I had some interesting thoughts on some of the reading material for this week. I listen to really fascinating podcast with Alec Soth. Some of the key takeaway points I found interesting and relatable are below.
https://www.thehalftone.org/podcast/2016/7/5/episode-05-alec-soth
Soth mentions his admiration for William Eggleston and almost scold himself becoming cynical when looking down upon people new to photography that fall in love with looking at the world in a different way (with photography). I think it was a really sincere point to make and that we could all remind ourselves as practitioners with to look back at that initial excitement I had looking at the world through a camera and seeing everything differently the first time as a great feeling I’m probably one of the main reasons that I am a photographer today.
He also touches upon a revelation he had thinking about the psychology of photography,’ Photography is not the thing you photograph but its the light hitting the thing you photograph. It’s not the tree… it’s the light hitting the tree. I think this is really interesting and sometimes revisiting things or simply rethinking things can deliver new and interesting thoughts and develop existing work.
I found it very inspiring that he is excited about micro-projects and pushes himself to do them even if the end goal is unclear or seems less than 100% achievable. If these long projects with an unknown future that have the potential to become very interesting and successful or not. I think that’s a great attitude to have towards work and will keep artists fresh and hopefully inspire work that might not otherwise have been produced.
I will certainly look at implementing these thoughts and practices into my own practice and hopefully it will keep me fresh also.
Short Experiments - a way to inject new energy some things work some things don’t Soth, collaborated with making work with children. He mentions not being sure of the final product but that shouldn't be enough to stop you from shooting it. You should keep working and it might turn into something later on.
He also touched upon how he was inspired by a John Szarkowski Quote, they didn’t really discuss the quote verbatim the I looked into some of his ideas and one quote that really stuck with me was:
‘Because we see reality in different ways, we must understand that we are looking at different truths rather than the truth and that, therefore, all photographs lie in one way or another.’ - John Szarkowski
it’s important that we check in with ourselves that and understand the way that we see the world is largely predetermined by our bringing education and the whole range of other factors including our culture and personal history with subjects which is important to think about when presenting work. I mentioned this in the positions and practice module.
https://www.chrischucas.com/crj2/2017/2/11/rethinking-photographers
With regards to shear my own project I made it along to a Halloween show at Le public space in Newport. and trying for a more tissue more images that are not of live music as always it's first contact I met with some new bands that I haven't met yet.
