Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Elsewhere in another current OPF thread, the question: "What is your motivation" or "What drives your style in photography?" lead to an interesting discussion of motivation: getting one's style as if it is something all self-respecting photographers must somehow accomplish.
Then, commenting on Sandrine's failure to see art in at least much of her own employer's photography, Ken Tanaka, succinctly as usual, made some very interesting points, (outside of that consideration of photography as "art"):
Ken,
Your remarks made me rethink about the values we have and the part played by photography. I'd like us to look at the question of our photography, not in terms of style, but intent and impact on society. This I figure might be a more fruitful approach.
"The fact that nearly everyone can record a photograph makes it the most democratic of all media."
The Citizen Journalist: The possession of cameras at the ready everywhere by average people is the most important factor in the continued development and evolution of the citizen journalist. Think of the type of video that exposed the police beating in the Rodney King affair written still argued about here. Think of the impact of just one camera with one point of view. One can argue that the picture does not shoe the entire story. Well, time has move us to a new stage. Thousands of cell phone pictures from every part of the protests streamed out of Iran despite censorship. Having a camera let alone just one single video camera at hand everywhere in the world was unusual just 20 years ago. Now, cell phones are ubiquitous. Never before in the history of man was it so hard to conceal crimes against society!
Think of the truth possible after the murder of Neda. Today, citizen news gathering provides a major new factor in human society's functioning. So "good enough", here, at least, get's out the news despite the harshest censorship. Again there's utterly no need for the picture to be considered as "Art" for it to be either effective or important!
Back to photography for Art: Beyond that, attempting to make Art, by photographing the beautiful, "sentimental" or "romantic", faces what I'd label "The Sunset" conundrum.
The Sunset Conundrum: The more perfect and ideal the sunset appears, the less interesting it might be as a novel work! In science and forensic work, however, the photograph has no such limitations. It increases in importance with every advance in technology. Similarly, undiminished in power, the new photograph still makes one of the most treasured mementos. In advertising and fashion, like art, any new image has to rise above the impact of all others that image invokes. So it might be harder, but the human imagination is infinite. With that as our starting dogma, the photograph is not going to decrease in importance in our lives.
What's likely is that all the famous images our society has iconized, are ready to reappear at the slightest stimulus. So they are always there as we gauge the value of anything new. Evoking such symbols work to both fortify new works and paradoxically risks deflating their potential value in the market place if it's merely classified as "what we've seen before". Having a new voice will always get the most attention. In that, the photograph is not dead and won't die!
Asher
Then, commenting on Sandrine's failure to see art in at least much of her own employer's photography, Ken Tanaka, succinctly as usual, made some very interesting points, (outside of that consideration of photography as "art"):
Ken,
Your remarks made me rethink about the values we have and the part played by photography. I'd like us to look at the question of our photography, not in terms of style, but intent and impact on society. This I figure might be a more fruitful approach.
"The fact that nearly everyone can record a photograph makes it the most democratic of all media."
The Citizen Journalist: The possession of cameras at the ready everywhere by average people is the most important factor in the continued development and evolution of the citizen journalist. Think of the type of video that exposed the police beating in the Rodney King affair written still argued about here. Think of the impact of just one camera with one point of view. One can argue that the picture does not shoe the entire story. Well, time has move us to a new stage. Thousands of cell phone pictures from every part of the protests streamed out of Iran despite censorship. Having a camera let alone just one single video camera at hand everywhere in the world was unusual just 20 years ago. Now, cell phones are ubiquitous. Never before in the history of man was it so hard to conceal crimes against society!
Think of the truth possible after the murder of Neda. Today, citizen news gathering provides a major new factor in human society's functioning. So "good enough", here, at least, get's out the news despite the harshest censorship. Again there's utterly no need for the picture to be considered as "Art" for it to be either effective or important!
Back to photography for Art: Beyond that, attempting to make Art, by photographing the beautiful, "sentimental" or "romantic", faces what I'd label "The Sunset" conundrum.
The Sunset Conundrum: The more perfect and ideal the sunset appears, the less interesting it might be as a novel work! In science and forensic work, however, the photograph has no such limitations. It increases in importance with every advance in technology. Similarly, undiminished in power, the new photograph still makes one of the most treasured mementos. In advertising and fashion, like art, any new image has to rise above the impact of all others that image invokes. So it might be harder, but the human imagination is infinite. With that as our starting dogma, the photograph is not going to decrease in importance in our lives.
What's likely is that all the famous images our society has iconized, are ready to reappear at the slightest stimulus. So they are always there as we gauge the value of anything new. Evoking such symbols work to both fortify new works and paradoxically risks deflating their potential value in the market place if it's merely classified as "what we've seen before". Having a new voice will always get the most attention. In that, the photograph is not dead and won't die!
Asher
