rocker / Asgaard Farm ~ Au Sable Forks, NY (embiggenable)
metal lawn chairs / Asgaard Farm ~ Au Sable Forks, NY (embiggenable)
remnants ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK (embiggenable)
Transparence is the highest, most liberating value in art - and in criticism - today. Transparence means experiencing the luminousness of the thing in itself, of things being what they are. ~ Susan Sontag
In the immediate world, everything is to be discerned..with the whole of consciousness, seeking to perceive it as it stands: so that the aspect of a street in sunlight can roar in the heart of itself as a symphony, perhaps as no symphony can: and all consciousness is shifted from the imagined, the revisive, to the effort to perceive simply the cruel radiance of what is. ~ James Agee
I have hauled it out of the bag in light of my recent failures to have photos selected for a couple exhibitions in order that I might reaffirm what my commitment to making pictures is all about. But, let me start at the beginning...
Back in my Jesuit education high schools days, a great value was placed on reading. Not only were there course reading requirements - especially in English and Literature courses - but there was always a Summer reading requirement. Now that written and truth be told, I was not a reading devotee so my reading approach at that time was to get by on the absolute minimum of reading required to, if not excel, at least to do well in a course.
That written, what nearly killed my desire to read was the fact that, in my classes, very little attention was given to the literal story to be had in a given book. It seemed that a book could not be appreciated based upon the experience of a good literal read. No, it had to be appreciated from the act of deciphering the meaning of a book as interpreted from metaphor, allegory and other literary devices.
To wit, nothing was what it was, everything was merely a literary device to be discerned in order to understand the "real" meaning of a story. And the simple fact was that I didn't "get it". For me, a story was just that, a story, and my relation with a story was with the sensuous experience of the reading of it ... its form, not its content.
Inasmuch as my experience of reading a book was sensual rather than intellectual, that taken together with the fact that the intellectual experience was taught as the important value to be had in a book/story, led me to the conclusion that I was "stupid" or somehow deficient. And I mean that literally because I just couldn't relate to book/story in that interpretive manner.
My relationship with books (I have been an avid reader for over 4 decades), as with all art, is to "perceive it as it stands" with all my consciousness "shifted from the imagined, the revisive, to the effort to perceive simply the cruel radiance of what is."
And, that M.O. is what I bring to my picture making (and my life ) inasmuch as I believe that manner of seeing and experiencing is part and parcel of what I am.
late night trash ~ Au sable Forks, NY - ItAP (embiggenable)
iMo, both topic are like a bad penny, so, let me set the record straight on both topics ...
re: has the medium and its apparatus changed as the result of the introduction of the digital picture makiing era? .... Granting that the tools of picture making have changed, the simple fact is that good pictures are not about tools. Good pictures are about seeing and its close relative, vision and good pictures are what picture making is all about - same it ever was.
ASIDE: What is a good picture? The most direct answer to that question is that a good picture is one which pricks the eye and sensibilities of the viewer. But of course, that means many different things to many different people. Art critics, opinion makers, and trend setters aside, what is a good picture is all in the eye and mind of the beholder. Or, it could be written that one does know how to describe what is a good picture but one knows one when one sees it.
CAVEAT: That written, it must be rememebered that, as the Roman poet and philosopher Titus Lucretius Carus said, "quod ali cibus est aliis fuat acre venenum" (what is food for one man may be bitter poison to others).
re: the rules of photography, printing,etc. .... getting right to the point, these words from Sir Ansel express it all; "There are no rules for good photographs there are only good photographs." Or, there is the opinion of Edward Weston; "Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph, is like consulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk."
Or, as I might state it; "I don't need no stinkin' rules."
That written, it could be accurately stated that Sir Ansel had rules aplenty for making his pictures (the Zone System, et al). However, here's the important thing, they were his rules. He made them up in order to facilitate the making of what he considered to be a good photograph. And that exercise is precisely what any picture maker should do, make up rules which suit your manner of seeing and which express your vision. Every other rule is unadulterated crap.
In conclusion ... 1) the medium of photography and its apparatus (conventions) are the same as it ever was - John Szarkowski, in his book The Photographer's Eye, made clear (to the thinking mind) that photography is and always has been about the same 5 things: the thing itself, the detail, the frame, time and vantage point. iMo, he got it right and I simply can not see what has changed.
2) there are no rules for making good pictures, there are only good pictures. Some have opined that a picture maker should learn the rules and then learn how to break them. Seems like a waste of time to me. iMo, one's time is better spent learning about and understanding how one sees - something that comes from the inside, not from external influence. It's sort like Intuition vs. Rationality ...
"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." ~ Albert Einstein
remnants ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - ItAP (embiggenable)