all photos ~ (embiggenable)
ON MY LAST ENTRY, Marco Venturini Autieri wrote, re: my hometown porches photos:
“They are soooo different from what I would see around me (Tuscany). Another world.”
So Marco, right back atcha; last time I was in Tuscany, the front entrances to homes were soooo different from what I see around me (Au Sable Forks). Another world (and I really liked it).
All photos ~ (embiggenable)
Val d’Orcia view from the bedroom balcony of Pope Pius II’s summer residence ~ Pienza, Tuscany
Val d’Orcia view from the bedroom balcony of Pope Pius II’s summer residence ~ Pienza, Tuscany
WHILE RUMMAGING AROUND IN MY PHOTO LIBRARY LOOKING for street photography pictures-pictures which are most often made (by me) in cities in foreign countries (see my new street photos folder on the WORK page) ~ Tuscany-I was snared by a handful of Tuscany landscape pictures that were made with a long focal lens. For whatever reason, most, but not all, of of my Tuscany landscapes were made with that lens. Apparently, to my eye and sensibilities, that is how I was inclined to “see” it. In any event, it seemed logical to post these pictures-culled from many-for your viewing pleasure and as a follow up to my recent entry, re: making pictures with a long focal length lens.
On a different topic: re: “…the ever growing feeling that everything I photograph just seems derivative anymore” - a quote from a comment left on TOP. On that topic, consider this:
For the first several years one struggles with the technical challenges, making sure and steady progress - a learning curve and growth process that is rewarding, stimulating and self-renewing. But, eventually every photographer who sticks with it long enough arrives at a technical plateau where production of a technically good photograph is relatively easy. It is here that real photography starts and most photographers quit. ~ Brooks Jensen
We have certainly reached a plateau, technical wise, were the making of a “technically good photograph is relatively easy.”. A fact that seems to concern-some might even say “threaten”-those “serious” amateur photographers who have arrived at that plateau after a long and concentrated effort to reach it. iMo, at the very least, I believe it pisses them off that the un-serious picture taking rabble can make pictures which-to the average viewer’s eye and sensibilities-rivals there own pictures.
Well, iMo, those “serious” makers have been skating on thin ice, status wise, cuz it was only a matter of time until the march of technological progress, in this case re: the ability to make technically good photographs, washed away their claim to picture making fame. I believe that situation might cause a significant number of serious amateurs to to think, if everyone can do it and I don’t stand out, what’s the point? Hence, their reaction to this situation has been, almost across the board, to claim that their pictures are technically superior to those made with an iPhone (the device at the top of their derision list).
However, whether they are aware of it or not, that epithetical pronouncement exposes their obviousness to the fact that the average viewer, much more so in the fine art world, doesn’t give a crap about technical perfection. For the average viewer, a decent depiction of a person, place or thing is more than good enough for them. In the fine art world, a decent depiction is good enough as long as a photograph is about more than just what is depicted.
All of that written, it brings me back to my first quote “…the ever growing feeling that everything I photograph just seems derivative anymore”….
…inasmuch as most serious amateur photographs make photographs that are, primarily, referent-centric and are made, more or less, according to the “standard” rules and conventions of the medium, it is no surprise that many might end up feeling that their photographs are derivative. Given that most of their referents are those which are considered by the average viewer to be “beautiful” or interesting, it is only a matter of time until they either run out of such referents and start to repeat themselves, or, that they realize that their pictures look an awful lot like everyone else’s pictures.
And, it is at that point that their enthusiasm for making pictures wanes, cuz, if you don’t stand out (cuz everyone can do it), what’s the point?
sunset at altitude ~ enroute to Firenze (embiggenable) • µ4/3
Pursuant to my last entry, wherein I mentioned the idea of "the best comment I ever received, re: my pictures....
.....nearly 2 decades past, as I was presenting my work-a discursive grouping of "fine art" pictures-to a gallery director, he stopped about halfway through my portfolio and asked, "Are you a graphic artist?" (aka: graphic designer). I answered that that line of work was one of my professional pursuits. Whereupon he commented that, regardless of the depicted referent, he could "see my sense of design throughout my work."
Inasmuch as I have stated/written that my pictures are more about "the relationships/ arrangements of color, shapes, and light to themselves or each other" than they are about the depicted referent, I considered his observation to be a very high compliment indeed.
The gallery director's insight indicated to me that he "got it", re: my pictures. Consequently, I could not have been more pleased. And, it was but a short time later that I came to understand and fully embrace my intuitive and seemingly preternatural sense of design which guided-in fact, determined-how I see the world and, by extension, how I picture the world.
Re: how I picture the world ... I have been able, after the fact of making thousands of pictures, to identify distinct categories-identified by depicted referents-into which to place some of my pictures. However, when asked, "What kind of photographs do you make?", my response goes something along the lines of, "difficult to say because I am discursively promiscuous, picture making wise." After which, I have to translate that into an understandable sentence .... "I digess from subject to subject" (aka: discursive behavior) "with an undiscriminating or unselective approach." (aka: promiscuous behavior).
Perhaps, I should be less enigmatic / perplexing in my response and simply state that "I make pictures of everything and anything as long as the subjects exhibit an interesting arrangement or pattern of light, shapes or colors." and let it go at that.
butcher + the wife ~ Pienza / Tuscany, 2009 - (embiggenable) • APS-C
bowl of fruit, AM / PM ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone ( L) / µ4/3 (R)
I recently had to write and artist statement to accompany a submission for a solo gallery exhibition. For some reason it didn't come easy and required quite a few go-arounds in order to arrive at something which filled the bill.
Then, a few days ago, I came across an entry on TOP which contained an artist statement written by Ansel Adams. Quite obviously, it was written tongue-in-cheek and meant as a sendup of academic artspeak artist statements.
That got me to thinking about finding an online artspeak artist statement generator. I found one HERE. This is what it spit out:
I am an artist who mainly works with photography. With a conceptual approach, I create work using creative game tactics, but these are never permissive. Play is a serious matter: during the game, different rules apply than in everyday life and even everyday objects undergo transubstantiation.
My photos are characterised by the use of everyday objects in an atmosphere of middleclass mentality in which recognition plays an important role. By taking daily life as subject matter while commenting on the everyday aesthetic of middle class values, I try to develop forms that do not follow logical criteria, but are based only on subjective associations and formal parallels, which incite the viewer to make new personal associations.
My works directly respond to the surrounding environment and use everyday experiences from the artist as a starting point. Often these are framed instances that would go unnoticed in their original context. By choosing mainly formal solutions, I try to approach a wide scale of subjects in a multi-layered way, like to involve the viewer in a way that is sometimes physical and believe in the idea of function following form in a work.
My works are based on formal associations which open a unique poetic vein. Multilayered images arise in which the fragility and instability of our seemingly certain reality is questioned.
I currently live and work in Au Sable Forks, NY.
While artspeak artist statement generators are meant to create satirical bloviating artist statements-and the above most certainly is-it is also remarkedly spot on, re: my vision and M.O., in a few of its key pronouncements.
That written, I would never use it as is. However, I will keep it on hand for future "inspiration". I will as also print it so I can give it to a few friends and watch them squirm and fiddle around trying to understand itor, quite possibly, wonder if I have gone off the deep end and lost my mind.