> > "write what you know" was the mantra I grew up with... so it was > the opposite of intellectual distance. >
but in order to write what you know, or at least to write it successfully so that other people can actually read it, you have to put some distance between yourself as a writer, and whatever it is you're writing about. Otherwise you just produce mush. > I also considered /thought that "street photography" was basically > photo-journalism but you do it for yourself, rather than on an > assignment... where the distance fades away... you wouldn't be > photographing something with which you had absolutely no gut > connection, would you? For me the essence of street photography, when it's good (which is very rarely), is what my film teacher referred to as 'the poetry of everyday life'. Kertesz, I think, talked about 'small moments'. Elliott Erwitt said that good photography 'is about noticing things'. All of these refer to the same thing. The poetry, the small moments, the things you notice, may be little looks between people, or the chance juxtaposition of odd elements (also part of surrealism and Dada), the play of light, or as someone else said, "recognising in a fraction of a second and at the same moment an event and the rigorous organisation of visual forms which express and give meaning to the event" (HCB of course, who was much given to prolix windbaggery about his photography). At its best (eg Erwitt, HCB) it gives you a witty, caustic or ironic insight that somehow shines a light on the absurdity of the human condition, if I dare use that phrase. B -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
