ku # 482 ~ sort of an open ended question
Friday, September 7, 2007 at 09:15AM 
Rail, rocks and cliff with mist • click to embiggenA few entries back, Robert wrote, "... Not sure (I never am) what your aim was here ..."
One of the 'aims' of my picturing is to make pictures that are ambiguous - pictures that (as stated in an essay about Walker Evans polaroids) don't explain themselves, don't narrate clearly, but are discursive in a more surreptitious way.
My manner of picturing, serendipitous and spontaneous, (again about Evans) 'demands an element of abandon that denies the possibility of intention, perfect shot, or definitive statement about the subjects ... [T]he images are without sentimentality, are uncompromising in their plain statement ...' My concern is 'for something besides style or "good" pictures', something more literal and simple.
If one takes the time to view my more complete body of work, I believe (for most) I have questioned what is assumed to characterize the idea of "good" photography. The pictures appear to be accidentally produced, confused and confusing, and do not appear to be motivated by any clear vision - which is exactly my intent. I am definitely driven by obsessive scrutiny and a disregard for photographic tradition.
I do not wish to link the experience of observing my pictures to the culturally conditioned oeuvre of "good" photography. I want to confront the viewer with a different experience - one that poses questions, not only about what constitutes "good" photography but also about the culturally conditioned way one scrutinizes the world around him/her self.
Reader Comments (1)
Sounds as though there is a similarity between your golf courses and your photography. I will not go into the description of fairways, exploration, nature, peace, tranquility, beauty and all the other things that a photograph has in common with a hole, but each has its own little gem of beauty at the end of it to be interpreted by the individual as they have encountered it!