From: Jonathan Bailey (quryhous@midcoast.com)
Date: 01/05/03-01:27:34 PM Z
Chris,
Since you've posted these thoughts to the list, I assume you are interested
in a response.
> That is why I find it troubling when 90% of all my responses from people
about my work is about
> inquiry in to the process.
OK. Maybe you're right - but, could this be just a "first flush" response,
with more in-depth comments coming if you continue the dialogue?
> You have to understand when I first started out I
> was one of those people that if an image didn't work, I'd process it in to
> conformity. Solarize here, tone there, reverse print here, scratch the...
On the surface of it - and to my ears - this sounds a bit aggressive. Have
you ever thought to ask the images what they might want?
> I do not work strictly visually.
OK. You're not required to. But you might do well to remember that "images
are about images" and "thinking is about thinking." Which god do you wish
to serve? Which foot do you lead off with??
Photography is, I believe, first and foremost *visual* - perhaps you ought
to be dealing with the images visually *first.* Maybe your images would
end up being about a whole 'nother set of ideas than you originally
conceived. How else can something new happen along the way?? If you pound
your images "into conformity" (your words) - will not you always end up with
images you already know and understand (that is, assuming you're successful
in forging them to your liking)?
Do you think your personality (and all the personality brings to bear) is
the best tool to use in image-making? The imagination does not "see" with
the brain....
At the risk of offending, you sound quite goal directed in all this -
bottom-line thinking brought to the visual arts. Would a more open-ended
approach also serve your ends??
> This is how it was in school; this is how it is with "critique
> circles" I'm in now. That is why I feel that process is getting in the way
> of my work.
> This way maybe I can find out why my imagery isn't
> melding with my processes.
Pardon me, but I doubt you'll ever come to much of an understanding of what
your images need/want by listening to what other's think of them. The walls
you need to climb are yours alone.
Whether conceptual or perceptual - photography is about looking and seeing.
Look more - think less...?
Cheers,
Jon
www.jonathan-bailey.com
Tenants Harbor, Maine
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