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The Other Art

I'm not sure we appreciate photography as much as we do other art forms. Part of this comes from the reality that surrounds and permeates a photograph - it's very, very real, and the photographer strives for clarity and crispness in the representations. Perhaps this is why black and white images continue to be relevant - they strip away extraneous information (color) and leave us with something that is at once familiar and also non-existent - for nothing exists in black and white. Nothing.

I also think that pictures are becoming too common-place... Everyone has a camera in their pocket, and while that's a very democratic thing (everyone can express themselves in a picture easily and readily, and can find an audience for these images, which are casually taken and casually viewed, and perhaps just as casually forgotten) I think that we embrace that casual attitude, and it spills over to all aspects of the media, making it impotent.

So I read this article this morning:

http://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-35523791

Here's some of my favorite images from the article:

Loisy, Paris, October 1964

Florette's hands, Brie-le-Nellier, June 1961

Brittany, 1963

Florette, Venee, May 1954

Sylvia Empain, Juan-les-Pins, August 1961

These last two in particular are very lovely. There's a Edward Hopper-like quality about them that is engaging and striking, and the colors help inform the view. I particuarly like the interplay of light and shadow in the girl seated in the chair image, as well as the composition of colors and contrasts. The look on her face is also very well-captured, slightly haughty, but with enough of a smile to be approachable. The last image is simply gorgeous - the soft skin tone, the feather-like bathing cap, even the object in the immediate foreground (contrasting with the hills in the far distance) contribute to the warmth, interest, and overall composition. It feels both carefully staged and positioned and at the same time candid and spontaneous.

And perhaps that is the redemptive quality about all of our instragram snaps and facebook shares - there is a common humanness about them that is perhaps lacking in sophistication on an individual basis, but which possesses a kind of aggregate warmth and depth that speaks to our society and culture at large. So, in this case, more is more. (Sorry, Mies. You're dead, anyway...) :)

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