Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/11/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I am not comfortable with the thought that an accurate slice of life can be captured in a "strange" environment. If the subjects of the capture are strangers, we know nothing about them. If we think we have captured something of a slice of life, haven't we merely projected our own experiences or prejudices on a visual situation we are confronted with? That says less about the situation we have captured and its status as a slice of life, yet all the more about our private conceptions. But mixing in, blending in, becoming part of the life situation around us gives us a better chance of capturing moments based on the subjects' situation. Granted, we never escape our own private conceptions (nor do I even want to. I prefer to flag them) ... but they are at least interacting with others, not just playing the deus ex machina. Daniel On Mon, 3 Nov 2003, Rob Appleby wrote: > It does of course - because who is to know whether the person in the picture > is a stranger to you or not? See Helen Levitt's picture of her friend being > ogled by young men in Rome. It is completely immaterial whether the picture > was directed to some extent or not. Similarly, the hoohah over Doisneau's > kiss photos is based on a mistaken premise, IMO. Or, to take an example > closer to home, my own pictures are always taken with the subjects well > aware of the fact that I present and taking pictures - often for days or > weeks at a time. I think they show slices of life as well as any others, if > that is the criterion. All talk that concentrates on method rather than the > final result is missing the point, I think. Any method can only be judged by > how effective it is; it must be leapfrogged over to arrive at the picture. > > -- Rob > > http://www.robertappleby.com > Mobile: (+39) 348 336 7990 > Home: (+39) 0536 63001 > > All outgoing email scanned by > Norton AntiVirus (TM) 2003 Professional Edition. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Andrew Nemeth" <azn@nemeng.com> > To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> > Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2003 8:35 PM > Subject: [Leica] re: The Decisive Moment is gone > > > > Tina Manley wrote: > > > > > There is a third choice. Get to know your subjects and > > > spend enough time with them that they forget you are > > > taking photographs. > > > > > > Yes - I generally agree. This approach works well for > > families and social functions. > > > > But it doesn't really work for spontaneous, slice-of-life > > images of strangers in public places does it?... > > > > (Which is what I think the WashPost article was on about.) > > > > > > :?/ > > > > Regds, > > > > Andrew Nemeth > > Blue Mountains NSW Australia > > <http://nemeng.com> > > > > -- > > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > > > > > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html