(embiggenable)
OVER THE PAST DECADE-GIVE OR TAKE A FEW YEARS- there has been an emerging sentiment amongst “serious” amateur picture makers that picture making, aka: photography, as they know it is dead and/or dying. The primary perpetrator of this heinous crime is most often ajudged to be the the cellphone with its camera module, picture making function. Although, most recently there is the AI generated-looks just like a photograph-bugaboo lurking in the PS shadows adding to the photography-killing death count.
To paraphrase US broadcaster Herbert Morrison,
“This is terrible; this is one of the worst catastrophes in the world. Oh it's...crashing dying…Oh, the humanity, and all the passengers photographers screaming around here!”
To be clear, I do not subscribe to the death-by-cellphone hysteria simply cuz the fact is, with a zillion billion (exaggeration employed to make a point) cellphone pictures made every second of the day, the cellphone is responsible for exponential growth in picture making and, if not photography, what the hell are those picture makers doing? Sure, Sure. Most of the picture makers are not “taking it seriously” but, nevertheless, they are making pictures - an activity traditionally known as photography.
Re: AI generative stuff - it may be photo-based, but the end result, although it may look just like a photograph, is, in fact, a photo-derived illustration. That is, an illustration / image which bears little or no connection to the real world as captured / recorded by a picture making device.
All of the above written (as a mere prelude to my actual point), I do subscribe to a certain category of the death of-as I know it-photography. One that is defined by the following interview Q&A:
What are some of the biggest obstacles you have faced as an artist?
Early on it was difficult because I don’t have a MFA, I didn’t come from a prestigious university like Yale. So getting the eyes on the work and getting it in front of the right people was challenging.
Despite the artist’s “burden” of not having an MFA, the answer is what I would expect from that cadre of murders, photography wise. A group that I have, for years, labeled as the Academic Lunatic Fringe. The MFA / advanced degree crowd that idolizes content (concept) over form (the appearance of the referent). A fetish which leads to picture making that attempts to photograph that which, iMo, cannot be pictured - emotional states, mental states, conceptual / intellectual ideas that invariably require lengthy artist statements to try to explain what a picture “means”. A meaning which the picture itself can not “explain”. Pictures that in most cases are vehicles for dealing with the picture maker’s deep personal mental, emotional, societal, issues - a self-diagnosed therapy activity for what ails them. To which I write, good for them, have at it, do whatever floats your boat.
However, the problem as I see it, death of photography as I know it, is that the ALF crowd has taken over the gallery / art institution (photo division) directorship world. Which has led to the fact that the ALF gallery / art institutional power structure admits only certified fellow traveler’s work on the walls of such facilities. Traditional photography*-pictures which represent actual, tangible real-world referents as seen / aided by the camera’s eye-is no where to be seen.
That written, I do not believe that “traditional’ photography is dead or dying. In reality, it just might be flourishing as never before. Unfortunately, for me, it is disappearing from gallery / art institution walls. And, no, viewing a photograph online is not remotely the same experience as seeing a print on a wall.
*pictures which evince the joy of seeing. Pictures that do not require an MFA, either to be made or understood - no mental / self-analytical, psychological deep-dive interpretation required. ASIDE: this does not mean that a “traditional” photograph can not have a significant emotional impact or stir up some mental activity. However, that outcome is determined by the punctum found in photograph as the result of what is pictured (and how it is pictured), not a multi-thousand word essay. END ASIDE