WEEKLY DISCUSSION #26: Minor White. Capitol Reef, 1962.

[dave_s]

<p><a href="http://academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/summerwork/images/White,%20Minor/20.%20White,%20selfportrait%201965.jpg">Minor White</a> is a bit out of fashion. He’s mentioned about once a month on photo.net (I checked), usually in the ‘philosophy’ forum. We talk about his ideas more than his photographs, and I suppose that’s better than talking about his cameras. I suspect he would have found photo.net a bit ridiculous, truth be told, but I also suspect he would have been patient with us.</p>

<p>Through the haze of decades, White's life seems a bundle of contradictions. He was a technical precisionist, and an influential teacher of the Zone System. But more famously, he was a poet and a mystic. Regarded as ‘dangerous’ by some, his musings were dismissed as ‘mumbo-jumbo’ even by those who lauded his photography.</p>

<p><em>So like you have these images</em> <br /> <em>Become they have usurped reality</em><br>

<em> </em><br>

Nor was White constrained by a single style. He made everything from ‘decisive moment’ street images, to hair-raising homoerotic nudes, to big f/64-type last-trumpet vistas. To this westerner, much of his work looks faintly oriental, perhaps a viewpoint he brought back from the Pacific War.</p>

<p>He also spoke of 'stopping down beyond reality'. There's a vision which is difficult to pin down permeating much of his work, and arguably that of some of his students. White's mid-career semi-abstract work is (to me) full of mystery on many levels, which I won't go into, and I'll leave that for the discussants.</p>

<p><em>One should photograph objects, not only for what they are, but for what else they are.</em><br>

<em> </em><br>

In 1962, White was teaching at RIT, living with his students in the famous apartment-cum-photo collective-cum-monastery. Sometime that year, he found himself out west, and he snapped this extraordinary photograph. Discuss.</p>

<p><a href="http://academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/summerwork/images/White,%20Minor/17.%20White,%20Moencopi%20Strata,%20Capital%20Reef,%20Utah%201962.jpg">Moencapi Strata, Capitol Reef, Utah</a></p>

[Charles_Webster]

<p>I was greatly impressed by MW's photos such as <em>Moencapi Strata </em>when Iwas young. I still try to make such images from time to time. The abstraction of details is still part of my work.</p>

<p><Chas></p>

 

[AJHingel]

<p>Yet another very good choice for a weekly discussion.<br>

Minor White and his equivalent sequences, inspired by Stieglitz and his old age cloud photos and narratives, are mostly not meant by him to be shown as individual abstract images, like the one chosen by Dave. They are, as far as I know, series or "mental carousels", as he called them, (mostly followed by texts) which shows <em>mirrors</em>,<em> messages</em> and <em>manifestations </em>of the "hidden identities" of Minor White himself : </p>

 

<blockquote>

<p><em>Mirrors</em>: What we see in the images we choose to take or to represent our version/vision of the world are like mirrors of who we are, what we see, how we think<br>

<em>Messages</em>: Contained in our choice and realization of specific images are the subtly concealed secrets to our own identity, which--like the little riddles inside fortune cookies--offer clues to our fate, and our private nature<br>

<em>Manifestations</em>: The world reveals to us its meaning through our apprehension of it through our senses--as photographers, that apprehension is visual (Minor White)</p>

</blockquote>

<p>These images are Minor White speaking to us about the secrets of his own hidden identity, which he managed to keep hidden all his life. The viewers of these images might see their own secretes. I see mine - sometimes - but I also just admire esthetics of his abstracts and his technical skills.</p>

 

[dhbebb]

<p>I can only say – Minor White has been my single biggest influence as photographer, and I have never regretted paying around $400 for almost the last copy of “Mirrors, Messages, Manifestations” on the shelf at Aperture. Dave S. notes that he is now ”a bit out of fashion”, which is indeed witnessed by the fact that 1^st editions of the book are now available in good condition for $150 or less.<br>

To express an intent of producing work which may serve as a “koan”, or meditational object, may induce eye-rolling and sneering on the faces of a certain kind of photographic enthusiast – to actually be able to do this, which I believe White did many times, is quite another thing. White’s work is truly abstract in the sense of providing an intellectual stimulus, setting the mind free and rising above the mundane – in the case of the picture which the OP has chosen, I start out asking “What is it?”, then “What could it be?”, eventually arriving at the conclusion that it could be anything, depending on the viewer’s interpretation and standpoint.<br>

Another great choice for the weekly discussion – I would urge anyone to view MW’s work in depth and, if at all interested, to buy a copy of his book, particularly at today’s surprisingly reasonable prices. </p>

[Norma Desmond]

<p><a href="http://camarademocratica.blogspot.com/2010/02/minor-white.html">THIS</a> is a good site on which to view some of White's diverse photos.</p>

<p>As I scroll down the many different photos, some more abstract than others, I am hit not only by the element of abstraction even in the more literal ones, but by a thread of sensuality throughout. He talks about apprehension, which can be about the marriage of sense and understanding, and I think that shows in his work. They are extremely visual, forcing me to look and look again, and yet they seem to ache for a certain kind of meaning, not necessarily a literal meaning but a more internal and personal meaning.</p>

<p>As I scroll from <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_mdslS_VPm_M/S4HdzHfsuHI/AAAAAAAANX4/8F0Lvo4T1VM/s1600/7825_1215604264523_1061337531_685681_5484711_n.jpg">NUMBER 3</a> of 36 on the site I linked to above to <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_mdslS_VPm_M/S4HdWwZuuhI/AAAAAAAANXQ/L4R76aVmjHU/s1600/7825_1215604064518_1061337531_685677_1884497_n.jpg">NUMBER 8</a> (Dave mentioned homoeroticism—it might be as erotic as it is homoerotic—and I find Number 8 evocative of male shapes and sexuality) to <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_mdslS_VPm_M/S4HcC5FhbvI/AAAAAAAANUI/CQ8yPtPlvzs/s1600/Minor+White+hb_1987.1100.jpg">NUMBER 33</a>, though the content of each is different and the level of abstraction varies, I get very similar tinges of shape, line, the play of foreground and background, and a sense of dynamics, perhaps even a sense of body and soul in each.</p>

<p>Many of White's photos seem to have the feel of a jigsaw puzzle, all the pieces almost fitting together but with some holes yet left and some juxtapositions that may not yet create a whole, or which may seem a bit jagged. Gaps may still need to be filled in, or better yet, may need to remain ambiguously unfilled.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>At first, I was a little puzzled by some of the discussion, but in looking at my own "files" of Minor White images - archived away over many years, I see I was drawn to his more landscape+infrared (e.g., http://www.masters-of-photography.com/W/white/white_poplar_trees.html ) and geometric images like http://www.masters-of-photography.com/W/white/white_snow.html<br>

I was amazed by how my own vision had limited my fuller understanding of his work. While I still may appreciate his more 'geometric/abstract' work more, I am glad this was chosen for a topic since it help me realize how I had unconsciously selected only a portion of it.</p>

<p>His philosophy was never my "cup of tea", but I like his photographs.</p>

 

[Rick Helmke]

<p>I've never been able to appreciate White's work. It always felt like something was missing to me. Probably a lack of imagination on my part.</p>

<p>Rick H.</p>

[AmyHelmick]

<p>In the <a href="http://academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/summerwork/images/White,%20Minor/17.%20White,%20Moencopi%20Strata,%20Capital%20Reef,%20Utah%201962.jpg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Moencapi Strata, Capitol Reef, Utah</a> photo, I'm not at all sure what I'm viewing. There are lots of "sub" images in this one to my eye- granted, I do have an active imagination at times. His other work that I saw in the links are more straight on shots, albeit some that suggest a bigger message is within.<br>

I find his work visually appealing (the IR stuff not as much as the other). It is interesting to learn a bit about him. Like most of the photographers in this weekly forum thread, he is a name I have heard and maybe seen a bit of his work but never really studied. I look forward to the rest of this discussion.<br>

Is that an actual shard of mirror in <a href="http://academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/summerwork/images/White,%20Minor/17.%20White,%20Moencopi%20Strata,%20Capital%20Reef,%20Utah%201962.jpg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Moencapi Strata, Capitol Reef, Utah</a>?</p>

<p> </p>

[sjmurray]

<p>I tend to like abstract images, geometry, ambiguity, etc., so I do like this one. There is stuff like this all around us and the camera allows us to appreciate it.</p>

[aplumpton]

<p>I have not been familiar enough with his work and appreciate this discussion and the opportunity to expand my horizons a bit. What I see in his images is an exploring and sensitive mind. That seems to fit his career also, as a professor at one of the more well known research universities in the States. The relationship of his images of inanimate subjects to human sensibilities is a discovery, like the one of the barn latch that creates a tension and intimacy notwithstanding its apparent coldness. </p>

[dave_s]

<p>To paraphrase what I'm getting so far, some of us are comparing White's work to a puzzle, and I think that's appropriate. Like Rick says, I don't exactly 'get' all of White's work either, but probably the non-representational abstract-like stuff is what has influenced me. </p>

<p>In the <em>Capitol Reef</em> photo, like some of you said-- it's hard to tell what we're looking at. Is it rock flakes? Tree bark? Is there a shard of mirror, like Amy says? Why does it look like there's sky and a reflected mountain? Where do the shadows fit in?</p>

<p>The argument between proponents of the content-based record photograph <em>vs</em> those who saw the photo as something separate of itself is just about as old as photography. I'm probably not articulating that well, and we could go into it, but I understand the Adams/Weston camp used to scrap with Steichen over it.</p>

<p>In any case, it seems to me this is a photo which doesn't rely on content. This picture is all about the image itself, and the <em>equivalent</em> response it evokes in the observer. One of the things I find most maddening is I don't know why the image speaks to me, and the same could be said of some of White's other work. I don't know exactly what it's dredging up from my unconscious.</p>

<p>OK. More questions. You're not off the hook yet.</p>

<p>(i) Is White's work and philosophy obsolete? I note that many of us who have responded are, to put it euphemistically, of a certain age. Will he have lasting influence? Or is he yesterday's news?<br>

<em>Be still with yourself until the object of your attention affirms your presence.</em><br>

Does anyone actually think that way anymore?<br /></p>

<p>(ii) If you're a White fan, how has his work influenced yours? Hang up examples of your work if you want, so we can talk about it.</p>

<p>For me, I often look for 'found' patterns in light and shadow, and that's probably like Charles and Steve. I certainly don't set out to copy White (or Caponigro, or Moore), although perhaps that school has influenced me. But I don't think I've been successful (and I don't think I'll make it there in the 25 more years the life tables say I have.)</p>

 

[dhbebb]

<p><em>(i) Is White's work and philosophy obsolete? I note that many of us who have responded are, to put it euphemistically, of a certain age. Will he have lasting influence? Or is he yesterday's news?</em><br>

<em>Be still with yourself until the object of your attention affirms your presence.</em><br>

<em>Does anyone actually think that way anymore?</em><br>

As I said in my post, I found to my surprise that White's most important book is not as sought after as it once was. Lasting influence? I think MW will always be one of the classic greats. I cannot say what his meaning is or will be to someone who has grown up with digital, to whom photography is just another Windows application and who neither knows nor cares about its heritage. This is one of the values of the "Weekly Discussion" thread, that those who know little or nothing of this heritage and have a mind to learn can do so.<br>

As for question ii, yes, MW was a great influence on me - those who care to can view my PN portfolio and decide for themselves if this influence shows!<br>

<em>Be still with yourself until the object of your attention affirms your presence.</em><br>

This to me is key to the way I photograph landscape. I do not use the same words as MW, but what I try to do (and hopefully sometimes succeed in doing) is let my mind go blank in an attempt to hear what the landscape is saying to me. I heartily commend the same approach to viewing other people's photographs - look, absorb, do not speak, at least at first.</p>

[Norma Desmond]

<p><em>comparing White's work to a puzzle</em></p>

<p>I was thinking somewhat literally and visually when I said jigsaw puzzle, a specific kind of puzzle. As I look at <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_mdslS_VPm_M/S4HdzHfsuHI/AAAAAAAANX4/8F0Lvo4T1VM/s1600/7825_1215604264523_1061337531_685681_5484711_n.jpg">THIS PHOTO</a>, it's like I'm waiting for the missing piece to be set into the arched doorway/shadow the man is walking past. Or maybe the cloth blowing in the wind will fill its own shadow. In <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_mdslS_VPm_M/S4HcC5FhbvI/AAAAAAAANUI/CQ8yPtPlvzs/s1600/Minor+White+hb_1987.1100.jpg">THIS PHOTO</a>, the penis is like an extra piece I can't quite find a place for, jutting out from the more sensuous lines of the torso, perhaps the photo more sublime (but less White-like) were the angle slightly different and the penis hidden by the beautiful shape of the thigh.</p>

<p><em>argument between proponents of the content-based record photograph vs those who saw the photo as something separate of itself</em></p>

<p>I see it as a dialogue. Photos often strike me as a matter of content and form, where the subject is what the subject is and also what the photo is. Some more one way than others. Many of White's leaning more toward the latter, by design. White, as a matter of fact, elevates design, I think. The Capital Reef photo, for me, is as much about design as it is abstraction. Though it was likely shot as found and he likely discovered the abstraction from among a sea of choice, the intentionality behind it makes it feel also designed. As if it had to be this way and as if he wanted it to be this way. Stieglitz's cloud equivalents feel more random, yet provoking the imagination in some similar ways. There's more geometry to White's work, and math has a more structured and logical feel than clouds.</p>

<p><em>Is White's work and philosophy obsolete?</em></p>

<p>I don't think so. It won't be up to the <em>hoi polloi</em>. It will be up to museums, curators, art writers, photography scholars, and photographers to remember White and to honor his work. Most of the great photographers wouldn't be known by most people using cameras and playing around with their iPhones. Not a surprise. Better White remain a bit esoteric and hidden. Popularity is over-rated.</p>

<p><em>Be still with yourself until the object of your attention affirms your presence.</em></p>

<p>Generally speaking, not how I approach or practice photography. But it's a great reminder for me. I tend to be more proactive and imposing, diving into a scene, ideas swirling around in my head, looking for ways to construct something out of my ideas and the scene at hand. But that stillness and waiting he talks about can also be of great benefit. Again, for me, it's a dialogue and not a one-way street. It's a play back and forth between the more passive and the more active, between discovery and insistence or imposition, between my own screams and that silence that can let something or (in my case since I mostly photograph people) <em>someone</em> speak to me.</p>

<p>My work is very different from White's. So it would take a bit of translation to see something akin to what White does or speaks about. If I were to choose a photo of mine for this purpose, it would be <a href="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/8837356-lg.jpg">THIS ONE</a>.</p>

<p> </p>

[sjmurray]

<p>When I first encountered the work of White, I was in my 20’s and just starting to explore large format photography. I was enamored by the more formal styles of Adams and Weston, and White seemed to me at the time too “undisciplined,” “loose,” “random,” and so forth. That was 40 years ago. Now, hopefully a bit wiser, I look at White’s photos and I can appreciate more fully the fact that each individual has their own way of perceiving and creating. I started out emulating Adams and Weston, and over the years fell into my own ways of perceiving and creating, thankfully, and, I am more open to the variety of styles I see today.</p>

[Landrum Kelly]

<blockquote>

<p><em>Be still with yourself until the object of your attention affirms your presence.</em><br /> Does anyone actually think that way anymore?</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Did many people ever express themselves that way? He sounds a bit like a mystic in the way he speaks, although I have not read enough to say for sure.</p>

<p>His work is certainly richer and of wider scope than I ever knew. I am glad that he and the picture in question were chosen. Again this thread has been a good one (although not as active as some), and again we got the opportunity to learn some things.</p>

<p>--Lannie</p>

[AmyHelmick]

<p>The difference in discovering an image and creating an image is a concept that fascinates me. I can't help but wonder if White came upon this scene while walking in the desert and felt the need to shoot it or if he saw a shard of glass and placed it "just so" so that it would reflect both the sky and the rocks and wood around it to create this image.<br>

As I was thinking about this, I also realized that it doesn't matter to most of us either way. The photo is the photo no matter the means the artist used to get there. I'm guessing it matters only to the photographer themselves.<br>

I tend to fall into the "discover" camp as my way of working. Most of my more successful pieces are ones that have found me or "called out" to me, not those that I have planned and created. For instance, <em><a href="/photo/17739006&size=lg">this one</a>. </em>When I saw it, it was a pile of cinder blocks in hard light with interesting shadows. It was only after working with the image that it evolved into a homage about the twin towers. There was no intent on my part to create that particular image.<br>

So, yes, there are those that "think that way". That's where a lot of the enjoyment of photography is for me. The "let's see what I'm going to discover today" excitement.<br>

BTW, that's not to say that I don't wish I had a bit more of "plan and create" in me. I very much respect those that do. I would like to be the technical perfectionist that Minor White was said to be. Perhaps he found the balance of<em> create</em> and <em>discover.</em></p>

[Julie H]

<p>Dave S asked: "(i) Is White's work and philosophy obsolete? I note that many of us who have responded are, to put it euphemistically, of a certain age. Will he have lasting influence? Or is he yesterday's news?"</p>

<p>Quoting Minor White:</p>

<p>.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>The camera is first a means of self-discovery and a means of self-growth. The artist has one thing to say -- himself. If that self is not large, or intense, he need not give up art. The camera and the technique of observation will broaden him, deepen him immeasurably.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>.</p>

<p>How many photographers before White were saying, teaching and living that belief? And today? People may not know his name but they inherit his per-mission. He's the one who broke open the door(s). Love it or hate it; superficial or deep.</p>

<p>[White also said: "if a man live his frustration to the hilt, he will lead a full life." LOL]</p>

<p>At risk of beating a dead horse, I think the context in which the featured photograph is used in MMM is significant, but I'll leave that to the two Davids.</p>

[dhbebb]

<p><em>The camera is first a means of self-discovery and a means of self-growth. The artist has one thing to say -- himself. If that self is not large, or intense, he need not give up art. The camera and the technique of observation will broaden him, deepen him immeasurably.</em><br>

<em>...</em><br>

<em>How many photographers before White were saying, teaching and living that belief?</em><br>

An interesting quote. It is of course far from literally true - before the advent of digital technology, there were more industrial radiographs produced than any other type of photographic image. Among what are normally thought of as "photographers", many pros see themselves as skilled technicians expressing what their clients ask of them, and among amateur enthusiasts there is a clear majority whose main interest is the craft of photography (technical quality of images), with another sizable group interested in cameras as technical/collectible objects. But if we preface White's quote with the words "Among art photographers ... " then at least for me his words snap into focus.<br>

Which brings us to Julie's question. I am confident that, for example, as long as creative writing has been taught, teachers have been telling students to "Write what you know!", so the concept of creative work as self-discovery is not at all new per se. In the case of photography, however, this realisation has been slow - to the casual observer, it seems that photographers can only make images of what is in front of them and have little influence on the final result. Even people who really should have known better, such as George Bernard Shaw, said things like “A photographer is like a cod, which produces a million eggs in order that one may reach maturity.”<br>

It has taken the Westons and Minor White and those who came after to persuade people differently. Even of these, perhaps only a small group would consciously or unconsciously view photography as a way of practising Zen Buddhism. The latter part of White's quote is perhaps meant as encouragement - I found the same idea in another form in a statement by a musician whose name escapes me: "If you ain't got much soul left, and you know it, you still got soul."<br>

This is in NO way the only or highest possible form of photography, but it is the one that interests me most at my present stage in life, having used photography as a child as a kind of toy, and then as a professional tool, and then for a while just to record holidays, and then as a means of trying to make some kind of artistic statement - the thread through all these phases being photography as a means of conducting a personal dialogue with myself.</p>

[aplumpton]

<p>David B's words find a similar thought here. If one considers him or herself an art photographer or, in less presumptuous terms perhaps, a photographer wishing to express a personal approach or vision of the world he or she experiences, Minor White and his photos seem to be good examples for study. Like the photographer highlighted last week, Burtynsky, whose personal vision on a few different levels is also "worn on his sleeve", he will perhaps influence only a relative few of us. That in itself is not important. White's photos strike me as being as much about himself and his mind (thoughts) as about the subject, which is a great part of what art is in my opinion. I have gone in my own work from concentrating mainly on individual unrelated images (my current portfolio is mainly presented in that sense), however interesting the individual subject may be to me when seen, researched and made, to creating groups of photos that are about more than the individual subjects themselves. That is a different form of research and creation that White might have agreed with. In our everyday non photographic activity we can think about or discuss with someone a specific topic at a punctual point in time, with some accrued benefit, but it is more the amalgam of our thoughts on the topic over time that makes our viewpoint more fully developed or creative as a synthesis. That seems to me to also be true in art and photography.</p>

[Norma Desmond]

<p>I find it is often the case that self discovery is also discovering others and the world. Hard to separate the two. There seems to be a reciprocal or symbiotic relationship. In White's work, for instance his male nudes but also some of his shots of details of buildings, he seems to be discovering/exploring his own feelings and awareness of things around him as well as self-awareness, he seems also to be discovering the joy and sensuality of the bodies of others, the light that shines on them, the place they have in the world, and the way humans have adorned buildings and those adornments fade and corrode. That sense of one-ness is much more, IMO, than focused back on or reflected back at or revelatory of him. His mindfulness seems of the world / of himself.</p>

[dan_south]

<p>Interesting patterns and textures, but I can't figure out what I'm looking at.</p>

[Norma Desmond]

<p>Dan, how much does your knowing what you're looking at matter? I wonder if that's just the point . . . that White, at least in part, was trying to show us that feeling the patterns and textures on an intimate level was the significant factor in his work and knowing <em>what</em> it is just doesn't matter much? Or maybe that our curiosity about it was what mattered and helped us see and feel the patterns even more viscerally.</p>

[aplumpton]

<p>The comments of Dan and Fred seem to me to be getting closer to an actual or specific appraisal of the image of White. Rather than state that the image is "superb" without further explanation of it, or saying "I don't like it", Dan honestly says that he can't figure out what he is looking at. Much comment so far seems to be of philosophic nature or of approach rather than attacking ("dealing with") the image as such. Abstract art can impress us for what it is not, as subject matter, but instead what it is in terms of relationships of lines forms and textures and the equilibrium or not of those interrelationships. Fred is right in suggesting that how we perceive these patterns and textures is important on a personal level and that it is our curiosity about them that is important. What White wants. I think that at least one other reader of this forum mentioned that White saw these images as a vehicle for personal meditation, and that seems to connect with the importance of personal perception in these types of photographs.</p>

<p>White researches (finds) such images, and creates them in a sense (what to include of complex and apparently unrelated matter to create a subject for reflection), to attain his objective of meditation by the viewer. Maybe I haven't read the above posts closely enough but I think nobody has bothered to give his or her specific interpretation of the particular image, but have fallen back on statements relate to the perceived approaches of the photographer, or just "it is superb" or "I don't understand what is there".</p>

<p>So firstly, I think, the black and white is there "on stilts", we see almost every nuance of tone and luminosity possible with the medium. It is a luxuriant image. But that is not enough. It shows this central element, as curved as any of our personal passages in life maybe, against a black background, a hole ready to absorb it, or to detach it from the other elements (the world around it). The curved shape also has human or animal presence to it. It also, in its upper part, reflects what it sees about it. The other shapes are quite fascinating as well as they are not often seen in everyday objects in such "uncontrolled" forms. Are they mineral (rocks) or other substances? Hard to tell. They almost appear like the forms used by the Cubists to denote different facets of appearance, of state, or of mind. I find all that quite appealing.</p>

<p>As Fred says, what it really is is not so important. It is what it might say to us, and my above mentioned specific perception of it is single-layered (I would really love to hear those of other viewers, rather than reading the more general perceptions of the artist or his whole body of work, which can border on perhaps unintentional obfuscation of the work depicted) and very likely to change or expand upon a second viewing. Which is a good reason why I might like to have it, or a good copy of it, hanging on my wall.</p>

<p>Elsewhere, The image #33 is one of the best I have seen of the male body. However, what strikes me is that the subject's penis is shown almost as a foreign part, which is partly due to its different darker tone, partly to the angle of the photograph. This is not unusual, as many, but not all, are seen from art to be darker than the neighbouring body skin, but it does visually create a sort of detached tension between an unequivocally male organ and the rest of the male. A Quebec female artist who is fascinated by the male nude has recently done a number of images of different men in nature and urban settings and men of different forms. Might be interesting to see, but I'm afraid she is exhibiting in a community a remote from my own. White seems to depict most of his subjects from a detached but empathetic position. They are his, but also ours, to interpret. </p>

<p> </p>

[Norma Desmond]

<p>Arthur, part of my experience of abstracts and White's more abstract photo linked in the OP in particular are that they help turn off my inner dialogue. Its beauty is that it simply is and I can be with it. That's not to say I can't or won't talk about it. I love to do that. But I find it visually alluring in its quietness of meaning or narrative, and in its lack of "whatness." I can appreciate the relationships, the design, the geometries, the tonal variations you speak of, and while experiencing that, just turn off the mental accompaniments. One thing I'll say about a photo like this, and White's abstract work in general and abstract art as a whole, is that it infuses my looking at more literal and narrative photos with an eye toward abstraction. If there's one common thread I find in most art, it's that there are all kinds of abstractions, subtle and more blatant. Any photo, even the most dynamic and storytelling street photo, has abstract qualities, shapes relating to each other, light creating illusions and allusions, textures overlapping, forms of light and dark. Allowing those abstract qualities a sufficient role in supporting whatever narrative is being shown or whatever "what" is being pictured adds greatly to my experience of every photo. I may come away from a great piece of music humming the melody, just as I may come away from a great photo talking about what a great picture of an "X" it is, but if I've missed the low basses and their accompanying rhythms and structure, I haven't fully internalized the music. If I've missed the many abstractions that all photos participate in, I haven't seen, for myself, the full picture. White's photo helps me see . . . a certain way. Even if I'm not seeing a what, it feels like I'm seeing a little more, by actually being shown a little less.</p>