You are the problem point of view: “When you leave everything to the crowd, where everything is democratized, when everything is determined by the number of clicks, you are by definition undermining the seriousness of the artistic endeavor…There is no evidence that we are on the verge of a great new glittering cultural age, there is evidence that we may well be on the verge of a new dark age in cultural terms … where the creative world is destroyed and where all we have is cacophony and self opinion, where we have a crisis of democratized culture.” – Andrew Keen from forthcoming film PressPausePlay.
Versus
You are the future point of view: “Now, we’re a series of editors. We all recycle, clip and cut, remix and upload. We can make images do anything. All we need is an eye, a brain, a camera, a phone, a laptop, a scanner, a point of view…We’re making more than ever, because our resources are limitless and the possibilities endless … We want to give this work a new status…Things will be different from here on …” -curators of group photography show From Here On. Arles, France
The above two opposing points of view are from this article in The Guardian by photography writer Sean O’Hagan. As far as I’m concerned, this is a non-debate. Let’s get real – it’s all the future. And you are are a part of it. The world… is NOT determined by a series of clicks. Nor does new work get a new status by simply being created. There is still merit, and there are still gatekeepers. It’s just that there are more exciting viewpoints than before AND that the keys to the gates are held by a new, different, larger and emerging cross section of the population.
And most importantly….
The future of photography –as has always been with the future of art– is cumulative, not partitive. Just like Warhol didn’t undo Monet, and Mapplethorpe did not undo Cartier-Bresson, we will retain the vision of the photographic masters who have preceded us. And we will reconcile those works with your work and my work and what’s hanging at the ICP, and the Met and MOMA, and Gagosian, and that other gallery you’ve never heard of, and Google Street View, 3-legged cats with cameras on their necks, and webcams.
The past merges with the present to make the future. And because of all that, the photographic future looks pretty damn interesting.
The past has it’s way to teaching us what has been, and what more we can do and learn from those great things that passed and shared to us. 🙂 Your posts are always inspiring and worthwhile to read.
Already sleepy, I guess. I mean “its” and not “it’s”, also “The Shades of Grey” not “The Shades of Greu”. LOL
Chase,
I love stumbling on a great site. And yours is a gem. Your energy, personality, the thoughts you put into your blog, the work doing the music and food happenings and turning me on to We Are Augustines have been the highlight of my week.
And you have kicked my butt into doing more photography. I’m in the south of France but I am in Paris frequently. I would love a chance to hang, pick your brain and partake in any new photo projects you offer for us newbies to get involved with.
Peace,
Ben
I would say somewhere right in between :p
I went to Arles this year and went to the here on exhibition… i thought great appropriation and more google street view. i thought some of the artists and their concepts were great! you can talk about IP and copyright all you want but how can you copyright a sun, or even a famous landmark. yes you had taken the photograph but so has millions other people before you.
A photographer who exhibited there told me that everything has been done.. everything has been photographed… where does photography go from here?
the trend is appropriation and not happy to say this, google street view. The creativity comes from what you do with the available resources.
I can see both sides of the argument, but my main issue with many of today’s photographers (I am speaking of the domestic market cos I am a wed/por photographer) is their lack of knowledge of the techniques they are using to create a certain look with their imagery eg: vintage look, solarised b/w look, poses copied and repeated over and over again. To me that isn’t photography just a vehicle to produce money; it has become over commodified and I can’t see the point…Most of these photographers have absolutely no idea who Cartier Bresson is or Mapplethorpe and what is more they probably don’t care! ( their loss!)
I’m all for iphone photography, new technology and using it to create anything as long as its an original thought and not just following everyone else who is spruiking their wares on the www and facebook. Its sooo repetitive! BORING! This is what happens when you let the masses do their own photography so fortunately most of it will die when they lose their phones or their computers crashes! Ha!
Your quote “The past merges with the present to make the future” is well and good I only wish it were true. Its just a shame that there are so many new “so called professionals” out there that actually have no idea what and why they are doing, but it just looks pretty and therefore has limited use.
I believe that if the masses are creating imagery on mass, that is fabulous, but will we have access to that imagery in the future, will it be useful socially and historically? Will it be considered as art? Is that important? So yes its a changing world and I am glad, lucky and privileged to have some knowledge of the past and still open to new ideas for the future.
Bring it on!