Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/11/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]It matters considerably whether a picture is an actual candid picture, or one that has been staged to look like one. It is the difference between reality and the representation, or imitation, of reality. It matters whether a picture is the real thing, or not. One is the result of a photographer finding and capturing a moment of time when all the elements of the picture have come together to form a composition that has interest and life. The other is the result of a director managing actors on a stage to produce a predetermined result. Sometimes the results may look the same, but they are at opposite poles of the universe in all other ways. Bob > 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 - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html