RE: Crappy/Krappy

"the point is that the krappy kamera itself
should introduce some softness/abberation/flare, you know, something that
adds some weird charm to the image quality. Lack of control and cheapness
are important attributes."

Maybe it's just me and my unsophisticated sense of art and the creative
processes, but it seems to me that there are all too many "artists" out
there whose work is completely (or mostly) accidental. Now, that's not to
say wonderful things can't come about by accident, but to truly create
something, don't you have to be in control of the process of creation? In
this case, snapping off a bunch of shots with a "krappy kamera" and
searching through the results for the one or two or three that look(s) kind
of cool isn't terribly artistic.

That said, knowing how your tools work as well as you can and taking
advantage of their inherent qualities to make something you intended seems
to me to be the real artist's ultimate pursuit. Still, there will be
unforeseen results sometimes, no matter what level of control you have;
however, knowing your tools and medium and voice will help you recreate the
good accidents and avoid the bad ones in the future. I don't mean to
disparage anyone's work in particular, but why would the arts community
promote lack of control in the creative process as an attribute? If you're
not in control (for the most part), are you really creating something,
yourself, or are you just setting events into motion?

-Schuyler

P.S.: Notice I did not use the word "proper" one single time in the above
e-mail.

-----Original Message-----
From: FDanB@aol.com [mailto:FDanB@aol.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 02, 2005 12:30 AM
To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
Subject: Re: Crappy/Krappy

>Do cell phone photos count as crappy/krappy?

If they are krappy picture phones...like mine. In a few years collectors
will be scrambling to get the first generation picture phones so they can
"make art." ;^) No seriously, the point is that the krappy kamera itself
should introduce some softness/abberation/flare, you know, something that
adds some weird charm to the image quality. Lack of control and cheapness
are important attributes.

I heard from SOHO gallery today that they are still getting a boatload of
last-minute entries. You could drop one in their mail slot this weekend
and probably still get in the show. Looks like there will be something
like 20 trays of slides to judge. They better bring in some good pizza
for the juror!

Dan

Dan Burkholder
P.O. Box 111877
Carrollton, TX 75011-1877
USA
972-242-9819
fax 972-242-9651
dan@danburkholder.com
www.danburkholder.com

Author of the book nobody should be without:
"Making Digital Negatives for Contact Printing."

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."
- Albert Einstein

"Knowledge in moderation ain't bad either."
- Dan Burkholder
Received on Sun Jan 2 13:33:20 2005