Why
This Blog?
Any
of you who know me, know that I avoid most things involving the Web. However,
overcoming my reticence, I have decided to tackle a blog about photography. The
digital age has for some time been in full force, and with that change comes
new and challenging prospects and problems for the photography world. What
makes me qualified to add my voice to the countless other photo-blog
pontificators?
Well,
I have been involved with photography for 30 years both as a fine artist and
commercial artist, and I’ve taught on the college level for the past 11 years.
Besides being a photographer and teacher, I’ve also spent years researching the
life of photographer William Mortensen (1897-1965) to the point that some
consider me an expert on his life and work. I’m also a regular contributor to
Black & White, a well-respected journal dedicated to fine art photography. In
sum, I enjoy writing, and I love thinking about photography and its profound
effects on everyone’s life. At this time in my life, I feel I am ready to write
about it.
Those
of you who’ve taken any of my classes know that I love to ask questions, lots
of questions. With that in mind, I’ve decided that this blog will be less about
spewing nuggets of wisdom and more about posing questions. I hope that in
response, you will add comments and photographs of your own to the
conversation. In addition, it would be great if you commented on each other’s
entries—a bit like a chat room, but with a more philosophical bent. Hence the blog
name “Dialogs in Photography.” (I chose the more colloquial Middle English
spelling of dialog over the more formal Old French)
I
have decided to make my entries approximately 500 words. This is a challenge to
myself to be succinct and in recognition of the average person’s intolerance or
lack of desire to commit to reading something very long. Time for most of us is
in short supply, and having competition with other electronic imperatives makes
it desirable to cut down on bloviation.
Every
two weeks—give or take—a new essay will be posted. This should give everyone
enough time to digest and comment on the questions in that particular essay. In
other words, I want your feedback—the good, the bad and the ugly. It is my
fervent hope that this will be an interactive blog, not a passive one. As in my
classes, I invite challenge and verbal tussles. From conflict often comes
insight, understanding and growth.
I
want to stimulate an ongoing discourse about how photography has changed the
world, in a social and not physical sense. (Although it has added to pollution
and global warming, but what hasn’t?) I also want to explore how photography
itself is changing. I am not going to be stating anything that photography
wonks haven’t already covered. The difference will be, as the great Alex Trebek
reminds his contestants, to state my answer in the form of a question.
Tell me what you think.
Frame
1A
Addendum:
I will often use this as a way of listing books, articles or sites that apply
to the essay. In regards to this essay, some of the photo critics and
historians that I like to read and that you may find interesting are: Vicki
Goldberg, Keith Davis, A.D. Coleman, Luc Sante, Roland Barthes, Susan Sontag,
Andy Grundberg, Robert Adams, John Berger, Steve Edwards and a whole host of
photographers who have written essays on their own and others’ work. I urge you
to seek them out. As for DVDs, the Contact Series 1, 2 and 3 are all excellent
(but sadly out of print). The series combines a variety of photographers
working in the same loose genre of photography. We are given a 20-minute
journey for each artist, hearing them discuss their photographs and how they go
about selecting the perfect image, out of many, on their contact sheets. You
might also take a look at the BBC series titled The Genius of Photography,
which you may still be able to see on YouTube.
(I
would also like to thank Dean Brierly for looking these over and giving me his
expert editorial input)
