Monday
Nov262007
urban ku # 139/140 ~ yellow leaves - 2 views
Monday, November 26, 2007 at 08:04AM 
Be prepared for quirky happenstance • click to embiggenOver on photostream (on auspiciousdragon.net), Colin Jago brings up the idea of what I choose to photograph and why.
In the very short piece, Colin states that "...there are subjects we don’t (tend to…) photograph and, at the opposite extreme, there are subjects that we photograph so much that we (tend to…) seek out the oddest, and most untypical, aspects to record - which we then present as, somehow, the norm."
What do you think about this statement?
Reader Comments (3)
I thought about it at the time. I saw the statement in 2 ways: "we" as a photography collective might go this way to distinguish ouselves. "We" as individuals might go this way to better understand a given subject or to avoid cliche. I think the statement rings true either way.
As an outcome, in the Art sense, I'd rather see an unusual view of a commonplace subject than a standard view of the dramatic. If one can truly capture the unusual view of the dramatic, then heights are being reached.
I am not a professional nor am I "artistic" but this past year I started to "see" things differently. My wife and I love to do the scenic shots and the nature shots but I was missing the "picture".
We have a road that runs along the Hudson River for about 4 miles or so and it is great for all four seasons and each time we go back we "see" something new.
Today in my blog there is a picture of a truck in the woods that has been there for a couple of years. Ihave probably driven by it 10 or 12 times. I always saw it there but never saw the "picture".
Is it artistic? Real life? Real art?
Oliver Gagliani (I worked as an assistance in his Virginia City Workshops for seven summers) use to tell his students "You can't photograph something unless you know something about it."