In the meantime this is a fun read:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/photo-overload-everyones-taking-pics-but-is-anyone-really-looking/article4365499/
I love the idea that people are always fidgeting with their smartphones because they can no longer smoke cigarettes in most places and don't know what to do with their hands....
edited 6/25 to add:
http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/extended/archives/photography_after_photography/
This is a nicely prodding piece of writing as well...
And, a book by the original photo critic, A. D. Coleman...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/photo-overload-everyones-taking-pics-but-is-anyone-really-looking/article4365499/
I love the idea that people are always fidgeting with their smartphones because they can no longer smoke cigarettes in most places and don't know what to do with their hands....
edited 6/25 to add:
http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/extended/archives/photography_after_photography/
This is a nicely prodding piece of writing as well...
And, a book by the original photo critic, A. D. Coleman...
5 comments:
Photography freed painting from depiction? Sure, the Impressionists moved the use of color forward away from the draftsmen of classical painting. But how does the craft of photography move forward? I don't consider washing prints in lake water or burning the paper a step forward but rather a childish attempt to get attention. But then, I want my photography to depict or tell a story. Not very existential, I'm know, but shouldn't there be a means to simply convey clear information?
I still prefer to think that the smartphone-zombies (watch any zombie-movie: arms stretched out, empty eyes, one thought: "communicate, communicate", ahem, "eat, eat") are looking at the screen instead of through a lens.
I was interested in the bit about the UC Berkeley prof who gave up his camera for 12 months because he felt that on travels he was spending more time staring at his camera rather than the scene around him. Although I do believe that my experience of the world has been enriched through my obsession with photography, whether film or digital, I try to remember to take a break once in a while to absorb the ambiance. I recently spent a few days paddling the Noyo River in Northern California. While I did devote one trip more or less entirely to the camera to record the experience, (http://tonymindling.blogspot.com/2012/06/hike-no-17-going-with-flow.html)
the most memorable paddle was the one when I left the camera zipped up in the bag.
Another interesting bit was how that same prof found that he was more interested in photographing people once he took up the camera again. I think we all come around to that eventually, usually by going through the archives and realizing that those images have much more importance than any number of landscapes or flower macros.
I do remember a particular vacation where I started out spending too much time worrying about getting pictures instead of enjoying it with my family. The pictures are still great memories, but the memories with the family is what made it enjoyable.
I am guilty of taking more pictures than needed and unable to decide which ones to delete. My wife likes to scrap book and it is as enjoyable to go through her scrap booking of 100 pictures instead of my folder of 5,000 pictures...or whatever numbers they may be.
Post a Comment