Blog Entries #8, #9, & #10

“My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph.” ~Richard Avedon.

No matter what a photographer says, it is nearly impossible to be completely objective when creating a photograph. Photography is literally an extension of what one sees, and everyone has a different way in which they view the world. That aside, when we create portraits, we often think we are describing the person when in reality it is almost as if we are assigning a story to that person that came though our subconscious and is therefore an extension of the artist.



“You don't take a photograph, you make it.” ~Ansel Adams



Ansel Adams was a true and pure artist. During the time of his craft, as much effort went in to setting up and taking the photograph with a 4x5 camera, as it did in the dark room. This quote makes me nostalgic for the old craft of photography. The introduction of both point and shoot digital cameras, and cell phone cameras have made the snapshot less and less about creation and more about simply snapping random photos. The difference between an artist and a person with a camera is that an artist creates, or “makes,” a photograph where as an average person simply “takes” a photo.



“All photographs are there to remind us of what we forget. In this - as in other ways - they are the opposite of paintings. Paintings record what the painter remembers. Because each one of us forgets different things, a photo more than a painting may change its meaning according to who is looking at it.” ~John Berger

I agree with this quote to some extent; however, the abstract nature of many paintings has the ability to change the meaning for the viewer as well. Often times neither the painter nor the photographer stamps a particular message on their photograph, in that way they leave it open to interpretation. 
 The introduction of photoshop has created the ability to make a photograph more like a painting, creating a final artwork that was never a part of reality. I think that some photographs exist to remind us of what we forget, but I would not say that all photographs serve this purpose.