Where's your pleasure?

"...Because once you've begun," he would preach, "there is no reason why you should stop.

The danger is that there's always the need for drama, real or contrived. It's better or worse, but it's more. See Facebook. It feeds on itself, even though, I'm pretty sure nobody is really fooled by any of it. They are and they aren't, at the same time.

 

Here, from another era, is what I find to be a very poignant anecdote from the end of Sam Stephenson's new book about W. Eugene Smith. He had interviewed Gary Ceriani, the son of Dr. Ernest Ceriani, the doctor featured in Smith's famous Country Doctor photo essay. If you've never seen it, the doctor who is the 'lead' character in it seems surely to be an incredibly dedicated, even heroic and all-around good man. Here is what Stephenson writes:

 

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That expression, that accent, that secret he seemed on the very point of capturing in her face, was something that drew him into the quicksands of moods, humors, psychology

Freud to Jung on his on the occasion of his only visit to America: “They don’t realize that we are bringing them the plague.”

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Good grief, Phil. That video is 54 minutes long. That's about 49 minutes more than I'm willing to do.

 

The idea of living in or through one's pictures, or trapping yourself or others via photographs should have been damaged beyond all repair by postmodernism. Here's Lucy Soutter writing to that effect:

 

 

But with postmodernism:

 

 

I think we find in this forum that "contemporary art discourse" does not thrive: such discourse, along with all things postmodern and its consequences are strenuously resisted by many photographers, artist and amateurs alike. Absent ambiguity, you find Dr. Ceriani being trapped by Smith's certainty.

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Postmodernist relativism is exactly the type of thinking Peterson warns against

You'll note that I said "postmodernism and its consequences." :)

 

Most of postmodernism's consequences are anti-postmodernism, but they are its consequences.

F$*k postmodernism.

Perfect. Thank you.

 

I rest my case.

PN hardly represents a fair demographics of photography styles around the globe. In PN, alongside those who resist unconventional approaches, there are also those who resist following the set patterns and introduce some level of ambiguity, open interpretation in their works. I have seen some works like that here. I prefer both schools, traditional (call it modernist) as well as postmodern. I am amazed and inspired by many different schools of photography, possibly because I am still learning and don't want to be judgmental about one over the other. I like this one that I found recently: TV Chair | Photo.net

One can be quite transparent in appearing ambiguous.

I associate postmodernism with skepticism and deconstruction.

 

I agree with you, Supriyo, that ambiguity can be transparent. I think ambiguity is about inexactness, lack of clarity, openness to a variety of interpretations, and in some cases double or multiple meanings. But it's not necessarily opaque, even if it can be at times.

I think we find in this forum that "contemporary art discourse" does not thrive

Any decent postmodernist would suggest challenging the assumptions in this statement. I think it may be a particular kind and style of "contemporary art discourse" that does not thrive here. Some of the subjects and ideas, if introduced and dealt with differently, might well thrive here.

"Sometimes you make an image and you immediately know that you got something, the image seems to scream at you". Phil.

 

Nice verbosity ,Phil.

 

Screaming methinks not. Sorry. Not even a silence.

Edited November 22, 2017 by Allen Herbert

Perhaps a silent scream of the lonely.

Cool photo, Phil which hits the mark.

I think artists have huge egos that require alot of feedback. Im not talking about your typical self absorbed ego.... its one that just needs constant praise for his creations to quench an apatite, a full feeling when you get that WOW moment.... that certain shot you love so much. it has to be shared in search of admirers, its our food n sustenance to see a nice comment. Even the fact someone just looked at it is enough to keep the pilot flame lit. Your reward for the hard work put into creating something.

While I am probably not an artist, I have interacted with a few who are. Yes, many artists like to share their creations, and some of them might find solace in a ‘wow’ comment or two. However, to say that their pleasure lies in the appeasement and likings from their admirers is a sheer injustice in my opinion. What many artists would appreciate is a deeper understanding of their work beyond a generic ‘great’ or ‘wow’ comment, a connection with the viewer that gives a sense of thought resonance. That’s my reading after speaking with a few real artists. Many of them are on a lifelong quest to express and understand, and their motivation in sharing their work with viewers lies in the hope that it would enrich at least a few of them and let them think from alternateve viewpoints. A simple ‘wow’ or ‘great’ is a cue to end the conversation and move on.

And why would they be more artists than you are or could be? Maybe simply because they're acting like one.

 

Funny that you put those words in my mouth. I was in fact trying to distinguish between the two crowds, ones that are dedicated to their quest, and the others that pretend to. The ones that pretend to (in my opinion) seek after praises and admiration more than the other crowd. Not saying that great artists don't appreciate admiration, but their work is much more to them than praises. You seem to be stuck on the word 'real' and missed the rest of my comment. If you go back and read, my guess is, you will find more common ground between us than you think.

Since I'm a mere amateur with questionable "talent", no audience and a rather monotonous life, my pleasure is in finding something that is worth clicking and in interacting with a machine to make that exact click.