Photography as a Framing Art

[johnastovall]

This is a must read essay which attempts to go to the root of what our art is about and it's not not formats, f-stops, shutter speeds or any of the other technobabble.

It's about the Frame. Photography as a Framing Art should make you think about what you are doing and in turn have better pictures. Read and think...

[Patti Edens]

Okay. I read it. I probably didn't get out of it what the authors expected, but I did get something out of it - an explanation of why my photographs are more on the documentary side and not the least artistic. I felt like I was in school again and had to explain what some poet meant by his/her poetry when I didn't have a clue. I still don't have a clue.

I could probably read it again, but I don't think that would help. I think you either instinctively understand this concept or you don't. I don't.

If someone posted that last photo on TPF, my first impression would be, "oops, someone pushed the shutter accidently while they were not looking through the viewfinder." I have some photos like that. I just delete them. Then, knowing that the OP wouldn't have posted it if it was an accident, I would look again and I would think..."Lord, what a bad photo. What is this person trying to say? There are way too many elements in this photo." And then I would pretty quickly move on to somethng else.

Thanks for posting the link Stovall. I really think it enforces what I already suspected about myself from reading about the right/left brain theories.

[Duffy Pratt]

I gotta say that I turned more than a little skeptical when i saw the words "ontology of Photography." I was a philosophy major. I studied ontology, and I still have absolutely no idea what the author means by this expression, except that he wants us to know that he is somehow both smart and profound.

The other problems are: there are types of photography that have nothing to so with any "frame." Holographic photography comes to mind. So does printing on other media, like t-shirts. You might want to say: No frame, no art. But saying it wouldn't necessarily make it so.

There are photographic works of art that, at least to these stupid eyes, seem to rely as much or more on the subject as they do on the frame. The basic problem with this article is that he is trying to divorce the frame from the subject (or the form from the subtance to put it in more general terms), and I don't think that can be done in any useful way.

And on another subject, I've always thought that Antonioni's Blow-Up was overrated, a bit heavy handed, and pretentious. For better stuff by Antonioni, go see The Passenger or L'Aventurra.

Duffy

[fdi]

It is an interesting article and does help to motivate a photographer to more carefully consider cropping. It also points out to me how photography is more art and less documentation of reality. No matter how unbiased the photographer, either purposefully or accidentally, the photographer is making many choices about the frame which can all impact the photo’s interpretation of reality.

To me, this article has more photo journalist value than artistic value. Where the author said, “The artistic value of a photograph is more difficult to appreciate.”, I would add this is especially true if your senses appear to be as intellectually restricted as the author’s. For me the value of art is in the heart.

[venchka]

I like Blow-Up. I liked it when it opened. I liked it on DVD. The article didn't change that. Just my opinion.

That is the first Gary W. photo I've ever seen. No comment.

Patti might be right. Or there's a middle ground somewhere.

The L.L. web pages do seem to have some long winded articles. Many of us, me included, spend too much time talking about photography and not making enough photographs. I was out yesterday & today shooting. That was fun. I wonder if I framed anything properly?

Right/left brain? I'm left handed and left eyed. Am I in my right mind?

[kb5kjn]

I stopped at "Truth, like art, is in the eye of the beholder."

[johnastovall]

Originally Posted by venchka

I like Blow-Up. I liked it when it opened. I liked it on DVD. The article didn't change that. Just my opinion.

That is the first Gary W. photo I've ever seen. No comment.

Patti might be right. Or there's a middle ground somewhere.

The L.L. web pages do seem to have some long winded articles. Many of us, me included, spend too much time talking about photography and not making enough photographs. I was out yesterday & today shooting. That was fun. I wonder if I framed anything properly?

Right/left brain? I'm left handed and left eyed. Am I in my right mind?

Garry Winogrand is a complex photographer and one needs to look a large body of this work. I think he is one of the major photographers of the 20th century and who shows what 'street shooting' can be.

Start at note 107 here and look at more of Winogrand.

“Photography is about finding out what can happen in the frame. When you put four edges around some facts, you change those facts.”

“There is nothing as mysterious as a fact clearly described. I photograph to see what something will look like photographed.”

[Casper]

I read the article and it did give me some insight to my photography. I enjoy the documentary style and will continue. I really like the (framing) art side, but I have been hesitant to explore it. The article gave me a push to get out of the "overstated documental value of photography" and think about it as "expressive possibilities."

Steve

[venchka]

Originally Posted by Casper

...The article gave me a push to get out of the "overstated documental value of photography" and think about it as "expressive possibilities."

Steve

Originally Posted by Patti Edens

... "oops, someone pushed the shutter accidently while they were not looking through the viewfinder."

Agreed. I am stuck in an extremely real rut. I surprised myself recently with a very abstract photograph. I need to pursue that aspect further. The trouble is, the first one was a completely unconcious effort. As Patti put it, I pushed the sutter button with the camera a few feet from eye. The difference is, I did it on purpose. I don't know if my Left-Right brain can make an abstract photograph on purpose.