Cultural Style in Photography?

[aplumpton]

<p>Anders, what you are saying, and in providing two interesting (concrete) Japanese examples, is what is pertinent to discussing the culture driven photograph. The first Goya-like image is perhaps unlike those of the painter in that it is not sure what the individual is expressing in this case (Goya often showing fear or horror) . Perhaps very oriental, but I am not sure of that as my knowledge of Japan is so limited (like most Japanese persons' knowledge about Canada or France, perhaps), notwithstanding their economic impact on the world. The second image is also mysterious (I very much like it) as one is wanting to define the features more than one can and yet by letting the blur to take over and obscur what details are there we can sense "more" perhaps in the expression (a sort of Heisenberg uncertainty). Is that particularly Japanese, perhaps? I do know that the contemporary photography gallery in Ottawa has a few photographs of motion blur of individual faces that accomplish something similar, and perhaps with the same values? </p>

[AJHingel]

<p>Arthur, I do not wish to expand the subject matter, but I could also suggest to go and look at Japanese modern and ancient pottery, which have very particular rustic features and very different from for example the chines tradition. Cultural heritage is very present in works like this <a href="http://rpmedia.ask.com/ts?u=/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Hagi_ware_Japanese_tea_bowl%2C_18th-19th_century%2C_Freer_Gallery_of_Art.jpg/80px-Hagi_ware_Japanese_tea_bowl%2C_18th-19th_century%2C_Freer_Gallery_of_Art.jpg">teabowl</a>, or <a href="http://toku-art.up.seesaa.net/image/choyo20C4ABCDDB.jpg">this</a>, and <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Z5mkimUm5Y8/THYRN0RUwvI/AAAAAAAAArk/HoHsVRE1BYE/s1600/P8260003.jpg">this</a> vase. Or go and see films of Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Takeshi Kitano or Akira Kurosawa and you will be in a culture different from what feels at home for most of us, already after a few minutes as spectator.<br>

I'm writings this not because it is directly related to photography (and yet...) but only to illustrate that cultural heritage is inherent in creative works and not mainly linked to tools and technics (if you know precisely how pottery is made you would have reason to modify his assertion), or for that sake, to subject matters, but to the very way we act, see, perceive, understand and interpret reality and express ourselves. There are cultural difference that go far beyond the individual and related to shared cultures on geographical, historical and ethnic levels.<br>

<br /></p>

[don_essedi]

"Where I think culture comes in is more in the mind of the artist or photographer..."

 

What I am referring to is that the painter (or musician) works not only with their minds but with their bodies. Culture and art are expressed by the body, not just the mind -- the whole person. That's the implication of the technical essence of photography. I think it results in the over-intellectualization of photography unless and until the photographer begins to pay attention and train their bodies like any artist or athlete must.

[alan_zinn]

<p>Asian art has lately become a photography muse for me. I'm glad it came later than sooner. I can see contemporary, traditional, and archaic items in one visit to the museum. Something new pops off the wall or leaps out of the case. Last week it was fans - lollypop stick type. We see them today everywhere as give-away advertisements. I'm sure I'm the millionth guy to think "Aha. Fan photos!"<br>

I understand the <em>physical </em>act of photographing could, for some, include a preparation for mindfulness . i.e. getting centered and breathing right, Zen archery thing. I can't think of anything tactile like getting your thumb in the clay just so or the brush stroke exact. Perhaps standing on one leg, phone cantilevered out towards the subject, arm extended - <em>Diana and iPhone.</em> </p><div></div>

[Norma Desmond]

<p>Maybe don't take touch so literally, maybe do. Either way, it can apply to photography. Some great photos feel, are textural, arouse my sense of touch. I often find photographing a very sensual experience, which includes touch. Dodging and burning, to me, can be much like creating paint strokes, and require that kind of massaging touch, sometimes hihgly delicate, sometimes much more brazen, even on the computer.</p>

[dan_south]

Maybe photography is a truly universal language. When I look at a photograph I have no idea whether the photographer

was American, European, African, Asian, etc. Even if the image is of Japanese people eating noodles, the photo might

have been taken by a Peruvian or Scandinavian photographer.

[iliafarniev]

<p>Well. Artistic output is manifestation of personality and character. The personality [of photographer(s)], in turn, is a product of given culture. That is to say - artistic output is defined by cultural context + unique personality of given artist. If scale of your estimation is great enough you are bound to see styles and cultural differenses. On the other hand whole of photography we have is made by people who live (leved) within relativelly narrow time&culture span, so most of the pictures are but stylistic variations. Were output "machine baset" ot othewise does not matter IMO.</p>

[Norma Desmond]

<blockquote>

<p>When I look at a photograph I have no idea whether the photographer was American, European, African, Asian, etc.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>And yet others can tell quite readily, from the style of work to the content and other things, what culture the photographer was from.</p>

[AJHingel]

<p>Fred is o course right. It all depends on whether one have made the effort and had the opportunity to achieve the competences, experiences and knowledge necessary for recognizing the diversity of cultural content of artistic expression. </p>

[Julie H]

<p>Fred: "And yet others can tell quite readily, from the style of work to the content and other things, what culture the photographer was from."</p>

<p>Anders: "It all depends on whether one have made the effort and had the opportunity to achieve the competences, experiences and knowledge necessary for recognizing the diversity of cultural content of artistic expression."</p>

<p>LOL! And I can tell your future quite readily by looking at the lines on the palm of your hand. It all depends on my having made the effort to achieve this competence.*</p>

<p>[*NOT]</p>

[AJHingel]

<p>Julie, I'm one of the many, I'm sure, that read you with great interest and joy. You write like a dream, and yet, in the case of this discussion on "cultural style in photography" you seem, with all respect and admiration, misinformed. It is not a question of be belief but of knowledge.<br>

It has next to nothing to do with future telling and the like. It has something to do with what socialization, education, upbringing, life experience and cultural context of each of us do to creativity. It has also something to do with the certitude that we are not free flowing animalistic individual, but social beings - also when we are creative. </p>