Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/11/07

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Subject: Re: [Leica] some new snaps, a propos
From: "Rob Appleby" <rob@robertappleby.com>
Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2003 16:29:40 +0100
References: <017f01c3a538$2b11bc00$6501a8c0@CCA4A5EF37E11E>

At the risk of going on too much about, let me just be clear that I don't
mean to minimize the direness of the situation. I am thinking of the last
chapter of Kafka's America (der Verschollene - the Missing Person in German)
in which Karl Rossman finally finds his place in society (or at least we
assume he does because the novel was never finished) by enrolling with the
Nature Theatre of Oklahoma. Everyone has their place in the Theatre, as a
grocer, liftboy, European secondary school student, or whatever. Pictures of
the Theatre shown around at the celebration feast held after recruitment
show the White House - in other words, the real world. Similarly, the
(public) roles in palestine are well defined and palestinians, soldiers,
peace volunteers, TIPH and so on all play the roles assigned to them. And
the presence of the press on every street corner certainly makes everyone
feel they are on stage - there is a pervasive feeling of performance. There
are other Kafkian absurdities to the situation, of course, (what I feel to
be the more peripheral aspects of even Kafka's work like the bureaucracy,
etc.) but this is an aspect which struck me particularly strongly. Strange
that people can find their social identities - i.e. can resolve the
condition of exile characteristic of nontraditional societies - so strongly
in a situation of continuous conflict. But maybe not so strange after all.

- -- Rob

http://www.robertappleby.com
Mobile: (+39) 348 336 7990
Home: (+39) 0536 63001

All outgoing email scanned by
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- ----- Original Message -----
From: "B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Friday, November 07, 2003 3:05 PM
Subject: RE: [Leica] some new snaps, a propos


> All valid points...If all the world's a stage, the West Bank has been
> center stage for many years now, and everyone crossing it is a player of
> some sort.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of Rob
> Appleby
> Sent: Friday, November 07, 2003 4:32 AM
> To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Subject: Re: [Leica] some new snaps, a propos
>
>
> I don't think that was exactly the point I was making, but anyway.
>
> After spending quite a while in Palestine over the last couple of years,
> I began to see the whole thing as largely a show, in which the soldiers,
> palestinian civilians, settlers and even the media play their parts. But
> by this I don't mean anything as crude as that they consciously set up
> situations. I think you have to have seen the way stonethrowing, curfew,
> stopping kids going to school etc etc works, to appreciate the
> ritualistic, theatrical atmosphere of the whole, and this is what
> interests me and what I am trying to express in these images. The
> particular presentation is intended to emphasise the pictureness of the
> pictures, so to speak.
>
> -- Rob
>
> http://www.robertappleby.com
> Mobile: (+39) 348 336 7990
> Home: (+39) 0536 63001
>
> All outgoing email scanned by
> Norton AntiVirus (TM) 2003 Professional Edition.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Eric Welch" <eric@jphotog.com>
> To: "Leicalist" <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
> Sent: Friday, November 07, 2003 9:56 AM
> Subject: Re: [Leica] some new snaps, a propos
>
>
> > I don't see any proof that those things happened because the
> > photographers were there.
> >
> > Or even that those are real photojournalists. I guess it's up to our
> > trust in your credibility that the photos you show the world portray
> > what you claim they do.
> >
> > How can I believe them when you have an obvious agenda to prove that
> > point (that photographers influence anything they photograph), and you
>
> > admit you are willing to manipulate situations to say what you want,
> > regardless of whether the photos reflect reality or not? According to
> > you, it makes no difference.
> >
> > Based on your arguments, I don't buy it. If those are real
> > photographers I have no reason to believe the situations they were
> > covering wouldn't have happened if they were there or not.
> >
> > You say so? Well, excuse me for being skeptical anyway.
> >
> > on 11/6/03 11:20 PM, Rob Appleby at rob@robertappleby.com wrote:
> >
> > > Anyway, I have been meditating on all these issues quite a bit over
> > > the
> last
> > > year, and one of my major concerns now in my work is to show the
> distorting
> > > effect of the media and to integrate the presence of the
> > > photographer
> into
> > > the image. A first attempt at such:
> > >
> > > http://robertappleby.com/images/new.pdf
> >
> >
> > Eric Welch
> > Carlsbad, CA
> > http://www.jphotog.com
> >
> > The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe
>
> > is that it has never tried to contact us.
> >  - Calvin and Hobbes
> >
> > --
> > To unsubscribe, see
> > http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html
> >
>
>
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> To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html
>
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Replies: Reply from "Steve Barbour" <kididdoc@cox.net> (Re: [Leica] some new snaps, a propos)
In reply to: Message from "B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net> (RE: [Leica] some new snaps, a propos)