the business of photographs

I have been reading John Szarkowski's The Photographer's Eye and although it was published awhile ago (1966), John S. has such a knowledgeable way of examining things that it's still worth the time to read. For those of you who don't know, he was the Director of Photography at the MOMA. His essays are fascinating and I've read his other books and watched one or two taped interviews, all very good stuff if you are interested in looking into it.

He describes photography as always present in time while referencing past or hinting at the future. It is basic yet we don't often stop and think about it. The decisive moment of Henri Cartier-Bresson then is a visual moment where all lines and shapes are in perfect balance rather than a dramatic point of a visual narrative. Szarkowski defines it as the moment where the flux of changing forms become balanced and clear.

The truth of photography is another thing Szarkowski touches on. Because a photograph evokes reality we are often led to believe that it is more real than idealized. But just as in the cinematic tradition of Hollywood, there is a maker determining everything including what is in the scene and what is left out.  The magic of Hollywood becomes a slight of hand with the photographer.

Another chapter Szarkowski examings vantage point where the photographer can create mysterious images or invert the order of importance by changing his/our view.

I have been looking through other books and artist websites. I think that I am drawn to the possibilities of images rather than a realistic interpertation of the scene before the camera. One of the artists that I really like is Elizabeth Opalenik. She uses Mordancage, a process that bleaches out part of the chemical binding on silver nitrate prints, creating veils. It looks somewhat like the Polaroid Emulsion process that I used to do. Polaroid film is not available unless you go to Ebay and pay top dollar from someone who stockpiled it. I've been told the Fuji replacement film acts nothing like the old Polaroid film and has been very frusterating to artists trying to replicate that process.

Since Mordancage is very toxic, you need to be outside and that's not happening right now. I haven't found where they sell the chemicals yet but would love to look into it. In the meantime I tried to copy the look (without the physical dimensional change where the emulsion lifts off and some can resettle on the photograph) in Photoshop. Can't say as I'm happy with the result. It's the loss of details that I'm after but it's not happening.