Thinking a lot about Photography… lately
Published February 28th, 2007 in Art.I have been thinking a lot about Photography lately. It is an interesting medium. Unmoving and frozen, it portrays a mythical existence, unknown in a normal experience of life. Pictures are interesting because of the density of information that can be delivered to a cognitive being… I guess that’s where the old “Thousand Words” quote comes from, but words cannot often deliver the emotion and impact of an image. Avedon once said that “All photographs are accurate, none of them are the truth”.
I have always been inspired by Avedon, and I think, having walked away from photography for 15 years, I understand why. Avedon did not hide behind his camera, he stood next to it. Like a conductor, or a coach, he stood by, and related directly to, the people in front of his camera. The thing is when you’re shooting pictures of people, if they are not models, then the photographer’s job is to give the subject some kind of platform with which to express themselves.
This is harder to do, though not impossible, with a reflex camera. You, as the photographer, need to realize that person that you are shooting, perceives you as playing peek-a-boo. If you understand that shooting is theater, then you can get a good picture, otherwise, it’s a crap shoot.
Anyway, I’ve had a hankering to shoot lately, so if you have any assignments, let me know…
Avedon’s “In the American West” exhibit is currently at Stanford’s Cantor arts center. I was there two weeks ago and was simply blown away. The portraits were amazing with an “honest” documentary style that reminded me a lot of August Sander’s work (citizens of the 20th century). Not that I have anything against Avendon’s portraits of celebrities and other high fashion work, but these images of the so-called common man were, for me, on a whole different level. Sounds contradictory but it was equally inspiring and overwhelming.