[Leica] pornography, Ansel, screens, W

[Robert Appleby <robert.appleby@tin.it>]

>>>
> My person definition of pornography is very simple:
> 
> Pornography is erotic art done poorly.
> 
> Anyone got a better one?
<<<

one-handed photography

Pornography is just a visual equivalent of paying 15 dollars for a <fill in
your preference here> without any of the risks of personal contact. And as
such it involves the exploitation of its subjects.
The word seems to be used here for a whole load of things which aren't
pornography at all.


>>>
Certainly in the best of AA's work I feel something (who knows if it was
what HE felt... it doesn't matter) but there is a lot of it in which I
personally find no emotional resonance. I already cited the surf pictures.
Another would be the Golden Gate before the Bridge. Now I am not so
egocentric as to read from this that there WAS no emotion, only that it has
not successfully communicated itself to me.
<<<

Isn't the idea that art has to communicate emotion a bit old-fashioned? A
bit like standing in front of a Rothko waiting for the spritual orgasm? Art
and its success/failure are defined by its social role<s>, which makes
Ansel Adams a pretty successful artist. John's comparison to Wordsworth is
absolutely spot on. Whitman would be another (both W's - freaky!).

>>>
I don't think so. I've always said the internet is (currently) a LOUSY
method of displaying photos. But one day we may have displays capable of
doing justice to a photographic image. Some electronic book prototypes have
screen resolutions of around 300 dpi.  Now make a screen 20 inches wide with
that resolution and you might have something that would make you go "wow".
<<<

I mostly go wow because the picture is a great picture, not for the print
quality. I have a 21" screen with 1600x1200 resolution, and it can really
make things look good. The new UXGA 15" screens on Dell laptops are
amazing, the same resolution over half the surface area. From more than a
foot away it looks like a glowing magazine page. Absolutely beautiful.

>>>
"i intend the act of photographic perception itself to be the subject of
the photograph."
<<<<

"Poetry is the subject of the poem" - Wallace Stevens (probably misquoted).
(Another W - Ohmigod!!! And have you noticed that if you write AA really
close together and leave out the crossbars and turn the paper upside down
it looks like a ... W!!!)


Rob.