Photography, HUUH!!, What is it Good For?

Politics, Religion, Art, Photography, etc.

A discussion thread on the Flickr site, in a group established around a particular camera, includes several personal statements as well as some open explorations on that the member who posted it calls a photographic “Paradigm Shift”. In his last two paragraphs, working professional photographer, and Nikon reviewer, Gerard Prins, makes a couple of personal statements:

Purpose lies not in choosing Nikon over Canon (or v.v.), but it does in purposely & knowingly choosing…(my edit).. purposely breaking the rules and purposely pursuing a personal style or point of view.
Purpose combined with talent creates Art, and creating Art is reserved – thank heavens – to those who purposely dedicate their lives to doing so.

Let’s all thank digital for largely eliminating the technical barriers that once separated amateur from pro, allowing amateurs to raise the bar a notch or two and forcing all of us to – once again – concentrate on what photography is all about: talent, beauty & art.

That’s a point of view, alright –one that’s echoed a Lot in so many places. The last segment of that last sentence is one that finally moved me to respond, though, as it seeks to assert “what photography is all about”.
That merely raises the question mark, in me, but it’s the question that I believe each of us answers in some way or other, unique to “who” each of us is, at any one point in time, and to what our personal vision inspires us to attempt or to stand for.
Like politics and religion, “What is photography about?”, is at Best, the question that we each can use to true ourselves up to a vision.. or at Worst it is the question that can be used to “justify” or argue (same difference) a point of view ( to be “right” about it, in a limiting way).
At it’s most neutral, and most profound, though, photography is about
1) whatever the person who practices it is about
2) whatever the viewer perceives it to be about
3) whatever any of us can invent it to be about from here forward.
4) ___________________________________________________

If I Knew Then.. .

an old employer of mine once said, “If I’d known then, what I know now… (sigh). .
the Helluvit is.. I DID know then!”

Meetup
Meetup

I’ve written about a former teacher (not the above mentioned boss), Sean Kernan, before; here’s a pair of his latest blog posts that seems worth passing on.

First, from his thoughts on visiting a new show at the Metropolitan Museum:
“Jeff Rosenheim, who curated the (Robert Frank) show, said that for him encountering the work was like encountering an old lover. For me it was more complex and a bit odder than that. It  was like.. .”

links:

http://seankernan.squarespace.com/journal/2009/9/23/at-the-opening-of-the-robert-frank-show-at-the-met.html

http://seankernan.squarespace.com/journal/2009/9/28/further-thought-about-frank.html

Shake It Off

Shake it Off - Photosharing on Flickr(dot)com

Shake It Off

Originally uploaded by Nikographer [Jon]

“the journey is the best part, but they often shake it off”

Nikographer [Jon] on Flickr.com, and on (one of) his own blog(s) : http://nikographer.blogspot.com/

Those who know me, know I like a well-turned paragraph or two, but at heart, I stand in humble appreciation for the few words that capture/suggest a Whole lot more.

Jon’s photographs, as well as his words, are increasingly elegant over the last very few years he’s been photographing, passionately.