"On the other hand, photography may be like writing, a mature art. Attempts to create an entirely novel means of expression will simply end up looking forced."
It's funny that you use that example, because for me writing is one place where formal experiments (postmodern ones in particular) seem to have a fighting chance at succeeding. I've always had an easier time getting sucked into heady experiments in novels and stories and poems than in photos. I'm not sure why this is but it's been my experience for a long time.
"Agreed. Photography, like writing, should seldom rely on a novel means of expression to carry the work. "
I'd distinguish between work that's being carried by a sense of novelty, and work whose substance requires a novel means of expression in order to come into being at all.
Works based on novelty are a dime a dozen. Works that say something so new that their making needed to invent a new language are the stuff of revolution. Most of what we look at had its origins in revolutions like this. But it's easy for us to forget how new they once were, because the languages have become so familiar to us.
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