all pictures ~ (embiggenable) • iPhone
I HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED THAT THE PRIMARY CHARACTERISTIC of the Medium of Photography and Its Apparatus which most distinguishes it from the other visual arts is its intrinsic relationship with the real. Or in simple terms, its ability to record the real world in a manner which is a very accurate representation of that world (emphasis on the word "representation"). That written, because of that belief, I make pictures of the real world-using the medium and its apparatus-with the intent of those pictures being as accurate a representation of the real world as the medium and its apparatus are capable of achieving .... a picture making practice which is often labeled as straight photography.
While I believe that unique charateristic is the medium and its apparatus' greatest asset / strength, I believe that it is also its greatest impediment / weakness, re: the medium and its appparatus' accceptance as an art (as opposed to a craft). Consider the oft heard comment, anyone can take a picture, or, the ever popular, it's "just" a picture of (insert referent discription here).
I certainly believe there is a difference between taking a picture and making a picture. However, I do believe that a picture is, indeed, just a picture ....
.... that is to write, to my eye and sensibilities, a picture is not a document to be read, a picture is not an interpretation to be deciphered, and (amongst many other things it is not), a picture is not-other than pure propaganda-capable of having a fixed / singular meaning.
I understand that a picture-and the making thereof-can be / mean anything anyone wants it to be / mean. I believe that to be true of all of the visual arts. However, to my eye and sensibilities, a picture and/or any other visual arts object is a thing to be enjoyed in and of itself. A thing which tempts and teases my visual sensory apparatus. A thing which I want to feel as opposed to a thing I want to think about. A thing I want to look at and feel something.
Or, when looking at pictures (or any art), I want to experience, as Susan Sontag wrote: ....
.... the luminousness of the thing in itself, of things being what they are.
All of that written, the thing that caused me to write this entry can be found here. And, I swear to you, if I had to follow this prescription to look at pictures, I would never make or look at a picture again.