tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post1039428295088198965..comments2024-03-27T00:32:29.877-07:00Comments on Photos and Stuff: Makin' Memoriesamolitorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15743439184763617516noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-14344392130979473292018-04-06T00:40:22.980-07:002018-04-06T00:40:22.980-07:00Yes, it is complicated, Andrew. Even more so becau...Yes, it is complicated, Andrew. Even more so because of the inconsistency of memory. Unlike the adage: " nice seen, never forgotten", our memory is subject to all sorts of additions, subtractions, modifications, biases and down right forgetfulness. <br />"Did I really look like that?" Seems to be a common outcry when looking at old portraits. It might seem that the self portrayal when young might be influenced by circumstances which differ as we grow old and it's the circumstances we forget.<br />Painters often used themselves as models for practice as well as conceit, a record of aging and gifts for the lovers. Rembrandt was a prolific selfy painter. I take photos of myself for practice and experimentation quite frequently. Perhaps I'm a little conceited as well. The benefit for me is that I don't charge for the sitting and I'm available any time, day or night. I don't do nude.<br />Pointing the camera at someone else is also an experience. Every photo take is. Details of the experience fade with time,more alter in their context. But never alter in their subject matter. <br />That's where the photo remains fixed: the subject matter.;,what is found within the frame. The beauty of the image is the context in which the photo is seen. Who, when, where, why, how all add to a different experience and different memories invoked. <br />Only the physical photo is carried forward. All other things, ideas, memories if you like, perspectives, interpretations, feelings are a result of the new experience of observation.<br />Even a portrait of someone you don't know will evoke memories.<br />And what of those who don't remember the circumstances of the photo? Anything under the age of 4 won't have a memory of all those baby shots. My ex wife has probably altered her memory of all the shots I took of her or us. <br />Tom dinninghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07122140514121530298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-13064819406745729902018-03-18T12:31:47.931-07:002018-03-18T12:31:47.931-07:00Related to the advertising aspect but different, I...Related to the advertising aspect but different, I would submit...a combination of idealization, integration (in the mathematical sense), and... summarization? that's not quite it, but it's approaching the ball park.<br />A specific example from my recent reading - Thomas Moran, when he met the Grand Canyon, was BLOWN AWAY by this very charismatic subject and generated a canvas that was about 7x10 feet (sic) that was promptly snapped up by the Department of the Interior and is on display in...the Smithsonian? (google "Chasm of the Colorado" - "Moran Grand Canyon" will prob.s take you to Yellowstone.) This image is NOT a photographic replica, it's an emotional amalgam representing an integration of Moran's impressions and of what he wanted to convey about the MASSIVE subject, and you can see this when you look at the painting. He apparently used phrases like "I have to be full of my subject" and "my personal scope is not realistic" and "an expression of the emotion". <br />My next point brings me back around to portraiture - painters of portraits, back in "the day", were also not entirely factual or realistic - the image they produced was a summary (not of their, but) of the customer's collection of personal stuff they FELT was important, presumably often the power, rank, accomplishments, religious affiliations, and so on that amolitor mentions, but sometimes children, dogs, art, gardens, scientific discoveries, etc., etc..<br />So I would submit that modern portrait photographers, as itchy and dopey as the experience may be, are producing something along the same lines as Moran and ye olde portrait-painters - a representation of The Important Stuff All Dragged Together In A Slightly Weird Awkward Way (which amolitor certainly acknowledges.) Go look at the Chasm, you'll see what I mean in that instance, whooooa. <br />And that's a product, and that's OK.... A lively image that reveals the person's personality is a different product, and you apparently need to go to go to Kirk Tuck and hang out for a bit with pastries and so on, which sounds like a very fun deal :)<br />(Postscript - yes, my analogy is not exact in that the Grand Canyon did NOT hire Thomas Moran to paint its portrait and depict its important bits, but I like to imagine it would be flattered, and after a period of reflection, pleased as well.)<br />stone sealhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08285111419079958362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-46871152101507138712018-03-15T07:37:51.244-07:002018-03-15T07:37:51.244-07:00I've got a truly terrible wedding photo, the o...I've got a truly terrible wedding photo, the only one I have really, taken by my sister in law at the registry office. My wife's head is perfectly surrounded by a square picture frame, giving her a weird cubist ikon look. Niglihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06133186764538955375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-9370554707632651142018-03-14T13:06:13.485-07:002018-03-14T13:06:13.485-07:00Those are some really sharp observations. Thanks, ...Those are some really sharp observations. Thanks, and thanks for sharing your memory of your friend. Will ponder. amolitorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15743439184763617516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-85048307452119231922018-03-14T12:53:43.830-07:002018-03-14T12:53:43.830-07:00Hmm. Some strange comments here. However... "...Hmm. Some strange comments here. However... "The salient memory is of work, of standing in a field trying to hear the photographer's instructions while also trying to look beautiful and feeling a little weird and itchy wearing these clothes out in the middle of a field."<br /><br />I think, Andrew, you are being reductionist here, and really missing the point. I don't think the memory of making the photo is what counts, it is the memory the photo stimulates. If you re-wrote your first sentence a bit, something like "People think that photos evoke memories", I think it would be way more accurate.<br /><br />An example. I have digitised all my slides from the 70s, and most of my negatives from the very first one with my first "serious" camera (a Werra 1), aged 21. Oddly, that photo was of me, holding the box, rather than taken by me! I have no memory of who took it.<br /><br />Anyway, some way into this lengthy task (carried out over a couple of years), I found a photo of a friend of mine, standing braced in the wind, long hair streaming out behind in the strong wind, taking a photo on top of the Quantock Hills in Somerset, England. I met this friend (Chris) in Australia, and he had been my Best Man there, but I had no memory of meeting him back in England. Gradually, as I stared at that picture, and later in email discussion with Chris, we worked out how and when it happened. That photo re-ignited a memory I had almost completely lost. It is a photo I now have fond memories of! (There are layers and layers, her...)<br /><br />We also have a standard family shoot from the 80s, It's awful. I cannot look at it or remember the occasion with any pleasure. The process intruded, and for the purposes of memory, the photo failed, except for showing us what we looked like back then when really embarrassed and uncertain!<br /><br />Anyway, please keep noodling, but as I say I think some of this post was missing the point. It's not the process of getting the picture that matters. It's what stimulated you to want your picture taken that you want to remember, and the photo (if successful) can help that.Chris Rusbridgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06087447503626434385noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-21279554954593621692018-03-14T07:15:16.106-07:002018-03-14T07:15:16.106-07:00Like most social media today it is/was a form of a...Like most social media today it is/was a form of advertising. We are creating an image of what we want the world to think about us. We are happy/in love/competent/etc. And of course a part of it has always been motivated by envy/fomo/fake it till you make itA Foolish Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13012370239537470790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-27200722977355804622018-03-14T05:25:46.090-07:002018-03-14T05:25:46.090-07:00Very kind of you, but I assure you I'm doing O...Very kind of you, but I assure you I'm doing OK.amolitorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15743439184763617516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-72745556592495221822018-03-14T03:43:53.511-07:002018-03-14T03:43:53.511-07:00I wonder how far one can draw a parallel between t...I wonder how far one can draw a parallel between the processes of painting and photography. The time element alone distinguishes them. We've all heard about 'important people' granting photographers 10 mins to get the shot. Painters do, I suppose, have a better opportunity to build up some sort of rapport with their sitters.erickehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01409165571476557979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-53856286234146898402018-03-14T03:04:42.899-07:002018-03-14T03:04:42.899-07:00You sound like a sad lonely person who think here&...You sound like a sad lonely person who think here's only one way to create photos. I'm so sorry for your lost. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-90340992209337738752018-03-13T19:28:51.728-07:002018-03-13T19:28:51.728-07:00Ok. Please have something of substance to say if y...Ok. Please have something of substance to say if you elect to make further remarks. Thanks.amolitorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15743439184763617516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-24120440959842421812018-03-13T19:22:44.696-07:002018-03-13T19:22:44.696-07:00No, you're being petty.No, you're being petty.DanOPhotohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13990067384789382903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-61531756535925454152018-03-13T19:15:27.829-07:002018-03-13T19:15:27.829-07:00As I said, I'm sure the customers liked them. ...As I said, I'm sure the customers liked them. I don't. Neither of which is really here or there, the point I'm driving at here is how these things work.<br /><br />amolitorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15743439184763617516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-55791235085872855672018-03-13T19:13:14.710-07:002018-03-13T19:13:14.710-07:00You know, I've been nothingn further and the f...You know, I've been nothingn further and the first picture here, the military gentleman, is actually part of an ancient tradition of sitting around bring itchy while someone paints you. More to come, I think. What is a Medici thinking when some bloke paints him, what function does that painting serve?amolitorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15743439184763617516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-25245074904586277052018-03-13T19:03:12.117-07:002018-03-13T19:03:12.117-07:00All of these photos that you've stolen from ot...All of these photos that you've stolen from other photographers look good to me. This is just petty. DanOPhotohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13990067384789382903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-28184971494302992132018-03-13T18:14:58.023-07:002018-03-13T18:14:58.023-07:00Photos in which I am the subject rarely trigger an...Photos in which I am the subject rarely trigger any memories of the photo being taken or the circumstances around it.<br /><br />On the other hand, photos for which I was the photographer usually trigger many memories of the photo being taken and the circumstances around it.<br /><br />I guess this means I am far more invested in the process of taking photos than I am the process of being photographed ... interesting, yes?JGhttps://audiidudii.aminus3.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-654754338632526091.post-18172217787502266882018-03-13T16:37:08.000-07:002018-03-13T16:37:08.000-07:00There is no end to speculation. For instance, what...There is no end to speculation. For instance, what is one to make of Victorian memento mori photos?erickehttp://www.erickellermanphotography.comnoreply@blogger.com