The
assignment was to bring to acting class an object that was very precious to us,
and then to do a kind of show and tell, and tell the class what it meant. Many brought
photos of things. Some brought objects that were mass-produced. I remember
one woman who held a little photo in the palm of her hand and proceeded to tell
us that it was her boyfriend. I wondered then how that picture took on the
power of a human being.
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| Kim Mosley |
There is
a saying in photography that the real subject of photography is the
photographer. We make so many decisions when we make a picture that we end up
expressing ourselves fully. Sometimes, however, we look at a photograph and
believe it is about the object or scene depicted. Our body knows better. We respond
viscerally to the photograph as an object, and look through the subject into
the creator.
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| AJ Bunyard |
John
Szarkowski curated an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art about 40 years ago
called Mirrors and Windows. His view was “that the photograph is seen
either as a mirror—a romantic expression
of the photographer's sensibility as it projects itself on the things and sights of this world or as a
window—through which the external world is explored in all its presence and
reality.” I tend to think
that he was wrong with his premise and that all photos are about the internal
workings of a psyche. Our challenge in reading a photograph is to channel the photographer though the object, as we do when one's friend tells a story.
What we listen to is a litany of emotions. We get a sense how they are
feeling and who they are. The words themselves just become the carrier of the
feeling. In the end, the story is just that. Much more moving is that part of
themselves that we have just shared.
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| Kim Mosley |
3 comments:
Love your picture of two figures with salt shaker. Very painterly quality. Love light and color on and around the head of smaller figure. Color and value so sophisticated in this area of the piece. Love the healthy fullness of the right figure. Looks like you painted the background and maybe the table and the head covering of the smaller figure? I like the negative space below the large figure. I appreciate the inclusion of a foreground object; the two human beings and the salt shaker seem to stand as equals and are in concert with each other. At this first look, I can't say that I have a feeling for what it all means other than there is appreciation of the moment, perhaps a statement of what shared human experience can be.
I see resignation coupled with dissatisfaction emanating from this picture, I haven't a clue what the photographer wished to say. H.
I believe you "get" what the photographer was saying even if you can't verbalize it. A visceral impulse pushes the shutter button and another impulse "gets" an innuendo from the photo about the photographer.
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