Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/06/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Phil, This bit is very true: She was obviously having strong reactions to elements in the picture that spoke to her own childhood memories, where I wasn't having the same thoughts. The classical examples to me are the FSA shots like "Migrant Mother" - looking at it through my (very developing world) eyes she looks lower middle class by the standards of 95% of the world's population today. Unless you are American, and of a certain age, you wonder what the fuss is all about... Cheers Jayanand On Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 3:15 AM, Phil Swango <pswango at att.net> wrote: > Tina Manley wrote: > I am very interested in that book and have ordered it. The > documentary tradition that I learned and have tried to apply is that > you change absolutely nothing for a photo. > ================================================ > > That's how I have worked too, when doing documentary things. But still, any > two photogs will have their own visual ideas, stylistic and otherwise, and > it's hard to call one neutral and the other biased. Your familiarity with > your subjects in domestic settings allows you to notice significant details > that I would probably miss. I bet if we worked together in the same > setting we would come up with very different "stories" in our pictures. > Both might be accurate and true, but I'm not sure I'd call either one > "neutral." > > I recently had an interesting talk with a museum lecturer about a photo by > a famous southern photographer. She was obviously having strong reactions > to elements in the picture that spoke to her own childhood memories, where > I wasn't having the same thoughts. The same impulses (emotions and > memories) are at work when you're *taking* pictures too. > > In the Muybridge book I mentioned earlier, the author uses the examples of > Muybridge and Carleton Watkins to contrast two distinct approaches to > photographing Yosemite back in the day. Watkins looked for serene majestic > beauty and found it; Muybridge was attracted to wildness and complexity, > and he found that too. > > And thank goodness we have both versions today. > > > -- > Phil Swango > 307 Aliso Dr SE > Albuquerque, NM 87108 > 505-262-4085 > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >