Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/12/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> Walt wrote: > > >Is it "art"?...I don't know or care....I just know that long after the > victim/ > >artist/abused/suffering persons' MFA project is in the trash, these > "honest" > >photos will be around to tell our descendents "HOW WE LOOKED"... > > Ha! I tried that argument in 1985 during an interview for a BA in > photography slot at the Polytechnic of Central London to explain why my > portfolio didn't have re regeur pictures of the oppressed/unemployed > etc. Instead, I had photographed the people in the town in which I lived > (who were mostly not oppressed and were employed). Suffice to say I was > NOT offered a place in the class. . . fortunately. > > Simon Stevens Hi, Simon....and congratulations for avoiding the place!.... I have "resolved" the obvious in my own mind, that being that my current employer wouldn't LET me go to grad school here if I applied! (as a stranger)...both my "politics" (relatively conservative, NOT the Taliban) and my "photography", if observed, would eliminate me!!! Bear in mind that I have two degrees from what was considered the best photo school in the south (US) at the time (not "art"), AND the students and employees in my dept really seem to like me (not just the "PC"--'have a nice day', but they actually care about me and mine!)--yesterday I was presented with a Christmas present--a beautiful aperture book of portraits of "blues legends" (I play guitar in a fairly successful local band) AND they gave me a bottle of Jack Daniels...this all from folks for whom $75 or so is a BIG investment) I've been accused of taking "pretty pictures"...the worst slur that can be delivered in an art school...and of only wanting to photograph "uplifting" subject material.. i.e., NOT poor children with dirt and flies on their faces...I'd rather feed them than take their picture--go figure. Oh well, there's room for all, I guess! Walt in Denton, Tx. www.thesilvertones.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html