In my last "Quick Quote", I wrote about Gary Winogrand's saying:
"I don't have anything to say in any picture. My only interest in photography is to see what something looks like as a photograph. I have no preconceptions."
Just recently, I ran across a quote by Eliot Porter that I thought was an interesting follow-up to the Winogrand quote. Mr. Porter said:
"The more you photograph, the more you realize what can be photographed and what can't be photographed "
Somehow, I think there is an association between the two quotes. In mulling over it, there are times when I think he agrees with Winogrand and times when I think otherwise. This is first "Quick Quote" that I also have mixed feelings about, much as I love and respect Eliot Porter's work (I have not one, but two copies of Porter's 'In Wildness.....' and his book 'Antarctica'). Should one accept that something can not be photographed, or should they seek out new ways to portray it in an image, even if the image can not seemingly convey the full essence of the subject?
Definitely some things to think about here!
3 comments:
This is actually something I have thought about off and on. The way photography eventually begins to affect your interpretation of everything around you. Making picture after picture in your head, even without the camera. Sometimes that gets in the way of what I should be doing, like paying attention to the road I am driving on. :-)
I know exactly what you are talking about, one minute driving quietly down the road next thinking wow that would look great, next you are swerving to miss that truck coming at you head on :)
I get the same feeling Howard I try to photograph everything I see mentally and sometimes that kinda takes the fun out just looking around !
I believe there are thinks which cannot be photografied.
That has more to do with philosophy, but we have to accept the existence of situations, istants, which will never be properly captured by a camera. No matter how good we are and how are we try, we will never obtain a good picture due the nature of the subject itself.
Said that, I also belive such cases are extremly rare for real photographers but daily routine for me.
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