man & nature # 104 ~ surprise, surprise
Tuesday, March 10, 2009 at 11:42AM 
Pink ribbon and butts on dirty snow • click to embiggenOne of the things that have been numbered amongst photography's "assets" is the element of surprise / discovery. The ability of pictures to teach / reveal to the viewer and the maker something that they did not already know.
I have been on both sides of that coin many times. A case in point is this mini-body of work that is conceived and presented under the working title of Things That Emerge From Under the Snow.
While processing the images, it occurred to me - much more so than when I was out picturing - that not everything pictured had, in fact, emerged from under the snow. Some things were actually sitting on the snow and quite obviously had been recently "placed" there. There are even a couple pictures with no human-discarded things in evidence at all.
This was causing me a bit of working title apprehension until I realized, upon viewing the work in its entirety, that I had not been picturing what appears,
Emerging things • click to embiggen at first glance, to be the referent in these pictures - bits and pieces of human-discarded things (otherwise known as litter). Nope, not at all.
Without realizing it at the time, what I had been really picturing was bits and pieces of the natural world, all of which had emerged from under the snow. What I had done was to create a rather interesting series of nature pictures with bits and pieces of man's influence upon the natural world, quite literally, thrown into the picturing mix.
This realization sort of blew my mind. Again I emphasize, upon viewing the work in its entirety, it occurred to that if I were to remove the human-discarded things from the pictures, what I would be left with is a really interesting (IMO) series of nature pictures. Pictures that are true to my somewhat standard MO of picturing the world in all of its complex, chaotic, and messy glory.
However, I can't remove the human-discarded things from the pictures and, in fact, I have no desire to do so. That's because, again IMO, the pictures are much more complex and interesting - both visually and intellectually / emotionally, by their inclusion in the scenes. At least that's how I see it.
What all this reminds me of is this little bit of picturing wisdom:
To shoot poignant pictures we only need follow the path of our enthusiasm . I believe that this feeling is the universe's way of telling us that we are doing the right thing. The viewing public will always disagree over the intrinsic merits of a particular photograph(s), but no one can deny the enthusiasm that originally inspired us to capture and offer that image(s) to others. - Timothy Allen
Or, to put it another way - don't over think it. Just follow your muse because, if you don't get all wrapped up in that pre-visualization crap you never know exactly where it might lead.
On that note, I have a very loaded question for you - I have obviously given away the the game, but nevertheless I still wonder if any of you would have seen these pictures for what they really are?
Reader Comments (3)
If what these pictures "really are" about does not include the discarded objects as essential elements, then I have to disagree. I think almost any viewer, especially looking at the whole series, would find the centered and often most colorful parts to be not incidental but emphasized--in line with your original intentions as you've described them. Sure, the "natural world" is also there, lurking in the background everywhere, and that may well be a big part of the overall message of the series. And I'm also convinced we often discover more in our work than we ourselves intended. Possibly this could work as a series without the litter. But a claim that these are primarily "nature pictures" won't find many adherents.
A nice set of pictures from the "real" postmodern condition.
Agree with Steve. Had the objects been rather less front and centre, I might have taken a different view.