Re: [Leica] Re: Terminal something or other

[Teresa299@aol.com]

In a message dated 2/3/04 12:25:32 AM, Frank.Dernie@btinternet.com writes:

<< I agree very much with this BD. Anybody can (and sadly do) just "push 
the button" it takes an artist's eye to see the photograph before 
taking it and getting the composition. The "craft" side of photography 
has been made easier by the automation and certainly the modern sports 
pros I know need nowhere near the craft skills of their fathers 
(literally, in a couple of cases I know father and son) but if they 
don't have the eye they produce dross.
I guess the same is true in painting and sculpture but the automation 
of the craftmanship side is much less.
cheers
G
Frank >>

I tend to agree. 

But the fine arts can get hit with the lack of craftsmanship line too.  Just 
stand by an abstract painting at an art museum and listen to how many folks 
say..."it's just a red canvas, with a dot in the middle, hell, I can do that."  
the same is true with sculpture that appears simplistic.  

The thing about photography is that the technology makes the medium simpler 
enough that masses can easily say, "hell, I can do that."  For instance....my 
main artistic endeavour is ceramics, both functional and sculptural.  I make 
large (well not that large) vases on a wheel....14-21 inches in height.  If I 
have a class of rank beginners, learning how to throw on a wheel, I'm happy that 
at the end of a 2 hour session, they just, "center" the clay.  For someone to 
learn to be able to throw a 14-21 inch pot takes months, maybe even a year or 
so. If however, I hand everyone in the group a camera, each and everyone of 
them can trip the shutter.  And in the case of digital, push the button and 
almost instantly upload to computer, print out on inkjet, viola, instant 
photographers, each and everyone of them. Is the composition "good," does the photo 
tell a story?   Who cares, you've a product.  Get enough shots and you've got a 
portfolio.  Get a portfolio, you're now a photographer.  Who's to say you 
aren't?

In the case of functional ceramics, a mug that weighs 20 pounds, a bowl that 
has edges so sharp that it slices your hand, a vase that looks like Anna 
Nicole Smith before her diet, it's obvious that the work isn't professional even to 
the aspiring artist.

With automated everything in photography, cameras that can shoot as fast a 
machine gun, hell with future digital camera/videocam hybrids, missing a 
decisive moment will be nearly impossible, fixing blown shots easy (sorta) in 
photoshop.  what's the point of craftsmanship anyway at the time of taking the shot 
if it can be fixed later?  that's something I'm hearing a lot more often.

I think one of the reasons why I like looking at contact sheets of other 
photographers is the same reason why even when I'm doing crazy sculptural stuff 
that I have my "straight" ceramics closeby.   I want to be sure that folks know 
that I have a certain amount of mastery of technique and what I'm doing is the 
result of an intentional act and not just "lucky."

That said, I'm not really sure how much craftsmanship is valued anymore by 
the bulk of consumers. Let me clarify that, U.S. consumers.   A few perhaps, but 
I'm increasingly coming in contact with people (perahps the result of no arts 
education in schools anymore) who value lower cost and immediacy over 
anything else.


- -kim
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