On 7/20/2011 19:34, Bob W wrote:
"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.
Well you read the poems ... and I think you said it wasnt msh but you
had feard it would be :-)
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).
HE said it - he did it _ I try
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
Too late, you just did!
a
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