man & nature # 16 ~ how deep can you go?
Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 02:04PM 
End of a rainy day • clikck to embiggen"There is a difference between looking at photographs--which has become a common cultural practice in connection with reading newspapers--or seeing the image. The latter refers to reconstructing the photograph by exploring the deep structure of the image--which involves the application of practical knowledge and creative insights and relies on the cultural or historical consciousness of the reader. Looking is the visual routine of readers, seeing is the visual practice of the literate."~ Hanno Hardt
Hmmmm ... "the literate".
What's in it for you? Are you into "exploring the deep structure of the image"? Do you understand your own "cultural or historical consciousness"? Can you even have a "creative insight" regarding a photograph without being aware of and understanding them?
And, other than yourself, who are you making pictures for? The literate or the looker?
Just a few questions that have come to mind. Any answers?
Reader Comments (1)
If its not just photographs you're talking about, the Japanese print - with a lot of what we westerners label "negative space" and abstract juxtaposition of sometimes absurdly-scaled sub-images - is "literate", while in the West we seem as a collective to expect if not prefer "punchy" composition with colour to match and that would be for "readers".
The reader is passive and needs to be hit over the head with spectacle, while the literate move in with the artist.
I could be full of it. Just a thought.