I've probably written about this little crisis I'm experiencing toward photography. I'm at a point where I can take decent pictures but nothing really speaks to me. I take pictures that hold up, but they are pictures for the brain and not pictures for the heart.
I had a meeting with my capture class professor today. She commented on the work I've submitted since the beginning of the term. Her feedback was mostly positive. At the same time, she noticed that my pictures are devoid of any emotional charge. I explained to her my current questioning about picture-taking and image-making, about why I'm doing it, what speaks to me and what I want to say through my imaging. She gave me tips, ideas. Mainly, she said something along the lines of: "Olivier, you seem to have hit a comfort zone. You draw your images really well, there are a lot of graphical element, but your images convey no emotions. You like working with people, so why not try to work with people you don't know. Surpass yourself, go further, do things you've never done. Make it as so this term has just begun. Try to infuse yourself with a feeling, perhaps through music..."
So I imagine that it's really time to admit that I need to do some thinking. Why do I take pictures? What drives me to want to record and capture the visual world? What have I got to say? And, most importantly, why do I censor myself?
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My little return to music is really gaining grounds inside of my head. I'm getting back to where I was when I was studying piano, that is, analyzing everything that I hear, paying attention to the progressions, imagining a piano overlay on what I'm hearing.
I'm currently reading Aaron Copland's What To Listen For In Music. It makes for really interesting reading, giving some insight in the various elements that form a musical piece and how they affect us. Also, it's quite nice to be reading a book that was written in the late 1930s. Add to that some autumn and some jazz and it makes you feel like you're there.
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Keeping track of where I was, where I'm at and where I want to be. Kinda
1 comment:
Well, it depends more on what you want to shoot. Obviously, emotion isn't the only context of which an image can be presented or made from. Of course, I think that if it's emotion your after, you should be wary of becoming too much of a sentimentalist, but I wouldn't advise becoming a hardcore intellectual with your images, either. In essence, if you 'go' for emotion, don't try to force it. Play more with your interpertation with images with the tools you and your camera have at your disposal. Experiment and see where it takes you. From your blog, it seems as you have both up and down days, how about a project where you take a photo of yourself with a camera on a tripod in various locations whenever you have a dramatic emotional change. Elina Brotherus does this kind of stuff and some of her work is fabulous (although I'm not huge on her.) I remember doing it myself once when I was pretty down and it actually sort of livened me up a bit.
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