I do not photograph for ulterior purposes. I photograph for the thing itself—for the photograph—without consideration of how it may be used. Eliot Porter, Intimate Landscapes (New York, 1979), 11
Postcards are, in many ways, the opposite of snapshots. They are carefully timed, sometimes staged, usually aspirational scenes. I say aspirational because they project a longed-for and idealized experience. They also tend to homogenize our experiences of a place, produced as they are by a tourism industry that seeks to commodify and promote particular destinations. […]
The details of nature become more interesting, and the become more beautiful too, as one becomes more aware of them. Eliot Porter, The Color of Wildness (New York, 2001), 132
Snapshots don’t receive the love and affection they deserve. Snapshots, those quick photos dashed off with little thought or planning. They are often out of focus, not level, too bright or too dark, and poorly composed, if at all. Faded, bent, and torn snapshots fill equally faded albums and dusty boxes on the top shelves […]
An article/interactive in today’s NY Times, “The Great Empty,” reminds photographers that they can play a role in documenting history. This is the first pandemic we’ve experienced since photography has become widely available and practiced. Sure, photography was around during the 1918-1919 pandemic, but only to a relative few. Today there are multitudes. I hope […]
You had been wandering the streets for a few hours looking for some scene, some storefront, courtyard, or back alley. Now and then you sought shelter from the drizzle, ducking into a café or standing in a doorway. The dreary sky and glistening cobblestones suited the city, which somehow seems to glow with its own […]
How can photographers help out at right now? Donating time and talent is certainly one way. But given the efforts to maintain distance between people, taking photos of and for others might not be the wisest activity at the moment. And I’m not sure how many people need or are even thinking about photos right […]
It is the responsibility of artists to pay attention to the world, pleasant or otherwise, and to help us live respectfully in it. Robert Adams, Art Can Help, 9
I have been thinking a lot about how photography can do something worthwhile over the coming weeks. Or more specifically, given my good fortune to have a job that will continue through the current health crisis, I wonder how I can use my photography to do something meaningful. Is there something I can do with […]
Whenever I take a photo, it is somehow unfinished until it is a physical print. Some constellation of emotional and aesthetic preferences compels me to edit and print the image so that I can hold the photograph, and can feel its weight and the thickness of the paper. I like to look at the photograph […]