight under the sun California bleaching. Wessel's great talent was to make surprising photos from things and moments that ordinary people did not notice, and his visual vocabulary was striking in its modesty. As this book proves, Wessel's world still exists in abundance and awaits anyone who walks around with a 35mm camera and soft eyes, and it's a world where Leong and Martinez's photos can almost effortlessly coexist with those of Wessel.