Hi Chris -
I'm a fairly conservative, literal-minded guy, and my pictures reflect this. I'm not likely to do a two-year study of "Sidewalks of Amerika" or photograph severed Barbie doll heads floating in pickle brine. For me, art is something I do to relax, and just maybe produce something that pleases me. I don't know that I want to be dangerous or edgy or ground-breaking.
Provacative question, though. Be prepared for lots of warm, roasty flames!
Not everyone can be a master. It would be a sad world if only Rubensteion and Horowitz and other legends could play Mozart and Beethovan. Most people who play the piano do it for their own enjoyment; they are not professional musicians. The same is true of photographers. I laugh at those who seek out the (virtual) tripod holes of St. Ansel in Yosemite, but I've done it and it gives me great pleasure to compare my vision with his.
Chris:
When I read your post, I went to your website and viewed your images. (Good idea to increase those site hits!) After all, with a blanket condemnation such as yours, I figured that you must certainly be on the cutting edge of art photography.
Yet upon viewing your images, (which by the way are very good), I have to ask you this: Are you the first person to photograph moss covered trees in the old growth forests of the Pacific N.W.? No? Then why do YOU take photographs of pretty nature scenes that have been photographed before. Do your images scream "This photo was taken by Chris Jordan"? Is this art or another hackneyed interpretation of nature?
I suspect that you photograph these scenes because they appeal to you. Why we photograph what we do is a very personal, and at times, unexplainable decision -- something inside of us just "clicks." (No pun intended). We make photographs because there is something that lies before our eyes that appeals to us and sparks a creative interst, not because it meets some self serving interpretation of art ala Susan Sontag. If similar subjects have been photographed before, so what? If a person draws inspiration from a subject that helps them to grow in a way perhaps known only to them, who are we to say that their efforts lack meaning?
"Introspection", "Sophistication" "Risk" "Wild-Ass". Another attempt to define "Art" and photography with words. Such attempts, while interesting, will always fail (less than total agreement), as Art and Photography speak without words in a language all of their own. Kevin
"You could borrow ten photos from each of a thousand nature photographers, and mix them all up, and you'd have NO IDEA which photographer took which picture because they're all exactly the same. "
From 90 percent, yes. But in addition to those already mentioned, Charles Cramer, Jack Dykinga, Jeff Grandy, Kerik Kouklis, William Neill, Richard Newman, Rich Seiling...
I have recordings of "All Blues" in my collection from Miles Davis, Stanley Clarke, Freddie Hubbard, and Larry Coryell. Each is based on the same theme Davis wrote 40 years ago, but each has a unique sound and I enjoy listening to them all. Same with "A Night in Tunisia." Listen to Dizzy Gillispie's original a nd compare it with the versions Art Blakey and Randy Weston recorded. They're each uniquely beautiful.
As with music, photographic variations on themes carry their own unique beauty. Frankly, your diatribe says more about you than it does about the people you are judging.
Hi Chris & All,
Let me fan the flames, and after 13 days we still have plenty here in Sydney to share around.
I have visited your site, Chris, several times in recent months because I really admire your vision, your choice of subject, your acceptance of and fascination with your immediate environment. I find in your photographs inner connections that you must also bring to your music. Obviously the camera is simply another instrument to give expression to your thoughts and emotions.
In response to this no doubt a clamouring chorus will arise acclaiming the camera as simply an instrument of expression for them also. On that point they are probably right. Unfortanately, for the rest of us, the difference with regards many of the chorus is that they sadly have an inner connection to a vacuous abyss. They have nothing to say. Nothing of their own at least. Not that that presents any obstacle to the continuation of their soporific output .
By definition, ensuant to its title, this site attracts devotees with a fascination with the hardware of photography. In fact, very particular hardware. Pride of possession and the veneration of the covetted drive much of the dialogue. Photography as a facile folly and diversion to escape the pressure and humdrum of the daily round of the over-affluent.
Twenty-first Century visual hunter-gatherers bivouac in the wild to celebrate and indulge their primal roots capturing vistas and tableaux which, whilst numinously charged, are devoid of plot or intrigue and are, therefore, incapable of denouement. An inadequate reward to the enlightened viewer - merely the comfort and security of treading trodden ground.
Walter Glover
I realize my thoughts may come across as sounding elitist, which has prompted a lot of defensive responses, but i truly believe that "art" is NOT something that is reserved for the special few-- EVERYONE has a unique "vision" inside them, and the only ingredient necessary to release it is the willingness to show up and take the risk of knowing the Truth (whatever that is for each person). It's so sad that so few people are willing to go there, considering the incredibly rich rewards. But, I'll go away now because I can see that I've offended a lot of people. Apologies, and peace.
~cj (Seattle)
Chris, I gotta say I like what you had to say. Not being one to go on with a lengthy post. I have tasked myself to begin in my own backyard, literally, and attempt to find beauty. To force myself to be aware of the poetry around me. Be it my wife and daughter on the front porch, grape leaves on a fence out back, the way the light falls on my daughter's swing set. It's all right there under my nose. I am never, never bored. I bet there are legions of photogs doing this in their own enviroment everyday. Thanks for your pos
Perhaps you have offended some people, but you also may have made others think.
So many "Artists"..... so many important sounding words..... So many who are "making statements"... "expessions of inner visions".... All so much B.S. Of the probable thousand readers/posters here there may be an artist or two lurking - but please gents, let's be honest with ourselves! We are, at best, Craftsmen and Technicians of a PROCESS. We enjoy the PROCESS of photography, and we study and strive to produce a more technically perfect product, thereby reaffirming our proficiency of the PROCESS. We compare our results with those of the "masters" in an attempt to validate that proficiency (and all the time and money invested). An artist uses whatever tools are necessary to create the product that reflects "the vision". Whether that be $10,000 worth of computer gear, a camera - or crayons for that matter - or any combination of all media available. Because the VISION, the END is the primary goal - not the PROCESS of arriving there that we are so in love with.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks