[Leica] The Americans, Avedon, etc

["Harold Gess" <Harold.Gess@btinternet.com>]

I have been following the thread on photographers and the truth or otherwise
of what they show.

I think that we must remember that each of us carries with us our own
experience, vision, ideology, and set of interests or agenda with us.

Some of us might go to a country and photograph it from one point of view,
others from another. We each see what we want to see. That does not make our
images illegitimate or a lie. It does not make them a balanced view either.

I might go out and photograph Paris and seek out the lovers, the artists,
the coffee shops, the romance of paris, people enjoying the spring and call
my book "Parisians". Somebody else might go out and photograph the drug
scene, the poverty which exists in some areas, the night workers, the
prostitutes, etc and call their book "Parisians". A third photographer might
take the same title and photograph office workers, religious figures,
politicians and shopkeepers.

None of the three books is an accurate view of Paris. Does it matter? Each
is an experience, a vision of Paris. Each is legitimate but none is a
complete view. Nobody will ever produce a complete and balanced view.

I think it is much more important to view what is being said and to accept
that that is how someone saw, or chose to see, the situation or place,
rather than to try and quantify whether it is an accurate portrayal of our
own experience of the same place.

Harold