urban ku # 97 ~ what? # 4

Tugging a boat on the beach • click to embiggenIt seems as though some have assumed, because I believe that the medium of photography is inexorably linked to the real, that I have somehow dismissed the fact that photographs cannot 'transcend their subject matter'.

Nothing could be more wrong. Anyone who has followed The Landscapist for any length of time knows that I believe the best photographs are those which illustrate and illuminate, denote and connote, have studium and punctum.

For that matter, just read the blog title subhead - photography that pricks the unthought known.

Acknowledging that the medium of photography is inexorably linked to the real in no way limits its ability to transcend the visual literalness of any given picture's referent for, as Graham Clarke writes in The Photograph;

"The most obvious of photographs is fraught with complications and contradictions, and we can analyse and read it in a way that takes account of these. For all its acknowledged literalness, the photographic image retains a dense and, in many ways, wonderous capacity to mean ... Merely by announcing its subject, the photograph grants both meaning and significance. The banal, the marginal, the momentary are given status withing an assumed cultural register ... it can make anything important. It has the capacity to move between extremes - philosophical, cultural, social. The pphotograph is free of limits, just as its subject matter is infinite. The 'moment' is thus its greatest asset, for the 'moment' is always unique, and it is the moment that the photograph brings into focus."

And, it is that moment which is inexorably linked with the real.

civilized ku # 52 ~ What? # 3

Lobby mural at the Northwood Inn • click to embiggenApparently, the best way to set subject aside (with straight photography) is to look at paintings.

Me, I don't think it's possible, in the medium of photography, to divorce subject from meaning/denoted from connoted. Visually, photography deals best with the "real". I like the way Winogrand put it -

"I like to think of photography as a two-way act of respect. Respect for the medium, by letting it do what it does best, describe. And respect for the subject, by describing it as it is. A photograph must be responsible to both."

urban ku # 96 ~ what? # 2

A pile of aluminum boats • click to embiggenIn the medium of photography, in which a picture is inexorably linked with that which it depicts, how does one set aside subject matter?

I believe it is near impossible to do so, especially so re: the discussion referenced in yesterday's entry, straight photography. It is pretty much a given that photographers toiling in the "straight" vernacular by and large make pictures in a straight-forward manner - pictures in which the photographer's hand is well hidden. They point their camera at the thing(s) they wish to denote and, in a sense, let "Kodak do the rest".

I have always operated on the assumption that the photographer pointed his camera at a thing(s) that he/she wanted me to "see". Whether he/she wanted me to see it for its own denoted values/properties, or, whether he/she presents it as a visual vehicle that may transport me to a thing(s) un-seen, - IMO, the best pictures function on both levels - I don't see how the observer can set subject aside.

Maybe in the hollowed halls of academia, where the fetish of 'concept' reigns, subject can be (and is) set aside but isn't that what leads to the making of pictures that are mostly self-referential academic crap?

urban ku # 95 ~ what?

Old boat in an old boat yard • click to embiggenA couple of weeks ago, over on Muse-ings, Tim Atherton wrote about somebody else who wrote; "It is my belief that most contemporary American color photographers are not only working with a medium, but they are also working within a tradition, or a way of seeing ... the overwhelming current practice and art-world presence of what I can only describe as “straight” contemporary American color photography. Most photographers working in this genre are pursuing aesthetics and concerns that were initiated in the 1970s, and have changed very little over the past thirty years. Different photographers incorporate different approaches, and embrace or abandon concept and/or narrative to varying degrees, but aside from subject matter, there is often little else that distinguishes the work ..."

This notion has been rattling around in my head ever since and it seems to me that the entire construct is hanging by very precarious thread - the razor-thin caveat of subject matter aside.

How does one view a picture and set subject matter aside?

FYI ~ He's off and running

House wine and other views • click to embiggenIn a heroic feat of mind over body, I managed to get my still-ailing body out of the house and to Aaron's 'preview' exhibition. It was a great success.

Congratulations to Aaron - his first 'real' gallery show, a very nice turnout throughout the evening, and, actual opening night print sales.

Next stop, NYC.

ku # 478 ~ moon over dunes and the Atlantic

Moon over dune and the Atlantic • click to embiggenMy body and brain is back to something approaching a human state - as opposed to the slimely, protoplasmic, primordial amoeba state of the past 4 days. I am still a few days away from "normalcy" but the end appears to be insight.

Re: night photography - I have been following Joe Reifer's blog, Ramblings about photography, for quite awhile. It seems to me that Joe's real passion is night photography and there is a discussion going on there right now about creating a 'night photography lexicon'.

I am following it with interest because I am interested in night photography but there is a lot about the sub-genres I don't understand. 2 sub-genres in particular that give me a spot of trouble are; 1. those that turn night into 'day' (shouldn't it look more like night???), and, 2. those with photographer introduced colored light (the point/purpose of not light, but colored light being?).

Once the noggin/noodle is fully functioning, I plan to chime in on this subject a bit more, and...

FYI, a Night Photography Forum is on the way, so, get out there and start picturing the night away.

PS an interesting collection of night photography in many different styles can be seen at The Nocturnes

FYI ~ SL photographer lands show at Chelsea gallery ...

Sometimes, the most amazing and totally unimaginable things happen ...

Read about it here - SL photographer lands show at Chelsea gallery

FYI ~ I wouldn't give my troubles to a monkey on a rock

This afternoon, Monday, is my first day back on feet on a very limited basis. I spent the last 4 days in bed or on the couch dealing with what must be the flu - very high temps, massive headaches and a few other symptoms that I won't describe.

Suffice it to say, high fever and no food make Jack a weak boy. I may (or may not) feel well enough tomorrow to sit at the computer and get back into it. Here's hoping ...

Hell, I even missed Hugo's birthday party.

PS - this weekend's Landscapist canoe outing is postponed. Except for next weekend, I am available to re-schedule at everyone's convience.