stuff on kitchen counter ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK (click to embiggen)
"The photographs contained herein are a record of some things I have seen since I first began to use the camera as a framing tool in 1970."
... I thought posting an image which emphasised the "framing tool" function of a camera would be the thing to do.
The quote is from Michael Dunev whose pictures are presented in today's entry on LENSCRATCH. That entry begins with the statement that ...
...Sometimes we get so caught up in the intention of photography or finding subjects to build a project on, that we forget the beauty of simply taking photographs...
... a notion with which I totally agree, with the exception of the Academic Lunatic Fringe which is always caught up in the intention of photograph.
Dunev's pictures do indeed appear to be made with the idea of "simply making photographs" at the fore of his picturing M.O. His pictures are relatively free of picture making tropes-and-tricks artifice commonly employed to feign artfulness. Although, that written, his pictures do exhibit a visual nod to those of Michael Kenna. (Please consider this statement as an observation rather than as a criticism).
In any event, where Dunev loses me is with his Artist Statement in which - while certainly not the most egregious artspeak bullocks I have ever read - he, seemingly like most art school grads, veers off into references to "quantum mechanics" and the "uncertainty priciple" and, of course, "the camera as a framing tool".
While I understand why picture makers from the Academic Lunatic Fringe need to write artspeak-infested viewer instruction guides in order to connect a viewer to their pictures - which most often do not evidence any visual clue regarding the picture maker's intent - why can't art school grads let their pictures "speak" for themselves and, in the process, let the viewer "read / interpret / understand" a picture(s) according to what they see in a picture (visually) and what they bring to the viewng experience?
Dunev also wrote:
The photographs contained herein are a record of some things I have seen since I first began to use the cameraas a framing tool(ed. strike out) in 1970. They are a subjective interpretation of topics that have concerned me over the years, such as loneliness in the urban landscape, the relationship between people and nature and the human footprint on our environment, transforming over the years, my own perception of the object of my gaze, to remain as still reminders of a single moment.
iMo, that's all he needed to write.