[pure-silver] Re: At long last you can watch Long Live Film

  • From: Bill <billtech@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 12:34:40 -0500

I’ve thought for a while, and hope that I can now disagree politely, instead of 
just nay-saying. I’ll try to be brief. You’ve said some things that raised red 
flags with me. 

First, your assumption of implication - that (art, a photograph - take your 
choice) is, by the dictionary definition, *only* a representation. “Only” is 
out of place here. A photograph, unless post-processed, is exactly a 
representation of what’s before the camera. Where you place the camera and when 
you trip the shutter can, of course, make vast differences, but the essence of 
any photograph is depiction of the subject at hand.

Second,  I’m guessing you have spent too many years in “art school”. When you 
speak of “life rhythms” and the “resonances that may be found in a work of art” 
you have crossed into the world of Art-Speak, where “it’s art because I *say* 
it’s arr”, and I don’t believe there’s any validity to that world - it’s simply 
a way of justifying wearing a beret.

-Bill

On Nov 19, 2013, at 1:40 AM, Michael A. Smith and Paula Chamlee 
<michaelandpaula@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> The first definition of "image"—a representation of the external form of a 
> person or thing in art.
> 
> That also is very true and would apply to many photographs as well, but that 
> definition implies that all the work of art is--in this case a photograph-- 
> is only a representation of what has been photographed. I certainly cannot 
> speak for anyone else, but when my wife, Paula Chamlee and I make photographs 
> we always want the photograph "to be more than what it is of" (to quote 
> Paula). We want it to allude to life rhythms. Example: Edward Weston's pepper 
> #30 is not only "a representation of the external form of a thing," It is 
> that, surely, but it is so much more than that, No one in their right mind, I 
> hope, would refer to that photograph as an "image." To do so, implies a 
> lessening of the resonances that may be found in a work of art. 
> 
> Michael
> 
> 
> On 11/18/13 5:41 PM, Bill wrote:
>> I was going to agree with you about “image” (I do agree that it’s gilding 
>> the snapshot in an attempt to be…arty?) but then I thought i’d look up 
>> “image”. The Oxford English Dictionary says image is:
>> 
>> 1a representation of the external form of a person or thing in art.
>>  a visible impression obtained by a camera, telescope, microscope, or other 
>> device, or displayed on a computer or video screen.
>> 
>> So, based on that, I’d say we make images. My splitting of hairs occurs when 
>> I say that I don’t “take” pictures, I “make” them. 
>> 
>> -Bill
>> 
>> On Nov 18, 2013, at 4:00 PM, Michael A. Smith and Paula Chamlee 
>> <michaelandpaula@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> 
>>> Yes, we do not "shoot." We "make."
>>> 
>>> We also do not make images. We make photographs. Images exist on either a 
>>> ground glass or on a computer/other screen of some type. A photograph is an 
>>> object—usually two-dimensionally flat, but not necessarily so. Anyone who 
>>> makes digital capture and never makes prints cannot be called a 
>>> photographer because they do not make photographs. They might be called 
>>> image makers, however.
>>> 
>>> Photographers who call their photographs "images" are being factually 
>>> incorrect. To me using "images" instead of photographs is an (often 
>>> unconscious) attempt at being high falutin.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 11/18/13 3:05 PM, Bill wrote:
>>>> I half-agree. I agree that we make pictures, or images, but I do think 
>>>> that we shoot them. The thing is that “shoot” is only one step in the 
>>>> process. “Fire” isn’t much good without “Ready..Aim…”, and shoot isn’t 
>>>> much good without “Meter…Set…Compose…”  Then, after the 
>>>> reaady-meter-set-compose-shoot sequence comes the 
>>>> develop-stop-fix-wash-dry-enlarge-crop-expose-develop-stop-fix-wash-dry 
>>>> sequence. So, for me, “shoot” is a perfect description of 1/125th of a 
>>>> second of the whole process (with medium speed film and good light).
>>>> 
>>>> -Bill
>>>> 
>>>> On Nov 18, 2013, at 12:45 PM, Tim Daneliuk <tundra@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> On 11/18/2013 11:41 AM, Ken Sinclair wrote:
>>>>>> Shooting… shoot…. shot ?????
>>>>>> Its almost enough to make an old man weep
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Ken
>>>>> I agree.  We make pictures, we don't take or shoot them.
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> P.S. It make me shutter ...
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> -- 
>>>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>> Tim Daneliuk     tundra@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>> PGP Key:         http://www.tundraware.com/PGP/
>>>>> 
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> 

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