May 2005
- 3
Decoration
TV-critic Matthew Collins recently presented a show about impressionist art, comparing it to contemporary work as typified by the Turner Prize winners and entries. Art criticism is sometimes relevant to photography – more so, in my opinion, than some of the work you see in photography theory books, which tend to be very political, postmodern and abstract. The result is incredibly dry, based as it is on a thorough ‘deconstruction’ of anything and everything, including…
- 5
Fetish
Like public school neuroses, grey skies, warm beer and Blackpool, sexual fetishism is peculiarly British. The French are different, and so are the Germans, Spanish and Swedes. And I blame the weather. It’s difficult to be relaxed and comfortable in your own body when you are punished by rain, cold and interminable grey skies. And for some people, their urges go in strange directions. To escape bromide-tea Britain, DH Lawrence found solace in the sunny…
- 6
Fleetwood
A few years ago I was enjoying a holiday in sunny Sicily. I had a Sicilian friend with a flat by the seaside, who showed me around the island. One day I was splashing about in the sea – not swimming because it was far too rough – and I suddenly realised, I was in great danger. The currents were extremely strong, and could easily sweep you out, under, and away to your death. I…
Mind And Matter
The miracle of photography, of its so-called objective image, is that it reveals a radically non-objective world. It is a paradox that the lack of objectivity of the world is disclosed by the photographic lens. Analysis and reproduction are of no help in solving this problem. The technique of photography…through its unrealistic play of visual techniques, its slicing of reality, its immobility, its silence, and its phenomenological reduction of movements, photography affirms itself as both…
- 9
Addiction
I once saw a TV programme about a schizophrenic man living roughly in a caravan, on the outskirts of a remote village. It was a very sad tale and the local people treated him quite kindly, much like the ‘village idiot’ used to be treated by rural communities. I reflected on the fact that he’d chosen to live in the country, and I sometimes think people who struggle with city life might have a better…
- 11
Psychological Photography
Photographer Alfred Steiglitz used the term ‘equivalents’, where a picture expresses the inner state of the photographer. It was useful to have this formalised and defined but it was an obvious principle, with wider ramifications than he considered. Photographer Minor White used the idea as the basis for some of his work, which became a journey of self-exploration related to the psychological self-development methods of GI Gurdjieff. I’ve never discovered what kind of link White…
- 17
Visual Pleasure
Laura Mulvey’s essay Visual Pleasure And Narrative Cinema (here) was not the first analysis of visual enjoyment, but it formalised and established this aspect of cinematic experience. “It is said that analysing pleasure or beauty destroys it. That is the intention of this article”, she said. The very term ‘scopophilia’ implies psychological imbalance, a Freudian aberration like a strange man in a dirty raincoat. It’s an extreme position to take, supported by films like Michael…
- 18
On Digital
I must admit, now I have a digital camera I occasionally think it would be nice to use film again. It would be romantic, nostalgic and fun. But I also know the reality is different, that unless you have your own darkroom the expense and reliance on high street labs is inconvenient and galling. Every time I went to my local place it was unpleasant, because I had to fortify myself against possible processing error,…
- 19
Theatre
If Photography seems to me closer to the Theater, it is by way of a singular intermediary … by way of Death …. However lifelike we strive to make it (and this frenzy to be lifelike can only be our mythic denial of an apprehension of death), Photography is a kind of primitive theater, a kind of Tableau Vivant, a figuration of the motionless and made-up face beneath which we see the dead (Roland Barthes,…
- 20
Rainbow
I’ve been to two art exhibitions that were more resonant than any others, that corresponded to the deepest parts of my character. The first was the Festival Of India in 1982, which was a massively orchestrated event where artifacts from hidden vaults and from worldwide galleries were assembled in London. I was astonished to see the ideas of Indian mysticism expressed in exquisite sculpture and paintings, and a short film depict yoga and meditation. I…
Simplicity
I think it was renowned landscape photographer Colin Prior who recently said he was finding his more simple images the most rewarding. Unlike him I haven’t spent most of my life taking pictures, but I think I understand this feeling. There’s a subtle but discernible learning curve when you spend hours, week, months walking with your camera in the great outdoors. There are certain configurations of shape, shadow and mountain that I instinctively know will…
- 21
Weather
There’s a lovely section in one of Bill Bryson’s books, when he compares the British and US temperaments. When faced with a second helping of a tasty dessert we say ‘ooh, go on then’, luxuriating in guilty pleasure when the average American will guzzle it down unthinkingly because he lives, according to Bill, as if life is designed to fulfill his desires. Tennis star John McEenroe likes us Brits, and thinks he has something to…
- 22
Flight
I remember as a boy gazing down from the top of a canal lock, feeling a strange attraction to the empty and dangerous space; if I’d fallen I would have been seriously hurt or even killed. I discussed this with my younger brother and he told me he felt the same inexplicable compulsion. I think there is something deeply primordial, or even philosophical, about the notion of flight. I’ve had dreams where I was falling…
- 23
Tragedy Etc
To be born is to suffer, said the Buddha. You probably wouldn’t invite him to your party to enliven it and make it more fun. We build small lives where we experience relative comfort and security with friends, family, work, hobbies etc, so on a daily basis we are relatively immune to the problems of the world. Occasionally an event like 9/11 is so horrific it shocks us awake, and we see these problems with…
- 24
Interruption/Surrealism
One of the attributes of so-called postmodernism is the notion that we no longer live by a received, establishment ideology. Everything is relative, culturally conditioned, and arbitrary. This is an academic preoccupation, but I don’t think it describes a profound difference in civilisation, that the world is substantially changed from the preceding era
- 25
Fragments
I love this photo. I must admit, much as I like landscape shots, I spend more time on the internet browsing people shots than anything else. I wouldn’t want those photos on my wall at home, because in a certain way that’s quite a strange idea, having a picture of a stranger on your wall who you don’t know, will never meet, perhaps wouldn’t even like. It’s too random, meaningless and dissolute. I might recognise…
- 26
Kairos
When interviewed on TV a few years ago Henri Cartier-Bresson insisted he was not an ‘artist’ but simply made photographs, which was a refreshing observation. He didn’t need to embellish or justify his achievement with pretentious verbiage, because his images speak for themselves. I’ve always liked his famous concept of the ‘decisive moment’ and feel it has philosophical implications, and although his work was grounded in a ‘decisive’ photojournalistic sense, his images are probably the…
- 29
Poetry
Wordsworth lived in the Lake District, bestowing it with a literary-tourist value making the area even more famed and interesting. Many people visit, not to go romping in the mountains, but to wander the valleys, towns, and tourist spots, like Wordsworth’s cottage. He was a nature mystic, seeking to ‘read’ the natural lanscape for romantic and metaphysical value. He regarded poetry as similar to nature, by touching all living things and inspiring and delighting them…