Crossing/Shaping History
"We all cross history, and whichever ones we cross shape us as we shape them."
This brilliant quote is pulled from an article about Susan Meiselas in today's NY Times. No truer statement has been said of photography.
During a shoot just the other day, I crossed a realization that my ideas not only about art, but also about the physical makeup of the world have been deeply shaped by images in art history. I drove out to the Indiana Sand Dunes to photograph the visual similarities between a piece of corrugated cardboard and the classic and often imitated Edward Weston Sand Dune photographs. I was shocked to find that the dunes were completely covered in dense vegetation. I didn't exactly expect some sort of barren desert, but only a few stripped trails had been cut through the trees and they were marked by human foot prints instead of wind ripples. How naive to think an untouched Weston landscape was a few steps away from a parking lot in Indiana...but I really did. My mind thinks sand dune=Edward Weston picture. I wish I could have photographed this surprising realization, but it definitely didn't come across in the images.
It would be great to hear of other encounters with naivety based on the history of visual expression. If anyone has any, post 'em.
Edward Weston
me
This brilliant quote is pulled from an article about Susan Meiselas in today's NY Times. No truer statement has been said of photography.
During a shoot just the other day, I crossed a realization that my ideas not only about art, but also about the physical makeup of the world have been deeply shaped by images in art history. I drove out to the Indiana Sand Dunes to photograph the visual similarities between a piece of corrugated cardboard and the classic and often imitated Edward Weston Sand Dune photographs. I was shocked to find that the dunes were completely covered in dense vegetation. I didn't exactly expect some sort of barren desert, but only a few stripped trails had been cut through the trees and they were marked by human foot prints instead of wind ripples. How naive to think an untouched Weston landscape was a few steps away from a parking lot in Indiana...but I really did. My mind thinks sand dune=Edward Weston picture. I wish I could have photographed this surprising realization, but it definitely didn't come across in the images.
It would be great to hear of other encounters with naivety based on the history of visual expression. If anyone has any, post 'em.
Edward Weston
me
Labels: New York TImes, Sand Dunes, Susan Meiselas
posted by Allison Grant at
8:40 AM
1 Comments:
It was one of the great shapers of my life when I realized we all are only what we have experienced. In fact, that's how it has to be in order for use to remain individuals. We each have a unique personal bias. YES! But the great limiter is lack of experience, or simple naivete. Of course the Oceana Dunes won't look like the Indiana Dunes, nor should they in your images (he said with his 'teacher hat' firmly in place).
Pitchertaker
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