urban ku # 177 ~ what I wouldn't give for a good critique
Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 11:57AM 
Storm front over Rochester • click to embiggenI have previously mentioned the photography critic A.D. Coleman. His book, light readings, is a collection of his writing - mainly photography / photographer criticism from his Village Voice column, Latent Image - spanning the years 1968-78. For me, the book has 2 primary points of interest:
1. He writes about a number of photographers with whom I am not familiar, so it's a great resource (together with Google) for 'discovering' new (unknown to me) photography and photographers. That alone is worth the price of admission but another bonus is that, even when he writes about a photographer with whom I am familiar, I most often come away with a new insight about that photographer and his/her work.
2. IMO, the #1 reason to read the book is Coleman's writing. Much of his criticism (to 'critique', not to 'criticize') reads like poetry. His descriptions of pictures incite in me many new ways of looking at and 'reading' photographic images. Such as:
Clarence John Laughlin is an obsessed romantic, a Southerner to the marrow, he makes photographs which exude that peculiarly southern aura: nostalgia amplified to the level of metaphor, guilt as a fetish object, decay as perfume. There may be such a thing as a New South, but that is not Laughlin's concern. His focus is strictly on the Old South, that "country of the mind" of Faulkner ... a spiritual territory where rank, decrepit mythologies still live on in hope of resurrection ...
... From the collapsing plantation homes, which are tombs of the past, Laughlin moves to untended cemeteries, and the tombs of the dreamers ...
If only there were more writing about pictures that read like the above. And, if more photographers actually took the time to read such writing, maybe they could talk about or write a forum critique about pictures that got beyond the rules of thirds or how much they like the color.
BTW, before reading Coleman, I was not familiar with Clarence John Laughlin. After reading Coleman, I sure as hell wanted to become familiar with Laughlin and his pictures. I Googled him and I'm glad I did.
In any event, don't you wish someone would write something like the above about your pictures, or better yet, that you could write something like that about someone else's pictures?
Reader Comments (3)
I think I would like to receive a critique like that on my work. I find it hard to give those kinds of comments at "you know where", because it doesn't "fit the mold" and I get the impression they are not looking for that. I feel the majority are all about emulation and technique. So, I give them what I think they want.
Have been reading you blog for months. Am very much enjoying it, and especially this tour through the scanned 8X10s. I would point out that you refer to the subject of this piece as "Clemen" in the first graf and as "Coleman" thereafter. Thought you might like to fix.
Keep up the great work.
Hi Bill - thanks for the input and your continued support / visits. As always, feel free to chime in on any topic.