A blog about the art of photography, more or less.
Wednesday, October 28, 2020
I'm Sorry but No
Pursuant to my previous remarks, and the comments on it, I have to inform you that you can't buy any more camera equipment. I'm sorry, I don't make the rules.
Don’t you know that we’re no longer buying gear because we’re pretending that we need it and will use it. That’s sooo 2019. Given the pandemic, it’s sooo 2020 to buy gear to keep small businesses going, brick & mortar ones, that hire people and keep them in jobs. And then when we’re bored with that bit of gear, we sell it online (mint, in box, only used a few times) to fund the next shiny bauble. We’re just doing our bit for the economy. Why won’t someone think of the economy!
At least it’s only tangentially about gear, and more an observation about human nature. I enjoyed the previous comments about how to make the non-discussion a performance art. To link it back to your previous discussion topics regarding images of individuals and how the viewer reacts - if the image is of multiple individuals appearing the engage in discussion, would we react differently (I.e. we are observing someone else’s conversation)? And then if you titled it “photogs bitching about gear” - would that elicit an entirely different response :~)
Yes, but amolitor must appear unshaven and with a bright red buffalo plaid wool jacket, like a wannabe Canadian lumberjack hipster (or, I dunno, a Proud Boy?).
I have complete faith he will mumble incoherently and interminably about photoland esoterica that nobody in their right mind could give a damn about.
I'm guessing, Mr. Smith, that this is an attempt at humour. Just what kind of humour, though, is unclear.
Intimating, based on looks alone, that someone (who obviously is not) is somehow affiliated with, or sympathetic to, Proud Boys just seems nasty to me.
As far as mumbling incoherently about esoterica nobody in their right mind cares about . . . I didn't hear any more than the usual amount of mumbling, didn't find it incoherent and thought the conversation was, by and large, interesting.
I have no dog in this fight. I appreciate what (and how) Mr. Molitor writes, just as I consider what Mr. Colberg has to say.
I consider it possible that David wants *me* to dress like a Proud Boy for our notional video conference, not that he thinks that large red checks are, somehow, associated with the Proud Boys.
I do own Hawaiian shirts, and am rather attracted to the idea if going on about gaze and representation in the persona of a Proud Boy!
Anything is possible. Your interpretation, though, strikes me as improbable. (Which is unusual, seeing as you typically parse words and images fairly well.)
Typically I let most stuff like this slide, after all, I've got my own concerns and notions.
All I know is I'd be upset if someone who disliked/disagreed with me compared me to a right wing thug (against all available evidence) because of what I was wearing. Unless, that is, I was wearing some Nazi-related stuff or had a swastika tattooed on my arm, or something.
Hawaiian shirts are the badge of the boogaloo. Or so I read. I have never met a so-called 'Proud Boy,' and I have no idea how they may/not dress, though I think photojournalists like to dress them up in camo.
"All I know is I'd be upset if ...," is most revealing. I consider Mr. Colberg a political fellow traveller, insofar as that is possible for an expat German, and an expat American. Several decades ago, I made something of a study of Weimar-era history and (more particularly) art, and that is the exact reason I got out, because I could clearly see the groundwork being laid once again.
But: Mr. Colberg and his 'photoland' cohort have misused their little platform to distort the possible meanings of photography, and there are many, into a fixed, lifeless thing.
I understand their motives, and I still don't like it.
I also think this is all, in the overall scheme, quite inconsequential, and we might as well have some fun in how we go about expressing our likes and dislikes (that I took from the art of the Weimar-era, and more contrmporary sources). Without humor, we're all fucked.
What I'm trying to say is: lighten up. It's going to a long, dark winter. :-)
I was rather hoping you were going to do a prerecorded live interview on this very topic. But no.
ReplyDeleteWe could record a Skype thing where you ask me if you can buy shit, and I just keep saying no, and then live broadcast the recording MST3K style.
DeleteWould that be performance art?
DeleteI'm just trying to get my head around "prerecorded live." Like, which is it? I've never heard of this outside of photoland.
DeleteMST3K looks like a fun show.
Oh, I took it as shorthand for "prerecorded live in front of an audience", but I could easily be out to lunch.
DeleteI think the words Mack Books' twitter lord is looking for are "world premiere" (of the Conscientious-Disphotic siamese twins floor show).
DeleteI blame brain fog...
Don’t you know that we’re no longer buying gear because we’re pretending that we need it and will use it. That’s sooo 2019. Given the pandemic, it’s sooo 2020 to buy gear to keep small businesses going, brick & mortar ones, that hire people and keep them in jobs.
ReplyDeleteAnd then when we’re bored with that bit of gear, we sell it online (mint, in box, only used a few times) to fund the next shiny bauble.
We’re just doing our bit for the economy. Why won’t someone think of the economy!
Damn. Count on amolitor to get a bunch of photogs to talk about gear.
ReplyDeleteIt had not eluded my attention that even bitching about gear seems to get a lot more traction than anything else!
DeleteAt least it’s only tangentially about gear, and more an observation about human nature. I enjoyed the previous comments about how to make the non-discussion a performance art.
ReplyDeleteTo link it back to your previous discussion topics regarding images of individuals and how the viewer reacts - if the image is of multiple individuals appearing the engage in discussion, would we react differently (I.e. we are observing someone else’s conversation)? And then if you titled it “photogs bitching about gear” - would that elicit an entirely different response :~)
Yes, but amolitor must appear unshaven and with a bright red buffalo plaid wool jacket, like a wannabe Canadian lumberjack hipster (or, I dunno, a Proud Boy?).
DeleteI have complete faith he will mumble incoherently and interminably about photoland esoterica that nobody in their right mind could give a damn about.
I'm guessing, Mr. Smith, that this is an attempt at humour. Just what kind of humour, though, is unclear.
ReplyDeleteIntimating, based on looks alone, that someone (who obviously is not) is somehow affiliated with, or sympathetic to, Proud Boys just seems nasty to me.
As far as mumbling incoherently about esoterica nobody in their right mind cares about . . . I didn't hear any more than the usual amount of mumbling, didn't find it incoherent and thought the conversation was, by and large, interesting.
I have no dog in this fight. I appreciate what (and how) Mr. Molitor writes, just as I consider what Mr. Colberg has to say.
I consider it possible that David wants *me* to dress like a Proud Boy for our notional video conference, not that he thinks that large red checks are, somehow, associated with the Proud Boys.
DeleteI do own Hawaiian shirts, and am rather attracted to the idea if going on about gaze and representation in the persona of a Proud Boy!
Anything is possible. Your interpretation, though, strikes me as improbable. (Which is unusual, seeing as you typically parse words and images fairly well.)
DeleteTypically I let most stuff like this slide, after all, I've got my own concerns and notions.
All I know is I'd be upset if someone who disliked/disagreed with me compared me to a right wing thug (against all available evidence) because of what I was wearing. Unless, that is, I was wearing some Nazi-related stuff or had a swastika tattooed on my arm, or something.
Hawaiian shirts are the badge of the boogaloo. Or so I read. I have never met a so-called 'Proud Boy,' and I have no idea how they may/not dress, though I think photojournalists like to dress them up in camo.
ReplyDelete"All I know is I'd be upset if ...," is most revealing. I consider Mr. Colberg a political fellow traveller, insofar as that is possible for an expat German, and an expat American. Several decades ago, I made something of a study of Weimar-era history and (more particularly) art, and that is the exact reason I got out, because I could clearly see the groundwork being laid once again.
ReplyDeleteBut: Mr. Colberg and his 'photoland' cohort have misused their little platform to distort the possible meanings of photography, and there are many, into a fixed, lifeless thing.
I understand their motives, and I still don't like it.
I also think this is all, in the overall scheme, quite inconsequential, and we might as well have some fun in how we go about expressing our likes and dislikes (that I took from the art of the Weimar-era, and more contrmporary sources). Without humor, we're all fucked.
What I'm trying to say is: lighten up. It's going to a long, dark winter. :-)