Sometimes We Want Construction, Sometimes We Want the Real

As this weeks presentations began I immediately thought of Jeff Wall and and Charlotte Cotton before they were even mentioned (this was a new experience for me since I had heard of neither before starting this program).

I also thought of John Wilhelm.  Born in 1970 in Switzerland, he essentially grew up with photography.  In 2011 he began to explore photoshop and 3D tools and now he says photography is "a complete passion."

Fig. 1: Wilhelm. Children Have No Choice [photograph]

John would be considered as 'Farmer' and constructs his images digitally with photoshop and other 3D tools.  

Looking at other mediums- Edward Degas and his famous dancer images.  Though the art medium would lend him to be a farmer also, he may have hunted the scenes in real life before producing.

Fig. 2: Degas. The Dance Class II 

Then there is the Australian photographer Peter Lik who hunts his opportunities for 'pristine images' compared in the Washington post to the avid Crocodile Hunter (McCoy & Kirkpatrick, 2014) 

Fig. 3 Lik. Whispering Sea [photograph] https://lik.com/collections/new-release/products/whispering-sea

This weeks videos and reading synched completely with the progress of my project.  After last weeks webinar and the suggestions and reflections I received I have recognized that although I will continue to construct, I will take a closer look and be careful not to dismiss the real.

I'm carefully hunting a few 'real' images I will consider adding into my project along side their more 'constructed' counterparts.

I definitely assert my images as pure fiction.  I still strive for believe-ablity and to create that sense of connection- I want people to complete or even construct the narrative of my image for themselves.

In My Practice: I need to work on inviting the narrative, not telling so much as asking.

"I photograph to find out what something will look like photographed" (Winogrand, cited in Badger 1885)
I photograph to see what the imagination looks like, in a photograph.  Like Soth, "I take the reality of the world and use it as a springboard for the imagination," (Soth, cited in Bubich 2015). Only in the actual construction of the image as well.




Figure 1: John WILHELM. Children Have No Choice. [photograph] V&A [online]. Available at: https://www.johnwilhelm.ch/bestof?lightbox=dataItem-itkjkdec

Figure 2: Edgar DEGAS. The Dance Class II. V&A [online] Avalable at: https://www.edgar-degas.org/The-Dance-Class-II.ht

Figure 3: Peter LIK. Whispering Sea [photograph]. V&A [online] Available at https://lik.com/collections/new-release/products/whispering-sea

Bubich, Olga (2015) 'Alec Soth: photography is a unique medium with its own mix of variables' in Bleek Magazine (7th September 2015) www.https://goo.gl/SF0e9h
https://www.johnwilhelm.ch/making-of

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• McCoy, T. & Kirkpatrick, N. 2014, This Peter Lik photograph reportedly just went for a world record $6.5 million, WP Company LLC d/b/a The Washington Post, Washington.
• https://lik.com/collections/new-release/products/whispering-sea