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Why People Make Photographs, Part V
By Robert Hirsch
From Photovision Magazine, May/June 2001 V 1/N 6
These visual encounters between people and places describe relationships that may be absurd, interdependent, mercurial, or paradoxical. They are complicated multi-layered meditations dealing with the paradox of how people internalize nature and in turn how nature shapes the human imagination.
This is the final installment of my responses to prevalent issues raised by people studying photography.
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© Robert Hirsch.
“Untitled” (detail), 1999.
From the series “The Architecture of Landscape.”
20x16-inches, toned gelatin silver print.
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26. Is it necessary to explain my photographs?
Yes, it is usually vital to give viewers a personal perspective to your work with a concise and well-crafted artists' statement. This also allows you to create a framework of understanding for your work.
27. What happens when visual experiences fall in-between words?
Words create their own environment of understanding, which can at times be limiting. In life, mystery and meaning are often intertwined. Albert Einstein said, "The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it can can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed."
Meaning is uncovered by personal experience, being mentally alert and maintaining openness. By remaining accessible to different interpretations, viewers and imagemakers may discover meaning in the work that was not in their conscious mind. Photography can operate on that border where words fail but meaning continues.
Enigma also remains an essential quality of art making. English painter Francis Bacon, whose work was strongly influenced by photography, believed that the power of a work lay in its ability to be alluring yet elusive.
Bacon thought that once an image could be explained, sufficiently approximated in words, it became an illustration. He believed that if one cold explain it, why would on e go to the trouble of painting it? According to Bacon, a successful image was by definition indefinable and one sure way of defining it was by introducing a narrative element.
For centuries, storytelling was the backbone of Western art and it was the bourgeois coziness and shallow academic conventions of 19th century narrative painting that made storytelling anathema to the aesthetic vocabulary of modern art. Bacon took the existential position that his pictures meant nothing, said nothing, and he himself had nothing to say.
Bacon believed that painting was the pattern of one's nervous system projected on the canvas. He wished to "paint like Diego Velazquez but with the texture of a hippopotamus skin," achieving the tonal subtly inspired by the Spanish master who encompassed the rough, grainy immediacy of a news photo. He sought to exalt the immediacy of camera vision in oil, like a portrait in the grand European manner.
28. What is the role of critics and critique?
"Unless you are one critic in a hundred thousand," wrote the critic and teacher Randall Jarrell, "the future will quote you only as an example of the normal error of the past." The real importance of criticism is for the sake of the work that it criticizes. Good critics open space for creation and interpretation. They do not set up rigid agendas and templates or try to impose their own prescriptive notions. Superior critics allow time for work and the experience of it to set the general expectations to which the criticism conforms. Such critics can guide people to ask questions and find their own answers. They can facilitate a dialogue between the work and the viewer by clarifying and focusing everyday assumptions.
29. What is the role of theory in relation to contemporary photography?
It is a matter of individual perspective and priority. A conceptual framework can provide a system for understanding how and why photographs are made, understood, and circulated. For instance, a its best postmodernism's agenda of inclusion creates a permissive attitude towards a wide range of interpretive possibilities. At its worst, it encourages a nihilistic solitariness where all expression resides in a haze of undetermined value. As a student, one does not expect to learn and unlearn photography all at once, but regardless of one's personal inclinations, one should become informed about past and present artistic theory, from John Ruskin to Jacques Derrida, and how it has effected photographic practice.
30. What are the qualities of a good teacher?
A good teacher provides resourceful guidance and leadership that prepares individuals to tap into their own creativity to find their own answers. Good teachers are well organized, care about the subject and their students, and work to create a flexible give and take atmosphere. They encourage openness and a dynamic dialogue between the instructor and student(s). They are enthusiastic, patient, utilize good learning materials, and establish clear long term goals. Good teachers are accountable and honest in their responses to student work. They do not tear students down just to be provocative, but have students present and defend their ideas to understand the intention of the work.
Good teachers focus on everyday assumptions and encourage experimentation and realize that taking chances and stepping into unknown territory may result in a temporary failure that can often prepare one to go on the next level. Good teachers my teach by example but continue to advocate that students must find their own voice and not imitate. They ask adroit questions and listen carefully in order to navigate students toward information that will generate development of their aesthetic and critical thinking. Most importantly, good teachers impact their students by building confidence and instilling the belief that if they focus on the task at hand, think critically, and act specifically they can excel and succeed.
31. What are the qualities of a good student?
Good students have the will to learn. They are self-motivated and work for themselves and not to please others. They are alert, curious, enthusiastic, keep an open mind to new ideas, and enjoy the learning process. They set personal goals, maintain an organized work schedule, and properly manage their time. They assume responsibility for their actions and accept the challenge to think critically about the material. They prepare their minds by completing their reading and writing assignments so that they may ask questions and actively participate in group discussions in order to improve their base of knowledge. They are respectful and courteous to their teachers and fellow classmates and to differences of opinion. At the conclusion of their study they are able to demonstrate their knowledge and integrate it into their lives. WIth good fortune this can lead t a realization of where they are at the moment, where they would like to be in their future and how to adjust their lives to make it happen.
32. How do photographers earn a living?
Living as an artist depends on what you want to do and how much money you require. Less than one percent of artists live on what they earn from their artwork. Do not expect to get a full-time teaching job in higher education even if you are willing to work for years as an adjunct faculty at numerous institutions.
However, there are career opportunities in art and cultural organizations as well as in primary and secondary education. Take advantage of being a student to do an internship that will give you first-hand experience in an area you would like to work within. Successful internships can lead to entry-level jobs. The visual arts community is still a relatively small field. Hard work , networking and good collaboration skills are in demand.
They can earn you excellent letters of reference and create new bridges to your future that are at present unimaginable.
33. Now it is your turn. Add a question and answer to this list.
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