Sometimes, for me, it is enough that a photograph is just what it purports to be. It doesn’t conceal some meaning or tell a story, doesn’t point to the photographer’s social agenda, and doesn’t reveal the photographer’s psychological anguish. It isn’t reportage or social commentary or documentary photography. This, e.g., is a photograph of a […]
Recently I heard a comment attributed to Todd Rundgren about the direct relationship between effort and value.1 Something to the effect: “Effort increases value.” The people talking understood Rundgren’s point to be: the harder you work at making a [piece of art] and the more effectively you convey that effort to the audience, the more […]
Robert Mapplethorpe Flora is a lovely book that highlights the subtle and varied beauty of flowers. And while we can read all sorts of meaning into his photos, meaning most often it seems shaped by what somebody thinks of Mapplethorpe the photographer, in the end they are just beautiful photographs. I don’t think every photograph […]
Everybody takes photos of flowers. Snapshots. Artsy black-and-whites. Bold colors against dark backgrounds. Everybody. They are a photographic cliché, though I confess I don’t know quite what the original meaning or significance was in taking photos of flowers and so I don’t know what the practice has lost. I suspect part of the draw is: […]
With the new month comes a new postcard. This month I was inspired by the detritus I found on a local walk and recollections of Penn’s portraits of cigarettes. Let me know if you want to receive a postcard. A selection of cigarette butts from a local “nature trail.” I look forward to a day when the […]
When I started this Daily Photography Project I committed to taking one still life photograph each day. Nothing too elaborate, no lovely basket of fruit spilling across an opulent tablecloth, or pile of exotic flowers and fine bone china. For my goal was not composition. Instead, I had pragmatic and instrumentalist goals: to become better […]
The 28th photo in my Daily Photography Project.
The 27th photo in my Daily Photography Project.
With the new month comes a new postcard. For this month I tried to produce one photograph each day of something on my table. Some of those photos were better than others. Some more peaceful. Let me know if you want a copy. A still life can encourage us to pause and relax. Forget for a moment […]
The 26th photo in my Daily Photography Project.