In the first essay by Christopher Beford, "Qualifying Photography as Art, or, Is Photography All It Can Be" speaks about the specificity of language and critical theorizing of photography and the lack of awareness of the dialect used to critique photographs. He uses both Thomas Demand and Fried as his centering point, comparing their views on the critique of photography and what it means to interpret a photograph. The very large difference Bedford points out is that Demands' practice is based upon his control rather then the photographic practice or technical processes which allows the viewer to direct their attention to it as a whole.
"The photograph is simply the incidental conclusion, the polished index of a more complex back-story to be researched and unpacked by the viewer/critic. In this sense, the photograph is not independently productive of meaning, but is rather the document that records and implies the extended process behind the image."
I think this is a very concise quote, it says a lot without saying much at all. Photography is just an index of a past moment and until it is "unpacked" it remains just an object for viewing rather then something of theoretical meaning.
On to the next one.
I had to. And I love Jay Z.
The next essay called "Online Photographic Thinking" by Jason Evans is about the online medium of photography and its many facets of expansion. One of the first things he mentions is that the digital versus analog debate is more or less just different sides of the coin. Though that is not the main idea of the essay I just wanted to mention and underlying theme I keep reading in EVERY essay. He talks about the volume and diversity of imagery there is to find via the internet (tumblr, flickr etc.) and this is the time to be a photographer because there are so many different ways to be creative now that we have this wonderful platform that starts with "www."
www.thedailynice.com
www.thenewscent.com
www.kevinbeckphotography.com
www.tinyvices.com
www.squareamerica.com
I have now spent 2 hours looking through these websites and I highly encourage everyone to.
This is my new favorite website (For all you book/zine lovers out there)
http://vimeo.com/37862257
www.haveanicebook.com
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