Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/09/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>>> > When I photograph some religious ceremony in Bosnia, Rwanda, Haiti.... or > Newfoundland, I document a primary tenet of a peoples culture. When those > pictures are shown to people in isolated and insular western cultures they > LEARN something and, hopefully, gain an understanding of a culture they > have never had contact with and, most likely, have some misguided views. <<<< Greg, I'd agree to some extent, but with the rider that what people want to see (I mean photo editors, publishers) is invariably something that conforms to their culture's expectations about the target culture. So it is that you have no difficulty publishing stuff about poor people, prostitution, famine, war in the third world, but there's not much market for documentary work that steps out of these stereotypes. (BTW, does anyone know what "stereotype" actually derives from? Sounds photographic). As I said elsewhere, knowledge and understanding are not primary comodities in our consumerist culture. Tell me I'm wrong! I'd like to believe it. Rob. Robert Appleby V. Bellentani 36 41100 MO Italy tel. (+39) 059 303436 mob. (+39) 0348 336 7990