poetry | photography | philosophy
Stanley Cavell is quoted as saying: “Photography overcame subjectivity in a way undreamed of by painting, one which does not so much defeat the act of painting as escape it altogether: by automatism, by removing the human agent from the act of reproduction” (in SNYDER and ALLEN 1975: 145). Yes, yet another trite comment about…
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Let us take a photograph, any photograph, and look at it. That done, let us now ask ourselves the question: do we see the photographic in the photograph? Clearly, we immediately sense that something is not altogether right in that question; some kind of craft is being practised there; this phantom interrogator, we firmly paranoically…
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In this blog post, I would like to set myself the task of answering the following question: how does one distance photography from nostalgia and allow it instead to manifest its pure meaning? In my previous blog posts, I repeatedly argued in various ways to the effect that most of the canons of art that…
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In a previous blog post, I wrote that visually we seem to have entered what I then termed the post-aesthetic age (click here to read that post). Really, all that denomination was meant to mean was that with the passing of time images seem to be increasingly becoming more and more aesthetically alike. Terming the…
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Let me start this blog post by stating the following premise: it might be incorrect to say, “I took the photo”, but it is definitely correct to say, “I chose the photo”. Looking back at the work I have collected so far in relation to my studies’ final major project (click here to see this…
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In this blog post, I would like to focus my attention on the work of a photographer I discovered recently and whose work I found highly pertinent to my writings about representation in photography. In her project, ‘Early American’, artist Sharon Core, carefully reproduced in real-life the subject matter contained in certain paintings by American…
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In this blog post, I would like to reflect on the phenomenon commonly described as the “bad” photograph, a phenomenon we commonly stumble on (think most nature and architectural photography) and ignore as we shove our way through our labyrinthine streets, leaving this fertile pastureland latent and heavily dormant. The first question that comes to…
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During the current module of studies, I have finally started giving post-processing methods some serious thought… and some use. I had planned that during this module I would produce work in relation to my final major project that stood least in my control (see more about this here). I foresaw myself producing work that significantly…
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As part of the current module of studies, we were given the activity of preparing, over a nine-week period, a pitch to present to a real client. We were presented with five real briefs from real clients and we had to mark our first and second preference. I chose the two briefs set by City…
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During this week of studies, amongst other things, we were introduced to the basics of starting a photography business. Unsurprisingly, whether a domestic professional or an aspiring high-end professional, quality of work seemed to be the quintessential prerequisite for a successful career in the photography market. And it is this aspect, quality of work, that…
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