March 15, 2010
Photography, is it an art or a skill? It’s an old question but also rather ridiculous, photographs can be both pleasingly artistic and require great skill in their creation, and then there are even some types of photography which require little skill and no artistic talent!
Modern cameras allow even the most fumble fingered to take great pictures without delving into instruction manuals, an instinctive artistic talent for composition & subject can start to create photos at the push of a button. At the same time today’s camera technology and software can help the less artistically gifted to create stunning results simply through learning and practising some few easy rules and methods.
Undoubtedly though, the best & most interesting pictures will come from those lucky people with both an artistic vision and the technical skills to realise their creativity. In such cases the most basic of cameras can be just as useful in the process of creating photos as any expensive and complex collection of equipment. If you know how to best use your camera, all that is needed is a little imagination to create interesting photos from any situation.
I’ve long thought that this mixture of art and skill aided by a knowledge & experience of the tools you have available suggests the most acceptable definition for myself is that taking photographs is more often than not, a craft.
So with this “photography as crafting” spirit in mind I’ve started exploring different ideas for sharing and presenting my photographs to compliment traditional prints. Taking inspiration from the wide range of crafting communities and techniques they use I’ve already gained new avenues of enthusiasm for my photographs which I hope to blog more about in future — to start with I’ve created a flickr set for my photo crafting.
But after all that is said and done, I think it’s important to note that photography has it’s special cases, not all photos fall into being works of art or craftsmanship. Probably everyone can think of snapshots without discernible artistic merit, taken with no apparent technical skill and very little creative input but which are favourites we will always enjoy looking at – simply because they remind us of a moment in time. Maybe what taking photographs really works out as is just plain old magic!
What about you, how do you consider your photography? Are you an artist or a crafsperson? Or do you share your photographs in any non-traditional ways or are well displayed prints still the best option for you?
January 17, 2010
Based on the true story of the notorious 1940′s serial killer John Christie including location filming at the real Rillington Place just before it’s demolition in 1970.
The quiet & unassuming Christie is portrayed by Richard Attenborough with John Hurt as the unfortunate Timothy Evans who wrongly hanged for one of Christie’s murders.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this film is that it is very unremarkable. It avoids sensationalising any of the murders or the people and events involved – in fact reading through the historical documents of the case gives glimpses into a far more disturbing sequence of events than the film’s plotline has time to thoroughly expand upon.
The whole experience of watching this movie feels rather remote and disengaged, the mood along with the lighting and colours is muted throughout. From the opening scenes of an early Christie murder to the final state sponsored murder by hanging the viewer is always left to develop their own reaction, there is very little hand-holding to guide us to a “correct” emotional response — the events are real life and are simply shown as such.
The main interest of the film is of course this genuine reality; that these rather drab and dreary people were caught up in such events needs little embellishment to fascinate. The murders were committed by the quiet man at number ten and it was a simple husband & father who suffered the irreversible miscarriage of justice at which the public’s extreme dissatisfaction helped reforms to abolish the death penalty in the UK.
Buy the DVD from Amazon:
10 Rillington Place (Special Edition) [1970] [DVD]
Timothy Evans was convicted and hanged March 1950 for the murder of his daughter. Sixteen years later he received a posthumous pardon but with doubt remaining over his involvement in his wife’s death (common practice at the time was to only pursue a single case conviction, Timothy Evans was never tried for the murder of his wife).
John Reginald Christie was hanged (by the same executioner who hung Evans) in July 1953 for the murder of his wife, this was the only conviction pursued but he is considered guilty of murdering at least six women, with bodies having been found buried in his garden and hidden in his kitchen.
November 16, 2009
I’m a big fan of parades and the Christmas lights switch on in Aberdeen holds a special significance for me as my Father used to be involved in setting them up as part of the council Street Lighting Department’s duties.
One of my favourite stories I was told is of how a lucky child would be chosen to throw the switch at the Music Hall turning on all the Christmas lights down the length of Union Street but that those in the know could look out for the men standing up ladders at intervals up & down the street. They were each waiting to throw their own switches on cue to give the impression that all the lights were connected and controlled by the ceremonial switch. I understood that sometimes adults tell little white fibs about the magic of Christmas, but being in on this secret was just as special for me.
These days rather than the static ceremony huddled around the Music Hall we have a procession down Union Street with each set of Christmas lights switched on as the parade passes underneath with a big explosion of confetti. It always pleases me to see Union Street closed to traffic — when you have the freedom to wander off the narrow pavements you can see how impressive the street & it’s architecture really is.
I hadn’t decided beforehand but as the parade passed I realised it was a good time to use video rather than still photographs. I missed out Santa and most of the lights but it has cute big dogs, fabulous swans (seven of them, a-swimming) and a rather unseasonal steel band, also in it’s favour is that it’s short enough to not get boring—I hope!
I enjoyed the parade a lot, maybe because it had no pretensions of being any grander than it was, so I’ll leave you with two choice quotes overheard during the evening:
A rather plaintive cry from the parade:
“We’re not pigeons, we’re turtle doves!“
Two auld wifeys at the bus stop:
“Did ye see the reindeer?”
“Aye, they wir shittin’ ah ower the place.“
